Luke 18:35-19:10

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh my goodness. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I got to start from the top. So there's a blind guy outside Jericho, if you're listening. And I've been preaching this for 10 minutes now and just realized you didn't hear any of the first part, listeners online. Okay. Blind Barnamaeus is his name. He's a good guy. He's calling out. Son of David, have mercy on me. He's declaring from darkness that there is light. I reserve worship oftentimes in my life for when it's a good day. For when it's been, when there's been breakthrough. I don't often reserve worship for when I'm in the darkness. But one of the most potent times that you can ever praise God is when you can't see a thing and you can't figure out what's going on. God, I don't understand. Even last week when Adam was preaching, there's a moment where the disciples are like, we don't understand what you're saying. I'm so glad that my not understanding doesn't keep him from doing what he said he would do. Because moments I don't get it. Like, God, I don't, there's some things I just don't understand. This man calls out, and then as he shouts, Son of David, have mercy on me. I believe, remember that mercy is I you can have compassionate, and it's not just any regular person's compassion. It's a compassion that comes with the authority of the divine creator to be able to do something about the situation. Verse 39, check this out. Be quiet, exclamation point. The people in front of him yelled. Right? Be quiet. That that these are people that are following Jesus, yeah. At least we don't know how strictly, maybe they're just trying to figure out who this guy is, but they're at least interested enough that they're around him. And yet the followers of Jesus become the barrier to this man. And I wonder if anymore, if there's believers that have become barriers because they've forgotten what God's done in their life and they don't believe that they want to hear from anybody that's in a bad situation. Like, hey, shut up, man. You're dealing, you made this bed, you gotta sleep in it. Right? Because that's in that in that community, his blindness was already God's judgment. You know, whatever your parents did, you sh you just shut up, man. Just be quiet. This is religion. This is religion. Now you've already been dealt with. You what he doesn't want to hear, he doesn't got time for you. We're going to Jericho, and then we're going to Jerusalem. We're no time for this. You get your get your money from somebody else's pipe down. Man, listen, I know that the church, in some places, God is doing a mighty work, but I know in other places the church has become the greatest barrier that anybody that would have a Jesus entrance has to deal with. And man, may our hearts be softened to say, God, if there's anything in me that's being a barrier to somebody else, would you show and reveal that to me? Be quiet, the people in front of him yelled. But check this out. He didn't walk away, he didn't fold up his blanket, he didn't do any of that stuff, but he only shouted louder. It's amazing how many people I do come across that they've rightly been hurt by church or rightly been hurt by believers. They're not making something up, they've truly been hurt, yet they give up on worshiping God. So I'm listening I'm coming for all the toes today. So listen, you can genuinely be hurt by people, but that does not give you permission to then stop worshiping God. Because since the creation is foolish, you're thinking, well, then the creator must be foolish. So I'm gonna stop. And he doesn't stop. He shouts out all the louder. Listen, worship, worship's not about uh, what's the word? It's not it's not always clean. It's not, we like it in a box. We like worship to be really neat, really nice, not make us feel uncomfortable. We like worship that's very sanitary. And there's been times in my life, I remember being in a worship service, inviting people to raise their hands, and somebody came to me after the service. This was years ago in another town. The person comes to me and says, I feel frustrated that you ask us to raise our hands because I'm more of an introverted, like introspective, that's how I worship. I'm like, Yeah, that's cool, God made you that way, but that's not how he asks you to worship. There are there moments where you can be introspective for sure. But what you're doing is you're telling God what he's gonna like. You're getting this, and you're gonna like it. I don't care what you want to eat, you're having this, you're gonna like it. And you're gonna enjoy it. The audacity. This man's calling out even louder. People probably irritated. When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, as the man came near, Mark gives us a little bit of an insight here that Luke doesn't. This is no shade towards Luke. Jesus calls him, and the crowd changes their tune. If you want to make a note and look back at it later, this is in Mark 10, verse 50. When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, Tell him to come here. So they called the blind man. Cheer up, they said. These are the people who just said, shut up. Shut up. Oh, wait, wait. Jesus calling. Cheer up, they said. Come on, he's