God Sees You! - Pastor Raymond Woodward

attention oh I wasn't asking for it I was going to talk about it attention is one of the most powerful forces in the world they tell us that along with food and water a baby needs the attentive gaze of a human face they need it it's not just optional the baby's joy or anger or sorrow is reflected in the face of somebody else when a baby cries the baby can tell that our face responds to that psychologists call this attunement that the baby becomes attuned to its parents and even to others especially grandparents just wanted to make that clear baby realizes it's possible to be somehow it happens in their little precious brain somehow there they realize it's possible to be connected to or attuned to or in tune with another human being and it works with babies psychologists have studied this the face disappears you put them in the crib you put them down for a nap and you walk away and the baby figures out how to bring the face back it's just natural it's it's amazing because that face first the face of parents but then the face of others that face becomes the mirror through which the child learns whether it's a source of delight or it's a source of disappointment a child simply cannot survive without the face the face tells the baby that it matters a psychologist named Gerald Eagan he did a weird study I would be so mad if somebody did this to me although I've wondered sometimes he had students in a classroom at a university at a pre-arranged signal he had them changed from this slouched passive posture not looking at the professor he had them at a pre-arranged signal change to leaning forward and looking attentively at the teacher and taking notes and they would just keep doing that and the professor almost lost his mind he responded dramatically to that because when they reverted to that other passive not paying attention deal he reverted to his old monotone which brings me to this point and this isn't part of the sermon but if you really want your pastors to preach well just saying okay so and all of this is why there are certain phases that you look for there are certain people that you like to be around because they encourage you they pay attention to you nothing is more disconcerting than to be in the middle of a sentence or a story or something that you feel is important to you and somebody else just totally disconnects this doesn't happen to any of you it's happened to me I I don't think I'm a very exciting storyteller because sometimes I'll be right in the middle of something and somebody's like off checking their phone or they turn around and talk to somebody else it's like okay I'll just shut up notice that attention is so valuable we don't say we give attention to people we say we pay attention to people it's very valuable I didn't come to talk really about that I came to talk about this but one of the greatest miracles of human existence one of the greatest miracles of your life that you don't even realize is that God pays attention to you that's such a great miracle and we just don't even think about it but God Almighty the creator of this planet he actually pays attention to you and what's going on in your life God instructed his priests in the Old Testament the priests that helped lead the nation of Israel spiritually he instructed them to bless Israel this way here's what they would say number six the Lord bless thee and keep thee look at this the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance there's the face again his countenance upon thee and give thee peace see to turn your face toward somebody that's not just the casual listening of a preoccupied mind when you turn your face towards somebody that's giving them undivided wholehearted attention I am fully devoted to being with you in this moment to listening to you in this moment and and and this is family Sunday so I'll just meddle with this for for 20 seconds and move on but when everybody at the dinner table is on their phone you're not having quality family time when everybody's texting somebody who's not even maybe in the same province that's not family time there's a cricket up there God's face isn't just turned to us by the way it's even better than that the Bible says there in that blessing that his face shines on us it's a face of delight like a proud parent looking at a child our faces only grow radiant when we're in the presence of the people we love most deeply and that's how God loves us and that's why if you read through the Psalms which is kind of the big prayer book in the Bible a hundred and fifty chapters of prayers and songs if you read through that over and over you'll hear the psalmist who ever wrote that particular Psalm David wrote about half of them you'll see that psalmist say God don't hide your face from me don't turn your face from me I need you to be looking on me with pleasure and delight now if you go to the New Testament the Gospel of John tells the story very briefly of a man that nobody paid attention to and absolutely nobody he had spent his entire life being totally ignored he was simply not worth noticing to most people to say he was lonely would have been the understatement of a lifetime he wasn't just alone he was blind he was a beggar people would try to look the other way when they walked by him because they didn't want to feel the guilt and he would try like every beggar in that time he tried to do something to catch their attention he'd rattle the one coin that somebody had given him in a cup he'd holler at them he'd make a scene but that poor man was used to being ignored it was what he did for a living begging and being blind and so he was just another face and a busy crowd to everybody except to Jesus John 9 verse 1 and as Jesus passed by he saw a man which was blind from his birth the man couldn't see Jesus but Jesus could see the man we have no clue but it seems like a long time it seems like it must have been year since anybody had really actually turned their face toward that man and paid any attention to him but