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Blind at Birth - The Gospels · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And he answered and said, Whether he
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  Speaker 1: be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing
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  Speaker 1: I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.
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  Speaker 1: John 9.25 Jesus, as you move in my life, I
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  Speaker 1: understand that there are people who are bent on trying
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  Speaker 1: to hold me to my past condition. However, because it
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  Speaker 1: is you who has healed me, and transformed me. I
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  Speaker 1: will stand boldly and proclaim your truth, even if it
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  Speaker 1: means I may be thrown out of certain circles and relationships.
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  Speaker 1: I declare that you came so that the blind can
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  Speaker 1: see and receive new life, so that those who are
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  Speaker 1: focused on traditions will be silenced because you value faith
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  Speaker 1: and a humble and contrite heart before pride and ego.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for opening my eyes, Jesus. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: taking the time to sit and talk with me when
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  Speaker 1: I felt so thrown out and abandoned by those close
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  Speaker 1: to me. Through your power, Jesus, I now walk with
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  Speaker 1: a new vision and a new outlook on life. I
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  Speaker 1: once was blind, but now I see, and I have
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  Speaker 1: you to thank for it, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Listening to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: Continue hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible
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  Speaker 1: in a Year. Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Blind at Birth In our last story, Jesus defended a
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  Speaker 2: woman caught in adultery from being stoned to death. She
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  Speaker 2: was drug out into the public half-naked for all to
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  Speaker 2: shame her. Yet Jesus stood up to the religious leaders
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  Speaker 2: and proclaimed that whoever was without sin could throw the
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  Speaker 2: first stone. Since none of them had a rebuttal for Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: they left, and the woman was forgiven. Now we see
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  Speaker 2: Jesus exposing the wicked hearts of the religious elite by
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  Speaker 2: giving sight to a blind man. This young man would
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  Speaker 2: be caught in the crossfires of the legalistic Pharisees and
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  Speaker 2: the compassionate Christ, inspired by the Gospels.
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  Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to another edition of the Bible in
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  Speaker 3: a Year podcast. Once again, this is Jack Graham. In
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  Speaker 3: our previous episode, we heard how Jesus frustrated the plans
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  Speaker 3: of religious leaders who wanted to trap him with a
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  Speaker 3: choice to either follow the law of the letter of
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  Speaker 3: the law or simply ignore what was written in the
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  Speaker 3: law of Moses. Instead of playing their game, he challenged
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  Speaker 3: them to evaluate their own sinfulness and he exposed their
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  Speaker 3: sin and then extended grace and forgiveness to a woman
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  Speaker 3: caught in the act of adultery. Today we'll hear how
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  Speaker 3: Jesus lovingly corrects the misconceptions of the disciples who seek
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  Speaker 3: to understand why a young man was born blind. And
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  Speaker 3: we'll see once again how the legalists attempt to trap Jesus.
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  Speaker 3: But in doing so, they expose their own heartlessness and
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  Speaker 3: lack of love and compassion for people in need. Let's
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  Speaker 3: listen now to the reading of God's Word.
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  Speaker 2: The town of Capernaum was bustling with life. VENDORS SET
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  Speaker 2: UP THEIR SHOPS IN THE MARKETPLACE STREETS. MEN AND WOMEN
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  Speaker 2: WENT TO AND FROM THEIR HOMES WITH THEIR CHILDREN. JESUS
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  Speaker 2: LOOKED AT THEM WITH FATHERLY AFFECTION. THOUGH NOT ALL OF
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  Speaker 2: THEM KNEW HIM, HE KNEW ALL OF THEM BY NAME.
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  Speaker 2: HE KNEW THEIR FEARS, DREAMS AND PERSONALITIES. IT WAS HIS
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  Speaker 2: ABSOLUTE JOY TO SERVE THEM AND ULTIMATELY DIE FOR THEM.
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  Speaker 2: AS JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES WERE PASSING THROUGH THE STREETS,
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  Speaker 2: THEY PASSED BY A MAN WHO HAD BEEN BLIND FROM BIRTH.
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  Speaker 2: He sat on a blanket on the side of the road,
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  Speaker 2: holding out his hands for any form of kindness from strangers.
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  Speaker 2: The disciples looked at the man with concern. Teacher, who
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  Speaker 2: sinned to make this man born blind? Was it him
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  Speaker 2: or his parents? Jesus stopped walking and turned to them.
