Hope Church Sunday Podcast

The God Who Sees Me

Do you know that God sees you? This Sunday, Pastor Diego spoke on a foundational truth: God sees us. In God's eyes, we are fully known and seen, not just as we are but as His cherished creation. Understanding this transforms our sense of identity and our relationship with the Father. There is an invitation to step into living with the awareness that God sees you, freeing us to live confidently and purposefully in His love.

Recorded at Hope Church in Springfield, MO.

Duration:: 46m
Broadcast on:: 07 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Thanks for tuning in to the Hope Church Podcast. We hope that you're blessed and encouraged to walk out the gospel as you listen to this message. Good morning church. How are you guys? Good? Did you have a good 4th? I've been here for almost 10 years now from Brazil and I'm still amazed at how committed Americans are to their 4th and to the fireworks and it is a great time. We're hanging out with some of the DTS students last Thursday and had a great time with them and all these fireworks all over the neighborhood, it was amazing and then that storm came. Anybody else? I felt like God was saying, I was like, "I like your fireworks, let me show you mine. Let me show you what I got." And so we call it the night there but in our neighborhood people go wild so they still kept going throughout the weekend, it was crazy. Anyways, nobody was harmed, right? I'm excited to share with you today, I have this word burning in my heart, Jesus is here this morning, amen, the love for us to pray together, just become aware that He's here. Will you join me in that? All right, let's close our eyes, let's just, Lord Jesus, pray that we would catch your eyes today, we've been singing about it, we've been sensing you in the room, I pray now Lord, the eyes of fire, the eyes that Daniel saw, the eyes that John saw, like flames of fire would rest upon every heart here this morning. Come on, can you join me in prayer? You turn our eyes to Jesus. Yeah, come on, let's turn our eyes just like a farmer grows familiar and more aware with the rain. Let's turn our awareness to His eyes right now together, oh Lord, you're beautiful and your face is all I see, for when your eyes are on, your grace abounds to me, let's sing it again, oh Lord, you're beautiful and your face is all I see, for when your eyes are on, your grace abounds to me, come light the fire, oh Lord, please light the fire that wants me, that wants burn bright and clean, replace the lamb of my first love, that burn with holy fear, can we sing that again, Lord, oh Lord, we raise your hands, you're beautiful, come on every voice and your face is all I see, for when your eyes are on this child, for grace abounds to me, light the fire, oh Lord, come light the fire, come light the fire, that wants burn bright and clean, replace the lamb of my first love, that burns with holy fear, I wanna take your word and shine it all around, first help me just to live, O Lord, when I am doing well, help me to never seek the crown, for my reward is giving glory to you, oh Lord, you're beautiful, your face is all I see, for when your eyes are on this child, you're beautiful, your face abounds to me, see this whole thing started, God created man in the garden, Adam, the Bible says that he came close to man and he breathed into his nostrils, and then the Bible says that he became a living being, think about God coming as close as his breath, he breathes and Adam wakes up, the first thing he sees are the eyes of God, sitting right there, that is our origin, ever since then we are all still looking for the eyes of the one who created us, my son was born almost 11 months ago and I got to be there and picked him up right as he was born, it was wild, what a miracle, right? I picked him up and I lifted him and I looked straight into his eyes and he saw my eyes. There's something about us, there's this innate desire that we have to be seen, right? To be known, to be watched, it's a little baby and ever since then his favorite game, I'll let you guys guess, peekaboo, right? Most babies I know, you just do this to them and they're like, what's the deal with that? Think about that. I come around the corner in the house and I hear him and then I say, hey Mo, and he starts and then I come and I look into his eyes and he's like, that's the stuff, thing is we've come to believe that only kids need that, grown-ups, not so much anymore, I was preparing for this, I started to think back growing up in Brazil and my father was a landscaper, he is a gardener, he's alive and he still does it but a little less now, and we had this property and so in the backyard of the property he built a soccer field, beautiful, the grass, you know, he knew how to take care of the grass and we had the goals there and everything right behind the house, I'd walk out of the kitchen and there's a soccer field in front of me, it was amazing, and my dad loved soccer and I loved soccer growing up and so I