Preview:
J.John: You see, most of us are constantly being shaken. We’re being stressed, we’re being pulled, but when I look to the Lord, I’m not gonna be shaken. I’m not gonna let anything shake me. I’m not gonna let anything make me feel downcast.
End of Preview
John Fuller: Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, British evangelist, J.John, has words of encouragement for each one of us. Thanks for tuning in. I’m John Fuller.
Jim Daly: Over the past few years, J.John has become a favorite among you, the listeners, and so we wanted to share another great message from him. Today, he’ll be talking about perspective, and if you’ve ever gone through a tough time, uh, you know how important it is to have an accurate perspective on your situation, so I think this presentation will be invaluable to you.
John: Mm, yeah, I’d agree, and here’s J.John speaking at River of Life Church in Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.
J.John: Killy and I, um, we went to speak at this conference. And they put us up in a hotel, and, uh, we were put up on the 37th floor of the hotel, okay? Pretty high. And, uh, we were about to go to bed when we started to hear some fireworks, and the curtains were already closed so we opened the curtains and we couldn’t believe it. The fireworks were just outside our window.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: Literally outside our window, uh, but we were, like, one floor above the fireworks. So we drew two chairs, pulled them by the window, sat by the window, and we had a 30-minute firework display, and we were able to view them from above, and the perspective was completely different to any other experience that we had had in our lives viewing fireworks.
Now, what do we need in life? We need insight, we need foresight, we need oversight. Insight is like looking at something detail, so it’s like looking at something through a microscope. Foresight is looking at a distance, but it’s like looking through a telescope. Oversight is a bit like being in a helicopter, looking down at where you live. The perspective is very different, yeah? Now who has got insight? Who has got foresight? Who has got oversight? Okay? That’s a question, not a rhetorical question. Who?
Audience: The Lord does.
J.John: Only the Lord. And that’s why in worship, we are tuning into the melody of heaven, we’re tuning into God, because what do we want? We want to have His insight, we want to have His foresight, we want to have His oversight, and of course, we want to have some hindsight.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: Wouldn’t you fancy a bit of that as well? Right? It would be very good to have a bit of hindsight, but sometimes, yeah, we got so many blind spots, haven’t we? Yeah? And if a human doesn’t reveal the…you know, uh, those blind spots, it’d be great if God will, and God will. He really will.
So, what I want us to do this morning is I want to encourage you to look in five different directions, okay? Five different directions. You see, if we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.
Now, what was God’s first question to Adam? Where are you? What was Jesus’ first question? What are you looking for? That was his first question. God’s first question, where are you? Jesus’ first question, what are you looking for? Okay? So I’m going to ask you those two questions. Where are you? Where are you hiding? Are you hiding? Behind some fig leaves?
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: Where are you? What are you looking for? And I want to remind you this morning is look in five directions.
Okay. Number one, look up. The Psalmist in Psalm 121 wrote this. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth.”
Audience: Amen.
J.John: Look up. Are you feeling a bit, kind of down and heavy, burdened? Don’t look down, look up. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth. I’m looking up. Have you noticed today, people, uh, with their little mobile phones, and they walk in the street like this, don’t they? How? I can’t believe it, how they do it, and kind of not looking like this. Now, have you noticed this? This … I do people watching.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: I actually like going to coffee shops for a little coffee, nice almond croissant, but I like watching people, okay? And I’ve noticed this. They do this. Now, when you remove the phone, notice their body posture.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: They all need to see a chiropractor.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: They’re like that. They’re hunched up. Stand up, look up.
Uh, this lady went to see her GP because she was feeling, uh, kind of very down, very downcast, and, uh, the doctor said to her, “Look, this is what I want you to do. When you …” Because the doctor knew that she, from home, she walked to the station to go to work. So, she says, “Right, this is what I want you to do. For four weeks, I want you to walk out of your house, walk to the station, and when you walk to the station, I want you to look at the chimneys of the houses, okay? And just do that. That’s my prescription for you. Four weeks, come back and see me.”
