If you have your Bibles, I want you to open them this morning to Luke's Gospel, chapter 19,
and I want to continue the series we began last week, the Jesus Effect.
We're thinking about how Jesus impacts our lives, how he changes them.
Everyone he ever came in contact with was different after having had a Jesus encounter,
and so that's the line of thinking we're following again this morning.
As we look at chapter 19, the Gospel of Luke,
and we're going to examine the first 10 verses this morning in this passage.
Now, it will seem unrelated, but just bear with me for a moment, and you'll see how it ties in in a second.
Some of you are retired, and others of you, most of you, are still in the workforce, right?
When you go to work, how many of you work off an agenda?
You, in the morning when you get to the office, you make out a to-do list.
Can I just see your hands? How many of you have a to-do list?
Maybe at home you do that.
How many of you don't have a to-do list?
A lot of you in this service apparently don't have one,
but I see some who are doing this.
A lot of you are not going to say, right?
You just don't know whether you do or you don't.
When I was working all the time, every day when I would get to the office, I'd get there about an hour or four, most folk in our office,
and when I'd get there, I'd use that quiet time to establish an agenda.
I'd write out everything I wanted to accomplish that day,
and then because I'm so OCD, I would go through at the end of the day,
and I would check off those things that I had done even as I went through that list.
I also meshed that with my calendar.
I'd look at my calendar and say, well, I've got to be here at 10 or there at 12,
or this is going on this afternoon,
and so I'd blend those together,
and some days were pretty light,
and some days were average,
and some days were really, really heavy,
and it's that way.
It don't matter what you do in life.
We all have those kind of days, right,
where they're kind of pressure packed,
and we know I've got to be here at this time,
and I've got to get this done,
and so what's the enemy of the person who lives by an agenda?
What's the enemy?
You know what that is?
Single word I'm looking for.
Anybody know?
It's the word interruptions.
You know it.
You probably just didn't say it, right?
It's that interruption,
that thing you hadn't planned for,
that thing you hadn't counted on.
It wasn't in your agenda,
but it happens nonetheless,
and at times it's a mild, annoying interruption,
and every other time it can just devastate the schedule you may have laid out.
Sometimes you recognize in the end that interruption was a godsend.
It was a blessing,
but oftentimes we're honest about it.
They're annoying when we get interrupted in what we plan to do for the day.
Well, I want to just say to you,
I don't think anybody knew more about interruptions to what their agenda was than Jesus.
I mean, Jesus just every day of his life,
when you read the Gospels,
you find he's interrupted.
Mark is my favorite Gospel,
and Mark uses one word,
the King James translates it one way,
others' translations another,
straightway or immediately,
and that's because Mark is the action Gospel,
and so when you come to the Gospel of Mark,
it says straightway Jesus did,
blah, blah, blah,
and then straightway Jesus did,
blah, blah, blah,
and then straightway Jesus did,
and it's because he's moving from one thing to another,
to another,
to another.
You probably have difficulty finding this,
and a better example of it,
than in the Gospel of Mark,
chapter five.
Jesus,
it's the story we looked at last week,
he goes on the Sea of Galilee,
to the southeast region of Gadara.
There,
he's got something he wants to do,
obviously,
or he wouldn't have gone to that place.
When he steps out of the boat,
he's confronted by this demoniac.
Remember the story we looked at last week?
Jesus didn't go looking for the demoniac,
the demoniac came rushing to Jesus.
Jesus spent several hours there in that location,
he talked to the man,
he cast the demons out,
they go to town,
they get the townspeople,
a big crowd comes back,
they see what's happened to the man,
they're now more afraid of him than they were before,
and they ask Jesus to leave.
Have you ever thought about that?
Why was he going to Gadara?
And then they ask him to leave,
and he accommodates him,
he gets back in the boat,
and he goes away.
Whatever he had gone there for,
at least in his mind,
or the disciples man,
it never gets accomplished,
unless he had the foresight to know,
this demoniac is my business there.
He made it his business,
but it appears to be an interruption,
right?
He leaves there,
and he goes back across the sea,
and this time he comes to Capernaum,
and when he gets to Capernaum,
guess what?
There he meets this man named Jairus,
who is frantic.