remember many, many days I'd come home from school, let's say three o'clock and I knew my dad would get home from work about 4.30 and I'd wait a little bit, maybe eat something, change and then about 4-ish, I'd go out to the soccer field and I'd start and my hopes were that when my dad got home he would see me playing and he would say I have time to join him today, so I would time my soccer practice according to my dad's arrival so that when I was playing maybe he would join me and hopefully by the time he got there I would be playing a little bit better so he would notice, you know, open with me in Genesis 16, then as kids grow up, me, you, we have this thing where we learn a new trick and we say watch me, watch this, dad, dad, mom, sisters, brothers, friends, come watch this, usually we're looking for the person we value the most to see what we're doing, the reality is we all want to know that we're seeing, don't we, we do, whether we admit it or not, that's why there's a whole economy now based on attention and profiles, Genesis 16 are you guys there, I'm gonna look into this story, it's kind of an obscure story because of the circumstances that are happening right here and what's going on with Abraham and Sarah and their servant, there's a real treasure right in the middle of it that I want us to open it today and explore it together, so we're gonna be in Genesis 16 verse 7, do you have your Bible, follow with me there, the Bible is talking about Abraham and the call of God on his life to be a father of multitude, many, many sons, he hasn't had a son yet and they try to get a shortcut and somehow this lady is thrown into the middle of it, her name is Hagar, she's an Egyptian, she's a servant, she's a foreigner and she is serving Abraham and Sarah and they decide to go that route instead of the regular route with Abraham and Sarah to see God's promise and she becomes pregnant and so she's pregnant now and Sarah starts to feel like I'm supposed to be the one that brings the child, so Hagar starts to be more and more outcast and pushed out, so she leaves and that's where we pick up, verse 7, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, can you say spring of water in the wilderness? Think about the imagery here, so the angel of the Lord here and other translations will have that A there capitalized like King James and all that, a lot of scholars, most scholars believe that when the Bible refers to the angel of the Lord it's referring to Jesus in his spring carnet, life and it's easy for me to believe that because when you read the gospels you see that he was very much interested in meeting outcast women by a spring of water, right? And so he asked her a question, where have you come from and where are you going? Where did you come from and where did you go? This is not cotton ijo, this is Jesus, where are you coming from? I don't even know where that song is from. It's heard it somewhere, right? Where are you coming from and where are you going? I believe that God is asking a lot of us today right here, where are you coming from? Where are you going? Do you know where you're going? Do you know where you come from? Do you know your origin? Do you know your future? Do you know the one who created you and do you know the one who's coming back for you? Do you know your past, here in the present, and do you know your future? Few chapters before, the same God showed up in the garden and asked the question, what's the question? Adam, where are you? When God asks us a question, it's not because he doesn't know the answer, it's because we don't know the answer. The question he asks is an invitation into revelation, so he pulls us into that space by asking us a question. She said, "I'm fleeing from my mistress, Sarai, the angel of the Lord said to her return." Then he gives her some instructions and some blessings, and then on verse 13, you guys there? So she called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing." My footnotes right here says, "You are the God who sees me." There's a difference. You are a God who sees, and you are a God who sees me. Then she said, "Truly, here I have seen him who looks after me." It says, "Have I really seen him who sees me?" The name for that term that she used there, the God of seeing, is El Roy. If you're writing down notes, you want to write that one down, El Roy, E-L-Space-R-O-I. This is the only place that shows up in the Bible. Obviously, this is true of the nature of God, so you see it all throughout Scripture, but this is the revelation, the original one, gave God that name. Do you know that that's literally one of the names of God? He is the God who sees you. So I was preparing for this, and I was like, "God, you are the God who sees." Where's that passage? I'm like, "Oh, it's Hagar, yeah, let me go look at it." When I get there, I see, it doesn't just say that he is the God who sees, but he is the God who sees me, and I sense the Lord say, "That's the problem." A lot of us would be okay subscribing to a doctrine that