ENCOUNTERS // Jesus Encounters the Receptive

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

Church of the Lookout is an older Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

Visit us online at the lookout.church.

So I'm just going to jump right in because I am a nerd.

I do have a PhD.

So I got way too much content.

So we're going to see how far we get.

So our scripture this morning is John 1, 45 to 51, and I'm going to invite you to stand with me for the reading of the word, if you are able, if you don't mind.

It says, Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, Come and see.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.

Nathanael said to him, How do you know me?

Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God.

You are the King of Israel.

Jesus answered him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?

You will see greater things than these.

And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

All right, you can go ahead and take a seat.

Thanks for joining me for that marathon of a passage.

Um I'm just gonna tell you the punchline now, and then we'll just come back to it.

But when I was praying about this, I felt like what the Lord wanted to speak to us this morning is that He sees us and that He knows us and that He loves us.

Amen.

And it and it could sound really simple.

I think a lot of us know that in our head, but I feel like what the Lord wanted to bring this morning was a fresh invitation to receive that in our hearts and our souls, which are infinite, right?

So that you can just keep receiving it and receiving it.

So what a setup with the worship and everything, just seeding the ground to receive his love.

So I hope that that ministered to you and that you're you're in that place right now.

Because that's what I feel like one what the Lord wants to do this morning.

So I just want to give a brief overview of where we are in Scripture at this point of the story when Jesus is meeting Nathaniel, because it's really important to know the whole context of the Bible and where we are in the whole big story.

It's not just a collection of random stories.

It is a big story that has a beginning, a middle, an end, a plot, a main character, right?

And we're even in the midst of that story now.

We're not at the end of the Bible yet.

If you didn't know that, now you know.

But uh, you know, there's a lot of controversy about where we are in Revelation or Acts.

But anyway, um, we are actively in the story, and I think that's so exciting because it makes every day so alive that we're living out God's story.

It's not just like, oh, we die and go to heaven in the end.

It's like we're moving the plot forward, and Jesus is moving the plot forward in each of our lives.

So here we go.

So I have a little graphic for us.

I love visuals.

So we have uh a guy named Abram that, okay, first sorry, God created everything.

And then people sinned, and then immediately God gave a promise right that moment that Eve's offspring would crush the head of a serpent.

And I just love the way God, the very next stanza, you know, we mess it up and he's like, I'm gonna fix it.

Like, I'm gonna come after you, I'm gonna find you, I'm gonna seek you out.

He's not like, oh well, you broke it.

This is this is hard.

He's like, I'm coming after you right away.

Let me just give you my word that I will.

And then we have Abram.

Okay, so God gives him a promise that he's gonna make a great nation of him.

He reaffirms that to Isaac and to Jacob, who um God changes his name to Israel.

So that's where we get the Israelites.

And then they become captive in Egypt as slaves.

Moses leads them out and into the desert, and at that point, God gives uh another promise that he's gonna raise up another leader like Moses to shepherd his people in the future.

So people are looking out for that.

They're looking out for this seed, and they're looking out for him to raise up another leader like Moses.

Can you go back to the previous one for a bit?

And then uh a leader named Joshua leads them into the promised land.

Okay, side note for you Bible nerds who know the Bible really well, can you understand why I chose the pictures that I chose for each person?

I thought that would be kind of fun to think about.

I was gonna put the picture and then have you guess, but again, okay, don't want to spend too much time on it.

So, anyway, so so Joshua leads them into the promised land.

That's Jericho, if you know, and then um the people decide to do their own thing.

And then some judges come in um to save them because when the people do their own thing, God is like, all right, I'm gonna let you get disciplined now, you know, in his love.

So other nations come in and take them over or fight with them, and then they're like, all right, God, we messed up, we repent, and then he raises up different judges.

So if you can guess what that one is, then you know it's in Bible trivia.

Um, but he does this over and over.

And so it's interesting to me, and I think this will be significant to you, to see the picture of each time that he saved them.

It was a very physical saving from a physical enemy with war and conquering them.

And so then there's a kingdom that starts to um, a kingship that gets raised up over Israel.

So there's King David, who's also a warrior king, and then um God gives him a promise that his son will be on the throne forever.

And then there are prophets that are prophesying all throughout this and into the end of the Old Testament that there's a Messiah coming, that God's gonna send a savior, that he's gonna send somebody to rescue them.

And Messiah means Christ means anointed one.

So it's not Jesus' last name.

I think that you probably know that, but some people don't.

Jesus Christ is not his last name.

It means Jesus the anointed one.

Thanks for the one laugh.

