Jesus Can Change Anyone!

My name is Garrett. My name is Rami Thurman.

My name is Samantha Farlow. My name is Wayne Sporey.

And I experienced. An unexpected moment, that.

Changed everything. I got married when I was 35.

The way our marriage, the way the marriage ended wasn't

something to discuss, but I just kind of went rogue, just went

out and you know, I've, I've got this.

I can do it all on my own. My life was a lot of drugs and

alcohol. It was a complete mess.

We felt like we were ready to start having a family and all of

a sudden we had a positive pregnancy test.

I was sitting on the couch and I was watching TV and I kind of

put my hand up and all of a sudden my fingers felt a lump on

the side of my neck. And then I got baptized.

And then even after I got baptized, I went back to

drinking for for a few months. When someone reached out to me

and cared about how I was perceived by somebody else, it

made me look in the mirror and made me reflect on who I was

being and I wanted to be more. Than I started having some

complications. We were praying for things like

Lord please let this baby live. However, just a few weeks later,

I did end up miscarrying. I was sent a message and the

message said you have cancer in that lymph node.

And then it wasn't until my wife asked me to get sober or that

ultimately we would have to get a divorce, decided to go back to

treatment for the last time. And that's when I was there.

I was let her know we had to do everything different.

It had been a very scary last several months.

I felt a little bit funny, but I went and I bought a pregnancy

test and it was positive. So we had Paisley, life was

going. We decided that we were ready to

have another baby. I ended up having COVID

pneumonia which was very serious so they needed to take Uriah by

emergency C-section. And as I went through the scans

and I went through the test, I was almost surprised that my

complaining really had no merit, because God was there.

As I standing in the water with Clayton, I realized that there

was no turning back and I had a responsibility not only to the

people that cared about me, to my family that was there, but

but to to Christ. My relationship with Christ

changed when I made it a lifestyle, making it all about

Jesus Christ. That's when the real change

happened. I don't know what the Lord has

in store, but I don't think any of us ever do.

And all of these unexpected moments have led us to exactly

where we are today, and I could not be more grateful for this

beautiful journey that the Lord's taken us on.

You you learn from this that God is good in every situation.

I hope that anybody that came here because they were invited

opens their heart to just more than that invite, because the

invite that I finally took changed my life.

Happy Resurrection Weekend crossing family.

We are so glad that you are here.

We are gathering in 48 different services across 3 states, 12

locations and joining 2.4 billion people all across the

globe to celebrate that the tomb is empty.

Jesus is who He says He is, and I say that in the present tense

because he is alive. And since the tomb is empty,

that means that when Jesus died on the cross, He made a way for

every single person to experience the love of God and

the forgiveness of their sins. And it means that not only can

people be saved from hell, but they can be saved into heaven.

And more than that, it means that you and I can experience

joy, purpose, meaning, and peace day.

Through the divine power of God, we have the strength to live a

life that we never thought possible.

Turn to your neighbor and say happy resurrection.

I want to welcome those of you joining at all of our different

locations. I want to welcome those of you

here at our 48th St. location. Those of you in Macomb in

Kirksville in 929, those of you gathering in Pike County, in

Hannibal, in Lima, in Mount Sterling, in Keokuk, in Monmouth

in Jacksonville and Weaver. I want to give a special shout

out to those of you watching online and a very special shout

out to those of you who are part of the crossing inside.

And I don't do this often enough, but when I say the

crossing inside, I'm saying to those of you at the W Illinois

Correctional Center, those of you at the Vandalia Women's

Prison and those of you gathering in the Pike County

Jail in the Adams County Jail, we welcome you to our Easter

celebration and we love you. I also on behalf of our entire

church, want to welcome those of you who are new here.

And I hope that before you leave today, you will swing by the new

here booth in all of our lobbies.

And if you're watching online, type new here into the chat and

one of our team members would love a chance to reach out to

you. Today we are starting A5 week

sermon series called Unexpected. And I have a challenge for every

single one of you. Would you lean all the way in

for this entire sermon series? If you can't attend in person,

would you watch it online? But too many of us, we have had

a bad experience with religion. Maybe you've had a bad

experience with church. Maybe you have a bad impression

or a wrong impression about God or Jesus.

