Matlcok | 12/07/26 | Zaccheus - Lost & Found | Neal Garratt

Matlock & Wirksworth

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/354059/episodes/19481103-matlcok-12-07-26-zaccheus-lost-found-neal-garratt.mp3

Zacchaeus meets Jesus 

I want to spend just a few moments to put this story into context – One of the main themes of Luke’s gospel is that Jesus welcomes sinners /lost people– he doesn’t reject them, even though the scribes and pharisees could not understand this – they thought their works would be enough for Jesus but Jesus always looks at the heart and seeks to restore peoples heart to him – no matter their sin or shame! This is good news for those Jesus meets in his earthly ministry and good news for us as well!

Luke 15 vs 2 – “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people- even eating with them”

This is the background and before we meet Zacchaeus in chapter 19 Jesus has  told the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son and in chapter 18 the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector and the rich young ruler – Jesus seeking lost and sinful people - and then we meet Zacchaeus

Luke 19 vs 1-10 

Zacchaeus was despised by the Jews as he was a tax collector for the Romans as was Matthew and he was in fact the chief tax collector – The jews viewed tax collectors as traitors to the Jewish community and in fact were viewed as “robbers”. Luke also says that Zacchaeus was wealthy and how did he become wealthy? By taking advantage of those people whose taxes he collected and making himself money on the side – he was corrupt there is no doubt about that! He was the last person that Jesus should have been associating with and yet Jesus invites himself for tea!

Vs 7 But the people were displeased – “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner they grumbled”

You see the problem was they had completely misunderstood Jesus ministry on earth which he reveals in vs 10

“ For the son of man came to seek and save those who are lost” 

This is so important – we are ALL lost spiritually until Jesus Christ finds us –

Dictionary definition of lost 
“ spiritually or physically doomed or destroyed “lost souls”

This is us and what’s the opposite of lost? 
FOUND – we have been found by Christ 

Luke 15 vs 6 “ When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbours saying “ Rejoice with me because I have found my lost  sheep”

Luke 15 vs 9 “And when she find its (the lost coin) she will call together her friends and neighbours and say “ Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin”

Luke 15 vs 24 “ for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was LOST but now he is FOUND” So the party began”

This is so important – was Zacchaeus lost – YES – But Jesus found him – salvation came to his house that very afternoon!

Ephesians chapter 2 explains our position before we meet Jesus
Vs 1 – You are spiritually dead in your sins – 
Vs 4 – BUT GOD – is so rich in mercy, and he loves us so much that even though we were dead – he gave us LIFE when he raised Jesus from the dead
Vs 8-9 “ God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can’t take credit for this it is a gift from God- Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done , so none of us  can boast about it”

The world is quick to condemn -  but Jesus is quick to forgive! 

So Jesus visits Zacchaeus house and Zacchaeus is convicted of his sin and says
Vs 8-9 “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 and Jesus responds Salvation has come to this home today”

The conviction of our sin or our position before Christ is a ministry of the Holy Spirit

John 16 vs 7-8

Jesus says this “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness”
There has to be conviction of our sin before a Holy God – that we are lost and need to be found – before salvation comes.

Watch Video – Start at 2.03mins in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GeGqm4ocg8&t=168s

Amazing story of bring lost and then found – this is what happens when The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and we realise we need a saviour!

Tell the story of Mr Lee – Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners!

Zacchaeus was visited by Jesus in his home and yet we have that same invitation every day to walk with Jesus

Roger – Prophetic word – take my hand and walk with me every day – so good

Lamentations 3 vs 22-26

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends – His mercies never cease – Great is his faithfulness – his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself The Lord is my inheritance therefore I will hope in him – The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord”

Jesus wants to find and rescue you this morning – He doesn’t care what you have done – how bad you have been – what you are carrying – Lost people have a lot of baggage- but he is here to find you, rescue you and pour out his amazing love and grace into your life – you know we all have a moment when we can say “Salvation came to this house today” – why not today for you?