says God sees everyone else, but the tangible felt reality in our lives doesn't always show that we believe that He sees us. It's one thing to say, a general thing about God, He sees everyone out there. He sees the guy on the stage, and He sees the people on Instagram, the preacher that I heard, He sees, so and so He definitely sees the people who messed up, but me? Do I wake up and live my life in light of the reality that He is Elroy? He is the God who sees me. And if He is Elroy, and whether I'm aware of His eyes or not, He's still seeing me. So we all have this desire to be seen, and we know that God is the God who sees us. How do we step into a life that is lived in the awareness that He's seen us? You guys get where I'm going here in the question? How do I live that out? That's a big deal. You see in Psalm 139, which by the way, in regards to this subject, it's a masterpiece, David is talking about God and he said, "Where can I go, and where can I run from your presence? If I go to the highest heights, you're there, if I make my bed and hates you there." And he goes on and on about God's omnipresence, which is easy for us to subscribe to, generalized. Yes, God is everywhere. But then He says, "Even when I was in my mother's womb, you knew me." And then He said, "Not just you see everything out there, you saw me in my mother's womb." And then He said, "You saw my unformed substance." You know what David is talking about here? Before there was a form, there was a substance. And he saw the substance before the form. If your body is the form, before you had a body, God knew you. God intended for you to be born and created, created this substance which really is a desire and a dream of God, and then He just used the body to wrap that up. So David is saying, "God, you see everything. You are out there. It hides you in the depths, but you also inside of my mother's womb. In secret you knew me." Later on we're going to see Jesus talking about the Father who sees us in secret. That's the best place for you to meet Elroy when nobody else is watching. The best place for you to know that God sees you is when nobody else is seeing you. And then the Bible said that when you go and meet your Father who sees you in secret, He will reward you in public, meaning before other people in the crowd. So when you know who you are in secret and you step into the crowd, you're not letting the crowd dictate who you are because you met your Father in secret. So you find out who you are and you're walking into that place with the awareness of your identity and what God intended for you to be and how He created you. When you find out who you are, you're never going to want to be anybody else. So you're not at the mercy of people liking you anymore, or applauding you, or betting you in the back. You met your Father in secret. I believe God is calling us today to return to a place where we meet our Father in secret. You'll believe that this morning. We're going to look at a couple more passages. We're going to explore this together. And this passage says a lot about the nature of God's eyes. He decided to go meet a slave, foreign girl in the wilderness. She probably felt abandoned, used, abused. She's sitting there with a baby and she's thinking, "Where am I going to go?" And God shows up to her and says, "Where are you coming from and where are you going?" Here's some water in the wilderness. That's the nature of that revelation. The God who sees you will be like a spring of water in the wilderness for you. If you've been in the wilderness, if you felt alone, if you felt abandoned, if you felt like nobody understood you, if you have been through hard things, faced the wall emotionally. If you hear this morning and you're feeling all those things, I believe God wants to tell you, "I see you. I see you today. I'm not just the God who sees everybody else. I am the God who sees you." That will change everything. It will change your value system, it will change the way you walk, live, the things you expect. All right. Let's go to Colossians 3, verse 22 and 24. Even when we're not aware of God, He is there. Do you believe that? This presence is a promise. I'll be with you. I believe the journey of discipleship to Jesus is about learning to be aware of His presence and His leadership. And it takes time and it takes practice and it doesn't happen overnight and we're all in that same journey, amen? So in Genesis 28, Jacob's running very much like Hagar, he gets to this place and he has a vision of a ladder going up to heaven and angels ascending the sending. He sees the Lord because later on the Lord said, "I am the ladder that Jacob saw." And he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place. I just wasn't aware of it." Was God not there before He became aware of it? Was He any less there? Awareness is the bridge between just a theological agreement in a tangible reality in your life. Growing in the awareness of the presence of God. