The story of Zacchaeus reveals the power of Jesus to break down spiritual walls and change everything in your life. You will hear about overcoming distractions, experiencing real connection before condemnation, and responding to the love that brings true transformation. Leave behind shame and sin by refocusing on Jesus and letting His presence bring new freedom and hope.
Luke 19:1-9; John 12:32, 13:34-35; Romans 3:23, 6:1-7; 1 Corinthians 13; Hebrews 4:16; 1 John 1:8
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Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Well, hello. I'm glad
Speaker:to be back in the house with you guys today. Thank you for
Speaker:letting Shari and I take a few weeks out to rest
Speaker:and be with family. And I came back to
Speaker:700 emails, but I'll get to them at some point,
Speaker:I'm sure. No, we are super excited to be back with you guys.
Speaker:I told the Thursday night crowd that it's. Man, it's just something.
Speaker:Whenever you're out, you know, you can come back one or two ways. You can
Speaker:come back and go, oh, I gotta go back to that place. Or you can
Speaker:say, I can't wait to get back to that place. And that's really where we
Speaker:were, you know, probably even around week two, we were thinking
Speaker:a little bit in that direction, so it's good to see your faces. Thanks for
Speaker:being here this morning. I have a couple of announcements before we get
Speaker:rolling this morning into the Word. The first thing is we have a big event
Speaker:coming up at the end of the month that we've been doing for several
Speaker:years, and it has drawn, like thousands of people here
Speaker:and it's just been kind of crazy. The Lord's just kind of covered it and
Speaker:blessed it and made it fruitful. And we need your help.
Speaker:If you have the capacity to greet people, to hand out candy,
Speaker:to work a booth, maybe some time on the 31st, we'd
Speaker:like to see you on the 26th, that Sunday, last Sunday this month, we're going
Speaker:to feed you and we'd like to invite you to be a part of service
Speaker:for our annual Fall Fest. And so if you'll sign up in
Speaker:the app, we'll make sure we have enough food for you. And like I said,
Speaker:this is Cross Ministries. All the ministries are gonna be represented and serving in
Speaker:this. And so we would just ask you to make, you
Speaker:know, consider having capacity to come and serve in that way the next week.
Speaker:If you're new to Springhouse or you're newer to Springhouse, we're gonna have a
Speaker:newcomer's lunch on Sunday, November 2nd. And this is an
Speaker:opportunity for you to really meet the leadership here at the church. Hear more about
Speaker:us, ask your how do you get involved?
Speaker:And just to learn about the different ministry options that we have. And so we
Speaker:don't have this up on the app yet. Oh, between services they put this on
Speaker:the app and so you can sign up. There's the QR code. Sign up for
Speaker:that. So we have enough food for everyone there.
Speaker:So we wanna go ahead and put that on your
Speaker:radar next. Yesterday I went and Visit. Boy, it's been an
Speaker:active weekend. It's been an active weekend, but yesterday I went to go our brother
Speaker:Chris Mincy, who is in the hospital and got to spend some time with Chris.
Speaker:And, man, what a precious soul with a testimony, just a
Speaker:testimony of life. And I
Speaker:told Chris that we would pray for him. And he's watching right now on
Speaker:Livestream. And so what I'm gonna ask, can you do this for me,
Speaker:cameraman up there? I can't. Is that Chuck? I can't see who's behind the
Speaker:camera. Would everybody stand and would you face that camera? And I'm gonna let
Speaker:you take that camera and pan across so Chris can see everybody. Y' all just
Speaker:wave at. I'm going to start waving. I'm hoping we're going to be panning the
Speaker:camera real soon here. Are we panning it? We look in the right
Speaker:direction. Okay, let's pray. Father, thank you so much for Chris
Speaker:Mincy. Thank you for his life. I thank you, Lord, for the doctors that you've
Speaker:surrounded him with. I pray for Jeanne and Chris right now. I pray for peace.
Speaker:And I pray, Lord, that you would heal Chris, God, I pray that you would
Speaker:touch him and that his testimony would continue to unfold. Of your faithfulness, God,
Speaker:I thank you for his life, God, and what he means to this body. Touch
Speaker:him today in Jesus name. And everybody said,
Speaker:amen. Thank you. You may be seated. So we were
Speaker:at sabbatical and we were able to get out of town a little
Speaker:bit. And this is my family. And if you wonder kind of what you do,
Speaker:like, what did we do? You know, for the most part, we did nothing, which
Speaker:is very abnormal for the o' Day family. But mostly we did nothing and we
Speaker:played hide and seek. You know, I mean, you gotta have a good game of
Speaker:hide and seek in the house that you're in. And that's
Speaker:Ruby. And we found her, and that was. That was good. So we
Speaker:did bring back all four of the kids, and they are here today.
Speaker:We're going to continue our series, the Greatest Stories
Speaker:Ever Told. And I did get a chance to watch each of the week's
Speaker:messages when we were gone. And, man, what rich soil. We are so blessed. And
Speaker:I just want to thank Pastor Barbee and the leadership team here for holding down
Speaker:the fort. The church has not burned down. We've got. Everything
Speaker:is moving forward, and we are just a blessed people to have
Speaker:such an anointed team of teachers and minister.
Speaker:So just thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for Allowing Shari and
Speaker:I this space. So we are going to get into the
Speaker:scripture of a story that's really familiar, I think, to a lot of
Speaker:us. But before we do, I want to talk a little bit about the
Speaker:introduction of it. We're going to talk about a man named Zacchaeus today. Can you
Speaker:say Zacchaeus? Can you spell Zacchaeus?
Speaker:I learned to spell it. That was
Speaker:rhetorical. So
Speaker:when we start the passage, we're looking at Jesus, and Jesus is.
