Seeing As Jesus Sees [Part 25]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. When you see, or you see the truth about someone else, or you see it more fully, it can arouse compassion where you didn't have it, and therefore patience where you didn't have it before.

So that's what we're learning about. And it really is about a simple spiritual discipline. A fresh and new spiritual discipline of a little prayer that I've began praying for some years now. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's brief enough for a single breath. 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 here with Pastor Alan in the studio today as we are excited about this brand new book that's out now.

It's Seeing as Jesus Sees How a New Perspective Can Defeat the Darkness and Awaken Joy. We're moving into a new section of the book today. Before we get to it, I want to remind you that if you've bought the book, let us know this month only when you let us know that you've already purchased the book somewhere. We'll send you a free video series and a companion daily reading guide plus a group study guide. All in this bundle is our thank you for supporting the launch of Pastor Alan's new book and the important message here. It's an over $100 value and it's yours simply when you buy the book at your favorite retailer and then let us know you've done so at seeingasjesussees.org. Pastor Alan is with me now. You've alluded to the what would Jesus do movement.

What was that in the 80s, 90s, the bracelets? And I think that what you have revealed here with even the phrase seeing as Jesus sees, it just seems more helpful. It seems not only like, okay, even if you wanted to get to the end point of what would Jesus do? Well, you got to start with how would Jesus see it as a perspective?

Well, I think it's a noble thing to want to know what would Jesus do and it's noble to try to do it, but it's not powerful. It's like the law itself. The law is good. The law is nothing bad, even though we know that grace came to reveal to us that the only way that we could ever be saved is by God's mercy and kindness to us, not by our capacity to keep the law. And even though Paul says the law has really caused us to sin all the more because we just become fearful that we're not going to be measuring up and then we sin more. But the law itself is good because it's a good thing if God says thou shalt not steal, then that's a great thing. It's revealing something about the nature of God. It's saying here's what God would do, right? Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not covet.

Well, that's good. But the problem of the law is that just because we're told what we ought to do or ought to be like, that in and of itself might give us some temporary motivation to try harder, but it doesn't give us any actual power. So what this book is about is the kind of transformational power that comes from the gospel and the real living in the spirit day by day, walking by the spirit kind of transformation that can come and that we can foster in our lives. Because when you see something, instead of moralistically saying, hey, let me try harder to be a more patient person, but when you see or you see the truth about someone else or you see it more fully, it can arouse compassion where you didn't have it and therefore patience where you didn't have it before. So what's what we're learning about? And it really is about a simple spiritual discipline, a fresh and new spiritual discipline of a little prayer that I've began praying for some years now. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's brief enough for a single breath, but it's deep enough for complete transformation. It can change everything. We've been learning about that and we've been learning about how therefore we can come alongside of Jesus in the scriptures and in our daily lives. He's with us and he wants to unveil truth. He wants us to not stumble about the darkness, right?

This is what he's promised us. So we ask him, but part of what we've been doing throughout our talks here in the studio, and this is what we do in the book, is really invite readers into an experience alongside of Jesus and the narratives of scripture in which we get in the boat with him, watch storms with him. It's when we look at people that are called sinners, but we look through his eyes that something changes with us.

We've been practicing. We've been coming alongside of him, imagining ourselves with him, and we're learning to see how he tends to see things. But one of the greatest ways that you can really have a spiritual growth and advance in our capacity to see with his eyes is to read the Bible properly. And I think therefore, in a real way, we need to say, Jesus, how do you see the scriptures?

How do you see this text? And we're inviting his partnership, the spirit who wrote the Bible, illumined it, is with us in the person of Jesus spiritually. And I think that this changes a lot. So there's a chapter in the book that's about seeing the Bible in a whole new light. And it's a kind of chapter, honestly, Daniel, that could cause a reader to have a paradigm shift in the way they view scripture and could make reading scripture turn into a delight like never before. The tagline here at Alan Wright Ministries is to see your life in a whole new light. And I love the twist on this one for this section in this chapter on revealing. We're seeing the Bible in a whole new light. And you mentioned that paradigm shift that this really could be.

And it's foundational. I mean, if you're going to God's word and you're reading it like an instruction manual, then that's one approach. Or if you're opening it up and ready to be inspired by the life that is flowing on every page, that's a different, you know.

And so what's the approach you take in here? And by the way, we're not reading the book out loud here. We're simply talking about some major themes in the book. And you're going to find a whole lot more. You'll find that we're just scratching the surface here on the radio. But when you get the book for yourself, you'll dive in.

But Pastor Alan, give us a sneak preview on these opening pages of what you are calling could be a paradigm shift. Well, I remember as a young Christian thinking about the Bible as an instruction manual. I remember having teachers say, you know, if you had a car, it wouldn't be smart to put water in the car's gas tank, would it? The maker of the car knows how it's supposed to operate.

