Through Jesus' Eyes [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. When you can see things for what they are, and you can see it in the right way, you don't have to spend much time trying to regulate your thoughts or feelings or behaviors.

They just follow after. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, You'll See, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? I believe that God can give you Jesus' eyes so that you'll see everything that He sees it, in the way that He sees it. Through Christ's eyes, as He promised Nathaniel, I believe you'll see greater things this year under a cloudless, open heaven. May God give you the Savior's own clear vision so that you'll see yourself more beloved than broken. You'll see others' potential more than their problems. You'll see the world's hope more than its heartache. God's grace is all around you.

You'll see. It's a word of blessing for a new year, a word that we're going to be speaking and imparting to every individual and every family at all our campuses in this coming week. It's a word of tremendous hope to say you'll see. And today, as we launch a new series that's all about cultivating and practicing and asking God's help to see as Jesus sees, we go to a story that is remarkable in its implications.

And it's absolutely delightful once you understand what it's all about. It is in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John, John chapter 1, and it's the call of some of the early disciples, and we're focusing on the call of Nathaniel. This text becomes the basis also of a new year's blessing we'll be speaking this coming week.

But it is the launching pad for a whole new series, which I believe can become, I don't mean to overstate this, but like a whole new spiritual tool for your life. It's John chapter 1, verse 43. The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, and Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see, come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? And Jesus answered him, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered, rabbi, you're the son of God. You're the king of Israel. Jesus answered him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?

You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you'll see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. We love watching all of the Christmas movies and included in that is the classic white Christmas. Just wouldn't be Christmas without watching Bing Crosby sing his way to a snowy Vermont renewal of Inn and Pine Tree, Vermont. Yeah, surely you familiar with the story.

If you're not, I give you the quick overview. Bob Wallace was a captain in the army and his life was saved by private Phil Davis when a bomb exploded near a Christmas Eve celebration they were having as they honored Major General Waverly, who was retiring. After the war, Davis and Wallace teamed up and became highly successful musicians and even all the way to Broadway. And the story tells about how they met two sisters and Bob Wallace, the star of the show, fell in love with Betty. And Phil, in hopes of getting Bob and Betty more serious about marriage, diverted their plans from New York to Pine Tree, Vermont, where Betty and her sister Judy were to be performing at an Inn there. They go to the Inn expecting snow and big crowds and all the skiing, but it's a heat wave there and there's no snow. And the place is about to go under because there are no people there at the resort. And surprise, surprise, who is it that owns the Inn and runs it?

None other than General Waverly. And they bump into him there. They're shocked.

They can't believe it. So when they realized that Waverly's Inn is in trouble, Wallace hatches an idea to help save the Inn and honor the General. He's going to go on national TV and he's going to invite everybody from their old division to come to the Inn, bring their families and be a lot of business and have a big time to honor this retired General. Well, unfortunately, the Innkeeper's assistant is nosy and listens in on only part of a phone call conversation that Wallace has with this national TV host. And she only hears the TV host saying, yeah, we'll make it all a bunch of schmaltz and we'll really play it up and play the pity on the old General. She only hears that part and a busybody that she is, she tells Betty, I just heard them say, they're going to be making fun of the general national TV. And Betty says, well, that's the worst thing in the world. So Betty, who has fallen and starting to fall in love with Bob Wallace, all of a sudden thinks that he's doing this despicable thing. And so now she just doesn't like him at all. And she's going to leave, leave Bob, leave the show, leave town and give up on all of it. And nobody has a conversation in there where they say something like, is it true that you're going to go on national TV and make fun of the old General?

Nobody has that conversation. And Wallace says, what's, what's bothering you, Betty? It seemed like something.

Oh, nothing. It proceeds to have about 20 minutes of the most frustrating misunderstanding where she doesn't see it accurately at all. And it just makes me not like her. And I can't stand that part of the movie. And Anne and Abby and I were sitting there watching it. We said, you want to watch White Christmas? Said, yeah, but we got that whole part in there where the misunderstanding, where they don't see it accurately. And it's just so miserable watching that. And I just said, well, why don't we just fast forward through that part?

And they thought I was joking. And we got to that part and I got the remote. We fast forwarded through it. We did it right past the misery and jumped right back to where now she's watching the national TV program and she sees Bob Wallace get on there and realizes he wasn't doing something that was dishonoring.

He was doing something noble and, and, and self-sacrificing to honor the General. And she falls in love with him again, because she saw it properly. Granted, she could have had a conversation a little while earlier while we were fast forwarding, but isn't it odd how much changes when you see something accurately?

