SPEAKER_01: This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grant Parkway, visit Grantparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we're mindful today when we sing phrases like, soon shall pass thy pilgrim days.
SPEAKER_00: We're reminded that we're pilgrims here, that we're we're just passing through.
SPEAKER_00: This is enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things to enjoy in this life, but this life is not all there is.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible says, if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we're to be pitied above all men.
SPEAKER_00: So if there's anyone here in this room this morning that thinks this is all there is, eat, drink, and be merry, because when we die, it's over.
SPEAKER_00: We should feel sorry for them more than we feel sorry for anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: Because the gospel transcends this life.
SPEAKER_00: This is enjoyable, but it's also missional.
SPEAKER_00: We're here on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: We're here for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we open up the Bible this morning, we're going to see a very purposeful, missional Jesus intentionally relating to the world around him.
SPEAKER_00: Let us take our cues from that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We pray.
SPEAKER_00: Speak now, Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in a language we understand.
SPEAKER_00: We ask this.
SPEAKER_00: We desire this.
SPEAKER_00: And we uh we we steward this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You could have a seat.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to uh Luke chapter 19.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have a Bible, I'm on page 878.
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's a Bible on your row there.
SPEAKER_00: If you pick it up, I'm on page 878.
SPEAKER_00: If you're our guest today, let me say, welcome to Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having the courage to look into a church.
SPEAKER_00: Just relax, make yourself at home.
SPEAKER_00: At the conclusion of our service, myself and some of our staff and elders will be available down front if you have any questions or if you're we'd like to just meet you and put a name with a face.
SPEAKER_00: We're entitled, let me tell you what we're gonna do today.
SPEAKER_00: We're in a series entitled Encounter, where what we're doing is we're just looking at different encounters that people in the Bible had with God, and we're asking ourselves, what do we take away from that?
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: There's two things I want you to know about this church.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we take the Bible very seriously.
SPEAKER_00: We don't add to or take away from what it says.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta be careful every word I say because this sermon may be subpoenaed, and I want to make sure they get the whole truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so somebody asked me, What are you gonna get subpoenaed?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, please subpoena me.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa! I would be like a monkey on crack up in there.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, I digress.
SPEAKER_00: Stop laughing, you're gonna startle the visitors.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing, so we believe that doesn't mean we're gonna beat you over the head with it.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean we're gonna yell at you.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna just open it up and we're gonna read it and tell the truth about it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first thing I want.
SPEAKER_00: We take it seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing, I want you to know that you're sitting in a room with people, but if this is zero, and that is ten way over there.
SPEAKER_00: Zero is I'm an atheist, I don't believe a word of this.
SPEAKER_00: You're sitting in a room that's got some people in it like that.
SPEAKER_00: And ten is I'm full, I'm all in, I'm not just a Christian, I'm a passionate God follower, whatever happens to me.
SPEAKER_00: You're sitting in a room with people like that as well.
SPEAKER_00: But you're also sitting in a room with people that are like a two, they're like, well, as one guy said, I started coming because my old lady made me, but you're kind of enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: And you're sitting in a room with people that are like a seven.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, yeah, there was a time I was there, I was I was just burning hot, but I've kind of cooled off, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't want you to look around and think, there's probably not anybody in this room that feels like I do.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it probably is.
SPEAKER_00: You're sitting around people that are wearing shorts and blue jeans, and some people are wearing uh slacks, and you won't see many people wearing a suit.
SPEAKER_00: My friend Bob Rosicki down here wears a tie.
SPEAKER_00: If you wonder who that is, that's who that is.
SPEAKER_00: Uh somebody's got to keep it real, right?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are like, where is that guy?
SPEAKER_00: Uh Bob's not here, actually.
SPEAKER_00: But but here comes a man in a tie right here.
SPEAKER_00: This is my friend Gary.
SPEAKER_00: He believes the Bible and he's serious about it.
SPEAKER_00: All kinds of people.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are kind of like, he just called that man out right there in the middle of the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Gary is my friend.