calling you. People are fickle. And if you if you keep your faith at the level that people allow you to, you will always be frustrated in your relationship with God. Yeah, I'll do my best. If you allow your faith to be dependent on the people around you and what they allow you to do or believe or how to worship, you'll always be frustrated with God because people are dictating your faith, not God. These people are dictating, hey, shut up one minute, hey, cheer up the next. They're all over the place. So they called and they said, Cheer up, come on. Verse 50, this is verse 50. I want you to check this out. In Mark chapter 10, verse 50 in Mark chapter 10, Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. He threw aside his coat. Some versions might say cloak, which was probably closer to what it is, some kind of blanket that would keep him warm. It would have been his only possession. Can I just put it like that? The only thing of value in his life is this cloak. It's the only thing that he has any worth. It keeps him warm at night. It's his blanket at night. Either he's folding it up and sitting on it during the day, or he's got it laid out in front of him to receive offerings during the day, or anybody that would give anything to him. It's the only thing that he has of worth, of value that is his. And it's a barrier between him and Jesus. And he takes it off because he's a blind guy, doesn't want to get tripped up. It says this. I love this in Mark. He threw aside his coat. Listen, you ever drop something in the dark? This guy, let's be clear, he's still blind. He's not healed yet. He just threw aside in a crowd of people the only thing that means anything to him, the only thing that has any value so that it doesn't get between him and Jesus. I'm throwing this to the side so nothing entangles me or trips me up because I Jesus is calling. Come on, and I don't know that we, I don't know that we do that. We're like, well, well, hang on real quick. Let me get things. No, when Jesus calls, man, just respond. And he responds in faith. And he throws that thing off. There's no, there's no there's no clue. Am I going to be able to get it back? Are you you guys with me on that? Like, think of if you only had one thing of value in your life. Like, so could I give an example? Sometimes you ever you ever seen a kid and they have the one little plush here, the one little blank here, the one little thing, and that's the only thing that brings them comfort. Right? And over the years that thing can become like ragged and nasty and beat up, and you try to wash it and it doesn't get any better. And they'll have this little thing that brings them comfort. And it's like for whatever reason, there's an attachment to it. Now imagine your whole life, you've got this one thing, it's the only thing. Jesus is calling. And he goes. Back to Luke. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, What do you want me to do for you? Lord, he said, I want to see. What do you want me to do for you? Lord, he said, I want to see. And Jesus said, All right, receive your sight. Your faith has healed you. And instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God, and all who saw it praised God too. I I believe there's an encouragement that other people can get if you will not stop praising God. Because had He shut up, all the other people that are now praising God would have never had that opportunity to praise God in that way. Does that make sense to you? There's something unique in the essence of your life that if you do not quit in your relationship with God, that it will bring other people to a point where they can see God in a brand new way that they never would have had you given up. But the fact that you pushed, that you shouted out all the louder, that you threw off the favorite thing to get to the most important thing, and that now other people are like, man, this God is truly good. This God is truly amazing. You with me on that? But as long as we have a sanitary worship that we control, that we put in a box, the other people are never gonna see what true faith looks like. If we're only praising them after the storm has passed or after the sun has rise, if we're the only kind of people that praise once breakthrough has occurred, man, we're just we're immature. We're immature. And there's a maturity that we're being called to. I'm gonna step out a little bit and poke you a touch more. Perhaps the thing that you're worshiping once a breakthrough has happened is how feel how good you feel. That you don't have to deal with what was going on. Perhaps what you're worshiping is not God, but your emotions. Which means that you're easily manipulated by whatever the enemy wants to do in your life. But when you are willful in your praise, the enemy begins to lose when he knows he can't press the buttons that used to shut you up. That's maturity. So now there's a group of people praising God. Oh, this is incredible. Verse 1, chapter 19. Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was very rich. Now, let me let me stop real quick. Let's go ahead and do the song. Every single person that grew up in, now listen, if you didn't grow up in Sunday school, it's okay. But there's a lot of Sunday school nerds in here. And there was a song that you either taught it or you were in it, and because it goes, Zacchaeus was uh uh he climbed up to there you go. So listen, we little man, and we've been making fun of his stature our whole lives. Teaching little kids, hey, we're gonna pick on the short people, kids. It's gonna be great. