"Who do you say that I am?"

John

Mark 10:46–52 NLT

Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.

Hello Everyone! I hope that you are all having a good time tonight and that you are enjoying Blackout!

We started Blackout 4 years ago kind of by accident and it grew into one of the biggest things we do at FBCJ with the youth ministry each year. When I ask what comes to mind when I say the word Blackout most the students in our church automatically say things like: games, glow sticks, black light, and pizza. The truth is that Blackout is about much more than that though.

Blackout is designed around two fundamental ideas: Light and Darkness. These are ideas that are so familiar to us that we don’t even think about them. Let me give you an example: “When I get home tonight it will be well after midnight. I’ll unlock my garage door and walk in and guess what the first thing I am going to do is? (turn on a light) Right, because like most people’s my garage is a death trip in the dark. Its filled with sharp tools and lots of things you don’t what to step on in the dark.

We take darkness for granted too. We all know form our time living on this earth that when we leave Blackout tonight that it is going to be dark outside. We know that we are going to have to cut our headlights on so that we ca drive home. Light and darkness are expected and normal to us so we are used to these things and we take the ideas for granted.

But think about this: “What if you had never seen light before? What if you had no concept of what light actually was?” What would it be like to only know darkness?

Check out this video....

Play video: “Who do you say that I am?”

Message: The story of Bartimaeus

The video you just saw and the passage I just read to from the Bible are the story of a man named Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was blind. Think about this: he had never seen light but he was only used to darkness.

The verses we read tells us that Jesus and his disciples had crossed the Jordan river and that they were approaching a city called Jericho. Jericho is this time and place was a really happening place. It was a really wealthy city and at this time it was really busy because a festival called the Passover was going on.

In this story we come across Bartimaeus sitting beside a busy road and lots do people are passing by. Now remember that he is blind so even through he can’t see what is going on he can hear it really well. I imagine it would be like standing by the wall in your school and closing your eyes and listening as classes were changing. He would hear lost of different conversations, laughter, maybe arguments sometimes, but he was never in the action - because he could not see - he was always guessing what was going on around him.

WE dinf Bartamaeus sittign on the

On this day things were louder that normal. He could since that something big was about to happen. Bartimaeus starts to ask around - “Hey do you know what’s gong on, hey what’s all the excitement for, what’s happening?”

Someone tells him it’s Jesus of Nazareth. He’s coming this way? Bartimaeus has heard of Jesus before. He probably knew about him healing people, feeding people, and he probably knew that Jesus was very popular.

So here we have Bartimaeus, someone who is used to begin quiet, someone who is used to begin in the background, someone who is used to begin out of the loop of current events stand up and start shouting. He shouts: “Jesus, Son of David, Have mercy of me! The people around start to get aggravated and try to quiet him down, but he shouts even louder: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

He catches Jesus attention. Jesus calls for him to be brought over - remember he could not see to get there himself.

Jesus asks him a question: “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus says: “My Rabbi (teacher), I want to see.”

Jesus tells him, “God your faith has made you well.” Bartimaeus, who once was blind could now see.

Imagine what it was like for Bartimaeus when light first shown through his eyes. Imagine the brightness of the world he saw for the first time. All the things like colors, and shapes and the way a persons face looks would have been completely new to him.

Light and darkness…The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the light of the world and that without Jesus the very best you and I can do is to live in spiritual darkness.

Life is hard. I know that you guys and girls have to deal with so much in this life. You face so much pressure form the world around you (school, peers, parents, media, this worlds ideas of success and joy)… and so many people claim to have all the answers. You may even try some of these answers or ideas but in the end they just leave you feeling disappointed, and empty.

Sometimes our lives feel like we are wondering around in the darkness. Jesus says to us, that “He is the Light of the world.” You see we live in darkness because of something called sin. People don’t really like the word sin, it makes us feel guilty and we want to do everything we can to live however we want sand not feel any guilt about our choices, words, and actions.

The Bible tells us a different story though - it tells us that our sin has separates us form God. That because of the sin in our lives we live in darkness.

This is what Backout is all about. Even though we may be living in darkness, even through we may be used to this darkness that it feels normal to us - we do not have to stay in the dark. Why? - because Jesus in the light of the world.

Admit - that we have sinned against God

Believe - That Jesus isn God’s Son and that he died on the cross for our sins

Confess - Our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

This is what we want to share wit you tonight and we are going to give you a opportunity to do this. Let me ask everyone to close their eyes and keep them closed. This is a moment between you and God.

Time of Commitment...

Faith on Jesus Christ

Recommit life of Jesus Christ

Pray for me for things I am going through in life