Where People Of God Come Together

 Devotions and Lessons
Building Relationships Through God's Love

​Scripture of the Week:
​
Psalm 63 

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
God, You are my God;
I search for You,
my soul thirsts for You,
my body yearns for You,
as a parched and thirsty land that has no water.
I shall behold You in the sanctuary,
and see Your might and glory,
Truly Your faithfulness is better than life;
my lips declare Your praise.
I bless You all my life;
I lift up my hands, invoking Your name.
I am sated as with a rich feast,
I sing praises with joyful lips
when I call You to mind upon my bed,
when I think of You in the watches of the night;
for You are my help,
and in the shadow of Your wings
I shout for joy.
My soul is attached to You;
Your right hand supports me.
May those who seek to destroy my life
enter the depths of the earth.
May they be gutted by the sword;
may they be prey to jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by Him shall exult,
when the mouth of liars is stopped.

















​
  • HOME
    • Lessons and Sermons
  • BIble Studies
  • Music
  • Refuge and Retreat Center
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact

2/22/2018

Jesus and Zacchaeus

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
 Jesus, the Word made Flesh, encounters all types of people and only a few ended up in the New Testament. The Twelve Disciples saw all the encounters and were party to most of them and there always seemed to be questions, at least to the ones recorded in the Gospels. The story of the wee little man, Zacchaeus, was no different but it was made into a children’s song. All we know about this person was that he was short, a dishonest chief tax collector with some others under him. Let’s look at Luke’s account of the meeting between Jesus and Zacchaeus:

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.  And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 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.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 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.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)

Scripture tells us that Jericho was destroyed when God had the Israelites march around the city yelling, screaming, singing and blowing their shofars. The walls came a tumbling down then the Israelites rebuild and took over the city. Many years later the Romans occupied the area and they chose locals to collect the taxes so that others would trust them. Most of these tax collectors were dishonest men with few morals because they were corrupted by the false idol of money.

ZACCHAEUS SOUGHT HIM

Now Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming into town and wanted to hear Him and see Him but couldn’t see because of being short. Jesus sees hearts and could see Zacchaeus even before he got up in the tree. Jesus knew that people would be aggravated that He chose to share a meal and stay with Zacchaeus and his family but He did it.
What did Jesus show others and how did hearts change?
First let’s review what was said of Jesus by the onlookers in the crowd, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”  Jesus had mentioned numerous times that He is here to save the sinner. By that, He meant, those who are willing to accept the fact that they are sinners. The more you willing accept the fact that you cannot save yourself on your own, the easier it is for you and Jesus to come together. He does enter houses of other Rabbis but only after He sees their hearts and if they could be turned. He also knew what had to happen for those hearts to be returned to God.

JESUS WELCOMED HIM

God welcomes home the truly repentant because they fully understand that they are not in control of their lives. Those who believe they are good to go just because they believe, have done all the sacrifices, but go right back to their lives, are not truly turned back to God in their hearts. Also, you have those who worshipped the man and not what/who He is. He is the Incarnate Word of God, to worship the man you worship flesh. He worshipped God so we should do the same.

ZACCHAEUS’ REDEMPTION

Zacchaeus somehow was immediately changed as he saw not the man, but the Word. He knew his wrongs and repented both physically and spiritually. He gave up his job, his livelihood, his life, so that he would be saved. He received forgiveness for his sins against God first by his repentance, then forgiving others, asking for forgiveness, and receiving forgiveness from man. This is an example of what man needs to do to receive have a heart filled with God.

Have you repented, forgiven, asked for forgiveness, and received forgiveness? When your heart isn’t right with people here on earth, what makes you believe your heart is right with God, it isn’t.  Remember that Jesus said that those who cannot forgive (make things right) with their family, their neighbors, should not enter the temple because their heart isn’t right. Do you want your heart to be clean? It is all up to you to make things right, then your temple cleaning will be god for God to come in and finish the cleansing.

​Be Blessed today and every day. Spread God’s Word without fear. Jesus gave us simple stories with Eternity in mind. Have a Great one.
Pastor Rob 

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Link to Retreat Center
    Blog Disclaimer:
    The messages on the blogs written on this page are within biblical adherence. Though the Scriptures listed in the blogs are directly from the Bible and other related religious writings the explanations and interpretations are in line with Biblical thinking as it relates to today’s world. The use of historical facts are to assist in the validity of the writings. The main writer of this blog site is an Ordained minister in one denomination though the views are related to all denominations so if something is said that does not fall in line with your denominational background, pray for personal discernment and understanding.

Location

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
  • HOME
    • Lessons and Sermons
  • BIble Studies
  • Music
  • Refuge and Retreat Center
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact