 I love how in our society, media has made a very easy way for us to paint a perfect picture of our lives. On Snapchat, we can screenshot our breakfast, what we're eating, where we're at, or we're hiking. Maybe it's only if it's once in five years we'll show to the world that we have hobbies that even never existed in our lives. Media, you know, even Instagram or Facebook, we have an opportunity to paint such a perfect life that we will never dream to even live ourselves. And so I've done it too, you know, you write these inspirational quotes and I came and spell myself like, you know, like all of these things. But not knowing that a lot of times when we envy people's lives, those people are just like us. Maybe you, and now we got all fancy with hashtags, you know, hashtag relationship goals, you know, on the couple that maybe is on the verge of divorce. Hashtag her body, this is my dream body. And she's crying herself to sleep out of her insecurities or hashtagging a house that parents returned to and they can't pay the bills on that house. Hashtagging all of these things that we want in someone else's lives, not realizing that they struggle with the same issues that you do. And I just want to make you a little bit feel better about yourself and two things when it comes to comparing us to other people's lives. Two things happen. You feel bad about yourself or you feel better. And today I want to speak to you. Maybe your issues are not that big, but I want to talk to people today. Maybe your issues have got to the point that you can't hide them, that everybody sees you struggling. Everybody knows what you're struggling with. And today I want to talk about a story from the Bible about a man who was blind. So let's open our Bibles to Mark 10, 46. Now they came to Jericho and he went out of Jericho with his disciples and the great multitude. Blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Verse 49. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man saying to him, be good of cheer, be of good cheer. He rise because he is calling you. Throwing aside his garments, he rose and came to Jesus. And so I just want to dissect this story. Nothing too deep for you here. Just dissect it and just kind of how we can apply to our lives. How can we learn something and be encouraged this morning? And so first of all, it tells us this man was blind. His issue was so big that even though he had a name Bartimaeus, people first, before his first name, they always called him by the issue or by the situation that was in his life. His issue and his situation, he was blind. When you are blind, even though everything else in his life worked, but he suffered with a condition that is uncurable in those days, that when you are blind, your life is over. You are considered disabled. You are considered an outcast. Nothing is going to work out for you because you have no sight. And I don't know if you've ever felt in your life, maybe there's something that is out of order. And it felt like even though I have legs and arms and I can speak and I can hear and I can move, but I cannot do anything because there's one thing, one part in my life that is out of order. And today I want to speak to you that even though people called him by his issue, I wonder what names people called you by first before they refer to your first name. When people talk about you, the things that maybe you struggle with the first day. And the funny part, when I say blind, that's right away you know his life. He can't move. He can't do anything. He is useless. Maybe he doesn't have a family. He is not married. He doesn't have kids. Even if he has kids, he can't see them. You already know his lifestyle and his life story because of the issue and the condition that he is in. Almost like his name, it doesn't matter, but he has a name. Because other blind people in the Bible, other people like even women with the issue of blood, we don't know their names, but this guy has a name that means somehow maybe he's supposed to be great. Maybe he's supposed to be a businessman. Maybe he's supposed to be a good husband and a good father because society still recognizes his name, that he is supposed to be somebody, but he is blind. And the good part is this. And then it also says that he is the son of Tameyes. I come from Ukraine and we have this tradition that we take on, our middle name is our father's name. So my father's name is Victor, so I'm going to be Victorimna. And it bothered me for the longest time because when people ask you for your name, it's almost like it doesn't care what's your dad's name, as though I am my dad. I don't care in my dad's reputation, but somehow it mattered to people more who you belong to than who you are. And it bothered me because it's like just because you know who my daddy is doesn't mean I am like him. I am nothing like him. And it bothered me for the longest time until last night. It kind of hit me that it's more important in God's eyes who you belong to than who you are yourself. Because sometimes you can have a name and you also have situations, but when you belong to somebody, it means you are not alone. You are not rejected. It means that you are not somebody's mind, that somebody constantly is thinking of you. And this morning I want to let you know and give you hope and inject hope into the veins that maybe you feel like you rejected, maybe you feel like all these issues and all these things that I'm going through, I feel so isolated. I want to let you know that you belong to a father that loves you unconditionally. He loves you to such degree that will never ever a human love will measure up how much he loves you today. And I want to just be for you to encourage that you belong to a father that moved the whole heaven to come and save you. That he loves you, he said that my thoughts for you are like the sand on the shore. And not only that, not my thoughts, they're not the thoughts that your friends think of you. They're not the thoughts that your parents maybe think of you. They're thoughts of good and not evil. Thoughts to prosper you and to bless you, to give you a good life. God has you on his mind. He said that I wrote your name on my hand so that I don't forget you. Many times when you don't want to forget something, you write on your hand. He said, I see it every day. I have you on my mind. In spite