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RESET: PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
We need regular resets because we just tend to drift off course.
So from time to time, even daily, certainly weekly and monthly, we need to reset, get back on course, get back to what's most important in our lives.
Because we tend to drift as human beings, but then there's times in our lives, when we need what I'd call a radical reset, everything has fallen apart.
Nothing's working nothing's happening right and you need to radically reset your life.
And this series really is for both of those kinds of resets.
Whether it's regular or it's radical, resets aren't always easy.
It just takes some energy.
It takes some time.
So I wanted to start with a promise of encouragement from the book of Psalms.
Look at Psalm 145:14.
The Bible says, "God gives a fresh start to those who are ready to quit."
We're not talking this today about something you have to do on your own energy and power.
You need to reset your life.
We're talking about something that God wants to do in your life.
We're talking about something that God wants to do in your life through his power.
God gives a fresh start to those who are ready to quit.
Even if you're ready to quit, you don't have the energy to go one more step.
As we round out this series, we’re going to look at three questions that all of us need to ask in order for a reset to happen in our lives.
We're going to learn these questions from a blind man by the name of Bartimaeus.
But when you look closer, there's something that God wants to say into our lives through these three simple questions.
1. WHERE AM I?
In order to get where I want to go I have to ask where I am and that's where Bartimaeus had to start, this basic question, where am I?
It was this great day of celebration in the city where Bartimaeus lived, city by the name of Jericho.
It was a celebration because Jesus and the disciples were coming to town and that was a pretty exciting thing in that day.
The word about Jesus was spreading, but it was also an exciting day because it was a time when all the people were coming through Jericho.
So it was one of those exciting times of the year when it's busy, it's celebrating, everybody's excited to be there.
And here's Bartimaeus in the middle of all this, he's not celebrating.
He's sitting beside the road begging because he is a blind man.
He's just sitting beside the road in the middle of this celebration.
He's begging.
In that culture if you were blind, the only way you could survive was by begging.
There was no job for you to have.
There was no way for you to support yourself.
You were totally dependent on the pity of others to give you a morsel of food so you could survive one more day.
So he's surviving on scraps of food.
Something good might be about to happen here.
So let show you what happens in Mark 10:46.
You find that Bartimaeus is sitting beside the road begging, but then by Mark 10:52, just a few verses later, he's following Jesus on the road seeing, that is a reset.
That's a total life reset.
Now, in the beginning, where am I? He's sitting beside the road.
And that is a picture of being sidelined.
His total life was sidelined.
He's sitting beside the road, all the dreams that he had for his life, they aren't happening because of his blindness.
SOMEBODY HERE TODAY IS LIKE BARTIMAEUS.
YOU ARE SIDELINED.
The events of the last few years, the events of your personal life, you're feeling sidelined.
You're not able to get on with the dreams that you have.
The way that things used to be aren't the way that things are anymore.
And you feel like life is passing you by that's this sideline feeling.
That's this sitting beside the road feeling.
Bartimaeus shows us how to get back on the road.
Bartimaeus shows us how to find a reset.
And it all starts with him recognizing where he was and asking himself, “Is this where I have to stay?”
To get to where you want to be you got to know where you are and to know where you are you got to look at the map.
And sometimes we don't look at the map.
We don't take the time to ask this question, “Where am I?” And there's a lot of reasons we don't look at the map.
Probably the number one, one is we're too busy.
We're just rushing through life and we don't take the time to look at where we really are.
We have to be willing to admit where we are.
Remember when Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden?
They had to recognize where they were.
Now, let's just slow down a second here, because this is so important.
We all struggle with this.
We need a reset when we find ourselves hiding.
So right now you need to ask yourself, where am I? Am I hiding from my past, through my denial?
Or maybe you're hiding from others through your distancing.
You're just keeping them at arm’s length all the time.
You're having lots of pity parties to tell the truth.
And you know what a pity party is.
You get all alone in a room, you pull the shade, you make it really dark.
There's usually massive amounts of chocolate involved somehow, you're having a pity party and you're pushing other people away.
It's a major tip off that you need to reset in your life.
We hide from ourselves through our distractions.
You can never be quiet, you can never have a moment to think.
You're always distracting yourself by looking at something, watching something, picking up your phone, doing something.
You need a reset.
So look at the map and ask, where am I now?
By the way, what's the map?
What are you looking at?
Well, you look to God.
God's the one who knows you the best.
So you ask in relationship with him God, where am I?
2. WHO AM I LISTENING TO?
The second question is, who am I listening to?
Who am I listening to?
Because who you listen to, what you listen to is going to have tremendous impact on the direction of your life.
Look what happened with Bartimaeus
So get this picture.
He is shouting, "Have mercy on me."
To Jesus.
And the people are shouting, "Be quiet."
Whenever you have to shout, be quiet something's probably wrong.
There's a little parenting tip in here somewhere, but that's another message.
Shouting be quiet is not working.
They're shouting at each other, but Bartimaeus doesn't listen.
And he keeps saying, “Jesus have mercy on me.”
And because he doesn't listen to the crowd, he hears the voice of Jesus.
Because he didn't listen to the crowd, Bartimaeus is in a place where he is able to listen to Jesus.
Are you listening to the crowd or are you listening to Jesus?
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