2024-08-04AM- Those Aren't Trees

Mark chapter 8, and beginning down at verse 21, And he said unto them, Jesus speaking to his disciples, How is it that ye do not understand? And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes, put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up. And he was restored, and saw every man clearly. Look at verse 24, the man said, I see men as trees. And after another touch, he said, I see every man clearly. Father, thank You so much for this Word today. Thank You for the comfort that we have of its truth. Thank You for the promises that are written in it specifically for us. I ask You to light upon me, and have Your way in this message, that You'll work it the way You see that it needs to be done. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. I began there reading at verse 21, which if you read through that chapter, it's really kind of the end of another instance before we get into another one. And there's kind of a disconnect between verse 21 and verse 22. But I want to bring them together here. Jesus had been talking to His disciples, and He had told them up earlier in this chapter that they should beware of the leaven, or the doctrine of the Pharisees and the doctrines of Herod. He said, watch out for it. They didn't get it. They didn't understand what He was talking about during this time. And I sense a little bit of frustration in the Savior's voice when He says, How is it that ye do not understand? And I wonder how many times, if I'd have been walking on the earth back then, that the Savior would have furrowed His brow and looked at me and shook His head and said, How is it that you don't understand yet? How is it that I've been teaching you all this time and you still don't get it? And I wonder how many times He's looked down from heaven upon me and shook His head and said, How is it that ye do not understand? And I want to jump from there into this story here, this record where the Bible says that they all came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man to Jesus. Now, just picture this scene. Jesus is coming into town and somebody says, I've got confidence in what He can do and I see what need you have. I need to get you two together. So the Bible says that they brought this blind man to Jesus. I'm glad in my past that there was somebody who saw my need and recognized what He could do and they brought a meeting. It was Sunday school teachers. It was preachers, evangelists. It was pastors who saw fit to put me together with Jesus so that I could learn just exactly what it was that I needed to learn. They besought Jesus to touch him when they brought this blind man to Him. He takes the blind man by the hand, leads him out of town, and in a very unusual and unsuspecting way, He touches this man's eyes. And at a point after speaking to him and touching his eyes, He asks him, What about now? What's different in your life right now after I've touched you and I've spoken words to you? And it's at this point, there's no other conversation that's been had, but I get to wondering in my mind of something that could have been asked at this point of those that are around while they're watching Jesus talk to this man, while He touches this man and steps back. I could just picture the crowd of people looking and telling that blind man and saying, I'm really curious. I'm really curious how things are right now. Look over yonder. You tell me what you see way out there. And I could see that man squinting his eyes. And he says, You mean that grove of trees that are over there? And they say, Sir, those aren't trees. Those aren't trees. Those are men. Those aren't trees. And so when Jesus asks, How is your seeing? And he has to confess, Well, I'm not perceiving men like they really are. I'm looking at men as if they're just trees. From where I am right now and the way that I can see, I can't tell the difference. There's no differentiation between men and trees in my eyes. They all look the same and seem the same to me. And so I want to try to preach this morning with this title, what someone may have been able to tell that man that day. Those aren't trees. That's my title. Those aren't trees. That man looked at a group of men and he says, Looks like trees to me. And somebody would look at him and say, That's not what that is. Those are men over there. Those are living, breathing souls made after the similitude of God, made in the image of God. They're not just objects that are out there. They're not things that have been growing in the ground to be cast aside. Those are men with souls. And I'm telling you that it's more important for us to see today that people have souls. And those aren't trees out there that we're around every day. They're not mere objects that are out there. But the people that we work with, the people that we see at school, the people that we see in the stores, the people that get on our nerves, they're not trees. Those are souls that Jesus Christ gave His life for. I've got a couple of stories to tell in this message today of a couple of women who ended up being lawbreakers. Back in the 1970s, mid-1970s, there was a man, his name was Dale Hill. He was an evangelist. And he would travel the country, he and his family, him, his wife, and their little girl. They would travel around in their travel trailer and stop at different places and preach meetings and move on and go to the next. Their little girl's name was Julia. Little Julia Hill seemed to be a bright, shining star in the family. She was homeschooled all along the way. All along the way, time would progress. And