He comes running up,
huge,
massive crowd,
apparently thousands,
that's not an exaggeration,
apparently thousands,
certainly hundreds,
but probably thousands of people,
had gathered to see him,
as they so often did.
That first year of his ministry,
I mean the masses just came out of the woodwork,
to see Jesus.
And so when he gets there,
Jairus comes running up,
I've got a little girl,
she's sick at home,
she's about to die,
would you come to my house?
Well,
I don't know what his agenda was for the day,
but no doubt he had one in his head,
here's where I'm going,
but Jairus suddenly interrupts him,
and he's off to Jairus' house.
On the way,
this crowd is so massive,
they're pushing and shoving,
a woman reaches down,
and touches the hem of his garment.
Jesus immediately knows,
power has left him.
He turns to the crowd,
and he says to his disciples,
somebody here touch me,
who touched me?
Peter turns and says,
Lord,
who hasn't touched you?
Peter thinks,
you've got to be kidding,
right?
I mean,
everybody,
they're about to stampede us to death.
And so,
he deals with the woman,
with the issue of blood,
he later then,
has someone come and say,
hey,
no need to go to Jairus' house,
she's dead.
Another interruption,
right?
Keeps him from getting to Jairus' house,
what appears to be on time.
But he goes anyway,
and then he raises this girl from the dead.
Can I tell you something?
That's typical,
I believe,
of what Jesus' life was like.
I think he spent most of his time
dealing with people who interrupted his agenda.
I want to show you another illustration of that.
Look with me to Luke 19,
verse 1.
He entered Jericho
and was passing through.
The only thing you can make out of that,
if Luke is telling us accurately,
and I believe he is,
Jesus didn't really have business
that was on his schedule in Jericho.
You agree with that?
That's yes and no and don't know,
right?
He's come to Jericho,
he's simply passing through.
You don't know this yet,
but in a second you're going to find out
there is a huge crowd again
that is assembled to see him.
If you look on down to verse 28,
just look down the page of verse 28,
you see the heading there above verse 28,
the triumphal entry.
That's where he's headed.
He's going to Jerusalem.
He's going there to die.
This is his ultimate purpose.
He's been sent to die for humanity,
to save humanity from their sins
by dying on the cross.
He's going to fulfill his father's command.
It's the most urgent business he has.
So he's passing through Jericho
and was passing through,
verse 2 says,
there was a man named Zacchaeus
who was a chief tax collector
and he was rich.
So out of nowhere,
Luke introduces us to this character
who's not named anywhere else in scripture
and his name is Zacchaeus.
This is what we know about him.
He's got lots of money.
He's rich.
And the other thing is,
he's a tax collector.
Can I tell you something?
That one fact
gives us a pretty clear picture
of who Zacchaeus is.
Imagine that in years to come,
I pray this never happens,
but imagine 100 years from now,
20 years from now,
the Chinese somehow overtake America
and they are dominating our land.
They're occupying our land.
They have a military presence here.
They're not interested in moving to the United States,
but they're going to dominate our country.
And so they set up a government
and they want to raise taxes in America
not to support the American government,
but the Chinese government.
And so they find agents in America
who are willing to raise taxes
be responsible for gathering taxes from Americans
to send to China.
That's what is happening in chapter 19
with this man, Zacchaeus.
The Greeks had overthrown Israel.
The Romans had overthrown the Greeks.
It's occupied by foreigners.
There were certain blessings.
They were protected.
They were able to do business.
They were able to travel.
They were protected by their neighboring enemies.
But the downside was
they have no voice in government.
The Romans are appointing the leaders
and the Romans are raising taxes
and they're doing it
through their Hebrew fellow citizens.
The Hebrews would go and apply to the Romans
to be these tax collectors
and they would make bids
and whoever would get the bid
would get the job.
This is a chief tax collector, Luke tells us,
which means he has other tax collectors
who are under him.
Can you imagine that there's someone here
in Pickens County
and he's the person who is assessing taxes
and he's taking the money,
putting a cut in his pocket
and sending the rest of the money to China?
How do you think you'd feel about that guy?
That's how they feel about Zacchaeus.
He's a traitor.
He's a cheat.
He's a scoundrel.
And so whenever you read about tax collectors
in the New Testament,
it always puts them right in there
with the most immoral of the immoral.
