The Blind Eye of Grace

oh Lord Jesus you orchestrate every moment God you hold every moment in the palm of your hand God there is no coincidence as your spirit begins to move as your people surrender their hearts to you Lord Jesus God I I pray right now for every individual in this room those watching online God I pray that the power of your word and the power of your spirit would be heavy in their hearts God and heavy in our minds today Jesus that there be a liberty of your word God to speak that it be sharper than that two-edged sword Lord that pierces Lord to the Deep parts of our being Hallelujah Jesus Hallelujah Jesus Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Jesus Hallelujah Jesus

again I Echo Pastor sentiments if you're a guest here today joining us online we welcome you I thank the worship team and Brother Don and the music team for being so sensitive to what I feel in the spirit there's a working that we cannot even understand from the very first word that was spoken in a Sunday school class this morning every song that was sung there has been an orchestrating and a moving to this moment where God is going to speak because he's already prepared the way hallelujah hallelujah God bless you you can be seated again I I thank pastor and the Pastoral team for the opportunity to come and deliver the word but I thank most importantly God for giving me a word

you know there there's a phrase that says this and y'all probably heard it before love is somebody said it I think yall were just afraid Love is Blind love is blind and this term refers to the idea thank you brother herb refers to the idea that when someone is so deep in love that they are often oblivious to the flaws of their significant other right you know to see the validity of this statement and its accuracy in society you need only to walk through our local Walmart to see so often those coupled up there's a lot of blindness happening in love I I I see this daily as a high school teacher I I see this daily that someone that is so emotionally involved in the immediate that they become unaware or blind to the bigger picture I could even see it in this room here today as I look at the couples in this room look at your significant other one of you is blind I I I'm so thankful that Andrea fell in love with me before her blindness wore off but I often find it intriguing that where there is an emotional connection blindness often settles in

medical experts have identified several types of blindness and if you struggle with this um I'm not targeting you today I promise but I do want to be clear I am not a medical professional the doctor that I'm working on is not to be able to cut on people everybody say thank God if you've ever seen me hold anything other than a paintbrush and try to turn a screw or anything you understand the value of that but I find the varying levels and diverse onset causes uh of the blind to be very very interesting the first level is this one called visual impairment visual impairment is basically the simple impairments that interfere with the ability to function in day-to-day life it doesn't stop it it just hinders it or interferes with it things like colorblindness all my astigmatism people you know when we drive at night man it looks like the Star of Bethlehem it is very uncomfortable and interferes with our daily daily life nearsightedness farsightedness Etc it is a discomfort level of blindness it is not a stopping level of blindness that's impairment then we have low vision and low vision is described as that type of vision which cannot be treated by Professionals in other words glasses contacts surgeries Etc will do no good in other words what you see is what you will always see it could be good it could be bad but when you have that low vision and it might be a discomfort but it might be hindering and stopping of all things and the third level of it is this total blindness which means that and This only affects about 15% of the people that have some element of blindness but it means that they cannot see anything they cannot even see light total blindness and then we have the onset causes the most common being age with each passing day I realize that I've got to zoom in further and further when I use this tablet or or I've got to make the font 16 where I used to be able to live on 12 point all my aging folks don't don't acknowledge that another onset causes injury injury can cause issues with our vision and the third is genetic there was something that you were born with that has caused you to be blind