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, brother, He is only present. Do you know that when you're driving your car? Okay, you're there in Colossians 3? Okay, so this passage here is in the context of work and it's a beautiful passage we could go on and on talking about work and there's a lot there. But I believe the truth that we find here is applicable to all areas of life. So keep that in mind as we read Colossians 3. I think we may have that on the screen there. It's very, very powerful. Here it is. Can we read that together? So we'll go together. I won't even read first and then you follow me. So bond servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters. Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Wow. So here Paul is speaking to the Colossians and he's linking all of these things together and I have the bold in there so you can see the connection. He's talking about obedience and he's talking about eye service, he's talking about pleasing people, he's talking about sincerity of heart and fearing the Lord, working heartily for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. I became aware of this beautiful sociological and psychological phenomena called the Hall Thorne Effect. Has anybody heard of Hall Thorne Effect? Cool, see a few hints. So the Hall Thorne Effect was a study conducted in the 1920s and 30s in this electric power plant. Basically they were watching these workers and they would let some of them know that they were being watched and they would observe their performance and their way they worked and their lives and they came to the conclusion, which we all can expect here, that workers would work differently if they were being watched and that they would also work differently depending on who was watching them. And so that was almost a hundred years ago and that same phenomenon has been used in many fields, not just work, to talk about the changing behavior based on the awareness of someone watching you. So two things that we observed there, that if someone is watching me is a big deal and then who is watching me, it's another big deal, there's two parts to that. So here Paul is saying, obey in everything your earthly messer, not by way of vice service. He's referring to your change behavior when somebody is watching you. Then he said, as people, please listen, the eyes you're most aware of, you aim to please. The eyes that you're most aware of, you're going to aim to please. If the Hawthorne effect is real and you know where this is going, right? As people pleasers, so you're most aware of people's eyes, you're going to aim to please people. But we've seen serity of heart, what is he talking about? You're the same everywhere. You're not one person here in church, another at work, another at home, another outside. You're not changing your hats everywhere you're going, this is my worshiper hat. And now this is my husband hat. And now this is my father hat. And here this is my hanging out with the boy's hat. This is my watching the NFL hat. You see what I'm saying? Paul is saying, you only have one hat. You're a son. You're a daughter. How do you live that way, the fear of the Lord? Well Pastor Josh preached a couple of weeks ago a wonderful message, right? On the fear of the Lord. We're in that same neighborhood today, he's out of town today with the family and he's sending his love. The fear of the Lord is the foundation for us in seer heart. The fear of the Lord is the foundation for integrity of life. It's crucial and he says, whatever you do, work heart leak for the Lord and offer man. What is he saying? Knowing that from the Lord you receive your reward. The eyes you're most aware of, you aim to please. The eyes you aim to please, you will fear. The eyes you fear you expect a reward from. The eyes you're most aware of, you aim to please. The eyes you aim to please, you expect a reward from. The eyes you expect a reward from, you will fear. When you expect a reward from people, you're going to fear their criticism. If you live by people, I've heard it said like this. If you live by people's applause, you're going to die with their criticism. What you're saying, Diego, is this a Christian thing to expect a reward? It's a fair question. I'd say the pins on who you were expecting to reward you. Jesus had a lot to say about rewards. If you read the Sermon on the Mount, he promised a lot of them to people who followed him. If you read Revelation, he promised rewards to people who followed him. To read from Paul, he's saying you receive a reward from the Lord. If you read from Hebrews, what does he say, without faith it is impossible to please God. And those who come to him must believe that he exists, and he rewards those who diligently seek him. To come to God, you have to believe that he will reward you. I remember talking about soccer, we talked about that earlier, "Guys, that clock must be broken." So talking about soccer, I remember growing up and I wanted to play soccer and we'd go play games, important games. Sometimes the coaches would come into the locker room and