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  Speaker 2: He was upset at their question, for it revealed a
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  Speaker 2: poor understanding of God's character. Neither he or his parents
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  Speaker 2: have done anything wrong, Jesus answered. He turned to the
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  Speaker 2: blind man and knelt down to him.' This man is
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  Speaker 2: blind so that God's compassion might be displayed,' he said.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus picked up some dirt beside the man and spat
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  Speaker 2: in it. He began to form clay out of the
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  Speaker 2: spit and dust. As he was doing this, he spoke
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  Speaker 2: to the disciples.' Night is coming. In that time, nobody
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  Speaker 2: will be able to do the will of God, but
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  Speaker 2: for now it is day, and we must use that
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  Speaker 2: time to help others.' As long as I am in
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  Speaker 2: the world, I will be a light for all. Jesus
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  Speaker 2: finished molding the clay in his hands. He took it
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  Speaker 2: and spread it across the man's eyes. Jesus helped the
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  Speaker 2: man to his feet and whispered, Go and wash your
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  Speaker 2: eyes at the pool of Siloam. So the man went
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  Speaker 2: a few yards east and began washing the mud out
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  Speaker 2: of his eyes. As he was wiping his face, light
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  Speaker 2: emerged from the darkness. The all-consuming blackness was replaced with
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  Speaker 2: marvelous colors and shapes. The man was healed from his blindness.
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  Speaker 2: The man passed right by Jesus and walked away, since
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  Speaker 2: he did not know the sight of him from before.
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  Speaker 2: As he was walking the city streets, taking in all
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  Speaker 2: the new images, people began to notice him. Isn't that
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  Speaker 2: the blind beggar? they asked themselves. No, it can't be,
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  Speaker 2: they replied. The man heard them and said, You are right,
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  Speaker 2: I was the blind beggar that sat by the road.
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  Speaker 2: The people were astonished. How were your eyes opened? they asked.
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  Speaker 2: The man replied, The man called Jesus made mud and
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  Speaker 2: anointed my eyes with it. He asked me to wash
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  Speaker 2: it off by the pool, and then my eyes were
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  Speaker 2: given sight. Where is Jesus?
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  Speaker 3: They asked.
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  Speaker 2: How would I know? the man replied. I did not
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  Speaker 2: see him before my sight was given to me. Some
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  Speaker 2: of the skeptics brought the man to the Pharisees, who
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  Speaker 2: had made themselves the enemies of Jesus. The man stood
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  Speaker 2: before them, wondering why he was being judged for being healed. However,
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  Speaker 2: it was the Sabbath, and the religious leaders had made
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  Speaker 2: many laws preventing people from doing any sort of work,
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  Speaker 2: good or bad, that day. The Pharisees lifted their noses
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  Speaker 2: high and asked, How did you come by your new sight?
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  Speaker 2: The man sighed. As I have said before, Jesus put
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  Speaker 2: mud in my eyes and asked me to wash them off.
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  Speaker 2: When I did, my sight was given to me. The
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  Speaker 2: Pharisees scoffed. They argued amongst themselves whether Jesus had done
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  Speaker 2: anything good at all. since he healed a man on
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  Speaker 2: the Sabbath. They turned to the man and asked, What
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  Speaker 2: do you think about Jesus? Is he a sinner or
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  Speaker 2: a savior? I believe he could be a prophet, the
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  Speaker 2: man said without thinking. This answer displeased the Pharisees. They
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  Speaker 2: did not want to believe Jesus would do something so kind.
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  Speaker 2: They wanted to villainize him. So they brought up the
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  Speaker 2: man's parents to validate that he was indeed born blind.
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  Speaker 2: Was your son in fact born blind? They asked the parents.
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  Speaker 2: Both the mother and the father feared the Pharisees. They
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  Speaker 2: did not want to answer, since they were known to
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  Speaker 2: throw disagreeing people out of the synagogues. Our son is
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  Speaker 2: of age, they said. You may ask him yourself. So
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  Speaker 2: the Pharisees asked the young man again what he believed
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  Speaker 2: about Jesus. The man paused for a moment and considered
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  Speaker 2: the question. He closed his eyes to remove distraction. A
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  Speaker 2: single tear fell from his face as he smiled. He
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  Speaker 2: looked up to the Pharisees and said, All I know
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  Speaker 2: is that I was born blind, but now I can see.
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  Speaker 2: The Pharisees shook in their seats. What did he do
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  Speaker 2: to you?
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  Speaker 1: They yelled.
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  Speaker 2: How did he open your eyes? The young man was
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  Speaker 2: beginning to grow tired of their questions. He answered and
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  Speaker 2: said to them, Why do you keep asking me? I
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  Speaker 2: have told you what he did. Do you ask me
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  Speaker 2: because you want to be like him or become his disciples?