Speaker:He's about to enter this city named Jericho. Okay? Now,
Speaker:Jericho, the word Jericho, it literally translates into the word
Speaker:walls. If you remember Joshua and the army walking around the walls
Speaker:of Jericho. So Jericho translates through
Speaker:walls. Translates walls. And Jesus is
Speaker:walking through Jericho. And if you'll go with me, I believe that Jesus on
Speaker:is about to walk through some walls. Metaphorically, he's gonna walk through
Speaker:walls. And I believe that the same Jesus who walked through walls on that day
Speaker:is the same Jesus who can walk through walls today in your life. And so
Speaker:I believe today that Jesus wants to walk through some of the walls that we
Speaker:put up. He wants to walk through some of the walls of the issues that
Speaker:divide us. He wants to walk through some of the walls of politics,
Speaker:the walls of pride, the walls of religion, the walls we built in our own
Speaker:hearts. And when he passes through, he doesn't just want to get through to the
Speaker:city, he wants to get through to us. He wants to get through to us.
Speaker:And so if we would lay down for just a moment the distractions that
Speaker:we drug into this place, I believe that the Lord, the God of the universe,
Speaker:will minister to each of us today. Can we do that? Are we ready? Would
Speaker:you stand with me? We're going to read from Luke, chapter 19. Now, you
Speaker:probably were off the hook for a little while while I was gone, but I
Speaker:want you to read with some gusto today. Read like you mean it. Here we
Speaker:go. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
Speaker:A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was the
Speaker:chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see
Speaker:who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not
Speaker:see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and
Speaker:climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him, since Jesus
Speaker:was coming that way. When Jesus reached the
Speaker:he looked up and said to him, zacchaeus, come down
Speaker:immediately. I must stay at your house today.
Speaker:So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
Speaker:All the people saw this and began to mutter, he is
Speaker:gone to be asked of a sinner. But
Speaker:Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord,
Speaker:here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor.
Speaker:And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay
Speaker:back four times the amount. Jesus said to him.
Speaker:Today, salvation has come to this house because this
Speaker:man too is a son of Abraham. For the son of
Speaker:man came to seek and to save the lost. Can we read that last part
Speaker:again? For the son of man came to seek and to save the
Speaker:lost. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it brings life.
Speaker:I thank you that it's true. Transform us today through the power of
Speaker:your word and let everything that I have to say that comes from me
Speaker:fall in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen,
Speaker:boy. If there's anything I know to be true, it is that we are a
Speaker:culture full of distractions. We're a culture
Speaker:full of distractions.
Speaker:And in the midst of distractions, when anybody tries to actually say anything to you
Speaker:that is worth meaning, anything that you need to pay attention to, that would really
Speaker:be life changing. It's very hard to cut through, through all of the distractions because
Speaker:you can't hear, you can't really see. It's very difficult to really tune into that.
Speaker:If you'll stand, I'll give you your blessing.
Speaker:We are a culture full of
Speaker:distractions. We live in a world full
Speaker:of noise, headlines, arguments, opinions.
Speaker:Everyone wants to debate what's right, who's wrong,
Speaker:who's really standing up for the truth. And
Speaker:I might suggest today that we start here, that the biggest
Speaker:distraction the enemy can use is to get us focused on anything other
Speaker:than Jesus. The biggest distraction the enemy can use
Speaker:to get us focused on anything other than
Speaker:Jesus. Last week in the message Pastor Ronnie brought, he
Speaker:was talking in a moment about how the issue, sometimes we put
Speaker:the in the center. We make that the focus. Other than Jesus. Well,
Speaker:I want to talk about something today that's a little bit closer to home,
Speaker:a little bit closer to home that every one of us deal with. And I'll
Speaker:get to exactly what that is in just a second. But this
Speaker:is why we gather here. It's not to take sides, but to take
Speaker:the time to lift the name of Jesus. And I
Speaker:believe that the biggest lie, Listen to me, the biggest lie that
Speaker:the enemy can render is that Jesus big
Speaker:enough or good enough to fix whatever's broken,
Speaker:heal whatever needs to be healed, and bring clarity where there's confusion.
Speaker:When we are distracted and we're looking at anything else but Jesus, we
Speaker:begin to believe the father of lies that Jesus is
Speaker:not enough. And so then we insert ourselves and we operate in our own
Speaker:opinions, our own ideas, our own limited understanding of Scripture, our
Speaker:own limited ideas, our own limited experience. Experiences. And we begin to assert
Speaker:them as truth. And that's very dangerous. It's very
Speaker:dangerous because we can walk as if there's truth where
Speaker:there's actually a lie.
Speaker:There's a lot of distraction out there today, and I want to be
Speaker:very clear at Springhouse that we believe in
Speaker:the Word of God. We believe in the whole
Speaker:truth, nothing but the truth. We believe in the
Speaker:Word of God. We believe it is the inspired word of God, and we
Speaker:believe that it is the transformative word of God in your life. When you pick
Speaker:it up and you open it, the Holy Spirit will engage you
Speaker:in the words that come up. The Word tells us that the Word of God
Speaker:is alive and active, and it is alive and active in your life
Speaker:when you engage it. It doesn't do much when it's sitting on a shelf
Speaker:collecting dust, but when you open the
Speaker:Word of God and you begin to be saturated with the truth of words,
Speaker:of the Word of God, it is transformative. It will change your life.
