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Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000678S
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:06 Sermon #B678 - Vision Restored 00:20 Dr. Byrd: Let us get it right in the Word of God today 00:22 and we want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn to the Book of Mark. 00:27 And we want to go to Mark chapter eight and we want to go to verse number twenty-two. 00:32 Mark chapter eight verse number twenty-two in the word of God will speak to each 00:41 and every one of us. This text of scripture Mark chapter eight verse number twenty-two 00:45 the Word of God says, "And he cometh to Bethsaida and they bring a blind man unto Him 00:52 and besought Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand 00:56 and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands upon him. 01:01 He asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up and he said I see men as trees walking. 01:12 After that He put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up and he was restored. 01:19 And saw every man clearly." 01:22 Verse twenty-six, "And He sent him away to his house saying neither go into the town nor 01:29 tell it to any in the town." Today I want to challenge you on the subject vision restored. 01:37 Vision restored. Father bless us now God as we go into your word right now. 01:45 We need to hear from you. And so God disappoint us not speak to us again this day. 01:52 And we promise to give you the praise down the glory. Hide behind your cross. 01:55 Forgive us of our sins and Lord at the end of the message, when we get to the end, 02:00 when we get to the conclusion, the appeal, who by your power sprinkle out your grace. 02:04 Speak through the television, 02:06 the internet are waves so that individuals they would decide to give their lives to you. 02:13 We thank you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Vision restored. 02:24 2020 was supposed to be the year of vision. 2020 was supposed to be the year of victory. 02:34 Was supposed to be the year that brought clarity to everything we see. 02:38 It was a new year. A new decade. And everybody was talking about having vision, 02:46 20/20 Vision, in the year 2020. 2020 was a play on words. 2020 in 2020. 02:58 From sermons, to motivational speeches, to inspirational quotes and to motivating cliches, 03:07 2020 was supposed to be a year of vision. I even remember my first sermon of this year. 03:16 I talked about Vision. I remember preaching from Mark chapter eight the same text I am 03:22 going to preach from today. But be assured it is not the same sermon, just the same text. 03:28 But 2020 was the year that we were supposed to have clear vision. 03:34 But then here comes Covid-19. Here Comes the coronavirus. 03:41 And now 2020 has been disrupted by this global pandemic that is shut the world down 03:47 and claimed the lives of more than 600,000 people worldwide and counting. 03:52 Public schools are being shut down and they are now going virtual. 03:56 Hospitals are at capacity. ICU beds are running short. Masks are being worn everywhere. 04:06 Now people are saying that 2020 is not the year of vision. It is not the year of victory. 04:14 But rather it is the year of defeat. It is the year of discouragement. 04:18 It is the year of disillusionment, displeasure discontent and despair. 04:24 But my question is, is it really? 04:27 Because I still believe that 2020 is truly the year of vision more than we could ever 04:32 imagine. Because we see things more clearly now. What am I talking about? 04:40 The coronavirus has forced us to see things we did not see before. 04:45 We see things now that we were formally blinded to. 04:50 Now remember we have five senses, sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. 04:58 From a literal perspective any doctor will tell you that when you lose the ability of one 05:04 sense, your other senses kick in stronger. 05:08 And with Covid-19, the coronavirus, doctors tell us that when you contract this virus, 05:15 it attacks its victim's ability to taste. It attacks its victim's ability to smell. 05:23 Doctors even tell patients when you have Covid-19, 05:27 "Do not talk as much because talking will make you tired." 05:31 And it even then affects its victim's ability to talk. 05:36 But yet it does not affect one's ability to see. Even when we put our masks on, 05:47 we can still see our eyes. We can not see our mouths. We can not see our noses. 05:54 But we can still see our eyes. And so now we find ourselves communicating with our eyes. 06:04 People do not see our mouths when we smile. People do not see our mouths when we talk. 06:09 People do not see our noses when we breathe. But people can still see us with our eyes. 06:16 And so if someone were to ask you, "Out of all the five senses, 06:22 which one is the most important to you?" I do not know what your answer would be. 06:30 But I know what my answer would be. My answer would be my sight, my eyesight. 