after several years of being on the evangelistic field, they settled down in Jonesboro, Arkansas and settled in a church that was there. Julia continued to grow and continued in her studies. She did so well in her school that at 16 years old, she graduated high school and began taking college courses. Little Julia did. And she did so well there by the age of 18 years old. I mean, she's so up and coming and ambitious. She opens her own restaurant. Eighteen years old. She's just really got a lot that's going for her. And after a couple years pass, her life is very successful. Everything she puts her hands to seems to be going well. And she's got her life all on track. But one day, she's driving a car, driving for somebody else, and ends up getting hit from behind. And the accident was so bad that it drove the steering wheel into her skull. And it nearly killed Julia Hill. And it took Julia quite a long time, about a year, to fully recover from that accident. But in that time, this is the way Julia puts this, I had a spiritual awakening. That was her words. She said, I realized that my life was not about me anymore. It wasn't about being successful. But I had a higher calling on my life. There was something that I felt like that I needed to do. And so she starts researching and looking. What is it that I can do to help others? What is it that I can do to help out in this world? And at 23 years old, she packs up and leaves for California because she hears that there's a group of people that have gathered there and they're going to save the redwood forest. And she hooks up with them. She said, that's my calling. I need to save the trees. Julia Hill, she's known for what she did. She shows up at that little encampment there. There were some developers and they're taking down trees because they're going to build up something. And after a bit of time, they're gathered around preventing these loggers from coming in and taking down these trees. And so somebody has the idea, here's, we need somebody to climb this tree right here, the redwood tree. Go up there and stay there for about a week. We're going to make us a statement here and we're going to stop them from cutting these trees down. We're environmentalists. We're green. We're trying to save the trees. So nobody else volunteered. And Julia, she said, well, I'll go. I'll spend a week up in that tree. And the story goes that she climbed up 180 feet up into that tree. A week passed and it wasn't time to come down because their goal was not met. Julia would stay in that tree for two years and ten days. Lived on a tiny little platform. She would catch rainwater to drink. They would send food up to her. All this in a protest to save that tree. She made quite a commitment for that. As a result of her work, after two years and ten days, those that were with her had negotiated with the company that was out there to take these trees down. And they decided we're going to leave this tree and we're going to leave a 200 foot buffer zone all around. So they felt like they were successful. She came down from the tree. And as a result of that, like I said, she saved the tree. Saved some other trees. She became a well noted speaker. She was invited all over the place. Would speak in places. Up to 250 events in a year. Began writing books. And everybody wanted her to come and talk to them about her experience of living in a tree for two years. And how she stood against the man. And how she saved the trees. That was what she got. She's a hero in many people's eyes because she saved a tree. Now I don't know how many more trees have been saved because of what she did and the work that she continues to do right now. But she broke the law. She was trespassing. She was never prosecuted. Instead, she was hailed as a hero. There's another story of a woman on the opposite side of the country, Washington, D.C. That she got together with some people from different parts of the country. And they had a plan. They went into Washington, D.C. And somebody made an appointment at the Washington Surgery Clinic. And they said, we're going to pretend like we've got an appointment here. And as soon as we get in, we're taking over the place. This group of people got inside the doors. They quickly closed the doors. And they began piling furniture up against the doors, chained themselves to one another, so that nobody could get in that place. They were shutting it down. In that crowd was a woman named Paulette Harlow. And she was one of those who were there. Now their standoff didn't last very long. From what I remember, it was about an hour and a half. The police came in, arrested all those people. But while they were there, they stood there singing. They stood there praying. And they stood there hollering out to women, trying to get into that surgical clinic, telling them, you don't have to terminate your pregnancy. You don't have to take the life of that child that is in there. But the police came and arrested them, carried them all away. They all went to trial. All of them were found guilty. One of them pleaded guilty. One of them pleaded innocent, but was found guilty. And she talks about a time, too, that she had an awakening. She points all the way back to 1965, when Life magazine published a photographic series. A Swedish photographer had went through different stages of an unborn child and took pictures. And when she saw the picture of an 18-week-old fetus, she said, it changed my life. Remember Julia Hill? An accident changed her life. Miss Paulette here, she said that what changed my life was I saw a little baby. And I