Negative people and a blind man’s unique way of dealing with them | Mark 10:46-52

Negative people and a blind man’s unique way of dealing with them _ Online Church Matt: [00:00:00] Well, hello. Welcome to Frontline City. It's great that you are here. Welcome to our online church service, and for those of you who [00:01:00] have never been to Frontline City before, my name is Matt Edmundson. I head up, uh, digital church, our online church. It's part of the Frontline Church Network. Uh, and it's great that we can meet online. You know what? We just want to know, right? How Jesus impacts our day to day. We wanna learn that. We want to understand that. We wanna discover how Jesus enables us to live our best lives. That's what we do. That's what church should be all about, about coming together, having some fun, encouraging one another, and learning all about this good news. So it's great that you are here. Great that you've come along. Now, uh, I have literally just got back Sharon and I, uh, my wife and I just got back from Scotland and I apologize for my really lousy Scottish accent. Uh, we dropped Josh off at St. Andrews this weekend. You're gonna hear more about that later. Uh, but we are actually broadcasting live from Liverpool. We made it back in time, which was good. Uh, [00:02:00] we, we, we drove in from Edinburgh this morning back down to Liverpool. Uh, stopped off to see Phil Watson, 'cause it's his 50th birthday. Uh, so if you see Phil Watson, if you know Phil, um, then do say happy birthday to him. Uh, so we went and said happy birthday to Phil Watson. It's great. I mean, I've known Phil for years, so it's, it's great to celebrate with him a little bit. And then we are here now, we're broadcasting live. Uh, and I missed, I just want you to know how committed I am to you guys in the live stream. I missed the end. Of the Grand Prix because we had so much stuff going on. So please, no spoilers in the comments, especially you Matt, Crew, if you know the answer, um, what you put here, add to broadcast hair looks slightly tidier, but looks a bit and Andrews swept. Was it? I'm not gonna lie, Matt, it was a little bit windy in St. Andrews, a little bit windy, uh, but it was dry, so, you know, uh, I was pleased with that. And what else have you put? Ela, no cartwheels. You know what? You just need to get on and do that one day. We've got some [00:03:00] more Cartwheel videos coming up. If this is your first time here and uh, you have no idea what I'm talking about, where cartwheels are concerned, you're gonna find out all about that later in the catchup video. So, just to let you know what's gonna happen in today's live stream, in today's service, uh, we are gonna look at, uh, this whole idea in just a minute. I'm gonna look at this whole idea of how to deal with negative people brackets, you know, the energy sucking vampires, uh, as we like to call them. And, um, that was another name that someone came up with the other day and I can't remember what, it'll come back to me, but, you know what I mean. Those, those guys that are around you that you kind of think, you know what, you should be helping me not hindering me. Uh, and they just try and suck the life out of you. You know who I mean, who I'm talking about, right? And so, uh, we're gonna be looking at that and specifically how a blind guy dealt with those energy circum vampires and the lessons that we can learn from that, right? So that's what we're gonna do in just a second. We're gonna [00:04:00] look at that story. Um, I'll explain more about that in a minute. Uh, as we go through, um, um, go through into doing that. Uh, after that, uh, I'm gonna share with you a story from a guy called Jack, uh, who's got a fascinating story. I'll touch a little bit on, um, a topic in the talk. I'll. I won't, I won't tell you all the details. You're just gonna have to stay tuned and find out. But I'm gonna talk, touch on that in a little bit in the talk. And then we've got a story from Jack, uh, who's gonna share his sort of story about how he's overcome this particular issue, which is cool. And then we're gonna have a time of worship again, uh, which is great. I'll explain more about that later. Um, and throughout the whole thing, um, we kind of do this like comment share thing. You'll see this coming up over and over again. In fact, let me play this little, there we go. Uh, the like, comment, share, idea. So we love it when you like the video, when you know, do the love heart thing and all that sort of stuff, which is kind of cool, but we love it even more when you write your comments in the feed, just like Matt has been doing. Uh, and who else have we got [00:05:00] here? Look, we got hi from me, Zach, Zoe and Annise all sat around the computer watching what's going on, which is great. Um, and so, uh, just say hi in the comments. Always great to hear from you. Always great to hear from, uh, folks how you are watching the stream, sending your photos of how you are watching the stream. In fact, can I show you this photo here? I think I can if I do that. There we go. Uh. In fact, if I do this, does it sound, do I sound like Matt Crew? Uh, this is Matt Crew waiting, uh, sent me this just before the service, letting us know he's getting ready to watch. He's actually got a scarf on, you know, the weather's starting to turn. I actually bought a scarf for Josh in St. Andrews. We went shopping yesterday, bought a few more jumpers and a few scarves. Bless him, because you know what? It's gonna be a little bit cold up there. That's all I'm gonna say. That's all I'm gonna say. So, um, I dunno the result of the Grand Prix as Matt Crew, but I'm guessing Hamilton has won. Actually, [00:06:00] no. He, I, unless a miracle happened in the last three laps because he was leading the Grand Prix and then they, I went, in fact, you know what? I if you are watching this and you haven't seen what I've seen in the Grand Prix, I don't wanna spoil it for you, but watch it because there is a twist in the Grand Prix, which I'm not quite sure how I feel about, anyway, let's not go there. So, so yeah, so let us know how you watch it. Send us your photographs. Um, if I bring that back on screen, there you go. You can see in that corner every week. Every week. I always mess this up. In this corner here is our WhatsApp number, and you can send in your photos, you can send in comments on that WhatsApp number. Uh, this is me and underneath my name is our website where you can go, uh, and view all kinds of things. This is what it looks like if you go to the homepage and scroll right down to the bottom here. Um. There's a little contact form. If you fill that in. We will let you know, uh, where, what's going on in church. We'll just send you an [00:07:00] email just saying once a week, just saying, Hey, listen, this is what's going on this week. Here are all the links that