say, "Guys, we've got some scouts here today, and all the boys will be like them all." I always loved soccer, but how many of you guys know that that day I loved soccer a little bit more? Why? I was aware of the eyes, of the scouts. The scouts had authority to reward me with maybe an opportunity at a club, and so I aimed to please. You got that? The eyes we're most aware of, if we're living our lives aware of people's eyes, we're going to live in disappointment because so much goes unnoticed by people, nothing goes unnoticed by God, nothing. He sees you in secret, He saw you in your mother's womb. David understood that. He understood priesthood, which is living before the eyes of God, even if people were watching you. Talking about David, let's open there in 2 Samuel chapter 6. This is where we're going to land here, guys. What up, work? I could go on and on about it. I shared with our younger adults about work the other day, and just really sensed that we need to get away from that mentality that work is just a job that we do for paycheck. I believe that having a job is okay, but God-given work, it's not just for a paycheck. If you have a heavenly reward, you don't need to live for a paycheck. You may have a job for a season, but then work will eventually bring provision because when you have vision, provision comes. I've just been in that vein, and I'll just say this about work real quick. Work existed before sin. Genesis 1 and 2, God worked, Genesis 1, first of all, God never sinned. Jesus 2, God placed men in the garden to work it. If work existed before sin, then work is not a curse. Why is it that we're living, thinking that work is a curse? If work existed before sin, then we have reason to believe that when sin is taken away, Jesus returns, work was to exist. Good work. God-given work. Okay, 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel, chapter 6. If you're there, say I'm there. Good, you guys are quick. All right, verse 16. So we're going to look at the story of worship happening before the Lord first and not before people. I brought up work, and honestly, in the Hebrew mind, a lot of times they will use the same word for work as they use for worship. They will, in ministry. One of the words is avlodah, which goes both ways. He goes for work, and he goes for worship. Today we're talking about leaving aware of God's eyes, and that's true when we're working, when we're worshiping, and we're going to see it just right at the end, and the sermon on the mount, that's true when you're fasting, you're praying, you're giving, right? And so here we are in this story where King David has thousands of eyes upon him, and he's bringing the ark of God. The first thing he does when he becomes king is like, let's bring the ark back to the center. So he's bringing the ark, and they're going into Jerusalem, and this scene happens. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Macau, the daughter of Saul, looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before who? The Lord. She despised him in her heart. The Bible talks about Macau looking from a window, talks about she was the king's wife, so she was probably higher, looking from this superior eyesight, looking down, and she despised him. They brought in the ark of the Lord, said it in its place, inside the tent David had pitched for it. David offered, burnt offerings, be sufferings before the Lord, and he goes and blesses the people. And then on verse 20, David returned to bless his household, but Macau, can you say Macau? The daughter of Saul. It's important they say the daughter of Saul. The daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today?" Uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants, female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. You can hear the sarcasm in her voice here, right? What does she say? Seeing himself today before the eyes of who? Servants, female servants, right up there says David was dancing before the Lord. And here's what David said, verse 21, "And David said to Macau, 'It was before the Lord, who chose me above your Father, above all his house, to appoint me as Prince of Israel, the people of the Lord, and our will what celebrate before the Lord, I will make myself yet even more undignified in this.'" She's saying, "You're dancing before the eyes of the female servants." David is saying, "I'm dancing before the Lord." Which one is right? Depends on whose eyes you're most aware of. That's the thing with worship. David understood priesthood. He knew how to live a life underneath God's eyes. But Macau, she's more on a performance mindset. She's thinking, "How do you embarrass yourself in front of people?" When you live most aware of people's eyes, it's easy for you to step into shame. And here's what happens. "I will be even more undignified in your eyes," he said. And then he said, "Macau, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death." Why is it that the Bible says that? Because the critical spirit can bear no fruit. We have no