Seeing People The Way Jesus Did

What if the difference between strained relationships and real breakthrough is a single shift: stop pushing your plan and start partnering with God? We explore how Jesus saw people—Matthew at the tax booth, Zacchaeus in a tree—and how that same posture can transform fatherhood, marriage, and the way we meet strangers. Instead of lecturing our kids or convincing our spouse, we learn to ask better questions, listen for what the Father is highlighting, and move with love and timing that open hearts.

We unpack John 5 as a ministry blueprint: do what the Father is doing. That single principle reframes daily prayer—“Father, show me what You’re doing”—and invites spiritual gifts to serve people, not our ego. Healing, wisdom, courage, and patient love become normal when our motive is to care for the person in front of us.

If you’re a dad or granddad, this becomes a playbook for connection: see your child the way God does, ask questions that uncover the story beneath behavior, correct with hope, and celebrate small steps. If you’re a spouse, trade control for collaboration and make mercy your first move. And if you’re simply hungry to make a difference, expect God to meet you in ordinary moments with extraordinary grace. 

Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more families discover a path to healing and purpose. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Family Update
• 3:20 Theme: Partner With God Like Jesus
• 7:20 Grandfather Roots And Calling
• 10:40 Seeing People: Zacchaeus And Matthew
• 16:40 John 5 Model: Do What The Father Does
• 21:40 From Preaching At To Partnering With
• 26:40 Asking Better Questions As A Dad
• 31:20 Love Over Agenda Wins Hearts