you need. Check 'em out. So do connect with us and put your, uh, email in there. That'll be awesome. So, uh, as we're waiting on a few more people together, it always takes a few people a few minutes for folks to gather with us online, but that's okay. We're here. Uh, it's always great to see you. Uh, always great that you are here. Now, as I said, uh, at the start, we are gonna jump straight into the story of a blind man. Now, uh, he is actually called bot mass and there's this amazing story, uh, which we are gonna get into right now. I actually prerecorded this talk. I'm sat in this chair, I prerecorded it a few days ago. Um, 'cause I wasn't quite sure whether we'd be back in time or whether we'd have to sort of do some kind of makeshift, you know, livestream. But we are back in time. So I've prerecorded the talk. Uh, so without further ado, I'm gonna bring me on and then I will be back after me, if that makes sense to talk about the next phase, uh, [00:08:00] and the next stage of the stream. So grab your notebooks, grab your pens, get ready to chat in the comments. Um, write down any thoughts, ideas, things that stick out to you, put 'em in the comments. Always great to hear those. Um, and I will see you in just a few moments time after this. Have you ever found yourself in a tricky place where life has its battles? And so what you want are people around you that encourage you, that understand what you are going through that can help you, right? This makes sense, but instead what you get are the energy vampires, you know, the the guys that just suck the life out of you, right? Negative people who think that they are helping you, but really they aren't. You feel like they're holding you back. Now surely your brain tells you they should understand what you are going through, [00:09:00] and it's hard to understand why they're being so negative, why they're being so difficult. Now, I don't know if you have been in that situation yourself, but I know I have and I really didn't like it. And it's not great, is it? Because when you, when when you're kind of in that situation, you feel like no one is on your side, you feel like the whole world is against you, uh, and it's a horrible place to be. Well, in today's live stream, we are gonna look at what happened to a blind man that had the same thing happen to him. Life for him was a struggle. And when he tried to do something about it, the folks around him actually tried to talk him out of it when they should have been helping him. It was a really tricky situation, so I'm super keen to learn how he approached it and understand what he did. So if this is your first time, uh, with us, first time on the live stream, then firstly welcome. And secondly, let me give you some [00:10:00] context. Uh, we are working our way through the gospel of Mark. It chronicles a life of Jesus and we've come to the part of the story where Jesus and his disciples are gonna meet, uh, blind men. And it's in Mark chapter 10, verse 46, that we pick the story up and it reads. Now, they came to Jericho as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, a great multitude, uh, with a great multitude blind Bartimaeus, the son of Tamima sat by the road begging. Okay, so let's just picture what's going on here. A blind man is actually bot mass, the guy called Bot Mass. He was a very poor member of society as far as we can tell, and worthless. People didn't like him. They didn't like the fact that he was there. It was just not great for them. I mean, imagine your whole life had been reduced to sitting by a road begging all day. I mean, [00:11:00] that's just mind blowing. Uh, when you think about the comfort of where I'm sat right now, uh, I mean, and we even see it today, don't we? We see people who are. Sat on the edge of crowds begging for handouts. They're easy to miss, easy to ignore, um, but in some respects, I think easy to feel for. And that for me is Bartimaeus. He was easy to miss. He was easy to ignore. His life was not in a great place. Uh, and I can tell you for sure his life was a lot worse than many of ours. That's for sure. Right? Yes. So let's carry on reading. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now, when I first read this, I have to say I was intrigued by it because when I picture this in my mind, right, I picture Bartimaeus sat there and [00:12:00] Jesus, well, he kind of ignores him. It almost feels like Jesus is just getting ready to walk past him. I certainly don't get the idea that Jesus is walking towards him, right? Jesus seems to be busy doing whatever he's doing with the Crowd, and this fascinates me. Have you ever wondered how God could allow suffering? Have you ever thought that God seems to be ignoring the pain people are going through? Maybe even the pain that you are going through? Life is pretty bad for our friend here, right? And the one person that seems to be capable of reversing his life hasn't come over and it, you know what? It would be easy for Bartimaeus here to play the victim. It would be easy for him to say that no one cares for him. Even God himself is ignoring him and his pleas. How many times did Bartimaeus throw up a silent Prayer in [00:13:00] those years of begging by the road? How strong was the pain of the rejection of him sitting there? Why him? Why had he, what had he done? What sin had his dad committed that was so heinous that he had to be punished like this? Even Jesus doesn't seem to care. He just seems to be walking past. He has the opportunity to do something, so why isn't he? Why doesn't he get involved? What do you do when God seems to be ignoring you and ignoring your Prayer? What do you do when Jesus seems to be working in everybody else's life but your own? What do you do when you feel like you want to believe in God, but you struggle to believe that a God of love would ignore such suffering? Now, I have to be honest with you, these are difficult questions that we've opened with, right? These are [00:14:00] all questions that we have to wrestle with at some point in our lives Now. Bari Mays has to wrestle with this. And this is where I come to admire the guy. He's become a hero of mine because he didn't start playing the victim here. Maybe he didn't understand, uh, why he had some, uh, so much suffering. But that really, but as you know, this is, this is an important point, uh, that we're sort of coming across here and one we need to pay attention to because I kind of, I kind of wrestle with these questions in my head about suffering, and I, I come to realize, smack my microphone, come to realize Bartimaeus knew two things, right? Number one, that Jesus could help him. This is really important, right? Number one, Jesus can help you. We don't know how Barty maus knew that Jesus could help him. Uh, my guess is that he had heard a lot of stories about Jesus. He was doing, Jesus was doing