Seeing As Jesus Sees [Part 10]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Oh, you little faith ones.

What if Jesus didn't mean it as a term of derision but a term of affection? What if He looks at you, listener, and sees your little faith and goes, ah, that's real faith, and I can take you by the hand and take you further on a little faith? 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 pre-ordered it, you'll receive as our thanks a daily reading guide, a companion video course, and the free audio book version as 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 as our way of saying thanks. Let us know at pastoralan.org or seeingasjesussees.org. Sitting today with Pastor Alan in the studio as we're exploring the themes of this book. And really it's divided into sections, not just chapters, but sections.

And so I, I love the way that we've unpacked it so far. And as we're in this part of seeing yourself, there's a part here, Pastor Alan, where, you know, I think we're, we're disabused on the phrase ye of little faith that you hear so much about the being so it's not such a negative thing as you point out. Well, and then this chapter in the book, we'll give a little, some little highlights of it.

Of course, we're just hoping everybody will get the book. And so there's so much more in there, but I called it toddling, toddling, seeing your little faith as real faith, because maybe there are going to be a paradigm shift for a lot of people like there has been for me as we, in this chapter, we'll explore the story of Peter taking a few steps on the water and then sinking. Of course, I think this is a good way to read your Bible, especially the stories of Jesus envision yourself there.

And that's, that's the way this, this book reads. So for our listeners now, just, you know, let's go back again to the sea of Galilee and let's come to this story where Peter walks and then sinks. And Jesus says, Oh, you have little faith. And, and if you approach this story with the presupposition that most of us have, that this is a real negative tisk, tisk, tiny faith, that's Peter's problem. And ours, you know, the sermons go, then it's no surprise that when we sink, most of us are quick to condemn ourselves. I got so little faith, so much doubt. That's my story. No wonder Jesus is disappointed in me, but I changed the way I read the story of Matthew 14, after I read a Charles Spurgeon sermon that he preached in the 19th century, it's a real gem.

We'll get back to it in a minute, but let's start here. And, and every, everyone listening, everyone on the sound of my voice, just invite you back into the disciples boat. When you're there, once again, the dark of night, long, amazing day with the rabbi. Maybe you're trying to process all you've witnessed. You've spent the evening watching Jesus feed thousands with five lows and two fish.

And you're thinking about how Jesus does big miracles with little things. It's between 3 AM and 6 AM, but you're used to fishing at night. Maybe you're physically tired, but inwardly you're energized by, you've seen miracles today. The wind's now kicked up. The surf's getting angry, fishing boats, a long way from shore. You're being beaten by the waves, but you're not too concerned.

You've seen rough conditions on the lake before. Imagine yourself there. And then you see something for which you have no category. You and all the disciples suddenly terrified.

A human figure is walking on the sea. You gotta imagine it. One of your friends cries out, it's a ghost. And then you hear the words, take heart, it is I, don't be afraid. And you know that voice.

Your heart slows down. It's Jesus and he's walking on the water. And you know why? Well, maybe he's just been missing you and he wants to come see you. Or maybe he's eager to open your eyes to something new. And just in that moment, when you think trigger-happy Simon Peter can't surprise you anymore, he does. And he says, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water. And you're watching this whole scene and trying to see it through Jesus's eyes and wonder, what will the Savior say, this foolish fisherman? But Jesus says, come.

That's one word from Jesus. And he's smiling, I think. Stretching out his arms, maybe. And Peter gets out of the boat. The water walking didn't last very long, did it? Matthew 14, 30 says, when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink and cried out, Lord, save me. And I just wonder, you know, Daniel, was Peter's head underwater when Jesus grabbed him by the hand? How did they get back to the boat? I guess Jesus is walking hand in hand or carrying him.

I don't know. But it's real easy to focus on Peter's failure and his smallness of his faith here. But what we got to think about is that this is unforgettable. For once in human history, a man hoisted a leg over the edge of a boat, heaved himself into the sea. And these are the words that probably ought to be underlined at verse 29. Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

And those are the words ought to be appearing in our Bible, underlined, capitalized, and highlighted. Peter walked on the water. And as far as we know, and I think we know, there's only one human other than Jesus ever to take more than a single step on water is Simon Peter, this foolish fisherman. So it leads you then to go, okay, I'm looking at everything through Jesus' eyes. How did Jesus see Peter's brief water walk? And we know that the Lord said to Peter, oh, you of little faith. But what did he mean by that? Was it, was he, was he really looking down on him?