06:34 We touch and feel with our hands. But if I could not touch, I would be alright. 06:40 I would just keep my hands to myself. We taste with our tongue. 06:44 But if I could not taste, I would still be okay because at least I could still eat. 06:49 I would not know if the food tasted good or not, 06:52 but I would still be receiving my nourishment. We smell with our nose. 06:57 But if I could not smell, that would be all right. 06:59 Because although I would not be able to smell good things. Praise God. 07:03 I would not smell bad things. Are you hearing what I am saying? We hear with our ears. 07:09 But if I could not hear, that would be all right 07:11 because I would still be able to communicate with you. 07:14 Do sign language, a nod, a smile or a frown but we see with our eyes. 07:21 And my eyes are most important to me because without my eyes, I would not see you. 07:27 I would not see me. I would not see what you are doing to me. 07:29 I would not see what you are doing around me. 07:31 And so Henry David Thoreau said that the eye is the jewel of the body. 07:38 The eye sees. The eye reveals. The eye exposes. The eye detects. The eye discloses. 07:47 The eye divulges. The eye makes known. Our eyes are most important 07:53 because our eyes give us sight. And when we have sight, we have vision. 07:58 And in spite of the coronavirus, we may not be able to do other things 08:03 but we can still see. We still have our vision. We can still have vision 08:11 because having one's vision and one having vision are two different things. 08:16 Because a person can have their vision, but that does not mean they have vision. 08:20 Are you hearing what I am saying? Now the text says that Jesus has returned to Bethsaida. 08:26 A city near His home base in Capernaum. 08:29 In His previous visit to Bethsaida Jesus had healed many people who had been sick. 08:35 When He comes back to Bethsaida in Mark chapter eight, 08:39 the Bible says that He is met by a blind man who has been brought to Him by the blind man friends 08:47 Now when you read the text, go to verse number twenty-three of Mark chapter eight it says, 08:55 "Jesus took the blind man by the hand and then Jesus led him out of Bethsaida." 09:03 Let me say that again, "Jesus took the blind man by the hand 09:07 and then Jesus led the blind man out of Bethsaida." Understand what is going on. 09:13 At first the blind man's friends lead him to Jesus. 09:18 And now, Jesus leads the blind man out of Bethsaida. 09:22 But why does Jesus leave the man out of Bethsaida? 09:25 Jesus could have healed the man in Bethsaida. After all Jesus is omnipresent. 09:29 Jesus is everywhere at the same time. His power is always with Him. 09:33 Why did Jesus have to lead the man outside of Bethsaida? 09:37 History says that Bethsaida was a city full of unbelief. 09:40 And it is Christ desire to lead us away from unbelief. 09:45 You do not hear what I am saying? 09:46 And so sometimes in order for you to see, in order for you to be un-blinded, 09:50 sometimes God has to use somebody else to lead you and to help you see. 09:56 And then Jesus has to then lead you away from certain people, 10:00 certain places and certain things so you can see and believe. 10:04 The first thing Jesus did was take this man by the hand 10:08 and lead him away from the place of unbelief. 10:12 But if you keep reading verse twenty-three, look at it. 10:14 If you keep reading verse twenty-three and the Bible says, 10:17 "And when Jesus after he is led the man. When Jesus had spit on his eyes." Stop there. 10:26 When Jesus had spit on the man's eyes. Now, let us stop here. 10:33 The Bible says, "Jesus spit on his eyes." Jesus did not have to spit on the man's eyes. 10:41 Jesus is omnipotent. Jesus is all powerful. Jesus is sovereign. 10:47 Jesus can do what He wants, when He wants, where He wants and how He wants. 10:51 Jesus could have just spoken the words, "Your eyes be healed". 10:55 And the man's eyes would have been restored. 10:57 Jesus could have laid His hands on the man and said, "Open your eyes." 11:01 And the man's sight would have been restored. 11:04 But the Bible says, "Jesus spits on the man's eyes". 11:09 That is another lesson for somebody today. 11:11 Sometimes God's way of bringing you out may not be way you wanted to come out. 11:14 Sometimes the way you want your healing may not be the way God brings about your healing. 11:20 Are you hearing what I am saying? 