Speaker:And here at Springhouse, we believe in the entirety of the truth of
Speaker:God's Word. We believe in everything that it says,
Speaker:everything that is in the Word. That's what we base our life. It is a
Speaker:light unto our path, okay? And so we believe in the Word
Speaker:of God, but the distractions are so thick
Speaker:around us that we tend to become more desperate for
Speaker:answers to issues and the need to feed into the cesspool
Speaker:of gossip and opinions that we have no or little
Speaker:desperation for Jesus. And I want to
Speaker:ask you today, church, where is your desperation for
Speaker:Jesus? What is your desperation level
Speaker:for Jesus? Where is your desperation for Jesus? We're talking about a
Speaker:man in scripture by the name of Zacchaeus who
Speaker:I believe was desperate to see Jesus.
Speaker:Desperate to see Jesus. What was going on with this Jesus
Speaker:that he had heard of? There are four. There are four
Speaker:characters in this story. There's Zacchaeus.
Speaker:There's the crowd. There's Jesus.
Speaker:And there's you. There's you.
Speaker:You see, here's the thing. I believe that the Word of God is alive and
Speaker:active, and sometimes we separate ourselves from the
Speaker:stories that we find in scripture. But they are there to teach us
Speaker:and to change us. And in order for them to change us, we must
Speaker:be willing to insert ourselves into the truths that come from
Speaker:God's Word. Zacchaeus is here, and he is desperate
Speaker:to see Jesus. How do we know he's desperate? Well, the. So the word tells
Speaker:us a little bit something about Zacchaeus that it doesn't tell us about some other
Speaker:people. Zacchaeus was a short little man.
Speaker:Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man. Was he right?
Speaker:We get a little bit more detail about Zacchaeus, but we also
Speaker:are told, based on what he does and based on the
Speaker:response of the crowd, we can infer Zacchaeus wasn't liked
Speaker:very much. He wasn't like. And I tend to, you know, I tend
Speaker:to. When I sit with scripture, I kind of imagine. Because, you know, when we
Speaker:talk about Zacchaeus, he's not a cartoon figure. Zacchaeus was
Speaker:a real man. He was a real man. And I put myself in
Speaker:his shoes. And I wonder because of his stature and what he ended up doing
Speaker:in his profession and how he cheated people out of their taxes. I wonder
Speaker:if as he was, as when he was growing up, if he was not an
Speaker:insecure man, if he was not someone who was made fun of and.
Speaker:And had to find ways to gratify himself
Speaker:or to bring some security to himself. I wonder what it would be.
Speaker:But it's very clear that the people hated him.
Speaker:It's very clear that the people hated him. But something was really
Speaker:interesting and strange about this particular day.
Speaker:I don't know about you, but when I go into a room and I find
Speaker:out that there's a lot of people who hate me, I'm not trying to bring
Speaker:a big spotlight to myself, trying to hide under a chair kind
Speaker:of behind a wall or get out of there. Because if I'm in a room
Speaker:full of people who hate me, I'm probably going to be subjected to their hate.
Speaker:Yes. But this particular day,
Speaker:Zacchaeus chooses to climb a tree.
Speaker:Now, I'm going to tell you, the people saw him climb this tree.
Speaker:The people saw this man who they hate climb this
Speaker:sycamore tree and say. Now, he didn't say anything. He was
Speaker:looking for something. And let me tell you who he was not looking at. He
Speaker:was not looking at the crowd. He was looking for
Speaker:Jesus. Sometimes, in order to see above the crowd, you gotta
Speaker:be willing to climb in a tree. Sometimes you gotta rise above the
Speaker:crowd in order to see Jesus. So he
Speaker:climbs this tree because he wants to see Jesus. His desperation
Speaker:to see Jesus superseded the opinions of those around him. And
Speaker:when Jesus stops and looks up, I can imagine that
Speaker:moment when Jesus comes up. Because here's the thing. I Believe Jesus had
Speaker:an encounter, a divine appointment for Zacchaeus on
Speaker:this particular day. And Jesus strolls up, passing through
Speaker:walls, all walls, supernaturally
Speaker:strolls up and he looks up in that moment and he looks up and he
Speaker:sees Zacchaeus. He doesn't see
Speaker:a thief, he doesn't see a sinner, he
Speaker:sees Zacchaeus. And he says to Zacchaeus,
Speaker:come down from that tree. I want to come
Speaker:and spend time with you.
Speaker:The people didn't see Zacchaeus. They saw a sinner,
Speaker:they saw a sinner. How do we know? Because their response
Speaker:was Jesus is going to spend time with a sinner.
Speaker:I think that's the most idiotic statement that could be said from those people at
Speaker:that time. Because that's like the pot calling the kettle
Speaker:black. The sinners are upset that Jesus
Speaker:is going to spend time with the sinner. And as
Speaker:ludicrous as that sounds, some of us operate the exact same.
Speaker:Sometimes I wonder if we aren't more excited about someone's exposure and
Speaker:punishment than we are about their freedom and grace.
Speaker:Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. I must stay at
Speaker:your house today. Here's the
Speaker:foundational truth I want us to operate from today. Jesus doesn't start with
Speaker:condemnation. He starts with connection. In
Speaker:almost every encounter that we see Jesus in scripture, he does
Speaker:not start with a judging, condemning hand. He
Speaker:starts with a relational connect.
Speaker:But a lot of us forget that what brought us into the kingdom and what
Speaker:attracted us to Jesus and what saved our life was Jesus connection.
Speaker:And all of a sudden we turn it out and flip it on its head.
Speaker:When we're treating other people, when we're seeing other people
Speaker:live their life, we start with condemnation. And if they get their life right, then
Speaker:we'll go into connection. But that's not the order Jesus
Speaker:modeled. You see? Do you understand as
Speaker:Christians, we want to attempt to be like Christ. Do
Speaker:you understand that? Is that a fundamental understanding? We're trying to be like Christ.
