#12 lens of Christ

seeing the world through Gods eyes a look into the spirit and souls of his people

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to yet another episode of The Body of Christ. Today we are going to have a little different angle on the topic today. The topic is going to revolve around seeing through the lens of Christ. And we're actually going to base this topic off of a vision that our brother Robert here has experienced months ago. And we're going to kind of just break it down. What was saw, like what did he see? What did he feel? How it transformed him, and the power behind how that vision applied to the daily life and how it helped spread the gospel and how it kind of really just helped his walk. But honestly, also hearing that vision from his point of view actually helped mine as well. Because then I also took the opportunity to apply it to my life. And that's kind of like the power of the brotherhood, power of meeting in groups. Because honestly, God speaks in many ways. And just kind of gathering the progress from each other is going to help. So I just kind of want to hand over this segment here to kind of Robert. Talk to us about the vision you had, and we'll just kind of go from there.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Yeah, and this was one of my earlier on visions that I had. And it's kind of weird how they they worked out in sequence. So my first two were actually dreams. The first one was just like a revelation dream where I had never even read like fully Revelation at the time. And I just remember like seeing a bunch of white horses descend to the earth, and I look and I saw like a bright, like almost blinding light to my left, and like I didn't recognize who it was. Like you could like there was no like the it was just radiating, you know what I'm saying? But like I felt love through it, and I felt like peace, and I just knew like whatever we were heading towards, because the world the world was covered in darkness, that whatever was below us didn't matter because we had Christ with us. But like I recognized him as Christ somehow. Like he didn't look like him, but like I just felt that essence, you know. And then the third, which was like my first like full like conscious vision, I guess you could call it. But I was just trying to like figure out like God, what do you want me to do in my life? Like what is your what is your path for me? And I just like saw Jesus like sitting across from me, and like he took me, and we went almost through like time and space, like a portal almost it seemed like. Like something's going on at the front. So I worked my way to the front, and like I see Jesus up on the cross, but he's like translucent, and like there was something like I was like filled with fear. Like I knew it was a vision, but like I could I could feel it spiritually, if that makes sense, the pain. And like I wanted to run out of there, but for some reason I walked towards the cross, jumped up on it, I took the the nail and hammer and I nailed my right hand through over his translucent hand, and then the centurion did my left, and like I'm looking at the crowd, and I just see in all that pain, just the people shouting and the hate. Like I felt that part of it, and like even in that moment, like I just that dissipated, and I felt an overwhelming love like pour out. And then I saw like everybody through time and space, everybody that would ever inherit like walk on this earth, and like they all mattered. And then I like realized like this is what this is what he did it for, you know. But yeah, I mean it it kind of brought me to a place where it's like I could never do that on my own. I could never see a person like that through my own eyes, but like to understand a person, I need to look at them through God's eyes, through his lenses. I mean, that's kind of like the parable of the kingdom of heaven. For if you listen with your ears and you see with your eyes, and you understand in your heart and turn to me and I would heal them, kind of thing. But yeah, you have anything to add on that?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yeah, yeah. I mean, just want to first mention here, I mean, what a powerful vision that you're able to receive to the Holy Spirit. And I mean, the Lord talks to all of us in many different ways. No one is greater, no one is lesser. It's just kind of spending that time with the Lord to be able to position ourselves to receive things, right? And then how do we apply it to our life? And one of the things that I thought was really powerful when I was hearing this for the first time and still hearing it again and again is it would the focus was on the hate at first, right? Because I mean, there are people that wanted Jesus Christ crucified, even though he's an innocent man. But that's who he did it for, too. And the love to be able to see love through all of that strife, anger, animosity, uh, hate, everything, right? I mean, how much more powerful can you get? Like, that's not earthly love here. That's not just loving when you feel like it. That's not just loving when it's easy. That's loving through it all. You know, and no matter no matter the the price or the cost, right? And and I mean, why is this important? Like, why are we sharing this with you? You know, why why was this so beneficial for both of us sitting here behind this mic? I mean, let's let's look at all the topics we've led up to this before. I mean, we talk about discipleship, we talk about believe, we talk about sanctify, we talk about our testimonies, right? At the end of the day, a lot of the process to truly sanctify with the Holy Spirit is can you start seeing people, situations, yourself the way Christ sees it? And that's really the main point of this message. I mean, the lens of Christ, right? And it takes no gifting, anointing, or any any skill really to see the negative in someone. That's easy to do. Anybody can do that. How can you see someone though, how Christ sees them before they even see it themselves? I mean, that that's going to uplift someone. That's spreading the gospel, that's advancing the kingdom of heaven forward. Now, here's the thing. I think it's really powerful in your vision too. It requires dying to the flesh, it requires taking up a cross.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Let's be honest. It's doing it when we don't even want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

