Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See, part 2, is a back-to-basics message about what a Christian actually believes and how that belief should change daily life. Pastor Paul teaches that praying a prayer is the doorway, not the destination: salvation means confessing Jesus as Lord, believing in your heart, and then becoming a doer of the word who applies Scripture every day. It continues the first message, Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See, Part 1: Jonah and the Eyes of Compassion.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a table of the key words he defines, a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This message was preached at NTC Ministries and posted on September 20, 2023. It runs about 68 minutes and ends with an invitation to receive Christ, prayed with every eye open as a public confession. Pastor Paul opens by picking up a point shared earlier that morning about Jesus spitting in a blind man’s eyes. Physical sight was restored, he says, but God has also given believers spiritual eyes, a discernment that grows through His Word.
He calls the message very foundational on purpose. Everything taught at the church is meant to be backed by Scripture, because an idea can sound good and still be shifting sand if it does not line up with the Word of God.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Pastor Paul |
| Series | Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See (part 2) |
| Main text | Romans 10:8–10 and James 1:21–26 |
| Key theme | Salvation is relationship, lived out by doing what the Word says |
| Length | About 68 minutes, ending with a salvation prayer |
Spiritual Eyes and Foundational Truth
Pastor Paul refers to the blind man Jesus healed by spitting and rubbing it on his eyes. In that day, he explains, people believed the minerals in their soil had healing properties, so Jesus met the man at his level. Who cares how you are healed, he says; the man was healed. Believers also have spiritual eyes, and the prayer of this message is that God would open them.
Many people come to Christ at the end of their rope and assume that one prayer will make every problem disappear. That is not how it works. Calling on Jesus and repenting opens the doorway to a better life, where He becomes your strength when you are weak and your wisdom when you do not know what to do.
Family and friends eventually fail us, just as people failed Jesus, and hardships will still come. In John 16:33 Jesus said that in this world we will have tribulation, but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. Pastor Paul hears Him saying: I went through that pressure, worry and anxiety for you, and I have you in the palm of My hand.
Once we believe, it is up to us to build a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus, who is real and alive. The more we know Him, the more confident we become, not in our own ability but because, as Philippians 4:13 says, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Bodily exercise profits a little (1 Timothy 4:8), he adds, but the spiritual man needs exercise too. A doer of the word trains that inner man with the instructions God has given for this life now, not only for heaven.
Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See: Confess and Believe
The main text is Romans 10:8–10: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Pastor Paul notes that the word for saved, sozo, includes healing, health, protection and provision. Confessing is a great start, but you also have to believe in your heart.
When we call on Christ, he says, God takes out the old heart of stone and puts in a new heart of flesh that He can mold (Ezekiel 36:26). He calls this new spirit the greatest miracle ever.
How do you know what to believe with so many preachers and denominations? A friend named John says the Packers lead 14–7; he could take John’s word or confirm it on TV or radio. The Bible is that resource. It is not only for the pastor to read once a week; it is for every believer to study, because you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).
This is why faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). “It’s easier for me to believe the more I read it,” he says. Church attendance, volunteering or taking a priest to lunch for 40 years cannot replace a personal relationship with Jesus.
The prayer of the title, give me your eyes so I can see, asks to see through God’s Word instead of feelings or old teaching. The table gathers the words Pastor Paul defines, from belief to baptism.
| Word | Meaning as he teaches it | What it asks of the believer |
|---|---|---|
| Saved (sozo) | Salvation that includes healing, health, protection and provision | Receive everything that is in Christ |
| Believe (pisteuo) | To trust, have faith in, be fully convinced of, rely on | Personal trust that produces obedience |
| Repent | Simply, change | Turn from the way you were going to God’s way |
| Baptize | To be submerged into water and come up | Make an outward expression of an inward commitment |
| Meditate | Going over the Word again and again | Fill your mind with Scripture, not empty it |
He spends the most time on pisteuo. It is more than agreeing with church doctrines; it expresses reliance and personal trust that produces obedience, and it includes submission and a positive confession of the lordship of Jesus. Some prayed years ago while the Bible collects dust and their faith swings with every trial. The answer is to become a doer of the word and be honest with God. He loves you and invites you to cast your cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7).
That submission changes how we speak. Pastor Paul rejects the “bad luck” talk of Murphy’s Law: “I don’t believe in luck. I’m blessed and highly favored.” By God he can run against a troop and leap over a wall (Psalm 18:29), and greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Verses he has memorized since childhood now rise up in him when he needs them.