SPEAKER_00: At least he was, right, Gary?
SPEAKER_00: We're still friends?
SPEAKER_00: Uh but here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Here comes that, you're not alone, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So just relax.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read the Bible, and then we're gonna ask, what do we take away from this encounter?
SPEAKER_00: This is Luke chapter 19, verse 1, the Bible says he entered Jericho and was passing through, and there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich, and he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of stature.
SPEAKER_00: So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.
SPEAKER_00: So he hurried and he came down, and he received him joyfully.
SPEAKER_00: And when they saw it, they all grumbled, He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Today salvation is come to this house, since he is all since he also is a son of Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk to you this morning about God the Seeker, God the Seeker, or the missional Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Five things we take away from this encounter.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we take away that money will not make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: Money will not make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us very quickly, kind of in reverse pyramid order, like a newspaper.
SPEAKER_00: It gives you all the details and then unpacks the details.
SPEAKER_00: Tells us three things right off the bat about Zacchaeus, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, it says he was a chief tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, he was rich.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, he was seeking.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Let's just go back to the top.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: He was a chief tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: That means tax collectors, uh, the people that they were occupied by the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Jews could not stand the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: The Romans came in, occupied, and they got people from their own uh own kind, their neighbors and stuff, made them tax collectors, people that uh that that uh got the tax collected taxes.
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, so he had other tax collectors under him.
SPEAKER_00: Most tax collectors were rich, and here's why.
SPEAKER_00: If the tax was 4%, they would charge 6 and keep the two.
SPEAKER_00: Did you follow that?
SPEAKER_00: And so their neighbors despise them.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, you're just a sellout.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: How could you do this?
SPEAKER_00: But Zacchaeus has just gotten used to it because hey, he lived in a big house, had a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, number one, he was a chief tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: People did not like tax collectors, and so multiply that by four.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they felt about the chief of tax collectors.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the Bible tells us he was rich.
SPEAKER_00: Do I need to explain to you what that means?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, I've never had that sensation.
SPEAKER_00: Please tell me about it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh by the way, there's nothing wrong with being rich.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to stop trying to make people who have money feel bad about having money, okay?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he was rich, and we have this tendency to kind of downplay our life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying if you're if you're wealthy or if you're blessed, whatever the church term is, you should go around telling everybody because then everybody hits you up for a donation.
SPEAKER_00: And that gets old.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the hardest thing about being rich it objectifies you.
SPEAKER_00: People turn you into a thing.
SPEAKER_00: You become like an ATM.
SPEAKER_00: You get all the letters, you get all the missionaries.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm going to the mission trip.
SPEAKER_00: Can you support me?
SPEAKER_00: All the, you know, people, it's just, and you get turned into a thing.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible just says he was rich.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me just say this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying tell people all your business, but I am saying, hey, don't downplay it so much that people don't know how good God's been to you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear the difference?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can go into work tomorrow and say, How is it, man, I'm riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels?
SPEAKER_00: It couldn't get any better.
SPEAKER_00: Something like that is just vague enough just to let them know, hey, I'm doing okay.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he was doing okay.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing, he was seeking.
SPEAKER_00: He was saying, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: It says right there in the Bible, it says he was a chip, he was a chief tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: He was and writ and he was rich, and he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not because he was small of stature.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where we get, we take away money will not make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how do you know money won't make me happy?
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you a random question.
SPEAKER_00: Have you climbed a tree lately?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I'll take that as a no.
SPEAKER_00: So, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: This guy is, I mean, he's rich.
SPEAKER_00: It seems like he could he could hire that out to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, here's 50 bucks, climb that tree and tell me when Jesus gets close.
SPEAKER_00: Or at least hold up the sign, Jesus, this guy's over here, we'll write a check for your ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Come on over.
SPEAKER_00: No, Zacchaeus, he gets up in the tree because he wants to get this clear view of who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I'll give you today is just some questions to kind of shape how you think about this.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one is this What are you willing to do in order to get a better understanding of who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: What are you willing to do to get a better understanding of who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to read a book?
