Seeing As Jesus Sees [Part 7]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. The elder says, Pastor, I think the Lord wants to know what you want. He said, what do you want?

I said, I'm not sure what you mean. He said, I mean, what do you want for your life and for this ministry and your family? What do you want God to do in this church? What do you want God to do in the lives of the people you pastor? What do you want to see happen in this city?

What blessings do you want God to pour out? And I said, well, I said, I need to think about that. And as I walked away, Daniel, I came to a really sobering realization. I, at that time, I didn't really know what I wanted.

I guess I'd thought that what I wanted didn't matter. 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 at a whole new light. And this book that is coming out soon by Pastor Alan is titled Seeing as Jesus Sees. And we were 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 audio book version is our thank you for supporting the launch of Pastor Alan's new book. 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 is our way of saying thanks. By the way, when you pre-order the book, it also guarantees you the best sale price when it goes on sale. So that's a good thing to note. You also are the first among the first to get the book that's makes it nice and convenient for you.

So you're taking care of that business now. And it's helping, and this is a big one, helping to propel the message forward of this this book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, how a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awake and joy. And it certainly is a vital message for our day and age.

All of that when you pre-order and then let us know that you've done so again, this is on its way to you and instructions and information coming when you do that. PastorAlan.org or Seeing as Jesus Sees.org. And sitting again here with Pastor Alan in the studio as we're diving into the principles and the concepts behind this book.

And it's really divided into different sections. And as we're moving into this section, Pastor Alan, Seeing Yourself, is this kind of the oxygen mask on yourself section of the book? That's a good way to put it, right? Well, if you don't see yourself through Jesus' eyes, then not only will you be confused about your real design and who you're really made to be, but it can, as anyone who's ever suffered from shame, can know it can lead to a lot of self-condemnation and self-disqualification and self-sabotage. I just think that seeing ourselves accurately is this pathway to living out of our true identity in Christ. And that's something that is very, very dear to my own heart is to help people do that. And so that's what this next section of chapters in the book is about.

And we're going to talk about a little bit of it, way more in the book than we have time to talk about. But I think for me, in part of the spiritual journey for me has been learning to quit seeing myself as like, I'm this little helper for Jesus and start seeing myself as He does. And that is someone that He came to help, that He came to save, to transform. And maybe before we could give anything to others, and I want to live my life as a life of service, but maybe before we could give anything to others, we need to see how much Jesus yearns to give to us. And so let's talk about that.

Let's talk about receiving. Let's talk about seeing Jesus as your helper, not vice versa. And that might be the first and most important way that Jesus wants to open up our eyes. So much of what we, I feel like kind of default to in a Christian faith, maybe it's an American phenomenon or what is radically different than what the gospel really is. And I think that's what this ministry in particular has done such a good job at doing is it's often this different perspective and there's vision language, right?

But seeing it differently and not just for the sake of being different, but because it's true, if you read the scriptures, it's what Christ has done for us. And here, when you talk about being a helper, there's even a twist on that. Normally we're going to go, we're going to serve Jesus and we're going to do this for the kingdom of God. And that sounds good, but really the power comes from the Holy Spirit and He's the helper.

He's our helper. Today and tomorrow, I want us to talk about that great gospel story where Jesus washes feet and Peter is so resistant and says, you should never wash my feet. And Jesus says, if you don't let me wash you, you have no part of me. And then he's like, oh, so we're going to talk about that story, but it makes me think about how God began showing this to me years ago when a discerning elder in our church approached me and said he wanted to share with me the details of a dream that involved me and God. And our schedules were busy and it took several weeks before we could get together. We finally met. I was full of curiosity and I said, okay, tell me all about the dream.

So the elder goes, well, in the dream, God appeared to you and said, Alan, what do you want? I was like, wow. Okay.

That's, that's interesting. I said, okay, go on now. What happened next and what did I say? And, and my friend says, no, that was it. That was the end of the dream. I said, what do you mean? That's it?

That's the whole dream. He said, yeah, that was it. I mumbled a little bit and joked. I said, well, we didn't need a long standing appointment for you to share a once in a dream.

Yeah, that could have been a text. I said to him, I said, what do you make of it? And he was very insightfully said, I think the dream means just what it sounds like. I think the Lord wants to know what you want.

And I was speechless. I didn't really have a category for a response to that because at that time, years ago, it really didn't fit in my theology. I think I lived with the assumption that what I want is the last thing God's interested in. But then the elder reminded me of how the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, what do you want?

Ask and I'll give it to you. And the elder says, pastor, I think the Lord wants to know what you want. He said, what do you want?