permission to judge someone else's worship. Are they worshiping us? No. People come to me and say, "Diego, I didn't like the song." I say, "Well, we're one singing a you." If we're singing a you, then we'll be okay. You can judge the song. "I didn't like this." Well, who are we singing to? As a church, we need to learn that we're coming here, not just to get something, but to give God something because we're doing it before Him. If you come to our young adults, man, they're going to be radical. We're not afraid of being undignified because sometimes that's what it takes. But that's the difference between living as a priest and living as a performer. I have a little table chart up there for you. We're going to wrap it up. So priests, they expect their reward from the Lord, so they please God. Of course, they expect a reward from people that could be applause, money, influence, following, and so they please people. Priests, they fear the Lord first. Performance, fear of people. The Bible says that's a snare, it's a trap. The antidote for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord. There's no other way around it because, you know, people are watching you, but what if you know, like we talked about Hawthorne effect, that God is also watching you? That's the thing with David. He knew he was the king and everyone was watching him, but he was doing it before the eyes of one. That's the kind of leadership that God is looking for in this hour. Leaders that will first and foremost follow God and be aware of his eyes before the eyes of people. Priests is still looking for priests. Priests aim to connect people's eyes with God's eyes. Performers want people's eyes to be on themselves, but then again we said that, didn't we? If you live by people's praise you die by their criticism. Can you guys stand with me? It is important that as a church we learn to become most aware of the right set of eyes. That will change our worship, that will change our work, that's going to change the way we give, the way we fast, that's going to change the way we live completely. Al Roy will change our value system. And to some of us, God desires to give influence, and if he is giving it we shouldn't refuse it. But my prayer is that as that happens we grow more and more aware of his eyes and the awareness of him than of the people who are watching us. That will protect us. The fear of the Lord will protect us, guys. That is the message now. The fear of the Lord is clean. The friendship of the Lord is reserved for those who fear him. Even if you have a multitude looking at you, you're still most aware of his eyes. Just like you play in peekaboo with him. You're looking for him to look at you. You are waiting for, you just feel that burning of why his eyes are like flames of fire. The Bible says that the eyes are the gateway to the soul. If his eyes are on fire, then how is his soul? What's happening inside of him in his heart? Maybe some of you are like I know that God sees, but you're like I don't know that God sees me. I want to pray for you, revelation of El Roy for us. See Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, the attitude kind of people, they live most aware of his eyes. He said when you fast, don't go to the corners because if you do, people will see you and that will be your reward. But fast and secret in your father will reward you in public. When you pray, don't go to be seen again, but go into your room, close the door, your father who is in secret, meaning he's already there. He will reward you in public. When you give, don't let one hand know what the other one is doing, but do it in secret and here we reward you. I believe God is calling us back to the father who sees us in secret. I believe God is calling priests. Close your eyes with me, I want to pray for you. Lord Jesus, thank you for your eyes are ever upon us. I pray for a revelation of El Roy as we go, that we would learn to live in the awareness of your eyes, that you would set us ablaze and you'd restore the fire. I thank you Lord, you're calling priests, you're calling many, many of us here today to meet you by a spring in the wilderness. For those of us who feel unseen, Lord, break that off right now in Jesus' name. I thank you, thank you, thank you for the fear of the Lord, thank you. For your presence with us, Lord, as we go, help us grow in this. Help us grow. Will you put your hands forward with me? And just in your own words, can you just say, God, I want to learn to live aware of your eyes. I want to live a life that pleases you first and foremost, a life that is aware of you and fears you above man, above everything else. Come on just for a minute, thank you Lord. El Roy is Abba, Father who sees you in secret. Hallelujah, they'll change everything. God is doing something beautiful in this hour, He's restoring the fear of the Lord. And we say yes, amen. We say yes. Amazing. Well, you guys have a wonderful Sunday. Enjoy being with you. Have a great week. We'll see you Wednesday. God bless you. [Music]