They're sinners in their thinking
in the eyes of God.
Well, look, if you will,
the very next verse, verse three.
He was trying to see Jesus,
speaking of Zacchaeus,
he was trying to see who Jesus was,
but he was not able because of the crowd
since he was a short man.
Now, here's where you understand
there's a huge crowd.
He's not able to see Jesus.
He wants to see Jesus.
We also find he's a short fellow.
Now, why the curiosity about Jesus?
Well, I want to tell you something.
That's the reason for the crowd.
Everywhere he went,
everybody wanted to see Jesus.
If Jesus were alive today
and doing the things he did
in the New Testament era,
I want to tell you something.
Everybody in this auditorium,
whether you're a believer or not,
everybody in Pickens County
would want to meet Jesus.
Well, why?
He calls people with withered hands
to suddenly have a whole hand.
He took people who were verifiably crippled
and he made them walk again.
He calls people who were blind
and could not see a thing.
Their eyes were open
and they were made whole.
People who were deaf could hear.
And remember Jairus?
His daughter is graveyard dead
and Jesus raises her
back to life again.
You can understand clearly
why anyone who heard about Jesus coming to town
would immediately flock out to see Jesus.
His only problem is he's short.
Now, I want to just say
there are advantages at times
to being short.
This last week,
we were staying at these friends' house
down at the lake
and they got a dock
and I don't know why they built it this way,
but they put an iron bar across this dock
that's about five feet, eight inches tall.
Unfortunately, I'm six feet tall.
And so, twice,
I banged my head in that thing, right?
There's an advantage at times
to being short,
but there are also, obviously,
some disadvantages
at times to being short.
If you're in a crowd
and you're wanting to see over the crowd,
it's a disadvantage.
It's an advantage to be tall.
Last night,
we had our 51st reunion
in Seneca
and high school reunion
and when we gathered at the end,
they said,
let's get a picture of everybody.
So, you know how that went down, right?
All the short people get on the front.
Some of them kneel down.
The mid-sized folk,
they're in the middle.
The tallest ones,
they're in the back
and they're looking over the tops
and everybody is cool with doing that
because it's the courteous thing.
It's what you normally do.
Here's the question.
Why didn't they let Zacchaeus
come to the front of the crowd?
I mean,
y'all ever go into a parade?
You look behind you,
there's a kid behind you,
there's somebody short behind you.
What do you do?
Sure, would you have to come up here and stand?
And they get in front of him.
Why didn't they do that with Zacchaeus?
Because they hate Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus is not,
they don't even want him in the crowd.
They don't want him to be a part of this parade,
let alone to give him a front row seat.
Well, what does he do?
Look at verse four.
So running ahead,
he climbed up a sycamore tree
to see Jesus
since he was about to pass that way.
Now that's pretty clever,
don't you think?
He wants to see Jesus.
He wants to maybe speak a word to Jesus.
We don't even know that.
He just wants to see him.
Just all these tales he's been told.
Who is this Jesus?
What does he look like?
What's he doing?
So he thinks,
hey, you know what?
He's moving in this direction.
I bet if I run down here a distance
and I climb up in that tree,
he's going to pass by
and so he puts his plan into effect.
He goes down,
he climbs the tree.
Now it's a clever plan,
but let's just be honest about it, right?
It's a little bit,
what?
Weird, right?
I mean,
what grown man
climbs trees
to get to see people pass by?
So it's a clever plan,
but it's a little bit
on the weird,
unusual side.
Well, look at verse five.
When Jesus came to the place,
he looked up
and said to him,
Zacchaeus, hurry
and come down
because today
I must stay at your house.
So Jesus
is walking through this crowd.
I mean,
they're talking to him.
They're wanting to reach out
and touch him.
They're asking him questions,
no doubt.
He's moving along slowly
and he gets down the way
and finally
he comes to the place
where here is Zacchaeus
perched up in this tree
and I can just see Jesus.
Now you got to use
your imagination
and this is not
adding to the scripture.
It's just allowing it
to come alive
because all these
are real stories.
If you'd have had
a camcorder,
you could have videotaped
everything I'm talking about
if they'd had a camcorder
in that day.
