See Clearly | Ps Jon Eaton

Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.

Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to

take hold of. So we hope this message inspires

you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of a God

perspective for your day. Enjoy.

Thinking of, you know, seeing people who are good looking, but

also just where people's focus is over here on this cross

faith, love, hope. We have a stack of praise

reports and a stack of prayer requests.

But can I just encourage everybody here to not let the

prayer requests that you have here be your focus, but rather

let the answer, the hope be your focus?

Because, you know, one of the privileges of being a pastor in

this church is I get to hear lots of people's stories, both

trauma and joy. So it's not all, you know, like

this is mental health stuff. And in all of it, whether it's

good or bad, rich or poor, all direction needs to be back to

Jesus. All of it, absolutely all of it

because there is literally no hope in anything except for God

through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and hope in God

is the only way to see clearly. So you'll focus what what do you

see clearly and that's the title for today's message.

During the week I spent the night at my brother in I love

that she goes, Uncle John, she goes, I just want to be a better

me. And just this morning Pastor

Graham was saying, how do you be a better you?

How do we do that? Is it through self help books?

They might help a little bit, but they're definitely not the

answer. What about yoga, drugs, being

drunk all the time? The answer to being a better

version of you is actually for you to see clearly.

It really, really is. And one of the first points in

this message about how to see clearly is you must see God,

must see God. And so we'll begin in Matthew 5.

Don't have to open up the Bible for those who are going to take

notes today. You are going to have a hand

cramp. I'm so sorry.

All right, so Matthew 5 you've got the beatitudes as Jesus

preaching on a mountain and it says in Matthew 5, verse 8,

Matthew 5:8

important verse for today's message.

Blessed are the purer in heart for they shall see God.

But there is so much more to this in Greek ortos Hotheus

optomini, see God. But the word, see God there, see

optomini. It doesn't just mean oh, I'm

looking at God. It's been fully aware of God.

It's seeing God what I love about Tom and I, It also means

to be seen. Who wants to be seen by God?

But this verse is not present. Sorry is not future tense.

Jesus does not say blessed are the pure in heart for that one

day they're going to see God when they die.

He says blessed are the pure in heart.

For they do see God. They see God.

They're aware of him everywhere. They're seeing God right now.

Not the toast. Ever seen that?

You know, people, they say, I see Jesus.

That's actually called pareidolia.

Yeah. And people travel all over the

world because someone on their window, you know, like someone's

spilled the coffee and it makes a face and they're like Jesus.

Pastor Mike actually said he preached here and something I

wrote down from his message, he says lift up your eyes, let the

invisible become invisible. That was great because God is in

all things. We read that in Scripture,

Ephesians 4 verse 6 where it says one God and Father of all

Ephesians 4:6

who is above all and through all and in you all, but He is

through all. If He's through all, then we

should see Him through all and we need to see God daily.

People say to me, but I don't see God.

Well, you need to learn to see Him daily because blessed are

the pure in heart. They will see God.

You'll notice it says pure in heart, not perfect.

Isn't that a good thing Or you sinners?

Everyone's like he's right. Because the word pure here, the

Greek word cathros, it doesn't mean you're a perfect person.

It means pure. And there's a difference.

Pure cathros really refers to being refined, refined in a

fire, just like gold goes through refining process.

Purity, not perfection, purity. Is anyone pure?

Of course not. But what I love when Jesus says

is this is actually in John 15 for those who want to write it

down. John 15 one to three Jesus says

and he's talking about being pruned.

So verses one and two, he's talking about being pruned.

In verse 3, Jesus says you are already clean, Cathros, you are

already pure because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Now Jesus never said to his disciples, geez, you guys are

the most perfect bunch of people I've ever met.

That's why you get to be my disciples.

But He did say you are pure because of the words which I

have spoken to you. Pruning is such an interesting

subject to me. Rachel showed me this actually,

because we have trees, actually we have anniversary trees.

So we, we try and buy a tree, you know, it's lovely.

And as I've mentioned before, one of those trees, it's one of

those trees that all the leaves is all the leaves every winter.

Yeah, literally yesterday I walked out and I said to Rachel,

it's dead again. She's like, how long is this

going to persist? I'm like, I don't know.

How long is it going to keep losing its leaves?

So anyway, The thing is, is Rachel has been pruning some of

the trees and on the outside when you see someone cutting off

all the branches, it looks like they are destroying it.

And sometimes when God's pruning our lives, it looks like God is

destroying it. But pruning is an essential part

of making a tree healthier and stronger.

So Jesus is saying I have made you pure.

Now if you are pure, then you get to see God.

So don't get upset and don't get all broken and disappointed and

depressed when there are things in your life that God's cutting

off and you think God must hate me?

No, He just wants you to see him.

Learning to see, it's like taking up your cross daily.

I've had people over the years, they're like, John, I'm still

just a Sinner. I'm like, no, you are not.