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region. And he had become very rich, which means he was good at being crooked. He had become very rich. It means not only was he good, he was elite at extorting people. He was elite at taking advantage of people. That's how he got his money, right? Chief tax collector. We've gone over this uh throughout over and over in Luke. Despised, he's turned on his own people, he's betrayed his own people. Verse 3, he tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short, boom, burn, to see over the crowd. So Bartimaeus was truly blind, but Zacchaeus's stature imposed a blindness upon him when he got behind people. It is so frustrating when there's a commotion and there's a group of people and you can't see what's going on. Have you ever experienced this? I remember being a kid at a state fair and there was like uh just something happened. I'm like, what's going on? Or even more, being at the zoo, going to see my favorite gorilla. His name was Ray Mar at the Ashborough Zoo. I had a Ray Mar t-shirt. It was incredible. Go try to see Ray Marts feeding time. People are surrounded. I can't see. Can't see. My dad put me up on his shoulders. Now I can see. I was furious with the people in front of me. I've got a connection with Ramar that you don't, you imbeciles, get out of. I had a broad vocabulary as a five-year-old. Zacchaeus, he runs up. He listen, like, word spreading through town. Now, the way it would kind of roll in that day is like it's not like now where you sit in your house and you got your your mobile device or whatever you want to use, and you could stream whatever movie you want to stream within within a couple minutes. Like during those times, people they would sit out either in their front garden or near, and they would just like, especially when Passover's coming, and people are just going through town, and they would just they would kind of sit and people watch. Have you ever done that before? They just sit and people watch, like, look at that guy, right? Like, and they would just go by and go by and they just watch it, and this crowd is building and building because Jesus is coming. Zacchaeus is trying to see, he can't see. So he ran ahead, not very uh couth in that culture, running for a grown adult man. Right? Is that the right word? Not very like proper. And so he he's throwing propriety out the window. He runs ahead. And he finds a tree. Sycamore trees, from what I'm told, I've never climbed one, but they got these big broad branches that go out, even starting low, and they can support weight. So our our our our little hero in the story, that I didn't mean to say little, our hero in the story climbs up in the sycamore tree to see what he could see. So he ran ahead, climbed the sycamore tree beside the road. For Jesus was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus, called him by name. How did he know Zacchaeus' name? We don't, we're not told. Maybe he's heard about this guy in the village, maybe he's heard about Zacchaeus and Jericho, the chief tax collector. Everybody hates him. Is it a word of knowledge from God? We're not given clear insight. But the one thing that he does is he calls him by name. It's interesting because Zacchaeus' name uh has a meaning that means um pure. That's what his name is. So he's like, his name is hypocritical of his life. Because nothing pure about what he's doing. But Jesus calls out to him by name, Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus. Quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today. Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. He is gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner, they grumbled. Jesus wasn't phased by the title that the people had given Zacchaeus. And he's not phased by the title that people give you. That's why I never stress talking to somebody about Jesus or inviting them into a place like this. Because I know that when God looks at somebody, he can see them as they're created to be. He can look past every label that's been assigned them. Now, Zacchaeus, he earned it. Right? And he's going to eat with that jerk, earned. Right? He earned that. He's going to eat with that swindler, earned. He earned that title. He's going to eat with that sinner, he earned that title. And Jesus is not stressed out by any of those titles. Because why? He came to, it'll say in a minute, to seek and save that which is lost. And so, regardless of what title you see yourself as, because listen, one of the hardest titles or labels to get it from out from under is the ones we assign and apply to ourselves. Sometimes people can call you things and you can shake it off, but what you really think about you, I had like, for me, you're just an imposter, Joey. You just, you're just faking this. Like you're good. It's a good act. Like these are the things I would be thinking, because why? Because for so long in my life, I tried to perform who I thought, I tried to perform to be Joey. Who