It's real history
unfolding for our eyes.
So he gets down
to this tree
and he looks up
and I can just see
Jesus thinking to himself.
Can't you?
Boy, that's kind of weird.
Little short guy
is up in the tree
and he looks up at him
and he calls him
by name.
As far as we know,
he'd never been introduced
to Zacchaeus.
Didn't know Zacchaeus.
Could be God just instantly
because he is the son of God
told him this is Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus could be,
could be that he's heard
the crowd laughing at Zacchaeus.
Look at that little nut
up in the tree.
Look at that little guy
up in the tree.
He is so crazy.
Zacchaeus would do anything.
But you know what Jesus says?
Zacchaeus,
why don't you,
and listen to this,
not just come down,
quickly come down.
Boy, get out of that tree.
I need to go home with you
and lodge with you today.
Well, I just got to tell you,
I don't know how it was
at your house.
If you were one of my children
and you were coming along
and you asked to go
to somebody's house
and they hadn't invited you,
boy, you got to talk into, right?
My son used to be
the world's worst.
He'd come and say,
Daddy, Jonathan Dierman's mom,
Elaine, said that I could
go home with him today.
My first question always was,
did they invite you
or do they invite you?
And if he said,
well, I kind of asked him
if I could go,
then the answer's always
going to be no, right?
If Mary had been there
and Jesus had been a little boy,
he'd have got scolded.
You don't invite yourself
to somebody's house.
I mean, that's a little weird
seeing a guy up in a tree,
but it's also a little weird
to say, hey, buddy,
I haven't met you yet,
but come down
and take me to your house today, right?
How about feed me?
If you don't think it's weird,
send me out to church
because I'm going to go
to your house for lunch, right?
So, a little bit weird,
but that's what Jesus does.
Look at verse 6.
Quickly he came down
and welcomed him joyfully.
You know what Luke's saying to us?
I mean, you put that,
those phrases,
quickly he comes down,
joyfully.
Yes, Jesus.
By all means.
I live down on South Main.
Let's go there now, right?
I mean, he's thrilled.
It's his way of saying,
Zacchaeus was giddy.
I mean, he's past just being okay with it.
He's excited.
In fact, I can almost see him
puff his chest out a little bit,
can't you?
I mean, of all the people here in Jericho,
Jesus is coming to my house, right?
And so, off they go
to Zacchaeus' house.
Well, how'd the crowd react?
They weren't nearly as thrilled.
Look at verse 7.
All who saw it began to complain.
He's gone to lodge with a sinful man.
Jesus actually loses some credibility
at this point
with the religious folk of the day.
Can I tell you something?
And you already know this
because I know you've read
the New Testament many times.
When you read the New Testament,
the Gospels especially,
you're bombarded by this same idea
that you find here in this verse
we just read.
They're always giving grief to Jesus
over the company he kept.
And they're always raising suspicion.
Did you not know this man was a sinner?
Jesus, I thought you knew everything.
I thought you,
some say you're the Son of God,
you're the Messiah.
Now, don't you know who this man is?
This man is the tax collector.
He's the chief of sinners.
Why are you going home with him?
Now, I'm just gonna throw this in
as a free bonus, okay?
Isn't it amazing
how lost people were attracted to Jesus?
Have you ever thought about it?
I've thought about it a whole lot.
Because I gotta be honest with you,
I'm fearful lost people
are not always attracted to me.
In fact, I look at a lot of church people
throughout my ministry
and we seem to kinda repel them,
don't we?
But Jesus was like a magnet to them.
There's something about Jesus,
he was so comfortable with them.
I don't mean he liked their lifestyles,
no indication of that.
But I'm gonna tell you something.
There was something about Jesus,
they saw something in him,
he was so loving,
so kind,
so compassionate.
He didn't let their actions
and attitudes get in the way
of his loving them
to the point that they were
comfortable with him.
And I got news for you,
I've seen a lot of people
who are not very comfortable
with church people.
I mean,
we kinda give them the hives at times.
Have you ever noticed that?
You can see it when you begin to ask them,
would you come to church?
Eh, no, I don't want to.
You have them over for hot dogs,
they're okay.
You go out in the backyard
and you have a cookout,
they're okay.
But go to the church?
Eh, I don't know, man.