Luke 19 vs 1-10
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.
He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “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 has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “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 seek and save those who are lost.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Church in the Peak podcast. We hope you enjoy this message. For more information, visit churchinthepeak.org or come and join us at 10am every Sunday.

SPEAKER_07 0:11

I'm not used to using one of these. As you know, I normally have a headset, but it's gone walkabout. So I'm gonna have to use this this morning. I'm not sure how that's gonna work, especially if I get carried away, which might possibly happen. So I just need to remember to keep this near me rather than over here. Right. So um this is what we call it in the summer kind of weeks a free preach. So you can basically preach on whatever you want. We're doing a series in Revelation at the moment, which we're gonna start again in September. So this is um preach on whatever's on your heart, and I was really struggling. I was thinking, what am I gonna preach on Sunday? And it got to Wednesday, and I was thinking, Lord, you've got to give me something, please. And there was kind of all these thoughts, and uh, I I read the story of Zacchaeus, and uh I thought, I can't preach on that, Jesus. Everybody knows that story, you know. I'm not gonna bring anything new out of that, and God really challenged me about my thinking and just said, My word is a living word, and it can reach places you do not even see or understand. And so we're gonna look at the uh story of Zacchaeus this morning, and uh, if there's one thing you know about Zacchaeus, he was a very little man, and I was hoping Dinky Pam was gonna be here today because I was gonna use her as an example, but she's not here, so she's got away with it this week. But if you're thinking small, think Dinky Pam, and you you that's where Zacchaeus is, okay? So I want to put a bit of context into the story before we actually read the story of Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus is in Luke's gospel, and one of the main themes in Luke's gospel is that Jesus welcomes sinners, the lost, the marginalized, and he accepts them into his kingdom. He doesn't reject them, even though the scribes and Pharisees cannot understand this. They think by keeping the law that they're going to please Jesus, and yet Jesus goes to those despised in society, tax collectors and prostitutes, and he accepts them because of their heart. And it's always the same with Jesus, isn't it? He wants to know what is in your heart. Not what you do, not what your works are, not how pious you are, not how much you even read your Bible, he wants to know what's in your heart. Do you love me? Have I captivated your heart? That's the question this morning. Has Jesus captivated your heart? Jesus always looks at the heart and seeks to restore people's heart to him. No matter their situation or their sin or their shame. It's good news for those he meets in Luke's gospel and it's good news for us in 2026. Is it 2026? Yeah. I was thinking it was 2027. No, it's 2026. And it's been like that for the last 2,026 years. His grace is available this morning, just as it always has been. And uh in Luke 15, verse 2, it says this tax collectors and other notorious sinners. I love that phrase. We're all notorious sinners. Let's just get that right, shall we? We're all notorious sinners. Often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even eating with them. Horror of horrors. And this is a theme of Luke's gospel the whole time. In the previous chapters, chapter 19 is the story of Zacchaeus, but in the previous chapters, uh, we're told about the stories of the lost sheep, the one that goes astray and they go and find the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son. And in chapter 18, the chapter before this, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector and the rich young ruler. Jesus seeking lost and sinful people, and then we meet Zacchaeus. Let's read it together. Luke 19, verse 1 to 10. Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name Zacchaeus, he said, 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. Listen, if Jesus was coming to your house tomorrow, would you be full of excitement and joy, or would you be, oh my goodness, I need to tidy up. I need to get the Hoover out. Make sure the Bible is on the uh coffee table in a prominent place. We shouldn't. He's not interested in where your Bible is in your house. He's interested in you. He's coming to your house for a reason. And he's going to Zacchaeus' house for a reason. Hallelujah. Sorry, that's not in my notes. I've got I've gone on a little tangent there. 