the parallels between the human nature and the spiritual state of our world in those parallels there are varying levels and diverse causes of being blind to the leading and The Guiding and the directing of the spirit and the word of God some are blind to elements of truth but they put some correction on their eyes on looking through lenses through which they are most comfortable to attempt to make sense of where they are and who God is in other words they know there's something uncomfortable with it they know something's not quite right but what they're going to do is is they're going to try to fix it through their own capabilities some they they the these individuals they are impaired and they cannot see everything they need to see they often see only what is immediately in front of them yes there might be some clarity but there is no big picture they can't see what God is Planning and what God is moving and what God is directing even just tomorrow because they're still so blinded by what's immediately in front of them some still are blind because and cannot be corrected because they are so stuck in their ways the ways they were brought up in or injuries that have caused them to have have these elements of blindness which cannot be corrected they are so stuck in those because of injuries or because of the way they were trained they refuse they refuse to allow themselves to be corrected right they it limits their ability to move throughout this world they limp and they grope their way through this life journey and experience because they are bound by an inability to see what is beyond the immediate in other words they're stuck here and they refuse because of pains and ailments and Brokenness and things that then Traditions that have been so ingrained in them that they cannot see the word of God being revealed to them they limp and they grope their way through this journey because they are bound by an inability to see and they will not allow correction to occur finally some are so much covered up that they are unable to even see the slightest ray of light these these are the people that have had no experience with God they've never been shown what the light is and they can't see the light because they don't know what they're looking looking for these are the individuals that there's a blindness happening in their life they're the people that the responsibility falls on the church to say hey let me go be the light to them let me let me let me state in my notes these all these types of blindness are caused often because of an individual's upbringing injuries and hurts or anybody ever stare at the sun you go outside and you just go bam and you you stare at the Sun for an extended period of 5 Seconds what happens to your eyes not if you're staring at the sun your eyes will never adjust to staring at the sun the sun is valuable the sun is necessary but what if I stare at it too long let me say it like this some are blind because their spiritual age has reached a point where they have stared so long at the light without changing the position with which they were viewing that light that they have burned their spiritual retinas and they can't even see the light of God in their life because they've never progressed beyond the beginning stages of their experience or they got to this point and feel like this is a spot so they look up and they stare at the light of the apostolic message they stare at the light of the infilling of the Holy Ghost they stare at the light of Jesus operating in their life and because they never change their position because they never move further in God and they never move further in what they're supposed to do their retinas of their spiritual eyes begin to be scarred and they become totally blind to what God is doing God God hallu

in the word during Jesus's time in this world the most common elen do the research I fell down this Rabbit Hole I look for all the times that you know you know get this blindness thing in your mind you want to start looking it up I look for every time that Jesus healed blind people you know there's a few that are specific instances in the word of God you got bmes you got the man at the pool of Shalom where he spit on his who wants God spitting in your eyes I mean I'm I'm not a fan of spit that's that's an insult where I come from but we have those instances that are clearly identified but if you read throughout the word it says multiple times he healed the sick and the blind the most common infirmity that Jesus healed during his time on Earth was blindness being blind and being a member of the blind Community was a parallel to being in spiritual darkness and even in Shadow which means there's a little light coming in but I can't see everything I need to see I am so appreciative of the fact that the light of Heaven to this world has the ability to bring healing to the darkness and the shadows of my life and the darkness and the shadows of this world I hope somebody agrees with me this morning because there is a God that has orchestrated a healing plan and purpose that blindness can be healed

low light equals shadows and I know brother Lorenzo shares my understanding of going into the woods in the dark and you know I'm a headlamp kind of guy most of the time brother Nathan Horton I know he's not here today but I will never enter the woods the same way again after what he did to me a few weeks ago claim I'll share that story with you later if you want to know but low light has always caused issues because if there's not enough light to illuminate where you're going and what you're and what you're doing you begin to see things if you're ever sitting in a deer stand I hope brother Lorenzo will say Amen to this you're looking at this thing you're like oh that's a big buck oh I can't wait for it to get light up man you're getting your gun or your bow ready and you man and finally the Sun finally comes up you knew that tree was there the last time you hunted that spot but now all of a sudden it looks like a 10-point buck and you're going to be in the pope and uh Boon and Crockett world record books you know that's your thinking but it was the Shadows you know it's a lot easier to see things in Pitch Blackness and understand what you see and in pure light than it is in the shadows right look at how many accidents occur look at how many problems occur because of things not being seen they happen in those shadowy periods of time