Be a Doer of the Word, Not a Hearer Only
The second text is James 1:21–26. Laying aside filthiness, Pastor Paul says, means letting old habits from before Christ break so that new habits of life can grow. Then comes the command: “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” He has the church say aloud that they will be doers, not hearers only.
James compares a hearer who does nothing to a man who looks at his face in a mirror and immediately forgets what he looks like. Pastor Paul applies this to church attendance. You are reminded on Sunday who God has called you to be, then you walk out the door and nothing changes. “Christianity is more than religion; it is relationship with Jesus Christ,” he says. Nobody can borrow their pastor’s faith.
He then notices a shift in verse 25, from doer of the word to “a doer of the work.” His word is work, he says, and sometimes it is not easy: “That’s why it’s called work. If it were easy, it would be called play.” He calls men to lead their households spiritually instead of leaving prayer to their wives, and women to be the virtuous Proverbs 31 woman.
The promise is that the doer “will be blessed in what he does.” That blessing flows to the family, the workplace and everything you put your hands to. Verse 26 adds a warning: religion without a bridled tongue is useless, whatever background you came from.
Pastor Paul repeats a saying he credits to Dr. Hohman: “It’s much easier to act yourself into a feeling than it is to feel yourself into action.” If you wait to feel right to do right, you will never do right; if you do right, you start to feel right. Feelings are selfish, he says, which is why Jesus named the greatest commandment as loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second as loving your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30–31).
He points to small acts of kindness and to praying with someone in tears. Each time you obey that prompting of the Holy Spirit, He takes you from faith to faith and glory to glory. Jesus came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45), which is why the church’s motto is “I serve.” Being a doer of the word becomes the motive behind it all.
Planted by the Rivers of Water
Psalm 1:1–3 describes the blessed man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord. For Israel the law was the Torah; for us, Pastor Paul says, it is the Word of God. Biblical meditation is not an Eastern practice of emptying the mind. It is going over the Word again and again until it fills you.
You cannot always avoid negativity at work or home, he admits, but it cannot be your steady diet. An hour of prayer and Bible reading set against eight hours of cursing and foul language is lopsided. Speak the truth in love, he says, tell people you cannot listen to that anymore, and when you cannot leave, turn your thoughts to whatever is pure, lovely and of good report (Philippians 4:8).
The result is a tree planted by rivers of water, with deep roots in rich soil. When many believers stand along that river together, their roots intertwine, and when the winds and waves come, they are not moved. Rooted in the Word, he says, he is not easily persuaded by his feelings, and whatever he does will prosper.
In Philippians 2:12–16, Paul tells the church to obey “much more in my absence” and to work out their salvation. Pastor Paul hears the apostle saying, in effect, that believers need to stand on their own two feet. Obedience is action. Fear of mistakes, age, or youth is no excuse, for no one should despise your youth (1 Timothy 4:12).
It is God who works in us to will and to do, and we shine as lights in a crooked generation that twists Scripture to fit its feelings. Instead, let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). Doing what the Word says builds confidence on the inside of us.
Water Baptism: An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment
How important is it to do what the Word says? On a scale of one to ten, Pastor Paul says, it is a ten. Calling Jesus Lord means He is the boss, not a parent who has left the house. With a water baptism planned for November 5, he turns to Matthew 3:1–17, praying first that God would open the church’s eyes.
John the Baptist preached repentance in the wilderness, and Pastor Paul defines the word plainly: change. The way you were going was not working. Crowds came to his baptism, confessing their sins. He told the Pharisees and Sadducees, who leaned on being children of Abraham, that the ax was laid to the root of the trees. Traditions of men make the Word of God of no effect (Mark 7:13).
“Baptism is an outward expression about an inward commitment to a personal relationship,” Pastor Paul says. A believer could hide in the back of a mega church and never tell anyone, but the righteous are bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). That is why the church baptizes at the river in the park, where people launching boats can watch.
Why would sinless Jesus seek baptism? It marked the start of His ministry, the change from carpenter to His calling. Jesus said, “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” When He came up from the water, the heavens opened and the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus did what the Father told Him to do.
Water baptism, he teaches, is a type and shadow of death and resurrection; the doer of the word goes under and comes up new. Romans 6:3–4 says we were buried with Christ through baptism so that we should walk in newness of life. Going under the water says goodbye to old habits; the Word is sharper than any two-edged sword to cut them off (Hebrews 4:12), and whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).
2 Corinthians 5:14–21 completes the picture: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. God sees the believer white as snow, and when we stumble, we repent and return. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, relationship rather than religion, and water baptism symbolizes the believer’s union with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.
