How Do You See | Pr Julian Saw

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your team.

How do you see today's title of the message?

Just how do you see? And I want to go

straight into the world of God.

So if you have your bibles, we can turn to numbers,

chapter thirteen. Numbers, chapter thirteen. Let me just arrange this

numbers chapter thirteen. Anyone there. I want to read the

whole chapter. Actually, so I didn't put all the verses

on the slide today, but I thought this morning it'd

be good to read the whole chapter.

It's quite a long one.

So you can just refer to your phones or look

on the screen later or your physical bibles. Can we

do that today? Read the Word of God? Yeah, all right,

So let's go numbers chapter thirteen. And the Lord spoke

to Moses, saying, send men to spy out the land

of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.

So God said that I'm giving to the children of

Israel for each tribe of their fathers, you shall send

a man everyone, a leader among them. So Moses sends

them from the wilderness of Paran. According to the command

of the Lord, all of them men who were hits

of the children of Israel. Now these were their names,

from the tribe of Reuben Shamama, the son.

Of the Curse. I wouldn't name all the names, but

there twelve of them.

There was Caleb, there was Ego, there was Joshia or Joshua.

There was Palti, Gadi al gadhi, Amiel Satur Nahbi, and

Guel so verse sixteen.

So twelve of them.

These are the names of the men who Mos send

to spy out the land. And Moses called Joshia, the

son of Nan Joshua verse seventeen. Then Moses sent to

them to spy out the land of Canaan, and say

to them, go up this way into the south, and

go up to the mountains, and see that what the

land is like, whether the people who dwell in it

are strong or weak, few or many, whether the land

they dwell in is good or bad, whether the cities

they inhabit are like camps or strongholds, whether the land

is rich or poor, and whether there are forests they

are not, be of good courage and bring some of

the fruit of the land. Now the time was was

the season of the first ripe grapes. So they went

up and spied out the land from the wilderness of

zin As far as r Hope the entrance of Harmad.

And they went up to the south of South and

came to Hebron, Ahima, Seshai, and Talmas, all the names

of the places the descendants of Annad were there. Now

Hebron was built seven years before Zone in Egypt Verse

twenty three. Then they came to the valley of a Skull,

and they were cut down a branch with the cluster

of grapes. They carried it between two of them on

a postal. It required two people to carry that grape,

very big. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

The place was called the valley of Ashore because of

the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there

Verse twenty five. And they returned from spying out the

land after forty days. So they were there for forty days.

Was twenty six. Now they departed and came back to

Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children

of Israel in the wilderness of paran At at Kadesh.

They brought back word to them and to all the

congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. So

they're going to bring the report now verse twenty seven.

Then they told him and said, we went to the

land where you sent us.

It truly flows.

With milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless,

the people who dwell in the land are strong, the

cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the

descendants of Anna there. The Malachites dwell in the land

of the south, and the Heathites, and the Jebrazites, and

the Emirits dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell

in the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.

Then Caleb quieted.

The people before Moses and sid let us go up

at once and take possession, for we are well able

to overcome it.

That was a good report verse thirty one.

But the man who had gone up with him said,

we are not able to go up against the people,

for they are stronger than we. And they gave the

children of Istel a bad report of the land which

they had spied out, saying, the land through which we

have gone as spies is the is the land that

devours its inhabitants. And all the people who we saw

in it are men of great stature. There we saw

the giants, the descendants of anarch came from the giants,

and we were like grasshoppers in our own site, and

so we were in their sights. That's numbers chapter thirteen.

Think it's a very familiar story to all of us,

and a bit of contexts. This was the precursor to

the Promised Land, right, and what happened before was the

nation of Israel was rescued from Egypt.

Okay.

Moses led that they they seen many miracles from God,

the plagues across the Raid Sea. They saw how God

brought them so much breakthrough, and God intended this moment

for them to go and conquer the Promised Land. In

the beginning, when you read in verse one, verse two,

God promised that this land and this victorially belonged to them,

and he asked the people on the nation of Israel

to send out spies to go and look at the

land first.

Sometimes I wonder why.

God did that, Like I really believe if God just

said go in and conquer the land before looking, they

would probably have done it. But they sent out spies first,

and they saw how the future might have looked like

and the challenges ahead, and they held back. I feel

it's God testing his people where their trust is, where

their foundation is. Okay, so we're gonna break that down

because it's very obvious, like how the pictures we saw earlier.

