Believing Is Seeing - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

Not a naive position at all. Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation. He said it. It's coming.

Pain, suffering, afflictions coming our way. He said it is here. You can count on that. He's not naive. But what did He say? But you be of good cheer.

I've overcome the world. You see? Look past that. With expectation. That's what He says. I've said it over all the years.

You have to live with this idea that the worst thing that could happen to me can happen to me. That's what a wonderful thing that is. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. And I actually believe for us in our language faith is a difficult word for us to understand. I think faith to us is a little bit too abstract.

It's too ambiguous. Faith. That's why if I can and we always do that here but if I'm going to use the word that you understand what faith is it's the word trust.

That's what faith is. Faith is trust. And so that's what we mean and he says now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Trust is the assurance of things hoped for. Trust is the conviction of things not seen. You see when I evidence faith I have assurance the word for hope for in the New Testament anytime you see the word hope it doesn't mean cross your fingers and hope. Hope in the New Testament means future certitude something you absolutely know will happen. It's the assurance of your future. You see I have assurance of my future.

I have assurance you see of a certain hope that will happen to me and I have conviction for the present. That's what he says trust is or faith is the assurance of things for the future the conviction of things in the present. That's what Paul had. That's what Elijah had. They saw life differently. They didn't see it like the attendant.

They saw it through the new lens. In other words I think the way to look at this and hopefully the way you remembered is this. Believing is seeing. Now I know you know it the other way.

OK. But that's not biblical. This is biblical. Believing is seeing. That's what God is trying to tell us. Believing is seeing.

Wow. Well then how do I grow my faith. How do I get more of this.

How does this work. Because I know that I have some of it but I don't have nearly enough. And whenever suffering or affliction or pain come and ring my doorbell I kind of lose sight. Well go with me now to Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter 10 one verse verse 17. Romans 10 17.

Romans 10 17 says this. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God or the word of Christ. By hearing the instrumentality by the word of Christ. Faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. In other words and this is the rhema of Christ or the rhema and it's the spoken word but it's the written word as well.

That's what the lens is by the way. You see what is the lens God fits you with after you become a child of God. The word of God. You see in the word of God does what. It focuses what life really looks like. You see it tells you what the world's really like.

It tells you what you're really like. And now I've got it in a sense that's what happened so the word of God becomes absolutely paramount. Think of the great Psalms like Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 that are just dedicated to the word of God. In Psalm 119 one of the things the Psalmist says is this. That the word of God is a lamp unto my feet. And it's a light unto my path.

What's he talking about. Seeing. You see if I'm living in a dark world or I'm in a dark place what do I need. I need light. So what's the word of God. It's a lamp to my feet. It's a light to the path. In other words now I'll be able to see where I couldn't see before. That's what the word of God is.

That's what he says happens. The word of God changes your perspective on almost everything. How else could Paul call this momentary light afflictions. Some of us would go through one tenth of what Paul did and all we would do is complain every day of how horrible our life is. And yet Paul calls it momentary light affliction said it can't be compared to what's going to come down the road from me. I see beyond this. You see his sight is different than ours.

The circumstances aren't any different at all. That's what the word of God does. It changes the way you see things. All of us I think know of people that we have loved that have died. And we know what the grieving process is like and how sad and painful that seems.

And that's the same for all of us. Four years and one month ago my best friend died. And as this has gone by and I think about this from time to time.

Almost sadly less over time. I miss him. I just miss him. And I could go around and say you know. I haven't seen my best friend in four years and one month.

Or I could put the other lens on. You want to say then? I'm four years and one month closer to seeing my friend forever.

You see I'm four years and one month closer. And I am sure of it. What do you mean you're sure of it? Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. That's how he came. That's how I come. We have the assurance and trust in the word of Christ. He said in my Father's house are many dwelling places. I go and prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also.

That's where he is and that's where I'm going. You see the difference? The difference is which lens I'm looking through. That's why Paul said we grieve but not like those who have no hope.

It makes all the difference in the world. How you look through that lens of scripture and the faith that you have in that lens of scripture. The lens of scripture allows me to look beyond.