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Anyway, when we're broadcasting to all these different streams, welcome today to the father difference. And today we're going to talk about something really dear to my heart. And near, near and dear. Just got back from a long trip back east. It seems like I've been gone quite a bit. Go see my four grandkids out there out in the country in Tennessee. And just and gotten getting a walk around Nashville and going to Grand Opri and, you know, hanging out with Jill, green grandpa, and then ministering to people. Lots of people that we met while we were there. And tonight I'm going to talk about really learning how to see and minister to people just like Jesus, in a way. It's been one of the focuses of my life. It's the question that I get asked the most. And it's a secret, by the way, dad, of being a great husband and father, learning how to partner with your with God, with your wife, with your sons and daughters. Matter of fact, with a dad today that was, you know, really pushing hard to really be the best dad he could. He's trying to do everything just right. And and I looked at him and I said, you know, you know, the whole secret of being a dad and hanging out there, I realized my Instagram hadn't started yet. I need to start that. Oh man, yours truly is getting back in the groove here. And he asked me a question about how to really help his teenage son how to keep him connected uh during his times. And and you'll probably hear my grandkids sneaking in. Hey guys, shut the door. Thank you. And they're sneaking in out of my studio here. It's kind of like a little secret hiding place that they go to when they're hiding from their brothers and sisters or their mom when they need to get work done. I remember when I was a kid, I used to hang, I used to hang out and hide in my grandfather's closet in Maryland. It was such a sweet place for me. As a kid, you know, he was the first father figure that I knew. My grandpa, my dad was killed in action. And even though I had a stepdad that stepped in, there was something special about grandpa's. And especially you, if you're a grandfather or you're watching and you're uh connecting into Instagram or Facebook or YouTube, I'm so grateful that you're here, you're watching. And uh we'll we're gonna do our best to really help you really make the biggest difference you can with your children, your family, your wife. But tonight we're gonna do a little mini series in the midst of what we're doing, and that's really learning how to partner with God, figure out what he's doing with your children, with people that you love, and then doing it with him. And and that long kind of sentence was the secret of Jesus' ministry and why he had such amazing impact with the people that he met. And so we're we're gonna look at you know, this title, really learning to see the father working like Jesus. And I said it's my favorite thing because when I learned this, I quite honestly, it changed the way I was a father. It was changed the way I was a husband. Uh, not that I don't go back to my old ways because I'm stinking selfish like all of you out there. You know, it's like we're we're we're most addicted to what we want all the time. And the truth of the matter is that we can really learn how to minister to people like Jesus did by kind of watching him and what he said and how he interacted. You know, walking by this wee little man in a tree named Zacchaeus one day, he stops and and the father directed his eyes up at that tree because this guy was too little to see over the crowd, so he he climbed up a tree. And Jesus stopped and called out his name. And man, what a what an amazing moment you know for Jesus. And and yeah, Tacchaeus' life was changed from that moment on because somebody stopped and saw him. And that is just such a great thing. If you're uh watching on Instagram, you'll notice the video is a little bit kind of off-kilter. And that's they've added this new, you know, horizontal and vertical at the same time. And I don't think they know what they're doing yet. So I'm gonna try to keep figuring out how to move in the frame. So I'm in the center here. Here we go. So I gotta sort of be to the side. So if I look a little strange to you tonight, it it's not that Edmund Glass is losing his mind. He doesn't know how to be in the center. I'm trying to match up with the video that's just crazy on the other broadcasting sites. And so we're gonna learn tonight. We're gonna get right into this thing is learning how to see the father working like Jesus. I think I see May, my assistant, is is taking over the slides. That's awesome. She's amazing, totally amazing. We're praying for a new house they've made a bid on. Lord, give it to them in Jesus' name. And so, so let's just talk about this. So, when when's the last time you really felt like God led you to minister to somebody? And it was incredibly impactful. It was incredibly impactful because God showed up in a way and empowered you in such a way that it completely changed the whole circumstance for the person that's there. I'll tell you what, we're walking, we're walking around Leapers Fork, and I'm with a friend who's a dear friend and supporter of our ministry, and he was asking me, he said, you know, what would you show me how to see people like you do? And I said, I said, well, first of all, the whole secret of doing the ministry of Jesus is learning how to see people like God does. And I was talking about this this story of as Jesus is passing on, he's now walking around and looking and paying attention for the people that God the Father highlighted in his view, so that you know he could choose them. He's choosing his disciples. And you know, in John 5, Jesus said the Son of Man can do nothing on his own, but it would only what he sees his father doing, the son does likewise. So the model that Jesus gave us as a follower of his, as a Christian, as a beloved son, is that we'll have all the anointing we need in our life if we pay attention to who and what God wants to do with people. I mean, that's a mouthful. That took me 10, 20 years to learn to really understand in my own life that I can preach the Bible at my kids, I can preach it at my wife, I can preach it at my friends. And where preaching has a place, you know, from the pulpit. In ministering to people, the secret is learning to, and to use doctors' terms, to do the surgery on the broken part they want you to fix. Something that they carry, something that they're maybe ashamed of, something that they feel stuck in. And when you learn how to see and hear what God's doing with people, and then your your role and my role is to just partner with God for that person. You're gonna have a breakthrough. Because like my friend this morning after Bible study, we're talking about his son, and and he really wants to help his son evade the the traps that he fell into. It's a he was a world world-class athlete. And I said, you know the secret, you already know this, we've talked about this. Well, God the Father has a playbook, and if we'll just learn to discern and figure out what God wants to do, like with your son, and you just learn to ask questions in that place of where he wants to learn from you, he'll open up his heart to you in a way where you get you'll get to father him. Because the other style is, and how many dads would give me a shout out here? The other style pretty much is you know, son, just do what I say. And so anyway, you know, that just doesn't work, you know. And part of it is, you know, part of it's just learning to hear, part of it's learning how to follow, and that's a powerful, powerful thing. I did get one comment from a friend on YouTube, and I'm wondering if the sound is going through on YouTube, and if it's not, let me know. And we there's nothing we can do about it. We got a lot of configuring to do in the studio here. So, anyway, we'll get back to that. And so here, let's look at this scripture here. Oh, let me say tell you the other thing. The other thing is that, you know, when our heart is fixed