However, I believe that if you would commit to the next four

weeks because you're already here for the first one, you're

already well on your way. I believe in faith that God

could do a powerful work in your life.

I believe that something unexpected could happen and I

would hate for you to miss it. So turn to your neighbor and say

I will see you next week. You better keep that promise

because you made it at church. Now I know that there are some

of you who you're going Clayton. I'm already ready to check out

because I don't like the unexpected.

It's one thing when people throw you a surprise birthday party

that kind of expected. It's OK.

It's one thing when the bill after your wife goes shopping is

less than you anticipated. That's a praise God moment.

It's one thing when the car in front of you buys your morning

coffee for you. You don't mind that kind of

unexpected. Some of you right now you are

wearing something unexpected. You pulled out clothes that you

haven't worn since last year and you are here to testify that God

still works miracles because the clothes fit.

I need you to know that is not a miracle.

That is nylon, OK? Everything I'm wearing is

stretchy. My socks, my pants, whatever

this is that my wife bought is stretchy.

My everything I'm wearing is stretchy.

However, some of you, you're dealing with a different kind of

unexpected. Some of you just got over an

unexpected tax bill. Some of you, it was your

birthday and nobody called. Some of you you're dealing with

an unexpected diagnosis that comes with an unexpected

haircut. Others of you are dealing with

an unexpected loss of a friend, a parent, a marriage.

There's no doubt that some of you are dealing with unexpected

bouts of depression and anxiety. You did not see it coming.

Some of you, you're navigating your mid 40s and early 50s and

life is not going the way you expected it to go.

It doesn't look like what you thought it would look like.

You thought it would be better, different, more fulfilling.

Some of you, you are finding yourself in an unexpected

situation, navigating unexpected circumstances and I have a

message just for you. Let me begin with some good

news. You're not alone.

I have other good news for you. Nobody knows what to do with the

unexpected, but I know somebody who can, and that is our Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ. Take Zacchaeus, for example.

You're like Zacchaeus. I feel like I've heard of him

before. Oh yeah, the guy from the song.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he?

And he climbed up in the Sycamore tree for the Lord he

wanted to see. And you might be thinking of all

the people this guy gets put in the Bible.

And for all of church history, you are forever introduced to

kids in church all around the globe as the small man in a

tree. And I don't want to put too many

words in Zacchaeus's mouth, but I want you to know something.

I don't think Zacchaeus cares one bit because that day ended

up being the very best day of his life.

Why? Well, because something

unexpected happened. Luke chapter 19, verse one and

Luke 19 · chapter mention

two. Jesus entered Jericho and was

passing through. A man was there by the name of

Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and

was wealthy. We just got done with tax season

and you might be thinking that Zacchaeus is an IRS agent.

Well, sort of, but way, way worse.

When Jesus was walking around in the Israeli dust, it was an

occupied territory. The Romans had seized control of

the region. It would be very similar to the

flag of another country being flown in the place of the Stars

and Stripes tanks rolling down the streets in the town where

you were gathered today, with another flag painted on the

side. Zacchaeus was a Jewish man who

lived in Jerusalem or in Jericho who was collecting taxes from

his fellow Jews for the Romans who were oppressing them.

No wonder the Bible goes out of its way to make mention over and

over again of the people's view of tax collectors.

How did Zacchaeus get this chief tax collector job?

He signed up for it, and he placed the highest bid to Rome

to get it. Here's what he did.

He turned in a bid to Rome, promising to collect more money

from his own people than anybody else.

And then he went out because he was a chief tax collector and he

hired other tax collectors to help him extort as much money as

possible from his own countrymen to fund his own countrymen's

oppression. Then he would go out and collect

even more money on top of what he promised Rome, and he would

keep the difference. How good was Zacchaeus at his

job? The Bible tells us he was very

wealthy. Verse three, he wanted to see

who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over

the crowd. Let's pause for a second.

I can't relate. I'm 6 foot 6.