It's always best to consult the owner's manual. So the Bible's like your owner's manual. It tells you how your life will run best. God knows that your life will be better if you wait, you know, till you're married to be sexually active. If you will follow his instructions of the word and you can learn how you can live a more godly and more loving life and all of this. And the instructions are all there.

Well, of course, all that's true. And the instruction manuals are important, but they aren't inspiring. They aren't like the psalmist who said, I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. I know early in my Christian life, I didn't feel like I savored the word enough to say with the psalmist. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. And maybe part of it was I look too much on the Bible like an instruction manual.

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, 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 for a limited time. When you ordered a book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over one hundred dollars of bonus resources or the book. Visit Seeing as Jesus Sees dot org or come to our website, Pastor Alan dot org, 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. 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. You know, Daniel, my I remember my brothers when I got married, their wedding gift to me was a gas grill that was not assembled. They didn't assemble them back in those days.

All right. The hardest thing I ever tried to assemble is like a thousand people pieces in this giant box with pages and pages of instructions. And I needed that instruction manual. I mean, I had to have it. I would never have gotten that grill together.

And so it was essential. But boring instruction manuals are boring. No, I would ever say I love my gas grill assembly instruction booklet. It's sweeter than honey to my mouth. And no one says I love my car owner's manual more than gold, much fine gold.

No instruction manuals are useful. They're important, but no one savors them like honey. You know, so if you want to see the scriptures through Jesus's eyes and to discover what's so good about the good news, then I would like to invite our listeners into thinking about being on the road to Emmaus with other disciples who are so disappointed. And Jesus, the resurrected Lord comes alongside of them and joins them. You know, it's a good thing sometimes in the study of scripture to imagine yourself there. So that's what we do in this chapter.

And I'd love to just take a moment, Daniel. Let our listeners just imagine themselves there. Imagine themselves on the Emmaus road. Imagine that you've spent three years with this Nazarene rabbi. Imagine you've seen his miraculous power. Listen to his great teachings and you hope that he would be the Jewish Messiah and you're ready for an end to Roman tyranny, the restoration of David's throne, all of these great Jewish expectations. And you're there.

Imagine yourself. You'd been there on the day of the bogus trial. You watched them scourge Jesus and watch them nail him to that cross.

And now it's Sunday after that Friday execution. And you're there with those other disciples on that dusty road. You're walking along dejected and this stranger comes up and says, what's this conversation that you're having? What's his conversation?

Who has something like that? It's like, who is this guy? And imagine your friend Cleopas, he says what you're all thinking. You're the only visitor to Jerusalem that doesn't know the things that have happened here these days. The stranger says, what things? You know, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet, mighty in deed and word, who was delivered to death and crucified. We'd hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel.

You're there. You don't recognize Jesus yet. But Jesus starts talking about God's word.

And the Bible says, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted the scriptures in the scriptures, the things concerning himself, all the scriptures about him. And if you're there, you wonder, what does that mean? And if it comes true for you, what happened for those disciples? Your heart begins to burn within you.

Something stirring inside of you. And if you just stay there for a moment in your imagination, accompany those disciples and the stranger to the village for dinner, you break bread together, give thanks, and your eyes are opened and you recognize it's Jesus. You know, I think it's good sometimes just to see yourself in the scriptures like that.

Imagine yourself there. Well, what would you learn from that encounter like that about the scriptures themselves? You realize Jesus doesn't see the scripture as a collection of principles or instructions. He doesn't think of the word being even really all about you and what you're supposed to do.

He sees it being all about him. So Jesus sees the whole Bible from beginning to end as one big redemptive story about his own saving work. So therefore, the word of God mustn't be viewed like Adam and Eve, who viewed the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the do to be tree that we talked about very early on. But the Bible isn't full, therefore, of instructions. What you must do in order to become more like God.

The word is full of grace, revealing what God has done to make you his heir. So the scriptures are about Jesus and is one big story about what Jesus came to do. And therefore, the Bible is not an instruction manual.

Instruction manuals are about what you need to do to make something work. That's not how Jesus sees the word. He sees it as his revelation of his work for you. That's the kind of eye popping, life changing revelation that will change the way you read the Bible and will change your life. Start asking Jesus, how do you see this text? How do you see the scripture? And the first thing you'll discover is he's going to see it as about himself and what he's done to pour out love and blessing into your life. The book is Seeing as Jesus Sees, Pastor Alan's latest book, how a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awaken joy.

And by the way, this is out now. And if you will go buy this book from any retailer this month, your favorite online retailer or local store, we'll send you a free video series when you let us know the free video series, the daily reading guide and a group study guide coming your way as our thank you. Seeing as Jesus sees dot o r g is where you go to let us know that you have your hands on the book already.

