 with me to Matthew chapter 20 and verse 29. As you are going to Matthew chapter 20 and verse 29, it's a very famous story that all of you are aware of, but as you are going there, I have a list in here in my hands, a list of few of testimonies from the recent trip that we took to Lagos, Nigeria, where we take three trips every single year there. Some of you heard a fabulous testimony that happened this time when an al-Qaeda terrorist group who is responsible for over 10,000 deaths in a country of Nigeria in the past 12 years has brought five men into the church with a bomb to be set off in the church service where we are there two weeks ago and how the four men got arrested by the Holy Spirit ran for their lives with the bomb and one man couldn't run but ran to the church and received deliverance from demonic spirits. This man has never been to church before. He is not a Christian. He's from Muslim faith and not only he's a Muslim, but he was also practicing a cult man. He confessed afterwards after his deliverance how he was saved and delivered. I mean he was standing three feet away from me when he was going through his deliverance. It was one of the craziest things that has happened that I've seen in my life. It's so crazy when I met with people from Tri-Cities Herald today and we were talking about different trips and everything they're doing an article about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and I shared that testimony or when we would share with managers from the head start I mean people have these big eyes they're like this is impossible but with God all things are possible and so a few people wrote us back after the trip we had about 60 people that went with us and I'm just going to scan through you are you in Matthew chapter 20 verse 29 okay we're still going there so while you're going to Matthew chapter 20 verse 29 I am going to read to you a one person wrote he says I've experienced after the trip a great hunger for God as well as the grace to act on that hunger by spending a lot of time in prayer before I came to Skowen I lost my previous job when I was in Skowen I received an interview via email and when I returned home I was given the interview and they offered me a six month contract position the next day I was given a job interview the next day and I received that job also after receiving the anointing water my child quickly recovered from sinus and cold in just two days let's give Jesus a round of applause for this wonderful testimony another person and I'm just going to skip through another person wrote that their devotion life was completely radically changed another person wrote same thing how they were really blessed and their even skin tone changed when they came back and they became I'm not sure whether darker or brighter but they said that their coworkers noticed that their skin tone has changed they became like Moses shining for the glory of God praise be to God no need for tanning beds and so another person wrote he says since we came back I feel so much lighter all the heaviness in my body and difficulty for me to work is gone another person who had a skin disease for 25 years and the demon attacking them in a dream they said that the demon the demon attacking the dream completely stopped and my skin disease faded away to the glory of God now that's something to give God around no applause for come on and same thing one person the same thing felt that really close to God now especially praying in his backyard close to nature that's always good testimony another person testified that I got a chance to meet profitebe Joshua on the prayer line and the prophecy that he gave me is a hundred percent true the prophecy number one was about a family member who is handicapped and it's my elderly sister who is mentally handicapped and the man of God said that there's also it's also in our family blood which is true and so she confirmed the prophecy one person had a problem with a knee pain for a year and a half and they couldn't walk stairs I don't know how they got this going with this problem because usually they require people to walk up and down the stairs because you have to do that when you're there but they came back and they can walk up and down without no problem and God completely healed that knee problem come on let's give Jesus a round of applause I know for some of you it's like knee problem cancer and everything we always have to remain a sense of ah even if it's the smallest thing because until you have that problem you recognize no sickness is small it's small sickness when your neighbor has it but when you have it it's not a small a herig is like a big demon you know a knee little problem is a big issue when it's your own problem and the same thing with another person that couldn't sleep um well okay this one so there's a lot more that are coming in but we just really thankful for what God has done for these people would give Jesus all the praise and all the honor and your hands will not hurt if you put your hands together one more time for Jesus Christ are you in Matthew chapter 20 verse 29 if you're there say amen and I'm gonna read now as they went out of Jericho a great multitude followed him meaning Jesus and behold two blind men sitting on the road when they heard that Jesus was passing by cried out saying have mercy on us oh Lord son of David then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet