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weekly sermon 11-29-09
Do You See What I See?
Over this Thanksgiving Holiday our family traveled to Utah to visit my wife's side of the family. As we were traveling back home my wife and I got into a discussion about the many sights we had seen along the way. If you ever get a chance to travel between Colorado and Utah or get to see it on the internet, you will really enjoy the many beautiful sculptures of the earth that have been created there. Seeing these beautiful areas were the cause of our discussions.
The discussions we had mostly dealt with the shape our planet is in and what could be done to help it out. It is really sad to come back to the populated areas and see the corruption and deterioration that has happen to our planet due to man's thriving to make the world a better place for themselves.
If you go to these rural areas, where man has not contaminated the planet, then you will see the world as God had intended it to be. Man has an idea, in his mind, of what will help civilized man live a better way of life.
I had told my wife that, every time I went to take out the garbage at our home, I really felt bad that we disposed of so much debris that was really hurting our planet. I am sure the amount of debris that our family throws away does not amount to much, but you times that small amount by the amount of families on the planet, then we have a tremendous heap of waste. Our society has turned us into a disposable society. Everything we see, touch, or taste has something with it that is disposable or the item itself is so cheap it is disposable.
For those of you who may not know, I am also in the construction industry. I told my wife that every time I started a new project and put the first bucket in the ground to start this new build, I felt bad knowing that I was taking a piece of something God had built, tearing it down, and putting up something man wanted built.
I told about these discussions to tell you this; most people do not look at things the way I look at things. It would be a great thing if everyone could pause for one moment and look at the things around them with the eyes of their soul instead of the eyes of their mind.
Man has a tendency to look at things with the eyes of his mind. I know you are probably wondering what I mean by looking at things with the eyes of his mind. Mankind has a mindset on how he thinks something should be, or how he thinks it may better life for other man. This is our VERY finite wisdom attempting to rule our way of thinking and taking over our sight. Let us stop for just a short moment and look at things with the eyes of our souls.
What would you see if you looked at things with the eyes of your soul? Do you see what I see? I am sure we would all see the same thing believe it or not. I know that this is really hard to understand, but I believe it to be true. Our soul is just a small part of God put inside each and every one of us. The eyes of that soul would in turn be the eyes of God looking at what He had created.
If you really think about it, the only way to find God is through Christ, but, the only way to find Christ is by looking through the eyes of your soul. The mind of man causes man to do worldly things, but the soul causes man to recognize and do Godly things.
I have a passage of scriptures I would like us to take a look at so that we might be able to understand what I am talking about.
Turn with me if you will to Acts 9:1-6, "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, (2)And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. (3)And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: (4)And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (5)And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (6)And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."
This passage tells us of a man named Saul, a murderer of anyone who claimed to be a Christian. This man had nothing to do with Christ nor wanted anything to do with Him. You could feel very safe in assuming this man, Saul, was not close to God at all, being that he killed anyone that claimed to be a follower of God. Saul was traveling from where he lived, to a town, Damascus, to carry out the orders of binding and bringing anyone who claimed to be a Christian back to Jerusalem.
If I were to take you away from the place you were most accustomed into an area that you were not that accustomed blindfolded and had someone out of the blue speak to you, do you think you would be able to tell me the name of the person that was speaking? This is the part of this passage that I would like us to pay close attention to. This passage can make for MANY great messages with much meaning behind each one, but for the sake of this message I would like us to tend to a particular area.
When Saul was walking down the road a light from Heaven suddenly shone down upon him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice speaking to him. The question asked from the Heavenly voice is a very important one and is a great point for another message, but for this message I want us to focus on the first thing Saul said. The first thing Saul said upon hearing the voice from Heaven was, "Who art thou, Lord?".
Why is this such an important statement/question that Saul has made? Tell me how it is that someone who hated Christians, who had never known God or Christ, and had definitely never heard either of Them speak, KNEW that this was the Lord talking to him?
When Saul was walking down the road, he was looking at his path with the eyes of his mind, but when he fell to the ground, after seeing the light, he instantly began to look through the eyes of his soul. How else would Saul had ever known that this was the Lord that was talking to him? Could it have been because he had seen a bright light from Heaven? Could it have been because he had heard a voice from Heaven? Let us think about this realistically, with our own minds eye. What if the light had been a bolt of lightening that boomed near him and caused him to jump to the ground? What if there had been someone near by that had witnessed the lightening and came to speak to him to determine if he was ok? Surely these are great possibilities, but how is it that Saul KNEW that what he had seen and what he had heard had been the Lord?
Now, back to you going with me blindfolded and hearing someone speak. Even if, by some remote chance, you identified the voice that was speaking to you, which we all know would be a one in a million shot, would you listen to this person, that you claim to not know, and obey orders from them? That is the next thing I want us to take a look at here.
The minute Saul realized that his assumption, of this being the Lord, was correct, he immediately asked, 'what would you have me do'? I firmly believe that Saul was looking through the eyes of his soul when he KNEW that it was the Lord Jesus talking, but I believe even more that he was looking through his soul when he asked the question, what would you have me do.
It takes someone being deep in his own spirit, if he is not already a Christian, to know the voice of God, but it really takes someone to be in the true spirit to even think about wanting to do something asked of him by someone he did not already know. I really hope that last statement sinks in and makes sense to all who are reading this. If you were blindfolded, again with me, and heard a voice of someone you did not already know, would you feel comfortable asking them what they wanted you to do? It takes great faith to put your being in the hands of someone, who was a total stranger to you, and perform even the simplest task they may ask of you. Here we see Saul volunteering to go and do whatever, simple or not, that was asked of him. This is what I am talking about when I say look through the eyes of your soul.
I know that the first part of this message had to do with the condition of our planet and how we might be able to make it a better place, a place that God had originally intended it to be, but the true heart of this message is to really open your eyes, the eyes God wants you to look through, NOT the eyes mankind THINKS we should be looking through.
Would you know the voice of Christ if He suddenly came to you in a ray of light from Heaven? Would you be willing to go and perform a task that was given to you by that voice? I would rest assured that if you answered no to the first question that you would surely answer no to the second. If you answered yes to the first, then there would be no reason why you would not answer yes to the second. If Christ Himself were to ask something of you, I would readily assume you would want to obey the one that is the true saving grace of your whole being.
You should be able to recognize the one true voice of the one that created everything that is and follow that voice to the fullest, because Christ Himself said that you would be able to, according to His word in John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:" If you can not say for sure that you would know the voice of Christ or even be able to follow that voice, but you would like to, all you have to do is say a simple prayer with me.
Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone
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