SPEAKER_00: Like now, I'm not talking like an outside book.
SPEAKER_00: There's books like that.
SPEAKER_00: Like you can start just by reading like the book of John.
SPEAKER_00: I'm struck by how many people have such strong opinions about why they disagree and don't believe in God who've never read the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Met one this week, came to sit in my office.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, I made a man so frustrated this week, he said to me, I can't, I can't decide if you're one of the more brilliant people I've ever met or you're just an idiot.
SPEAKER_00: Depends on the day and the time of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but I asked him, I said, You have a lot of opinions.
SPEAKER_00: I said, What if you're wrong?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I'm not wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, that's why I said, What if?
SPEAKER_00: I couched it in the language of possibility, because I'm sure you're not wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, What parts of the Bible do you find compelling?
SPEAKER_00: Apparently he's not been asked that.
SPEAKER_00: He was like, Oh, oh, oh, oh.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you got a hair ball?
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of question is that?
SPEAKER_00: And because what I sensed was true, I said, What parts of the Bible when you read it, do you just think?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, where's the of course in you?
SPEAKER_00: When you read the Bible, do you have this of course?
SPEAKER_00: Of course the Bible says that.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, I've never really read the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: How could you formulate so many strong opinions about God when you've never read the primary source material on God?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm I'm just trying to kind of figure out where you're coming from.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you in this room are like that.
SPEAKER_00: You got these strong opinions.
SPEAKER_00: What are you willing to do and get a better understanding of who Jesus really is?
SPEAKER_00: You're willing to maybe go join a small group, join a community group.
SPEAKER_00: That's groups in our church that meet twice a month.
SPEAKER_00: They sit in someone's living room, eat dessert, and people just come and kind of process questions about the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: They're sermon-based.
SPEAKER_00: No one's going to give you a Jesus pop quiz.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Tom and Mary, thanks for coming.
SPEAKER_00: Sit down.
SPEAKER_00: Tell us about your life.
SPEAKER_00: No, you can just sit and observe.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you, the next step is to maybe come to a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: We have Bible studies that meet right now, during this hour.
SPEAKER_00: Right up here, it's about 30-something women in a class being taught on forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: There's a class on what it means to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There's a class on marriage that meets right over here at the end of this hallway.
SPEAKER_00: So we have all different opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: If you're curious about taking another step and kind of going, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I want to get a better view of this.
SPEAKER_00: One thing, let me encourage you not to let happen.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says Zacchaeus climbed a tree because he wanted to see Jesus, but he couldn't because of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Because of the crowd, he couldn't.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let the crowd of people around Jesus skewer your view of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Does it make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Church people are we're going to get it wrong.
SPEAKER_00: People in church are going to get it wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have been in business with Christians.
SPEAKER_00: The guy had a fish on the back of his truck and still owes you$7,000.
SPEAKER_00: That's not Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that's that's not who God is, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so just be careful that the crowd around you doesn't keep you from seeing who who Jesus really is.
SPEAKER_00: First thing we take away, money will not make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: Money's not bad.
SPEAKER_00: We're not dissing on money, it just won't make us happy.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Money makes rich men climb trees.
SPEAKER_00: Because they're seeking.
SPEAKER_00: Something's gnawing at them.
SPEAKER_00: Something's just kind of won't leave them alone.
SPEAKER_00: Men, we should look at our wives tonight before we go to bed and go, what's gnawing at you these days?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, I ain't got that much conversation in me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you should.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing we take away from this encounter is that Jesus calls us with friendship in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus calls us with friendship in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus runs up and climbs up a sycamore tree.
SPEAKER_00: And verse 5, and when Jesus, and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must tell you what a crooked, crooked tax collector you are, and how you're gonna burn in hell for it.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are like, that's not my translation.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, here's the thing he climbs a tree to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes to the base of the tree, looks up, and calls him by name.
SPEAKER_00: Rutro.