I said, well, I'm not sure what you mean. He said, I mean, what do you want for your life and for this ministry and your life? What do you want God to do in this ministry and your family? What do you want God to do in this church? What, what do you, what do you want God to do in the lives of the people you pastor? What do you want to see happen in this city?

What blessings do you want God to pour out? And I said, well, I said, I need to think about that. And as I walked away, Daniel, I came to a really sobering realization. I, at that time, I didn't really know what I wanted.

I guess I'd thought that what I wanted didn't matter. 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 in the world through Jesus's eyes. There's good news on every page because divine revelation and spirit-filled living is a reserve 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 a hundred dollars 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's eyes.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. And a few days later, I'm on the phone with a discerning mentor, brilliant author, Gordon Dalby.

We would talk on the phone back in those days from time to time. And I told him about the dream and I said, Gordon, help me understand what that means. You know, what, what, why, if God wants to know what I want, why, why am I not able to tell him? And as he often did in our conversations and our prayer times, he had real insight. He grew quiet saying, Jesus, just show us, show us what you have here.

And then his next words were life altering for me. He said, Alan, God cares about what you want because he's your father. It matters to him. Gordon said, when I take my son out for ice cream, I want to know what he wants. I care whether he wants chocolate chip or butter pecan or rocky road. I also care about his dreams, his longings. I'm his father and I'm the leader, but because I love him, I care about what he wants.

And then he said something I'll never forget. He said, Alan, because of your dad's alcoholism, there wasn't much time to attend to your wants. In fact, in a lot of alcoholic homes or other kinds of dysfunctional homes, the energy gets directed to fixing the problem. And when you grow up with that, it's easy to start thinking that you exist to take care of other people. And it's easy to lose touch of your own wants and your own needs. Well, they know this is paradigm shifting.

This is an aha. This is a revelation. The fact that I didn't know really what I wanted wasn't a reflection of a deep God honoring selflessness. It was a symptom of shame. And it's a question that I began to ask myself and I asked for all of our listeners to, had I been muting my desires because I was so magnanimous or because I felt guilty for wanting anything? And what if the stifling of our desires is keeping us from deeper blessings?

What if rejecting blessing isn't really a mark of maturity, maybe the opposite? And that's when I began to understand deeper meaning in Jesus's description of his own mission. When he said in Matthew 20, 28, the son of man came not to be served, but to serve.

And so I know it can sound heretical, but this, everyone needs to listen to this. When Jesus looks at you, what if he isn't frustrated with your unwillingness to serve him as much as with your resistance to letting him serve you? We're talking about how Jesus sees you. We're talking about seeing ourselves through the eyes of Jesus.

And if you have a hard time imagining that Jesus wants to serve you, well, we've got a good story that we can visit in a moment around the Lord's last supper table when Jesus takes up a towel and begins to wash feet. Really is transformational. I'm friends with a ministry to the Capitol Hill in Washington and their soul ministry. They say it's mind blowing. It's just, they walk in to members of Congress and ask, how can we pray for you?

How can we serve you? And it stops them in their tracks. They've never had anybody ask that question before. I mean, in the best sense that these are public servants out to serve their constituents and hear somebody showing them say, hey, we just want to be Jesus to you and serve you. And it's, my point is it stops them in their tracks, gives them a whole new perspective and is empowering.

And I think that's what you're hitting on here. Helper with a twist at this particular chapter of the book. It's seeing as Jesus sees by Pastor Alan, right? How a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awaken joy releases October 10th, and you can pre-order the book right now. And when you do so and let us know, you'll receive a free audio book, a daily reading guide, and a companion video course all coming your way is our thank you for supporting the launch of Pastor Alan's new book and the important message contained there in all of this is over $100 in value. And it's your simply when you pre-order from your favorite book retailer, like online.

And by the way, that guarantees you the best sale price. You're the first to get the book and it helps to propel the message forward in this day and age. Simply let us know you've done that. And we're happy to give you these wonderful resources to aid you in your study and your walk with Christ. Let us know what let us know at Pastor Alan.org or seeing as Jesus sees.org. Sitting today with Pastor Alan in the studio and fresh off writing this book and then all the edits that go into it and all the, I mean, you've probably read and studied and devoured these principles and these thoughts so many times now Pastor Alan, but I still sense excitement coming from you for what this means. Well, it's, you know, I've written other books like the previous book to this, the power of bless, which was a life message that I've been practicing for so many years. But this practice of asking Jesus for his eyes, Jesus, how do you see this?

This is something that's been happening over my life over the last four or five years. And so it's relatively new and it's so eye opening and it's a different way to live. And I just want everybody to know about this because trying to do what Jesus would do, trying to just be a better Christian, trying to be more patient, trying to be a better spouse, trying as noble, but does it ever change anybody?