but they cried out all the more saying have mercy on us oh Lord son of David so Jesus stood still and called them and said what do you want me to do for you and they said Lord that our eyes may be opened so Jesus had compassion and touched our eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him I want to speak to you a message titled the fight for your sight the fight for your sight this is a scripture a verse a story a miracle that is recorded by few different writers of the gospels and before I mentioned anything about this story it's important to point something out out of this story that in this verse it says that they went out of Jericho and the multitude followed him if you read other writers of the gospel they say that they went into Jericho and when you read that a lot of atheists or people who are against Christianity they use that and say see there's contradiction and one writer says they went out of Jericho and sublime people the other writer says they went into Jericho and sign and sublime people and so they use that to disprove that the bible is written by God because therefore it has mistakes and I'm not a theologian or a scholar but I did some little digging because there was a time I read all the contradictions in the bible and they shook my faith and I wanted to know for myself I'm like if I'm banking my whole life on this book and this book has contradictions I need to find out what are these contradictions and why they are there I will not claim to serve all the contradictions today but in this case because it's in this story it's important to point this out the problem is that there's two Jerikos there is one Jericho that was rebuilt by people after Joshua it was considered the old forsaken Jericho and very few people lived there because it was abandoned and the second Jericho was a mile away from this Jericho it was rebuilt by Herod the Great and it was considered the nicest Jericho and so more people live there now I can relate because there's East Pascoe and West Pascoe and it's the same Pascoe is that right and life in East Pascoe and no offense to those living in East Pascoe okay God bless you but you live in the old Jericho but the West Pascoe is life is a little bit different here even prices of homes are different and so when it says that Jesus entered into one Jericho and in the other scripture it says he exited a Jericho it's completely makes sense it just doesn't mention which Jericho he left and which one he entered a second issue in the scripture in here it says two blind men in the other gospels it says a blind man so what people say is they use it as an argument they say see in this story it's two blind men and in the other story there is only one but the issue is that the other writers of the gospels they don't say only one they only mentioned one for example last Friday I went to Seattle and it's true that I went to Seattle but I also went with my wife if I say that I went to Seattle it's not a contradiction to a statement that I went to Seattle with my wife I just did not mention her that does not cancel the fact that I only went there alone right and so we just have to kind of this is to help us to understand that these are not contradictions the Bible complements one another it doesn't contradict one another amen this is a very unique story of a blind man being healed a blind mind who was completely blind from birth and he gets healed and we read in here today it says that as he was sitting being blind Jesus was passing by somebody say passing by somebody say passing by Jesus was passing by and not only Jesus was passing by but his miracle was passing by and the man was blind means he couldn't see Jesus passing by but he wasn't dumb he could sense Jesus passing by he sensed an opportunity passing by an opportunity for a better life and he took advantage of that opportunity opportunity is a set of circumstances that enable you to do what you couldn't do before and opportunity is something that you cannot see with your natural eyes at time but you can sense it with your spirit and when an opportunity passes by you have your spirit has to give you a check this is my opportunity for my life to be changed this is my opportunity for my life to be transformed and you have to seize that opportunity as Christians the Bible says we don't live by our side but we live by our spirit your spirit is made of three main components your intuition your conscience and your subconscious that means as a Christian your strongest signal or your strongest receiver cannot be these two things that observe the world but it has to be your spirit by which you absorb the spiritual world unfortunately for many Christians today their strongest receptive signal is their physical eyes not their spirit God wants your spirit to be developed and exercised so you can discern when he is moving and what he is doing even when naturally with your physical eyes you cannot see it it's okay to be blind but it's not okay when your spirit is blind it's okay to be a beggar but it's not okay when your spirit doesn't sense an opportunity because when you sense an opportunity passing by your situation can completely be changed sometimes God allows people to go blind physically so they can go inside spiritually Apostle Paul went blind for three days so he can regain his spiritual sight and his spirit can be more sensitive to the things of God and he