Sermon Notes

Sacred Steps: Learning to See
Introduction – The Development of Vision
When we first begin walking with God, we don’t always see everything clearly. But as we grow, God begins shaping how we see:

• people
• circumstances
• His work in our lives

 
Key Thought

• Sometimes we are looking directly at what God is doing
  → and still miss it

Ephesians 1:18 (NIV) “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
Spiritual sight develops over time. And throughout Scripture, we see moments when people had to learn to see differently.
 
1. When Our Assumptions Blind Us
1 Samuel 16:1–13 (Please put on screen NIV translation)
God's Correction

• People look at the outward appearance
• God looks at the heart
• God often hides His greatest work in the places people overlook.
• Where might my assumptions be preventing me from seeing what God is doing?
• Is there a person… a situation… or even something in your own life that you have underestimated?

 
2. When Expectations Cause Us to Miss God
Israel Waiting for Messiah
Result

• Many looked directly at Jesus
• Yet did not recognize Him
  • Because He didn’t match their expectations, many people missed Him.
• When we decide what God must do, we may miss what God is already doing.
• Have I decided what God’s answer should look like instead of being open to how He may actually move?
• When expectations block our vision, life can feel confusing

 
3. Learning to Trust When We Cannot See
Psalm 23 (Please put on screen NIV version)
David's Insight

• 2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
• Faith does not always see the whole path—but it trusts the Shepherd who does.
• Where in my life is God asking me to trust Him before I can see the whole path?
• Trusting God in valleys is part of spiritual growth

 
4. When We Slowly Lose Our Sight
Ephesians 5:8–14 (NIV)
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Spiritual blindness rarely happens suddenly.
It happens gradually through:

• distraction
• compromise
• spiritual fatigue
• complacency

Over time, what once seemed clear becomes blurred.
Has anything slowly distracted or dulled my spiritual vision?
 
5. When Pride Makes Us Blind
John 9 (Just reference on the screen)
Irony

• The blind man walks away seeing
• The religious leaders walk away blind
• Is there anything in my life—pride, certainty, or control—that might keep me from seeing what God wants to show me?

Final Reflection
Across these stories:

• Samuel almost missed David
• Jesse overlooked David
• Israel missed Jesus
• Pharisees rejected a miracle

People can stand right in front of the work of God
and still struggle to see it
 
Maybe the most honest prayer we can pray today isn’t for more answers.
Maybe the most honest prayer is simply this:
“Lord… help me see.”
Help me see:

• what you’re doing in my life
• what you’re doing in others
• what you’re doing in seasons I don’t yet understand

Because sometimes the greatest work of God is happening…
right in front of us.
And He is inviting us to take sacred steps… learning to see.