of your blindness, in spite of your situation, in spite of your sickness or maybe brokenness or things that you're going through in your life, God has you on his mind. You belong to him. I might be blind, at least I am his. I might be suffering in a situation, at least I have a daddy that cares for me. Amen. You have a father. Maybe you are going through something. You belong to the creator of the universe. I thought of it last night. I was like, wouldn't it be so cool to be a daughter of Steve Jobs? I'm a very big fan of Steve Jobs. I can have the latest gadgets and I can have the latest iPhones and covers and all of these things. To be his daughter, I can have all these toys that he creates for this world. But you realize that I am a daughter. I belong to a man that created the trees that made the sun comes up in the morning and goes down. I belong to the creator of the universe. Not only that, he wired me in his mother's womb. He made a plan for my life before anybody even thought of my existence. He already thought about me. And I want you to be encouraged. Yes, I am blind, but I am his. Maybe I am bound. I belong to him. Amen. He's blind. He has a name. He belongs to somebody. There's something happens when you're blind. There's something happens when the situation cancels out everything in your life and you begin to sit. Let me sit down here. You sit because you can't move because you can't see. And in different passages of the Bible, Matthew says that there was two blind men on the road sitting while Jesus was passing by. It says that blind people kick it together because they're friends. They have a lot in common. Have you noticed how all these clicks, and when you look into the click, all those people have the same issues as everyone else because they make it comfortable and cozy because, bro, you struggle with the same thing I struggle with. Me too. We're friends. We don't have to change each other. We're cool. We were born like that. In school, you have the skateboards, the emo kids, the popular kids, the insecure kids, the smart kids because a blind person is not going to kick it with somebody who is sprinting because he's always going to feel left behind. You will never walk with somebody who is lower than you are hiring you because you will feel left out. You always kick it with people your type. Believe it or not, look aside at you and see who is running with you. And this is why we have home groups. This is why we have mentors that even maybe you're a blind, they can help you to kick it with different crowd so that you don't feel like this is what I was born for. This is how I am. Nothing is going to change. And this guy begin to sit. Sitting position, all of you guys are sitting right now. It's no movement. There's nothing going on in his life. He accepted the fact that I am born like that. This is my plan. This is my life. This is how God made me. I can't change myself. God made me this way. And he became okay with his condition that is uncurable and nobody can fix him. And he maybe begin to make his life so comfortable to cope with what he has going on in his life. The worst torment in life is not that you are sitting and you can't move, but when you are sitting by the side of the road and you hear people passing you by. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation that your life is stuck and all you hear is people having promotions. All you hear is people's lives getting changed. All you hear somebody maybe getting married. Somebody is getting into a relationship. And you are just sitting on the side of the road. And you hear everybody is moving forward. Everybody is going this way. Everybody is starting a business. And you are stuck because you can't see. Your condition is not letting you move forward. And that's worse torment than sitting because you see it, not you see it. You hear and you are sitting by everybody who is having life and you are stuck on the side of the road. So when you are stuck and you're sitting on the side of the road, this man, he began to make himself comfortable. He became a beggar. Two things to survive. You have to have a coat. A coat is something that you put on to comfort yourself with lies that I am this way. I am insecure because my mom was insecure. I came from a broken family because that's why I am broken. And you begin to cover your issues. You begin to cover your conditions just to feel warmth. Just to feel comforted. But coat only covers you and never comforts you because Jesus is your comforter. And you lie to yourself all your life. No, I have this attitude because I was born for a purpose. God has a plan for my life and I need this attitude to fight the demons and I have all these issues and everything I'm going through is for a reason because God is going to use them. You begin to lie to yourself. Why are you the way you are? Why you have this blindness? You're using this coat to justify your condition and to stay warm because you have to cope with this for the rest of your life. This will be for a while so you have to cover yourself and comfort yourself. And not only that, but you have to have a cup to collect something to survive. Something to keep you going. Cup represents is something that you build in your life to help you to cope with your condition. Cup in your life can represent is something people always throw at you because you're blind. Maybe it can be sin and maybe it can be rejection. Cup can be your false dreams. It can be your false love. It can be your false relationships. Your failures, your disappointments, your rejections. Cup can be anything that you collect while you are stuck. It can be a cup of bitterness. And I wonder if this cup is related to the same cup that Jesus said before he went to the cross. He said, Father, let this bitter cup pass me by. I want to tell you this morning that you collect things thinking he's going to fix something that's uncurable. We beg for things from people, contributions, thinking it's going to fix me. Maybe it's a relationship that you acquired thinking this is going to make me see something. This is going to make me go and be somebody. Maybe you collected a career, but it only makes you miserable. You collected things to just cope with life because this is how I have to live. I have a coat and I have a cup that I collect and I beg people for mercy. I beg