We spend so much time in life trying to manage our thoughts or even our feelings and I certainly would try to regulate our behaviors and practices and habits, but we don't spend as much time on what's most important, seeing it accurately. Bob Wallace didn't change. He was the same good guy, but her perspective, the way she saw him changed. And when she saw him inaccurately, she came off of the path that was going to be her joy. When she saw accurately, her heart changed.

She came back to Pine Tree, Vermont. What I'm saying is that when you can see things for what they are, and you can see it in the right way, you don't have to spend much time trying to regulate your thoughts or feelings or behaviors. They just follow after. So how is it that you are able to see accurately? This is a simple prayer and a simple new way of looking at the scriptures, but it could change everything.

I've been practicing it now for months as I've been thinking about this series. Just ask him, Jesus, how do you see this? Instead of just reacting, instead of just responding out of our emotion, or instead of just becoming confused, just pause, just a simple prayer, Jesus, how do you see this? And to look at the scriptures through this lens that the whole Bible is about Jesus, and every place that you see Jesus interacting with people, you look and go, how did he see people? How did he see problems? How did he see the world? And say, Lord, I want to learn. I want to learn to see as you see.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Want to give someone a present this Christmas that they'll never forget? Let us help you give a gift that money can't buy. This Christmas, give someone your blessing, a positive, biblically-based, faith-filled vision for their life. In the beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful to multiply, because in God's design, blessing isn't the reward for productivity, it's the fuel for it.

Now, let's take a look at it. Now, more than ever, someone you love needs your blessing, and we're here to help you craft it. This month's special offer from Alan Wright is a beautiful booklet that will teach you how to craft a meaningful blessing. The easy step-by-step instructions are biblically-based and even include a worksheet that helps you write your blessing. So this Christmas, give someone you love a present not found in stores, a gift from your own heart that will encourage and empower. Write down the blessing and put it in a package under the tree or put it in your Christmas card.

They'll never forget it. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you this booklet as our thank you so you can discover the power to bless. Call us at 877-544-4860 or visit PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. I think it's a far better thing than saying, what would Jesus do? Which is in some ways, though noble, it's just a form of kind of moralistically saying, well, if you give me a model of how I'm supposed to behave, I'll try to do that. What I think God wants to do is something much deeper than that. So as I began studying for this series, my first question to the Lord was, is this your will? Do you want us to be able to see as you see?

And the answer of course is yes. Jesus in John chapter eight, verse 12 spoke saying, I'm the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The promise is for every believer to have light. It's not his will for us to stumble about in the darkness.

He wants us to have revelation. Paul said of every Christian, Romans eight 14, all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. The children of God are given the Holy spirit so that our lives are led not by our natural minds, but by the spirit. Paul even went so far in first Corinthians two 16 to say, we have the mind of Christ. John said in his little epistle first that in chapter two, verse 20, that you have been anointed by the Holy one and you have knowledge.

He's talking in a section here about testing the spirits and knowing what's right and discerning things. He says just a few verses later, but the anointing that you receive from him abides in you and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, you abide in him. It's not saying you don't need Bible teachers and all that he's saying, but when it comes to being able to see as Jesus sees, you have an anointing, you have the Holy spirit. And of course, James says plainly, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach.

It will be given to him that God loves to give you wisdom. It just seems to me clear in the scripture that God wants us to be able to see things properly. And what happened is that Adam and Eve saw things properly. And when sin came in, their vision became distorted and all of us have been born in sin. So God sent Jesus as a God man to be the perfect human.

And Jesus saw everything accurately. And the invitation for the Christian is through the redeeming power of what Christ has done for us, wherein we have not only been forgiven, but been made right with God. So there's no impediment that remains, no penalty due us, no guilty charge remaining against us because Jesus has paid it all. It means that we are invited into a kind of fellowship with Jesus in which you could say, Jesus, how do you see this? And it doesn't mean that you become omniscient like God.

It doesn't mean, it doesn't mean, you know, when Jesus is coming back and he is not going to give you the numbers of the lottery or whatever, you know, but in looking at yourself and looking at other people and looking at this troubled world, imagine what it would be like to see as Jesus sees. So I'll start with this incredible story in which these early disciples are called and Philip says to Nathaniel, come and see. And then the narrative is all about seeing. And Jesus sees Nathaniel in the spirit under a fig tree and then promises that Nathaniel is going to see greater things. It is for Nathaniel, what happens to anyone when their eyes get open to see something properly, your whole world changes.

