Seeing As Jesus Sees [Part 5]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

We're talking about what you might be missing spiritually, what you might be missing, what treasures you might be missing, or what you might be missing naturally. But God loves to open our eyes to what we're missing when we ask Him and we become sensitive to seeing. 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 with that tagline, see your life in a whole new light. And this book that is coming out soon by Pastor Alan is titled, Seeing as Jesus Sees. And we're gathered in the studio today to bring you more inspiration from this soon to be released book. And I want to let you know that when you pre-order it right now and let us know that you've pre-ordered it, you'll receive as our thanks a daily reading guide, a companion video course, and the free audiobook version as our thank you for supporting the launch of Pastor Alan's new book and the important message that's contained here.

All of this valued at over $100. And you just go to wherever you buy good books, pre-order it. That's a big thing these days, you pre-order the book, and that just ensures that you're right in line to get it when it does release. But when you let us know that you've taken that important step of pre-ordering, we're going to send you these wonderful additional resources as our way of saying thanks.

Let us know at PastorAlan.org or SeeingAsJesusSees.org. Pastor Alan, it's good to be with you here, and we've gone through several pages of the book so far. I'm enjoying really taking it almost page by page and uncovering the importance not only of just what the title says, Seeing as Jesus Sees, but then thinking through what we're going to talk about today is what we might be missing if we aren't seeing what Jesus sees. Exactly. Well, Daniel, I love being in the studio with you and talking about little pieces of this book and the ideas that led to it.

There is, of course, so, so much more in the book than we have space to talk about. But the whole idea, in case a listener is just joining us, is that we spend so much time doing and trying and maybe in a noble way trying to do what Jesus would do. But in the end, our attempts to be more like Jesus are futile for the same reason that trying to keep the law is futile.

It just doesn't have power. It's like the law was good. It was a good gift from God.

Here's what you ought to be, right? But the problem is that the law didn't have power in it to enable us to keep the law, and that's something that God must do in us. And what we're exploring in this book is one of the, if not the central ways, that God actually changes us from the inside. And I hesitate to use a word like this, but effortlessly, spontaneously even, that if you've ever had an aha moment, you go, oh, I see that. And it's not only the bliss of that makes sense, but once you have the accurate perspective, then it changes everything. So we were talking last time about the dangers, the terrible dangers of spiritual blindness, how awful things go when we don't see it correctly. We can believe lies about ourselves that lead us into depression. We can believe things that aren't true of others that lead us into terrible judgments and fracture our relationships, and we can believe things about the world and see it from the wrong perspective that just makes us feel like giving up. So we need Jesus' eyes for ourselves, how He sees others, and how He sees this world.

But one of the reasons that it's so important is what about all that we're missing? It's not just about the deception and the distortion, but we've all had that before where there was something, you just didn't see it. And then finally you saw it, and it brought a lot of joy into your life. And then you can't unsee it.

You can't unsee it, yeah. Oh, that was, I didn't realize that. And then, wow.

And that's the way it is with any type of treasure. And the thing to know about this, and this is good news, is that God is really for us, and I think our little prayer is short enough for a single breath deep enough to change your life. Just a little prayer. Jesus, how do you see this? An opportunity to pause in the middle of our busy lives, connect in the Spirit with Jesus, and then look again, look through His eyes. That simple little prayer is something I think God loves to honor, because He wants us to see the good stuff.

That's why Jesus came, to open the eyes of the blind. And it makes me think about, Daniel, Easter at our house, I think you've heard me tell it before, that it's probably bigger than Christmas. I mean, by the time... Grand celebration.

No, it's just big. And that's my wife, my wonderful aunt, she's just bouncing around the house, getting ready for Easter, and by the time... She's a walking celebration. She's a walking celebration. If you haven't ever met Anne, I hope you get to someday. But, you know, on Easter Day, after I preached three or four Easter messages that day, and usually we've had several others that weekend, you know, I come home ready to fall on the couch, but I can't, because Anne's bouncing around, house full of family and friends, gather for a feast, and Anne spends half the year, literally, half the year, preparing a giant bag of Easter presents for every child, niece, nephew, cousin, and after lunch, she makes one of our grown-up kids, usually Bennett, put on an adult-sized bunny costume, hop in with the big bag of toys.

