From Unsure to Secure [Part 2]

Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright. I want you to see my see God work.

I want you to experience because Peter had all his determination of one of what a passionate and faithful disciple.

He was going to be. But what he needed was Jesus's own faith pastor Alan light used that will help you see your life in a whole night. I've been to Britt excited for you to hear the teaching debate in the series life of Peter is presented at an old church in North Carolina.

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Contact us@pastoralan.org that's pastor Alan.org or call 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright now. Could it be that just so happens I'm growing up in a Christian environment where if I hadn't broke all of these all these questions. All these intellectual questions and so many go through this kind of journey and what it did for me was in the midst of all of that sense of oppressive mental intellectual sort of anguish at the same time that I was experiencing some the worst downside ever experienced. I was also saying to God if this is all real. II need to know that it's real what I was asking was to experience firsthand the presence of Jesus and the hunger and the thirst that I had at that time I'm convinced is what God used, to lead me into a transforming experience of his presence. And you might call it many different names. I was already a Christian already had the Holy Spirit you might call it a immersion in the spirit might call it a baptism might call it a release. You might call it an encounter with God might call it experiencing the power of God for the first time, you might call it, knowing your heart you known in your head or whatever you call it. There is in the Christian life and opportunity to actually be with Jesus in a way that you know him and you can talk about Jesus the way you would talk about any other friend because you have actually spent time with him and when these religious leaders saw Peter what they said was, they recognized been with Jesus and is so interesting to watch how Peter's life just in front of our eyes as we watch the gospel of the unveiled how his life is being transformed.

It might be in sort of fits and starts.

It might be like he's growing and that always down know who Alexis had been on that kind of roller coaster spiritually, but it's moving towards this place because you've been with them on the day that we read about in Mark chapter 5 where Peter gets to see these miracles there so much. Peter must've learned on that day you could just go through a mental checklist when all the things that he learned about Jesus that day. What he learned the great crowds were always around Jesus. Jesus is popular check he learned that Jesus had compassion upon the six Jesus compassionate write it down. He learned that Jesus cared about women, which was unusual in that culture where women were not very honored and he stopped both these miracle stories were about about women okay could learn that about him. He learned that Jesus love faith. He delighted in the woman's faith the touchup lyric you could just go through and start writing down all this list of things like if Peter were taking notes on what you learning from Jesus but do you think that's what he actually was learning that day. It was that it wasn't that it was that he was just being with Jesus and then Jesus is going to heal this little girl razor from the dead and invites Peter and John just going to come in on what you just come and see this, and experience, and learn by simply being with him so there's a process in which when you're with Jesus, your faith is not something this is intellectual, it's something that is experiential and here's the second thing that's important about being with Jesus is that when you are with someone not just use it but just anyone who ever is that you're spending a lot of time with you become more like them and there's almost a mystical quality to this, not just in a relationship with God, but almost with other people. One self-help author has famously declared that you are the sum or the average of the five people that you spend the most time with, that's true, but I do know that we are amazingly's we we amazingly become more and more like those that we spent so much of this is no more apparent than in marriage is also been married for a long time is just crazy how you just I mean is weird. Is this where I sell you a Merry function can you test this to site and I will be riding down the road and just be quiet for a long time and then we both open our mouth in exactly the same moment to say something. Nobody said anything for the last 20 minutes and also we open our mouth to say something and we bring up the same subject me this is kind of scary.

I told you I think that this some years ago in the middle of the night. I mean like 3 AM in the dead middle of the night. For whatever reason and I both woke up at exactly the same moment that half waking up just to reposition ourselves in bed and we both woke up exact same moment, the chances of this turned towards the center of the bed and clashed each other's heads right in the middle of the night. We couldn't sleep for an hour after that for Lafon Chancellor headbutting my wife in the middle of the night on his sitting position. What made us get up at the same time. There's just something that begins to happen where you almost like her thinking like each other and you become like each other. It's the incident it's it's an extraordinary thing how this happened. Alan Wright will have more teaching moment today important series pressures always on find hard to say no way that shall disappoint someone one relationship in paradise.

They were naked and felt no shame entered the world and became anxious and with a nine question like there's only one solution. The grace of God that lifts our shame seeks me out on exposing shame shows the individual or in a snobbery is sure to bring healing and hope our night ministries.