So,
Jesus was comfortable
with lost people
and then as a result,
lost people were comfortable
with Jesus.
Look at verse eight.
They're home now,
they've had dinner,
a conversation has ensued,
we don't know what it was,
but I want you to notice
verse eight.
But Zacchaeus stood there,
they would eat their meals
in a lying position
on the floor.
Zacchaeus stood there
and said to the Lord,
look,
I'll give half
of my possessions
to the poor Lord
and if I have extorted
anything from anyone,
I'll pay back
four times
as much.
Now,
I'm fearful
that when we read
these stories,
we become so accustomed
to reading them,
we've heard them
so many times,
this is one you've heard
since you were a little bitty kid,
that it goes in one ear
and just out the other.
But I really want you
to think about it
and I want you to think
about putting yourself
in Zacchaeus' shoes.
We're not talking
about a tithe,
we're not talking
about half of his
weekly income
that week,
we're talking about
a man who is an adult
who's worked
all of his adult life
and he has been
amassing wealth,
just like all of us
in this room.
Now,
some of you
are better at that
than others
and some of you
have amassed more
than others
but all of us,
especially those my age,
you've worked
your whole life
to surround yourself
with a lot of stuff,
right?
He's giving away
half of his stuff.
Half of my possessions
I give to the poor.
If you have children
and you have a will
you thought real carefully
about,
now what do I want
to do with my money?
When I die,
I'm going to give
half to this child
and half to that child
or I'm going to
divide it into thirds
if I've got three children
or you know what
you're going to do
with your money
but I'm going to tell you
something,
that's a major decision.
You don't come about
that flippantly
because you recognize
this is my life's earnings.
We're talking about
his 401k,
we're talking about
his checking account,
his savings account,
money's got hid
out there in the shed.
We're talking about
everything he's got,
all of his possessions,
his houses,
his land,
if he owns land.
Half of everything
I'm going to give away.
Big deal.
But then he says this,
Master,
I'll tell you something,
if I've cheated anybody,
now understand
he's not talking about
that which he was paid
by the Roman government
to perform this service
of collecting taxes,
but he's talking about
that additional
that he just stiffed them for,
okay,
where he took advantage of them.
He says,
anything I've taken advantage
of anybody,
I've extorted them
of their money,
I'm going to pay back
four times
out of that remaining half,
I'm going to pay back
four times
what I took.
Now here's a guy,
here's what's phenomenal about it.
Here's a guy
who all his life,
he's been in the amassing mode.
He's been in the collecting mode,
no pun intended.
He's been gathering for himself
and only for himself
and now suddenly,
suddenly,
he's in the giving mode.
You can't just say
he's generous,
I mean he's given away
half of everything he got
and he's making restitution
four times
what he's taken.
It's incredible.
I mean,
who does that?
How does that happen?
Look at the very next verse,
if you will.
Verse nine.
Today,
salvation has come to this house,
Jesus told him,
because he too
is a son of Abraham.
There's the explanation.
Jesus says to these people
who are standing there
with their mouth agape,
what did Zacchaeus just do?
I mean,
he just gave away
almost every,
what did he do?
Jesus said,
let me tell you what he did.
Salvation has come
to this house today.
Now,
I want you to be sure
to get this.
Jesus is not saying,
wow,
Zacchaeus,
you gave away
half to the poor.
You're now concerned
about the poor
and not just yourself.
You've become an honest man,
a man of integrity.
You're giving back
four times
what you've stolen,
you've extorted.
Wow.
You know what?
You've earned
your salvation.
Not what he's saying
at all.
What he's doing
is giving explanation
to why
Zacchaeus
has done
what he's done.
Salvation,
Jesus has this ability
that we don't have.
He looks
into Zacchaeus' heart.
He doesn't have
to see him
walking out.
He didn't have
to see him
take a pasture
out of the hand.
He doesn't have
to see him kneel.
He knows Zacchaeus
has had a change
of heart,
that something
has transformed him.
He's a new man.
He's not the same Zacchaeus
that Jesus walked home
from that sycamore tree with.
He's different
in every way.
He's got a different heart,
a different soul,
a different spirit.
And so now
he says
to Zacchaeus
and to those watching,
let me tell you
what's happened here.