Every picture had different perspectives. Some people like Durian, some

people don't like Durian. Some people look at the gym

and they go like, oh no, tired, I'm tired, and

some people look at look at it as strength and training. Right,

So why why did two groups of people look at

the same team, same thing or saw the same thing,

but have completely different responses. Okay, let's break down some

of that scripture today. So we'll go to that first

after the picture numbers, chapter thirteen, verse one, and I

want to highlight this first numbers, Chapter thirteen, verse one.

The Lord now said to Moses, send out men to

explore the land of Canaan, the land I'm giving to

the Israelites.

So that's God's promise from the go.

From the start, we can see that God has spoken

that word to his people and that He's going to

give them the land. Okay, so I want to say

that first. Next light jump to verse eighteen, And Moses

said this to the people, See what the land is like,

and find out whether the people living there are strong

or weak, few or many. See what kind of land

they live in? Is it good or bad? Next and

we see the response after that verse thirty from Caleb.

But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood

before Moses, and he was so eager. He said, let's

go at once to take the land. He said, we

can certainly conquer it. That was his posture, victory possibilities,

standing on God's word. And how did the other spies

respond verse three one. But the other man, who had

explored the land with him, disagreed. We can't go up

against them. They are stronger than we are. They already

took defeat already, so they spread this bad report. Watch

your words about the land among the Israelites. The land

we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes

to live there. All the people we saw were huge.

We even saw giants. There are the centers of anarch

next to them. We felt like grasshoppers, And that's what

they taught too. So they saw themselves as small like grasshoppers,

And they thought that other people saw them as grasshoppers

as well. I want to say this morning that how

we see and our perspective is the starting point. How

we see people, how we see challenges, how we see God,

how we see ourselves is the starting point and very important.

So I've helped all of us here by having a

flow chart. Yeah, because I'm an engineer. All right, you

can see the arrows, but it's okay, So it starts

from the top.

There's a white arrow.

And the first thing that we see in the first

group of people with Caleb and Joshua is they saw.

They saw like everyone else. I mean, all of us

here have sight, or we can see in our spirits

what's ahead.

We can see.

And the next that was they had faith and confidence

in God and God, and they have the posture of

knowing that God fights for.

Us and certain victory.

If you can see a dotted line between see and

faith and confidence, it's it's what I put in the

place of decision. All of us see certain things, but

it's for us to then step across the dotted line

and put that what we saw into action. Okay, So

that's one group, Caleb and Joshua. Let's see the other

group so the other spies, there's tand other spies. First

step the same they saw they see right my surname Isa.

And then the next.

Step is they immediately had doubt and fear, not trusting God,

which turned into complaints, rebelling, and ingratitude. And God fights

against us. So I wrote this down and I was

thinking about this. God fights against us, because we know

in scripture that God does not fight against us. We

know in scripture that he fights for us, that he

gives us the victory. But we'll go into that a

little bit deeper today, and we'll also look at another

character in the Bible of what happens when we wrestle

with God and fight with God. But in this case,

God really did fight against them if you look at numbers,

chapter fourteen, and which results in certain death. So how

you see will start off a chain of events with

where you end up in your life. That's what I'm

saying this morning. How you see will start a chain

of events away end up in your life.

We've got a quick statement here.

How you see reveals what's in your heart, and what

is in your heart turns to action. How you see

reveals what's in your heart and what is in your

heart turns to action. Matthew Chapter six, verse twenty two.

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your

eyes are healthy, the whole body will be full of light.

But if your eyes are unhealthy, the whole body will

be full of darkness. If then the light within you

is darkness, how great is that darkness? So the Bible

tell us our eye, our sight, what we see. The

vision that we have for the future is very important.

Proverbs for twenty three. Above all else, got your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.

All right, Okay, I.

Know it's a little bit of a downer, but this

morning we're gonna learn how to see better.

So I've got a few questions for us today.

Okay, a few questions, and we can we can use

to check our sight or our vision. And I'll asked

a few questions, and then was our end today by

just giving an opinion on my suggestion of how do

we see better? So the first question I want to

ask us this morning is how.

Do I see myself? How do I see myself?

If you remember the scripture you read in Numbers chapter thirteen,

the other spies said, there we saw the giants, the

stentards of a nat came from giants, and we were

like grass offers in our own side, so we were

in their site. So I want to ask this morning,

how do you see yourself? How do you see yourself

in terms of your position as a Christian? So you

can ask yourself like, Okay, do I see myself as.