people for pity. And a lot of people, a lot of times people don't get out of the situations because they love the comfort of people's pity. They love the comfort of somebody always helps you and someone always reaches out to you. Someone feels bad for you. But in never, your cup never fixes what Jesus can fix. Your cup will never fill you how Jesus can fill your life. And Jesus already drank your cup of bitterness. Jesus already drank your cup of rejection, your disappointment, your failure because he said my cup runs over. He wants your cup to run over not to use to sit on the side of the road begging for mercy and begging for something that only God can give in your life from the cure, from the things that you can't cure yourself with. Blind man, Bartimaeus, belongs to a father. Maybe his father doesn't care about him. Maybe he does. He is sitting by the road. He has a coat to comfort him. He has a cup that he begs people for. And maybe, I don't know how the story went. I don't know, there's no details in the Bible. But there was one day it was like no other days of his life. I don't know, maybe the sun was shining bright like this morning. Maybe it was just something different. Maybe he got up with people throwing pennies at him, people throwing their opinions and their solutions and their counseling sessions and all of it. Maybe today was a new day in his life. And I want you to square up your shoulders. Maybe this is what he did. He squared up his shoulders. And instead of looking at what he didn't have all his life, he began to see that you know what? I can't see, but I can hear. I can't see, but I can still speak. One day he realized that you know what? Maybe I am blind, but I can still say something that's going to change my life. And he said that he heard Jesus was passing by. He knew that Jesus was passing by. Jesus wasn't coming to live there with him. Jesus is not just on the, Jesus is always on the move. And so he knew that this is my moment. And I got to use what I got to get my miracle. God always uses what you have to get you your miracle. He will never use what you don't have because you don't have it. How can he use his, would use his sight if he doesn't have sight? God will always use what you have to get you your miracle. And this is the first time maybe he stopped blaming himself, his parents and he stopped looking at himself that he is blind, but he heard that Jesus is coming. And he began to use what he got. He began to use what he still have left over. And maybe today you are in this situation and you seem like there's nothing I have that God can use. God can still use whatever you have left. Even that lady that in the Bible when she had oil and it seemed like it was just leftovers of crumbs of bread. God still used that to bring the breakthrough. God still used the water that they had to make the wine on the wedding. God still uses what you have left not what you don't have in your life. Stop crying over things that you've lost because the things that you lost will not get you a miracle. It's what you have will give you a miracle. Stop crying over things or over people that left your life or maybe parents that left your life or maybe parents abandoned you. Stop crying over things that you lost. The things that you don't have because what is coming your way is much greater than anything can give you in this life. You have to do something. If you want God to do something or turn around your situations or change your life, there's always have to be your part. You always have to do something. You can't just be sitting on the side of the road. It's funny because we never hear what the other dude did that was sitting with him. It only talks about him and you can sit there and it's fine. Some people like that life but this guy was not satisfied because he hurt people moving forward. He started getting jobs, getting married and giving kids and all of that what he wanted and he wanted his life to be different. So he began to use what he has. He began to cry out Jesus son of David have mercy on me. Annoyed people around him and people told him to shut up because you know you're annoying. It's funny what annoying to people is gets God's attention because it says in 50 verse 39 So Jesus stood still. I want to let you know this morning that your cry can interrupt God's schedule. That if you use what you got God will see it. God can stop his schedule, can stop his plans and he sees your way and maybe today you're like that donkey that Martin was preaching on Wednesday about that she is tied to a pole and it seemed like she maybe is saying to herself does anybody know what I am going through does anybody know what is really happening in my life because I am at the cross road and everybody is moving and maybe this even blind said blind Virginia said too maybe it does anybody know what it's like to never see this sunshine in the morning. I want to let you know that your cry can stop God can stop heaven and make him look at your way because he have done that on the cross and he can do that for you in the morning amen. God sees your situations God sees your blindness he sees what you don't have and you like it and you wanting because other people have he sees that you don't have vision and other people have maybe you don't have a good family and other people have God sees your situation amen and he is stopping this morning. But when he is stopping you have to do something you have to move you can't be sitting and feeling bad for yourself because this is all that you have done you have to do something and this guy he did something to see Jesus Jesus stood still and he said call him God calls you way before he fixes you God calls you way before you get your sight way before everything is put together he has calling on your life even when you are blind he said call him to me but before the blind Morte Meyes had to come to Jesus he had to do something first he had to he said that 50 and throwing aside his garment he rose and came to Jesus he had to remove his coat that he was covering and hiding in all his life he had to remove everything so comfortable always he got used to it maybe it was a coat that he always hid himself in you know the pretty smile that we put on in the morning like we put on our makeup he had to throw aside the coat that was always there for him maybe it's your