This man, thanks for your partnership in a world separate shame. It's time to let God's grace to shame. We missed our night ministries, 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website past Rowan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is this dongle me this week but my dad was a was a bit of an artist and a cartoonist and he had drawn a little cartoon mouse became a little character in their Grimsley high school yearbook and in Greensboro. He drew the pictures that were this high school yearbook Weatherstone me. But I was always a little tinkering with ardent old cartoons and everything and I drew the picture for my junior high yearbook and hours I was asked to every thought about you don't realize the ways that your being like somebody because you don't think about it much. It's talking about the ways you become like some like you did when thought about it but you becoming like there's a way in which what you see and you and in Jesus. You see in Peter because it's just been with them to make more sense of this. Just think about how you talk.

For example, this is unusual course here in the South.

I think everybody ought to talk like we do, and then people come the South who are friends out and they think we talk funny and that things I don't understand is that we all I need to explain a few things to y'all is y'all can refer to. If it is the second person plural but it doesn't necessary for to an entire group and that's why sometimes we have to say all y'all see people get confused by this, like if I said to this side of the room y'all y'all say hallelujah and y'all say, praise the Lord, but all y'all say amen is safe.

So you need to be able to get these nuances right. I was talking one time to waitress at a little breakfast joint down at the beach and the Susa SKUs could be so southern as he talked about how fun she was fun she had with Northerners, down to the beach and is there one time a man said what is a grip that I love her response, she just said honey they don't come alone down here with Salem. I have some information for you by the new here we have an important road here that should be for any of you that have any knowledge of the of the Spanish language. It should be pronounced. Buena Vista Rd. is how it should be unknowable. Spanish should be Buena Vista means good. You important road and there's a popular neighborhood here that by that same thing but we don't say Buena Vista here in Winston-Salem we say Buena Vista and is funny to watch the people come in who you know are educated and know that it should be Buena Vista and up but if you come in your town and and you SMI where Buena Vista figure what we talk about oh Buena Vista yeah well it's over over there and so you just got a come and be amongst us for a while before you finally accept the fact that the name of that road is Buena Vista and assess what we say and I'm sorry about that, but that's what we call it here and you will become like that eventually end you be saying Buena Vista and then you'll be talking to want your educated friends and some of the parts I Buena Vista have you done moved into a hillbilly you but you see what happens. You just you just by being around people you start sounding like them and you start acting like that something happens when you're with Jesus you don't you don't necessary make a list of the things that you're trying to become in order to become more like Jesus you just are with him by the presence Holy Spirit you're with him a time in the word you're with him in prayer. You're with him and fellowship with him with others when you're when you're in fellowship with others who love Jesus and are talking about Jesus you're with him. You're with him in the meditations of your heart is always different ways. Anyways, if you're with him and when you're with him. You become mystically more more like him.

But there's 1/3 thing that happens when you're with Jesus and this is what happens when you're with anyone who has a higher faith than you have.

You begin to see the world through the eyes of the one who sees it more vividly than you do that this is this is a principle of life and this is so important to understand about the Christian walk about why it's so important to simply be with Jesus. When you come into the world is a little baby. You have such a limited perspective and you begin to see the world through the eyes of your mother begin to see the world through the eyes of others around you so you have your own vision.

But you quickly come to realize that you have very limited knowledge is very limited limited strength and influence in the world and so how you see the world become shaped by the ones that you're in relationship with and how they see the world is why the parents role is so spiritually powerful.

Is it when that parent is in touch with God and understands the child. The parent has a prophetic role and can see destiny over the child's life that the child cannot yet see in the very fact that the parent can bless that the very fact that the parent can see it. The very fact of the parent can affirm. It enables the child to begin to see it. In other words, if you have a father who knows the Lord and can see prophetically into your life and sees with greater faith than you do the possibilities. This is God's design and this is called the power of blessing and you begin slowly but surely to see your life through the eyes of faith that another one had before you ever could see it and what happens is that there's something that is raised up on the inside of you and what Jesus was giving Peter the privilege to do by bringing them into the room where little girls can be raised from the dead was not so much like Peter I want you to write all this down so you can do this exactly the way I do it because one day you are to be used by me to raise a little woman from the dead, just very much like this that wasn't what he just I want you to see my faith. I want you to see God at work.

I want you to experience this because Peter had all this determination of what went up, passionate, and faithful disciple. He was going to be.

But what he needed was Jesus's own faith is an extraordinary thing when you just simply have the opportunity to be around someone who sees life from a higher level than you do it changes you.

Golfers know that there is an important golf permit every year at Atlanta at the East Lake golf course and what not everybody knows is that there was or marvelous redevelopment project that took place there. I was aware of how horrible crime infested the East Lake area was when I lived in Atlanta many years ago I been through the area.