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 has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner. They grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I've 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 seek and save those who are lost. That's the most important verse in the whole story. The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. Okay. Zacchaeus was despised by the Jews. They hated the fact he was a tax collector. He worked for the Romans. They were taxed beyond their means. But it was even worse for Zacchaeus because he was the chief tax collector. Matthew was a tax collector. We meet Matthew in the Bible. And if you've watched The Chosen, you'll see Jesus approaching Matthew. He was a tax collector and was hated, but Zacchaeus was hated on another level. He is the chief. And he is very rich. He has made himself rich on the back of the Jewish people. And so he was hated by everybody. He was a notorious sinner. Hallelujah. Jesus loves notorious sinners. Aren't you pleased about that this morning? Yes, Neil. We're really pleased. Right, come on. Aren't you pleased about that this morning? Or do you think you're good enough by yourself? No, we're all notorious sinners. And Jesus came to save us, each one of us. Don't think you're good enough to make it yourself because you're not. Amen? Thank you, Iris. Bless you. But the people were displeased. He's gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner, they grumbled. You see, the problem was they completely misunderstood what Jesus was all about, what his ministry on earth was about. They thought he'd come to save them from the Romans. He's going to beat the Roman Empire and he's going to replace them as King of Israel. And Jesus, he said, You completely got the wrong idea. You know, when Nicodemus goes to see him in the middle of the night, and once again on the chosen, it is such a beautiful uh picture that Nicodemus is suddenly like a light bulb comes on his head and he goes, So it's all about sin. And Jesus says, Yeah, it's all about sin. And it is all about sin. And it's all about sin for us. But Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost. Hallelujah. We are all lost spiritually until Jesus Christ finds us. That is your position. I looked up the dictionary definition of lost. This is amazing. This is just the Oxford dictionary, spiritually or physically doomed or destroyed. If you watch Dad's army, you're all doomed. That's amazing, isn't it? This is the Oxford Dictionary. Spiritually or physically doomed or destroyed, destroyed. In fact, it goes on further. It says lost souls. That's you and I. That's Zacchaeus. That's Paul. Lost souls. Your neighbor who's not saved. Lost souls. But what is the opposite of lost? Found. When Alice went to Mallorca a few months ago, this is typical Alice. She left her watch in security in the tray. You know, you take your watch off, you take your belt off, and your coat and all your laptop, you put it in the tray. She left her watch in the tray. So we get this phone call from Alice saying, Mum and Dad, next time you go to Mallorca, can you go to the lost and found department at Palmer Airport and pick up my watch? You would not believe the paperwork you have to do to get that sorted out. It is unreal. And I've learned that uh lost and found in Spanish is objetos peridos. There you go. That's the limit of my Spanish, I warn you. Julia can probably say it much better than me. But we went and we managed to get this watch. What was lost is found. And what happens when it's found? Joy unbound. Well, not quite, but she was very happy that we'd recovered her watch and took it back for her. But this is the opposite of lust. Once you were lost, now you are found in Christ. Okay, this is important. Luke 15, verse 6 says, when he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, because I have. Let's try that again. Rejoice with me because I have my lost sheep. We mentioned this earlier, the story of the lost sheep. Luke 15, verse 9 says, and when she finds it, this is the lost coin, she will call together her friends and neighbors and say, Rejoice with me, because I have Hallelujah, my lost coin. You're getting it. We've only got one more. Luke 15, verse 24, for this son of mine was lost. In fact, for this son of mine was dead, yeah. And has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is hallelujah. And so the party began. This is so important to understand your position that you were lost, and then Christ comes and you are found in him. It's so important. Ephesians chapter 2, which is you, if you come irregularly, you'll know is my favorite chapter in the Bible. It lays out our position in Christ. And it starts at the very first uh verse. I haven't given you these, Emma, don't worry. It starts in the very first verse. It