11:21 You would be surprised at people who want things 11:25 but they are not willing to go through what it takes to get it. 11:29 But God's blessing sometimes cost you something. Jesus spat on the man's eyes. 11:35 Then the Bible says, "He put His hands on the man and then he asked the man, 11:42 Man do you see anything? The man responded. He looked at me and said I see trees. 11:51 I see men but they look like trees walking around." 11:59 Which suggests to me that the man had not been blind his entire life. 12:05 He had not been born blind like the man in John chapter nine. 12:10 He knew what trees looked like. 12:14 Because how could he say that he saw men who were walking around looking like trees 12:20 if he had not seen trees before? 12:24 The man says, "I see men but they are as trees walking around." 12:29 The man could see but he could not see clearly. 12:34 His eyes were open but his vision was still blurry. 12:39 And that is like some of us. Our eyes are open, but our vision is still blurry. 12:47 We have sight, but we do not have 20/20 vision. 12:52 In verse twenty-five then says, "After that Jesus put His hands again upon the man's eyes." 12:59 Let me stop there. Why did Jesus have to put His hands on the man's eyes a second time? 13:08 Why did Jesus have to put His hands on the man's eyes again? 13:13 Did not Jesus healed the man the first time? Did Jesus fail the first time? 13:19 Why did not the man have clear vision immediately? 13:22 After all Jesus never does anything haphazardly. 13:26 So why did Jesus have to touch the man's eyes again? 13:33 Sometimes God has to touch our eyes, touch our sight, touch our vision again, 13:41 so we can see more clearly. So that we can see more accurately. 13:46 So that we can see differently. So that our focus can be what our focus needs to be. 13:52 Because our vision has gotten blurry and our vision needs to be restored. 13:59 When I think of the state of this world. I am sorry. 14:03 And I am saddened that we have had to endure the coronavirus. 14:08 And we are still enduring the coronavirus. I am sorry. 14:12 I am saddened that over 600,000 people globally have lost their lives. 14:17 I am sorry. And I am saddened that millions have contracted this virus 14:22 and millions are sick. I am sorry. 14:25 I am saddened that the economic challenges that people are experiencing. 14:29 But I am here to say sometimes our vision gets blurry. Sometimes we lose focus. 14:37 Sometimes we lose sight of what really matters. 14:40 Sometimes we are blinded by what is really going on. 14:44 And I am here to let somebody know that while coronavirus has not taken away our ability to 14:49 see, it has forced us to see differently. 14:53 We saw, before this Covid-19 pandemic. But now we see things more clearly. 15:01 Our vision is better. Our focus is better. Let me remind you. 15:06 That the coronavirus did not take God by surprise. God is still on the throne. 15:14 God still sits high and God still looks low. 15:18 But maybe just maybe God permitted Covid-19 to force us to see things we were formally 15:25 blinded to. We saw things as trees, but they were literally men walking around. 15:33 We saw things as one thing but really they were another thing. 15:39 We asked and prayed at the beginning of this year. 15:42 We said, "Lord give us vision in 2020." 15:46 We prayed to step out in faith on God's promises in 2020. 15:51 We pleaded with God. God help us to see things differently in 2020. 15:57 In 2020 help us to dream, dreams. Help us to see new things. 16:02 Help us. Give us courage to lose sight of the shore. Help us to see things. 16:09 And maybe just maybe when we prayed for vision, when we prayed to see things differently, 16:14 God gave them to us. Because you got to be careful what you pray for. 16:18 You just might get it. Because we were thinking one kind of vision, 16:22 but God was thinking another kind of vision. 16:25 We prayed for vision and now because we have our vision restored due to the coronavirus, 16:32 we are seeing things differently. 16:35 You see before coronavirus, 16:38 before the Covid-19 pandemic we used to see church simply as coming to a building singing 16:45 songs, praying prayers, preaching sermons, giving offerings and going home. 16:55 But now because we see things differently, because our vision has been restored, 17:00 because we were formerly blinded, we see church now differently. 17:05 We see where the church is not a building. That the church is more than four walls. 17:11 That church is a living, loving, working body of believers in the streets, 17:15 in the community, on the internet seeking to share the love of Jesus Christ with others. 17:21 Because we see things differently. Because we are no longer blinded. 