No. And this is about how transformation happens. And I'm interested in spending my life helping people, helping both those that have yet to know Jesus and those that know Jesus to see their lives in a whole new light. And the only way that we can ever see ourselves accurately is to begin to see ourselves as Jesus. And we're talking therefore in the first place about a paradigm shift in which instead of seeing yourself as Jesus's little helper that is trying to prove yourself to Jesus, that the way Jesus sees you is you're the one that he came to save. And in that sense, you're the one he came to help.

In fact, he calls his own spirit the helper. So Daniel, in this book, we're given a few little pieces, little snapshots of some of the many gospel images that are here. And it's a very different kind of Bible study. Instead of studying about Jesus, this is a book that invites readers to come stand next to Jesus. And so as much as possible, I want to invite people to see themselves there in the first century, shoulder to shoulder with the Messiah, and try in your mind's imagination to look through his eyes at the various scenes that he is in. And that's a different way to read the Bible. It's exciting.

And so here's one. Imagine that you're there, and every listener, if you can, just put your mind there. It's Passover.

Jewish pilgrims filled Jerusalem for the holiday. And you're there to celebrate the feast with Jesus in a borrowed room. So there are no household servants there. And as usual, you recline at table. That's where your left elbow resting. And then you stretch your feet away from the low table. And all these grown men's feet tromping in dust. You don't want to get that near the food.

So that back away from you as you lean on your left elbow and you can eat food with your right hand. There's nobody there, no servants, nobody washing feet. So maybe you think about washing your own feet. You look around to see if there's a basin and water, and then you notice Jesus taking off his outer garments and grabbing the towel, wrapping it around his waist, and you're just stunned. As the Lord pours water in the basin and begins to wash one of the disciples feet, imagine yourself there, your jaws dropped, the Lord taken on the task customarily assigned to the lowest ranked servant in a household. And you watch as he approaches Simon Peter. And if you know Peter, you know how Peter is. Peter will speak what's on his mind.

And you're like, well, this is going to be interesting. And then you hear Simon, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? And Jesus says, you don't understand, but afterwards you will.

And now the room's tense. And you watch Jesus' face as Simon blurts out, you'll never wash my feet. Now, just if you could see yourself there, imagine looking at Jesus as he looks at the disciple.

And how does he see Simon's well-meaning humility? Alan Wright, with good news from his latest book, Seeing as Jesus Sees. Please stay with us.

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, 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 in the world through Jesus's eyes. There's good news on every page because divine revelation and spirit-filled living is a reserve 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, pastorallen.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's eyes. Back now with Pastor Alan and our closing inspiration directly from his new book, Seeing as Jesus Sees.

Here's Pastor Alan Wright. I share also Joy's story, not just to show how stark and how important these matters are of seeing, but could you just for a moment put yourself in the place of Joy's parents, pleading with her to eat, pleading with her. What are they, what do they want? What's their heart aching for in their depths? Are they frustrated that Joy's not serving them? Is it that they mainly want Joy to get up and do some chores?

It's absurd. What they wanted more than anything else was Joy to let them serve her. Let us feed you. Let us listen to you. Let us help you. Let us in.

Please, honey, let us help. And I think it's so important if you're going to see your life as Jesus sees you, that you're going to have to remember this story of Jesus washing Peter's feet and saying, unless I wash you, you have no share. That he's pleading, let me serve you. Peter, if you won't let me wash your feet, how will you ever let me die for you? If you can't let me wash your feet, how will you let me wash your soul? If you won't let me serve you in this small way, how can I serve you in eternal ways?

I came to do much more than clean your feet. I came to cleanse your sin, to bear your penalty in my own body on the cross. I came to give you my life, to share my own spirit with you, before long, he's saying, I'll send you the helper of the Holy Spirit.

He'll teach you and empower you if you'll let him. Oh, Peter, if I don't wash you, you'll have none of this. So when Peter said, yes, yes, then wash all of me. He is prefiguring not only the cleansing power of God's forgiveness, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And Peter will end up preaching the Pentecost sermon and watch the wonders of God. This is how much is at stake, seeing yourself through Jesus's eyes. When you see him as he sees you, you see yourself as beloved. And I always loved a Presbyterian pastor, Lloyd Ogilvy, who had set a TV show and the name of it was Let God Love You.

And I loved Lloyd and I love that title. Maybe the show could have been even better and more scandalous if it was called Let Jesus Serve You. When you see yourself through Jesus's eyes, you'll see how much he wants to help you. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at PastorAllen.org or 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 PastorAllen.org. That's PastorAllen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.