could see Jesus for who he really is opportunity is something that is passing by opportunity is something that just simply is there and must be sensed but opportunity is very punctual Jesus opportunity your miracle is very punctual passing by indicates he is not planning to stay around opportunity many of us don't see an opportunity until we miss one many of us do not recognize a miracle until it passes us by an opportunity is not like a temptation that will bang on your door every single day it will knock and nobody opens it goes on Bartimaeus was not a man with a lot of money but he was man with a lot of wisdom he sat there and though being poor and being blind and being unfortunate to grow up in those circumstances he was fully acquainted that he has a window of opportunity from 10 to maybe 15 minutes when his miracle is right in front of him and if he jumps into the opportunity his life can radically changed but he knew this opportunity will not exist tomorrow and it might not exist next time again an opportunity has an expiration date an opportunity has a timer an opportunity has a clock it doesn't stay forever there is a time in a service when Holy Spirit moves when you have an opportunity to receive your miracle when the presence of God when you can sense the presence of God and this is the moment you seize that miracle you take it you say I receive it in Jesus name there is a time in the service where Holy Spirit moves and your heart is is touched and you recognize you need to give your life to Jesus when you do that God can radically change your life but when you ignore the opportunity thinking it's gonna come again for sure you may be surprised that it might not come again opportunity is not like Walmart it's not open 24 seven there's a time when it's open and there's a time when it gets closed 14 years ago we had the opportunity in my family to come to the United States my family was always on look out for the opportunities to get out from Ukraine and if you would live in Ukraine you would understand why any life will be probably better than Ukraine and I remember my father applied even in Australia and I'm glad we didn't end up in Australia no offense to Hillsong but but when we applied to United States there came a window of opportunity to come to United States and my parents by the grace of God they jumped into that opportunity they went through all of their interviews and we got the status we came as refugees to America 14 years ago my best friend who was my neighbor his family had exactly same opportunity to come to United States guess what they did with that opportunity they folded their hands and they just stared at it they did nothing about the opportunity to come to United States they had ridiculous excuses why they shouldn't go to America and everything and their opportunity passed them by they thought the opportunity to come to America will always be there and when few years later things got a little bit more challenging the opportunity is no longer there and when last year we visited my best friend and neighbor in Ukraine and we said so why didn't you guys take it do you guys want to come to America they're like yeah but we already missed our opportunity my life was completely changed completely changed second decision after following Jesus Christ it's to come to United States that's how my life changed I learned English got a house I found a wife here every single thing I even found out about Facebook in United States and iPhone but my life was dramatically changed in United States do you know why because there was an opportunity that my dad took and my life was changed Bartimaeus's life was changed why because a window of opportunity presented itself and he realized Jesus is not staying he is passing and I have 15 minute window window to jump in and seize my change from my life and his life was radically changed can somebody say amen you cannot procrastinate because procrastination is an assassin of opportunity say procrastination come on say procrastination is an assassin of an opportunity say procrastination see some of you are speaking of procrastination right now say procrastination is an assassin of opportunity when God gave manna to Israel the bible says it came as a do in the morning and it came in the form of a frost so if during winter you have frost on your windows that's sort of how manna looked like next time when you have frost don't be tempted to eat it and gather it as your manna but that's exactly how manna looked the bible says there's a little frost over the the ground the fascinating part is that God gave this wonderful miracle and this miracle would melt away when the sun would rise so imagine those people who are habitually and in their personality they're not mourning people and they wake up by 11 o'clock and by 3 o'clock they finally fully get awake can you imagine they would starve every single day because God's miracle doesn't wait for anybody God's miracle comes up and then it melts away when we are not punctual we must understand an opportunity in your life is something that has a timer you cannot have this idea in your mind the opportunity to serve Jesus to give my life to Jesus will always be there a famous german evangelist who is a minister in africa named Reinhard Bonke shared a very fascinating and a little bit scary story of in one meeting when he was preaching and two young bikers came and