Jesus came by and he actually looked at that man he saw the hurt and the hopelessness he saw somebody that was live in kind of a dark endless night let me tell you that nobody has ever looked at you like Jesus looks at you nobody has ever truly seen you like Jesus sees you because Jesus saw people that nobody else even gave a sideways glance Jesus saw the people that nobody else paid attention to because they didn't have time or they didn't want to lower themselves he saw a tax collector despised by everybody in Israel but he saw him he saw a woman that was desperate for healing at the hem of His garment when none of the crowd paid attention to her and in fact despised her for messing up their schedule that day he saw a little widow woman given her last couple of coins in the offering nobody else had even noticed he saw children that the disciples wanted to usher away so they could get on with more important adult things and he saw little things in nature they often popped up in his teaching seeds and rocky ground and trees and he saw little things in nature that other people missed see in Jesus day people believed in this cause-and-effect relationship that if you were suffering it's because you had sinned if you had a problem it's because you were a bad person it made them feel better if they could just dismiss a suffering person it made them feel better if they could dismiss somebody and just say well they deserve their sickness they deserve their blindness they deserve those crippled limbs they deserve that suffering and we'd like to think that we're enlightened today but you know what there's still a whole lot of that goes on today that we judge people and we put them in a little box and we say that's just the way they are and the reason we do that 100% of the time is so we don't have to feel obligated to pay attention to them or have compassion on them or have anything to do with them I'm being good today except for right now and church people can be some of the worst in the world at that everybody that's not part of our wonderful blessed CCC family that doesn't mean God hates him or God doesn't love him or God's punishing them with something because they're into some kind of deep sin God created those people just like he created all of us Church does not give you a license to look down your nose at everybody that's not a Christian that lives some kind of sinful lifestyle if Jesus doesn't look down on them we don't have a right to look down on them so these people they just put that man in a category he's blind he's a beggar he's poor and they forgot him and when John tells his story in John chapter 9 he includes one little detail that would tell us just how ignored that man had been after his healing jesus heals his eyes and he can see now when he goes back to his neighborhood and when he gets back to his neighborhood here's what they say is that the guy that was born blind they have walked by him every day on their way to work on their way to market on their way to home they've walked by him every day and when he got healed they didn't even recognize the guy that they passed every single day he's been begging in that spot for most of his life they didn't even know what he looked like because they've never stopped to pay attention to him I don't know if you've ever felt unnoticed or ignored or alone in the middle of a crowd I don't know if you've ever had moments in your life when you just wish you could get somebody to notice how bad you're hurting so they could maybe help you I just about wrecked this little sermon this morning because before church in the office I ran across it I was sitting in the airport lounge yesterday flying home and I saw this little news report from last Saturday and it messed me up and I said I don't I don't guess I better I'm trying to get my head in gear for the morning I better not listen to that and then I listened to it this morning it was a 22 minute audio call a 911 lady a newspaper carrier that got into flood waters in Fort Smith Arkansas and called 911 you tell somebody to shut up that's not professional when you tell somebody stop freaking out we'll get there when we get there and this lady the water was creeping higher and higher and higher in her car and the last thing here on the 911 caller just screaming oh lord help me Oh somebody save me she kept saying to the dispatcher ma'am please come please save me I'm gonna drown I don't want to die today I got to tell you that messed me up this morning and then I got thinking of it I'm not even ready to preach about that that'll mess me up that'll mess us all up another day maybe but I got thinking about it in light of this little message this morning how often other people just reaching out for help and they're crying out in some way and just because they're not screaming at you when you walk by in the mall and they're not cry and a puddle of tears doesn't mean they're not hurting it doesn't mean they're not alone it doesn't mean they don't have a terribly desperate situation in their life and we can get so used to walking by people and not even noticing but Jesus noticed and let me tell you something about service today you can come and sit and kind of hide in the crowd but Jesus he's looking at you right now and he's not looking at you to condemn you and shut you down and keep you out he's looking at you to welcome you in and love you and forgive you and help you and heal you his face shines upon you he looks at you like a proud parent looks at a baby I don't know about you but I've talked to people like this many different times they have different faces and different details but it's the same feelings you counsel with people you pray with people you talk to people and it all comes back to I just feel alone I just feel like nobody sees and nobody understands but I want to tell you that Jesus understands today one more story and we'll pray and let Jesus touch a few lives today I know he wants to her name was Hagar and she was kind of less than nothing her stories in the first book of