You know, to someone who like, I don't really think they deserve it. Oh, they do.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

They do deserve it because you did deserve it too. And that's just really a powerful, like, why this is so important. In that perspective, I just want to if you want to build off of that.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's it's for us, it's been a blessing that we are able to have kind of each other to grow with, if that makes sense. So we like have time to learn these things over time. Cause sometimes, sometimes the Holy Spirit is a whirlwind, if you will. Like, dude, if you don't have somebody to to bring you back down to the ground, like you're you're getting taken, taken away. But um yeah, and like as we're talking, like we kind of just start doing that, you know, trying to see other people. And the dying to yourself, if you don't die to yourself, then what could you possi what difference could you possibly do in this world? Like, for example, I keep bringing up the the kid thing, like I didn't turn to Christ because of me. Yeah, I was in pain, I didn't realize how bad it was, but I was like, man, I have a son coming into this world. Like, that's not my son, that's that's God's son. Like, and for some reason I I just knew this right away, you know, before I even opened my Bible, but I'm like, because the only way like I could love my son is if I have God, because God is love. And there's a lot of stuff that the world normalized, like gossip and and judging others, but it says like to how you're judged, you too shall be judged. I mean, Matthew 7 just plainly says, Do not judge. And again, like the amount that you give it, you shall receive, if that makes sense. So because Christ died for us and we inherit the nature of God through the Holy Spirit, through the blood, like we are now partakers in that divine nature, and we have God with us. So who are we to judge each other when it's the same God that's in them as well? That's why it's able to come back and attack and do damage to your own life. That's why you feel that resentment when you speak death towards somebody. So, I mean, kind of the things sometimes it's just important to take a step back, you know? Like Jesse, you gave me a great idea a while back that you were like, Oh, I want to get words of wisdom for other people. I'm like, I had never even thought about that, you know, to write that down. And yeah, I think that kind of helped a lot, but I started doing that with the the scene too, and you know, putting those two things together, you know, finding something to give them motivated for the future, like saying, Hey, I see you, God sees you, because nobody else might even notice them. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Um absolutely one of the big things that really sticks out to me verse-wise here, based off of what you were just saying, is like again, how can we judge someone when that same God that's in you is in them? Right? And Genesis 126, I think, really grounds that that belief, right? So again, Genesis, I'm sorry, Genesis 127, not 126, 127, and it states, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. So everyone, again, created in the image of God. Whether they're at a certain area where they're at or not, we still have to see them the way Christ sees them. And are we not called to help edify them and uplift them and encourage them and honestly even help like guide them into that image? And it kind of starts with us. It does start with us, you know, individually first. And yeah, it's just really powerful concept to really just kind of sit on, just chew on that, sit on that, you know. And are are we currently seeing people like that? Are we seeing ourselves like that? Let's be honest. Are we seeing ourselves like that? Because that it does again, it does start there. Yeah, what's your reflection look like?

SPEAKER_02 12:22

I mean, sometimes you gotta you gotta wash it a little bit to see what's what's truly there, and you know, so you are made in his image, not kind of like his image, or you know, a counterfeit, if you would say, and God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are beautiful, like all those things. So are you gonna call God ugly? I mean, that's kind of on you, but totally kidding.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