It was called the Little Vietnam because people being shot every day it was. It was like the drug center of Atlanta and they came and tore down a public housing facility that was there and with the help of a entrepreneur businessman Tom cousins. They decided to try something very different and they put in a a a mixed kind of housing.

Half the people on public assistance and have work and and and others invested in this this area and crime in the last two decades is dropped 95% could be a number reasons you know. For this, of course, but what Mr. cousins says who is he said, I think it's that simple. He said there were kids that got to grow up next to families where there was a dad was there In the morning. Got the paper make his coffee went off to work. Came home played with his kids in the yard and nobody received this before, but never just seen what what does a life look like if it's not dealing drugs and shooting people going to jail and just by being around it just just that fact it it's transformed in an an entire community is saying to you that if this type of transformational quality of New Vision can come into someone's life because they live next to somebody that is not in the cycle of crime, poverty and incarceration. How much more transformation could take place in our lives, but being with Jesus, to the extent that we see the world through his eyes to this is in the in what I really think is happening with Peter when Peter went in to to pray for this woman had already died. The lorded an event in the text of Peter pray the Lord clearly spoke to Peter in this moment in gave him this authorization and said she's gonna be raised up from the dead and so he knew that was from the Lord. But when in the midst of that this wasn't Peter saying hold me on what if I can have the kind of faith. Jesus did this is Peter who seeing the situation through Jesus's eyes.

This is what happens your life and your faith is so built when you're with Jesus. And here's a final thing to say about what happens when you're with Jesus and this might be the most important of all to say that you have the privilege of being with Jesus and that this produces transformational power and virtue in your life is not just to say that you mystically become like Jesus. And it's not just to say that you see the world through Jesus's eyes, but it is to say that you are always and forever authorized because of who you are with to be with Jesus, means that wherever Jesus can go and whatever privilege Jesus has you also have that same privilege. My friend and mentor Dudley Hall. Several years ago was invited to go the national prayer breakfast and sit at the head table. The reason was not because he was speaking doing any of the public prayer for any other reason except that a friend that he had mentors well-known musician Alison Krauss and she was singing at the event and so she asked Dudley if he would accompany her for the event and so he did and Dudley said they got to the security and, as you can imagine huge security for an event like this recognize Allison.

They welcomed her on and and Dudley came up this world who are you a so I'm with her and I checked his is okay you're with her K-1 and didn't know he was came on him. He said he just stand around there doing sound checks and stuff and Dudley. If you never met is a big guy, bald goatee got a say have dark suit on, he was just standing with arms crossed up to the front like this. Looking around, not realizing what he probably looked like and a man came up to him who Dudley recognized to be the former mayor of Dallas, Texas and the former mayor came up to mid-sixties me and I'll have to go back to that door goodies restroom back there. Dudley said no that's okay I'm sorry it doesn't know about… I'm not anybody here is that I just recognized from from the Dallas area and he said I'm with her. He said at the front table next to the vice president of the United States is not why are you here with her you with Jesus seated with him in the heavenly where can he go what can he do privileges as 1/2. Whatever those are there years to something happen. Peter was on trial and they saw his boldness, I saw that it wasn't coming from his education come from some other place. And suddenly Donovan. Oh yeah, he's one the lungs who was with Jesus you to get the privilege of being with Jesus because the Holy Spirit resides in you as you're with him on his chain and empowered in this gospel and life-changing news to grapple today's teaching from uninsured to secure in the life of Peter Allen is back in a moment here in the studio with additional insight on this for your life and the final word pressures always on hard to say no way that shall disappoint someone one relationship in paradise. They were naked and felt no shame in and became anxious and driven nine question like there is only one solution.

The grace of God that lifts our shame seeks me on exposing an exception shows the individual or in a snobbery series is sure to bring hearing ministries. This man, thanks for your partnership in a world separate shame. It's time to let God's grace to shame. We missed our night ministries, 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 come to our website past Rowan.org Helen to hear that life-changing good news and maybe somebody's listening right now and they're hearing this baby in a fresh way but there also struggling with accepting that it's too good to be true. And how do I change the way I'm living my life in light of this goodness thing so often for a believer. What needs to happen is instead of operating living by your own sense of your identity. You just begin to make a shift and you see your identity in him and use not only see me. This is who I am in Christ.

This is how God sees and so it means to not just the message like this but everything to think much of the gospel think much of what has been accomplished.

Rights think much of the on ending unconditional love of God for your life.

And this is what ultimately leads to assurance innocence.

Today's good news supported production Allen Wright ministries