Open my Eyes

WHAT ARE WE NOT SEEING?

Not with these eyes. But with our Heart

How is GOD Seeing PEOPLE AROUND ME THAT I’VE STOPPED SEEING?

“YOU’RE LOOKING AT SOMETHING, BUT YOU’RE MISSING SOMETHING.”

And here’s What I know about human nature…

• YOU DON’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT YOU DON’T SEE.
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THE RIPPLE EFFECT.

One life can touch another life, that touches another life…

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

“You may never know how far God can take one simple act of obedience.”

OPEN YOUR EYES

John 4: 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

Vs 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” ….

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

JOHN 4:35 “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”

• OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE WHAT GOD SEES

John 20:21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

WHEN YOU BEGIN TO SEE PEOPLE THE WAY GOD SEES PEOPLE, YOU BEGIN TO FEEL ABOUT PEOPLE THE WAY GOD FEELS ABOUT PEOPLE.

LUKE 15:1–2 “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

• Jesus is focused on those who are lost.

LUKE 15: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

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HE NOTICES WHO’S MISSING.

5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 19: 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

LUKE 15: 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

THE COIN DOESN’T KNOW IT’S LOST.

She searches carefully. This means with care, with intentionality…

• The VALUE of something DETERMINES THE intensity of the SEARCH.
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9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

LUKE 15: 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father’……… 20 So he got up and went to his father.  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

GOD HAS EYES FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE FAR FROM HIM.

2 Cor 5:14–16 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

CHRIST’S LOVE COMPELS US.

1 JOHN 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

2 Cor 5:14–16 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view……

Jesus gives you a different pair of glasses.

THE GOSPEL CHANGES MORE THAN WHAT I BELIEVE. IT CHANGES WHAT I SEE.

WHO SAW YOU?

THE RIPPLE REACHED YOU.

WHO IS WAITING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR OBEDIENCE?

2 COR 5:18–20 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

GOD MAKES HIS APPEAL THROUGH ORDINARY PEOPLE

There’s somebody in your life who may never come talk to me……But they’ll talk to you.

**BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE SOMETHING WITH THEM THAT I DON’T HAVE……RELATIONSHIP.

• YOU JUST NEED TO have eyes to see and BE AVAILABLE.
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WHAT DO MY PRAYERS SAY ABOUT WHAT I SEE?

**IF GOD ANSWERED EVERY PRAYER YOU PRAYED LAST WEEK… WOULD IT CHANGE THE WORLD AROUND YOU…

OR WOULD IT MOSTLY CHANGE YOUR WORLD?

MATTHEW 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

That’s a big prayer.

God, don’t just do something for me. GOD, DO SOMETHING THROUGH ME.

Challenge: I JUST WANT YOU TO OPEN YOUR EYES.

I want you to identify five people already in your life who are far from God.

DON’T TRY TO FIX THEM — PRAY FOR THEM

For the next few weeks, I want you to pray over those five names every day.

“God, open my eyes.”…..Help me see them the way You see them……Help me love them the way You love them……Open their heart to You…….Give me an opportunity to encourage them.

“GOD, IF YOU WANT TO USE ME, I’M AVAILABLE.”

1 COR 3:6–7 “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

I love that because it takes the pressure off.

YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CHANGING ANYBODY.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO BE AVAILABLE FOR THE RIPPLE.

FIVE NAMES — FIVE POSSIBILITIES

THE RIPPLE EFFECT.

GOD, OPEN OUR EYES TO THE PEOPLE YOU ALREADY PUT IN OUR PATH.