I really appreciate that.

Um, yeah, so okay, now we can go to the next one.

So I'm painting a picture for you here that in the whole of scripture up to this point, that was the whole Old Testament, we've seen God make these promises, but a lot of them um involve a physical conqueror.

And so when the Messiah is about to come on the scene, what Nathaniel is probably expecting, what a lot of Israelites are expecting, is a military leader king who's gonna come and deliver them from their physical problems, because at this point they're under Roman occupation and they're being oppressed by the Romans.

So let's go back into the story.

Okay, so when um when Philip comes to Nathaniel with this good news, you know, we know that they were looking, looking, looking for a Messiah.

And Nathaniel's probably, I just imagine being him and feeling so excited, like we found the Messiah, and he's like, Yes! And then Philip says, He's from Nazareth.

And Nathaniel's like, What?

So I want to put it in context for us.

So this next picture is Bonanza, Colorado.

What's Bonanza, Colorado?

There's not many pictures of it.

Okay, I had to steal one from Google.

I don't know where it is, but it's the third smallest town in Colorado.

Population, 17, a whopping 17.

So this room could overtake the the town of Bonanza really easily.

Um, but yeah, it's just a little country in the hills, and Nazareth was a lot like this.

It was just a little small town, um, agricultural.

And so if Nathaniel's picturing a military leader, he's thinking, how how's that guy gonna do the job?

So I thought of this for us.

So imagine that a doctor says to you, you have a life-threatening disease, and the only cure is a really intensive, extensive surgery, a specialized surgery, and you need uh a special surgeon, so you're you're in despair, and then your friend comes to you and says, I found you a surgeon.

He's from Bonanza, Colorado.

He did all of his medical training in Bonanza, Colorado.

All of his extensive training, and you're like, you're excited, and then you're like, what?

And you're like, in the trailer or the barn, like, where did he do the surgery training?

Can he do the job?

So, okay, so I just want us to relate with Nathaniel being concerned.

Can he do the job?

You know?

So I feel like that's an invitation that the Lord has for us is if we're skeptical of how he's gonna show up.

We probably have a picture of how he's gonna show up.

All the time we have a picture of what we think we need for God to save us and for the circumstances to be changed, but but a lot of times it's a it's different than what we expected, right?

I love the way that Jesus saved them from more than just a physical enemy, because even if he pushed Rome out, all the Israelites that were alive in that day were gonna die anyway.

They were gonna die because of the curse of sin and death, right?

So Jesus came and said, I know I'm not what you look like what you are expecting.

I don't look like what you're expecting, but I'm gonna save you from so much more than that.

It's gonna be so much better.

So that's what I feel like the Lord's inviting us into as well.

Okay, let's look at this story a little further.

So one thing I also want to point out is that even though Nathaniel is concerned, as we agree that we would be too, now that we have a parallel, um, he goes.

So there's something in him, he doesn't say, no, that's too too far of a stretch for me.

He something in him says, I want to know.

I I I want to see the Messiah.

I long to see the savior that that we've been waiting for.

So I'm gonna go check it out.

I'm just gonna be brave and go check it out.

So so Philip brings him and he comes thinking he's gonna come see Jesus.

And the first thing that happens is it I'm sorry, if you can go back to the John 1.45 passage, is that Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him.

And that seems like a small thing.

But if some of you were here a few weeks ago and Luke was talking about really seeing people, that in and of itself is a huge thing.

I was wondering, do you guys know who's down the aisle from you or who's behind you right now in this room?

Did did you notice them?

Maybe they walked by your sight and you subconsciously took them in, but did you see them?

Did you stop to appreciate this person hood in front of you?

You know what I mean?

And so the fact that Jesus pays attention to him is important.

And something that um I think that Jesse put it really well when we were talking about it is that even more so, this is the Messiah.

This is the king of all the earth.

So if it was like, you know, a CEO or some high-level person that you respect and they're paying attention to you, that means something more than just a casual glance.

So I just want us to feel the weight of that moment with Nathaniel.

And then Jesus proceeds to take it a step further.

So he sees him and then he says, Behold, a true Israelite indeed, in whom there's no deceit.

And we don't know exactly what this means, but we have just heard about, you know, God makes this nation called Israel.

And so I believe that it what it could mean is that when Jesus had a dream in his heart of a nation, he said over and over in the Old Testament, they'll be my people and I'll be their God.

And so maybe this guy is living that out.

Maybe he's actually drawing near to God.

He's not just giving lip service and not just doing the rituals, but he actually is seeking God.

And we know that he's an honest, authentic person.