Speaker:Even Paul, who was a wonderful man, an incredible,
Speaker:incredible author of scripture and
Speaker:writing letters to the church, even Paul, we are not called to
Speaker:be like Paul. Paul says, emulate me as I emulate
Speaker:Christ. Our goal is to be like Jesus Christ, not to
Speaker:be like anybody else, to be like Christ. And so Christ
Speaker:is giving us these examples. I just watched the episode of the Chosen last night.
Speaker:It was the episode where he's washing the disciples feet. And I just
Speaker:sat there and wept. And I just thought, Lord, the example that
Speaker:you set in real time, the example that you set in
Speaker:real time you didn't just say it, you modeled it for us.
Speaker:What an excellent teacher Jesus is. He doesn't start
Speaker:with condemnation. He starts with connection. I was a Catholic, and then I
Speaker:was a Baptist, and then I was whatever we are, and
Speaker:I started as a Catholic. In Catholicism, where I was,
Speaker:Catholics predominantly believe that you go to the priest and you confess your sin to
Speaker:the priest, and the priest goes on your behalf to the Lord. And so I
Speaker:was eight years old, I told this story before. I was eight years old, I
Speaker:go into the priest's house and he sets me down. He says, hey, Kevin, tell
Speaker:me everything you've done wrong. So I'm like, okay, I stole a cookie from the
Speaker:cookie jar. I hit my brother in the face. I didn't do what my mom
Speaker:told me to do. And, man, he was so encouraging. It's like, good, tell me
Speaker:more. Good, tell me more. Tell me you sin there, too.
Speaker:Come here. Tell me more. He was so encouraging
Speaker:about my sin that I started to make things up.
Speaker:If there was gonna be a sinner in that house, I wanted to be the
Speaker:best one. And so I just started making up things to the point where he
Speaker:had to say, okay, that's enough. As if that's all Jesus could forgive today.
Speaker:And so there, under that teaching, I learned that I don't
Speaker:have a relationship with Jesus. I've gotta go through this man on this
Speaker:couch who's a priest to have a relationship with Jesus. Then
Speaker:I moved to the Baptist church. And this isn't
Speaker:a prod to put down Catholics or Baptists, I'm telling you my experience. But
Speaker:I went to the Baptist church and the Baptist. Man, when I got in there,
Speaker:let me tell you something, they came at me and they said, there is this
Speaker:place with fire, and you're going there.
Speaker:You are going to burn because you are a sinner and you're a bad person.
Speaker:Even so much so that I remember in third grade, they lit a candle and
Speaker:they had me put my hand into the candle flame to see how
Speaker:long I could keep my hand there. When I'd retracted it back, they
Speaker:said to me, if you don't want your soul to burn like that, you need
Speaker:to get saved. I got saved that day. I was so scared.
Speaker:My goodness. I said, jesus, whatever I gotta do, you
Speaker:know? And then they told me, you know what they told me, Barbie? They said,
Speaker:you better go tell everybody else that they're going to hell. You're going to hell.
Speaker:You're going to hell. You're going to hell. You're going to hell and scared me
Speaker:right into my salvation. So in that
Speaker:particular setting, I learned. Well, at first, I learned
Speaker:that I don't have a relationship with God. I got to go through some of
Speaker:us. The second setting, I learned to fear him, to
Speaker:run from Him.
Speaker:And if I don't get saved, I'm going to a place called Hell. I don't
Speaker:want to go there. Can I tell you that your salvation isn't about going
Speaker:to heaven or going to hell. It's about being with Jesus for eternity.
Speaker:Your salvation is about being with Jesus for eternity. But let me tell you why
Speaker:the distractions become so big in our lives. The
Speaker:distractions become so big in our lives because the luster towards
Speaker:spending eternity with Jesus is only as
Speaker:deep as your relationship with him is right now here on Earth.
Speaker:When we don't have a real, true relationship with Jesus right now, there's not
Speaker:really a luster to continue to lean into that relationship or the idea
Speaker:of we're going to spend eternity with Him. And so guess what? Gets
Speaker:boring. But it's more exciting, it's more exotic to talk about the issues
Speaker:and the sin and everything else I mentioned
Speaker:before. I wasn't going to necessarily talk about issues. I'm going to talk about something
Speaker:a little closer. And that's this issue of sin.
Speaker:It's the issue of sin.
Speaker:I want to start here. Jesus didn't come for those who think they are whole.
Speaker:He came for those who know they are broken. He
Speaker:didn't come for those who think they've got it all together and working out. In
Speaker:fact, I'll tell you, if you got somebody who's taken a glaring flashlight and pointing
Speaker:out all your flaws all the time. There's somebody who thinks that they're whole
Speaker:and are not in need of a savior. He came for
Speaker:those who know they are broken. Anybody here know
Speaker:that they're broken? Anybody in need of a Savior?
Speaker:I want to be clear. Sin is a real thing. If you have a ball,
Speaker:would you lift it in the air?
Speaker:If you don't have a ball, will you say, I don't have a ball?
Speaker:Okay, put your balls down for a second. Raise your hand if you don't have
Speaker:a ball and somebody's going to get you a ball. Quickly, we got some people
Speaker:in the back. Quickly, quickly, quickly. I need everybody to have one.
Speaker:All right, Got several down here. Come on down here.
Speaker:Thank you guys, for moving quickly. If anybody's about. We had several down
Speaker:here. We got anybody over here that needs one? Got some people over here.
Speaker:Loft you Guys, got your balls up there. Okay, everybody has one. We need several
Speaker:more down here. Pastor Will, come on, let's bring him. John,
Speaker:bring that down here.
Speaker:Let me tell you something. If you come into this church and you see a
Speaker:basket of balls out there, before you come into this place, you need to grab
Speaker:one. Okay?
Speaker:Has everybody got one?
Speaker:Logan and Kelsey need one over there. Need two, actually.