Choose Life
Because we were raised with Christ, we seek the things above (Colossians 3:1). Pastor Paul expects this afternoon, tomorrow and Tuesday to be better yet, quoting Pastor Dennis Toyne: “But wait, there’s more.” God wants to fill your life abundantly above all you could ask or think, and He has given assurance through His Word.
He closes with Deuteronomy 30:15–20, where God sets before His people life and good, death and evil, and commands them to love Him, walk in His ways and keep His commandments. Those commands are not a menu; God has our best interest at heart. The other gods that draw a heart away today, he explains, are not statues on a table but anything that pulls us from church, serving and our witness.
The conclusion is a choice: “therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” Why make excuses that rob us of blessings God freely gives? He then invites anyone who has never confessed Christ publicly to pray with eyes open, receive Jesus, repent, and become a doer of the word.
Living It Out This Week
Pastor Paul ends with a charge to let our light shine. Practical steps from this message:
- Check what you believe against Scripture. Like confirming a game score on the radio, test what you have heard by reading the Bible for yourself.
- Read before you feel like it. Act yourself into a feeling; do not wait to feel yourself into action.
- Change your confession. Replace “bad luck” talk with what God says about you, and memorize verses so they rise up when you need them.
- Watch your steady diet. Limit negativity and foul language where you can, and meditate on what is pure and lovely where you cannot.
- Serve on purpose. Be a doer of the word through one act of kindness each day.
- Take the next step of obedience. If you have believed but never been baptized, make that outward expression of your inward commitment.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 The blind man’s eyes and our spiritual eyes
- 0:51 Opening prayer: faith comes by hearing
- 1:43 Back to foundational truths
- 3:44 One prayer does not make problems vanish
- 5:54 Building a personal relationship with Jesus
- 8:04 Exercising the spiritual man
- 9:01 Romans 10:8–10: confess and believe
- 11:07 The Packers score and how to know the truth
- 15:20 The meaning of pisteuo
- 19:16 No such thing as luck
- 21:15 James 1: receive the implanted word
- 23:37 The man in the mirror
- 25:50 A doer of the work
- 28:34 Act yourself into a feeling
- 31:54 The motto “I serve”
- 33:01 Psalm 1: a tree by the rivers of water
- 36:41 Philippians 2: much more in my absence
- 40:52 Obeying God’s Word is a ten
- 43:45 Matthew 3: John the Baptist and repentance
- 47:57 Baptism: an outward expression
- 50:49 Why Jesus was baptized
- 54:25 Romans 6: buried and raised to new life
- 56:46 2 Corinthians 5: a new creation
- 1:01:29 Deuteronomy 30: choose life, and the invitation
Give Me Your Eyes Series
This is the second message in this short series. Start with part one or continue here:
- Previous: Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See, Part 1: Jonah and the Eyes of Compassion
- You are here: Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See, Part 2 — Be a Doer of the Word
Frequently Asked Questions
If I prayed the salvation prayer years ago, is that enough?
Pastor Paul teaches that the prayer is the doorway, not the whole journey. The word believe in Romans 10 means personal trust that produces obedience, so a Bible left on the shelf and a faith that swings with every trial show a relationship that needs building. He encourages anyone in that place to start applying the Word again and to talk honestly with God, who already knows what they are thinking.
Is it wrong to tell God how I really feel?
No. Pastor Paul says it is okay to be real with God, because He is our Father and knows our thoughts anyway. You do not need old-fashioned prayer language. You can tell Him that the stress and pressure are real and that you need Him. Then, he says, remember that He invites you to cast your cares on Him because He cares for you.
What does he mean by “other gods” today?
Reading Deuteronomy 30, Pastor Paul explains that other gods are rarely idols on a table. They are anything that draws a believer away from relationship with the Father: things that pull us back from church, from serving others, and from being a bold witness. Recognizing them is part of choosing life for yourself and for your family.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Romans 10:8–10 — confess with your mouth, believe in your heart
- James 1:21–26 — doers of the word, not hearers only
- Psalm 1:1–3 — a tree planted by the rivers of water
- Philippians 2:12–16 — work out your own salvation
- Matthew 3:1–17 — John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus
- Romans 6:3–4 — buried with Him through baptism
- 2 Corinthians 5:14–21 — a new creation in Christ
- Deuteronomy 30:15–20 — choose life
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
Watch More Messages
If this message opened your eyes, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries to explore. Browse the full sermon archive and keep growing as a doer of the word.