So we got James 3.8. Oh, yeah. So as we now know the what, right? The the this really prominent, powerful vision that really kind of helped shift and mold uh the way we've viewed ourselves and people going forward, right? And then we got like the why it was so important, how it kind of builds off a lot of topics we talked about. Now I'm sure some of you are kind of um like, well, how do I start? Like, how do I like where do I start? How do I start? What should I be like kind of looking for? And I would say the first thing, if you are truly interested and eager and ambitious to move forward in your walk in this way, the first thing I would look to eliminate is gossip. Because that I would say is the direct opposite of doing this. The Lord will never gossip. It is actually an unreally evil full of poison. Eliminate gossip, and you will start to transform your mind and your words, and the heart will transform into the lens of Christ. Uh, some verses to build off of this. There's like a like a string of four here that I kind of want to work off of. The first one I'll do is Ephesians 4.31. And what we have in Ephesians 4.31 is let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And again, really kind of calling out, like, hey, all that hate, all that, you know, distress is not gonna help you see them the way the Lord sees them. And then I got two more here from James, kind of encompassing the same thing, but it's still very important to kind of talk about because again, it is present in scripture. James 3:8 reads here, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse. People who are made in the likeness of God. Again, exactly what my brother Robert here has been kind of saying, and again, directly applies to that's one or the other. There's no in between, it's one or the other. Kind of talks about gossip here and everything. In James 4 11, then we're hitting do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil against his brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law. And the last one to kind of uh wrap this all together here is 1 Peter 2.1. So put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. Again, all kind of really pinpointing on why would we ever look at someone in a condescending way? Why would we talk about someone in a way where let's let's be 100% honest. A lot of things we say behind closed doors are massively assumptions in the first place. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I try to nip that in the butt. So, like, so like first of all, again, just pay attention to that and pray on it and repent of it. And a big statement I kind of have is like if you can be forgiven, they can be forgiven. Yeah. Don't matter what they did, what that coworker did, what that family member did, what that old friend did, what that ex did, it does not matter. If you can be forgiven, they can be forgiven. If God has a plan for you, he's got a plan for them. Can we start seeing it that way?

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Can we stop writing it off? Can we start seeing it that way? And honestly, can we start seeing it that way for ourselves? Because I mean, the windshield is bigger than the rear view of mirror. We're meant to look forward into the way the Lord has made us, not constantly look back. If we're looking at that rear view mirror, it's smaller for a reason. We can't make any progress. How do we know where we're going? The rear view of mirror is still there because we look at how grateful we are to what God has done, but we still look forward into the blessings that He has in store for us. And that's just like a really powerful concept that I've kind of been grasping and applying is the windshield's bigger, the windshield's bigger.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I love that. I love that. And we gotta stop also looking at what God says in the spirit and try to apply it to the physical, if that makes sense. I mean, to understand in the spirit, you have to read in the spirit, you have to talk to God about it. You can't just read through it and try to understand on your own. I tried for months, couldn't get past like three pages. I'm like, what is going on here? And then it that kind of shifts, and it's like same thing with seeing other people. Like, God, I want to read this, not for my own understanding, because but like not for the knowledge, not for any of that, just to get to know you. Like, what are you trying to tell me on these pages? What do you want me to know about my life? What do you want me to know about you? Kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

And let it convict you a little bit. Like, again, you mentioned a reflection, right? Well, the word is supposed to be a reflection of our heart. Let it convict you. Let it convict you, and part of that vision you got like let it kind of like expose the flesh that needs to go on the cross. Let it convict you. Do not fret. It's going to be better. It's going to be better. And I kind of actually want to dive into some work stories unless you got anything else you want to add to that.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