some insane stuff, right? And maybe Bimas heard about the [00:15:00] miracles that Jesus was doing and hope started to rise in him. He knew that Jesus could help him, yet Jesus didn't seem to be helping him. There's a conflict. And the second thing that Bartimaeus knew. So the first thing was that Jesus knew he could help him. The second thing, even though he was blind, Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was close to him. Certainly close enough to hear him, so he began to cry out. Okay, so let me stop right here and deal with this because it is important. It really is important If you are a Christian and you feel like God is ignoring you, walking past you, not helping you. If you feel like your many thousands of prayers have done nothing but kind of float away on the winds, then I want you to take courage from this story. What has happened in the past is not an indication of what will happen today for Bartimaeus. Today would be very different, very, very different. And it can be [00:16:00] for you too, as as hard as it is, make it your aim not to be the victim because we want to live our best life, and we can learn this from Bartimaeus. Now if you're not a Christian, and one of the questions that you have wrestled with is this very idea that God seems indifferent to the suffering in the world, that he seems to be walking past many folks like B Mass. Then again, please be encouraged by this story and what is going to happen. The truth is very much that God is very involved in our suffering. We don't always see that. We don't always understand it because we don't always feel like, you know, that's happening. We kind of expect God to be like Thanos, you know, from, um, what's that movie Avengers, where he clicks his fingers like that, and surely he should do that. God should click his fingers and make all the suffering go away, but what does seem to happen? Seems [00:17:00] illogical, what God seems to have done, God doesn't click his fingers. On the contrary, God takes the form of a man and gets personally and heavily involved in our suffering. The Bible tells us that he takes this upon himself, he carries it on the cross so that we could all have his peace, and that's the truth about God, right? He is very aware. He is very involved, uh, in the pain and in the suffering, and he has done something about it through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It's an amazing rescue story, and the thing that I love about this story is that not only did Bartimaeus get to a place where he was convinced Jesus could help him, he recognized that Jesus was close enough to ask him. And there comes a point in all of our lives where we realize these two things for ourselves. God really is interested in us. He really does love us, and he wants to be a [00:18:00] part of our lives. And the second thing that he's close enough for us to ask him, he is right there with us. It's amazing, right? So Barty Maus does what he has always done, okay? He begs only this time, he cranks up the volume, he turns it right up, he starts to cry out. Uh, son of David have mercy on me because he realizes the truth of the idiom. If you do what you have always done, you'll get what you've always got. And I regularly need to relearn this lesson. I dunno about you. Maybe it's just me. I regularly need to relearn it. So, uh, thank you bot me for teaching it. So let's carry on reading. Uh, here. Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out. All the more son of David have mercy on me. Wow. Now this I find, you know, mind [00:19:00] blowingly interesting. Uh, the crowds, uh, that weren't paying any attention to him before, right. Are now telling him what to do. How many of you have been there? Right? If you are not making any noise, uh, people ignore you. As soon as you start making a bit of noise, people tell you to shut up. Now the Crowd has become a bunch of negative people, a bunch of energy vampires sucking what remain in life Bartimaeus has out of him. And it's incredible really how selfish this Crowd has shown themselves to be. So how did Bartimaeus deal with this? Right now you can already guess what is gonna happen in the story. Something good's gonna happen, right? So what does he do to get there? What was this blind man's unique approach to dealing with negative people? Before we get into that though, let me ask you a question. How do you deal [00:20:00] with negative people? You see, the common advice seems to be just to get rid of them. Don't be around them, confront them and get rid of them. But the rouble with this advice is, I don't think it is really. Life just doesn't happen that way, right? These people around you are possibly close to you, a friend, maybe a partner, a spouse, family members, we don't know. Uh, these are people maybe that you just can't easily get rid of, that you can't just easily kinda shut the door and say, you know what? Leave me alone. And it just seems to me that this advice of just cut them off is a bit weak. Wheeled. It's a bit cliche and could potentially be a little bit unhelpful. Uh, I don't personally think this is an alwa always a helpful strategy. Now, let's just back up a little minute here. Don't get me wrong. There are occasions where this is absolutely the right strategy, but not always. And I don't think it was on [00:21:00] this occasion for Bartimaeus. Cutting off people is extremely disempowering because what you are in effect saying is that they have more control over you. Than you have of yourself. What they are doing or saying to you, uh, is too much for you. Uh, and as a result, you cannot manage your own emotions and feelings and thoughts. Maybe we should just be better at managing our own thoughts and emotions. Just putting that out there, right? Uh, 'cause Barty Mace, he doesn't cut anyone off. He didn't get rid of the people. He couldn't, right? Uh, but neither did he do what they said. And this is important. He didn't try once get told off by the Crowd, give up and sit down. He didn't complain. If it's something that he just complain about, you kind of let them win, don't you? If you kind of complain about the negativity and that's it, and don't do anything about it, then they win. That's not what body mass does. On the contrary, he actually gets [00:22:00] louder and I see him use their negativity in a positive way. It was a challenge for his own character to be developed, to be in command of his own emotions and his own thoughts and his own feelings. Viktor Frankl, uh, said that people cannot make you think what you don't want to think. You have free will. You can choose what to think, and he knew, right? And this is important because you'll always have negative people around you. It kind of seems that Barton Mass wasn't surprised by the crowd's reaction, right? He wasn't surprised that people were being negative. Now, if you are like me, I'm always surprised by how negative people can actually be, including myself sometimes, but maybe just maybe all of those hard days, all of those weeks, by the roads begging, maybe all of the slurs, all of the insults and the reactions that he had to face. Maybe in those moments, [00:23:00] Bartimaeus had developed the ability to push back, push past what they wanted of him, and focused on what was right to do that. In that suffering, there was learning, and Bimas learned this, and he stood his ground. Standing your ground, I think is the hardest place to be if you are not used to enforcing your own boundaries and standing up for yourself. Now it doesn't. This doesn't make you a bad person. There's no guilt or shame here when you stand up to these things. Right? You don't always have to explain yourself. 