Not confident? Do I see myself as.

A as weak or a failure? Do I see myself

as I've got to get everything done and if I

and if I, I will plan everything well and I

will get things done right and it's gonna fall upon

my planning. Do you see yourself as uh self made?

Men? Do you see yourself as you know? Uh? Yeah? Ask?

They asked us some of that question, like how do

you see yourself? How do you see your posture? How

do you see your your stand in this life? Because

how we see ourself is very important. Okay, how you

define and name yourself is very important. So I mentioned

just now that there's a story in a Bible where

someone actually fought with God and his name is Jacob. Right,

I think you'll no, he wrestled with he wrestled with

the Angel of God, or and and I want to

just quickly just bring that up this morning, because it's

very I like how it ends.

That story ends. And Jacob was a person.

Uh.

Jacob was the son of Isaac.

Right, so Isaac had two sons, and from the start

of his life, Jacob had a very difficult, difficult life

because he came in He came in second out of

the roomb.

Right, there were twins.

There was Isau and Jacob, and as I saw was

coming out first, Jacob was holding the heel of Isau

and like one thing to be first, right, and and

all along his life he had this thing about him

where even his name was some men dad, which I'll

go to later, but he had this thing about him

where he always had to strive and try his best

to get what he wants to be on top or

to receive what he thought God had already promised him.

And that was how Jacob saw himself.

Right, So he wrestled with God, we know, and all

of this actually because he stole the birth right from Isau. Right,

He was running away from his brother because he was

he feared his life, and that ended up in a

place where in this situation where he wrestled with God.

Okay, and let's go to just.

One quick scripture, Genesis, chapter thirty two, verse twenty seven.

After wrestling with God, this is actually what transpired. So

he said to him, this is the angel of God.

So he said to him, what is your name? And

that was like a really weird question, like why would

God ask that question? Because I see it as God

working in Jacob's life to show him that how he

defines himself is not how God defines him. How he

saw himself is not how God saw him. He said

to him, what is your name? He said Jacob? He

saw himself as Jacob. He saw himself as someone that

needs to strive, reach out, get it done, make.

It work for myself.

I gotta I gotta do all I can like no one,

no one is here for me, no one fights for me.

I gotta do what I think it needs to be done.

And that was how he saw That's how I think

we got. He fought with his brother, he fought with

his father in law, he fought with everyone around him

to get things done. And when God asked him, what

is your name?

He said Jacob.

And the immediate response was this, your name shall no

longer be called Jacob. But Israel, for you have struggled

with God and with men and have prevailed.

So what does Jacob mean?

Jacob means to follow, to be behind, to supplant, to circumvent,

to a sale, or to overreach.

That was the definition of his name.

Right And God said, don't look at yourself away anymore today.

I want you to look at yourself as God fights

for you, which is what Israel means one who prevails

with God or let God prevail.

Amen.

So it's very important how we see ourselves. And you know,

if you're if you feel like you're in a situation

where like I feel like God's fighting against me. Like

why every step I take forward, I feel like I'm

going three steps back. You know what, nothing seems to

be working in favor of me, even though I've heard

the word of God and we're gonna in those situations,

take a look at ourselves, like what is God trying

to teach me in this situation about myself?

Okay?

One quick another quick scripture numbers chapter fourteen, verse twenty eight.

Now tell them this essentially, as I live, declares the Lord,

I will do to you the very thing I heard

you say. You will all drop date in this wilderness

because you have complained against me. Every one of you

who's twenty years old and was included in the regtation

will die. And I put this here just to wrap

up the first point because that is how that is

how the Israelites ended or before going to the Promised Land.

God had to kill off and take away the part

of Israel which was not pleasing to him, and that's

very hard to hear sometimes. Israel, by definition, had all

these people that has saw God brought them breakthrough, but

to enter into the next breakthrough, God had to kill

off parts of themselves. God to refine them in fire.

God had to.

Change part of them.

To make them their character, the person that they are,

their spirit better before going to the Promised Land. So

that's my first point. How do you see yourself? How

do you see yourself? Is very important and we're not perfect.

All of us have are going through different situations and challenges.