It also allows me to look with great expectation. Go back to Romans 8 with me a moment. Romans 8 and verse 18. Paul is trying so much to get believers in his generation to buy into this the way he has.

The sea life the way he does. Verse 18 Paul says for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared. What a statement. Paul how would you compare all the suffering versus the future? Not worthy. I can't compare them.

There's not anything worthy about it. He said with the glory that is revealed to us. How does he say stuff like that? Because God told him that through scripture. You see God told him those kinds of things.

Notice he says let me explain what I mean. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly. For the revealing of the sons of God. Waits eagerly. It's a great picture by the way. Waits eagerly could be a good translation.

But the word has a picture to it. And I'll let J.B. Phillips explain it. J.B. Phillips was this great Greek scholar. He wrote the Phillips paraphrase many years ago of the New Testament.

And he does a great job. It's probably the best paraphrase ever written because of his Greek background. He takes that verse that I just read and says the whole creation is on tiptoe. To see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.

Because that's what Waits eagerly is. It's a picture of being on your tiptoes. He says the whole creation is on its tiptoes. It's all coming. Paul said I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is revealed.

I'm on my tiptoes. I expect this. You see that's what life is really about.

That's the truth of this. There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. There's no more sorrow and there's no more tears. There's eternal bliss. There's joy and peace and hope and meaning beyond your imagination. You see that's what he's saying. That's what's coming down the road.

This expectation, this great expectation. But do you see it? You see I'm afraid we don't. We're so near-sighted. We love our old lens.

Everything's fuzzy. You see we don't see it the way it is. That's what he's talking about. That's how we should live our life. We look beyond.

We gaze beyond. We have this great expectation of what's going to happen. Every day for a believer in Jesus Christ should be exactly like Christmas Eve is for an eight-year-old boy.

Have you ever been around an eight-year-old boy on Christmas Eve? Right? They can't help it. They just can't help it.

I had two of them and so middle of the night getting up, morning yet? Surely not. But the whole point of it. You see that's kind of the whole point. Why is he so excited? He anticipates what's coming. It's what God wants for us. Why don't we anticipate it?

Why aren't we excited about it? Paul is. His circumstances aren't any better than ours. In fact probably worse than almost all of ours. He sees things differently than we do.

This is not a naive position at all. Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation. He said it. It's coming.

Pain, suffering, afflictions coming our way. He said it is here. You can count on that. He's not naive. But what did he say? But you be of good cheer.

I've overcome the world. You see? Look past that. With expectation. That's what he says.

I've said it over all the years. You have to live with this idea that the worst thing that could happen to me can happen to me. That's what a wonderful thing that is. You see if I see my life that way. Now there's no doubt that we still face and deal with the suffering pain in the present. And so not only do we have this look beyond view with great expectation. But when suffering and affliction and pain come into our life we now experience a new normal. And you know what that's like. If you lost someone you loved, a family member, a child, a sibling, a spouse. And you now live in a new normal.

They're not there. You see you may have physical affliction where now you have a new normal and you never will be what you were before. That's your new normal. But the question is then how do you see it? How do you see this new normal? Do you see it as an obstacle?

Or do you see it as an opportunity? Go with me now to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 3, the apostle Paul says this, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. And then he says this, the God of all comfort. Who comforts us occasionally.

Doesn't say that does he? Who comforts us in all our affliction. And that would be nice to say because he loves us and that's great and I need to be comforted. And he would say amen to that, that's true.

But there's another reason. Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. You see when you suffer and you go through pain it's not simply just the idea that it's an obstacle for you to endure.

What the scripture says out of that lens it's an opportunity for you to have. You see if you were a cancer survivor you can minister to people who have cancer in a way that no one else can. If you're a parent who lost a small child you can minister to someone who's lost a small child in a way no one else can. You can give them comfort because you know what that feels like. This past week I read a story of a couple that had a young daughter that was only I think first grade. And on Christmas Eve she had asthma and they thought she was having a slight asthma attack and she died right there in their arms by the Christmas tree. And immediately after that happened they began to look for people who lost a child suddenly so they could minister to them. You see they could have spent all of their time just saying look it's just so horrible it's so terrible I can't deal with it at all. What he said was the man was giving the story and he said the hole in my heart will be there the rest of my life. But this isn't just an obstacle this is an opportunity.