SPEAKER_00: Uh oh, mmm.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, later this afternoon, when you're all taking naps, I'll be at M.D.
SPEAKER_00: Anderson serving communion to a man who's battling cancer for the second time.
SPEAKER_00: And they were in our services last week in the third service.
SPEAKER_00: Tom Syek is his name.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to a church in Gastonia, North Carolina.
SPEAKER_00: I preached that years ago.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I was at M.D.
SPEAKER_00: Anderson.
SPEAKER_00: I Googled your church and it was not that far.
SPEAKER_00: You drove down here from M.D.
SPEAKER_00: Anderson battling cancer twice?
SPEAKER_00: Why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Because I got some people, if it sprinkles, ooh, we better stay in.
SPEAKER_00: Looks like it's gonna be a hurricane.
SPEAKER_00: But but but enough about my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, uh you go without us, honey.
SPEAKER_00: But here's a and people ask me all the time, what do you say to people in those situations?
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm gonna say to my friend Tom?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna look Tom and Debbie right in the face, and I'm gonna say the boundary lines have fallen for you in pleasant places.
SPEAKER_00: God has been so good to you.
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm gonna tell them, hey, the Bible says in Psalm 139 that God saw your unformed substance.
SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna go, huh?
SPEAKER_00: Because I told my friend Betty Thompson that last week.
SPEAKER_00: Betty Thompson used to go to this church.
SPEAKER_00: She moved over to Pasadena to be closer to her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: Betty is 87 and she's been diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma, brain tumor.
SPEAKER_00: It's got it's kind of grown into her brain.
SPEAKER_00: They did surgery and got as much as they could, but they were like, it's just, you know, this is not gonna end well.
SPEAKER_00: So I walked in, half her head is shaved, the other half is permed and it's purple, kind of magenta looking.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I love Jim Blue's clues.
SPEAKER_00: You shut up.
SPEAKER_00: She's like a snapping turtle, boy.
SPEAKER_00: She'll get you.
SPEAKER_00: And I walked in, she says, What are you doing here?
SPEAKER_00: I said, I just come to see the pretty ones.
SPEAKER_00: I let Wade visit the ugly ones.
SPEAKER_00: And the nurse said, Who is this man?
SPEAKER_00: And she said, He's my pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I said, No, you moved to Pasadena.
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, You're still my pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And I told her what I'm going to tell Tom today.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know, God's been very good to you.
SPEAKER_00: He saw your unformed substance.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Bible says this in the 139th Psalm, before anyone in your days came to be, all the days were ordained for you.
SPEAKER_00: God set aside before one of them came to be.
SPEAKER_00: So I tell Tom today while I serve him the Eucharist, by the way, God saw this day coming.
SPEAKER_00: He starts transfusing transfusion tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second time he's gone through this.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_00: Because when I say that God relates to us with friendship in mind, he calls us with friendship in mind.
SPEAKER_00: When you have a bad day, it doesn't that that day didn't like pop up and surprise God.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, the better friends you are with God, the more you can absorb the bad days without shaking your fist at God.
SPEAKER_00: He calls Zacchaeus.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Zacchaeus, come down, for I must stay at your house today.
SPEAKER_00: Come down.
SPEAKER_00: What's the big deal?
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what the big deal is.
SPEAKER_00: Go into someone's home for a meal is an act of friendship.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it such a big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jews did not associate with unclean people.
SPEAKER_00: They were all about being ceremonially clean.
SPEAKER_00: And so for Jesus to come down, and the people said, Oh, he's gone to be the guest of a man who's a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus relates to us, he calls us with friendship in mind.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means he sees who you are, he knows who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to tell him anything.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, you can't hide anything from him.
SPEAKER_00: So just knock it off.
SPEAKER_00: But he sees past who you are to who you can be.
SPEAKER_00: So he calls you with friendship in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing we take away from this encounter is simply this is that forgiveness must be scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness must be scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I don't get what you mean.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the people's reaction in verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: He says that when they saw it, they all grumbled.