Salvation has occurred here.
This man has been saved.
God has transformed
his life.
He's not the same
old tax collector
he used to be.
He is a son
of Abraham.
Now finally
look at verse 10.
For the son of man
has come to seek
and to save
the lost.
Jesus says
I know about
the salvation thing.
That's why I've come.
I've come
for people
just like Zacchaeus.
Can I tell you something?
Jesus is telling us
this is my agenda.
My agenda is
to see people
radically transformed
for God.
To see people
who are godless
become filled with God.
To see people
who are lost
be saved.
Can I just tell you
quickly in passing
that ought to be
the mission
of this church
and every church
that bears the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our mission
is not to fill buildings
to build buildings.
Our mission
is not just
to see how much
money we can give
to missions.
Our mission
should always be this.
Our mission
should be
to see people
radically changed
by the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To see Jesus
somehow touch
people's lives
and make them
different creatures
all together.
together.
I was a pastor
full-time pastor
for 40 years.
You know one of the things
the long-eyed pastor
that disheartened me
the most?
Every year
you're probably not aware
of this as a church member
but pastors and staff
will know this.
Every year
you get a letter
from the association
and they say
give us this information
and you pass it
to the association
and the association
passes it
to the state convention
and the state convention
passes it
to the national convention
and they ask you
things like this
how many people
were baptized?
How many people
joined the church?
How much money
did you give?
How much money
did you give
to the cooperative program?
How much money
did you designate
to missions?
How many were involved
in music ministry?
How many were involved
in youth ministry?
How many were in
since you get the picture?
You know
of those forms
that we filled out
for 40 years
I never had once
them ask this question
how many people's lives
did you see
miraculously changed?
Maybe they just thought
well pastors
wouldn't be able
to answer that
because it's rather subjective
but I want to tell you
something
when somebody
is radically changed
like Zacchaeus
has changed
you got to see that
don't you?
Don't you?
Have you ever seen
anybody change
like Zacchaeus?
I've seen people
change like that
I can begin
to list people
who I've seen
were changed like that
we know them
here's the problem
they don't want to know that
you know why?
Because that's going to be
a much smaller number
than those other numbers
we like to report
those people
that are really
radically
I mean
Jesus comes in their heart
and he saves them
and change them
that's going to be
a lot smaller
but we're aware of it
when we see it
you've seen it right here
at Pickens First
you've seen that person
who they came in
they trusted Christ
and boom
boy
God just did a work
a marvelous work
in their life
so here's what I want you
to do with this message
and I want you
to do something with it
I want you just to
hear it
I'm going to give you
four assignments today
okay
here's the first
I want you to start
reacting to interruptions
to your agenda
differently
than you ever have
in the past
now I hope you'll
write these down
because if you don't
write them down
you won't be able
to do them
and I want you
to do them
okay
I don't want you
just to hear them
I want you
to do them
I want you
to go out
beginning today
as soon as the
service is over
I want you
to begin to do them
I want you
to start reacting
to interruptions
to your agenda
differently
and here's how
I want you
to do that
when an interruption
in your agenda
your plan
for the day
occurs
I want you
to immediately
ask yourself
instead of
getting mad
instead of
getting a little
peeved
instead of
being annoyed
I want you
to ask yourself
this question
could it be
that God
is singling
me out
through this
interruption
because this
person
is my agenda
for the day
could this be
a divine
appointment
could this be
the reason God
has put me
exactly in this
place that I am
now
I mean God
knew
I had these
plans
God knew
this is what
I was going
to be doing
today
right
he always
does
so if that
interruption
occurs
shouldn't we
be asking
ourselves
if we
want to be
somebody
who is
on God's
agenda
rather than
our own
agenda
could it be
that God
has allowed
this interruption
to occur
because this
is the new
plan that God
has given
me today
I mean this
guy right here
on the side
of the road
this gas can
in his hand
who needs
some help
maybe he's
my agenda
maybe God's
redirecting my
path
and this guy
has become
my agenda
for the day
I'll tell you
this and I'll
pass on to the
second thing I'll
have you do
I know you
think your agenda