You are the righteousness of Christ.

Anyone who believes in Jesus is completely pure.

Are you perfect? No.

Oh my gosh, you're disgusting. So we are right.

But I heard years ago someone said, they said you will never

know just how disgusting your church is because we all have

things that we all deal with. But what happens is the lie of

the enemy is to say, Oh yeah, there you go.

That's your identity. It is not your identity.

Your identity is in Christ. What do you see?

What do you see? Yeah, that purity is a gift from

God. It really is.

Hey, 01 day, I'm going to preach the whole message on that purity

because it is staggering what God has promised his people who

just, we just want to lean into him.

Absolutely staggering. It's just beautiful, mind

blowing stuff. Anyway, get back to the actual

message, John. So what do you see and why does

it matter? Because where you focus,

especially if you're not focused on God, will bring about other

things in your life that aren't godly.

Like we can actually choose not to see God.

Let me give you some examples. OK, so in Genesis 20, so if we

don't see God, we see other things in Genesis 20, Abraham,

if you can read the events yourself, but Abraham gives his

wife to some other guy called Abimelech, right?

And God in a dream shows up to Abimelech.

And this is in Genesis 20 verse 3.

Genesis 20:3

It's not on the screen, but it says indeed, you are a dead man

because of the woman you have taken for.

She is a man's wife. And Abim looks like, well, dude,

I didn't know like, like this guy, Abraham literally gave me

this woman and out of innocence, I thought it was going to be OK

to marry her. And I was like, no, don't touch

her. You're like, so Abraham.

Abimelech then confronts Abraham and this is what Abimelech says

to Abraham. He said, what do you have in

view? What did you have in view?

That's actually a very good translation.

Not what have you done? What have you in view that you

have done this thing? Hebrew word rah.

Because Abraham here saw fear. He thought Abimelech was going

to kill him. He's like, how do I Pierce this

guy? I don't know, give him the wife.

He saw fear, so his focus was fear.

He forgot about the promises of God.

His focus was not on God or the hope that God had for him.

His focus was on fear. Now don't be hating on Abraham

because we all do this. We often give away precious

things because our focus is fear sometimes.

And this generation is wildly persuaded this way is a very

polite way of saying it. Some this whole generation is

persuaded not to have children, and they go, no, no children.

Why? Oh, because the way this world

is going. So you're giving up something

precious because you are focused on the fear?

What about people who say to me, oh, you know something?

I'm not, We're not, we're not getting married.

That's crazy. Why?

Oh, the divorce rate is so high? Oh.

So instead of focusing on God, His promises for a marriage and

wanting to do things God's way, you are focusing on your fear.

See, we often give up things that are precious for fear.

In Genesis 27, one and two. Genesis 27, the one of the

patriarchs of the Bible, his name's Isaac.

All right, so you can read this yourself.

But Isaac, he thinks he's going to die.

He's come to the end of his life.

And this is what it says in Genesis 27 one and two, it says.

Now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim

that he could not see, that he called Esau, that's his oldest

son, and said to him, My son. And Esau said, here I am.

And then Isaac says to him, Behold, now I am old and I do

not know the day of my death. So the story continues where

Esau and I Esau goes out, makes him a meal, and then there's

this big hole, jumble, jumble between Esau and his brother

Jacob. It's a mess.

What I want to focus on here isn't the mess of hit their

sons, OK? No, I want to focus on the fact

that Isaac did not die for chapters later.

Many, many chapters later. There are some scholars who

believe that between what is it, Genesis 27 and Genesis 35 where

Isaac actually dies, is about 50 years.

You think Days of Our Lives has a long death scenes, 50 years.

His focus, his view, was on the death and actually he made a

mess of the whole situation with his sons, Esau and Jacob,

because he rushed the story instead of actually waiting for

the moment he was dying. No, no, he got everyone worked

up and they all went and did silly things.

Can you be a Mac? Can you imagine being married to

Isaac? It's like the wife says, honey,

what do you want for dinner tonight?

Well, considering it's my last meal.

And he did that for 50 years. I think probably after about 20,

she was like, just toy. Sorry, I don't know if that's

disrespectful. But seriously, that was what his

focus was. His focus was not on any hope at

all. Then we got Nebuchadnezzar,

Daniel 4:30 That was a great king, and this is what it says.

Daniel 4:30

The king spoke, saying, is this not great Babylon that I have

built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honour

of my My Majesty? Remember that My Majesty in 31

while the word was still in the King's mouth, God was like Nope.

And for seven years he became this mental animal, eating, it

says in verse 33, that very hour the word was fulfilled

concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men in a

grass, yeah, like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of

heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles feathers, and his

nails like birds claws. Horrible.

But at the end of four, sorry, seven years in verse 34, it says

and at the end of the time I Nebuchadnezzar, what'd he do?