17:25 We are also seeing church's structure in a totally different way. 17:29 You see we used to see committee after committee, meeting after meeting, 17:34 policy after policy, church level after church level and we used to see these things as 17:40 necessary functions of the church. 17:43 But now we are seeing that the church can roll on independent of all these levels. 17:49 Ministry can still be done independent of the bureaucratic bottleneck. 17:54 And the Gospel of Jesus Christ can go forward without the inertia, without the stagnation, 18:01 without the perpetuation of practices that actually limit the spreading of the Gospel. 18:07 Dr. Byrd: We used to spend thousands on travel, thousands on programs, 18:14 thousands of dollars on functions, thousands on departments, 18:19 thousands on conventions just to perpetuate what we have always done 18:24 and to justify employment in certain roles, responsibilities and certain titles. 18:29 But now we are seeing that the church can do more to spread the Gospel if we get a 18:34 better job eliminating waste and allocating our financial resources in ways that 18:39 innovatively and relevantly share the Gospel of Jesus in our 21st century. 18:46 We prayed for vision in 2020. And God has answered our prayers. 18:53 God has touched our eyes again. We did not see it before, but we see it now. 19:00 Things are not blurry now. Things are not fuzzy now. Things are more clear now. 19:07 But let me come out of the church house and let me go to the school house. 19:12 Because we do not just see church differently now. We see school differently now. 19:17 Are you hearing what I am saying? We now see that education is more than just a bunch of 19:22 kids in a classroom with a teacher standing up lecturing. 19:25 We now see that education is more than the use of antiquated books 19:29 and methods that are outdated in our postmodern society. 19:32 We now see that education is employing the use of technology to meet the growing demands 19:37 of heterogeneous learning styles. We now see that education is differentiated instruction 19:43 that offers multiple methods of teaching to reach dissimilar, distinct and diverse minds. 19:50 Behavioral scientists have long discovered that we usually see things that we are prepared 19:57 to see. That this is all centered in a network of nerve cells called the 20:04 reticular activating system. The reticular activating system works like this. 20:11 Once something has been brought to your attention and you are now prepared to see it, 20:17 you are virtually now seeing it everywhere you go. For example a new car. 20:23 When you decide on getting a new car, for example, 20:26 the United States most popular selling car is the Toyota Camry. 20:30 When you decide on getting a new Toyota Camry, 20:33 you now begin to see that Toyota Camry everywhere you go. Before you did not see it. 20:39 But now you see it everywhere. This happens my friends in every area of our lives. 20:46 When something has been brought to our attention, we are prepared to see it. 20:50 But when you do not talk about it, when it has not been brought to your attention. 20:55 You are not prepared to see it. So you would not see it. 20:58 And that is why in the church, on our jobs and in our communities, 21:02 we have got to have the hard discussions on racism, privilege and injustice. 21:08 Because if we do not talk about it. If it is not brought to your attention, 21:11 you are not prepared to see it and you will never see it. 21:14 You will never know what it is like. You will never know what it does to other people. 21:19 And because of a need to George Floyd's neck. 21:22 Because Ahmed Aubrey was killed while running. 21:25 Because Brianna Taylor was killed while sleeping. Somebody now sees racism. 21:31 Somebody now sees privilege. Somebody now sees injustice 21:35 because it has been brought to your attention and now you see it. 21:38 Your vision is no longer blurry. Your vision is no longer fuzzy. 21:42 You are not once were blind but now you see. 21:46 But why did it have to take somebody's death for somebody to see it? 21:53 Let us go back to Mark eight and I am getting ready to go home. 21:57 Because I do not want you to forget about the man. 22:00 Jesus touched the man's eyes for the first time. 22:05 The man did not fully believe so Jesus had to touch his eyes again. 22:11 So his faith would grow and the man would fully believe. 22:16 Spiritually that is how the Lord has had to work with many of us in our lives. 22:21 Some of us respond in faith. The first time we heard the gospel. 22:24 But then for others it took several times to hear the gospel in order for you to respond. 22:30 But the good news is God's Spirit continues to speak to your life. 22:35 God's Spirit continues to speak in your life. 22:39 And you were eventually brought to a place of obedient faith resulting in your salvation. 