But we need to take the posture of looking at

ourselves through God's lends, okay, and allow God to remove

parts of us. Let parts of us that are not

pleasing to Him die. Amen, You're all good. I hope

it gets better. Next couple of questions, How do I

see challenges? How do I see God? How do I

see challenges? And I lom these two questions together. The

next question is how do I see God? How do

I see challenges? And how do I see God? Numbers

Chapter fourteen. Why is the Lord bringing us to this

land only to let us fall by the sword. Our

wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it

be better for us to go back to Egypt? And

they say to each other, we should choose a leader

and go back to Egypt. This was the verse fourteen,

Chapter fourteen. The other spies and the people started complaining.

They adopted God. They adopted God because they saw the

challenges being too big. But let's look at how both

Joshua and Caleb saw God.

Next verse in verse eight.

If the Lord delights in us, they're trying to convince

the people of Israel, then he will bring us into

this land and give it to us, a land which

flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against

the Lord nor fear the people of the land, for

they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them,

and the Lord is with us. So I grew up

these two questions together because it's important, and I know

all of us are in different situations and different challenges.

And this word to be honest came out from a

place of struggle for my own life. It's been very

challenging a couple of weeks and months in the workplace,

and I feel like I feel like sometimes I'm asking God,

like why.

Why do this?

Why do things keep like not moving forward? Or why

am I in this situation again and again? Why is

it so difficult when things seem established and sat in place.

He then takes a step back again, and God was

telling me, you know, how are you looking at these challenges?

How are you looking at me as the provider?

So the same the same story we read earlier about

how Jacob wrestled with God. I mean, I think it's

the only time in a Bible where someone actually like

thought with God. And and I found myself in that

place sometimes struggling to understand why I'm like this, why

I'm in this situation, or struggling to understand what God

is doing in this situation. I don't know what he

felt like that before anyone felt like, man, it's God

against me, or what like why.

So ask God? Are you against me? Are you against me?

And He's been teaching me to see these things, this

challenges in the perspective of of how he sees it.

So I want to share a little bit about that

this morning. How does God view our challenges and our

trials and our circumstances and our difficulties in life and

those situations times.

Where God is fighting against me? Right?

Uh? I want to read a quick I want to

read a song which I'm not gonna sing it because

I because I can't.

But but the.

Lyrics, like the last couple of days, has been speaking

to me about about why we go through stuff sometimes? Okay,

so this is this is this other lyrics. Christ is

my film foundation, the rock on which I stand when

everything around me is shaken. I've never been more glad

when everything around me is shaken.

I've never been more glad Like who says that? Who

says that that?

I put my faith in Jesus because he never let

me down. He's faithful to generations. So why would he

fail now? Why would God fail now? And the unswaer

is he won't. He won't get this. I've still got

joy in chaos. Who says this? I've still got joy

in chaos. Everything seems to be like in shambles and

like earthquake, and my kid is crying, and people are

leaving my team and they keep getting sick, and I

can't get good sleep, and no clients are coming in,

and I have payment problem and my salary is late

and I'm feeling my exam. How can you say I

still got joy and chaos? I've got peace? That makes

no sense. That's God's word. So I won't be going under.

I'm not helped by my own strength because I've built

my life on Jesus. He's never let me down. He's

faithful in every season, So why would he fail?

Now? Come on?

This is how God fail us? No, he won't, He

won't fail us. And the bridge says, this rain came

and wind blew. But my house was built on you.

I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it true. Come on,

tell something, I'm gonna make it true. So God's been

speaking to me about how we see challenges. Can we

say that we have joy and chaos? Can we say

that when everything around me is shaken? I've never been

more glad. It's God's word, right James? Chapter one let's

go there, Dreams Chapter one, My brethren counted all joy

when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing

of your faith produces patients. But let patients have its

perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

So how do we see our challenges if you see

through God's eyes, if you see the difficulties that we

are facing through God's eyes, we see that first, this

challenge is there for God to build patience within us,

and it's an opportunity for us to rise in faith,

to rise in faith so that patients have its perfect work,

that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So

I'm not here saying that I'm at a place where

I can say who challenges ahead, I'm rushing forward into it.

But a word of God tells us that perspective, and

how we see trials is we need to count it

all joy. We need to count it all joy. And

I think the only way we can do that is

we know that we have that firm foundation of Christ,

that He will never let us down, that He will

make a way even in the moments where like it

doesn't seem like that's a way out yet when there's

no answer. Yet, when there's still uncertainty, when there's still challenges,

we sit on that foundation that God will make away.