I thought people wanted Joey to be. And for so long it would be a performance. Like, I gotta be funny, I gotta be bubbly, I gotta be whatever, so that you would like me, so that you would receive me or accept me. And after a while, you begin to think, man, am I living as me or am I living as a performance? And so sometimes the title we put on ourselves, but Jesus is not stressed out by that. And everybody's like, man, he's gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner. I think the notorious ones are his favorite ones. I think the notorious sinner, like, he's like, Yes, I that's are you available for lunch, notorious sinner? I'm coming to your house today. And they grumbled. These are the people following Jesus that just shut up Bartimaeus, and now they're celebrating about how good God is, and now they flipped again to like, how could he be going to this house? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Dude, people are wild. That's why you better get tight with God. That's why you better get tight with Jesus. That's why you better get tight with what Scripture says. Because if you don't, people are so all over the place that one day they're gonna treat you one day, the next way a different way, and you won't be really knowing how to be living. And instead, listen what I want to tell you to do find out what God wants from you and be obedient to that thing. Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house today. He scurried down the tree. He's excited. With great excitement and joy. I love Luke in his description with great excitement and joy. Come on, come on, Jesus. Grabs his hand. That was funny. I didn't have to do that. Oh man. Yeah, those listening online have no idea what just happened. Come on, Jesus. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor. Lord, I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord. And if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much. Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to hear it is to seek and save those who are lost. We don't get any from any of the gospels, we don't get any insight as to what that conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus was before the moment where he says, Hey, I'm I'm I'm giving half my wealth to the poor. Anybody I've wronged, I'm going to restore that four times over. We don't get any of that conversation. So we have this moment where Zacchaeus, now check this out. He says, if I've cheated people, I'll give them back four times as much. Now the law, Old Testament Torah, speaks to what is owed to somebody who cheats somebody. 20%. So you need to pay them back whatever you stole and then add 20%. That's what the law required. Unless you've egregiously done them wrong, then four times over. He assigns himself the maximum. He doesn't look at any of these things and saying, Well, that person I didn't do, I wasn't that bad to that person. He's like, no, anybody I've done wrong four times the maximum amount. I'm going to give back four times. I'm giving half my wealth to the poor. Zacchaeus is dealing with the business. Radical repentance. Radical repentance. And then Jesus says if you read this quickly, you're going to think something weird about this. Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. Let me ask you this. With his radical repentance, when Zacchaeus says, I'm going to give back half my wealth to the poor, I'm going to restore four times as much as what I've taken to anybody I've wronged. Did he in that moment earn his salvation? No. Salvation had come. Listen, one of the things we got to check out here, Jesus responded, this is verse 9. Salvation has come to this home, what? Today. Had he given anything back? No. He'd only said that he had. That he would. But before he could do anything, salvation came to that home. His making things right was a response of his heart being changed. It wasn't an effort to change Jesus. He wasn't doing all that so that now I can be loved. He's doing all that as oh, I didn't know I was so loved. I'm changing everything. Like I'm going to go above and this is radical change of lifestyle. This is radical change of life. I don't know if you can grasp this. This is he's lived this way for forever, and now he's like, man, Jesus came to his home. Now the question is this he climbed up in a tree to see Jesus. Was he looking for Jesus or was Jesus looking for him? Because to me, listen, there's a lot of people with eyes on Jesus that day, but Jesus goes up, looks at him, walks over, is that key has come down. I'm going to your house today. And I believe today is a day where God would invite himself, saying, Hey, I want to have a relationship with you, maybe like you've never had with me before. And you could say, Well, Joey, I've known Jesus my whole life. Cool, cool, cool. But do you understand what radical repentance is? Can you throw me that blanket right there, Adam? So Bartimae's got his blanket. Probably wasn't plaid. But for the sake of the story, you go with me. Jesus calls. He's got it on him. Throws it off. Uh to Jesus. Zacchaeus got his business. Jesus comes to his house. Boom, Jesus. This is church today. Jesus. The Bible's gonna represent that. Jesus loves you. He's calling you. Okay, I'll follow him. How are you gonna