is important
and I think my
agenda is important
and I want to
get it done
I like checking
off those things
but I want to
tell you something
God's agenda
always trumps
our agenda
do you know
that
you may think
you know best
about you
but I'm going
to tell you
something
God's agenda
always trumps
your agenda
here's the second
thing
I want you to
start and you're
going to think
I'm crazy
when I tell you
this but write
it down anyway
I want you to
start looking
for men
up in trees
I want you to
start everywhere
you go
looking for
people
up in trees
Jesus
saw
Nicodemus
or rather
Zacchaeus
forgive me
Jesus saw
Zacchaeus
and he
immediately
knew
that's a
needy guy
right there
I mean he
put it all
together
in just a
matter of
moments
and he
knew
Zacchaeus
needed him
so Zacchaeus
come down
out of that
tree
I need to
go to your
house
you need to
take care
of me
today
I want you
to start
looking for
people in
trees
you say
what are you
talking about
preacher
well how many
of you when
you were kids
looked for
four leaf clovers
now some of you
young ones
are going to
probably say
what's he
talking about
right
when you're an
old guy like
me when we
were kids
we didn't
have a lot
to do
so we'd
go in the
yard and
we'd look
for four leaf
clovers
you got a
yard that had
a lot of
clover
I've seen
kids that
spend hours
looking for
four leaf
clovers
how many
of you ever
found a
four leaf
clover
a lot
look here
a lot of
people
good for
you
I think
some of
you are
lying
okay
I feel like
a real dummy
because I
want to tell you
something I've
never found
one
I was at a
picnic
the reason I
use this
illustration
I was at a
picnic with
some church folk
a long time
ago and
somehow
we're in an
area where
there's a lot
of clover
and we got
this blanket
on the ground
and me and
Regina and
this other
couple sitting
there and
I said look
at all this
clover I
wonder if we
could find a
four leaf
clover and
this woman
says oh
sure we
can find
some easy
and I
said really
and she
said oh
yeah she
stands up
I stand
up and
she looks
here at
this patch
of ground
about three
or four
foot wide
and she
says I
see two
right now
and I
said where
she says I'm
not going to
tell you
you find
them so
I looked
for about
ten minutes
I ain't
found nothing
right and
so I said
where are
they and
so she
bent over
and she
picked up
two four
leaf clovers
and gave
them to
me I
got another
friend friend
at Brushy
Creek he's
got a bag
full of
Indian
arrowheads
I've
occasionally
looked for
those from
places I'd
be places
battlefields or
something where
I think maybe
there would
be some I
don't have
one arrowhead
and you got
any arrowheads
here's somebody
got one
there in the
back
can I tell you
something
I am good at
finding one
thing
well several
things food
for one
but another
is I'm
pretty good at
finding deer
because my
wife and I
started years
ago in the
evenings we
had a place
down the
lake for
13 years
and we
would get
out on
Friday nights
about 7
o'clock and
we'd ride to
8 and I
knew I'd
found some
in one area
and I'd go
back to those
areas and I
found new
areas and we
got pretty
good at
finding deer
and so those
years we lived
the lake one
Saturday night
I found
Friday night
I found 43
deer okay
I was down
the lake this
last week
staying at a
friend's house
I found 50
deer one
night 15
of them were
bucks 8 of
them 8 points
or better big
deer right
you say that's a
lot of it it is
my wife's good
at it she's as
good at it as I
am you know
why because we
look for deer
just like that
one guy looks
for arrowheads
just like that
one guy has
spent a lot of
time looking for
clovers I'm going
to tell you a
truth in life you
can believe this
you find what
you're looking
for
did you know
that you will
find what you
really and truly
look for Jesus
said the same in
Matthew 7 7
about prayer
you will find
what you seek
for what you
look for
you know what I
believe about
Jesus you know
why he had so
many interruptions
because he was
willing to be
interrupted and he
was always looking
for people up in
trees he was
always looking to
that guy who
seemed out of
place he was
always looking to
that guy that
others thought
man that guy's a
little weird
that guy's been
cast aside by
society you know
where you'll find
them you'll find
them in school
cafeterias they're
the guy or gal
over there eating
by themselves
it's that guy at
work you'll look
at when you look
at him he looks
down she looks
down when you
look back up and
move on they look
back and they're
watching you they
isolate themselves
there are people
with needs in
their life and
they want somebody
to reach out to
them but they're
afraid to ask
I want you to
start looking for
people who are in
trees third thing
I want you to learn
to use Jesus
approach to helping
people and I just
got to tell you this
will be the hardest