He will bring that breakthrough, and that is how we

see challenges. That's how we see God.

Amen. It's a good song. You should go check it out.

It's called Film Foundation by Cody Karns.

Yeah. Maybe those things in church soon. Okay.

So the first point was how do you see yourself?

And then how do you see challenges? And how do

you see God? And I want to bring us to

a end by asking the last question, how do I

see people? How do I see people? Especially people in need?

This year, our team is that all may know that,

all may know Christ, and sometimes we don't see people

the way Jesus sees people first John Tree seventeen. If

someone has enough money to live well and seize a

brother or sister in need, but shows no compassion, how

can God's love being that person. Let's not merely say

that we love each other. Let us show the truth

by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong

to the truth, so we will be confident when we

stand before God.

How do we see people?

How do we see people in need? I came across

a very encouraging testimony of a person who really had

vision of what things are like when God is in

the picture. So there's a called Jackie Pullinger. Not sure

that they've heard of her. She does a lot of

work in Hong Kong, and I'll read just a part

of what she does. Jackie Pulinger has spent her life

working with the poor and destitute, tried gang members, heroine

and opium addicts. She has helped thousands to come off

drugs through the power of the Holy Spirit. She has

seen transformation in numerous lives and has made a huge

impact on the city of Hong Kong. Jackie wrote, I

have spent over half my life in dark, foul smelling

place because I had a vision. She saw something. She

had a vision of another city ablaze with light. It

was my dream. There was no more crying, no more

death or pain. The sick was healed, addicts were free,

hungry field, there were families for orphans, homes for the homeless,

new dignity for those who lived in shame. I had

no idea how to bring this about, but with visionary zeal,

imagine introducing the wallet city people to the one who

could change it.

All Jesus.

She was in a place of destitute and completely opposite

of how she actually saw it. And I want to

encourage us to do that with people. How does God

see that situation instead of how it actually is. See

to the eyes of faith and more than that, as

we see, don't close your eyes, don't shut your heart

from meeting that need. But as you read just now,

it only makes sense that it actually goes into action. Amen,

I'm gonna call her the banner as we as we end.

So how do we see better? How do we see better?

I've got three quick tips how do we see better?

Number one, learn to tolerate trials and challenges.

I'm like a.

Step behind like fun, I'm a step behind having joy

in trials or challenges. But as the first step, let's

learn to tolerate trials and challenges. And if you're there,

counting all joy when we go to challenges, Because having

challenges in life is it's gonna be for everyone. It's

gonna be there in our future. I can almost prophesy

that that will happen.

To all of us.

But if we learn to just understand that every speed bump,

or every challenge or every difficulty that we go true

is not the end of the world.

It's going to be all right. We will survive. God

is fighting for us.

There's a good posture to have see the challenges as that,

see the challenges and trials of what God is trying

to tell me in the situation.

Right.

I was just recalling about another story how Peter was

walking on water and he was walking out a miracle.

But he started thinking when he changed his vision and

started focusing on the waves and the scary seas and

the wind. So let's look at Jesus through our challenges.

Second tip is be humble. Be humble to allow God

to refine, rename, and transform us. So how do we

see better? We need to allow God to change us

romans self to don't copy the behave if you're in

customs of this world, but let God transform you into

a new person by changing the way you think. Then

you will learn to know God's will for you, which

is good and pleasing and perfect. So know that God's

wiel is good, pleasing and perfect. At the same time,

allow God to transform you. And the third tip on

how to see better is we need to open our eyes.

Open your eyes to needs Matthew nine, verse thirty six.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he saw the crowds just

like the other disciples saw, but he had compassion for

them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without

a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest

is plentiful, but the laborers of you. Therefore, praying us

lead to the Lord of the harvest to send out

laborers into his harvests.

So this morning, I want.

To encourage us to be part of the vision, just

like how Joshua and Caleb had vision.

Look beyond the giants, look beyond.

The difficulties and many different tribes in the Promised Land.

But receive God's word for your life. Take you to heart.

Tolerate challenges, tolerate trials. In fact, count it all joy.

Rejoice in the chaos, Rejoice when there's difficulties and everything

around is shaking, because God is with us, and we

know that there will be a light at the end

of the tunnel and that God's name will be clarified.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you, God bless