She went back to see the doctor. The doctor says, “How are you?” She says, “I’m amazing.” Amazing. You know why? Because she stopped looking down, she started looking up. Because she looked up, she could breathe better, she could feel better. I mean, just the physical posture of just looking up, and for us, of course, we’re looking up to the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth. And it’s a reminder, isn’t it? This Lord who’s the maker of heaven and Earth, I mean, if He made the whole Earth, all the heavens, He’s pretty capable, isn’t He?
Audience: Yeah. (laughs)
J.John: He’s pretty capable. And it’s a reminder that actually, when I start looking up rather than looking at … focusing on my little problems, I gain. I gain insight, I gain foresight, I gain oversight, and it changes the way I see things.
So, we read in Psalm 105:4, “Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always.” Look to the Lord. Look to his strength because our strength is weak. And we read, “Those who look to him are radiant.”
Audience: Yes.
J.John: They’re always looking to the Lord. They’re spending time with the Lord. They’re drawing from the Lord. Psalm 16:8, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” You see, most of us are constantly being shaken. We’re being stressed, we’re being pulled, but when I look to the Lord, I’m not going to be shaken. I’m not going to let anything shake me, I’m not going to let anything make me feel downcast, so look to the Lord.
And there’s quite a lot of pressure in our society, in our world, in our communities not to do that. But I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.
Audience: Yes.
J.John: Okay. Number two, look in. So we read in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see things. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Psalm 139, “Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me. See if there is any offensive way in me.”
We were staying at this hotel, and I’m like a little kid when I get into the room. I want to have a look at the view, look at the room, and then I go into the bathroom. And this particular hotel, there were two sinks. I was a little happy bunny, and, uh, they had a big, big mirror and, you know, like, five times the size of our mirror, and I’m like, “Whoa,” you know? But sometimes the big mirror is, you know, it’s a bit too big really, isn’t it? ‘Cause you don’t want to see everything, do you?
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: And, but then there was this little mirror. It was a magnifying mirror, and the light came on and I looked at myself. “Nooo!”
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: And Killy thought I’d slipped in the bathroom, so she comes running in. “What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” I said, “I’ve got blackheads! I’ve got blackheads!”
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: You see, I hadn’t seen the blackheads even in the big mirror. The big mirror didn’t show the blackheads. I pulled this little mirror out. It was like, I thought my nose was one big blackhead.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: Where did I get this blackhead from? Now, what would it be like if you and I looked into God’s mirror. At the airport, you gotta put yourself through an X-ray machine, you gotta go through a machine. What if we went through God’s X-ray machine? What would God pick up? What would God pick up in my mind? What would God pick up in my heart? What is it He would pick up? What would He see? He’d see all sorts of things.
Jesus made eight statements. They’re known as the beatitudes, and the word beatitude in Greek, makarios, uh, “blessed,” “be happy,” yeah? And in one of those, it says this. “Blessed are the pure in heart who shall see God.” Okay? The word pure in Greek, I’m Greek. Yeah, so don’t worry, but now you can say you know a little Greek.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: But the Greek word for pure is katharos, katharos, which literally means no mixed motives. So who are the people? Who are the people that are gonna see God? They’re the people who have no mixed motives. They’re the people who have no agenda. No other agenda, no other motive, they’re the people. There’s no underlying hidden little thing going on here. I’m looking to the Lord. That’s what I’m looking. I’m looking to the Lord, but I know as I look into my heart, I need some cleansing. We look up, we look in. I’ll revisit the looking in in a moment.
Number three, we look back. So, we read this in John 1:29. John, who is John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, there is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He’s the one who takes away the sin of the world.”
We’ve got three sons. We’re now, um, firstborn son, he was about four, um, he and I went to buy his mum a Mother’s Day present. So we’re out looking at stores, he’s four years of age. We go into one store. As we walk into the store, there’s this massive sign, and the sign read, “Do not touch. All breakages must be purchased.” Why didn’t I just walk out?
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: I mean, and it’s not just I’ve got a four-year-old son. I know what I’m like. It’s almost like because it says, “Do not touch,” there’s this pull, isn’t there? You just want to prove the point that you can if you wanted to. But Michael’s only four, and I saw it from the corner of my eye, he knocked it, and it was like slow motion as this thing just fell to the ground, and I was like, “No!” And it fell to the floor, pssh, smashed.