'cause I mean, this is where the negativity, the manipulators and controllers can start to try and manipulate us with guilt, right? And so we have to be aware of that. Uh, but barima kind of seems to push his way through it, doesn't he? It was something, uh, that he had done every day for years, was sat by that roadside, yet now, this was his moment and I've gotta respect [00:24:00] that, right? He seized his opportunity. He took his moment, and he stood, uh, he stood his ground. He used their negativity in a positive way. Shouted louder because maybe just maybe if the Crowd could hear him, Jesus could hear him. Maybe this is what he's thinking. And this seemed to be a risk that he was willing to take. And it's important, uh, that we see this, right? It's important to see what Bartimaeus did do. Um, but we can also look at what he didn't do and learn from that as well. When dealing with negative people, he didn't try and fix them, you know, the famous Coldplay song, he didn't try and get them to change. He didn't even try and tell them they were wrong. He didn't put them down. He didn't belittle them. He didn't minimize them. No, he leveled himself up. And that is what changes the world. I think negative people become energy vampires when we try and fix them, when we [00:25:00] try and correct them. And this is an almost impossible fight. And it becomes, well, it becomes exhausting, doesn't it, if you know what I mean. You, you will have been around negative people. You would've, you would've experienced this, right? So here's my final point, uh, about negative people. We've all been one. We've all been that jerk in the Crowd. That became all about how bad it is and why we shouldn't do it, and why we should, why you should keep quiet in a lot of ways. I find it easier to identify with the Crowd, to go along with the consensus of how bad it all is than I do with Bartimaeus. And we should remember this. When we're faced with a Crowd of negative people, empathize, what's the story as we like to ask? What is going on? What battles are they facing? What challenges are they going through? Compassion can work when you just dig into their story. Just [00:26:00] don't own their negativity. But we can try and understand. And when I've been in the negative Crowd, usually. If I'm honest, I think I'm being helpful and insightful right now. For many people, being negative is a habit and probably could be how they were raised or because they've been through something really painful. Um, so we have to accept where they're at. We just don't have to own it. They're not our responsibility. Does that make sense? Uh, it's called boundaries. Uh, a few weeks ago, Sharon actually made reference to a book called Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud. I would strongly recommend you read that if you deal with negative people on a regular basis. So let's get back to Barima. Let's be like Barima. Let's step up our game and level up. Okay. Let's have that thinking as we carry on reading. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called well. If there [00:27:00] is one verse in the Bible that should absolutely be memorized, it's this one. When you think about what is actually happening here, it is shocking. I think it's quite shocking. Here is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us heading in a certain direction. He's seemingly unaware of the suffering around him, but somehow in the midst of all the noise, in the midst of all the hustle and the bustle of the Crowd, Jesus hears Bartimaeus. I don't know if Jesus heard Bartimaeus before. The Crowd warned him to be quiet. It seems to me that when everything was telling Bar MAs to shut up and give up, he pressed in. He leveled up, and as a result of that, Jesus hears him and Jesus stops. Jesus stops. He stops what he is doing. Now, for years, Bartimaeus would've been wondering where God was, whether or not [00:28:00] he had God. Were you even interested in his prayers? Right? What is going on? But now in that instance, Jesus stops and knows everything that is happening. Dawn always follows a dark night. And how many times have we missed out on the things that God has had for us? Because we didn't level up when our opportunity was there. How many well-meaning friends and work colleagues have talked us out of the very things that God has for us? Now, don't get me wrong, I think there is grace in all of this. Uh, there is. Thank God there is grace. Uh, 'cause I need it. You know what I'm convinced though, that Jesus would've kept walking. Had Barty Maeu not cried out all the more, had he done what the Crowd had asked him to do, but I think God wanted to be involved here. It wasn't an accident that Jesus was there the same time Barty. Maeu was begging by the road, but Barty Maeu actually had a [00:29:00] part to play in the story. He wasn't passive. And I read this and I think, God forgive me for all the times I have let you walk past. Thank you for the grace. You know, all those times you have engineered something to happen, something great. And I didn't see it and I didn't say anything. Thank you. The is Christ. Because Jesus stops and calls him, and this is an. For me, this is an incredible analogy for our lives, right? A picture of what happens when, for whatever reason, someone cries out to God, have mercy on me. This is what happened to me when I was 18. I thought I was in a good place in life. I was traveling. I had a place at uni all secured. I was doing stuff I'd only dreamed of. But in the midst of it, I realized that Jesus was actually near to me and I needed to ask him for mercy to forgive me, to heal me, to help me live my best life. And when I did, he stopped and he called me.