Lifted my eyes to heaven. So now he sees now he has the

right focus and I understand and return to me and I bless thee

most high and praise and honoured him who lives forever.

You will notice in these verses he did not go and then I'm like

God, why did you do that? He was like, I've changed my

focus. And then he found his answer

because all of our answers come from him.

So .2 I got this inspiration from Pastor Isaac last week,

Just see it. And last week he's like, just do

it. Just see it.

All right? Now, this is really easy to say,

but how do we just see it in our house?

Rachel will say, and I think some, maybe a lot of people can

relate to this. Rachel will say, John, can you

please get the bread out of the cupboard?

I hate that. I really do open the cupboard.

It's not in there. She's like, yeah, it is.

Nope, I'm not even making this up.

Hey, I know it's not so cliche, but I've just done this so many

times. And then sure enough, she'll get

up and it's right in front of me.

OK. We call it a boy.

Look, I don't know if that's sexist or not.

OK, cool. It's accurate.

Is it? I just can't believe it.

It's actually embarrassing. And I get really, like, nervous.

I'm like, I'm going to fail. I just know it.

Maybe that makes it worse because I'm focused on the fear

instead of the bread. Anyway, yeah, I don't know.

I'm preaching to myself. It's OK.

You know, sometimes we don't see.

We don't just see it because we want to keep the status quo.

If you're familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, you

know, the leaders of the temple establishment and the priests,

there was someone beat up, dying and bleeding, but they were

concerned that it would disrupt their position.

So they chose not to look, you know, so they didn't see what

they were meant to be seen. And it was actually the Good

Samaritan who came along and did see it.

Other ones, actually, there's a very interesting terminology.

It's called the Badda Minehoff. Has anyone heard that?

Byda Minehoff? It's where you see things that

you wouldn't have seen beforehand.

A good example. If you suddenly decide one day

you want to buy a motorbike, yeah, it's always a great thing.

You then suddenly be care, become aware that there are many

other motorbikes around. Yeah.

So something that you have suddenly becomes very obvious.

Like I, when I was young, I actually owned one of those

little mini miners. Little mini.

I did not realize how many were they were until I had one.

They're everywhere. Now that I haven't got 1, I

don't think they even exist anymore.

All right, so this does actually occur because your brain having

recently focused on a item, just simply becomes attuned to it.

But are we being attuned to God? Like that's that's a God-given

gift. It's where God's like, you know,

when you become aware of me, when you see me, I've actually

got something in your brain that's going to see and learn to

see me everywhere. It's not just there so that you

see other minis or other motorbikes.

It's a cognitive based biased route.

Actually, sometimes we're focused on previous herds.

Are you focused on your past so much that you can't see your

future? And maybe you're just simply

looking at the wrong thing, like that's not your wife.

Maybe you're looking at your own success, like Mr.

Nebuchadnezzar. Yeah, and often we're so

overwhelmed by our circumstances that we're actually no longer

able to recognize the answer right in front of us.

So, you know, I understand OK, I've got my own story and I've

got my own journey as well. And a lot of time I've had to

go, I need to refocus and engage the correct like looking pattern

and see God again because when we.

Re engage when we find our hope, when we lift up our eyes, often

the answer has always been right in front of us.

In Genesis 21. There's an event here where you

have what's called Hagar. That's one of Abraham's wives,

right? Hagar and she gives birth.

She has this child named Ishmael.

And basically the whole house erupts.

It's just turns to pure hell. And so they kick Hagar and

Ishmael out. Like, I mean, I think this is

for the second time, but it's permanent.

It's like go away. They they so they leave rah rah

and they are about to die of thirst actually.

And so in Genesis 2116, it says, and I'll just read it through.

Oh, something good. Then she went and sat down

across from him. That's across from Ishmael at a

distance of about a bow shot. OK, so, you know, actually a

fair distance because she could not deal.

She's like, my child is about to die of thirst.

This, this is too much. I I can't even I can't even see

it anymore. I just can't deal with this.

So she goes away right? And she says to herself, let me

not see the death of the boy. So she sat opposite him and

lifted a voice and wept. Genesis 27/21/17 And God heard

the voice of the lad. Then the Angel of God called out

to Hagar out of heaven and said, What ails you Hagar?

Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

Interesting point. God didn't say Hagar.

I've heard you cry and I'm here to answer your prayer because

God's focus was already focused on the problem.

God's focus was already I'm going to fix this.

I've got an answer. God's focus is always on your

prayer requests, not just on you.

And then he deals with you like he did with Hagar.

So God's like, you know something.

I know that you couldn't deal with this trauma, but I'm right

there at that moment with a purpose and a plan for this.

And verse 18, it says, arise, lift the lad and hold him with

your hand, for I will make him a great nation.