SPEAKER_00: Now who is they?
SPEAKER_00: It's the people, all that crowd that was around Jesus, and so many of them that Zacchaeus had to climb a tree to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's all those people.
SPEAKER_00: It's all those people who kind of cried around.
SPEAKER_00: When they saw it, they grumbled.
SPEAKER_00: He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, can you believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to stop acting like forgiveness is not scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, ask yourself this question this week.
SPEAKER_00: Who is it that you need to forgive that if you forgave them, it would feel scandalous to you?
SPEAKER_00: Because that puts you in touch with what it was like for God to forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's at the heart of this whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you had a first marriage where your spouse was unfaithful.
SPEAKER_00: And it it it'll feel scandalous to forgive that person.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32, be kind, tenderhearted to one another, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you.
SPEAKER_00: The standard of your forgiveness is not whether or not they deserve it, but it's whether or not you've experienced it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you and I have experienced it, then we have no basis upon which we we can withhold it from other people.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the people say he said, He's gone to be the guest of a man who's a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing.
SPEAKER_00: How many in this room know you're a sinner?
SPEAKER_00: Could I see your hand?
SPEAKER_00: Put your hands down.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing for you to know you're a sinner, it's another thing for everybody else to know that you're a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: How big of a sinner do you think Zacchaeus had to be?
SPEAKER_00: Because everyone's like, he's a sinner, and we all know it.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like one time early in Luke's gospel, Jesus went to the house.
SPEAKER_00: You can read about it.
SPEAKER_00: This is like in Luke chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: Don't turn there now, though.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus goes to this man, this Pharisee, very religious man named Simon's house for dinner.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is there, and this woman bursts in the door, and she's got this jar of this alabaster box of perfume, and she begins to anoint Jesus' feet and wipe it with her hair, and she's just sobbing.
SPEAKER_00: And Simon and all the religious people are standing there and they're like, thinking to themselves, the Bible said, if he knew what kind of a woman this was, then the Bible said, Jesus knowing their thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: Has it dawned on you that Jesus knows your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00: People say, Well, I didn't say anything.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to.
SPEAKER_00: See, that what that that's what makes God so great.
SPEAKER_00: He knows his thoughts, and he just, Jesus is very gracious, even with religious people.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, do you ever wish Jesus was more harsh with religious people?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's my own personal fantasy.
SPEAKER_00: I'll leave you alone now.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are kind of like, no, because I'm religious.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get some gold stars.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Simon, let me tell you a story.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells them a story about a man that owed$50,000 and was forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy that owed$5 and was forgiven said, Who would love more?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the guy who's forgiven much.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus kind of points at the woman who's still back here weeping and kind of says, Then this makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: There is behavior that only makes sense in light of great forgiveness, what I would call scandalous forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: What is it about your life that only makes sense because of the scandalous nature of forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says you love much because you've been forgiven much.
SPEAKER_00: You say, why must you say forgiveness must be scandalous?
SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why forgiveness must be scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: Because sin is scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: God puts Adam and Eve, the first people ever created, in the Garden of Eden, in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You're free to eat of any tree in the garden, but of this one tree, don't eat.
SPEAKER_00: And what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They do exactly the one thing God asked them not to do.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: And then what does God do?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, I told you a minute ago, Jesus calls us with friendship in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, after they sinned, God comes in the cool of the evening in the garden and he says, Adam, where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's relating to them again out of the context of friendship.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Hey, we were naked and we hid ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, and God says, Who told you you were naked?
SPEAKER_00: How gracious does God have to be?
SPEAKER_00: See, forgiveness has to be scandalous because sin is scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when I was in seminary, I had the same professor for three different classes, and he started every class.
SPEAKER_00: The class was old had him for Old Testament, had him for the minor prophets, and then I had him for a class on the inter-testamental period.
SPEAKER_00: That was very stimulating.
SPEAKER_00: And he started every class, the first day of class the same way.
