Seeing As Jesus Sees [Part 26]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

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'll 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 gonna see it as about Himself and what He's done to pour out love and blessing into your life.

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 wanna 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. Seeingasjesussees.org. Pastor Alan is with me now. And 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, well, what would Jesus do? Well, you gotta start with how would Jesus see it?

And the perspective. Imagine yourself, you'd been there on the day of the bogus trial and you watched them scourge Jesus. 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 and 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. Therefore, the word of God mustn't be viewed like Adam and Eve who viewed the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the due 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 it's 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'll 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 gonna 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 a local store, we'll send you a free video series when you let us know. The free video series, the daily reading guide, and our 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 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 whatever 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 that though people, a lot of Christians have been brought up to read the Bible as an instruction book, it's not instructions and principles that excite us in life. It's stories. And when our kids were little, I'd 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'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 for a limited time. When you ordered a book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over a hundred dollars of bonus resources or 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's eyes. The one thing that doesn't happen is no kid goes to bed at night and 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 $2 billion, 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, okay, if you were to take the Cinderella story and try to treat it the same way we try to read the Bible, you know, 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? Yeah.

Yeah. Like today's text is taken from the book of Cinderella, chapter one, verse two through verse 48. The title of my message is Tough Times Produce Tough People.

Write that down now. Tough Times Produce Tough People. And our text today is about how 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. 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.

It isn't a collection of pithy principles for better living. It's a once upon a time, not a how to. It's a story. It's about a prince who single-handedly changes Cinderella's destiny, affirming her worth, wedding his royal life to her as a story of unexpected grace that shatters expectation, fills us with wonder, makes us think anything's possible. And so to read the Bible like an instruction manual is just as silly and unfruitful as reading Cinderella as a formula for handling tough times. The Bible, as the disciples on the Emmaus road discovered, when you really begin to understand it and see it through Jesus eyes, you see it, that it's all a story about Jesus. It is a story from the opening chapter where the creator said, let there be light all the way to when Jesus said, I am the light of the world. It's about a Passover lamb in the old Testament and the lamb and the new Testament who takes away the sin of the world about Joshua, who's a prototype of the real Yeshua, who would lead the people into the invisible never ending spiritual promised land. So those disciples hearts, Daniel, they were burning with joy and anticipation and passion and power when they, when they were with Jesus and seeing the scripture through his eyes. So if you want to see like Jesus sees, then you need to see the Bible as he sees it. And it means that you begin to see the story of the scripture and you begin to see yourself differently in that word, because we're not the hero. He's the hero. And it's not about what you do.

It's about what he's done. Jesus. How do you see the Bible? How do you see this text? How do you see this story?

Imagine if you started talking to him like that, every time you open up the word, it changed everything. Yeah. So Cinderella is a wild illustration. I have a ridiculous, as you said, you come to the story of David and Goliath.

And I love the way that you unpack this as an example of a good way of treating this story and finding yourself in that story and in the proper context. Most of the sermons I've heard on David Goliath can be inspirational that they make good points like, you know, David ran towards the battle. So you need to run towards yours. You know, can you face your Goliaths?

Face your giants? Make solid points like overlook the naysayers. Don't try to wear someone else's armor.

Use the gifts, the smooth stones that are at hand. Don't look at the size of the enemy. Remember the battle belongs to the Lord. Run towards your problems.

Don't retreat. You know, I've heard dozens like that and I've preached some of them. But don't those moralistic applications sound a lot like my Cinderella joke of tough times produce tough people? It'd be nice to be more like David.

It'd be nice to put into practice all those principles in our daily lives. But honestly, if I compare myself to the brave giant slayer David, I think I realize how much I'm not like him. And if I do have a moment or two of being a tough guy during a tough time, I can get prideful about that. But if you look through the story through Jesus's eyes, a story like David, you start realizing I'm not David. I'm not the hero. David's pointed us to the hero. I can't identify with a shepherd who risked his life for sheep, his anointed king of a nation and faces a warrior twice his size. That person sounds a lot like Jesus and not much like me. You know, I can't identify with those cowardly Israeli soldiers who got dressed for battle every day and never fought Goliath, not a courageous man in their midst.

Now that I can identify with, you know? So when you read the story through Jesus's eyes, who was the son of David, remember, you realize, oh, this is a story about how there was no one righteous, no one brave enough, no one faithful enough to represent them against the evil foe and how they needed a better braver representative to do what they couldn't do for themselves. So David fought for them and they were in a sense in David. And then it becomes maybe the best part of the story. If you read it this way is you notice what happened after David killed the giant.

I love this. This is first Samuel 1751 to 52. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled and the men of Israel, those, remember they were cowards just a minute ago.

Oh yeah. Those men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines. They're letting out their war cry wahoo. And suddenly they, the most cowardly army in the world became the most confident and brave battalion on the whole globe ran the Philistines down for 10 miles and slaughtering them as they went and plundering the Philistine camp on their return. I think you say, Jesus, how do you see this story? A story like that. He'll start showing you about his own triumph and how he's the son of David and the child who was born in Bethlehem sent by the father to take bread to the weary, the representative of the whole people fighting a battle that we couldn't fight.

He's the hero who conquers. And that isn't that more exciting. Isn't that a better way? Isn't that more thrilling than to just go, well, I ought to be more like David. I ought to be more brave than I am. No, we're like the cowardly soldiers, but when we see what our son of David, what the savior has done, what our heroes done, that's when we become brave. That's why the writer of Hebrews says it's Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Seeing his victory and seeing through his eyes, that actually gives birth to our faith. He authors our faith.

He begins it and then we live it and we carry it out through him. So in everything in life, Jesus, how do you see this? How do you see me? How do you see others? How do you see the world? But maybe it's as important as any to say, how do you see the scripture?

How do you see this story? Help me see it through your eyes, Jesus. And you can certainly read more on the pages of Pastor Alan's latest book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, how a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awaken joy.

The book is out now. And we've talked about how seeing as Jesus sees is not just that perspective, but I think it's a wonderful side benefit that if you've ever been confused, how do I live a prayerful life? Or even in the phrase, pray without ceasing. Well, how do you pray without ceasing? Well, I can tell you, if you're praying that simple, as you call it, a breath prayer, Jesus, how do you see this?

That's dynamic. I mean, you can pray that at every street corner you come to on your drive home. You know, you have a different thing to pray about. So we're learning a simple process through a prayer. You enact a process without maybe even realizing it. You pause because to say, I'm going to get a discipline in my life.

Jesus, how do you see this? You require yourself instead of rushing to judgment or rushing to your own understanding of a situation, just pause. And life's so busy, we just pause. And then you're connecting with Jesus. That's why I like praying it directly to Jesus. It's a biblical thing to do.

Jesus, I know you're with me. And so I want to pause here long enough to end prayer, just connect with you for a moment. This is a spiritual thing. And then you give yourself the opportunity to look again.

And all this can happen in a matter of seconds. How do you see this? A little pause, connecting with Jesus, and just look again. Well, when you do, you are, as you say, Daniel, you're learning to pray without ceasing. You're learning the life of spirit-led living.

And he opens up your eyes. And what an exciting way we're learning about today to read the scripture with Jesus's own eyes. 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.

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 a hundred dollars 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's 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 a little Bennett would come crawling across, grin. And once he's near enough to appear 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 10-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. 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.