What do you want?

Good morning everyone watching on line welcome to Restore church.

Before we start this morning we are going to pray, & then we shall do some announcements.

Pray:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Announcements:

Next week is Easter weekend We will have a live service on Good Friday & Easter Sunday, normally we would have the Good Friday fun day after the service on Friday but obviously in the circumstances we can’t meet physically but watch this space.

The Church is still operating the soup kitchen Monday’s, Tuesdays, Thursdays & now we have taken on the ctib soup kitchen on saturdays, during covid19 & so we are looking for volunteers so we can make sure the most vulnerable in our society are fed, church also gets donations from supermarkets & on those days we make up food boxes & deliver to those that we can. & we are part with covid19 throughout Lincolnshire where we are asked if we can pick up people’s shopping or prescriptions who are in high risk group or self isolating, so we need volunteers, it can be day or evenings.

We are going to take up our offering now, now i know we can’t physically put it in the buckets here at the building, well unless you want to post it to church which some have done over the past couple of weeks, you can give on line straight into the bank, you could set up a direct debit, here are the bank details you need to do that or you could download the churchsuite app there is a link on the email i sent out to people 2 weeks ago and you can set u your giving on there, if you haven’t had an email it will be because we have not got it please message the church your email address & we will add it. so when you are ready while the music plays please make your offering.

Te

So we are in the last couple of weeks of Jesus life here on Earth, He is on a journey to Jerusalem & is just leaving Jericho on the last leg of that journey, He knew what was about to happen, what is in front of Him.

Jesus was on the last leg of the journey, nothing could stop Him doing what he needed to do, that only he could do.

the earnestness of these 2 men was awesome, they ignored the crowd that tried to Quiet them, infact they cried out even more.

The 2 blind men were persistent, the earnestness of these 2 men was awesome, the crowd had tried to shut them down, telling them to be silent infact they cried out even more. but they heard it was Jesus passing by, they knew this might be their last chance to meet Jesus. They had the desperation appropriate for those who know that today is the day of salvation,

Clarke “When the world & the Devil begin to rebuke , in this case it is proof that the salvation of God is nigh, therefore let such cry out a great deal more”

Jesus stopped because these guys were persistent, desperate to be healed,

Jesus stopped because these guys were persistent, They got had gotten Jesus attention, they were desperate to be healed, & He came & spoke to them asking “What do you want from me”

Their minds must have been running it over, our blindness is our livelihood, we want money, do we want our sight this is the life we know. There are many sitting throughout this world on the side of the road begging, spare a thought for me” “got a few coins” “can you spare some change mate”.

They must get used to people ignoring them or smiling at them nervously or apologetically hoping that they have enough coins to make it through the day. This is the life they know; this is the life the 2 beggars in the Bible know.

They hear royalty is coming the son of David, where there’s royalty there’s money, maybe enough to get them off the street for a little while, hoping maybe one of the royal flunkies will speak to them and give them money.

But they get Jesus and he asks what do you really want.

It must have felt like an age passed as they tried to figure out what they really want. What do you really want?

You know Jesus is here, Hes right where you are now, Hes’ always there, He’s always been there just waiting for you to see Him. He’s asking what do you want, will you answer him.

The 2 Blind Beggars answer Him.

We want to see and Jesus give them vision and they follow Him.

Leaving one life behind to begin another it’s what we do when we follow Jesus.

This can happen to anyone who asks Jesus for something and finds Jesus question coming back at them finding the real question hidden away.

When you have that answer then real discipleship can start. Real discipleship is costly, following Jesus is costly.

But if Jesus has given you everything you ever needed, what else is there for you to do.

So I ask the question today.

What do you really want?

Jesus had stopped to answer a persistent plea for Mercy & Jesus asks the question “What do you want from me”.

It’s a simple question that God has never stopped asking, Jesus asked it all the time, but we don’t always give an answer, sometimes we go without when God wants to give us something simply because we will not answer this question. says “we do not have because we dot ask”

Jesus asked the question with full knowledge that these 2 men were blind, He knew what they needed & what they wanted, but God still wants us to tell Him our needs as a constant expression of our trust & reliance on Him.

What do you want?

Maybe it’s not a physical thing like these 2 men, that you can’t see at all, maybe it’s a spiritual opening of the eyes that you need, these 2 men after they were healed then just followed Jesus to Jerusalem, they weren’t asked to do it, i believe they began to see who Jesus really was. Maybe you need to see what has always been there but hidden from you.

maybe you have know He is there, He’s always been there, in your vision, He’s who you always turn to when life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would when you do it your way.

The picture you see, that’s been painted for you in the past is not a true picture, maybe it’s just a likeness of Jesus not the real one, maybe you have been seeing Jesus through a cracked lense. But i’ll ask the question again “What do you want”.

As i said before Jesus always asks questions of people throughout His ministry in he asks do you want to be healed.

John 5:7 ESV

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

John 5

The man had always assumed that you had to be the first in the pool to be healed, some think they can’t come to God unless they are perfect, but you make a wrong assumption that may have cost you time of a better life, this mans assumption had cost him 38 years, mak Batterson says that the man had become imprisoned by what he knew, but Jesus uninstalled that mistaken belief with one sentence. “stand up, pick up your sleeping mat & walk.

This man wasn’t just set free physically but also cognitively, at times faith is unlearning what we know, those things that keep us captive, Faith involves synptogenesis, it’s a rewiring of the human brain.

togenesis

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What people try to do is this, they hear of Jesus, take some of his teachings & plonk them on top of what they already know & that doesn’t work, that’s why you had people following Paul around saying that new Christians had to be circumcised.

when all you need to do is let Him into your life today.

What do i want to get across to you today.

I want you to know that He, Jesus is the answer, that it doesn’t matter what you have done, what you believe, what you think, what your circumstances are, That you can come to Him.

Pray & then communion

That you will only see who he really is by discovering who you are.