Good morning brothers and sisters welcome once again to ocean view baptist  church before we get to today’s message let’s quickly recall brother Nate sermon last Sunday where he spoke to us about the rich man who asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life but when Jesus told him to sell all that he has and give it to the poor and follow him the rich man hearing this became very sad then Jesus said where it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle and for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God then Jesus remarks that all those who have given up everything for the kingdom of God will receive many times that in this age and in the age to come eternal life now today’s sermon is on Luke chapter 18 verses 31 to 43 so we begin here in verse 31 as Jesus has finished speaking with the rich man then he took the twelve aside and said to them behold we are going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished you can almost imagine that to the disciples going to Jerusalem sounded great Passover was right around the corner so to hear that they are going to be there in time for the festivities must have sounded exciting then well their minds are possibly thinking of a nice Passover meal Jesus continues and tells him that all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished accordingly throughout biblical history the prophesies of what would happen to our Lord were written down long before Jesus had told his disciples on that particular day in fact one stark example of these early prophecies really stands out for us in Isaiah 53 verse 5 but he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed this verse tells us what will happen to our Lord many many years before it occurs and it tells us that because of our Lord’s mistreatment and suffering we will be healed of our transgressions this is what a prophecy is it’s a prediction of something that will come true in the future something that the Prophet could have only known through divine intervention but as was customary within Jewish families early predictions and teachings the most often passed down by word of mouth first before being written for instance like it is said about the teachings that were given to Moses to pass on in Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 19 you shall teach them to your son talking to them letting sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up so let’s continue while the disciples are listening to him Jesus goes on to tell them what is to happen to him when they do get to Jerusalem he gives them just a hint of the horror used to endure within mere days of their arrival now as he is talking about himself the Son of Man let’s see exactly what he says in Luke 18 verses 32 and 33 where he will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon and after they have scourge him they will kill him and on a third day He will rise again later scripture confirms the prophecy Jesus was telling his disciples here for instance like it says in Matthew 26 verse 67 then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists and others slapped him and indeed as it is written in John 19 verses 1 to 3 Jesus is treated exactly as he had told his disciples he would be Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a purple robe on him and they began to come up to him and say hail King of the Jews and to give him slaps in the face and again in John 16 verse 16 it is written that Jesus had told his disciples a little while and you will no longer see me and again a little while and you will see me my friends just picture this now our Lord is giving his disciples a powerful message a prediction of what is to come a prediction about his imminent and brutal death and the divine wonder of his resurrection the folks we can certainly realize here that Jesus is giving his disciples but a small glimpse of what will actually occur to him however what he tells them has left them bewildered and with perhaps a dumbfounded look on their faces it was not their time to understand as it tells us in Luke 18 verse 34 but the disciples understood none of these things and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them and they did not comprehend the things that were said following this they start once again up the dusty double stream road to Jerusalem and on their way they must pass through the town Jericho which is over ten miles away from the great city but as they get closer to Jericho a noisy crowd forms around them and accompanies them now a blind man by the name of bartimaeus was sitting in the heat by the road begging as he always did when he heard the uproar from the crowd and as you might know most individuals who are blind have increased hearing and so as the crowd gets closer and louder bartimaeus is curious and wants to know what all the fuss is about verse 37 he gets his answer they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by well when Bartimaeus hears this he can’t restrain himself he feels that this is the one chance to be healed and get his sight back and so in verse 38 it says and he called out saying Jesus son of David have mercy on me now bartemaeus was smart in his use of the messianic term son of David which showed that he knew Jesus was from the lineage of King David and it most likely meant that he also knew Jesus was the Messiah who’s coming had been foretold by the prophets and whose miracles were probably spoken of by those who passed by on the road to Jerusalem by asking Jesus to have mercy on him he was also showing his humbleness and he was showing his faith that Jesus had the divine authority to kill him right away the people in the crowd were getting upset with Bardem as for his outbursts and we’re trying to get him to shut up but he kept crying out all the more for Jesus to have mercy on him finally Jesus stopped and commanded that bartimaeus be brought to him when bartimaeus came close to him Jesus asked as it says in verse 41 what do you want me to do for you and he said Lord I want to regain my sight you see bartimaeus absolutely absolutely knew who Jesus was and he knew that Jesus was capable of performing a miracle on him remember he was calling Jesus the son of David and asking for His mercy brothers and sisters he believed he would be healed now picture this for a moment say for instance you are blind and you have been for many years there sitting on the side of