your Bible in Genesis in chapter 16 and Hagar was a handmaid which sounds okay until you realize that she was basically like a bond slave she was the property of her owner which was Sarah Abraham's wife and really in that culture she was really disregarded she's there to do the labor she's there to do whatever they tell her to do and Abraham had been given a promise by God you're gonna have a son and and you're gonna have a great number of descendants and through you all the nations of the world will be blessed and Abraham's old and he doesn't have enough faith to believe God that that's actually gonna happen with Sarah because although Abraham's a hundred he probably still thinks like most men that he's really got it but he looks at Sarah and she's ninety and he doesn't think she has it so Abraham decides that's as polite as I could figure out how to say that if you're offended listen to the tape of Jeff Arnold talking about it from a couple years ago and you'll be fine with me and and so they they get Hagar who's really a servant a slave a piece of property to them and and Sarah comes up with this plan you go into Abraham and he can have a child with you and it will be my child because I own you and that's basically how this gets set up and everything's fine until Hagar gets pregnant and then Sarah gets offended which is like you didn't see this coming before and so sarah tells Hagar you're out of here and she can do that because Hagar is not regarded Hagar is just a piece of property Hagar is a slave and so she sends her away and here's Hagar this pregnant woman running walking stumbling crawling through the desert trying to find a place to go because nobody wants her and she stops and she does one thing right her life was so messed up at this point but she does one thing right she calls out to God and when she called out to God God God actually answered her that's the greatest thing in the world that when you call out to God God actually answers no I don't mean you're gonna hear this big booming theatrical voice from the heavens I just mean you're gonna know if you really sincerely pray God's gonna do something in your life that you're gonna know that he heard you and that's what happens to Hagar and here's what she says this is so cool Genesis 16 13 and she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her she saw I'm gonna give you a name you're the God that sees me that's what I'm calling you and then she said have I also here looked after him that see of me which if I could pull that into kind of modern English she said God now that you see me I see you I can see you now that I know you saw me that's all do you understand how powerful it is to come to the realization that in the middle of your sin or your sickness where you're hurt or your pain or your loneliness or your dysfunction or your addiction or whatever it is that's messed you up do you realize how powerful it is just to know that God sees me he's not oblivious like everybody else seems to be in my life he's not ignoring me like some people and and and he's not looking at me to judge me like so many people have over my life his face shines upon me I wish it was possible it's not I wish it was possible to put God's face on the screens when we have a service like we had this morning and people are just standing to their feet maybe someone walking across the front and just pouring out their worship to God God is beaming from heaven looking at his people God is not mad at you God doesn't hate you I don't care who else hates you I don't care who else is mad at you I don't care who else fractured their relationship with you and said I'm never coming back this is never gonna happen this is never gonna I don't care how that happened God sees you and his face shines on you I'm gonna just scatter shoot a bunch of scriptures here and then I want to pray and we're gonna let God touch some people this morning Psalm 34 verse 15 the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous his ears are open under their cry God it's just waiting for somebody in this room to pray to him he's just waiting prayer isn't a ritual around here prayer isn't just a religious activity that we do because it comes between the announcements and the offering that's not what prayer is we understand that God up in heaven his eyes are watching us and his ear is open he's just waiting for somebody to pray to cry it to him first Peter 3 this is New Testament for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous his ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil so when you turn your back on God it's the same as if you turn your back on any other relationship so if I could tell you anything that would help you today it would be don't turn your back on God when you turn your back god you sever that chance for God to help you but if you'll turn your face to God here's what you'll find his face was already turned to you his eyes were already on you his ear was already open to you hmm it's it's amazing job went through so many trials in his life his his book isn't the first book in the Bible but it's the oldest book in the Bible and and Jobe went through so many trials it's amazing to me the first book the the oldest book in the Bible the book of Job is all about suffering and pain because that's about the most universal human condition we could think of and Jobe had all kinds of questions when his problems happened he had all kinds of doubts his faith was shaken everything was messed up but if you read through the book of Job and you look for this here's what you'll find that as his trial went on even though the trial was getting worse even though the symptoms were getting worse my goodness his faith was getting stronger it's amazing so by the time you get to chapter 10 he's still asking questions God have you eyes a flesh do you see as man sees God are you ignoring me are you just kind of let me suffer and you're not paying any attention are you like all of my friends but if you just keep reading by the time you get to chapter 23 look