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A Life-Changing Decision

Sermon by Ps Eugene Tan at the Faith Community Baptist Church on 22 May 2026.


Questions: are we going to ride the fresh winds together?

Whenever God moves, change happens - hearts are transfomed, faith begins to rise, eyes are opened, lives are renewed. But many are afraid of change - we prefer to do the same things. We face the same fears, disappintments, the same hardships...we get used to it and remains trapped.

Scripture: the book of Mark chapter 10 talks about the blind man named Bartimaeus. He called out to Jesus, and said "Rabbi, i want to see" and Jesus healed him.

What do we need to do to have a transformed life?


1. The Desire for Breakthrough

Very often, names were not mentioned in the Bible bur Bartimaeus was. Interestingly, Timaeus means honored and the name means son of the honored one. However, this was not the case - Bartimaeus endured pity because he was blind. He faced daily darkness, lack and despair. But God desires that we live a life of hope, faith, of victory. 

Breakthrough begins with dissatisfaction. Faith comes not from seeing, but from hearing. Despite his blindness, Bartimaeus heard Jesus. Faith forms in his heart, and he thought that if Jesus is truly Jesus, perhaps life is not hopeless. 


2. The Courage to Overcome

When the blind man shouted for help for Jesus, many people rebuked him and told him to be quiet. 

In the time of Jesus, the blind are at the bottom.of the social ladder. The greatest obstacles are sometimes not circumstances but voices - voices of discouragement, of rebuke, of shame. But Bartimaeus did not give up. He shouted all the more. 


No matter how broken or hopeless the situation, Jesus hears. Psalm 34:17 says that the righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; He delivers them them from all their troubles.Willie Jolly says that a setback is a setup for a comeback. 


3. The Faith to Trust Jesus

Despite being blind, Jesus asked Bartimaeus to come to him, rather than for Jesus to go to him. The people who was discouraging previously, is now cheering the blind man to go to Jesus.  

The blind man jumped up, threw his cloak (probably his most treasured possession for survival) and went to Jesus. He has to let go his cloak aside to move forward to Jesus. He let go his past (pain, hurt, rejections, etc) to seek Jesus. And Jesus said that the blind man's faith has healed him. He then followed Jesus.

The greatest miracle is after Bartimaeus can see, he became a follower of Jesus.







 
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