on learning how to love the person that's in front of us the same way Jesus does, we'll have all the anointing and all the power we need to minister to them. But if we need them to change so that we feel good about ourselves, well then you're gonna spend years preaching at them and many times just driving them away. Because one of the things that that we saw in the phenomenon of the impact that that Charlie Kirk had with all these young people, irrespective of what political party you have, the the thing that he did that was so powerful for these young people is he'd shares opinion, but he says, if you got a different perspective, come and tell me it. Tell me your story. And when you give a college kid an opportunity to be raised up and he shared his platform with them, and then asked them questions to help him discover truth, he won and he won the nation, most of the nation of young people. It's excuse me, astounding of what he did. And part of it was his he's constantly in his way, and what I've read about him, and though I didn't know him personally, we've had interchanges on social media and and with his mission and ministry there, is that he really loved those kids and wanted them to have a great life. And you know, when people know that by spending time with you, that you really care about them, but you also are unafraid to share things with them that might even challenge what they believe, you end up having impact with them, you know, for the rest of their lives. I I've watched it in my own story. And so, you know, part of that is really learning, you know, this little truth here that's in the book of Matthew. And when I read this, it absolutely floored me. And it's just a very simple little story. And Jesus is passing on from there. He saw a man named called Matthew sitting at a tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me, and he rose and followed him. So imagine this: you coming up, and imagine the IRS having a tax booth in the public square to where he's trying to make eye contact with people walking back up from the sea. And the Bible says right here that Jesus, as he passes on from you know being down at the shore with the disciples, he saw a man named Matthew sitting in a tax booth. And notice that there's no sermon, there's no explanation of what the cost is. He simply says to Matthew, follow me. And what was extraordinary about that was, and here was my question, and and tell me what you think about this. I'd love to hear from you, by the way. Is that my question is what did he see when he saw Matthew? When's uh the last time you've really intently looked at somebody and so much so that God begins to give you insight about them and you just kind of wait for a moment. That happened you know, on this trip uh back to Tennessee, and my seat mate across from me, across from my wife, was a very successful Egyptian dentist who very highly rated surgeon and has a big company there in Nashville. He handles all the cases that are impossible. He sits next to me, I meet him. He's you know, from the he's got a really beautiful gal next to her. He tells me they just got married in San Clemente, California, and now they're flying back, been together three years, they worked together. And so I'm asking the Lord when I'm I'm sitting next to him, what is what is his big questions? And I'm just trying to listen to him as he's sitting with next to me. And and so I just started asking him questions. He starts telling me what he does. He he gives me the elevator pitch and and everything. And then he and he goes, So why are you going to Nashville? I said, Well, I'm getting ready to do a Charlie Kirk show. He goes, Oh, I love Charlie. He's a he's a he was an actor, right? I said, yeah. And he has a show on TBN, and we're gonna talk about, and I pulled out my book, this book, How to Become the Husband and Father, Your Family Needs. And he looks at me, just he looks at me, and he just he says, You know about that? I said, Well, yeah, it's kind of what I've done. Matter of fact, we've we're doing it in many countries around the world. I wrote a book that went viral, and and now we're we have an online academy. And this guy is is not uh a follower of Jesus yet, though he's open. He was raised Muslim, though he would say uh he's not a strict Muslim, but his learning place was and he said, Well then can you give me some keys on being married for the rest of my life? And so right then, you know, you're there's just an open door, and I, you know, over the next uh two hours, I just had this incredible conversation with teaching him about forgiveness, about asking for forgiveness, about building a whole platform in your life. And what was so profound about this is that it really hit at the core of the way he deals with people who offend him, because in his in his private, he knows that forgiveness is a good thing. But how do you forgive somebody or even an enemy? Because his early training, being a young Muslim boy, is it's a whole lot different than the training that Jesus gives us, because the difference of the two, and I pointed this out to him, I said, you know, Muhammad was good at laying out the playbook of what it might look like to live a great life, but Jesus actually came and died in our place on the cross so that you and I could be forgiven, and then we could have that forgiveness to give to those who've hurt us. And I looked at him and I said, When you give mercy, my friend, because you've received mercy from Jesus, you've now just begun to change the world of that person. Because the truth of the matter is I'm able to talk to you like this, not because of some superior place. Actually, I'm able to talk to you about this because I was a really broken sinner. And Jesus walked in my story. And the very thing that I wanted and needed, and no no matter how hard I tried to be the best guy I could do, I just kept breaking my own rules. You know what I'm talking about? He goes, exactly. You make a plan to be good and you blow it. You make a plan to do this and you blow it. And he goes, Why do we do that? I said, Well, the truth of the matter is that you and I were born flawed. We're not born good. We're we're born, the Bible says, as sinners. And you know what's fascinating about this is I'm talking to a guy who was very much empowered by his own kind of philosophy of life and everything, and he's a driver. And at one point I asked him, I said, Man, it must be get really exhausting for you having to become the savior of your you know, people's bad dentistry, you're now the hero of your marriage. Now he's a lot of pressure. And I said, What if you could give that pressure to the one who can carry it? And we had a prayer there, and he prayed with me and it blessed him. And he then introduced me to his his brand new wife. And and we had just a great connection. And he he then said, Well, can you come over at Thanksgiving? I said, I have plans with with other friends. But in complete open door to a guy who you know many would think, well, why would I, you know, he's not gonna listen to me. See, that's that's all about the power of partnering with God. Even the most impossible places in your life, God can open a door. And you know, and that and that's such a powerful thing. Maybe maybe you're in that place. We have a a shorter show tonight, and it's not for the lack of having things to say, but it's really, I want to focus and give you a nugget every single week we're together. And if you want to really grow and expand and really learn more, and I want to invite you to, at the end, you'll see, to connect to the Fatherhood Academy that we built, a place where you get to meet with yours truly and our team of coaches and our program, our online program, to really help equip you to be the man God's called you to be, the husband God's called you to be. Matter of fact, we have a special deal. Normally, our VIP access is just about$100 a month, and we get it on special right now for less than, I think about half that price or less. And for the first hundred that sign up, we have a whole new season.

