Jan 17 2012

Zaccheus

Luke 19 1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. 3 Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a [a]sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he hurried and came down and received Him [b]gladly. 7 When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone [c]to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I [d]will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I [e]will give back four times as much.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

1 Zaccheus wanted to see Jesus

 Matthew 5:8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

Zaccheus’ name literally means “pure”!

His motive was pure.  He didn’t care about any selfish need. All he wanted to do was see Jesus with his eyes!

His faith was pure.

Matt 17:20 …”I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.
Zaccheus wanted Just a glimpse of Jesus – The woman with the issue of blood wanted just to touch of the hem of His garment – Jarius asked that he would just send a word… Faith a grain of mustard can move MOUNTAINS!

How bad do we want to experience Him?

Zaccheus, because he was a SHORT man ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree ahead of a crowd that hated his guts!

The most hated profession of Jesus’ time was the tax collector.  Tax collectors stole and cheated to obtain their own wealth.

The stereotype was that Zaccheus was the same. They would only see him the same.  Whether he became rich because of his profession is never confirmed in the story. All we know is he was guilty by association!

Are you willing to remove any obstacle that is in your way?

  • Every critic
  • Every excuse
  • Every lie that tells you that you aren’t good enough

2 Jesus wanted to see Zaccheus!

James 4:8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

Jesus saw His desire, called him down and invited Himself to dinner!

When the religious world condemned him and labeled him, Jesus spent time with him.

Jesus wasn’t just passing by, He was coming FOR ZACCHEUS!

He isn’t just passing by… He’s paying YOU a visit!

Jesus is the friend that sticks closer than any brother.

He wants to be your friend

When Jesus proved to this tax collector that He was going to invest His time, He built a relationship

3 Jesus is now seen THROUGH Zaccheus!

Church history tells us that Zaccheus preached the gospel and traveled with Peter the Apostle.  He died a martyrs death for preaching the good news.

JESUS saw him differently

Isn’t it time to see others through Jesus eyes instead of identifying someone as a sterotype through our own experiences with those who have something in common with them?

Other races, socio-economic groups, professions.

Closing 

Zaccheus did more than just see Jesus. He received the gift of life!  Because of the love Christ extended to Zaccheus, he pledged to do whatever it would take to make sure that his identity wasn’t in greed, but it was in the call and purpose of Christ.

Jesus wants to see you, and be seen through you!

Who will you extend grace to? Who do you know that is “bad news” but needs to see God’s grace at work?

Jesus risked His reputation to love Zaccheus.

 

While I was preaching this message, an older man who was shorter than I am pulled in the parking lot in front of The Refuge and totally distracted me.  He pressed his face against the glass to get a good look in. I lost my entire train of thought as I wondered why he was there.  He came in, and had a seat and we welcomed him.  As I was closing, he asked if he could share a prayer request and a “testimony”.  He shared how a friend of his has been diagnosed with cancer, and it didn’t look good for him.  Immediately, my mind put him into a stereotype.  Thankfully I wasn’t the only one though.  As he shared his friend’s story, he went on to say that God has provided for him financially, he was just asking Christian people to call on the Lord for him!  
What an illustration!  
Please pray for Mr French and his family.  Believe God for big things to happen, that cancer is defeated in his life, and that he puts his trust in the Lord for the rest of his life!
Jan 9 2012

Embrace God’s Grace

Here are some points to remember and declare over your life from the message at The Refuge Sunday morning:

Text

Eph 2: 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

His Grace is greater than my past

2 Cor 5:17 anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Eph 2:13 …but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

You don’t have to worry about your past, it’s under the blood of Jesus Christ.  Under His blood your past doesn’t define your future.

Faith is what propels you to your future – Hebrews 11:1 – Faith is the evidence of Things not seen!

You stay in your past through condemnation.

His Grace is greater than my pain

2 Cor 12:7-10 7 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

His grace is sufficient in weakness! Your heart may be broken, body wrecked with pain, and His grace is there to carry you through.

The grace of God can carry you through the most painful times of your life.

When you are mindful of His grace, those that cause you pain are met with the forgiveness and grace working in your life. When this is in place, We forget about our right to judge those who hurt us, and are encouraged by His grace that none of us deserve!

His Grace is greater than my performance

Romans 7:21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Paul, just like you and I fought between what we have every good thing we have intention to do, and the sinful nature that drives us to do the opposite.  Thank GOD, the answer is in Christ! His Grace is not affected by your performance.  Performance has no bearing on how much grace He has for you!  No matter how well, or how poorly you perform, His grace is given FREELY.

Next week we will talk about our Response to His Grace.

Dec 29 2011

What’s next?…

Many have been asking, there has been some speculation, and we have not been clear ourselves at times as to what is next for us. Now we are clear, so Melissa and I are proud to be announcing it right here on my blog…

Back in the summer, we started the process of praying over what was next for us… I spoke to friends, mentors, church planters, family members, and we prayed much about it.  We felt like God was going to do something great in Mt Washington, KY and we were going to be a part of it. Of course the first thing that came to mind was to start a ministry. We wanted to do something out of the box, and different than what everyone else is doing, reaching people that are not being reached, because there were already good churches in the area that were well established.

Little did we know, a couple with whom we we had been vaguely acquainted with were feeling the call of God for the same idea during the same time.  We quickly found one another, and it was clear that we were not to start what would look like an identical ministry across town from them. We had similar experiences, visions, and doctrine. We were all so very open to obey the Holy Spirit. So we joined together with Richard and Mindy Watson to help them as they started “The Refuge” as co-laborers in the harvest of souls.

In a short amount of time, The Refuge has become a ministry to students and has become the talk of the town. The mold was broken of how ministry is traditionally done, and how a ministry grows.  Lives are being changed one at a time, and attendance has exceeded our wildest expectations.

As a result of God prospering The Refuge in the way that He has, we have seen a new need for outreach – the families! Because Richard and Mindy are so well entrenched with these students, they can’t focus on the parents outside of the relationships they have built through the students.  And to invite the parents to the student gatherings could discourage some of the students from coming, as it has become “their” time.

So we are excited and honored that we were asked to take on the task of serving in the part of the ministry that would touch the spiritual needs of these families. We will hold weekly Spirit-led family worship times, lead Bible study/Discipleship groups, and provide marriage mentoring. But most importantly, we will do what The Refuge has been founded to do – give them Jesus.

Reaching Real People, who have Real Problems with the Real Solution.

We ask for all of our friends and family to pray for us as we start working.

  • Pray for our family, that the Holy Spirit protect us and keep us renewed before Him.
  • Pray that we remain humble, and that we will always be listening to the heartbeat of God in everything we do.
  • Pray for the people we are reaching out to. Pray their hearts are open to the Gospel and to the healing power of the blood of Jesus.
  • Pray for the ministry of The Refuge, as well as Richard and Mindy. Pray that we will all stay faithful to the vision God has placed before us.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. We are looking forward to what God is going to do as we put our hand to the plow!

Meanwhile, check us out – www.therefugeky.com and find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/therefugeky