a hot dusty road the same thing you’ve done every day begging for anything so that you can keep yourself alive then out of nowhere you hear the noise of a crowd and you hear that Jesus is passing through town I ask you would you have the courage of your belief in Jesus to shout out his name and beg him to have mercy on you the crowd could not get far demands to be quiet so no matter how embarrassing he was to them he was persistent and courageous in his belief folks this is exactly what we are to do as Christians be persistent and courageous in our belief so in verse 42 Jesus rewards bartimaeus for the strength and courage of his belief and Jesus said to him receive your sight your faith has made you well over and over and so many scriptural verses we see just how important faith is to healing for example while we were in the Book of Luke let’s take a quick look at a few of these verses like in chapter 7 verses 7 & 9 it’s the story about the Centurions servant who was deathly ill it sends some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and save his servant then that Jesus was near to the Centurions house the Centurion sent others to tell Jesus that he was not worthy for our Lord to even come under his roof he should not trouble himself further so it says here for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to Punk to you but just say the word my servant will be healed now when Jesus heard this he marveled at him and he turned and said to the crowd that was following him I say to you not even in Israel have I found such great faith then again in the next chapter of Luke chapter 8 verse 48 where a lady had suffered from severe bleeding for twelve years and no one could heal them but she had faith that even if she could just touch the fringe of our Lord’s cloak as he passed by she would be healed now after she had touched his cloak Jesus turned around and he said to her daughter your faith has made you well go in peace and then right after that while our Lord is still speaking a synagogue official had fallen at the feet of Jesus and beseech him to come and heal his only daughter she was merely 12 years old and near death but while he was waiting for Jesus to make his way through the crowd his daughter had died so in Luke 8 verse 50 it says but when Jesus heard this he answered him do not be afraid any longer only believe and she will be made well now the wonderful end to this amazing story of Bartimaeus is told to us in verse 43 immediately he regained his sight and began following him glorifying God and when all the people saw it they gave praise to God my friends this particular verse tells us that his sight is restored immediately not later that day or the next day or next week or next year the faith that Bartimaeus had in our Lord’s authority to heal them was strong enough for him to be healed immediately and to regain one sight after being permanently blind is monumental it’s not like sticking a bandaid on a small cup or getting over a cold no this was something that was virtually impossible back then but not for God were with God all things are possible now because his instantaneous healing was so miraculous bartimaeus directly began to follow our Lord and give glory and praise to the Father he recognized the hand of God then because the crowd realized what had just happened they too gave praise to God brothers and sisters isn’t this a remarkable story about faith this is about strong belief and trust in God you know in the Old Testament guys like Noah Abraham and Moses showed their exceptional faith by their absolute belief in God and his promises in the New Testament believers not only show their faith by their belief in God and his promises but they also showed their faith by staunch acceptance of the wondrous incarnation of our Lord Jesus his cruel death for our sins and his glorious resurrection now having faith doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be healed from a medical infirmity however having faith can help us to cope with or overcome the many obstacles that surface in our lives from day to day including sickness troubles with marriage troubles with money troubles with things like your vehicle breaking down or even things around the house like your roof or pipes leaking or other costly repairs that need to be done the list can go on and on so if you are struggling in your life that’s sincerely pray to God for his help and then have wholehearted faith that if it be his will your prayer is answered you see sincere faith is also a divine gift from God and it requires steadfast obedience to him and when faith is consistently practiced a spiritual change or transformation takes place within we feel act and think differently it can be gradual for some and for others it can happen immediately but the change is real your habits become good I should leave your old habits behind you feel internally stronger and you have more abundant endurance you become more of a heartfelt giver and your love for the Lord and for others grows unconditional so how do you grow in faith one might ask many of you may already know the answer but simply put you grow in faith by the daily study of the holy scripture by persistent and fervent prayer and by the ever-increasing practice of your belief and by complete trust in our Savior Jesus Christ and in our Almighty and loving father but understand this faith involves the complete us our heart our mind and our body it requires that you make a declaration of your intentions to follow the path of righteousness and a personal promise to God that you will follow his Commandments remember by practicing and increasing our faith every day we will allow more and more of the Holy Spirit to work within us and through us our faith reveals itself in our actions now if you would please join me now and closing in prayer Heavenly Father thank you for bringing us together today to hear your word thank you for giving us life thank you for giving us your son Jesus our Lord and Savior thank you for all of your wondrous creation thank you for your gracious and divine gift of faith and if it be your will we ask that you grant us the strength and endurance we need to contend with the daily struggles in our lives they asked it to grant mercy to those who are in need of your forgiveness and grant understanding to those in need of increasing their faith and pray all these things in the name of Jesus amen