unknown: 21:59

We

SPEAKER_01: 22:00

just invested in in in really improving our fatherhood academy and I'm so grateful. Hello, I there's our new brother from Russia. God bless you all. Welcome, Darius. I've you know it's good to see you all cookies and cream 1246. Welcome. So you know great. God bless you. Because what I'm talking about tonight is such a powerful truth that when we learn how to do how to really learn to follow the Father the way God does, it completely changes our impact with the people that God brings in front of us. Because number one, give you a little caveats as we kind of close this down number one, we we have we give all the praise and credit to God because we're only kind of following and doing what he's put in front of us. So we can't say I did it my way and it worked. We're doing it the way Jesus did. Number two, it taps you when when you partner with God and do what he's doing with your children, let's say, or your wife maybe you need a breakthrough with your wife. And your prayer moves from Lord I pray you would stop her from being so negative and bitter so that we could have a good marriage or you know heal what she needs or blah blah blah blah blah. And what would the what if your prayer was Lord show me what you're doing with my wife so I can partner with you and so that's a powerful thing. Oh by the way Cookies and Cream said you're a Rams fan and I'm a Chiefs fan. Well actually this is actually one of my jerseys I wore when I played on the Rams sorry and I love the Chiefs I've preached back there a number of times is Kansas City with players who go to a great church there in Kansas City and they're a little bit outside of the bubble and the things but I love that family love what they do out there. So and so you know I'm so so grateful. And it is it is cool thanks my friend to be able to do that. But actually what I do now quite honestly there's no touchdown or championship ring on my finger that compares to seeing a man or a woman come to Christ or a family healed. That's why we have the Fatherhood academy that's why I've given my life the rest of my life as a father or a spiritual father as a grandpa to fathering this next generation to fathering men just like you and women to be everything God has called you to be and so that's that's why we're here and I'm I'm getting a high sign from we're down to the last two minutes. Okay number two and number three when you're partnering with God you'll tap in to extraordinary moments of power through spiritual gifts and one of the things about not making it about you and making about loving somebody else so when you want to search for my name search Ed McGlassen and you'll find me my statistics and my world record bench press all that gets you like a pre-slurpe at 7-Eleven but see when you begin to partner with God you begin to taste what it was like to be a disciple who followed Jesus who prayed for the sick like Jesus did and saw him healed who spoke to demons like Jesus did and saw them come out that spoke to people's legs and saw them grow. I I saw a a German doctor who had a serious injury as a as a little girl and she her leg had been deformed because of the way it rehealed and was four inches short. And John Wimber asked me to come up and pray for her on the stage and I watched God grow her leg four inches and she wasn't a believer she wasn't a follower of Jesus and she started screaming as her her bone was growing and she runs off the stage and we didn't know why she left but she went back to her clinic to take an x-ray of her leg to bring back proof that her leg really did grow and she came back that night and John introduced her and smiled at me and she held up the x-rays Is there anything more wonderful than being in a place in your life where you partner with God and he pours his spiritual gifts through you sometimes healing sometimes the gift of miracles sometimes words of knowledge and wisdom that are beyond you sometimes prophetic words he pours those things through you sometimes love joy sometimes patience goodness kindness all the fruits of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us and part of partnering with God is that we got to partner with him the way Jesus was and if Jesus limited himself to following what the Father was doing to finish his mission and eventually die on the cross then my friend you and I that's our mission and I want to encourage you this way this here's your prayer is I don't want you when you you're in public somewhere or maybe in your quiet time. Matter of fact if you don't have a way to really study the Bible you can and you know oh my my young friend he he plays football too I play flag football my number is seven I hope to get to the NFL so you sound like a young guy I'm so grateful that you're watching young squire tonight. And but there's something incredibly powerful when you not only partner with God but he shares that ministry he had with his son with you because you're a son and in so one of the one of the things that I want you to think about and I was I was talking about my devotional before I got that pop up on my screen is that you can get our daily devotional every day from me and it'll give you something from the Bible to help you connect to the voice of God and to learn how to follow him to make a difference in your life. It's a free daily devotional you can just sign up right now if you had a phone you can take a picture of that or go to my website at the fatherdifference dot com to get that and that would just be awesome. We have thousands of people who get it every morning and I'm so grateful that that that's there. But here's your prayer and here's my prayer it's it's it's the prayer that's in my heart after I take a nap or wake up when I get around anybody I don't know is I look at the crowd and I go father show me what you're doing just like what Jesus did with Matthew when he sees him he's going father what are you doing with Matthew and if Jesus is looking at him the the Bible says he smiled and that smile on Jesus' face was so needed by Matthew who felt so invisible to so many people and when Matthew saw Jesus smile at him that invitation to come follow me was it's like nobody's ever seen me the way you just did and a lot of our ministry and the impact that we have with people really changes when you just learn how to not only see people like God does and and to love people like God does but to move towards them expecting God using you. And so I'm so grateful to be with you tonight and if these have blessed you these times here and we're able to put on these shows because of faithful donors like you maybe you've never given to a nonprofit you can go right to our our website the the fatherdifference dot com and I just found out that my young friend is 12 years old and you make me want to go in the NFL you're influencing me and do a lot of stuff you make me want to follow Jesus Christ thank you so much. Well my friend Cookie and cream one two four six sounds like you have a thing here's your prayer buddy here's your prayer Jesus here's your all out prayer every day Jesus use me today to love each person you put in front of me whether you're in the NFL plan or on the football team or building a dream but Lord use me teach me to see them the way you do and use me to go share the love of Jesus with them in Jesus' name. Bless my young friend uh pour out into my young friend in the name of Jesus use his life I pray we get connected more and and put it this way if you ever need a little coaching if you're 12 years old our donors will pay for you to hang out with me and we could do something online. I'd love to help you out. And so anyway, because I start out playing uh flag football too interesting a full circle right here and I'll tell you that story young squire so great to be with you tonight we've got a little outro video about what we're doing and if you haven't heard about the Father Academy go to my website check us out and we're really excited about this new opportunity for each man that comes and matter of fact we got gals going there too and and buying memberships for their husbands for Christmas and so that they have no excuse. So anyway bless you guys the Lord bless you and we'll catch you next time in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00: 32:56

