ARE YOU JUST SEEING OR OBSERVING? [# 1]

Dr. Watson once asked Sherlock Holmes why he didn't get as much from seeing something as Homes did when his eyes were every bit as good. Holmes replied, "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."

"Frequently."

"How often?"

"Well, some hundreds of times."

"Then how many are there?"

"How many? I don't know."

"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen.That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed."



What rings true in fiction is what is true in fact. In life many see while others observe. A trained musician gets more out of reading musical notes than I do.



Matthew 16:1-4 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed



I. SEEING HIS PERSON [JOHN 6:1-14]



1. Some see the miracles [v. 1-2]



2. The Lord sees opportunities [v. 3-13]



3. Some see the Messiah [v. 14]



II. SEEING HIS POWER [JOHN 6:15-25]



1. The Lord sees our wicked hearts [v. 15]



2. Some see the Lord in the midst of the storm [v. 16-21]



How unwilling we are to go into the storms of life but the storm is how we see the Lord is greater than our situation!



3. Some see evidence of His power but don't observe it for what it is. [v. 22-25]



III. SEEING HIS PURPOSE [JOHN 6:26-40]



1. Some fail to see the importance of the eternal over the temporal [v. 26-27]



2. Some fail to see the simplicity of the Gospel [v. 28-30]



3. Some fail to see the sufficiency of Christ and His work [v. 31-40ff]