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  Speaker 2: The Pharisees stood to their feet and scoffed. Of course not,
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  Speaker 2: they exclaimed. We are disciples of Moses only. Jesus is
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  Speaker 2: a stranger. The man shook his head. This is outrageous,
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  Speaker 2: he replied. You say he is a stranger, yet he
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  Speaker 2: opened my eyes. You and I both know that God
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  Speaker 2: does not do this sort of thing through evil men.
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  Speaker 2: Never have you or I ever heard of a mere
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  Speaker 2: man opening the eyes of someone born blind. Yet here
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  Speaker 2: I stand before you. If Jesus was not of God,
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  Speaker 2: I would not be here. You are a mutt born
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  Speaker 2: from hell, the Pharisees yelled. They called for the temple
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  Speaker 2: guards to seize him, and the man was cast out
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  Speaker 2: from the courts. The young man was tossed out of
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  Speaker 2: the synagogue into the stone streets. He slowly raised to
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  Speaker 2: his feet and brushed the dust off his clothes. He
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  Speaker 2: was happy to have sight, yet sad at what he
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  Speaker 2: had seen. Even his own parents would not defend him.
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  Speaker 2: He walked to the old curb where he used to
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  Speaker 2: sit and beg. He watched the people pass by him,
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  Speaker 2: wondering if all people looked different. Of course, he did
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  Speaker 2: not know, since he had been born blind. As he
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  Speaker 2: let his mind wander, a stranger sat beside him. He
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  Speaker 2: looked at the young man with a warm smile. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: it was probably the first smile he had seen in
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  Speaker 2: his life. Do you believe in the Son of God?
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  Speaker 2: the stranger asked. I wonder who he is. I would
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  Speaker 2: like to believe in him, the young man answered. The
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  Speaker 2: stranger nodded. You have seen him. It is he who
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  Speaker 2: is speaking to you. The young man turned his head
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  Speaker 2: quickly and observed. the stranger's face. It was him, Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: the man who had healed his blindness, the one and
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  Speaker 2: only begotten Son of God. Lord, I believe. And the
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  Speaker 2: young man fell at Jesus' feet and worshipped him. Jesus
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  Speaker 2: propped him up and embraced him. I have come that
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  Speaker 2: those who are blind might see, Jesus said, and those
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  Speaker 2: that can see will become blind. Some of the Pharisees
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  Speaker 2: passed by as Jesus spoke these words. They were riled
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  Speaker 2: up by his statement and interrupted, saying, Are we the
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  Speaker 2: blind ones? they asked. Jesus did not answer for a moment.
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  Speaker 2: He could see the concern lying behind their tough exterior.
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  Speaker 2: If you were blind, you would not feel the inner
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  Speaker 2: guilt you are feeling right now. But since you feel
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  Speaker 2: the need to tell me of your sight, your blindness
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  Speaker 2: obviously remains.
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  Speaker 3: Today's scripture begins in the public market just as our
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  Speaker 3: last episode did. This time Jesus was with his disciples
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  Speaker 3: walking through the streets on the Sabbath. They come upon
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  Speaker 3: a young man who has been blind since birth. Seeing him,
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  Speaker 3: the disciples pose a question to Jesus. But their question
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  Speaker 3: is different from the Pharisees. They are seeking to understand
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  Speaker 3: and to find wisdom, not to trap the teacher, but
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  Speaker 3: to truly understand why this man was in his condition.
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  Speaker 3: They ask whose sin to cause this man to be
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  Speaker 3: born blind, because this was the prevailing idea of the time.
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  Speaker 3: Sickness and disability happened as a direct result of some
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  Speaker 3: sin or wrongdoing, as punishment from God for bad behavior.
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  Speaker 3: The question of these men was sincere, but It revealed
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  Speaker 3: a deep understanding of the true loving nature of God.
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  Speaker 3: So Jesus gently corrected them, saying his parents had done
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  Speaker 3: nothing wrong. He didn't mean that they were without sin,
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  Speaker 3: of course, only that the blindness, this man's blindness, was
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  Speaker 3: not a result of punishment for anyone's sin. In fact,
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  Speaker 3: difficult as it was for this man, his blindness had
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  Speaker 3: a purpose, to show God's power and his compassion. The
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  Speaker 3: truth is, we often can't answer the why questions. why
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  Speaker 3: something is happening, why something bad happens to bad people
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  Speaker 3: or good people. We can understand maybe why bad things
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  Speaker 3: happen to bad people, but why does it happen to
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  Speaker 3: so-called innocent people? When we face a why question, something
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  Speaker 3: that we cannot answer, we should really begin to ask
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  Speaker 3: the what question. God, what are you doing in this situation?