But the game is, before any child can claim their giant goodie bag, they have to participate in a backyard Easter egg hunt, and they gotta find a special egg that contains a gold coin. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Wondering what you need to do to find more freedom, wonder, and joy? What if you don't need to do more as much as see more? What if victorious breakthrough and enduring transformation comes not by striving, but by seeing? For years, Pastor Alan Wright has been practicing a new spiritual discipline, a simple prayer, Jesus, how do you see this?

It's brief enough for a single breath, but deep enough for lasting life change. It's a prayer Christ loves to honor, because the Savior came to open blind and blurred eyes. Jesus is, after all, the light of the world. In his new groundbreaking book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, Alan Wright leads readers into a fresh kind of Bible study, where they're invited in close, side by side with the Savior, to see themselves, others, and the world through Jesus' eyes. There's good news on every page, because divine revelation and spirit-filled living isn't reserved for the spiritually elite.

Every Christian can live with wide-eyed wonder and spirit-revealed vision. The beautiful hardcover book releases October 10th, but for a limited time, when you pre-order the book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over $100 of bonus resources. Simply pre-order the book, visit SeeingAsJesusSees.org, or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Give us confirmation that you've pre-ordered the book, and when the book releases, you'll be given a free audio book from the publisher. And you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan.

All these valuable bonus gifts are only for those who pre-order the book, so place your order today with your favorite online book retailer and visit our website for instructions on receiving all the extra resources. Christ's Call to Discipleship isn't an invitation to strive to do what Jesus would do, but to come and see what Jesus sees. So pre-order your copy of Alan Wright's newest book and discover and start seeing yourself, others, and the world through Jesus' eyes. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. The gold coin must be surrendered to Ann before the bunny will bring the bag. So you get your gold coin and then we say, do you want to keep your gold coin or do you want the bag? Well, everybody knows you want the bag. The bag's full of treasures. The only problem with this is that sometimes the kids have a hard time finding their special egg with the golden coin in it.

And so it's a problem for Ann because she spent half the year preparing this bag just for the sheer delight of seeing the kids open up all their presents. And so she doesn't just want the kids to find the special egg. She needs them to find a special egg or else the whole plan doesn't work.

Right. So she'll walk out there if they can't find it. Some little one, you know, she's like, wait, you might want to look in the bushes, she says, or I wonder if there's anything in the birdbath. You know, every now every now and then I've seen her virtually take them by the hand and walk them straight over to the special egg. So I say that because I think in that way, we must understand. Jesus, like Ann, wanting them to discover the special egg because there's so much more she wants to give them. I think Christ wants us to see his gifts because after all, he gave his life to make the spiritual treasure available to us. And so when you learn to pause and pray, Jesus, how do you see this? You're praying something that's already in his heart. It's like, let me see the special egg that let me find the treasure, Jesus, that you have already put before me.

And so in the end, you can pray this with confidence and know that there are treasures in the deep that God wants to reveal to you. Pastor Alan's book is where the themes of these thoughts are coming from. It's Seeing as Jesus Sees How a New Perspective Can Defeat the Darkness and Awaken Joy releases October 10th. And if you preorder the book right now, we're here to let you know that we've got a wonderful bundle to send your way as our thanks.

You get the free audio book, a daily reading guide to go along and a companion video course. All is our thanks for supporting the launch of Pastor Alan's new book here, Seeing as Jesus Sees. So step one, you preorder the book wherever you find good books, wherever you that's online.

Maybe it's a bookstore. Go do that and then let us know that step two is let us know at Pastor Alan dot org. Just say, hey, I've done it. I've preordered the book. Seeing as Jesus Sees dot org or Pastor Alan dot org is how you can contact us. And then step three is watch and wait for that bundle coming your way is our thank you. So that's just pretty simple, pretty straightforward and easy, Pastor Alan.