follow him when your security is still in this thing? God, God, I trust you. God, I'll do I'll do whatever you want me to do. Blanket tucked right under your arm, not going anywhere. Death hold on it. This is what it looks like. Diedrich Bonhoeffer calls it cheap grace. It's forgiveness without repentance. It's a cross without change. It's Christianity without discipleship. It's a cheap grace. We've taken all value out of everything Jesus did, and now I'm just I'm creating a faith that makes me feel good, and I don't have to give up anything. I'm gonna keep hanging on to my sin. I'm gonna keep hanging on to everything that I've always done and say, I'm a Christian, now I'm following you. And Jesus saying, No, no, no, no. If you want to follow me, you gotta throw it all down, you gotta leave it all down, don't pick it back up. Yeah, here's how here's how we roll. We'll throw it farther. And then we'll go, yeah, Jesus, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna pick it back up again. And as we're saying it, we pick it back up again. What are you trusting? Can I tell you what my security blanket was until God really dealt with my heart for the longest time? She's playing the keyboard right now. How do I know that she was my security blanket? Because a bad day, I would call Ashley. I'm upset, I'm gonna talk to her. I'm hurting, I'm gonna talk to her. I can do all those things. But she's got to come second to him. She cannot do what he can do. And there's been times where I've picked it back up that blanket again. He's like, no, no, no, no. I'm not gonna have any gods before me, Joey. Do you get it? Not gonna have any gods before me. You guys following me today? I don't know what your blanket is. I don't know what your business is, but I know if it's gonna trip you up, then you need to throw it out of the way. If it's gonna trip you up, there needs to be radical repentance. God, I'm gonna follow you, but but but you're gonna you're gonna keep doing whatever you want to do. No, it doesn't work like that. I keep sinning however I want to sin. No, it doesn't work like that. Now check it out. Radical repentance is in response to a radical sacrifice, to the God of creation comes into his creation. And in the next weeks we're gonna push into this, and then he pays a price for his creation to redeem it. He is beaten unrecognizably. Scripture said that he would be beaten so bad he would be unrecognizable as a man. And we're like, Yeah, I'm gonna follow God though. And we just this is why the world has a hard time distinguishing between a Christ follower and just a regular, regular person. Because the only difference is where you invest an hour a week on a Sunday morning. When I follow Jesus, He paid the price. There's nothing I could do to earn the forgiveness. But once I step into relationship, everything else I count as loss. Paul says, I consider it all rubbish. Every victory, everything that I had before, all of it is garbage compared to knowing Him. There's a right order in this. And we're trying to keep everything on the same playing field. I'm gonna achieve grace. I'm gonna worship you when it's convenient. I'm gonna give when I've got it to give. I'm gonna serve when it doesn't cost me anything. I'm gonna sacrifice as long as it doesn't hurt. I'm gonna do just enough to play the part without sacrificing everything. And God is calling his church to more. He's coming back for a bride that is spotless and without blemish. And right now, family, as a church, as a body, we need help. And it comes from just laying it down. Now, listen, I pray that we have a faith that brings a conviction of the heart and not a condemnation of you. Because I'm not saying try harder. I don't want anybody in this room to leave and say, Well, I just got to try harder to be a better Christian. No, I'm not asking you to do that. I'm just asking you, where is your security? And once you identify it, crucify it. Lay it down, kill the flesh. We're trying to pacify the flesh and be a Christian. Now I'm called to kill the flesh. Is it making sense? I'm coming at you hard this morning, but we're in a season, we're in a time where we can't play patty cake at church. Two men today both had trouble seeing. And both were unbelievable outcasts. One did nothing to deserve being marginalized. Barnabaias did nothing deserve being marginalized, was born marginalized. Zacchaeus, he earned the title, he earned the reputation. And Jesus comes for both of them. And he comes for you, and he comes for me. And he calls. He's like, man. I don't know if you're in this place today, and you said you came just to get a glimpse of Jesus, just to see what he looks like. He says, Hey, listen, I want to come to your home. I don't know what darkness you find yourself in. But I'm here to encourage you and call you to keep worshiping, keep praising. Sometimes it's easier to do something in a room that's like packed out. Because you draw less attention. I could really care less. If there's a blanket you need to bring up here and lay it up here, there's nothing more holy about the altar than the motion it takes to get you from there to here. You can sit and deal with this stuff in your heart, but sometimes an outward sign of an inward act, God, I'm going up and I'm