SPEAKER_00: He would open his Bible to Proverbs 26, 11, put these glasses on.
SPEAKER_00: They're like a hoodowl, and they look like Coke bottles.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he would burn a hole in you with those bad boys on.
SPEAKER_00: When he put them on and look at maps, he saw people waving back at him.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, and he would lean over and he would read.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs, he would hold on to the edge of his desk, and he had these big, gnarly, look like octopus fingers, and he would read Proverbs 26.11.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody got an idea what Proverbs 26.11 says?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Because this old creepy man burned it into my ears.
SPEAKER_00: It says, as a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.
SPEAKER_00: And then he would just look at us over those glasses.
SPEAKER_00: And he would say, It makes sense for a dog to eat his vomit.
SPEAKER_00: That's in his nature.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been converted, you have a new nature.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't make sense for you to sin anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And then he would pray.
SPEAKER_00: And we'd start off talking about the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And the first time he did it, I was like, man, you should just quit.
SPEAKER_00: I think you've confused this class.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Old Testament, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Second time I had him, I thought, is he just saying this because I'm in here?
SPEAKER_00: Third time I had him, he started the class the same way.
SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, that old man's on to something.
SPEAKER_00: And then about eight years ago, maybe nine, I was laying in bed.
SPEAKER_00: We had a one miniature schnauzer at the time.
SPEAKER_00: We now have two.
SPEAKER_00: And because my wife's like MacGyver, she's a dog trainer.
SPEAKER_00: We had to get a crate, and we got a crate train this dog.
SPEAKER_00: Because I was a kid, dogs stayed outside.
SPEAKER_00: It was crazy that way.
SPEAKER_00: But now dog's got to stay inside.
SPEAKER_00: And they got to have beds to sleep on.
SPEAKER_00: If my dad came to my house, he would open hand slap me right now.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, who's in charge of this house here?
SPEAKER_00: You got these dogs laying in these beds.
SPEAKER_00: Really, Dad?
SPEAKER_00: You gonna go there?
SPEAKER_00: But we got the dog over in the crate, and I hear something about 3 o'clock, 3:30 in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: I hear.
SPEAKER_00: And then the dog expressed himself.
SPEAKER_00: And then I heard.
SPEAKER_00: And in my mind, I'm laying there and I'm giggling because guess what I saw?
SPEAKER_00: In my mind's eye.
SPEAKER_00: And in about maybe 30 seconds later, the dog did it again.
SPEAKER_00: And ate it again.
SPEAKER_00: And about a minute and a half later, the dog did it again.
SPEAKER_00: Five times.
SPEAKER_00: And at one point I'm laying there in bed counting, and I'm thinking, who's sicker, the dog or me for counting?
SPEAKER_00: And then the old man landed on me.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why you should say crazy stuff to your kids.
SPEAKER_00: They just look at you like, I don't get it, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Because that old crazy man says, and it and it dawned on me that me sinning makes less sense than what my dog's doing right now.
SPEAKER_00: I never thought the same way about sin.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I so believe that I told somebody this week who came to me for counseling, you should go out that door and just not sin anymore.
SPEAKER_00: If the Bible's true and it is, it says the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_00: All you're doing is making choices that are going to kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you want to do that?
SPEAKER_00: And two days later, I got a phone call.
SPEAKER_00: I did it again.
SPEAKER_00: And what I wanted to say was, all right, dog, just eat your vomit.
SPEAKER_00: But that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: This man saying, I know Jesus, but I just like to sin and I like to celebrate my sin.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: Now am I saying, oh man, you no.
SPEAKER_00: I told him I'm not mad at you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm trying to tell him, trying to tell you, trying to tell me, hey, forgiveness is scandalous because sin is scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: It's no longer who we are.
SPEAKER_00: You've been set free from that.