says, You were dead in your trespasses and sins, okay? That's your position. You were dead. You can do nothing about that. You can't do anything to wake yourself up or make yourself alive. It's impossible. You're dead. You can do nothing, and that's the whole point of Paul using that verse. You are dead spiritually. Nothing you can do, your works are meaningless. Verse 4. But God. I remember Andrew Davis coming and preaching on that a few months ago. Have a look on the website, it's a great preach. But God, who is what? Who is rich in mercy? That's where the rich chocolate cake comes from. Isn't it Claire? Yes. Rich. You see, there's a difference between chocolate cake and rich chocolate cake. There's a big difference. Chocolate cake is nice, don't get me wrong. But oh rich chocolate cake. It's dripping all over the top. It's filled with chocolate in the middle. It's dripping round the back. It's dripping round the sides. It's rich in chocolate. Listen, God is rich in mercy. Hallelujah. He's rich in mercy. So he takes you when you're dead and he brings you alive by the Spirit of God. Hallelujah. And you can do nothing. That's the important bit. Because you're dead. But God comes and he fills you with his spirit and he makes you alive to Christ. You are lost. And God comes and he makes you alive. Hallelujah. God is rich in mercy. He gave us life when he raised Christ Jesus from the dead. Ephesians verse 8 and 9, chapter 2 says, God saved you by his grace. When you believe, then you can't take credit for this. It's a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we've done, so none of us can boast about it. So important. You know, if we could do anything to save ourselves, God knows in our heart we would boast about it. He knows that. He knows what we're like. I'm good, Lord. I've read my Bible 15 days running. Do I get a brownie point? And God says no. I love you. Whether you read your Bible one day, ten days, fifteen days, because it's not about what you do, it's about what Jesus did. By grace, you are saved. Once you were lost, but now you're found in God. Hallelujah. The world is quick to condemn. You see, the Pharisees and scribes and Pharisees didn't understand what Jesus was about, so they're quick to condemn. But Jesus is quick to forgive. No matter what your sin, no matter what your circumstances, Jesus is quick to forgive you. We know John 3.16 so well, don't we? For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish and have eternal life. But verse 17 is even better. Verse 17 says I knew I was going to forget this. He did not come in the world to condemn the world. He came that the world might be saved through him. Hallelujah. You see, the world is quick to condemn. Jesus is quick to forgive. So Jesus visits Zacchaeus' house and says, Zacchaeus, what happens to Zacchaeus? What is this radical change that comes? Obviously, he meets with Jesus, which is pretty radical and pretty amazing. But into that there comes a conviction of his sin, a conviction that he is a sinner that needs a saviour, a conviction that he is lost and he needs to be found. That's what happens. Conviction of sin. And then he says, I will give half my wealth to the poor Lord. And if I've cheated people on their taxes, yes, you have cheated people on your taxes. I will give them back four times as much. And Jesus responds, Salvation has come to this house today. You see, conviction of sin has to come before you can be found. In the moment Jesus convicts you, in fact, it's not Jesus, the Holy Spirit convicts you of your position. Because if you're not lost, you don't need to be found. If you're not dead, you don't need to be made alive. And this is the problem, isn't it? People think they're okay. I'm fine. I'm doing well. I've got a nice house, I've got a nice car, I've got a nice wife, I've got money in the bank. My pension pot is building up. Everything's fine. But it's not. Because in your heart, there's a hole that needs to be filled by Jesus. Conviction has to come. John 16 says this. And this is Jesus talking about the fact that he's going to leave the disciples. He says, in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the advocate or the Holy Spirit won't come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of sin and of God's righteousness. That is what the Holy Spirit does. He brings the conviction of your position and your sin. You see, if you say to most people, do you think you're a sinner? Most people will say no. No, I'm good. I pay my taxes. I'm an upright member of society. I'm quite moral in what I do. I believe in doing right. No conviction that actually I'm lost, Annie Jesus. I want to play a video to you. Can we turn this first row of lights off? Is that possible? Or even a couple of rows. I just found this video this week. So good. Let's just watch it.