The manager came out of nowhere. I mean, it was like “Beam me up Scotty,” you know? And the manager just stood there, didn’t say a word, pointed to the sign. “Do not touch. All breakages must be purchased.”
Now there’s no way that four-year-old Michael could pay for the damages. Only his daddy could pay for the damages. There is no way that you and I can pay for the damages. Only our Heavenly Father can pay for the damages, and He did.
John: This is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and we want to encourage you with a free set of audio downloads featuring five messages from J.John plus this one with extra content. Uh, you can get free access to the J.John collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast, or call for details 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. Let’s return now to more from J.John.
J.John: Number four, we look, we look around. And in Matthew 5:14, this is what we read. “You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your Heavenly Father.” So yes, we have sung. Yes, we are fellowshipping, we’re digging into God’s word, but when we leave, we leave as His witnesses, as His ambassadors.
You see, people don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. They don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. Now, some people create happiness wherever they go, and some people create happiness whenever they go.
John: (laughs)
J.John: I mean, let’s be honest, come on. They aren’t there. I mean, sometimes when they leave, you’re like, “Oh, that’s good, isn’t it?”
John: (laughs)
J.John: “Oh, dear.” Don’t be one of these people that creates happiness whenever you go.
John: (laughs)
J.John: Be one of these people that creates happiness wherever you go. In other words, you and I can make the difference in someone’s life. So leave the church today and say, “Lord, I’m a channel of your goodness and grace. Help me to make a difference this week,” whatever it means, whatever it is. Whether it’s to a neighbor, whether it’s to an acquaintance, whether it’s a random person, what can I do? How can I be a channel of goodness, a channel of grace, a channel to touch the lives of others?
Do you ever occasionally get a prompting and remember someone you haven’t seen for years?
Audience: Yeah.
J.John: Yep. Doesn’t that happen randomly? Well, where did that thought come from? Was it just a random thought or was it a God thought? Was it God bringing that person to your attention? I remember once, there was … um, I said to Killy, “Killy, I really feel God wants me to go and pray for this woman.” So Killy goes, “Well, you better go. “And I said,” Mm, you know, it’s an hour there, and then I’ll end up spending an hour with her, and then an hour back. That’s like three hours. Oh, boy. Where am I, you know, where am I gonna find three hours to go and do that?” Anyway, time passes and I said to Killy,” I really feel I should go and pray for this woman.” And Killy goes, “Well, you better go.” I said, “Yeah, yeah. It’s an hour there, an hour, and a hour back. I gotta find three hours. You know, I’ve gotta find like a whole morning or a whole afternoon.” I didn’t go.
A few weeks after that, we listened to the news. Our, uh, alarm goes off at 5:58, we listen to Tweet for the Day on Radio 4, six o’clock, get the news headlines. The news came on, the number one news of the day, the woman died, she’s on the news. Her name’s Amy Winehouse.
Audience: Oh.
J.John: Okay, and you’re thinking, “Well, how could you have gone to see her?” Because she rented my cousin’s house, and my cousin said to me, “John, whenever you wanna go meet Amy Winehouse, tell me and I’ll take you,” and I didn’t go. Because like, “it’s gonna take me three hours. I’m not gonna …” I didn’t go. I was so remorseful, I was repentant, and I said to the Lord, “I will never do that again.” And I can honestly say to you, my wife’s here, she … since that day, any kind of prompting, any kind of quiver in my liver, any kind of anything, I’m doing it. I’m gonna go. I don’t care if I look like a fool for Christ, I’m gonna do it, and I have done. I think of somebody, I’ll contact them, I’ll phone them, I’ll email them, I’ll text them. I feel a prompting. I’ll go and do it. I’ll just go and do it, and I have, and I will continue to do it until I’m promoted to glory. So I’m encouraging you, don’t be like me.
Now, you know, I didn’t go and see her. Did God have a plan too? Did someone else go and see her? You know, it’s a challenge, isn’t it? So just do it, do it. And so we read this in 2 Corinthians 4:18. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Eternal.