one for you to do
because it's so
foreign to our
thinking here's how
we want to help
people we see
somebody with a
need and we rush
in and try to be
their savior let
me buy you
groceries let me
do this for you
let me do that for
you come over here
to this come to my
house come to my
cookout instead of
letting people know
man I need you
when you do for
somebody you know
what happens it
leaves them thinking
boy he is such a
nice guy they think
better of you when
you help them but
when you enlist the
help of people you
know what always
happens I've seen
this being a pastor
so many times it
makes them feel
important it makes
them feel good about
themselves it makes
them feel needed it
feels to them like he
wants me to be a part
of what he's about so
when he says would you
let me go home with
you and you feed me
today he's thrilled to
death he's thrilled to
death because it's
Jesus coming to his
house and he's going to
be able to help Jesus
but in Jesus allowing
him to do that for
him by Jesus saying I
really do want to be
involved to you not
just superficially it
opened the door for
Zacchaeus to receive
Christ into his heart
and finally here's the
last thing I want you
to examine your
salvation I know a lot
of you are thinking
well preacher that's
pretty easy I've been a
member of first pickings
for X number of years
I was baptized right
up in that baptismal
pool or I was
baptized out at this
place Lake Hartwell
somebody told me last
night I was talking to
and you can recall the
date and the time and
everything about it but
that's not what I'm
asking you did you join
the church or did you
sing in the choir or are
you a deacon or have
you taught in school
what I'm asking you to
do is we're going to
require a lot of soul
searching and
transparency but it's
in your best interest
you do it and that's
to ask yourself has a
change like occurred in
Zacchaeus ever occurred
in me because I'm going
to tell you something
when salvation comes to a
house to us it always
leaves breathtaking changes
I don't mean that
everybody comes from a
moral background and
suddenly becomes moral
but I'm going to tell
you something if you're
the most moral person to
ever live in pick in
South Carolina when
Jesus comes in your
eye it still radically
changes the most moral
of people it's an
inside change you've
heard me show my
testimony when I got
saved I was only 14
years old so when a ton
of weakness that I had to
get rid of in my life
and I'm going to tell
you that day I received
Christ I became a
different person it was
as radical as the
changes in Zacchaeus life
I knew going forward I
would sin against God and
I did and I have and I'm
ashamed of that but I'm
going to tell you
something there's never
been a moment in my life
that I've ever thought for
a second that I wasn't
different than I was
before I received Christ
he changed me he changed
Zacchaeus and that's what
Jesus saw I'll tell you
ladies and gentlemen
Jesus turns to the crowd
you've just witnessed
salvation salvation is
cut this is a child of
Abraham he has faith in
God do you is there
anything about your life
that is just radically
changing people and it
doesn't even matter what
other people do you know
that change has occurred
you know if not I want to
tell you something you
ought to really be talking
to God about your
salvation because the
older I get the more I'm
convinced when Jesus
comes into a man or a
woman's life a young
person's life it's not
just a handshake and a
fill out card and a dunk
in a pool it leaves a
lasting effect you think
differently your heart's
different you're different
because God now lives in
you let's pray Lord I
pray you would convict men
and women today who may be
delusional of their
salvation I would not
cause anyone Lord
purposefully to doubt for a
moment that they know you
if they really know you
but if they have been duped
into believing they have
been saved when they have
not been saved when they
just Lord embraced an
idea but they didn't
embrace you I pray oh
God that you'd convict
them and bring them to
the stark realization
they need you and they
can find you this day
Lord you're just as
available to anyone in
this room as you were to
Zacchaeus so if there are
men and women who turn in
these next few moments and
they cry out to you and
say God save me I pray you
do that I know you will
hear their prayer Lord
save them today and for
those of us who have been
changed and we've been
transformed and we know
that help us to make your
agenda our agenda to not
be out there just doing our
thing but to make people
sinners our agenda in life
to bring them to faith in
Christ have your will and
way in this service we ask
it in your name the
instrument
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love you
won't
say
love you
alright