the Pharisees were often blind of the low vision variety which meant they saw some Shadows they knew the scriptures they had been taught the scriptures but they refused to see the corrective nature of Jesus's presence in their communities instead they saw the Shadows that painted Jesus not as somebody that could heal their circumstance or save their Community or change the life out look of everyone around them instead they saw Jesus as something other than what he was supposed to be because they were looking through Shadow and they were had elements of blindness in their life that they did not see everything that Jesus said they were they were blind to their own imperfections and Jesus and the Darkness in which they dwelt often times we find ourselves blinded we everybody take your finger hold it up like this point to yourself and say I'm a we I'm a we often times we find ourselves blinded by our own inability to recognize where we are and the Darkness and Shadow that has engulfed us we see just oh the shadow is the worst because we see just enough to feel like we are okay we we see just enough to say yes that's not a problem for me I can walk this I man I walked out of the woods the other night in the dark cuz I didn't turn on my headlamp because I'm like oh there's enough light I can see you know how many stumps I tripped over falling and walking out of the woods I came that close to falling into a creek so often we do that in our spiritual lives there's shadow that exists and we think oh everything's good everything's perfect and what we really need is we need a healing for the blindness in our life we need somebody and something that is all powerful and Almighty to reach down to us and say I'm going to bring the light you need to your situation I am the Healer of all blindness I'm here to tell you today that Jesus is in the room and he's come today to remove the blindness from our lives to enable you to see that you are to aable you to see exactly where you are and let me tell you sometimes when you open your eyes for the first time and you truly see it's not going to be pretty there's going to be things about your life that when we surrender to God and we say God open my eyes allow me to see there's going to be things that are disgusting to you there's going to be things that are would be disgusting to anybody else because that's what Sin is Sin is disgusting and sin is blinding and sin brings Shadow when we should have life yes that's right just as Jesus did for barus and the man at the pool of salom he wants you today to see the sad state of your circumstances and I know we joke all the time and we want to acknowledge but the truth is if we are truly reflective Perfection is not in this room if you are breathing oxygen oygen there is no Perfection about you no matter who you are no matter where you are there is no Perfection about you God does want you to understand today that he is aware of all the abuses and failures of humanity

in Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 he very clearly uses Paul to outline these things when when he says now the works of Flesh of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness and idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath s Strife seditions heares envyings murders drunkenness reings and such like Jesus goes on God goes on through the words and the writing of Paul to clearly Define to us what is our consequence for living in this level of blindness he says and I quote of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God in other words as long as you are blind and you continue to live in these works of the flesh you will never ever ever ever receive everything God has for you never never it'll never happen you know I could take time this afternoon and go through and explain what each of these things represent but I'm telling you they are the worst abuses of humanity and I guarantee you in this room this morning somebody probably more than one somebody has participated or partaken in some piece of these works of the flesh why because you're a human being and it brings every time that happens it brings a shadow over the light that God has for us it brings into Shadow every promise and every blessing every Miracle every healing every Deliverance that God's word and God's promises has outlined for each of us we will never see it because it's in Shadow young people I encourage you talk to brother George let him go through these things with you put him in an awkward position but our very human nature gravitates towards these works of the Flesh and by Old Testament law we should all accept accept our punishment and prepare for the eternal torment of Hell's fire every one of us watching online in the room we should all prepare because by Old Testament law that is what should happen because again If we're honest and we ask God to remove the blindness we're going to see these things right because perfection in this room and perfection of those that take an oxygen is not possible that's what should happen

1 Corinthians chapter 6 says this verse 9 know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolators nor adulterers nor feminine nor abusers of themselves with mankind verse 10 nor thieves nor Covetous nor drunkers RI revilers nor extortioners none of them shall inherit the kingdom of God oh and just in case you're wondering such were some of you everyone fits into this Category galatian 5 tells us that we don't want to things that we don't want to hear or be reminded of of our failures our Shadows our shortcomings the darkness and the blindness with which we live everyone in this room today has been challenged by these but there was something that happened something we were given access to that was stricken with its own blindness there is something out there that is just as blind as we are on our worst day and can I tell you in one word that word is Grace Grace is blind God could have given us up to our sin our failures and our shortcomings he could have turned his back on us and bound himself completely to his law yet something changed when he came on the scene in verse 11 it does not end with such or some of you it doesn't end there it goes on to say in verse 11 but ye are washed but you are Sanctified and you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God let me tell you this afternoon there is a blind eye that is looking over each and every one of us and it is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ when God heals our blindness and allows us to see just how much we need him God will then turn a Blind Eye of his own the Blind Eye of Grace to our sins yes