laying this down. God, I want to be obedient to what you called me to do. I'm going to pray and I'm just going to take a moment. Is there just something you can sing over us while we do this? I don't want you really looking around, but I do want you to engage in this. This is not what we would call in ministry a cattle call. I'm not trying to throw up something. Does anybody have trouble? Like, and just name the most basic thing. Anyone in here breathing? Right, like, come up front. But if you sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit, say, man, it's time to throw off that blanket. If you sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit, say, man, it's time to change how you do business. Radical. Radical. Radical. Radical repentance. I'm radically, I'm choosing, God, because I see how much you love me. I see that you know me. God, so I'm going to come up here and I'm just going to lay it down. Outward sign of an inward act. I'm laying down. I'm laying down anything that I'm holding over you. Higher than you. The relationship I hold higher than you. The finances I hold higher than you. The addiction I hold higher than you. Listen, everybody's blanket's going to look different, but I want you to respond right now. So I'm going to count to three. I'm just going to have you just respond. One, two, three. If you need to, go ahead and make your way right now. Thank you, God. Not stressed out about who sees, not stressed out about what's going on. Zacchaeus had to look like a fool up in a tree. The Bible says, I'd rather look a fool in the eyes of man than a fool in the eyes of God. If we can't get it right here, where can we get it right? If we can't be vulnerable here, where can we be vulnerable? Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you for this moment right now. I thank you, Lord, for the blankets being laid down and tossed aside, for the business that's changing, for the radical repentance, for the choice right now. And Lord, I thank you for your goodness that you said, man, salvation has come to this house today. Not once you get it all sorted, not once you get it all paid back, but today. That you love us before we can ever do anything. Thank you, Gama. You're changing hearts right now. I thank you for breakthrough right now in the name of Jesus. I thank you this is a moment where the eyes begin to be open in Jesus' name. I thank you for healing right now in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Gama. That you see us, God, that you're cutting through every title, every line that we've placed on ourselves or somebody else has placed on us. I'm gonna pray over you right now in this room that you've had titles placed on you. In the name of Jesus, I break them off every word curse ever spoken over people in this room in the name of Jesus. I break them off every line spoken over them in the name of Jesus. These are your sons and these are your demoners, and God, I thank you that that's how you see them. That we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That we stand right before you, Father, because of what Jesus has done for us. Thank you that you adopt us into your family. Even as Adam said earlier, that you call us friend. So I break those titles that have been placed on people of failure, of disgrace, of shameful. Break those titles off in the name of Jesus. Break the title of victim off in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that you're breaking addictions right now in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Thank you, God. Thank you for the sun that sets free as free indeed. Speak freedom over your sons and daughters right now. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Just gonna ask that we would just stand together right now in this place. And just you need to so you're not distracted, just keep your eyes closed. You don't have to go anywhere, just keep your eyes closed just for a moment. And let this be your prayer. Jesus, come on, let's pray it out loud with me. Jesus, I choose to receive your correction because it's love. And I ask you to forgive me of missing the mark, of carrying my blanket, of continuing my business. Today I choose to trust you. So I throw down my comfort. I choose to throw down any idol that I've held over you. Jesus. Come on, say this one last thing, we're gonna end on this. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Can we do that one more time? Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Thank you, God. Lord, we receive your mercy. We receive your love. God, I pray over your sons and daughters right now. That your face shine upon them. That you bless them and they're coming and they're going. They're lying down, they're rising up. Pray that you be their front and their rear guard and give them the mind of Christ and wisdom of God. May everything their hands touch that they prosper. Lord, we thank you for divine appointments, divine opportunity this week to be your hands and your feet. Pray for divine appointments this week to look up in the look up in the sycamore trees for the people that are seeking a look at you. Thank you, God, for opportunity this week not to be a barrier, but to be a connector. Thank you for these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.