Commit
“Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood there and said, ‘Lord, I will give half my wealth to the poor and if I have overcharged people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!’ Luke 19:8.
The truth is that a few years ago, many of us would not have even imagined that we would be where we are today. I once saw a cartoon of two caterpillars talking about a butterfly. And one caterpillar was telling the other that it could never do what the butterfly was doing. In just a few weeks down the line, it became a butterfly. For a lot of us, just five years ago, you would not have Read the rest of this entry
Cornerstone
“You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! I will let you find me,” says the Lord…” Jer.29:13-14 [NCV]
Let me let you in on a secret; a secret I discovered from walking with God for over twenty years. The key to the supernatural and to the anointing of the Holy Spirit is hunger. The key to the Presence of God is hunger. The key to depth in the things of God is hunger. Some people are not hungry for anything. They are just satisfied. The truth is, there is nothing you can add to a bucket Read the rest of this entry
Seek Him
“You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! I will let you find me,” says the Lord…” Jer.29:13-14 [NCV]
Zacchaeus did two things right. The first was that he realized that he needed God. And the second was Zacchaeus went seeking Jesus. You cannot just sit down in your spot; you need to make the move. Seek and you will find. Read the Bible, talk with Christians, fellowship, read books, and listen to the messages – just seek Jesus! I have paraphrased today’s Scripture reference to read, Read the rest of this entry
The Tree
“And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost.”’ Lu.19:10
From the story in Luke 19:1-10 [please read], you will see that Zacchaeus and Jesus had one thing in common. Zacchaeus had just come down from a tree and in one week from that day, Jesus was going to be crucified on a tree. So when Jesus moved near that tree, he saw the cross. He saw what He came for and He could not ignore Zacchaeus. How that applies to us is simple. The tree Read the rest of this entry
True Worth
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” Eph.2:8-9 [emphasis added]
Many of us are quick to think that Jesus came to make good people better. And while we would admit that we are not where God wants us to be, but in our hearts we believe we are good. And we believe that it is because of that little goodness that Jesus came to help us to be better. I am sorry but that is not why Jesus came. Some believe that they are a little bad so they need Jesus to Read the rest of this entry
In Love
“Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the crowds were displeased. ‘He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,’ they grumbled.” Luke 19:6-7 [emphasis added]
For a heart change to occur, the second thing is, I Must Believe that God LOVES me. It is not enough to believe that God is after me because some people think that God is after them to kill them. When some people think of God coming after them, they think of a judge with a big whip searching for their errors and whacking them on the head and on the backside. For a lot of people, when they think of God all they can think of is a taskmaster. So it is not enough to say that God is after you. In fact, if you stop some people and Read the rest of this entry
God Wants You!
“When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name, ‘Zacchaeus!’ He said, ‘Quick, come down for I must be a guest in your home today.’” Lu.19:5 [emphasis added]
Pay attention to what Jesus said; I must be a guest in your home today. In other words, I am compelled to. Do you want Jesus to be compelled to go home with you today? I am here to tell you that God has not given up on you. Jesus is hanging around the tree you are on. In fact, He is shaking the tree and calling you to come down. What do you think that moment was like for Zacchaeus? He was an outcast amongst his people. He had a bad name. He was a short man. But Jesus, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, put Read the rest of this entry
Yes, You!
“When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name, ‘Zacchaeus!’ He said, ‘Quick, come down for I must be a guest in your home today.’ Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy” Luke.19:5-6 [emphasis added]
God is after you. God wants to have a relationship with you. God wants to connect with you. Zacchaeus goes out of his way to find Jesus only to discover that, the whole time, Jesus had been looking for him. Jesus looked at the tree and said, Zacchaeus come down. Zacchaeus must have fallen out of that tree. The Bible says he came down from the tree quickly. That is all the information we have. We are not told how he came down. But just imagine you were the one on that tree looking for Jesus and unknown to you He even Read the rest of this entry
Even You
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” Eph.2:8-9
In Luke 18:25, Jesus said, “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Not long after that statement comes Zacchaeus. As you can imagine everybody was waiting for Jesus to give him a show down. Everybody was waiting for Jesus to tell him the story of his life and its fullness or lack thereof. Standing there was Zacchaeus, the same man that climbed the tree because he was too short to see Jesus from the ground. His name, Zacchaeus, means the righteous one. But Read the rest of this entry
