Jesus Is Calling For You

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. We are finishing July. We are also finishing our series today, Simply Jesus, 22 weeks in this. Did you realize that? 22 weeks. We've been going through the Gospel of Mark. And you might go like, wait a minute, but we're not at the end of the Gospel of Mark. You're right, we're not. But we are at the end of Jesus' public ministry, at the end of chapter 10. This is the last event before he enters Palm Sunday into Jerusalem and the last week of his life, his death, his resurrection. And we kind of covered those out of order back at Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. So, I know I'm fudging it a bit, but we're going to finish. And next week, we're going to start a new series on the book of 2 Corinthians. And why don't we watch that short little intro video again. I'm amazed at the book of 2 Corinthians, the more I read it, the more I've been preparing for it, how Paul just opens up his heart, his struggles, in a very profound and deep way. What I've been noticing in our culture and our society is the last thing you ever want to be anymore is vulnerable, open. No, no, no, no. You shut down. You just keep your guard up. You become part of a group and you just toss those verbal grenades at somebody else. Right? That's the way it's been. And yet, if you keep your guard up all the time, who's ever going to get close to you? Right? If you keep your guard up all the time and look powerful and strong, who are you going to ever care about? And Paul opens up his heart and shows such amazing intimacy of knowing these Corinthians and the agony he goes through. But I'm really looking forward to this. This is something we all need. It's something I struggle with. I don't know about you. Pastors have to, quote, not be perfect, but close to it. If we show weaknesses, ooh, that's not a good thing. Notice, the churches that grow faster are the ones that talk about strength and victory and success all the time. So, it's a struggle for us all. Paul just does not let us off the hook, though, no matter who we are. So, we'll be doing that. But this week, we're going to finish off the series on the Gospel of Mark with this short miracle story, discipleship story. It's kind of both. It's the second time in the Gospel of Mark that Mark records a healing of a blind man. And this time, he is named Bartimaeus, which means son of Timaeus. And the question is, in this whole story, it's so short, and in a sense, it's so vivid. We know it was an actual account. I mean, not just an actual account, but an eyewitness story. I mean, to name the character in it means basically the early church knew who Bartimaeus was. In fact, he probably became one of the first disciples after the resurrection in that Pentecost time period, all that stuff. I mean, we've got it. Often, when Mark names names, he's doing it kind of like research footnotes. He's basically telling you, hey, I'm writing this gospel. If you really want to check out to make sure I'm telling you the truth, the dude's alive. Just check it with him. I mean, they had no other way to do it in those days. And yet, at the same time, the way Mark writes this story, it's very stylized. He uses a number of phrases that are typical throughout. He kind of does that to say, hey, it's not just about Bart. It's also about you. So we're going to be looking at that. So do you see who Jesus is? Simply see Jesus. Now, what we find out is the crowds don't see it at all. And in fact, the disciples don't seem to have a clue either. And this is what's fascinating about the gospel of Mark. It's the simplest gospel. And yet at the same time, as Mark presents Jesus simply, he does it in such a profound way. There are only two healings of blind men in this. The first one occurred a few chapters earlier, right before Jesus asks the question to his disciples. Who do you say that I am? And they get it wrong. Peter, well, he says you're the Messiah, but then Peter rebukes Jesus and Jesus has to rebuke Peter. And that healing of a blind man then was in two stages. Which is the oddest miracle. OK, first, it's like he sees partly and then he sees fully. And it's the two questions that Jesus asks back then. Who do others say that I am? They only get me partly. Who do you say I am? Do you get and see me clearly? Then three times between that healing and this healing, Jesus predicts that he is going into Jerusalem to be rejected, to be handed over and to be crucified and rise again. And the three times he says that, the disciples three times totally missed the boat. Last week we saw one of them. And because it happens and they go, hey, I want to be number one and I want to be number two. Remember that James and John's The Sons of Thunder? Jesus had just predicted he was going to die. And that's what they want to talk about. The other time they were complaining about who's the greates...