I love that. I love the fact and I've seen it happen hundreds of times where someone's eyes are opened to see in a way they've not seen before and it changes everything. It is in a sense a paradigm shift. This is a common phrase that began in the work of Thomas Kuhn who was speaking mainly of how paradigms can shift in the scientific world where there is a whole way of looking at, let's think in just terms of a science, a whole way of looking at something and a lot of ideas seem to fit into it and collect within that paradigm. But then you realize that there is new knowledge or revelation that comes and the old paradigm just doesn't work anymore. So for a long time, people thought the earth was flat and the sun was moving. Well, that was a wrong paradigm and we could fit some of our understandings of physics and the stars into it and try to make it fit.

But in the end, it just doesn't fit. I saw someone describe it like this and said the paradigm, you could think of it as like these containers. It's something that ideas fit into.

It's a way of seeing. And so let's imagine these are paradigms and I've got these beautiful pom poms here and you say, okay, here's this one paradigm and all of my ideas and thoughts can fit down into it, especially if I shove it down in like that one right there. And that's another idea and a thought and it fits in there. And then you can go through centuries like this and ideas fit. Oh, it all fits within that paradigm. Yeah.

Oh, that's right. The earth is flat. The sun moves up and down or goes around us and it all fits around. It all fits in like that.

And so life goes along and you've got the same paradigm. Everything seems to fit. And then all of a sudden comes a revelation and somebody realizes that they are discovered something about the way the horizon is or something.

I don't know what the physics is. And they're like, let's put that idea. And then you go, it doesn't fit.

It just doesn't fit at all. And you can try and you can keep throwing stuff in there and it just doesn't go at all until finally what you realize is you need a whole new paradigm. You have to have a whole new way of seeing things because the other ideas that are truth and reality, they won't fit unless you have a whole new way of seeing it. See, Jesus didn't come to tweak our ideologies. He didn't come to slightly adjust your behaviors by giving you a new set of rules. He came instead to change everything in your mind. Matthew 4 verse 17, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And repent means change your way of thinking. That's what it means. Change your mind.

You know what he's saying? Get a whole new paradigm. Get ready for everything you've believed to be completely transformed. Repent.

Why? Because you always believed the kingdom was out in the distance. You thought the Messiah was out in the future, but essentially the message that Jesus preached and he told his disciples to preach was change your minds now.

The kingdom's not off in the future. It's here now. He said in Luke chapter four, after he read the scroll of Isaiah, that was a prophecy of the Messiah who was anointed to preach good news to the poor and released to the captives. He rolled up at Luke 4 20, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. They were expecting to hear a new emerging rabbi who had some renown to give them some, you know, new insights on the Isaiah prophecy and to think about some things about the Messiah in a new way and what it means for good news to the poor and all that. And instead he rolled the scroll back up and he said, it's happened. And that rocked their world. And that's what happened to Nathaniel. His eyes got open to something and it would change everything. Alan Wright and our good news message today, looking at life through Jesus' eyes.

It's from our series, You'll See. And Pastor Alan is back with us in the studio with today's parting thought in just a moment. Want to give someone a present this Christmas that they'll never forget? Let us help you give a gift that money can't buy. This Christmas, give someone your blessing, a positive biblically based faith-filled vision for their life. In the beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful to multiply because in God's design, blessing isn't the reward for productivity.

It's the fuel for it. Now, more than anything, now more than ever, someone you love needs your blessing and we're here to help you craft it. This month's special offer from Alan Wright is a beautiful booklet that will teach you how to craft a meaningful blessing. The easy step-by-step instructions are biblically based and even include a worksheet that helps you write your blessing. So this Christmas, give someone you love a present not found in stores, a gift from your own heart that will encourage and empower. Write down the blessing and put it in a package under the tree or put it in your Christmas card.

They'll never forget it. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you this booklet as our thank you so you can discover the power to bless. Call us at 877-544-4860 or visit PastorAlan.org. Pastor Alan, it's a brand new series that we're kicking off today and I love the title, Seeing Through Christ's Eyes. In this series, you'll see, we're going to discover, Daniel, what I think is for me and for many of us who have begun thinking about this, a sort of new spiritual discipline. We've often heard it said, and it was famously imprinted all over the place, what would Jesus do? The only problem with that is that not only do we know what Jesus would do in any given situation, but that it's sort of a moralistic approach to living. It is to say, let me figure out what I ought to do and then I'll go do it.

The problem with figuring out what you ought to do and then trying to do it is it doesn't empower you to do it. But what we're going to be seeing today and in coming weeks is something marvelous. And that is if you can see it as Jesus sees it, then your emotions and your thoughts will line up with it. And so it's an incredible promise to say to Nathaniel, you'll see greater things. And I think it's Jesus' promise to us during a time in which we really need to be able to see life through His eyes. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.