SPEAKER_06 21:25

He was a man that I hated. We hated Christianity. And he should away everything we hated.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

I do not believe that you have faith to hear a man. I believe you have faith and hear a man.

SPEAKER_05 21:42

I want you to listen to the end of what I'm understanding. Because this is the most important thing I say. You must be willing to receive your sins.

SPEAKER_06 21:59

It was such That drove me and made me exist day by day. The only reason the ten of us went to that crusade was to kill Billy Graham. I made up ten zip guns, so each member had one of those. I said to the guys, come on, we're going on the green. And we spaced ourselves so that we could see each other around where Billy Graham was preaching. We decided that we would leave it until the appeal time. Not before, but during appeal. We would kill Billy Graham. My gun was under my jumper, and I'm standing there, and I looked around at this crowd, and I thought, what the dickens are all these people doing here. And I turned back around, and then suddenly a voice said to me, What are you doing here, George? And I quickly turned back around to have a look and see who was there, and nobody was there that I knew. And I got very uncomfortable about that. I continued. Very uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

The Spirit of God is speaking, and he's here tonight, and you know he's here. And there's a little voice down inside of you that says you need Christ. That is God speaking.

SPEAKER_06 23:37

Okay, I know this is you, God. You took my dad. You hurt me so much. Why should I love you? Why should I care about you? And God said to me, George, I didn't take your dad to hurt you. And indeed, he said, I would never hurt you, full stop. Well, by this time I'm starting to melt a bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

I tell you before you leave this great stadium, you can find an answer to the dilemma, the mysteries of life. If you will come and surrender yourself with reservation to Jesus Christ, I thought about it for a while, and then the appeal came.

SPEAKER_06 24:33

I suddenly began to weep. And I cried and then I cried and I cried. My zip gun was under my jumper, and I put it on the ground, and I ran to the front. God took this person and hated him with every part of his being. Yet God took him and loved him. It's amazing how God can take a situation like we were in. And he can change a life. Completely. And I thank him every day for that. I really do.

SPEAKER_07 26:19

I get really emotional watching that. What happened to George is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And God does it in different ways. He speaks to him and he calls him by name. Isn't that beautiful? He goes there to kill Billy Graham, and God comes to him and says, George, what are you doing? I just love it the way God is so personal. And he's personal with you. He comes and saves you individually. I told this story last week, but it's the same thing. Um my parents weren't saved, and we had a neighbor called Mr. Lee who lived across the road. He was a Christian. And on a Sunday night, he used to have people around to play the piano and sing songs. And my dad would used to take the Mickey out of him and laugh about this, that he would have people around and they'd play songs around the piano. Anyway, one day, um I think it was a plant or something, got delivered to Mr. Lee's house, and my dad had to go across and see Mr. Lee and say to him, you know, can I have this plant that's been delivered to you? And my dad, typical sarcastic so-and-so, kind of went across and said, Oh, I thought you'd be around the piano singing songs and everything, you know. Taking a Mickey, really. And Mr. Lee said to him, Did you know Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners? That was it. That's all he said to him. And my dad left and he walked across to our house and he said to my mum, Did you know Jesus Christ came to save sinners? I'm a sinner. And he went down to Ashford in Middlesex, where we used to live, and they went to the bookshop there and they bought a Bible and they came home and read the Bible that day, started reading it and carried on, read it all the way through. And uh my dad got saved and my mum got saved at the same time. Wonderful. God bless Mr. Lee for saying that one sentence. But what happens between him saying that and my dad walking across the road? The conviction of the Holy Spirit comes and he says to my dad, you are a sinner. You are in need of a savior. And that's what has to happen. Zacchaeus was invited, was visited by Jesus in his home. The conviction of the Holy Spirit comes, Zacchaeus knows he's a sinner. He knows that Jesus is a savior. And salvation comes to his house. It's such a beautiful story, the story of Zacchaeus, because it goes against everything that the scribes and Pharisees thought. Jesus goes right to the depths to the most hated person and saves them. Just as he does with Paul. How many people were praying for Paul to get saved? I bet there weren't many. Because he hated Christians. You know, when Stephen gets stoned in Acts, the very last verse says, Saul was in hearty agreement. He was in hearty agreement with Stephen getting stoned. What happens in the next chapter?

unknown 30:01

Bam!