Speaker:All right, who does not have a ball? Everybody has a
Speaker:ball. Praise God. Raise your balls in there. Okay?
Speaker:If you have a ball in your hand, you are a center.
Speaker:Keep him up.
Speaker:You are led in worship by sinners.
Speaker:You are taught from the pulpit from sinners.
Speaker:No one is exempt from the curse of being in
Speaker:a world full of sin. The Bible does not say when you get
Speaker:saved that you stop being a sinner. It says that you stop being a slave
Speaker:to sin. And in that freedom, you don't have to
Speaker:engage in the sinful nature that you're a part of, but you are a
Speaker:sinner. Here's what the word says. Keep your balls up for just longer, and if
Speaker:your arm gets tired, just bring them right here. Okay? For all have sinned, say
Speaker:all. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Where it
Speaker:also says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
Speaker:is not in us. All right, now put your balls down for a second.
Speaker:If you have a pink ball, would you raise it in the air? Okay. If
Speaker:you have a pink sin, that sin is okay, you're good. This is what
Speaker:most people struggle with. So you can make that loud and proud. You got it.
Speaker:You're carrying it in. Okay? But if you've got a green ball, would you raise
Speaker:that in the air? Okay, now. Now
Speaker:this sounds a little edgy.
Speaker:You probably want to be a little careful.
Speaker:If you've got a yellow ball, I need you to try to hide that real
Speaker:fast because those
Speaker:with the yellow sin, there are people here that would like to see you leave
Speaker:the church. You're not qualified to serve. You're not qualified to teach. You're not
Speaker:qualified to leave because you're dealing with that yellow ball.
Speaker:Don't get me started on the red balls.
Speaker:But, guys, this is exactly what we do.
Speaker:This is exactly what we do. We look at each other and we
Speaker:examine. Oh, guess what? I don't have a yellow balls in. So I
Speaker:can tell you everything. I've got my opinions. I can tell you everything
Speaker:about. I don't struggle with the same thing you struggle with. So, hey,
Speaker:I'm going to just blast you with it. And
Speaker:I'm going to send an email to the pastor to say, could you make sure
Speaker:you preach on this message? Don't talk about
Speaker:the red sins, though. Every
Speaker:one of us are sinners and every one of us need the blood
Speaker:of Jesus Christ to set us free.
Speaker:And when we focus on our sin, when we make this the
Speaker:issue, we say, jesus, you are not sufficient enough.
Speaker:We need to examine this so we know how to get out of it. But
Speaker:what we don't understand is the only way to get out of it is with
Speaker:him. Is with him.
Speaker:Everyone in this story was a sinner,
Speaker:save Jesus. Everyone was
Speaker:a sinner. And sin is not just breaking the rules. This is what sin does.
Speaker:Sin separates us from living God's best.
Speaker:That's essentially what sin does. When you engage in sin, you
Speaker:can actually not be a slave to sin and be engaging in
Speaker:sin and not get God's best. God
Speaker:wants his best for you. Well, what is sin?
Speaker:Well, get in the word of God and find out. It's listed in
Speaker:here. Basically, sin is anything that
Speaker:separates you from God,
Speaker:anything that comes between you and God.
Speaker:It separates us from peace, from joy, from purpose, from
Speaker:one another, and from the presence of God himself.
Speaker:That's why he didn't spend his ministry praising the Pharisees for rule
Speaker:keeping. Pharisees looked at everybody and said, you're sinning,
Speaker:you're sinning, you're sinning. You need to straighten that out. You better
Speaker:straighten that up. You better straighten that up. You better straighten that up.
Speaker:Jesus didn't spend his time praising them. And they were getting, they were
Speaker:checking things off the list, but they missed the heart
Speaker:of God.
Speaker:And so if we're going to talk about sin, we certainly can't exempt
Speaker:ourselves from a hidden sin that creeps up, especially in such a
Speaker:volatile and polarizing climate we live in. And that is the sin of hate.
Speaker:A definition of hate is to separate, to sever, to turn away from in
Speaker:rejection. You ever heard the phrase hate the sin but
Speaker:love the sinner? A lot of us hate the sin and hate the sinner
Speaker:because our response to what's going on in their life is this. We've separated,
Speaker:we severed, and we turned away in rejection.
Speaker:And we walk around like the Pharisees
Speaker:in self righteousness because we
Speaker:forget that we too were saved from the thing that we're carrying.
Speaker:Jesus had a response to Zacchaeus that the crowd did not
Speaker:have. The crowd rejected Zacchaeus
Speaker:in the midst of sin. But Jesus
Speaker:loved Zacchaeus. And leaned in.
Speaker:Jesus gives us a command, a new command. And he says this.
Speaker:Love one another. As I've loved you, so you must love one another.
Speaker:Now, here's the thing. I hear so many people have walked in the faith for
Speaker:a while. They come, they say, well, we're supposed to be disciples of Christ. And
Speaker:so what that means is, I gotta walk with you, Barbie, and be a disciple,
Speaker:and I need to make sure you know what you're doing wrong. That's part of
Speaker:the discipleship process, is me making sure that you've got all your X's and O's
Speaker:together and all of those things. No, that's not it. He says, by this
Speaker:loving one another, then they will know that you're my disciples.
Speaker:Well, so what is love, then? If that is love, if we're supposed to look
Speaker:at people and sinners and let them know that we belong to Jesus, what does
Speaker:that look like? It is this. Love is patient. It's
Speaker:kind. It's selfless. It keeps no records of wrongs. It always
Speaker:protects. It always trusts. Here's what love does, and here's what we see
Speaker:Jesus do in the story. Love leans in closer.