And I don't think so. I don't think it was a curse. I think it was more of a blessing. And, you know, I think of like when I was a kid and sometimes because I was the youngest of three boys and I played with my older brother's friends, you know, so I was playing with the big kids and they called me little Al. I remember some years ago, I was in Atlanta at Lenox mall shopping in a men's section at Macy's, I think. And I looked over and I saw a childhood friend that I hadn't seen in decades. And I looked at him and I said, Freddie. And he looked back at me. He said, he looked for a long time and finally he goes, little Al. And what if Jesus was not just calling Peter that day, but the way he called his disciples, little faith ones. It's one word in Greek.

What if it was more of a term of affection? And what if maybe he was happy that Peter had some faith? So Charles Spurgeon, that Prince of Preachers, he was the one that convinced me that Jesus' words to Peter had more life than condemnation in it. He said, in a sermon he preached in 1885, he said, the savior did not say, oh, you of no faith or oh, you of pretended faith, but oh, you of little faith. And he adds, if he does, but acknowledge that it is faith, then the root of the matter is in us. I'd rather have great faith and little faith, but I'd rather have little faith than have great presumption and mistake it for holy confidence. And I began to see maybe God is not looking upon me with derision when my faith's not as big as I want it to be. And I think so often we're so quick to limit ourselves and go, I just have such little faith. And I know Jesus is really disappointed in me. And there I am.

I might take a step or two, but I sink again. And what if that's not the way Jesus sees us at all? We're talking about how Jesus sees everything. And in this section, Daniel, we're talking about how does Jesus see ourselves? How does Jesus see you? And we saw in our first broadcast on this that he sees you not so much as his slave. He wants to be calling you to be his helper, like he needs you.

He came to be your helper. But here's another paradigm shift. What if he sees your little faith as real faith? Wouldn't that help you get out of the boat more often? Wouldn't that help you start with where you are now? And I just think that a glimpse of this can change a lot.

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' 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's eyes. Here with Pastor Alan and in the theme of the book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, how a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awaken joy. And of course you can use this and you will find that it's culturally relevant for the world around us and how we can live either in service to others, doing good. Sure, that's part of it. But you know, when you start with yourself, and I think Pastor Alan, there is certainly sometimes a hesitation to want to look inward to say, is that narcissistic or is that too self-focused? And I want to be others focused. And sure, but there I go back to the illustration.

You've got to put the oxygen mask on yourself first before you can even be of any good to anybody else. And listen, if Jesus says that you should and you could, then I think that makes it okay. So the perspective here is seeing ourselves as Jesus sees us.

And that's the theme of this particular section that we're talking about today. Yeah, we learned in our earlier broadcast, maybe Jesus cares what you want. That doesn't make the world revolve around you.

It doesn't mean that he wants you to live a selfish life. But I just think for a lot of us, and maybe it's because it was a lot of my perspective is I was hesitant to think there could be anything holy about what I would want. And I think that also we tend to think I can get on with some great mission in life once I have really big faith by some, like some great Saint of the past or somebody that, you know, everybody knows, oh, that person got incredible faith.

And I think a lot of us can just identify with Peter. Hey, Jesus, tell me to come to you. If it's really you come, we step out of the boat.

Yeah. One, two, three, splash sink. And we go, well, if I'm going to sink anyway, why should I even take a few steps? Well, sometimes Daniel, a little glimpse, a few steps, even the littlest faith can really give light. And I think that the image here that's important to keep in mind is light and darkness. If you have a very, very dark room, even a small candle will dispel that darkness. Darkness is the absence of light.

It's not in that sense that anywhere near the same kind of power that light is. As I was thinking about this, I was reviewing the story that maybe some of our listeners will remember way back in 2010, when a Chilean mine collapsed, trapped, I think, 33 men deep underground, and they would live off a few cans of fish. And they had like 93 packages of cookies, you know, and on day 17, it's just pitch dark and hope had grown thin. And there was the sound of a machine's grinding. It suddenly stopped. And the miners heard the whistle of escaping air.

Oh, imagine that. And they ran to see it. The drill had broken through and they tied notes to the drill and forming the rescue as they were alive.

