<TITLE>11. Par 36-38</TITLE>L-36 Some time ago I was taking a little lesson on Bartimaeus that said that he'd been blind for many years. He had a wife and a little girl. And one night, his wife got real sick. And he--he went out and prayed. He said, "Lord, heal my wife. And if You'll let my wife get well...
He had--he had to do something to make little enchantments for the public, or you would never be able to stop them. Like in India... (And Brother Osborn, if you're here tonight, you understand what I mean.) They got a little monkey or something another that they have to do to--or have a--a cobra snake, or some kind of a something, enchantment, to stop tourists to get money when they pass by.

L-37 And they said Bartimaeus had two little turtledoves and they done little tumbles over each other. And that would attract the attention of the--the pass-by, tourists, and the people coming in out of the city. He said, "Lord, I love my wife. If You'll let her get well, tomorrow I'll give You them two turtledoves for a sacrifice." Well, his wife got well, and he took the turtledoves for a sacrifice. Then later on, his little girl that he'd never seen in his life (She'd been born since he was blind.) about twelve years old. Said she had real pretty golden hair. (It's a little story, of course.) And said that she got sick one night. And the doctor had been there and said, "Bartimaeus, she's got a fever. She'll--just can't live with this kind of fever."
And after the doctor left, he felt his way outside of the house, when the wind was blowing around by the rosebush. And he looked up to where he thought God would be, and he said, "Father, I don't have nothing. I have one thing left, and that's my lamb. (And today, you seen... I forget what they call it when a dog leads a blind man, and a blind leads the blind--the blind dog leads the blind--or the dog leads the blind man.) In them days they had a lamb that led the blind in the stead of a--a dog. They trained the lamb. Bartimaeus had a lamb and led him over to his place where he begged. And he said, "Lord, if You will just let my little girl get well, I'll take my lamb, and I'll sacrifice it for you."

L-38 And the little girl got well. And the next day he was on his road to take the lamb up to the church to the sacrifice spot. And the priest was standing up at the--upon the banisters of the building; he said, "Where goest thou, blind Bartimaeus?"
He said, "I go to the temple to sacrifice this lamb unto the Lord."
"Oh," he said, "blind Bartimaeus, you cannot sacrifice that lamb. Here, I'll give you the price of a lamb, and you buy it out at the stalls and sacrifice it."
He said, "I never promised God 'a' lamb, I promised Him this lamb."
He said, "Blind Bartimaeus, but you can't do that: that lamb is your eyes."
He said, "If I'll keep my word to God, God will provide a lamb for blind Bartimaeus' eyes." This cold November day, that's what God had done, had provided a Lamb for Blind Bartimaeus' eyes. May I say this, tonight, my dear brother, sister, that same Lamb is provided for you and for me. God has provided a Lamb of our eyes of understanding, for this Lamb was provided for our healing. He was provided so that His Spirit could live among us through this day, to bring Christ in a reality to us. God's Lamb is provided.


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