To Open Blinded Eyes

“But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” (Acts 26:16-18 ESV)

The Apostle Paul was being held in prison for sharing the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people. At this time he was standing before King Agrippa giving his defense against all the accusations of the Jews (select Jews, I presume). And so he shared his testimony of how he (Saul) was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians, but how Jesus Christ visited him in a vision on the road to Damascus where he intended to persecute and perhaps have put to death even more followers of Jesus Christ (of The Way).

And in that vision Jesus Christ called him to be a minister of the gospel of Christ, which was not yet written out for the people like it is for us now. Jesus Christ had shared the gospel message when he lived on the earth. And Paul was one of the apostles of Christ who first brought the message of the gospel to the people, to both Jew and Gentile. But a lot of this was shown to him by the Holy Spirit, some of it in visions and in dreams. And he believed the Lord and he shared with the people what he was being shown by God.

Now here I believe the Lord wants me to share a little bit of my own testimony, which is not exactly like Paul’s but with some similar character traits. For I believed in the Lord Jesus as a child at age 7 and I was dedicated to following the Lord with my life. I was not a perfect child, but I was not a rebellious child. I was a rule follower, for the most part. I took God and his word seriously from early on, but more so the older that I got. But along with that came rejection and persecutions of many kinds.

Without going into much detail, let me just say that I was raised by an abusive father and an emotionally distant (good) mother, and so I had a lot of hurt very early on in my life. But the closer that I walked with the Lord, the more I faced even more mistreatments, some from pastors of church congregations, some from fellow professing Christians, some from friends, and some from family members. And the hits just kept coming, one after another after another, until one day I gave up and I caved to my flesh.

So I struggled with my faith and with the persecutions that I had faced and was still facing whenever I obeyed God. And if I failed, and then I tried to get back on my feet, it seemed there was always someone there to “slam dunk” me, i.e. to treat me with disdain. And this went on for several years, on and off until the Lord turned me around and I slammed the door shut to my former way of life, never to reopen that door again. And that is when he visited me via his word and a vision, of sorts, and called me to this ministry.

And he opened up my eyes to many things that I had wrong or that I had learned wrongly or that I had been convinced of (brainwashed about) from childhood on up regarding what the Scriptures teach (in context), and what the gospel message is all about, and with regard to “wolves in sheep’s clothing” who are out to deceive the sheep, some of whom are pastors of “churches,” and some of whom are heads of governments, especially the government of the USA, which is where I live, which is not of God. 

And he called me, as well, to open the eyes of the spiritually blind that they may turn from darkness (sin, wickedness) to light (Jesus Christ, truth, the gospel, righteousness, godliness) and from the power of Satan (who tempts us to sin and who deceives us with his lies, too) to God (to follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands), that they may receive forgiveness of (and deliverance from) sins and a place among those sanctified (made holy, different from the world, for becoming like Christ) by faith in Jesus Christ. 

But, in reality, all of us who are His by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, who have been turned from the darkness to the light, are called of God to share with others the truth of the gospel so that their eyes can be opened to the lies they have been believing, and so that they will reject the lies, and so they will embrace the truth of the gospel. And this is so that they will, by faith in Jesus Christ, deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands until they die or until Jesus Christ returns.

[1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

To Open Blinded Eyes

Video Talk

November 6, 2024

https://youtu.be/NPPqQCjE7zw

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Myopic  

An Original Work / August 19, 2013

Based off 2 Peter 1:3-11

Jesus has given ev’rything

Needed for life and godliness.

His great and precious promises

Free us from our sin and distress.

Add to your faith His goodness;

Knowledge; patience; godliness;

Brotherly love and mutual affection;

Kindness and unselfishness.

If you possess these qualities,

Growing in your maturity,

They will keep you from vanity.

You will bear fruit effectually. 

Nonetheless, if you lack them;

Forget you’ve been cleansed from sin,

Nearsighted are you; you can’t see Jesus.

You have closed your heart to Him.

Therefore, beloved, confirm, then,

Your calling and your election.

Do this by showing diligence:

Obey your Lord; be repentant.

Practice all these qualities

God provided on a tree.

He died for our sins so we’d be given

Life with Him eternally. 

https://vimeo.com/115839336