friends maybe it's your bottle maybe it's a cigar pipe whatever got you by when you are blind you have to throw aside if you want to see Jesus because Jesus said they are filthy and dirty as rags we can't come to Jesus with the things that covered us instead of comforting because Jesus has a new coat he has a coat of righteousness a coat where you will feel loved and you will never feel rejection in your life again a coat allies they may be you told yourself I am like this I am born like that I am supposed to be like that your coat has to be removed and dropped to the floor this morning if you want Jesus to get your attention if you want God to use your life you have to leave behind the insecurities and all the things that you have felt all your entire life the coat has to go maybe it's a coat of sin coat of shame, rejection whatever you put on yourself to keep yourself warm and cozy and not only that you have to leave your beggar cup you have to leave what you've been filling yourself up with maybe it's the rejection of people's lives maybe it's the things that you like getting to you you have to leave the things you always dependent on to fix you to give you a a boost to give you a happiness to give you that fix you have to leave the cup of bitterness, cup of sin, cup of things cup that makes you angry at your life and everybody else that's passing you around you have to leave if you want to see Jesus but I want to let you know that when you leave, when you are leaving those things you are coming to a greater season you have to leave the common comfort spot that maybe you and your homies have it because Jesus is calling you to something so much greater that your coat and your cup will never satisfy you Jesus called him but he needed to do something as well he needed to get up from his butt leave the things that he always covered him because that coat never give him a sight this cup never cured him of things that only Jesus could cure him and the funny part Bible never tells us how he got healed it just said he got healed you don't have to know how that breaks into your life how God is going to grow your ministry grow your business, give you a new job maybe give you a new man you don't have to know how, what, when, why all you have to do trust him and he will give you the sight and he will cure you of that situation that you might have this morning you just have to get up and follow him the funny part is said that he stood still and commanded him to be called it's not an option, it's a commandment Jesus commanded us to make disciples Jesus commanded us to go into the world and make disciples to win souls and make disciples as a church we don't have an option it's a command our calling is not I'm doing something because I'm bored it is my life is what I'm created for I was blind and he healed me and because I want to give life to others and I want to encourage maybe today you're not like that blind Matimeas my life is fine just like on Instagram it's perfect and great I am so happy for you but let me tell you something when this black when this blind beggar blind Matimeas was begging for something that would never fix his life and he heard that there is Jesus and they try to shut him up as you live your life you always will be passing by certain things, certain people I want you to be so sensitive that you could hear the cry without even hearing a voice the sound of the voice I want you to be so close walking with the Holy Spirit that you won't tell your beggar that you won't tell your friends shut up about your issues but you will say no let me give you the hand and let me take you to Jesus he is almost out of the town let me get you to him and this is why we exist God has healed you God has set you free for a purpose that when you see a beggar when you see a blind man when you see a broken woman a woman that is going through divorce that you don't pour fingers and just feel pity for her because sorry girl you dated too many guys and this is just another one and you point them to the cup that Jesus has for them to the cup that will love, that will satisfy them beyond their pain, satisfy them beyond their rejection satisfy them beyond what people can give them to cure them we're not like those people pointing them and saying you were just destined you were just born into a family without parents you were just born into a family that's always broke you were just born like that now we have a generation because if they would not be blind they would not be stuck in their sin they would not be stuck in their addictions they would not be stuck in their insecurities and all the things that they're going through only blind people sit because if you see you're always on a move because when you can see you're always moving somewhere you're always going somewhere and we have a generation that's broken labeled with all these things and we have comforted ourselves we even made drugs illegal it just destroys your life more and for us to recognize our calling for us to recognize what God has called you to and maybe today you're still stuck and you're sitting and you're like I need that side because I was looking for it in other places I was looking in my cup God has a different cup for you but for you to drink of his cup you have to follow him and following in Jesus it means you have to leave your homies that are okay with being blind you have to leave your friends and things that don't feature that don't cure, that don't satisfy don't give you purpose, you have to leave the behind the quote to follow him and he is passing by this morning he wants to give you a cup that you never drink of that his goodness and his love and his mercy that you have never tasted he said taste me because I am good taste me because I am I am something that you have never had and when you taste me you will never want anything else in your life and today he is inviting you if you're that beggar, the blind man when you follow him he will give you what you're looking for the sight will be in your eyes, the vision whatever you are striving for and today he is calling you to go reach out to that beggar to reach out to the generation that is begging and we just make fun of them because our generations we just messed up people and God is calling us this morning to get up from our assurance and go and reach out to those that need him