according to the word of God the way we receive that Grace begins with a repentant heart God you've revealed this to me God I not been living in darkness I know but there's been a lot of Shadow clouding my path I've been living not in total blindness but I've been living in this partial this low vision environment God these passions these issues these challenges these struggles these doubts these fears everything that's been existing in my life has blinded me but God I'm asking you right now like you did with like you did with Paul God let the scales fall from my eyes God and let me see Lord Jesus God I know it's going to be ugly I know it's going to be filthy God I know there's going to be a lot of problems in my life but God let me see with the light of your glory we must repent we must be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins it's the only way it happens it's through his name his name is where Grace comes from and then we must receive his spirit that beautiful outpouring of the power of His presence every time I've ever seen anybody filled with his presence it's almost like you can see a shift in their countenance they go from somebody that looks like they're groping through life to all of a sudden a condition I identified a few years ago called Perma smile because there's something beautiful when you begin to look your eyes upon the Sun and you lift your eyes and your countenance toward him there's something beautiful and a glow that begins to come over you that is the power of the Holy Ghost evidence and living and dwelling inside of you not just once this shouldn't just happen once but daily daily living in his presence can I tell you this afternoon I'm hurrying 112 as pastor says for us clock Watchers that tells you I'm watching it too

the Blind Eye of Grace saw saw not Abraham's impatience but he saw his impartation he he didn't see the Blind Eye of Grace didn't see Jacob as the supplanter but instead saw his hunger for the things of God Israel's captivity you know Grace saw not Israel's captivity but it saw the promise made Generations before the Blind Eye of Grace did not see Moses's Mercy Mur and imperfection but instead saw his love for people and a desire to do what was right the Blind Eye of Grace did not see rahab's profession and vocation but instead saw her advocation for God's people the Blind Eye of Grace didn't see David's sin but instead saw his Heart of Worship the Blind Eye of Grace didn't see Nineveh did not see Nineveh for the rry that was happening and sin constantly dwelling there but instead saw a mighty Revival that could only happen when the person of God and man of God rose up to do what they were supposed to do that's the Blind Eye of Grace hallelujah hallelujah the Blind Eye of Grace didn't see jus' lack of pedigree but instead saw his passion and healed his daughter did not see Peter's anger but saw his authority when Jesus looked at him and said Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it the Blind Eye of Grace didn't see Paul's lapses and mistakes but instead saw his leadership ability Jesus wants to heal our blindness so that we can see we have challenges and imperfections but also to know as pastor preached last Sunday there is hope there is a hope that we don't have to be bound by these issues of the flesh it will not be easy to see what we have been blinded to but we can rest assured that God already knows what lies beyond what we are blind to we can be sure of that fact anything we're hiding God already knows he already knows he knows his Blind Eye of Grace will see you this afternoon not as you are I leaned over to brother Justin brother Horton during Sunday school this morning brother brother Robinson I said I wish brother Tim would get out of my notes just a little bit but I'm going tell you you heard it there we heard it in every song sung today it's not what I was but it's what I will be that's it his Blind Eye of Grace will see us not as we are but what we can be when we surrender completely to his plan and purpose for our life he doesn't see me as somebody that is is obnoxious and broken and just a terrible person he will never see all that but what he sees when he looks through his eyes eye of Grace the eye that is blind to on my paast is every step I take from this day forward he will see he will be blinded to the things of past and he will look to the Future that awaits me Brother Don can you come