Speaker:Love leans in closer. Can I tell you guys, love saved
Speaker:my life? It wasn't going to that Catholic priest. It wasn't
Speaker:in that Baptist church where I was scared because of hell. It was through people
Speaker:like Ronnie and Margaret Meek, who invited me into their home and showed me an
Speaker:extraordinary love, imperfect as they were, showed me an
Speaker:extraordinary love. The grace of Jesus Christ did not look at
Speaker:me for my flaws, but accepted me and said, come on in. Let me point
Speaker:you to him. Love saved my life. And guess what? If
Speaker:you're honest with yourself, love saved your life, too.
Speaker:Love saved your life, too. Why
Speaker:will we not allow love to render that same power to other
Speaker:people?
Speaker:Love leans in closer. We lost our dog over the sabbatical. This is Koda.
Speaker:15 years of stories and fun,
Speaker:poop and pee. It was great. We lost
Speaker:him over the sabbatical. But one of the things that this conjured up was
Speaker:a memory about when Hadassah was about three years old, we lived over
Speaker:here, close to the church. And she would
Speaker:be playing with toys or she might be watching a show or whatever. And when
Speaker:I was on my way home, Shari would say to Hadassah and
Speaker:Dakota, daddy's on the way home. And, you know,
Speaker:it didn't matter what was going on. It didn't matter. The toy,
Speaker:it didn't matter. The TV program, it didn't matter what they were eating, this
Speaker:is what would happen.
Speaker:You know why? Because they wanted to see their daddy.
Speaker:Hadassah wanted to see her daddy. And there was nothing better
Speaker:than me to pull up and see my child waiting there eagerly to see me.
Speaker:Oh, do you know that you have a father who loves you so much? Where
Speaker:is your eagerness to see him? Where is your eagerness and your
Speaker:desperation for this Jesus? Jesus says
Speaker:to Zacchaeus, he says, come down. I want to
Speaker:be with you. And he's saying to you
Speaker:today, I want to be with you.
Speaker:I'm not casting. He didn't look up and go,
Speaker:zacchaeus, you wretched sinner. You know what you've done. You know what
Speaker:you're hiding. You know it. Get out of that tree. No, he says, I
Speaker:want to come to your house today.
Speaker:I want to come to your house today. Come down here.
Speaker:Jonathan, earlier was referencing holiness,
Speaker:and that's a big buzzword in
Speaker:Christian circles is holiness. It's an important word.
Speaker:But if we're going to be like Christ, we cannot call distance, holiness,
Speaker:not separating from people.
Speaker:It's not being separated from people. It's being set apart to
Speaker:love people. That's holiness, being set apart to
Speaker:love people. Jesus says, come
Speaker:down. I want to be with you. He doesn't lecture. He invites. He doesn't accuse.
Speaker:He approaches. And I believe that's who he is. Still today,
Speaker:when everyone else pulls away, love says, I'm staying. When
Speaker:others walk out, love says, I'm coming in. When the world
Speaker:severs, love restores. And that kind of love
Speaker:is the love that changed that kiosk. And it's the only kind that still changes
Speaker:hearts today. And that's why it must be the focus. It's
Speaker:why Jesus must be in the center. And this is
Speaker:why here at Springhouse, we make every effort, every Sunday
Speaker:to make sure that Jesus is at the center of what we are teaching and
Speaker:what we are saying and who we are singing about. Every single week.
Speaker:When you walk out of here, you should be thinking about him. Good
Speaker:Lord, you got enough to think about the rest of the week.
Speaker:This is what love in action looks like. You got
Speaker:somebody dealing with sin. You see them, and here you
Speaker:are. You're a sinner, they're a sinner. Here you are,
Speaker:and you've got your eyes fixed on Jesus, and you understand that Jesus is the
Speaker:one who set you free from this. But
Speaker:this person has their focus in the wrong place. And what we
Speaker:want to do is turn them toward us and say, you need to put that
Speaker:down. You need to stop doing what you're doing. Don't you see that? This is
Speaker:the red ball. Now, if you had a pink ball, it would have been okay,
Speaker:Kurt, but you don't. You got a red ball. You understand how bad that is?
Speaker:That's what we like to do, all the while carrying our own.
Speaker:But here's love in action. Salvation. I'm a sinner.
Speaker:And my gaze and my focus is Christ. And I look over and
Speaker:I see someone whom I love struggling and looking at their
Speaker:sin. This is what love looks like
Speaker:when we look at Him. He gives us the power to lay that sin
Speaker:down. He gives us the power. He's
Speaker:the one. And because you love and you lean in,
Speaker:you show and model the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
Speaker:you, Curt. You can sit down. And it renders people free
Speaker:to see the power in the love of Jesus, the
Speaker:grace in the love of Jesus. And that's what sets people free.
Speaker:That's the power that we are able to let go of what so
Speaker:entangles us.
Speaker:The church is not a museum for saints. It is a hospital for
Speaker:sinners. And if we're honest, most of us are more comfortable with our sin
Speaker:than we are with the cure. I was at the hospital about three years
Speaker:ago with a kidney stone. Do you know when they. When I went into that
Speaker:hospital, Tina, I walked in, there was no
Speaker:question about whether or not I was in pain. I did not need them to
Speaker:come up to me and say, you're in pain. I didn't
Speaker:need them to come up to me and say,
Speaker:you look like you're screaming. You sound like you're screaming. I didn't need them to
Speaker:point out to me that I even had a kidney stone. Why was I
Speaker:there? I was there because I needed a cure. And in
Speaker:a hospital, you want them talking more about the cure than the
Speaker:disease. Give me what I need so that I can be
Speaker:healed. So why is it when we come into the church, it is a
Speaker:problem when we don't talk mostly about the cure and we want to talk
Speaker:all about the disease?