at the end of the store middle of the service and they started to make gestures and mock him as he was preaching and he stopped his sermon and he just started to speak directly to them and said hey boys you guys need to give your life to Jesus Christ and they mockingly scornfully looked at the evangelist and they said do you see how old we are we only 20 something years of age when we get 90 preacher we will be there serving Jesus and Reinhard Bonke looks at them and he says the problem is that when God gives you the opportunity that's when you have to jump you don't know when you're 90 if it will come and if you will have the opportunity to give your life to Jesus at 90 not that God is not going to be ready to receive you but you may not have the opportunity well preacher we will see you at 90 they left the service got on their bikes and they just went flying down the street 10 minutes later on the same street there was a police flying also on the crime scene on the accident scene where two of the bikers were driving too fast riding their bikes couldn't make the turn slammed into the tree and both died now I'm not saying that's exactly what's going to happen to us but I know one thing is that we have a window of opportunity and we have to take it when God is calling your name you can't say I'll do it at three afternoon tonight because by 11 o'clock the manna might melt and you might come at three and say I want some manna and you realize manna is not there opportunity is punctual can somebody say amen and we must be punctual to seize it not only opportunity is punctual but as a Christian you must understand you must position yourself for the opportunity Bartimaeus did not wait for Jesus to pass by his house Bartimaeus got on a road where Jesus was passing by and he positioned himself there you cannot create an opportunity but you can position yourself to be where it passes by you cannot create a wave but if you are a surfer you know that there is a time when the wind blows and when the waves are created and that's when you jump to surf you can't surf in your bathtub you can only surf in the location in a certain place you can't lock yourself in a garage being blind and hope and wish that Jesus will pass by your garage you must find out where he's passing and position yourself there where he's passing and let him touch you if you are single you can't lock yourself in a basement and hope that God is going to send you your wife through phoenix you must understand there's place where women and men meet and you have to go position yourself there use nice cologne and perfume dress up nice and carry your Bible and when you're there your opportunity can meet you can somebody say amen Jacob Moses all of these men met their wives at the well they did not meet their wives at the barn we have many young men and young women who are passionate and desirous to get married and when we have certain trips to other churches because it seems like they can't find nobody here and so we provide certain opportunities they decline the opportunities and they just dive themselves into their own little world not realizing there is no opportunities passing their boulevard you have to get into the right well if you want the opportunity to touch your life can somebody say amen that was funny Bartimaeus was blind and Bartimaeus sees an opportunity and he fascinates me because though he's blind he's so wise he sees an opportunity and he jumps and the Bible says when he finally receives his miracle there is a Jesus gives him a very good compliment and he says that he says you are a man of faith Bartimaeus you are a man of faith you are a person who believes Bartimaeus is a perfect picture of a 21st century Christian because Bartimaeus believed in Jesus before he saw Jesus Bartimaeus was one of those people he never saw Jesus physically when he believed in him none of us here have seen Jesus physically yet we believe in Jesus that just shows to us you don't have to see Jesus to believe in Jesus sometimes actually it's better not to see Jesus to believe in Jesus because disciples of Jesus saw Jesus and they always had problem with faith many people think if I could only see Jesus my faith would get so much better disciples did that and it didn't get better faith doesn't come from seeing faith comes from hearing and the Bible says Bartimaeus heard about Jesus see Bartimaeus had closed eyes meaning he couldn't see with his eyes but he did not let his ears be closed he opened his ears wide and that's how faith came into his life faith comes when you open your ears if you want to protect your faith protect your ears protect your listening protect your hearing faith is received by our ears and Bartimaeus not only had faith in his heart through his ears but the Bible says when Jesus was passing by an opportunity is passing by Bartimaeus opens something else he opens his mouth so he opens his ears to receive faith then he opens his mouth to release faith we must understand our faith in our heart can go on life support if it's not strengthened by the confession in our mouth when you have faith in your heart it can be crippled if what you speak is based on what you see instead of what you believe Bartimaeus believed in what he did not see and Bartimaeus spoke in what he did not see he spoke what he believed Bartimaeus believed in what he did not see and he spoke in what he did not see that's