SPEAKER_00: Fourth thing we take away from this encounter is that what you do with your money is a reflection of what God has done in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: And Zacchaeus stood, I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 says, and when they saw, they all grumbled, he's gone to be the guest of a man who's a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, every sentence of the Bible is not chronological.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, there's things that happen between verse 7 and verse 8 we have no record of.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we don't know what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if they sat down to dinner and Jesus looked at Zacchaeus and said, You want to go first or you want me?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if Jesus leaned over to Zacchaeus and said, You sure you want to ride this train?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what happened.
SPEAKER_00: But I do know this.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: And Zacchaeus, this is why I say what you do with your money is a reflection of what God has done in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, and Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about that for a second.
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of saying, Hey, Jesus, check this out.
SPEAKER_00: Look, behold, this Bible talk for look, the half of these are the half of my goods, the half of my goods that I'm going to give to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: What made him want to do that?
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes on and says, Hey, if I've defrauded anybody, and if I've if I've defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, it's called restitution, paying back.
SPEAKER_00: Restitution isn't the price we pay for forgiveness, it's evidence of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: That you you you you you sense the deep wrong that you've inflicted upon somebody else, and you're like, man, I'll do whatever I gotta do to clear this up with you.
SPEAKER_00: What you do with your money is a reflection of what God has done in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Someone stopped me last week and said, Hey, I had lunch with a couple that was visiting our church this week, and he said, Hey, uh, you don't take up an offering.
SPEAKER_00: What's up with that?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, play Powerball, give God a chance.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy goes, No, seriously.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, actually, we receive an offering.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I saw the, I said, we have offering boxes by the doors, and he said, This is the Baptist church, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yes, it says it on the sign right out front.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't read it on your way in?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, How do you, how do you, I mean, can I?
SPEAKER_00: I said, you can ask anything.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I mean, I you need help getting it out?
SPEAKER_00: What is it stuck?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, how do you pay the bills?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, to ask and how we receive an offering?
SPEAKER_00: I said, it's just based on what God's done in these people's heart.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, I mean, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Because this is not just something that I just wrote down on paper, oh, this sounds good.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this, and the Bible bears this out.
SPEAKER_00: What you do, what I let me own this to myself, what I do with my money is a reflection of what God's done in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, verse 21, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're visiting today, just relax, there's no hard sell coming.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What you do, but I will tell you unapologetically, what you do with your money, what I do with my money is a reflection of what God has done in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: So, what should you do with your money?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you one thing you should do with your money.
SPEAKER_00: You should spend some on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And that right there will get me kicked out of the preacher's club.
SPEAKER_00: You should take your wife away for the weekend, go somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care where you go.
SPEAKER_00: Austin, San Antonio, San Francisco's even better, right, ladies?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And you should go to a nice dinner and you should look at your wife and go, we should be burning in hell.
SPEAKER_00: But we get to live large because God is so generous.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa! Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: You should spend some of your money on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give all your money away.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Because you start to feel like a money martyr.
SPEAKER_00: Work is drudgery because, oh, I'm just worker, worker, worker.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta let the donkey taste the carrot.
SPEAKER_00: Spend some of your money on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I could see your faces.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are like.
SPEAKER_00: Does he know we're building a children's building?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it lovely?
SPEAKER_00: Do you like that stone on that?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: What should we do with our money?
SPEAKER_00: You should spend some on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: That way you're not so bitter when you give.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, hey, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7, hey, let each man give as he's decided in his heart to give.
SPEAKER_00: For God loves a cheerful giver.
SPEAKER_00: That God always comes back to the heart when it comes to money.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because what I do, what you do with your money, is a reflection of what God has done in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's just the way it is.
SPEAKER_00: It's always that way.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about your bank account, it's about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: So here's another question to think about when you're driving to work tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: What does God need to do in your heart for you to think this way about your money?
SPEAKER_00: That question makes sense?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody besides me?
SPEAKER_00: What does God have to do in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: So you don't make all of life come down to, well, let's just kind of add up the numbers.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's when it comes to money, it's not math, it's music.
SPEAKER_00: And Zacchaeus just heard the music.