And they just began celebrating. And they would spend 52 more days trapped in that dark deep. But a glimpse of a drill gave them what no amount of official cookies can give. And that's hope. So even the littlest light at the end of the proverbial tunnel gets you going in the right direction. And when Jesus sees a little faith, he sees unlimited possibilities. He sees a mustard seed of faith and he can see how mountains could move. I envision this as, let's imagine two men, we'll call one of them lots of faith and another little faith.

And imagine they're seated on a plane and they're taxiing for takeoff from New York to LA. Lots of faith is a million miler. He's glad for the chance to relax and read on the plane. But little faith is a novice traveler, petrified of planes. And lots of faith makes the business trip regularly. Little faith wouldn't be on the plane except his job depends on it. So let's imagine they're both on the plane.

Plane takes off. Lots of faith. He reads a book while little faith clinches to the arms or armrests, you know, barely breathing. And once in the air, lots of faith decides to take a nap and little faith hearts just racing wide awake with worry.

They hit a little turbulence over the Rocky mountains. Lots of faith opens his eyes briefly and then falls back asleep. Little faith nearly throws up.

Well, this is imagine when the plane lands at LAX and the two men have completely different experiences on that plane, but they're both in Los Angeles. Lots of faith had more peace on the journey, but little faith still got where he needed to go. A lot of faith's better than a little faith, but a little faith can take you far. And a little glimpse of Jesus's vision can take your spiritual life a long way. And when you begin to see yourself more, Jesus sees you, even if it's just a little glimpse, I think God celebrates it. And God confirms revelations and takes little faith with ones like Peter by the hand, when they say, Lord, help me, Lord, let me see, Lord, save me.

He works with that. So this is this whole book that we hope that every listener will go and get right away, pre-order it now and learn all about this because this is about learning to see as Jesus sees, and it's all about a simple practice, a simple prayer, brief enough for a breath, deep enough for life change. Jesus, how do you see this? And you just start with that simple little prayer.

And it is a gateway to a spirit filled, spirit led life. And I love this image of Peter. He takes a few steps.

He sinks, but he took a few steps. Oh, you little faith ones. What if Jesus didn't mean it is a term of derision, but a term of affection. What if he looks at you, listener, and sees your little faith and goes, ah, that's real faith. And I can take you by the hand and take you further on a little faith. Pastor Alan Wright and our good news message from the pages of this soon to be released book, Seeing As Jesus Sees, How a New Perspective Can Defeat the Darkness and Awaken Joy, releasing everywhere October 10th.

You can pre-order it right now. And when you do so, we're happy to send you some wonderful free resources. A bundle is our way of saying thanks for just pre-ordering and just let us know when you've pre-ordered at pastoralan.org or seeingasjesussees.org. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his 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 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, pastorallan.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.

Back now with Pastor Alan with closing inspiration directly from his new book, Seeing As Jesus Sees. When you begin praying, Jesus, how do you see this? Remember that small sightings make big differences. I've seen a bald eagle three times in my backyard. I'm looking forward to the chance to see a bald eagle again because it stirs you.

I've lived there six years at a time of writing the book longer now, and that means that it's just, oh, only every year and a half or so, every couple of years that I see a bald eagle. But it makes you want to keep looking. And maybe we're like Peter, that you just began saying, Jesus, how do you see this? And you start taking little steps out of the boat.

And I just want to say, don't worry. Jesus isn't going to stand by while you sink. He wants you to think of yourself, not as a flounder, but a sorter.

He grasped Peter firmly. He'll take you by the hand to keep you above water as well. We've got so many distorted views of ourselves. Love that's been withheld from us, curses that have been hurled at us, disappointments that may have swamped us.

And these things can leave us thinking that God must be disgusted with us. But to fix that kind of distorted self image, just start praying, Jesus, how do you see me? Show me in your word. Show me in worship.

Show me when I'm at my worst. And if you're facing some rough waters right now, I know it can rock your belief and your soul can feel seasick. But when your eyes drift to the wind and the waves instead of the savior, just know this, that as that salty sea is blurring you and you start wondering how Jesus sees you, you can remember Peter and all the little faith ones. And when you start asking Jesus for his view of you, he might not arrange a bald eagle to fly right in, but you can be assured that he'll come near and help you toddle on the water because a little faith is real faith. And any divine sight is real sight. And when you see one bald eagle, your eyes are forever peeled to see another, another. Jesus, how do you see me?

That's a real important question. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.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 pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.