exactly what we're supposed to be as Christians many of us we believe only what we see and we speak only what we feel when we feel down it comes out of our mouth when we feel victimized or we feel abused or we feel just really really hard times right now it comes out in our mouth we begin to confess our feelings instead of confessing our faith and guess what happens when you finish confessing your feelings your faith goes on life support it gets crippled it dies it begins to suffer not because you never had faith it's because your faith is strengthened when you begin to confess your faith instead of your feelings and somebody say amen now it's a lot more difficult for women to say amen because women are many times our feelings creatures and everything is about feelings and for many times us as men though we are men but when it comes to circumstances we begin to quickly confess what we feel instead of confess what we believe when you have a hard day when your life sucks when it seems like everybody hates you confess that my god is good and is good all the time something will begin to happen your faith kicks in you'll you'll begin to feel better people around you will feel better and things will begin to turn around when you speak what you believe not speak what you feel can somebody say amen but he may as he believes he doesn't see it he speaks to Jesus whom he doesn't see he doesn't feel Jesus he just simply begins to cry out his name and as he cries out his name the scripture says that people around him who were supposed to help Bartimaeus who just yesterday gave him pennies but now they give him threats and they say listen if you're not shut up we're going to do this and this to you you just have to be quiet and Bartimaeus sitting there realized okay whatever I was speaking reached people but it hasn't reached Jesus I'm going to increase the volume and Bartimaeus was not discouraged with the fact that people were upset because he wasn't crying out to people in the first place and therefore their disappointment with him and their anger with him and their issue with him didn't discourage him because he realized I'm not trying to get your attention I'm just trying to get to Jesus unfortunately you are standing in the way and the fascinating part is when he got Jesus's attention and Jesus stopped the same people who were telling Bartimaeus to shut up now we're telling Bartimaeus cheer up he's calling you if you want to have faith you must never be discouraged by inconsistency of people you must never be discouraged by how crazy people can be sometimes how people can be so against you until you get God's attention when you reach God's attention the same people who called you a dreamer come and they say a prince before you get God's attention the people who called you you're a murderer because a viper bit your hand but when you shake off the viper and you are not dead the same people say oh you are God the same people who say shut up but when you get Jesus's attention they become your friends therefore your goal should not be to get people's attention because it constantly changes when you get God's attention people's attitude toward you will change can somebody say amen faith is when you confess what you don't see faith is when you believe what you don't see and faith is when you start to believe and things get rocky and things get crazy in the midst of that you keep your eyes still on him who you have faith in and you do not get discouraged by people surroundings or the challenges in your life why because the Jesus you have your eyes on he will hear you and when he hears you everything is going to change when you get his attention circumstances change when you get his attention the healing comes when you get his attention the husband comes when you get his attention the husband changes when you get his attention things with job begins to move things shift when you get his attention people's attention is not worth fighting for people's attention it comes and it leaves but Jesus's attention is what stops him in his tracks and it changes things around me for my good and for God's glory can somebody say amen God's attention is all we're fishing for the most amazing part is there was a there came a time when the Bible says Jesus brought the man close to himself and Jesus said what do you want and this is the question that I think everybody would love to hear from Jesus and this man says Jesus I want to see I have been believing for a long time I've been seeing only dark I've been believing in light I've never seen light and what I want to have is I want to see what I've been believing and Jesus said it will be according to your faith and he let him see what he has been believing for I want to encourage every person in this room today if you believe in what you do not see Jesus will reward you by letting you see what you believe when you believe what you do not see Jesus will reward you by letting you see what you believe he will let you see that what you believe for he will let you see life that you believe for and therefore I pray I hope that what you believe is bigger than what you see I hope that what you believe is bigger than what you see today you might see pennies being tossed around you you might see being seated on the road while everybody is walking make sure what you believe is bigger than what you see because one day Jesus will come and he will say