And that's a great thing. So in this section, seeing every day revealing, seeing the Bible in a whole new light. Pastor Alan on the bookshelf here in this room behind you is is a book by Dr. Pratt that I'm currently reading. And it says he gave us stories. That's the title of the book. And it's a book of really how important stories are. And they were important in the Old Testament.

And I would say in this day and age, it's a vital way of communicating, you know, whatever you want to call this postmodern or or or or whatever this this current state of culture is that we're in. Stories are important. And you mentioned that even with your own kids, there's something exciting about stories different than an owner's manual, different than a textbook.

Yeah. You know, I mean, I think though people a lot of Christians have been brought up to read the Bible as an instruction book. It's it's not instructions and principles that excite us in life. It's stories. When our kids are little, I tell them homespun stories, you know, and I'd read them stories and sometimes tell them spy stories and read Peter Pan and make up stories about Peter Pan. And we read all through the chronicles of Narnia, of course, you know, stories, intrigue, mystery, surprise endings. That one thing doesn't happen is no kid goes to bed at night says, hey, could you read to me from the mathematics book, you know, or read to me from the encyclopedia or the dictionary tonight? No.

Tell me a story. And Jesus was like that. It's movies that stir people with stories and tell about Titanic or Star Wars or Avatar.

These are the ones that are grossing two billion dollars. Right. You know, to say once upon a time is to invite people into an alternative. To the mundane, to the mysterious, and it's like saying great things have happened in another era, another realm, and I want to take you there. And I think that's what Jesus does. I think that when you have his eyes in the scripture, you get taken into a higher reality.

You begin to hear and live out stories because you're seeing it all through his eyes. So scripture is far more beautiful, exciting and enthralling when you understand that it's a bunch of stories, but it's also one big story of what Jesus has done to rescue us all. Pastor Alan's book is Seeing as Jesus Sees, and we're flipping through the pages of that, bringing out some highlights. And today we're really talking about how to see the Bible in a whole new light. And you kind of relate it to, OK, if you were to take the Cinderella story and try to treat it the same way we try to read the Bible, or try to put it in textbook mode or back to your illustration earlier of owner's manual mode, how crazy that would be. Well, wouldn't it be ridiculous to treat a classic story like Cinderella as a set of principles? Like today's text is taken from the book of Cinderella, chapter 1, verse 2 through verse 48. The title of my message is Tough Times Produce Tough People.

Write that down now. Tough times produce tough people. In our text today, we observe that Cinderella had an especially tough life in the first place. Her beloved mother died, a tough ordeal indeed.

Then to make matters even tougher, Cinderella's father married a woman who had no affection for her new stepdaughter. You know, I mean, imagine then you start drawing from it, you know, principles. Here are the principles for staying tough during tough times. Number one, Cinderella remained positive. She kept a good mental mindset.

Remember, attitude determines altitude. Number two, though she was alone, Cinderella made friends with the animals, furry friends or forever friends. Number three, Cinderella made the most of her time. The clock will strike midnight for you.

Are you ready? I mean, it's just so silly. I just remember just sitting down and you get the book and read the whole Cinderella story, Cinderella sermon in there. It's silly, but it makes its point that Cinderella isn't an instruction manual for people wanting to know how to face tough times. Alan Wright, our good news message from the book, Seeing as Jesus Sees. And today it's all about reading the Bible in a different way with a different perspective.

And stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing a part in good news inspiration 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' 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. For a limited time, when you ordered a book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over $100 of bonus resources. To order the book, visit SeeingAsJesusSees.org or come to our website, PastorAlan.org, 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. 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 and his closing inspiration directly from the new book, Seeing as Jesus Sees. When Bennett was little and not yet walking, I invented a little game that just provided hours of pre-toddler fun. It was just a little box I found, had a removable lid, and I'd hide a trinket in there, maybe a crayon, a toy, a coin, and I'd scurry across the carpet, shaking the box and crying out, What's in it? What's in it? What's in it? And little Bennett would come crawling across, grin, and once he was near enough to peer in the box, I'd snatch off the lid and expose a little treasure inside. And every time, I'll never forget it, Bennett would just cackle with glee, and the game never ran out because it's not hard to sneak a knick-knack into a box behind the back of a ten-month-old.

Over and over, I'd shake that little box. What's in it? What's in it? Time and time again, that cute little boy come as fast as he could to see what's on the inside. And I think to see, like Jesus every day, keep your Bible in hand and just ask the Savior regularly, What's in it?

What's in it? And just watch as Jesus smiles and takes the lid off of the Word, and what's reverberating inside the Word of God? Good news, on every page, good news. No matter how many times he takes the lid off the Bible, the revelation is always Jesus himself. And that's good news. ... Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.