saw that people were killing these babies. And she decided, I am dedicating my life to helping babies live. So she ends up at this abortion clinic, making this protest, shutting it down. Now, Miss Harlow broke the law and went in there. And she got arrested for it, tried, and was convicted. And this past May 31st of this year, she was sentenced. She stood in a courtroom. Miss Harlow is 75 years old and in extremely poor health. The sentence was handed down that she will receive two years in prison for her part in blockading that. It was an old Clinton-era law that was being held up that you cannot block access to anyone providing reproductive health services. And so she was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Her husband pleaded with the judge at her sentencing. And he said, can you please just commute this sentence? She's 75 years old and in very poor health. If she goes to prison, this is going to be a death sentence for her. That's where she'll die. The judge mocked the woman. The judge told her, well, when you go to prison, you just do your best to live since that's one of the tenets of your faith life. Mocked her. So now she's facing her two years in prison. So Ms. Harlow, the results of her actions, she was arrested, prosecuted, sentenced to prison for two years for that. And as a result, Washington, D.C. still aborts over 4,000 babies every year. I told you these two stories only to show. I believe there's people in this place that say I care a whole lot more about a baby than I do a tree. I care a whole lot more about human life than I do plant life out there. I would venture to say that most of us in here today, that when a tree comes down, you're not all that upset about it. It was earlier this year, the electric company took down a tree out back here. I don't remember anybody crying over it and wishing that it hadn't happened. So we don't have a problem differentiating between the two. And when a tree gets knocked over by the wind, we might say, oh, that's bad. But we roll right on. It's not a big deal to us. Somebody's going to cut it up and they might just feed it to the fire. Somebody else might take down a whole forest and cut it up and use it for furniture or flooring or whatever purpose. And we really don't care. It's not that big of a deal. But we talk about life of human beings that are being so precious in the eyes of God. And we say there's a big difference between a tree and a man. But I want to say today, I think that sometimes we fall guilty that we're not seeing men as men. And sometimes we walk right past them as if they're just a tree made to be hewn down and cast into a fire somewhere. And I want to ask our church today if we could get on our hearts to notice that people are people. That if I could say they're not trees, they aren't trees, it's not okay if they die without God. It's not okay that their lives get taken. They're not there for our pleasure. They're not there for our enjoyment. They are there and they are souls. If they are souls who've been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, then we know that they're going to go to heaven one day as Brother Camden was saying. But we know if they're still lost in their sins without Christ, that those souls that we pass in the stores, those souls that we're pumping gas next to in the gas station, those souls that we work with, that get on our nerves sometimes, they're not trees. They're not just going to pass away one day and no longer exist. These are souls that God has shown a great concern for. And Jesus died for them just as much as He died for you and me. They're not trees. So I want to say, I don't want to look at them anymore with indifference. I don't want to look at souls anymore and pass by them and not give them another consideration. When I go down the road and I see trees, I'm most of the time not paying any attention. But if I'm going to be honest with myself and with you and with God, there's far too many times that I'm walking past living, breathing human beings and I'm not even giving them a consideration or a thought. But brothers and sisters, they're not trees. They're souls that need to be cared for, prayed for, talked to God about, and they need the Gospel just as badly as I needed the Gospel when I was lost. God puts a premium on us caring about other people. The book of Leviticus, the law said this, love thy neighbor. And Jesus, many years later, would come along as Brother Michael was talking in Sunday School. He said, you know, you've heard, Jesus said, you've heard that you ought to love your neighbor. Somewhere along the line that somebody threw in there and hate your enemies. God never said that, but man must have put in there. He said, you've heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But here's what I tell you. I want you to love your enemy. I want you to bless them that curse you. I want you to pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. I want you to do good unto them that hate you. I want you to recognize that they're all people and they've all been made in the image of God and they are in need of being saved. John the Baptist was a great man of God. His ministry was very short-lived. You could go back to the Old Testament and you could see prophets who worked and prophesied and spoke the Word of God for years upon years to many different kings and generations. And yet there comes a man, John the Baptist. It's not recorded one time in the Word of God that he ever raised the dead. You won't find one place where he called down fire from heaven. You'll not find that he prayed