22:43 Somebody today, somebody right now, you need to see things differently. 22:50 You need to see things more clearly. You need to see some new things for your life. 22:56 You will never see new oceans until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. 23:01 You need your spiritual vision restored. And you know what? God can do it. 23:08 I said God can do it. Because when you look back over your life, 23:13 when you look back at how God brought you through. 23:16 When you look back at how you been sick, but you are alive today. 23:20 You look back at how you have had the coronavirus but you are still here. 23:25 You are unemployed but you are still here. You are broke but you are still here. 23:29 Your small business has had trouble but you are still here. 23:32 You have been talked about but you are still here. 23:35 You have been criticized but you are still here. 23:38 You have been lonely but you are still here. 23:40 You have been betrayed but you are still here. 23:42 Newsflash, if you are not dead then God's not done. 23:47 It does not look like it. But 2020 has really been a year of vision. 23:54 Because God has put His hands on our eyes again. Now we can see more clearly. 24:03 We see differently. We now see the church differently. 24:08 We see the church's structure differently. We see education differently. 24:14 We see racism differently. We see classism differently. We see healthcare differently. 24:22 We see our own lives differently. We see our spirituality differently. 24:27 We see the Gospel differently. The Gospel message is the same 24:32 but we are revisioning the way it can be done. 2,000 years ago, Satan thought he had won. 24:42 Satan thought he had defeated Jesus. He thought that the relationship between God 24:47 and man have forever been broken. He thought that it had been severed. 24:53 He thought that it had been cut. He thought that it was broken. The enemy was laughing. 25:00 Hell was having a party. Demons were high-fiving each other. 25:05 Satan thought that he had the weekend off. He said, "We got them now. 25:11 We have got Jesus now. They are down. They are out. It is over. Jesus is done." 25:19 But what Satan did not know was that we serve a God who can do it again. 25:23 I feel my help coming. That we serve a God who can put His hands on our eyes again. 25:29 That we serve a God who can put His hands on our lives again. 25:33 That we serve a God who defeated Satan in Heaven. Defeated Satan at Jesus birth. 25:38 Defeated Satan at Calvary. Defeated Satan at the resurrection. 25:42 And He is going to defeat Satan at the second coming. Jesus was crucified on Friday. 25:47 Laid resting in the grave on the Sabbath. But early Sunday morning, 25:51 He got up with all power in His hands. And I came to serve notice to the devil's day. 25:57 I came to tell the devil, "Blow out the candles. Stop the party. 26:02 Do not cut the cake because Jesus is about to do it again." 26:06 Jesus is about to put His hands on our eyes again. 26:09 Jesus is about to open our eyes so we can see again. 26:14 That our vision will be restored again. That our sight and focused will be restored again. 26:21 That the Gospel will be our primary focus again. That He is about to save somebody again. 26:31 That Jesus is coming again. Lift up the trumpet, loud, let it ring. Jesus is coming again. 26:46 For those of us that have been beaten, for those of us that have been battered, 26:49 for those of us that have been bruised and tattered and torn. 26:53 Just when Satan thought he had gotten rid of us. Here we go again. 27:00 Praising the name of Jesus. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His Sanctuary. 27:11 Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts. 27:17 Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. 27:22 Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance. 27:25 Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. 27:27 Praise Him upon the loud cymbals and the high sounding cymbals. 27:30 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. 27:36 That I am so glad today that I serve a God who can save me again. 27:45 I serve a God who can raise me again. I serve a God who can touch my eyes again. 27:54 I serve a God who can give me vision again. Vision for the church. 28:02 Vision for the church's structure. Vision for the community. And vision for my life. 28:14 Today who wants life again in Jesus? 28:20 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 28:25 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 28:30 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 28:32 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 28:38 Or, call us at (256) 929-6460. 28:44 [END] |
Revised 2020-07-30