Skip to main content

Luke 19-20

We have now come to the story of Zacchaeus. There are 2 main things in the story that stick out to me.

 1.   Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus. 

How many times in our lives do things, people, work, and excuses keep us from God? Life is busy, sometimes too busy. There are plenty of distractions in life, distractions that if we are not careful will deter us from spending time with the Lord. The Bible leads us to understand that Zacchaeus was a “wee little man” as the song writer puts it. He could not see Jesus because of the crowd that was in his way. So, he climbed a tree. He was determined to see Jesus. Are you determined spend time with Jesus? Are you willing to push through the distractions of life to spend time with the Lord?

 2.  The second thing that really sticks out to me is in verse 10.

Luke 19:10 (ESV)
“…For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

See, people were not happy that Jesus was spending time with a tax collector. They couldn’t believe that He was going to spend time with a sinner. I think we sometimes get our priorities out of whack in this life. In a world full of busy schedules, distractions, and stress we forget or ignore the command that we are given in…

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)“…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Maybe you read this and say.....
“Go therefore and make disciples? ME?? I am so busy though, Lord?”

“I do not know how to make someone a disciple”

“That is a Pastor or missionary's job”

The truth is that Jesus came so that the lost could be saved. But the lost need someone to tell them. This is a command for all believers. It doesn’t matter what job you have or how busy you find yourself. We are all to make disciples. How many people do you encounter on a regular basis that you could share the gospel with? Is there someone right now that you can think of? Someone who has never accepted Jesus as their Savior? Let me challenge you, ask God to open your eyes to the dying and lost world around you. Ask Him to give you eyes to see the opportunities that lie in front of you. 

You never know who is searching, you never know who climbing the tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus. 

-Pastor Tony

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 134

Psalm 134 Come, bless the  Lord , all you servants of the  Lord ,     who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place     and bless the Lord! May the  Lord  bless you from Zion,     he who made heaven and earth!   What do we do when uncertainty and difficultly surround us? Lift your hands and bless the Lord! What do you have to be thankful for today? Such a simple, yet complex thought. We have so much to be thankful for, even when times are difficult. What are you thankful for? Leave a comment to encourage others below and list what you are thankful for.   I am thankful for… Let us know!    
1 comment
Read more

2 Thessalonians 1-3

There are a lot of significant thoughts about the return of the Lord Jesus in 2 Thessalonians, but there is something else of great importance that we can be doing right now. We can be praying for missionaries.    We talk a lot about the need for praying for missionaries.  We also need to talk a lot about how we should be praying for them.  Here is an acronym, taken from Scripture, that may be of some help. The acronym spells PEWBOARD.  It reminds us that although it may seem insignificant to us that all we are doing is sitting on a pew, we can be a vital part of missionary work.  We can pray.   There are a lot of missionary agencies, boards, and sending societies, on which we will never serve, but just because we are on the “pewboard” doesn’t mean we are ineffective in supporting those on the front lines.   All throughout the epistles we read of personal prayer requests from that great missionary – the Apostle Paul.  His specific prayer concerns can be a pattern to help us to
Post a Comment
Read more

Revelation 19-20

Having read earlier chapters about plagues, God’s wrath, and judgment, the last thing I expected to read in Chapter 19 was “Hallelujah!”…but there it was, not once but four times in six verses. Hallelujah is Hebrew for “Praise the Lord” and I’m told this is the only place it’s found in the New Testament. After this celebration about the end of the city of Babylon (“the great prostitute who corrupted the earth”), events we’ve all heard about are the next topics:  the wedding of the Lamb, the defeat and judgment of Satan, and the great white throne judgment. People with a lot more education than I’ll ever have, disagree over the meanings of what’s contained in Revelation. I suggest that it’s not important for us to understand the details. I agree with my Study Bible that Revelation encourages us to “stand firm against persecution and compromise in light of the imminent return of Christ to deliver the righteous and judge the wicked.”   “Amen, Hallelujah!” Elsie Shepherd
Post a Comment
Read more