[00:30:00] It's one of the most remarkable verses in the Bible. I just would really love, love to spend more time on this honestly and get in it. But we've got the rest of the story to read, so let's crack on. So then they called the blind man saying to him, be of good cheer rise. He is calling you. Now, do you read that like I do and think, oh my goodness, how fickle is that Crowd? Right? The very people that warn him to be quiet are now saying, be of good cheer. The people that were against him are now for him because he is leveled up and he's starting to move forward. Now, sometimes some of your biggest critics become your biggest fans when they see all of the good things that God is doing in your life. We don't need to fix negative people. We don't need to correct them. We just need our actions to speak for us, and that's what happens in this story. So what did Bartimaeus do after [00:31:00] Jesus called him? And after the Crowd says, be of good cheer, it says here, and throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. Of course he did, right? He is now excited. Life seems to be turning, but notice he is still blind. He is still a beggar. He still has all of his problems. Nothing has changed except that Jesus has called him and Bar Mayers had to accept that call. He had to get up. Jesus didn't come to him. It's incredible, really, which is, I mean, think about it, right? You could view this as being harsh. This was a blind guy. How did he know where to go? It wouldn't have been easy or straightforward. Now, maybe the people that were previously trying to hold him down are the very people that are now guiding him. I don't know, but just because you hear the call of God and. You accept. [00:32:00] It doesn't instantly make life all plain sailing. There are still problems to overcome. If you were addicted to porn and you have come to Christ, you still have to deal with that addiction. If you are blind, you are still blind, and things may seem a little bit more complicated too. Sitting by the road for Bartimaeus was what he was used to. It wasn't a great life, but he was used to it. Now, Jesus has called him to step up and to step out of that comfort zone, and Bartimaeus does, and he does it without question and without hesitation. I love this guy, right? He's my kind of guy. He is one of my heroes of faith. He throws aside his garment, he rises and he gets to Jesus. So then what happens? So Jesus answered and said to him, what do you want me to do for you? Oh my goodness. I mean, oh my goodness. [00:33:00] What a question. What a question. Surely Jesus knows the answer to this question. Surely, if Jesus is God, he would've heard the thousands and thousands of prayers that bar to mass and even his family would've prayed over the years. Surely God knows what we need. Well, of course he does. Right? The Bible tells us that very fact. Jesus tells us this very truth. In fact, in Matthew, uh, chapter six, verse eight is he, Jesus says, your Father talking about God knows the things that you have need of before you ask him. So why did Jesus ask Barima his question, especially if he already knew? Now for me, the answer is pretty clear. Jesus wasn't asking for his sake. He was asking for Bartimaeus sake. He wanted Bartimaeus to be clear, to have clarity. How many [00:34:00] times have you prayed for God to help you to do something? But when you sit and think about it, it's the most vague Prayer you have ever prayed. I do this all the time, right? I don't think this phase has got at all. I don't, but more often than not, for me, the prayers that seem to be answered the quickest are the prayers that are most specific. That's not because God needs the clarity, it's because I need it. Right? The lesson here, be really, really clear what you are asking from God. Be clear what you want God to do. Spend the time to gain the clarity that you need. And this is, sorry, this is true. Not just in Prayer, but in work, in life, in everything. Unmet expectations are a big problem for us, right? And they come about because we have not been clear with people. It's one of the most powerful truths for our relationships. Happy relationships are [00:35:00] born out of clarity. Be really, really clear. So let's carry on. The blind man said to him, rabbi, that I may receive my sight. Well, of course it is. This is what he wants. He wants to see. He has that clarity. And so then Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. Wow. I mean, just, wow. Okay. But let's think about, uh, what got Barton Mayers to this point? Number one, the years of endure hardship and unfairness. Number two, the hearing of Jesus. Number three, be Jesus being near him. Number four, ask him for help. Number five, he dealt with the negative energy sucking vampires that wanted to keep him down. Number six, he leveled up and pressed in. Number seven. He caused Jesus to [00:36:00] stop and call him. Number eight, he rose up and went to Jesus even though he was still blind. Number nine, he was clear with himself and with Jesus on what he wanted. And number 10, then. Then that's the scripture. He had to go through all of this, this whole big long checklist, and then Jesus said to him, for barima, as with all of us, there is a journey that we take. There are trials and there are tests, there are sufferings, there are opportunities in front of us. There are battles. There are people that will help us, and people that try and keep us down, and you can see why this blind man is a hero of mine now, right? He did all of that and he got the miracle that he needed. The miracle that only God could bring. We all need these things. There are things that society has, that life has there. There are relationships, there are values, there are principles, there's [00:37:00] doctors, schools, there's opportunities, there's work, but there are struggles and there are hardships. But you know what? In spite all of life, all of that, all of what life has to offer, there are only things that God can supply. He is the only one who can open our eyes. He is the only one who can open our hearts to the truth that he is indeed near and that he's indeed calling us, and that he does indeed love us and care for us and have a plan for us. Now, you may come to Christ with a porn addiction, but he can absolutely revolutionize your heart and bring you to cleanness that you have never known before. And after we experience that, after we experience an encounter with the risen Jesus, we too will be changed. We too will start to follow him on the road because we can. Those things that held us back no longer do. He didn't have to sit by the roadside anymore. He [00:38:00] didn't have to beg anymore. He could get on that road and journey with Jesus because what was held him back is no longer holding him back. Hey, listen, I would absolutely love to know your biggest takeaway from this story. Okay? Write it in the comments below this video. It would be great to hear from you. And you know what else? I reckon you are gonna be more likely to remember that takeaway if you write it down. So pin it in the comments or put it in the comments rather than pin it in the comments. Write it in your