SPEAKER_00: He was just like, oh my goodness, yes! Fifth thing we take away from this encounter, and last thing is that God is on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: God is on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, he said, verse 9, Jesus said to him today, salvation has come to this house since he is also a son of Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, this person, this chief tax collector who is rich and who is seeking, has found what he was looking for because I was looking for him more than he was looking for me.
SPEAKER_00: He's climbing up in a tree just to see who I was.
SPEAKER_00: I want to introduce him to who I am.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a win-win thing.
SPEAKER_00: But don't kid yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're not looking for me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for you.
SPEAKER_00: You might have this gnawing sense that maybe there's something more than all my stuff, but I'm that gnawing reality.
SPEAKER_00: Today's salvation has come to this house.
SPEAKER_00: See, God is on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just curious about where you are, he knows where you are.
SPEAKER_00: He knows where you are.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your name.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine being Zacchaeus up on the tree and Jesus goes, Zacchaeus?
SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe?
SPEAKER_00: Who's asking?
SPEAKER_00: He knows your name.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what tree you've climbed to get away from this.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, it's the tree of intellectualism.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, it's the tree of, well, I have a problem with hypocrites in church and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: He's just standing at the bottom of your tree today calling you by name.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to stop making excuses.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to just spend the rest of your life making excuses.
SPEAKER_00: This is not about them.
SPEAKER_00: This is about me and you, God says.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: This whole thing started with Zacchaeus seeking.
SPEAKER_00: In reality, it's God who's the one who is seeking.
SPEAKER_00: And I just wonder, is God looking for you today?
SPEAKER_00: Do you have this gnawing sense in you that there's maybe more to this church thing than just showing up, drinking a cup of coffee, and leaving?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's this gnawing sense that it's time for you to think about a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Not religion, relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Because you say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: That's what verse 10 says.
SPEAKER_00: God is on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: What's his mission?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus explained it.
SPEAKER_00: People are just scandalously fired.
SPEAKER_00: He is gone to be the guest of a man who's a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus basically says, uh-huh, that's exactly why I came.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come here to spend my life disinfecting Christians.
SPEAKER_00: I came to seek and to save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're here today and you feel like I'm just a million miles from God, He came for you.
SPEAKER_00: And the people you're sitting around, all of us in this room have felt that way before.
SPEAKER_00: That we were a million miles from God, haven't we?
SPEAKER_00: And we don't feel that way anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because one day he came to the base of our tree and looked up and said, Neil, come down.
SPEAKER_00: I must go to your house today.
SPEAKER_00: And today may be your day.
SPEAKER_00: Today may be you're just like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: That that makes sense to me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, when I asked the first question earlier, hey, what do you need to do to get a better view of who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you just need to commit to coming to church more than just three times a year.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just need to click the switch and just say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna come and I'm just gonna gather information.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a one, but that guy said there's no pressure, and there's not.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God's seeking you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to chase you.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks a language you understand.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need some preacher, hey brother, hey, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, I I've just been coming to the big room.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I need to get into a smaller room, be it in a community group, or maybe I need to go to a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: That's when you and God.
SPEAKER_00: But let's let's be clear about this.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says we've all turned aside, we've each gone to our own way.
SPEAKER_00: No one seeks God, no not one.
SPEAKER_00: So if no one seeks God, how does God find people?
SPEAKER_00: How do people find God?
SPEAKER_00: Because look at me.
SPEAKER_00: God's seeking for them, He's looking for us.
SPEAKER_00: We're climbing the tree, He's coming to the tree and kind of going, hey, I know your name, I know where you are, and I want a relationship with you.
SPEAKER_00: That's as easy as it gets.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus came.
SPEAKER_00: Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd has always got it wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And they always will.
SPEAKER_00: Find the courage to come to some convictions about God on your own.
SPEAKER_00: With the aid of the Holy Spirit and a seeking Jesus and a loving Father.
SPEAKER_00: You'll get it right that way.
SPEAKER_00: Depart now and live in light of what you know to be the truth.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you, you're dismissed.