You know, the Bible says that the length of a good life is three score years and 10, okay? Now three score years and 10, that’s 70 years. Now, some of you are thinking, “Goodness, I’m older than that,” but even if you got 100 years, do you realize that 100 years is just a blip on the eternal screen? It’s just a blip on the eternal screen, that’s all it is. So it’s like, whoa, look ahead. And live your life in the light of eternity and prepare yourself for eternity.
You know, not many people today have got that hope. A lot of people’s hope today is a bit like a hospital gown. You’re usually not as well covered as you think you are.
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: Well, you can hear it sometimes. You hear it in people’s voices. “Oh, I hope so.”
Audience: (laughs)
J.John: What do you mean you hope so? This is a done deal. We look forwards. Life without Christ is a hopeless end, but life with Christ is an endless hope.
Audience: Amen.
J.John: It’s an endless hope. I like what Joe wrote. “You will feel secure because there is hope.” So I wanna encourage you to leave today saying, “That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna keep looking up, I’m gonna keep looking in to remain clean. I’m gonna keep looking back because it’s only the Cross that redeems me, saves me, heals me. I’m gonna experience all that, and then I’m, I’m gonna look around. I’m gonna be a channel of this to others, but I’m gonna look forwards.” Go as far as you can see and see how far you can go. Go as far as you can see. You see, that’s the thing, isn’t it? ‘Cause it’s like, well, how far… I can… Oh, I can see right up to there, but when I go up there, I can see further. (laughs)
That’s my encouragement to you today. Go as far as you can see and then see how far you can go. Press on, move on, become bigger, better for the Lord. Look up, look in, look back, look around, look forwards.
John: One inspiring presentation today from British evangelist, J.John, on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
Jim: That was such a great message, and I think I’m gonna have both my boys listen to it. It seems like young adults are especially susceptible to having tunnel vision, and J.John’s message was such a great reminder to always be looking for the bigger picture. That’s true for all of us.
John: I think so, but especially for this generation of 20s and 30s, there’s something there that they need.
Jim: Yeah, and J.John just has so much wisdom, and we finally got him to come to Colorado last fall, and it was really a joy to meet him and Killy. They’re very genuine, and over the few days they were here with us, they spent a lot of time just praying for the people they met in the halls. It was awesome.
One of the things that most impressed J.John and Killy during their time here was our team of counselors who spend all day on the phone giving great advice and listening to people who need the help. That’s a free service we’ve been honored to provide for almost 50 years now, so if today’s program brought up an issue that you’d like to talk about, perhaps, uh, you’re worried about someone who seems to have lost perspective in life, maybe it’s you, just give us a call.
You know, our nation is only as strong as the families in it, and we are working hard every day to provide resources for your marriage and for your parenting journey. And as a nonprofit ministry, we do rely on your partnership to give those resources to everyone who needs them. Now, a one-time gift is great. It helps us today but think of this: a monthly gift essentially helps us every day to provide resources for every family that God sends our way, day in and day out. Here in July, we’re looking for 1,200 monthly donors to join us. It only takes 90 seconds to set it up. Did you time that, John?
John: I did not.
Jim: (Laughs) And you can adjust the amount or cancel at any time. And when you make that monthly pledge of any amount, we’d like to send you a great book from J.John called Jesus Christ – The Truth. It provides logical support for Jesus’ time on Earth and the resulting growth of Christianity. It would be a good book to read and then pass along to a new believer. And if you can’t make a monthly pledge right now, we understand. We’ll send you the book if you can make a one-time gift of any amount. And regardless of whether you can make a donation, we have a gift for you. Visit us online to gain access to a free collection of five great messages from J.John, plus today’s presentation with extra content.
John: Yeah, access the J.John collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast, and when you’re online with us, donate please and request your copy of Jesus Christ – The Truth.
Or call to connect with a counselor or to order resources or if you have any other questions. Our number is 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY.
And next time, Dr. Kevin Leman will explain how your birth order can impact your marriage.
Preview:
Dr. Kevin Leman: We tend to marry outside of our birth order, and that’s a good thing because simply, marrying outside of your birth order increases the probability of success in marriage.
End of Preview
John: Thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.