journal. Do whatever you need to do, but definitely do write it down. God bless you. I pray for you that God would impact your life, uh, and impact you in unmistakable ways. I pray that we know his calling and that we have the courage like Bartimaeus to respond to it. So did you like that subtle transition at the end there? What did you think to that? Like I said, [00:39:00] I'd love to know your biggest takeaways. Do write them in the comments below. It'd be great to hear what you've got to say about that. And, um, it was really, really interesting for me putting that talk together. I really got, I mean, I got a lot out of it. I, I hope you did too. I generally think I get more outta these talks than the people that are listening and, um, just the strategy for dealing with negative people and, you know, the energy vampires that sort of comes outta this was quite, um, was quite insightful really. But one of the things that I mentioned in the talk. And it was kind of a throwaway comment. And as I was, as I was putting the talk together, um, I didn't really think it through, uh, was this, if you come to Jesus, I can't remember how I said it, but if you come to Jesus with a porn addiction, guess what? You still have to deal with that porn addiction after you've come to Jesus. But he can absolutely help you deal with that. He can, he can break that hold over you and the power of that, um, in remarkable ways, right? And so I, I made this comment during the [00:40:00] teaching and then I came across a guy called Jack who shared his story, and we can share it with you now. So I wanna share with you Jack's story around this whole thing to do with porn and porn addiction and how God set him free from that. So let's, let's watch his story, shall we? Jack: I was 14 years old when I had my first real experience of pornography. I thought I shouldn't be doing this. But sometimes that's, that's what that kind of plays into the excitement, but, and it builds the excitement, like, oh, this is wrong, this is naughty, but I'm, I'm kind of enjoying it at the same time. And I was taking any opportunity that I could, uh, rushing home from school at the end of the day to make sure I was the first one home, [00:41:00] uh, making sure that I was up late after other people. Uh, at that point we had one family computer. Uh, there were no smartphones, no tablets, uh, and so we had, we had a, a PC in a study, uh, and had a glass door, but we hadn't coats on the back of the door. So, so it was kind of like, uh, the, the potential for accountability whilst also providing up the utmost privacy is kind of the irony of that. My waking thoughts were dominated by it replaying images that I'd seen or thinking ahead to the next opportunity that I would have to get in front of the computer. Uh, and I would sort of keep images where I could access them at other points in the day as well. Um, try and hide those, uh, because I, that was just what I thought about. When's the next time I can look at this? I, I have no doubt that it was an [00:42:00] addiction because of the way it affected my daily life. I wasn't functioning the same as I used to do. I started taking more risks as well. So it was no longer just when I was on my own in the house. My brother caught me. Uh, he's about just over a year older than me. I just raged at him for invading my privacy, you know, and I had no right to speak to him the way that I did. And actually, I'm not that sort of person either. I, I've never been given to fit of rage. I don't shout. My character had changed in some way, uh, as a result of, I, I felt cornered in that moment. Uh, and I was frightened that my brother was gonna go and tell my parents what I'd been doing. Such a stark change in my character. Uh, it's one of the unexpected effects of looking at porn. The three years that I spent really struggling with this in my [00:43:00] life, I could have done with having shared it with somebody. Uh, so when I talk to people about this, I'm so strong about accountability with people. Finding somebody that you trust that you can talk to who's not gonna judge you, is, is not gonna have a go at you about it. But who will, uh, help you to make a change in your life, who will ask you the difficult questions. And at the same time as all of this was going on, I was still going to church every week, still belonging to a Christian family, still believing the stuff that I'd been taught growing up about who God is. Uh, so I went through this cycle over a period of a couple of years of going to church, feeling really guilty, uh, and saying to God on that Sunday, right, that's it, I'm stopping now. And I would go home and I would, I would delete a bunch of stuff or everything that I had, um, but it wouldn't be long before [00:44:00] I went back to it. And I just couldn't seem to break out of that cycle of guilt, deleting. Returning and in guilt again. And it just kept going round and round and round. And as the years went by, I just became more and more desperate, more and more aware of the fact that I couldn't break that cycle on my own. I was 17 years old and it'd been probably about three years that I'd been struggling with my issues with porn. And we went to a youth camp called Soul Survivor. People would give talks about God. I'm sure it was good. Like the stuff that he was saying, there was some truth in there. Uh, but he shouted out over the Crowd, there's something on you. God can see it. And I can see it like there were about 10,000 young people there. He wouldn't have just picked out me. But I was really scared in that moment because I [00:45:00] knew that there was something on me. And he asked for people to respond by standing. If they wanted somebody to pray for them for, uh, any addictions that they had or eating disorders or things of that nature. And I said, God, I can't do this on my own. I need you to do something. Jesus in that moment completely set me free from the addiction that I'd experienced. And not only that, but in those 12 years since he's been showing me that there's a better way of living, I wrote a book, which is called a Better Kind of Intimacy. Uh, and the aim of the book really is to, to help people to discover what I discovered through my experience. That my ultimate value is in him, that I'm loved by him, I'm his child, uh, and that he made me on purpose. [00:46:00] And I don't need to be looking anywhere else. For that value because it's made perfect in Jesus. Matt: What a great story, uh, from Jack that is, and uh, I appreciate him sharing that and sharing that on video. And, uh, like I say, when I made that sort of throwaway comment and then came across that video, I thought I just wanted to share that because. I dunno, I just wonder if that was meant for somebody who's watching this stream, who's watching this broadcast. Um, whether you are Christian or whether you