And I I love how you've illustrated in today's broadcast, not only with your wife and the celebration of Eastern anticipating point out, maybe you're not seeing it, but I'm going to point it out to you. But then you also move into a story of whale watching. And there's there are two distinct differences between you whale watching and our friend Chris Lawson.

They're very, very different. You know, there are. We're talking about what you might be missing spiritually and what you might be missing, what treasures you might be missing or what you might be missing naturally.

But God loves to open our eyes to what we're missing when we ask him and we become sensitive to seeing. There are awe inspiring 80 foot fin whales in the northeastern waters of New England and Canada. But most people like me had never seen them. It's hard to believe if you've never seen something, it's a little hard to believe that it exists.

Right. I mean, I remember thinking that would be so fascinating to see a whale in the wild. But, you know, who knows? Maybe all the National Geographic whale documentaries have just been used in special effects to trick us. You know, maybe they're all really just like alleged sightings of the Loch Ness Monster or something. So in August of 19, my wife and I escaped the dog days of heat of North Carolina. And we took a long driving vacation all the way up through Vermont, all the way into Quebec City and Canada. And I couldn't resist it when I saw a whale watching brochure at the hotel front desk. And I was like, honey, I was like, and let's go whale watching. And she's like, no, no, we're only here for a few days in quaint old Quebec City.

They're shopping, sightseeing in restaurants and fun things to do. She's like, we might get seasick. We might never see a whale.

And I just pleaded with her. I just like the thing how incredible it be just to see one of the giant creatures out in the natural habitat. You know, secretly, my wife, she's a sucker for adventure. So 48 hours later, we're making this beautiful drive up to this town, Bay St. Catherine, where we had board a whale watching boat and the air was chilly. The waters were calm. Fog had lifted.

The guide said, don't get your hopes up. But I've been told by team members that whales have been sighted today. And as we approach the deep waters, the whales where they've been spotted and I'm looking through my rented binoculars and all of a sudden I said, honey, I think I just saw a water spout out in the distance.

And I'm urging her to take the binoculars. And all of a sudden she gasped and she says, I just saw one. I said, what? She said, I saw a whale. What?

Where? And she's out there. She said it was a small water spout. And then I saw a whale just gently roll above the surface. And I looked, you know, five, 10, 15 minutes past.

Nothing. I'm thinking, great. My eyes were glued to the binoculars and she saw an actual whale. That might be the only one of the day that anybody sees. But suddenly, Daniel, the guide says, look, two o'clock off the right front of the boat. He said, boy, you're lucky today. There it is, a fin whale, pretty large, about 60 feet, probably over 100 years old. And all the passengers aboard gas are pointing, rejoicing, spewed an enormous spout, slowly rolled up and out of the sea, prepared for another dive. And then and then and a few moments later, the guide says, look, oh, my 10 o'clock front left of the boat, 40 foot hump whale, her baby also.

Oh, you are so fortunate today. And these glorious creatures are just just rolling and surfacing and spouting. And and then what every whale watcher dreams of seeing that that mother whale, she dove and breached the surface with that huge tail and just let it wave, you know, like waving goodbye to you, Daniel.

I'll never forget it. I mean, in all our few hours on the St. Lawrence, we saw. The fin whales, we saw also beluga whales, we saw we saw two or three minke whales.

We saw it was. It was just glorious. Yeah, seeing whale watching. Is glorious, actually, we should say seeing whales is glorious.

Just watching for them and never seeing is not fun. Having having heard about how how great our experience was, my dear friend, our executive pastor, Pastor Chris and his family, they were very excited about a road trip to Maine that was two summers later. And his precious wife, Mary, she had just turned 40 and she had a lifelong dream of going whale watching.

And so they decided to go and buy some tickets at Bar Harbor and go for their big adventure. Chris said, he said, I should have paid more attention when the boat guide announced before we launched. He said, it's foggy and choppy. So you're welcome to disembark and schedule for another day.

And he's like, we should listen to that. But they went out. It was thick fog. The waters were so rough that they said that we have to scale.