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  Speaker 3: What is your purpose? What is your plan? Jesus then
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  Speaker 3: spat on some dirt. and rubbed it in the man's
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  Speaker 3: eyes and told him to go wash in the pool
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  Speaker 3: of Siloam. For the first time ever, this man could
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  Speaker 3: see the world around him, a world that up to
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  Speaker 3: that point had been filled only with darkness. Just think
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  Speaker 3: how incredible, how amazing this would be to see for
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  Speaker 3: the very first time a whole new world had opened
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  Speaker 3: to this man. When those who knew him saw this man,
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  Speaker 3: they were incredulous. How could this man, born blind, who
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  Speaker 3: begged in the streets so long, now see? But he insisted, yes,
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  Speaker 3: it was him. A man called Jesus cured his blindness.
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  Speaker 3: He'd never had a chance to see Jesus, though, so
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  Speaker 3: he could not point him out to anyone. This man's
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  Speaker 3: story was so amazing that they took him before the Pharisees, who,
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  Speaker 3: rather than praise God for the healing of a man
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  Speaker 3: in need, immediately began to find fault. The man had
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  Speaker 3: been healed on the Sabbath, and in their limited vision
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  Speaker 3: of God, they believed that this was somehow against God's law.
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  Speaker 3: The Pharisees could not agree, however, if this man named
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  Speaker 3: Jesus was good or a sinner. So they asked the
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  Speaker 3: beggar what he thought, and he told them he believed
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  Speaker 3: Jesus was a prophet. This didn't help matters. They still
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  Speaker 3: weren't satisfied, so they asked the man's parents if he
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  Speaker 3: was truly born blind. The parents refused to get involved.
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  Speaker 3: For what reason, we don't know, but in this moment,
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  Speaker 3: the blind man found himself standing alone, being questioned by
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  Speaker 3: these religious authorities. What was meant to be a joyous
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  Speaker 3: day for him has somehow now become a battle, a burden,
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  Speaker 3: because of the lack of insight and compassion of the legalists.
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  Speaker 3: But he stayed with his story because he knew it
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  Speaker 3: was true, saying that all he knew was once he
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  Speaker 3: was blind and now he could see. What a powerful testimony.
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  Speaker 3: And it was Jesus who gave him his sight. So
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  Speaker 3: the Pharisees angrily sent him away, refusing to believe in
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  Speaker 3: Jesus or this man. who to them was nothing but
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  Speaker 3: a worthless sinner. Jesus then shows up. He spoke to
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  Speaker 3: the man who did not know him yet since he
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  Speaker 3: had never seen his healer. Jesus asked him a simple question.
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  Speaker 3: Do you believe in the Son of Man? We hear
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  Speaker 3: the man's response of eagerness to believe as he asks,
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  Speaker 3: Where is this man that I might believe in him?
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  Speaker 3: And Jesus reveals himself to the man whose response found
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  Speaker 3: in John 9, 38, reflects perfectly what our response should
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  Speaker 3: be to Jesus. And he said, Lord, I believe, and
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  Speaker 3: he worshiped him. When we believe in Jesus, we bow
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  Speaker 3: before him and give our lives to him. When Jesus
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  Speaker 3: opens our blind eyes, our response is to say, yes, Lord,
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  Speaker 3: I believe, and I worship you. As for the religious crowd,
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  Speaker 3: Jesus spoke to them saying that they were not blind
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  Speaker 3: to their own sin. They knew it very clearly. Their
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  Speaker 3: blindness was spiritual, a blindness that, though they failed to
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  Speaker 3: realize it, Jesus was and is the only one who
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  Speaker 3: can heal. Dear God, thank you for today's scripture and
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  Speaker 3: the power of Jesus to open our eyes that we
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  Speaker 3: may see you. Thank you that you came to this
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  Speaker 3: earth to heal our spiritual blindness because you are the
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  Speaker 3: light of the world. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you
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  Speaker 3: for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm
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  Speaker 3: Jack Graham of Dallas, Texas. You can download the Pray.com
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  Speaker 3: app and make prayer and Bible study the priority of
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  Speaker 3: your life. And if you enjoyed this podcast, tell someone
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  Speaker 3: about it. Pass it on. Let others know because it
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  Speaker 3: is our desire to get God's Word to as many
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  Speaker 3: people as possible as fast as possible. And if you
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  Speaker 3: want to know more about what it means to be
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  Speaker 3: a Christ follower, what it means to be a disciple
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  Speaker 3: of Jesus, then go to jackgram.org, jackgram.org. And we have
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  Speaker 3: many resources that are available for you there. God bless you.