Dear friends imagine a world where every father feels equipped to lead with faith love and purpose a world where families thrive and communities grow stronger because of devoted Christ-centered fathers.

SPEAKER_01: 33:11

You know beloved that is the vision that God's put in my heart for every single family you know he is on the move I believe he promises in Malachi that before the great and coming day of the Lord he's gonna do something profound. He's gonna turn the hearts of fathers back towards their children so the hearts of their children will turn back to their father. That's what God is doing. I meet dads daily who want to learn to be better fathers. Yet many have never been shown how too many families are being fractured through bitterness and with parents and grandparents even being canceled. That's why we're launching an online community to quit and to be the fathers that God has called to be it's more than a program it's a part of a a movement that God is already doing to reshape fatherhood as a sacred calling rooted in the teachings of pride and we're calling this the Fatherhood academy where men will embark on a journey of healing and spiritual restoration that helps them transform their family relationship and to make this vision a reality would you consider partnering with us financially as we continue to reach and disciple every man, dad and grandpa that comes our way your donation will help create a ripple across the neighborhoods, communities, you know and ultimately our nation anchoring each child is division and the unwavering love and guidance of a devoted dad.

SPEAKER_00: 35:02

Will you partner with us your gift whether a one-time donation or ongoing monthly support will help to transform lives together we can equip fathers and grandfathers to lead with faith and create a brighter hope filled future for generations to come click the link to donate today. Thank you for believing in this mission and joining us on this transformative journey