I know where my daughter is but this is an opportunity for me to comfort other people. How do you talk like that? You see it differently. You see it through the lens of scripture rather than our natural lens which is always fuzzy and near-sighted. You see maybe that's why Philip Yancey wrote that it's an honor to be trusted with pain by God. Do you ever think of that? It's an honor that God trusts you with pain.

Charles Spurgeon wrote over 150 years ago God gives his most difficult assignments to his most trusted soldiers. You see our problem is not the reality of life. That's not our problem. Our problem is just like with the original Hubble. Our lens is faulty.

We are near-sighted. God has provided a corrective lens for us. And that will allow us to look beyond the circumstances that we're facing right now. With great expectation of a certain future that he has promised. And we can embrace a new normal, an opportunity in our life rather than an obstacle. And all it requires of us is to trust God.

You see to trust him because that's what the scripture is. It's the lens of reality. What makes the lion the king of the jungle? I mean they're called the king of the jungle right? And you think of a lion, well I mean if you've seen them they're big. They're powerful. I mean they are the predator in Africa. They're strong. Well there's another thing about them. They live in prides. Twelve to eighteen usually in a pride. So they hunt together.

They protect their young together. You see that makes them strong. But you know what makes the lion the king of the jungle? His eyesight. Phenomenal eyesight. A lion's eyesight by the way is six times greater than a human beings.

Six times. Now I read about it and their pupils are much larger than ours. And then there's something I don't understand. Cones and rods and things like that in there. They have a lot of those.

Okay? But they can really see. That's a tremendous advantage that they have. There's something else about them. They have unbelievable night vision. If you look at a picture of a lion underneath his eyes. There'll be two white stripes right under the eyelid.

It's same as like we think of athletes or football players. They put the black out on their cheeks. So they don't get the reflection of the sun. A lion has, God puts the white line under the lion's eyes. So that he does get the reflection of the night sky and the moon. He can take that little bit of light and process it.

His eyesight is just phenomenal. Which makes him, in a sense, the king of the jungle. But you're a follower of the king of kings. That's who you are. You're a child of God. You're a follower of the king of kings. By the way, he's given you great power. What Paul say, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

He told the church of Ephesus that the power that is inside of you is resurrection power. And by the way, he gave us a pride. We have a big pride. See, this is our pride. What's our pride for? To encourage us. You see, to help us, to support us.

Right now, further up the state in the Baton Rouge area, there are people who have tremendous need in the body of Christ. We want to do what we can to help them. We're part of the pride. It gives us tremendous strength. But there's something else. He's provided us with the lens of scripture.

That's what we have. We have this lens of scripture. It allows us, in faith, to look beyond the circumstances. It allows us to live with great expectation in our life because we have a future certitude.

It allows us to not just endure the difficulties of our life, but to use and utilize the difficulties of our life, to minister to others. All that's right there in God's word. Just see it.

Let's pray. Father, I must confess that I think for myself often and for many of these people, we almost always see things by our default position. We see them the way we've always seen them, through our natural eyes.

We're clearly nearsighted. We see life as only we can. We make up our own reality, and then we react to it and find ourselves so often, not with peace, but with fear, and not with joy, but despairing, and not with hope, but feeling hopeless.

Father, I know that that is not what you want for us. You have provided the lens for us to correct our vision, to allow us to see things way beyond what's right in front of us, to allow us to see all the way future to an eternal life with you in the new heaven and new earth. Father, I pray that as we face especially the suffering and affliction and pain of our life, that we are convicted by your spirit to ask ourselves, what lens are we looking through?

Your natural lens are the lens that you've provided. Elisha and the Apostle Paul have proven to us that in the most difficult of circumstances, we can have complete peace, not because you changed the circumstances, but because now they see you for who you are. That's my prayer, Father, that we see our lives the way you want us to so that we can live our lives the way we must. We pray this for your glory and for our good in the name of our Savior and your Son.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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