We have to sail farther up towards Nova Scotia. That was five and a half hours of three foot swells bobbing and rocking the boat. Pretty soon, one passenger lost his breakfast. And Chris is like, I never knew seasickness was so contagious. The whole boat seemed sick. Chris said the whole day, he said, he said, I never saw anything but a bird. And they got done and they said, you could come back any time in the future for a free, a free tour. So we hadn't seen a whale.

It was like, right. You know, who's going to sign up for five more hours of rocking on rough waters? So it's it's it's there's nothing more frustrating than not seeing. And there's nothing more thrilling than seeing. And I think God in the spirit has so much to show us that we've been missing.

And I guess that's the whole point of those silly stories is just. You know, I'd say to all of our listeners. What might you be missing? What might happen if you begin to just say throughout the day, Jesus, how do you see this? Jesus, what do you see here?

What am I missing? And what you're doing in that little prayer, as we'll learn a lot more about, is you're enacting a process that invites spiritual illumination. It's a pause and the busyness. It's a connecting with Jesus in the spirit. And then it is a commitment to look again through new eyes and all that's contained in a little prayer.

Jesus, how do you see this? So we're talking, Daniel, about what we might be missing and what we might be able to see when we start asking Jesus for his eyes. Alan Wright with good news from his latest book, Seeing as Jesus sees.

Please stay with us. Pastor Alan's joining me back here in the studio, sharing a parting good news inspiration to see as Jesus sees in just a moment. Wondering what you need to do to find more freedom, wonder and joy.

What if you don't need to do more as much as see more? What if victorious breakthrough and enduring transformation comes not by striving, but by seeing? For years, Pastor Alan Wright has been practicing a new spiritual discipline, simple prayer. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's brief enough for a single breath, but deep enough for lasting life change. It's a prayer Christ loves to honor because the Savior came to open blind and blurred eyes. Jesus is, after all, the light of the world. In his new groundbreaking book, Seeing as Jesus sees, Alan Wright leads readers into a fresh kind of Bible study where they're invited in close, side by side with the Savior to see themselves, others in the world through Jesus's eyes. There's good news on every page because divine revelation and spirit filled living isn't reserved for the spiritually elite.

Every Christian can live with wide eyed wonder and spirit revealed vision. The beautiful hardcover book releases October 10th, but for a limited time, when you preorder the book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over $100 of bonus resources. Simply preorder the book, visit SeeingAsJesusSeas.org or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Give us confirmation that you've preordered the book, and when the book releases, you'll be given a free audio book from the publisher. And you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. All these valuable bonus gifts are only for those who preorder the book.

So place your order today with your favorite online book retailer and visit our website for instructions on receiving all the extra resources. Christ's call to discipleship isn't an invitation to strive to do what Jesus would do, but to come and see what Jesus sees. So preorder your copy of Alan Wright's newest book and discover and start seeing yourself, others, and the world through Jesus's eyes. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio as we're talking through the pages of his upcoming book, Seeing as Jesus Sees.

And we're here at the closing moment with parting good news inspiration for our day. And you're saying this is much like a parent sees ahead and prepares ahead for a child and that child's future and anticipating all that that child may want. Or need even as they go through those important first stages of life and grow and develop, right? We know the baby's going to need a crib, the baby's going to need a change table, the baby's going to need this and that.

The baby's going to need some clothes, the baby's going to need these diapers. Any parent can understand this. In that sense, you could say that parent or that grandparent is in the baby's future. In fact, when you're raising a child, you're always in a sense in their future providing. So to provide means you can see further than the child what that child's going to need. And so you are providing. Well, imagine God.

How much is he in your future? Already there seeing what you need before you need it. I mean, he sees the fish before the fish have even begun swimming your way. He sees the ram and the thicket for Abraham. He sees the answer to your dilemma, the creative solution.

He is the God who sees which in the Bible that is literally Jehovah Jireh. So the invitation is to start pausing to ask Jesus. What do you see? Connect your heart to Christ. What am I missing? I'm empty. What do you see? And then you look and I'm just saying Jesus delights and showing you his grace. As you see the goodness of God in the middle of your emptiness.

And if I could say it, it's a whale of an experience. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at Pastor Alan dot org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at Pastor Alan dot org. That's Pastor Alan dot o r g. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.