SPEAKER_07 30:03

Jesus comes and meets him on the road and changes his life forever. And that's the God we have, that He changes bad lives into good. He takes your sin and your shame, whatever else you bring, and he says, I can sort that out. Come to me. Just know that you need a Savior. And I love the fact that Jesus goes to his house. It's so good. He could have dealt with him on the street, but no, he goes into his home. You know, Jesus comes to your home every single morning. And Roger, where's Roger? A couple of years ago, Roger was at group and he had a word from the Lord, and the word was this. Every morning I come and stand next to your bed, waiting for you to take my hand and spend the day with me. How many of us do that? How many of us get up and suddenly we're super busy? I'm not including Julia on that. She doesn't get going until 10 o'clock. It's true. Listen, the point is this. Jesus comes to your house every single day and says, Are you going to walk with me today? And we're all guilty of running off into the day, thinking we can do it all and it's okay, and we're running a hundred miles an hour. And Jesus is still there saying, Hold on a minute. You're going to take my hand, we're going to walk in this together. Listen, the beauty of Jesus, he comes every single day and waits. Tomorrow morning. Just take a moment to take his hand and say, I'm going to walk with you today, Jesus. See what difference it makes to your life. It will make a massive difference. Walk with me every day. So good. Okay, coming into land. Lamentations 3 says this the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness. His mercies begin afresh each morning. Hallelujah. I say to myself, the Lord is my inheritance, therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him, so it is good to quietly wait for salvation from the Lord. You know, we're in the prayer meeting this morning, and I forget who it was, but someone just prayed and said it's really good to just wait on the Lord. That's so right. We run a hundred miles an hour so much of the time, and God says, Come and spend some time with me. Let me come into your house. Jesus wants to find and rescue you this morning. He doesn't care what you've done, how bad you've been, what you're carrying. Lost people have a lot of baggage. But he's here to find you, rescue you, and pour out his amazing love and grace into your life. You know, we all have a moment when we can say, salvation came to this house today. If you're saved this morning, you've got a day when salvation came to your house. If you're not saved this morning, if you're not a Christian, then Jesus is saying the same thing to you today. Salvation can come to this house today. Why not today? For you. Can we have the worship team back? Can you come back, Steve? I just want to pray just as the worship team can't. We'll sing another song together. Lord Jesus, thank you for the amazing truth of your word. Thank you that you love us so much. You call us by name, no matter what our past, no matter how much sin there is in our life, you can deal with all that because Jesus dealt with it all on the cross. Hallelujah. We can come to you and we can say, Jesus, I'm lost. I want to be found by you. And he's there in an instant. Thank you, Jesus, for your amazing love, for your amazing grace and your amazing mercy to each and every one of us. Thank you that salvation came to me many years ago, and each of you can remember a time, but today you can come to know Christ this morning. So let's just worship together and then we'll pray to close.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Okay. Morning, everyone. Sorry, something just to confirm what Neil was saying about remembering to have Jesus in our life all the time. I have a framed prayer on my desk. Granted, it's got pictures of my pets on as well, but it's a prayer. And I have it sitting by my computer so that when I get so stressed and I think, what on earth going on? I can just glance over at that prayer. Stop, take a minute, read the prayer, and it just brings a peace and a calm. And it just reminds me that even in all the stress of that moment or of that day, that Jesus is still by my side. And it also acts as an invitation because people sometimes ask, Oh, those are your pets, and what's above it? So it's like a dual purpose, but it just really, really works. And it's just a physical reminder, so I don't have to, I can just glance and it's right there. I know Jesus is always by my side, but it just is a visual reminder and just brings that just as a real sense of that he's with me.