Speaker:He is the perfecter of our faith. He is the one who
Speaker:changes everything. I can't change a thing, Dustin. I don't want you
Speaker:walking in sin. I think you won't have God's best with that yellow
Speaker:ball. But all I can do in your life is to point you and tell
Speaker:you about the Jesus I've been looking at. And when you do that, you're going
Speaker:to see something from him. You're going to feel something you're going to know something
Speaker:about him that's going to cause you to go, this ain't worth it. This
Speaker:ain't worth it. And it might change your life. And when it changes your life,
Speaker:guess what? You're going to look at Tina and you're going to say the same
Speaker:thing. Look at Jesus, Kurt. Look at Jesus. And it goes on
Speaker:and on and on.
Speaker:The goal of church isn't to make bad people good. It's to bring dead people
Speaker:to life. John 12:32. When I, Jesus, am
Speaker:lifted up, I, Jesus, will draw all people to myself. It's
Speaker:not when Kevin's lifted up, not when Kurt's lifted up.
Speaker:It's not when Lisa's lifted up. It's when Jesus is lifted up. It's not when
Speaker:your sin issue is lifted up. It's not when the politician is lifted
Speaker:up. It's not whenever the teaching is lifted up. It is when Jesus is
Speaker:lifted up, when the main thing is the main thing, he will draw
Speaker:all men to himself.
Speaker:When we lift Jesus up and make him the focus, not only are we no
Speaker:longer slaves to our sin, we are free to hope for and celebrate the freedom
Speaker:in others. Jesus calls Zacchaeus down because of his love for
Speaker:Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus response to the love of
Speaker:Jesus, to the leaning in of his love is, look, Lord,
Speaker:here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I've
Speaker:cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay it back four times the amount.
Speaker:Who is he talking to? He's not talking to the crowd, he's
Speaker:talking to the Lord. Why is he talking to the Lord? Because Jesus
Speaker:leaned in. And just the presence of Jesus will illuminate
Speaker:all the darkness and cause everything that's not supposed to be there to
Speaker:flee. Jesus changes everything.
Speaker:Jesus didn't have to say a word about the sin. Just his presence
Speaker:changed Zacchaeus heart.
Speaker:So I began today talking about distractions. There's a book that I love, children's book
Speaker:called you are Special. And there is a girl in it named Lucia. And
Speaker:the basic premise of this schedule, this story, is that there
Speaker:are women, there are wooden people. And the wooden people go around and they put
Speaker:stars on the ones who do good things, and they put dots on the ones
Speaker:who do bad things. So if you are talented and you can jump high, you
Speaker:can ride the cycle, whatever it is, you get a star. But boy, if
Speaker:you trip up and you mess up and you're a failure, you get a dot.
Speaker:So they go around and they put Stars, and they put dots. They put stars
Speaker:and they put dots on each other all day long. Well, Punchinello, the small guy
Speaker:here, he's one that gets dots a whole lot. And I don't know about you,
Speaker:there might be people in here. You feel like you would be one getting a
Speaker:lot of dots. I know I would. She goes up to Punch. He goes up
Speaker:to Lucia, and he says, lucia, you don't have any
Speaker:stars or dots on you. Why don't you have stars and dots? You're a
Speaker:whimmick, just like me. And she says, oh, that's
Speaker:easy. Because every day I go see
Speaker:Eli. Pachenello said, eli? Who's Eli?
Speaker:Eli's the one who made me.
Speaker:His voice matters most. And when
Speaker:you make Eli the focus and what he says, the focus,
Speaker:none of the stickers stick. The stars and the dots,
Speaker:they fall. She says, the stickers will only stick if you let
Speaker:them. The stickers only stick if
Speaker:you let them. There are people under the sound of my
Speaker:voice who have a bunch of stars, who've got a bunch of dots.
Speaker:And you're wondering in comparison to other people, why you've got stars and
Speaker:they've got dots and they've got dots and you've got stars, all of these things.
Speaker:And you're listening to the voices around you.
Speaker:And Jesus says, listen to my voice. Listen to
Speaker:who I say you are.
Speaker:And so in that when we talk about distractions, guys, as a fellow
Speaker:believer, if Jesus truly is the way,
Speaker:you know that scripture in John that says, he is the way, the truth, and
Speaker:the life? If that is Jesus, it doesn't say, kevin is the truth, the way,
Speaker:the way, the truth, the life. It says, Jesus is the way, the
Speaker:truth. You need any of that. You need a way. You
Speaker:need some truth. You need life. It's him. And if Jesus is the way, I
Speaker:don't want to be in his way.
Speaker:I don't want my voice to be a distraction to you. I don't want my
Speaker:presence to be a distraction to you. I don't want my actions to be
Speaker:a distraction to you. Jesus is the way.
Speaker:Jesus is the way.
Speaker:You can trust him to make the wrong thing right.
Speaker:You don't have to try to be somebody's holy Spirit,
Speaker:and you don't have to be someone's distraction. This
Speaker:is Merlin Henderson, and Merlin is sitting right
Speaker:here in front of us this morning.
Speaker:Merlin's gonna go see Jesus real soon. Soon.
Speaker:He's going to go see him real soon.
Speaker:And I got the pleasure of going over their House and spending a few
Speaker:hours with Merlin. And, you know, the family told me Merlin was talking a
Speaker:whole lot more than he usually does that night.
Speaker:Merlin, you were telling me all types of stories.
Speaker:Merlin's about to meet Jesus. And I'm.
Speaker:I'm a bit jealous, to be honest.
Speaker:He's about to meet Jesus. Can I tell you something? Three
Speaker:hours of conversation. Not one time did he mention the name Donald Trump,
Speaker:Joe Biden, Charlie Kirk. Not one time did he mention sin.