That's what Jesus calls out of him.

And so I think that's for some of us too, that where we feel like no one sees us as we're trying to um pursue the things of God.

There's there's so many hidden areas that are thankless that nobody's seeing.

But I feel like the Lord wants to say to us that he sees every yes that we're making and that it matters to him and that it moves his heart.

So if you don't take away anything else, just think about that as you're living your day-to-day life.

That he sees you in those moments when you choose him.

And and like what Travis said, I love what Travis said, that he's smiling at you, that he's appreciating it.

It's not like, yeah, you should, I'm worth it, because he is, but the way that the Lord appreciates it, it just speaks of his character, of his kindness, of who he is as a father, that that he would appreciate that and and give us the time to say, thank you for choosing me.

I see that.

So then the next part is kind of interesting because Philip goes from skeptical to very sure, it seems, just in a matter of seconds, because of what Jesus said to him.

And we don't know the significance of exactly what happened there.

So I love the show, The Chosen.

In the Chosen, they they depict it that Nathaniel was under a fig tree and he's kind of having a midlife crisis, I guess you could call it.

He's crying out to God and he's like, God, do you see me?

So that's what makes it significant.

We actually don't know because there's no other details in scripture of of why.

I went on a deep dive, you know, in my nerdy research self, and I could not find anything, and I was so frustrated.

And then I asked the Lord, I was actually like so annoyed that I chose this passage because I thought he was gonna, I thought I was gonna uncover all this interesting stuff, and it was like, Lord, you gotta give me something.

And I asked the Lord, why is it that way, you know?

And he said, if you needed to know more, I would have put more details in there.

So all you need to know is that I saw him and what I spoke to him just cut through like a key, everything of his skepticism, and unlocked him and opened the door.

And then here we were, then he could see me.

And isn't that what the Lord wants to do with all of us?

And it's kind of interesting, right?

That we're each different.

Like I could say something to you, I could say something to you, and it would mean totally different things.

But the Lord knows how to meet each of us in our specific place where we're at, and to say just the right thing to unlock us.

So that's a little of my story that I want to share.

Um well, I will touch on this before we move on.

So so then Jesus says, Okay, you're impressed by that.

You're gonna see heaven open and angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

And that is something that maybe for us we just say, that's an interesting visual.

How could angels?

I guess I'm kind of like, how do angels climb on a person?

But okay.

Um, but any Israelite would have immediately gone to Genesis 28 in their minds.

I think we have that one.

So this is a story.

Um, I'll just read it real quick of what happened to Jacob, who maybe you recall from the image was one of the one of the patriarchs that God gave the promise to.

So Jacob left Beersheba, went toward Haran, and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed.

And behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.

And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac.

The land which you lie, I will give to you and your offspring.

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you'll sh you shall spread abroad to the west and east and north and south, and in you and your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.

And behold, I'm with you.

I'll keep you wherever you go and bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I've done what I've promised to you.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.

And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God.

This is the gate of heaven.

So all that to say what Jesus is telling him is that you're seeing this fulfilled right now, and you're gonna continue to see it in me.

With the picture of the ladder, it's a gate.

He calls it the gate of heaven.

So the way that heaven can come to the earth, and the way that the earth, you know, us, people in the earth can reach to heaven.

So before it was kind of this mysterious ladder, and now Jesus is saying, It's me.

I'm the way, I'm the gate that can give you access to that, and I want to show that to you.

So that is, you know, just a little snippet, but I believe why Jesus said that is Nathaniel thought he was coming to see, but he didn't realize he was coming to be seen by Jesus, right?

So he's surprised when he's he's coming, probably with these skeptical, you know, questions.

And then Jesus just reads his mail and he's like, Oh, okay.

And I love the way he responds, you know, that he it just takes a little bit and then he's like, Okay, I believe you, I believe you.

And the way that then Jesus responds to that is to say, I want to show you even more.

If you're responsive to what I want to show you, I want to show you even more.

And I feel like that's a uh an invitation that the Lord has for us today, too.

Is to be responsive to his heart.

That uh yeah, to first to come to be seen, that's where it has to start, right?

And then um as we're seen, that we see him and then we respond, and then he shows us more, and then he sees us more.

So it's this beautiful ongoing thing that we're invited into.

Okay, so I'm gonna tell you my story.

So I um when I was when I was young, I I guess recently I realized that I've been having trouble being my true self.

I didn't realize it.

I thought I was being myself, but I guess it just started to come out in different ways.

And I realized when I was young, um people would say I was weird.

I mean, you saw my action figure, like salads, snacks, leggings with dresses.