at this behold I go forward he's not there I go backward I can't perceive him on the left hand they tell me he's working over there but I can't behold him and he hides himself from me on the right hand and I can't see him but when I can't see him he can see me when I can't hear him he can hear me and when I don't know what's going on look at this but he knows the way that I take and when he has tried me here's what I know I'm coming forth as gold you keep on reading chapter 28 he says God's eye sees every precious thing chapter 31 he said God sees my ways and he counts all my steps chapter 34 says his eyes are upon the ways of man and he cieth all his goings what are you saying I'm saying I don't like what I'm going through and I don't understand much about my life but I got one thing going for me God sees me God knows what I'm going through God's with me when nobody else is with me the psalmist said in 94 and 9 the one that planted the ear shall he not hear he that formed your eyes shall he not see it's it's amazing and that's why Jesus said in Matthew 6 when you pray enter into your closet shut the door you don't have to put on a show pray to your father which is in secret and when your father sees you reach out for him even when nobody else sees you reaching out for him when he sees you region Oh for him your father that sees in secret shall reward thee openly okay pastor Raymond so really that's the message God sees me that's supposed to comfort me that's supposed to help me then he sees that doesn't really do a whole lot oh yeah it does because look at this Matthew 9 verse 36 but when Jesus saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them Matthew 14 Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude see he can't see without being moved and he was moved with compassion toward them and He healed their sick see when Jesus sees you that's not just so he can observe that's so he can intervene Jesus sees you and that he's moved with compassion because he created you the last scripture Luke chapter 5 verse 20 and when he saw their faith now watch this he said unto Him he saw their faith but he said unto Him man thy sins are forgiven thee this is a paralyzed man being brought to Jesus by four of his friends in fact they led him down through a roof and he saw their faith and when he saw that He healed him which is really good news for all of us cuz let me tell you something about today you're in a place where there's a bunch of people around you that have faith in God you're in a place where there's a bunch of people around you that know what it is to let God's presence move on them and move through them and touch them and so you might be here this morning and say well pastor Raymond that's very nice that's a quaint little sermon but I don't have a whole lot of faith yeah but you're in a place where God can see their faith and heal you he can see their response and he can touch you and so all you've got to do is look to him and let him look on you because if he if he looks at you it's not with judgment he looks at you with compassion would you allow me to pray for you and with you right now and I just need everybody that names the name of Jesus and you call him your Lord and Savior I just need you to pray and preferably with your voice not just with your brain would you just lift up your voice right now Lord Jesus I thank you for the wonderful touch of your spirit that has been here this morning I thank you God for every person that's just kind of got caught up in worship today it's been so glorious I just could have stood here forever Jesus but Lord God we need more than just to be in your presence in a church building we need your presence to intervene in our lives we need your presence to touch us we need your presence to arrest situations that are hurtful and harmful and painful and we need your presence to release things that are healing and helpful and a blessing in our lives and so Jesus today right now I stand here and and I'm just like those four friends I'm having faith in you that you're gonna do great things for somebody they may be so beat up by life they don't really feel like they have much faith but God I have faith for them and people in this room have faith for them and so you can see our faith and you can heal them you can see our faith and you can save them you can see our faith and you can break the shackles of addiction in their life you can see our faith in God you and heal their home and put it back together when the devil's tried to mess it up god I thank you that you see today I thank you that you look upon us in your countenance shines right now you're not here to condemn anybody you're not here to judge anybody you're not here to shun anybody you're here to look on us like a proud father looks at that new baby as he holds it in his arms Jesus and I thank you for that and you're not just looking your move with compassion I thank you Jesus I've tried to do my little assignment Lord without distracting from your presence I pray right now that you would release your presence and your power your grace and your mercy your healing and the power of your name and your blood in this room right now in Jesus name would you stand to your feet I just need a keyboard player to come back and help me would you just stand to your feet let your hands keep on going and would you just begin to reach out to the Lord this morning we got a lot of wonderful things and we're gonna get to those in just a few minutes but but I just want you to reach out to the Lord right now would you do that oh Jesus oh Jesus I thank you God thank you God that when you should have and could have judged me you didn't you forgave me thank you Jesus that when you should have and could have turned your back on me you turned your face toward thank you Jesus thank you Jesus I love God [Music]

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching, god, sees, you!, god sees you!

Id: Hp-0hHRgeDw

Length: 29min 8sec (1748 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 01 2019