Speaker:Not one time did he mention what I'd done wrong or what. Guess what? Merlin's
Speaker:gonna. Merlin is taking to the grave with him his sin,
Speaker:and he's gonna be resurrected with Jesus. But here is
Speaker:where we fall short in our understanding. Here
Speaker:is every one of us could be that close as well.
Speaker:Yet we have these walls in our life that we allow to just build and
Speaker:be strong. I'm going to build this wall. I'm going to cement this issue.
Speaker:I'm going to cement this relationship. I'm going to cement this wall against
Speaker:you and me. And it'll wait till we get to a moment
Speaker:where there is a casket here to then allow the wall to come down. What
Speaker:are you talking about?
Speaker:The reason that happens is because we're distracted people. And when
Speaker:you look at Jesus, you have no choice but to look at him and say,
Speaker:I'm going to exude love. Because, man, the love you've lavished on me is so
Speaker:much greater and weightier than anything else I've ever had.
Speaker:Marlins is a life well lived. Telling me stories about
Speaker:how he saw the people who weren't seen. The memories that
Speaker:are coming up are. Is a man being utilized by the Holy Spirit to
Speaker:bless people. And brother, you're about to hear well done, good and
Speaker:faithful servant.
Speaker:I haven't even gotten to the most powerful part of the story of Zacchaeus.
Speaker:Here's the most powerful part. When
Speaker:Jesus strolls up on that scene. I told you, it's a divine appointment. Jesus is
Speaker:walking through walls. He walks up and he sees Zacchaeus in the
Speaker:tree, and he calls out Zacchaeus name. He
Speaker:says, zacchaeus. Do you know what
Speaker:Zacchaeus name means?
Speaker:The purest one, the innocent one.
Speaker:Only Jesus can look at Zacchaeus
Speaker:amongst the crowd of sinners and look and see a pure one,
Speaker:an innocent one. And he's the only one who can look at you and call
Speaker:you by the name he's given you.
Speaker:So you in that tree today,
Speaker:you're contending with the sin issues of your life.
Speaker:Jesus wants to Lean in. And I
Speaker:apologize to you for those of you who have
Speaker:experienced hurt because Christians who were supposed to be acting like Christ
Speaker:decided to sever from you, decided to throw stones at
Speaker:you. Do you know that story about the woman in the stones? We love that
Speaker:story where they says they're all there throwing the stones and she's caught in adultery,
Speaker:right? Big sin, big time sin. That's probably a red ball.
Speaker:Our favorite part of that story is go and sin no more. We love to
Speaker:preach on that, make that the whole point. You know, the
Speaker:power of that story is not in that line. The power
Speaker:of that story is let he who is without sin cast
Speaker:the first stone. Let me tell you why. See, we forget that that
Speaker:woman had more life ahead of her. Now, I don't
Speaker:know if she tripped up in that same sin of adultery when Jesus said, go
Speaker:and sin no more, but I guarantee you she's tripped up in something else.
Speaker:And she needed that same grace that she had that day. On
Speaker:Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday. What
Speaker:she didn't need was a bunch of people holding up stones who are contending with
Speaker:the same things, ready to kill her.
Speaker:Jesus says to you, go and sin no more. Why? Because the life you're
Speaker:living in that sin is not worth the life
Speaker:that you're living. I have so much better for you.
Speaker:Choose better. Choose better. You can't do it on your
Speaker:own. Guess what? Got my Holy Spirit. I
Speaker:got people who are going to come alongside you and love you and hold on
Speaker:to you and walk with you.
Speaker:He's saying, come down. I want to be with you. And guys, this is the
Speaker:gospel. It's the cure. Jesus is the cure. That's
Speaker:the love that leans in. That's my Jesus.
Speaker:I may be pastor one more week or five more years, 30 more years, I
Speaker:don't know. But as long as I'm pastor here, we're going to center in on
Speaker:Jesus every single week. We're going to center in on Jesus every single week.
Speaker:And I welcome you to be a part of the journey because he'll change your
Speaker:life. If you go with us with those who
Speaker:are going to serve the elements, come forward. Going to end today by
Speaker:remembering why we are here.
Speaker:It's the broken body and the blood of Jesus. And so what I
Speaker:want you to do today, every one of you got a ball.
Speaker:I want you to bring that ball and I want you to drop it in
Speaker:the tub and receive the grace of Jesus through his broken body
Speaker:and the blood that cleanses all sin.
Speaker:And once you receive the broken body and the blood. I would like you
Speaker:to go back to your seat. And if you're able. If you're able.
Speaker:We used to do something back in the old sanctuary with the pews, but we
Speaker:would make these our altar space. And if you're able
Speaker:to do this, I'd like you to. I just want to invite you to make
Speaker:this your altar space. You know, we do have prayer
Speaker:time. Pastor Barb. We have prayer time here where you need. If you need healing
Speaker:and we need. Your needs need to be. That's not what this is about. This
Speaker:time today, we're going to remember him.
Speaker:And if you came in here with a wall that just seems like you can't
Speaker:penetrate, this is a time to invite Jesus into that place to
Speaker:say, lord, I've not been able to penetrate this wall. This is a
Speaker:hard place in my life. I need you to penetrate it. And let me tell
Speaker:you, he may have you do some things that you don't even understand
Speaker:because he is so much bigger than the issue or the situation or whatever it
Speaker:is. And if that's not you and you don't have a wall, there's people in
Speaker:here that probably do. Go before him and ask him that. We would
Speaker:keep him. The main thing. Guys, stand with
Speaker:me. Father, thank you so much for the bread. Thank you for the juice, the
Speaker:blood that pays for our sins. Thank you for Jesus.
Speaker:Come receive.