It's not exactly like typical, normal, I guess.

And um, but the way I internalized that was you're weird as in you're different than me, and therefore I cannot accept you.

And so I started to get really good at being able to interpret what people want from me and what people like and be able to relate with them.

So I can talk to people easily, I can easily um make friends, but what I realized is that I'm not known.

It's hard for me to be known.

It's hard for me to be myself in case they wouldn't like that.

So I just kind of keep that hidden.

And I was at uh youth camp with the youth group um this winter, and uh one of the students, I just decided to just receive.

I was like, I'm just gonna take a moment and be still.

And some students started praying for me, and one student said, I feel like the Lord wants to tell you that that you have trouble viewing him as a father and that he wants to show you himself as a father.

And what she didn't know is that a few hours before, literally in my journal, I had written, Lord, I have trouble viewing you as a father.

And and I really just love you to show me, you know, what it means for you to be my father.

So it just I had that Nathaniel experience where I was like, I mean, I already knew the Lord, but I was like, oh, just so open.

There's nothing like it.

It's hard to describe.

Like we already trust and love the Lord, but when he speaks in that way that pierces our soul, we're like, I'm even more open than I knew I could be.

And then he just began to speak to me about the way that he loves me.

And I was just able to receive it in such a sweet way and powerful way, and and begin to accept myself and that he made me on purpose this way, and that he made us all in his image, right?

So that means he's weird too.

That's what Pastor Jeanette told me.

I was like, oh, I like that, I like that.

She's like, who do you think designed you, you know?

So so yeah, so that's been really sweet.

Um and just so life-giving, just reaping that.

And it was a whole extensive conversation that I'd love to tell you more about if you want to find out, but um I'll move on for now.

So I just want to ask you guys um do you feel like that you know the Lord's love?

I think that we all in some measure have heard the phrase like Jesus loves you.

So, okay, there's that, but that's on the surface, that's in our mind, right?

I listened to this sermon from another church called Brave.

It was a guest speaker, and he said, he asked this question Is the love of the Lord the tape playing in your mind?

And I was like, Oh, that's so good.

So I wrote it on my uh phone, and then I just try to keep reminding myself of that throughout the day.

What it meant to me is like in the in between moments, you know, when I'm not thinking of anything, is that What's playing is the Lord's just loving words over me because they're there.

He is declaring loving things over us at all times, every moment.

And we just don't always hear it.

And so that was that was a great reminder.

And I think that it ties in with the invitation to come and see.

Because we realized that he saw Nathaniel before Philip even went and talked to him about Jesus.

But Nathaniel never would have known that unless he came to see and came to be seen and was able to receive it.

So the Lord has that for each of us.

And I think, you know, some of us are really seasoned at coming into a place of prayer.

And so this might feel really simple, but I trust it when I feel like the Lord is saying this is what I want to talk about, that He wants to do something.

So I just want to invite you to have faith that He wants to take you into a deeper level of that.

If you feel like you already know it, that He's like, There's more.

Can you fathom to believe that there's more, that there's more of my love to pour out on you that you could receive?

So lastly, I just want to direct our attention to we've heard that the Lord sees us and knows us and loves us, but that He also sees and knows and loves those around us in the world, right?

And this series and this year, we're we're also looking at what does it look like to share the love of Christ with other people?

So this is a really sweet thing where we can receive identity and affirmation from the Lord, and then we can also give that to other people.

Like in the story, this student spoke the Lord's words to me, and I was like so open up, you know.

Um in John 3.16, we know, but it says that God loved the whole world and he gave a son so that whoever believes in him, and in this context, whoever is willing to come and receive can have the eternal life that he paid for.

So I just I feel God's heart in wanting to extend that, you know.

But the reason why we we talk about it in this order, one of my favorite verses is 1 John 4 19.

And it says, We love because he first loved us.

So that's what it comes down to, guys, is the only way that we can actually even give this to other people.

We can't give away what we don't have, is we have to receive it.

And I feel like um for me, that day itself when I had that encounter with God's love, like immediately when I got up from the ground, um, there was this other student who was just like crying, but not like happy tears in the glory, but like sad tears.

And I didn't know, I just felt led and I just immediately like prayed the love of God over her.

And she like physically responded, and then afterward, when we were telling testimony, she was like, Tiana came and prayed for me, and the Lord just moved in my heart.

So it was so cool that I was able to receive it and then just immediately give it away.

So that's that's what I feel like um what the Lord wants to do is to speak to us and to fill us up, and then uh we'll be able to just pour it out as well.