and it rained. You won't find that he survived of flames of a fiery furnace or of a den of lions. But what you will find is a man who cared about Pharisees. And he cared about publicans. And he cared about common men. And when the soldiers from the army came up and gathered around, he cared about them too. And he had a message for every one of them because he recognized exactly who these people were. His message to everyone was to repent. Turn away. And once there was fruits of repentance, he said, I'll baptize you then. And he said that John was the first one ever to point people and say, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Now we might say the things that John never did, but John loved people. And he was looking to see people saved and be converted to God and to be delivered from their sins. And as a result, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, spoke of John. And He said there's never been a prophet greater than this man. Oh, you can have the miracles. You can have the healings. You can have the sun turning back 10 degrees. But God said give Me a man that cares about people and recognizes that they are in great need. Needing to be saved. What the man in our reading said today, once he said, men, I see them just the same as I see trees. No difference. I'm going to go about my life. That man could have looked back at Jesus and said I've got partial sight now. I believe I can get along just fine. You let me be. I can pull in. It doesn't matter what anybody else does. It doesn't matter who anybody else is. I can take care of things myself. And there's too many times that people get to the place of a relationship with God. It's just enough to see me saved. It's just enough for me to make it. I don't have to see far. I don't have to have great vision. I've just got to get by. But when Jesus heard him say, I see men as trees, Jesus came to the conclusion that's not all there is. That's not how I want you to see men. When you look out there and you see a man, I don't want you to be indifferent. I don't want you to be unconcerned. So the Bible says that Jesus laid His hands on him again and healed him completely until the man said, I see all men clearly just like I ought to. Now today, I'm going to tell you, that man could have sat there and said, look, I'm going to do my best. And I'm going to look as hard as I can. I'm going to make up my mind today. I'm going to see men better. But he wouldn't be able to do it. Not until he was touched by the Master one more time. So here's my plea today for Gospel Lightholding's church. You can make up your mind I'm going to have a burden for the lost. You can say, I'm really going to start paying attention and I've made up my mind. I'm going to read up on the Scriptures and I'm going to learn how to witness. I'm going to buy me a stack of tracts. And I'm going to start paying attention a whole lot better. But your eyes are still dim. Still not seeing things clearly. That will only last so long. But you know what will work? Is if we can get a hold of God ourselves and say, Lord, if You'll touch me, if You'll open up my eyes, and if You'll put a burden on my heart and on my mind, I want to see people like I ought to see them. They're not trees. They're not trees. The people you work with is not trees. They're people. And they need care. They're tender. They're fallible. They are people that one day are going to stand before God in the judgment. And God is looking for a people that's willing to care. Michelle, would you come to the piano please? I'm going to make an invitation here. And I'm going to ask for the church to come into this altar. And I'm going to ask you to begin to pray. I'll have you confess what I myself have confessed. Some men look like trees to me. I can't hardly muster up a burden for them. They're disconnected. They're farther away from me. I'm not really related to them. I don't visit with them. I don't see them. I don't know their situations. But I want to have the burden that could look at anybody, anywhere, and say, what can I do to help? Julia Hill gave her life to the preservation of trees. Ms. Harlow gave her life because she's just trying to save lives of people. And I'd sure like when my life is over that it could be said that I sure tried to save people. He sure tried to help people. But I'm not going to be able to do it unless God gets a hold of me, heals these spiritual eyes of mine so that I can see people as they are. I just want to invite everybody. Let's come on in and find us a place and pray. And let's talk to our Lord today. Say, I want to see people like you see them. It will make our teachings more effective. Preachers will be more effective at the preaching when we recognize men as men and not merely as objects. Not something distant, but someone to have a burden for. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us a burden in the name of Jesus. There is such a thousand make me a reflection of your light. Day star, shine down on me. Let your love shine through me in the night. Lead me Lord, I'll follow. Anywhere you open up the door. Let your word speak through me. Show me what I've never seen before. Lord, I want to be a witness. You can take what's wrong and make it right. Day star, shine down on me. Let your love shine through me in the night. Lord, I see a world that's dying, wounded by the master of the sea. Groping in the darkness, haunted by the years of past defeat. Then I see you standing near me, Lord, shining with compassion in your eyes. I pray Jesus, shine down on me. Let your love shine through me in the night.