are not a Christian. I don't think it really makes too much difference, but I think, um, porn is such a problem and in our society and it causes such problems. I mean, we'll get into this in, in future, uh, talks. I've no doubt in future content. So, um, so yeah, I think if that's for you, take heart, God sees what's going on and he cares and he wants to set you free. That I [00:47:00] have no doubt. What's Matt put here? Brave Jack. Indeed. He was. So, uh, I hope that's, I hope that's helpful for somebody. Anyway, what I wanna do now is I'm just gonna play a song, a worship song, and the song is called, uh, what's the song called Today in Christ Alone. Um, uh, no, it's not When I survey, get the Right one Met. Uh, look at your notes. So we're gonna do the song when Ive, which John Anna Grace have done for us. Um, JAG, uh, did for us, and just gonna sing this song. And the song talks about a guy who is just thinking about and looking at the cross of Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus. And you kind of hear his heart in this whole story as he, as this sort of song unfolds with the verses. And, um, and just listen to what's going on. Right? And remember the context for what we've been looking at today. We've been looking at how this blind guy had to deal with [00:48:00] negative people, a guy who had suffered and struggled all of his life, had his life changed in an instance, uh, with Jesus and. To do that. He had to go through some more stuff, some more trials, and he had to deal with these negative people. And as he did, as he did that there was this miracle and his life changed. And with Jack there was the similarities and the stories, there was the struggles and there was the guilt, and there was the shame and the not known and the going, and the trying and the not, and going back and forth. But in an instant, Jesus changes his life. And that's the story of Christianity. You know, on our own, we don't have the strength, we don't have the ability to do these things. Um. It's easy to be the victim. It's easy, not necessarily to get what we need, but you know what? In an instant, Jesus can change everything. And so that's what this song is about. It's about looking at the cross of Christ because fundamentally we all need him to intervene in what's [00:49:00] going on, right? So especially when we're dealing with negative people at energy vampires. And so I am gonna play this if you are new to the stream, if you're new to the Christian faith and you're not used to worship pink. It is totally fine. Just read the words as they come up. Just let the song, uh, sort of, uh, we use this phrase, minister to you. Just let this song, uh, sort of speak to you. Just listen to the words, listen to the music, and just try and picture what's going on as this song happens. If you can sing out loud, great. If that's gonna cause some problems, um, then obviously just sit and praying. Be quiet and contemplate however you wanna do worship. The cool thing is, wherever you are, you can do that however you like. There's no expectation, right? Uh, so we're gonna worship God. Just think about the story. Just think about bimas, think about the cross of Christ. Think about Jack's story and right in the comments, your biggest takeaways. I'd love to hear them. Uh, and I'll be back after the song has finished. So let's bring on the worship.[00:50:00] When I un, which the glory and my.[00:51:00] Of Christ, my God. I down to.[00:52:00] See from his head, so, and.[00:53:00] I thank you for Thank you. I thank you. Cross. Thank you. Thank you.[00:54:00] So divine. I thank you for the cross. I thank you for the cross. I thank you for the cross. I thank you. Thank [00:55:00] you, thank you. I love you for the, I love you for the, I love you for the, I love you for the I. Wow, what a great track that is. What a great song. So, [00:56:00] uh, I hope you, uh, managed to connect with God through the worship. You know, that's the plan, that's the aim. That's what we want to do. Uh, and uh, I just, I just love that song. It's like I said in the comments, it's one of my favorite songs ever. Ever fact. Full stop. So, um, it's a beautiful song and talks about the amazing thing that Jesus did for us, uh, and still does for us, even to this day. Oh, and look at this. It's also one of Matt's favorite songs as well, which is good. So, um, we share the same name, we share the same taste in music. Matt, who knew? Uh, right. So let's have a look at some of the comments you've put in here, some of your comments. So what Sharon put, Jesus stopped bar because bar mayor's call from God listens to my voice. That's true. So, um, like I said, for me when I was doing this study, I said to you, this is one of the verses I think we have to memorize, because fundamentally, yeah. The, the direction of Jesus changed [00:57:00] because of the voice of Barima. And Jesus stopped. I just, it's a head record whenever I think about it. You know, it just, it blows my head. It blows my mind. And it's absolutely fascinating that, uh, that happened. And, um, but it, it, I dunno how old Bartimaeus was at this point in his life. Let's say he was 20 years old. Right? Um, so for 20 years old, for 20 years, nothing had sing. Seemingly had happened. He'd maybe had prayed, he'd, people had prayed for him. He'd maybe been to church, he'd maybe been, or the synagogue he'd Do, you know what I mean? There's all this sort of stuff that would've happened, but nothing seemed to work yet. One day it just instantly changed 'cause he didn't give up. It was just fascinating. And God heard his voice. Uh, I just, yeah, I agree with you. Uh, babe, I, I think that's, um. That's a very profound statement, and God listens to my voice. We were talking about this in the car on the way home from Edinburgh, [00:58:00] uh, about having a voice and um, God hearing that and, and so on and so forth, which is cool for me. One of the things that I, I put there in the comments, one of my biggest takeaway, I called him Bart. I shortened it by, I'm sorry, I don't mean to be, uh, discourteous, but, but one of the biggest takeaways for me in this story with Bimas was, um, you know, Jesus was there. Bimas can hear him and it's like, oh, this is amazing. But it's like he still had to deal with the negative people first. He still had this little trial to overcome. And, um, and I just put here, when I look back over life, I see that just before something amazing happened, there were people or events that tried to stop it from happening. I, and I've put there that it's actually uncanny. And the more I think about it, the more uncanny it actually becomes. And so that's not to say every time I meet a negative person, I'm now gonna take [00:59:00] that as a sign as, oh, I wonder what amazing thing is gonna happen tomorrow here if I push through. Uh, but it's not a bad way to think. Do