Verse 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water

and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a

drink. Now there's a bunch of theories

about this like was the well already there or did God just

make a well happen? The thing is that the well was

probably already there because it does not say that God made a

well. It just says that she lifted her

eyes and then God opened her eyes because her focus was back

on Hope, her focus was back on God.

And when you bring your focus back to God, your eyes are

opened. Always do, always bring yourself

back. In Second King Six, there was a

bunch of enemies surrounding the building called Dothan, which is

where Elisha was staying, and Elisha's servant was freaking

out. OK, because the Syrian Army has

surrounded it. They were going to slaughter

everybody and then Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray that you

open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of

the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of

horses and Chariots of fire. That would be awesome to see.

Hey all around Elijah .3 singers and musicians you can come up

now. That'd be great.

Thank you so much, Alex. He just literally sat down.

He just did like we've been 10 seconds ago.

Lovely. All right, you know, in Joel,

I'm not going to go through this because we've run out of time,

but I do want to explain some principles of how to do this

because .3 is see your position. See your position.

You know, in Joel 232, Romans 10/13, Acts 221, it says that

all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Beautiful verse. It's very good for you to etch

that one in your mind actually, because sometimes we think we

know who will make it to heaven and who won't.

And I like to think, well, all who call on the name of the Lord

will be saved. But let's go to the next one in

Matthew 721 to 23. Important verse in context it

says on that day many will say to me, Lord Lord, did we not

prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do

mighty works in your name and then I will declare to them I

never knew you depart from me. Wait, isn't this a

contradiction? Isn't there a bunch of

scriptures that I just said all who call on the name of the Lord

will be saved and now Jesus like no, all who call on the name of

the Lord will be saved. But that word there, I never

knew you knew The word new is gonosco.

Gonosco is a marital intimacy word.

It's not knowledge fully. It is a form of knowledge, but

it's very it's biblical knowing. How's that trying to be kind

children? So I want you to remember that

point, Gonosco intimately involved with our God.

It's so close where you are focused on each other, you're

married to each other, you're intimate with each other.

Like my eyes are on my wife because she's beautiful.

But here's the thing guys, God thinks you are beautiful.

Do you think he is? Because the God that I'm madly

in love with, deeply in love with.

Like yesterday I watched the sunset and all the colours and

you have to think to yourself, if there are such a wide variety

of colours and such a wide variety of spices and herbs and

tastes and just so many like laughter, children's laughter,

My gosh, if there are so many beautiful things in this world,

then surely the Creator is far more beautiful.

But how do you begin this journey of intimacy with God?

Well, you have to have have him as your first hope.

Hope your first focus and Jesus. When Jesus said I never knew

you, what he was saying is I was not the focus of your affection

was Jesus saying you. You didn't hope in me, You hoped

and you had focus in what? Your own achievements?

Because from the verse they're yelling out, you know, hey, we

cast our demons in your name. We prophesied, we did mighty

works in your name. It's like Jesus, like that was

your focus. I wasn't your focus.

Focused in your own achievements, focused in your

own spirituality. Oh, what great things you did in

my name. Good for you.

But I was not your only hope. So I don't know you, and if

you're not in an intimate relationship with Jesus,

remember we're not perfect, but an intimate relationship with

Jesus is. If he's not your first hope,

then it means that we're intimate with other things

because we're always intimate with something.

It's actually by default, we're either married to Jesus or we're

married to other things. Ever heard people say, oh,

they're married to their career? Yeah, maybe they're married to

their art or one of the ones I've heard often they're married

to the 'cause it's so easy to be married to the cause, the

casting out demons. They're doing wonderful,

powerful things in his name. God's like, well, and that's why

please understand this. And that's why Jesus said depart

from me, get away from me. You know why?

Because he doesn't break his own rules.

Jesus is like, I don't commit adultery.

You are married to something else.

Does that make sense? Yeah.

She's like, whoa, I don't fool around with someone else's

spouse. You're already married to the

'cause you're already married to your own spirituality.

You're already married to your own career, You're married to

the whole world. You're married to lots of stuff.

I'm not touching you because I don't break my own rules.

Here's the beautiful thing. And you can read about this all

through Scripture. At any moment you can

categorically stop having intimacy with the world and

everything else by simply placing your hope in Jesus.

How great is that? There is there is no big journey

or story here. It's like a I'm changing my

focus simple decision. And then then we have Cathros

where it's Jesus who prunes you, then he purifies you.

So I just encourage you, let let Jesus ignite that intimacy in

your heart. And just like the song we sang

this morning, I love how in tune our churches with Holy Spirit

where it says I didn't even know this song was going to be

played, which is Jesus. I belong to no one else.

That were the words we sang this morning and I was like, that's

the message for today. I belong to no one else.

There's a quote, and I'll finish with this.

There's a quote from CS Lewis, Beautiful quote.

It says I believe in Christianity as I believe that

the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by

it I see everything else.