what do you want me to do for you and your answers should be I want to see what I believe and if Jesus answered to a man who's never seen a daylight in his life and he changed his circumstance and let him see what he's been believing he will answer you and he will let you see what you believe also what do you believe for today do you believe for something bigger than what you see maybe you have a wonderful job you might say I believe for five cents raised you know the surprising part Jesus will reward your faith with a five cent race but you will not be happy when your neighbor believes for a completely different job with one more digit at the end of the income you will say you know what I wish I could have believed for something more you can believe today for something bigger than what you see in your life today in Jesus' name and you know what Jesus is going to do he's gonna bless you by letting you see what you believe Lord I want to see what I believe Lord I want to see because what I believe is so much bigger than what I see today what I believe for is so much bigger than what I see today in my life and God is able to do that because somebody say amen Jesus opened his eyes because he opened his ears and he because he opened his mouth I know that Jesus is going to give us what we believe for amen do you believe for your family to be saved do you believe for your children do you believe for your ministry for your calling do you believe for your finances to be changed my question is this today is your faith bigger than your sight do you have a higher faith than what you're seeing with your physical eyes some of you saying you know what it's not I don't want to risk to believe in case I don't get disappointed in all of these things and I just want to play safe the problem with playing safe is that you will have according to your faith and if your faith is according to your sight it's just going to be the same more of the same more of sitting on the same road more of the same pennies maybe a little increase in that and the same thing but there was a man who in spite of the fact he's never seen anything in his life before he decided to crank up his faith above his seeing and Jesus comes to him and says I'm gonna bring your situation up to the level of your faith because you never brought your faith to the level of your situation see so many of us we go through the week and we take our faith and we bring it down to the level of our feelings bring it down to the level of our pain bring it down to the level of our financial problems maybe you got laid off maybe you have sickness in your body maybe things are very challenging at home do not bring your faith to the level of your blindness because your faith can bring your blindness to the level of its belief you can see what you believe for can somebody say amen when Jesus is asking your question you can tell him Jesus I want to see not just believe for it not just stand for it confess it and name it and claim it but Jesus it's my time to see what I believe for I've been believing for this been praying for this been fasting for this but this is my moment when Jesus I can finally have it in my eyes not only in my ears not only in my heart this day is coming for you and this day is coming for me there's some things already have happened there was one man in the Bible who was blind and when Jesus touched him the Bible says that he saw people like trees but partially and then Jesus comes and touches him again and he begins to see every single thing clearly God wants you to see what you believe for my goal today is that you will have a faith bigger than your circumstances that you will have a faith bigger than what you are seeing today the reason why is because Jesus wants to reward you by letting you see what you believe for by letting you see what you believe for our father Abraham whom Muslims called their father Christians and Jews he was a man who never saw God physically eye to eye he never seen a son of his own but the Bible says he heard and he believed and then God saw that he believed and the Lord took him further and says Abraham I know you opened your ears to my voice but could you open my mouth to my word and I want you to walk around and call yourself Abraham father of many nations you don't see a child in your house but I want you to open your mouth as you have opened your ears and as Abraham walks around says father of many nations Sarah mother of many nations and the Lord blesses Abraham at the end of his life and he lets him see what he has been believing for all of his life God is going to let you see what you believe on my challenge to you please don't bring your faith to the level of your feelings don't bring down your faith to the level of your circumstances because your faith can bring your circumstances to the level of your belief amen if you are sick don't bring your faith to the level of your pain let your faith be here even when your sickness is here because there comes a point when Jesus touches you and your circumstances picks up when you are poor and maybe it's been months you can't find a job have your faith right here when your finances is right here because your finances can always rise to the level of your faith amen Lord I want to see is that your prayer today say Lord I want to see say Lord I want to see say louder say Lord I want to see what I believe in Jesus mighty name amen