you know what I mean? If I level up here, if I do the right thing, if I deal with this in the right way, what's gonna happen? What good thing is gonna happen as a result of that? Uh, and it's, um, it's, it's just one of those, right? What else have we got here? Uh, so Matt's uh, Matt's uh, withdrawing his love of the same music, uh, as long as they're not ancient as, from what I understand. I dunno what this is why you call him mediation. One, he's, he's the ancient of days, isn't he? That's the name of Jesus. Better. He has it than me. Right. Let me give you some notices. Let's round up the service and we'll just close with some notices if I can. Number one notice is next Sunday, we are starting the walks again. So if you are in Liverpool and you are [01:00:00] around, then at 11:00 AM next week, we will be doing a walk. We will be meeting in the mystery car park. Uh, the, the, uh, the sports center, what's it called? Wavertree Aquatic Center, I think is the posh name for it. The swimming pool in Wavertree. There's a car park just outside of the mystery, the park there, and we meet there and we're, we'll just wander around the park for an hour. Um, so if you want to come join us, feel the freedom will be there at 11 o'clock. Uh, so the walks are starting again next week. Also, what we'll start next week are the zoom. Calls. So if you would like to, uh, come and join us after the service, um, and get involved in the Zoom, uh, then you are more than welcome. Um, between Sundays, uh, we'll also be back next week. I'm gonna play the Catchup video in just a minute. I've got a text message here from my beautiful wife reminding me. Thank you babe. 'cause I did forget, I dunno why I forgot. Uh, but we have got the Catchup video, but before we do that, lemme just tell you next week we have [01:01:00] the, uh, invincible. John Harding speaking. Uh, and then in two weeks, uh, two weeks after that, so three weeks day, we then have the amazing Jack Marr. Hopefully he's gonna be, be speaking as well. So we've got some great people coming up. Uh, so do stay connected, uh, with what's going on. And if you wanna know more details about the walk, if you wanna know more details about what's coming up, like I said at the start, head on over to the website, Frontline City. Uh, scroll to the bottom of the homepage, fill in that little form, and we will email you the newsletter out once a week. So let's do Catchup. Let's find out what Josh has been up to and what others have been up to as well. Josh: Hello and welcome to this week's Sunday up. Now I know what you're thinking, Josh. Where is the fancy coffee making video? Well, the reason there wasn't that lovely little montage this week is because I have moved. For [01:02:00] those of you who dunno me, my name is Josh Edmundson. I am a first year student at the University of St. Andrews, and I'm a core member of the team at Frontline City. This week I have been very busy getting everything ready to move to university, and now I'm finally here, which is all very well and good. In fact, here are some little clips from that journey and from being here. As you can see, it's a lovely little place, uh, way up in Scotland, kind of in the middle of nowhere to be honest. Um, but it is a lovely, lovely place and I'm looking forward to spending the next few years studying over here. For those of you who have not watched this before, catch up, is that part of the stream where we get to [01:03:00] watch the videos sent in by members of the community? So we will get to see what each other have been up to throughout the week. Here are this week's videos, Matt: so we're back here again at bar burritos just like we were last week. 'cause no other restaurants sponsor us this week, are they? No, they're very disappointed. Yeah. Taking a bench of the final day of the, uh, the meal out. So. Josh: Great. Thank you very much for sending all those in. If any of you want to send in a video, please do. I love seeing what you've been up to. I love watching your videos. Send them to the WhatsApp number that you'll have seen throughout this service on the stream. [01:04:00] I'm sure again, my dad, Matt Edmundson, will quite happily point out that number to you later on. But that's all for me this week. I hope you have a fantastic time and I will catch you next time. Matt: Very good. Thanks for doing that, Josh. He, he wangled that out this morning, bless him his first day, uh, in Halls and he is still doing the Catchup videos. So, uh, much, much appreciation to Josh, but he is still gonna be doing Catchup. Uh, I love the fact he's still gonna be involved in city. Um, he's gonna be doing a pod, which we're gonna be talking about more of that soon actually. So a little might change your name from Pod, but there's a, there's an idea coming, uh, which we're gonna share with you soon, which I'm super excited about. So make sure you stay connected with that. As Josh said in the video, use this number here, uh, in the corner, this one right here, um, to send your videos in the Catchup videos. You know what, we all love to watch the catchup section, [01:05:00] but nobody sends the videos in. It's the hardest thing to do is to get people to send them in. Uh, and Josh is continually tearing his hair out. Um, so do send in the catchup videos. We would love it if you could do that, that would be awesome and fantastic. Uh, and it was great to see that cartwheel. I think that now qualifies, uh, to be probably the worst one that I've seen. Sorry, Jake. Just is, uh, but you know what? Mine wasn't that good either, but at least I had a go. And if you've been watching the chat, me and Matt have been, you know, I've been asking Matt where his cartwheel is and apparently he says he's gonna do one in heaven. I'm like, uh, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. So you know you can do one now. Just saying hashtag, just saying. Uh, so wonderful to have so many of you join us today. Thanks for, uh, participating in service. Thanks for your comments. Thanks for your prayers and your kindness. Uh, like I say, next week, we are back doing all the other stuff that we normally do, like the [01:06:00] walks and the zoom calls and all that sort of good stuff. And if this has been your first time with us, thanks for joining us. Do join us again next week. Every Sunday, 4:00 PM we do the live stream right here on Facebook or on the website. Uh, you can watch and join in. It's always great to see you. We upload this to YouTube afterwards. So if you're watching this and it's not live, you're watching the non live version, either on Facebook or YouTube. Big shout out to you. Come and join us live. Come and join in the comments. Uh, and as Matt just put here, uh, remain blessed everyone. Absolutely. So, uh, have a great week. We will see you, uh, next Sunday at 4:00 PM and have a good week. Bye for now.