I I'll uh I got a conclusion, I guess. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Yeah, so just some work stories that like I don't know if anybody can kind of relate to some of these scenarios to where kind of like areas to kind of like help apply this. But I uh, as you've heard my testimony in like the first couple episodes, I got shifted from a desk job that I really enjoyed to framing houses in the blue-collar industry. I've never done that before in my life, but it's where he wanted me to go. So here I am, right? And I've noticed real quickly that like it's a different environment. And I think it was all very intentional. And starting to apply this concept, if you will, this lens of Christ. I've experienced that there have been many coworkers I have worked with countless amounts of times, that I truly don't think people have seen them the way Christ has seen them in decades. Not only that, the words of encouragement, non-existent for them. And different stories, but I'm gonna kind of like just clump them together here. I mean, I've had people that listen, we all make mistakes, right? But have done things that obviously they went behind bars. Fortunately, they were out to kind of like get that second chance. And I'd be talking to people and just spreading the word, saying how much that God loves them and how I see them the way God sees them, and just giving them encouragement. Honestly, hey, you're making really good cuts on the lumber today. Hey, like your your nailing pattern is spot on. Like, I'm like I'm a kind of want to like learn from you a little bit, like just saying like really encouraging stuff. Like, hey, who wouldn't want to hear that? You know? And it got to a point where this one guy was like talking to me, he was like, hey man, like I I kind of want to just open up to you a little bit of like kind of what I've done, you know, and everything like that. And I'm like, okay. He goes, Oh, it's kind of rough though. I don't know if I want you know if you want to talk to me after that. I'm like, try me. So he was like sharing it, and I'm not gonna share what it was, but I mean it's heavy. And and I was like, that doesn't bother you. And I'm like, no, it doesn't, because I said, if the father can forgive you, how can I not forgive you? We move forward, we repent, we turn back to the Lord. His blood covers it all. And I mean, just powerful stuff, and only can be done through the lens of Christ, only can be done through the Holy Spirit. I mean, my flesh definitely does not want to naturally do that. And another one, I mean, just again, rough, rough upbringing, never really kind of had a chance, if you, if you will, like just with like the world just just never going his way, you know. And we were talking, and we were talking, I mean, do kind of experience some church hurt, let's put it that way. And we were talking, I'm like, hey man, it's not really religion. Religion kind of like gets caught up on things that don't really like signify what Christ cares about, you know? And Christ cares about a relationship, and he wants you to get to know him and all this stuff. We had like an hour conversation, it led into like our 30-minute break, completely talked right to the 30-minute break. I was kind of left, and I mean, it was getting heavy. It was getting heavy, and I could tell, like I was almost kind of like getting from the Lord in that moment. It's like, hey, that man has not heard things spoken to him like that in decades. Yeah. And I'm talking like, how could you imagine someone going through this life and you are constantly in areas where people are like talking down to you, condescending to you, never giving you a chance, always looking at you for your past, never seeing light in you, never give never seeing a redeeming chance in you. I mean. That ways you can see it on people's faces sometimes when that's all to hear is negative.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

And and I yet I think that almost everybody goes through it. Oh yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

I don't think anybody is really special in that aspect. Some people have worse lives, some people handle it better. But at the end of the day, like when are we really like there for somebody? When do we take enough time to just because they say they're okay, like like do you watch them? Do you see their body movement? Like, you know, like do you pay attention enough to a person to understand when there's something even a little off? And that's Holy Spirit too. That's probably gotta notice that. But yeah. Yeah, it's kind of it's kind of interesting to oh wait, so I have an example of one building somebody up slash seeing something in the spiritual. It's funny that you you know you're called to build the houses, and then you're building that church that we're currently building, but like do you not build up God's people? Like always, like that's the primary thing we do wherever we go, wherever like we're building up people on that solid foundation. And I I guess my last thing, I'll just kind of end with this like what did Jesus really like see? Like, what makes us so special? And this is pretty deep, but at the beginning of Genesis, when he's like forming the world, like you know, in the beginning, could you read actually the first part, just the first part of Genesis on the first day?

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Alright, um in Genesis one here, yep. So there in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There is the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light. And there was light.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Yeah, I love that. So when you go through Genesis in the days, it symbolizes like pregnancy, which is what believers feel. Like it's the birth pains they talk about. Like as you're growing with Christ, things are coming off you, you're you're washing yourself, and it's okay if you sin. Like, that's the whole point, it's the process that matters. Like, are you gonna continue to go with it? But like that, that light that happens, that is literally conception. This is what it's talking about, and science backs this up, it finally figured it out. You know, I think it was a Harvard study, but anyway, then the second day, then the waters are separated from the waters, and like that's talking about the amniotic attack, and then you see the cells start to form with the land and the water being like the the vessels, the ventricles, yada yada yada. So when Jesus saw us, he saw his world in a sense. I mean, he left he left the 99 for the one. And I just think that's kind of crazy, like that like our entire existence reflects all of creation.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Yeah, and actually, this just this just came to me live in the now. As you were explaining the whole let there be light in verse three of Genesis 1 on how he was always intending good for you from the beginning. Look at this next verse. And God saw that light was good, and God separated light from the darkness. So, whatever you have gotten into in this world, however dark it may seem, whatever you may have done, you turn back to him, let the darkness be exposed. He wants to separate it out of you. But we have to let him do that. Coming to him. You know, and I thought that was just really powerful. I was kind of reading that here.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

But yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of all I have on that basis, if if you're good. All right, guys. I hope this this hit, this makes sense, but understand who you are and God, have confidence in your identity. Like you are special no matter what anybody else says. All right, peace and love. Good night.