there was a a gentleman I grew up going to church with you know back in the days promise I'm not 13 but back in the days when y'all know those Sunday night services those have been around y'all need to fix the effects on the microphone those that have been around for a while y'all remember what Sunday nights used to be like you know the times where we could actually say Hey sister at Birth has got a song come sing you know we were high we man we were super Advanced long before Planning Center we actually had a written out schedule on notebook paper may have even been on transparencies but man we always knew when brother Wayne Cobb got up he was going to sing one or two songs he was going to sing he knew me yet he loved me or he was going to sing this song this says this in the opening verse a loser without Direction I drifted aimlessly on the backside of a place called nowhere forgotten by Humanity when they talked about potential they did not refer to me because everyone could clearly see what I was i' always be that's the verse so often we get stuck in this oh that's who I am that's who I am that's who I am I'm not an emotional person I can't lift my hands in church because that's not who I am come on but this man that used to get up and sing this song was heavily involved in illicit activities at one point I I even heard him tell a story about being locked in a mobster's car Trump and he began to pray see this is somebody that understood when his eyes were open and he was healed of his blindness he was a man that understood all of these things in that first verse were true what I was I'd always be but he came into contact with that Blind Eye of Grace and when he hit his knees this songs became his testimony he knew who I was yet he loved me but in the chorus of this song that I just read the verse says he saw not what I was but he saw what I could be that's right when he reached his hand to where I was he took a chance on me and all he had to hope for was a possibility still he saw not what I was us he saw he saw what I could be everything stacked against me in my life everything that s to tear me down and break me apart of my own choosing and of others God God saw all of that

come on stand with me in this room right now he saw all of that and still said Vandy there's a church in Chattanooga that on October 20th of 2024 I'm going to need you to deliver this word today all right yes guys I shouldn't even be here I should be dead at 18 months old poor choices and poor decisions of my life everything should disqualify me but God allowed the blindness to be healed in my own life and I saw my desperation for him and somehow he looked down at a Pentecostal Campground in 1987 and he said Vandy I know what's going to happen in your life I know the mistakes and I know the failures but oh I know I know what you can be he saw not what I was he didn't see my battles he didn't see my struggles he didn't see my failures he didn't see the Brokenness that I would exist and and exude all he saw was what Grace allowed him to see and that was a beautiful spotless lamb that was going to be offered unto him come on lift your hands all over this place for just a moment I'm not the only one that that's the story and if you haven't experienced a story like that this afternoon let me tell you this is the time maybe I'm in this room today and I'm been so blinded that I've not looked at my imperfections maybe that's me today and I've got to start right there or maybe God has already been dealing with me and he's already been moving on me and he's already been working in my life and I know that I'm just a sinner and there's a lot of filthiness of My Flesh can I tell you today the Blind Eye of Grace is ready to look upon you when you come to this Altar and you lift your hands and you surrender to him you've got to trust him Jesus Jesus how I trust him I've got to trust him because God has been doing this for a long time he even told Jose hey Jose I want you to go pick up a watch life from a terrible situation I want you to go and this is going to be an example to all of the people of Israel and all the world throughout time that I don't care what you were yesterday I don't even care what you were an hour ago I don't care what filthiness exists in your life if you will come and surrender your life to me if you'll repent of those things I'm I'm not going to see those things anymore instead I'm going to see beauty because that's what Grace does that's what Grace does come on you don't have to wait on me I I got a few more things to say but if you're feeling God moving on your spirit I invite you to come this is not just a wide altar this is a moment for you to come and consecrate this to God right now God reveal to me the things I've missed God the things I have haven't seen God I'm ready for your Blind Eye Lord Jesus to look upon my past and reveal my future come on I see some of y'all are starting to come that's what I'm asking for right now God is moving in your heart God is moving in your spirit right now this is your moment this is your call this is your opportunity come on step out of the Shadows long time Pentecostal step out of the shadows and allow the light of God to heal the blindness God has a beautiful plan he has a beautiful purpose for you come on the Blind Eye of Grace doesn't care about the baggage you bring he doesn't care about past failures he doesn't care about your weaknesses and your failures he only cares about where you are going to now God is turning a blind eye to you in your past he's extending to you Grace that is sufficient and enough to cover all the problems that you may have h I our is G the come on it's prayer time come on reach over pray with somebody yes come on