I was probably the guy standing in front of Zacchaeus and I

didn't move out of the way. Now I have had like 1 bad

experience that kind of traumatized me.

I got invited to a birthday party at, I think it was like a

in Keokuk, Iowa, at one of the fast food restaurants when I was

young. And all the kids got to play in

the play place. And the person working there saw

me in there and said you need to come out, you're too tall.

So all my friends got to play in the play place because

apparently if you're like 2 inches too tall, the play place

collapses, which maybe you shouldn't build them then

because I've seen parents go to get their kids and it was just

fine. So you know what they did to me?

They made me eat ice cream. So I need you to know I'm not

fat because of the decisions that I've made.

I'm fat because that person who worked at that fast food place

said you can't play with the other kids and exercise and

establish healthy patterns in your life.

Here's more ice cream, fatty verse not in the text, verse 4.

So he, Zacchaeus, ran ahead and climbed a Sycamore fig tree to

see him. That's Jesus.

Since Jesus was coming that way, have you ever wondered what

would make Zacchaeus want to see Jesus so bad that he climbed a

tree? You have to think of what this

would have looked like to everybody else.

This was the most hated and the most wealthy guy in all of

Jericho, and he went tree climbing.

The guy with the nicest house, with the newest cars, the guy

with the expensive watch, with the designer suit, with the

bespoke shoes is climbing a tree.

Why? Why is the most hated man in

Jericho tree climbing? Maybe it was because he had been

hearing about all the miracles of Jesus.

He had heard that he had restored the sight of

Bartimaeus, the blind guy who lived in Jericho.

Or maybe he had heard about the sick man who was healed at the

Pharisees house just a couple chapters earlier.

Perhaps he had heard rumor of a man named Lazarus being raised

from the dead who lived in Bethany, just 15 miles away.

Perhaps he had heard from one of his tax collectors that all of a

sudden the family that had lost a loved one could pay their

taxes because he was back and working and productive and he

was like, what changed? And he'd heard these stories

about Jesus. And maybe Zacchaeus had heard

that Jesus had let another tax collector by the name of Levi

become one of his followers, and he was going.

If Jesus could let somebody that everybody else hates follow him,

maybe he would let me follow him too.

I'm guessing that Zacchaeus never thought he would be

climbing a tree, but the stories of life change were just too

powerful for him to ignore. Can I say a word to some of you?

There might be some of you listening or watching right now

and you never thought that you would be at the crossing

celebrating Easter. Some of you are surprised that

the place hasn't burned down since you walked in.

Well, I want you to know we prepared for you and we got

signed off on all of our sprinkler systems at all of our

locations. Others of you are waiting for

the roof to fall in. I want you to know we planned

for you and we got the roof inspected.

Some of you, you are here today because you heard of a marriage

that got put back together again that you thought was going to

crash. Some of you you maybe you're

here today because you've seen a change in your Co worker.

Perhaps some of you are here because you know somebody

recently got baptized. You never thought that you would

be here right now. But like Zacchaeus, you're here

today and it's a little unexpected.

And then an unexpected turn of events happens.

Verse 5, When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to

him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately, I must stay at your

house today. So he came down at once and

welcomed him. This is Jesus gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, He has gone to

be the guest of a Sinner. 4 things to note here.

One, Jesus calls him by name. While Zacchaeus had never met

Jesus, Jesus knew exactly who Zacchaeus was.

Colossians gives us some insight into this.

Verse 16 For in him that's Jesus, all things were created,

things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, All

things have been created through him and for him.

Raise your hand if you're on earth, raise your hand if

somebody can see you, things on earth and visible, that's you.

You were made through the power of Jesus and you were made for a

relationship with Jesus. You might not know Jesus, but

Jesus knows you. Second thing to notice, Jesus

invites himself over to the most hated man in Jericho's house in

an honor shame society, which is the society that Jesus operated

in. What is happening culturally

here cannot be calculated. Here's what's happening.

Zacchaeus had everything and at the same time had absolutely

nothing. He had traded in all of his

honor, all of his dignity for his worldly wealth.

Nobody liked him, nobody respected him, nobody wanted

anything to do with him. He was despised.

He was the worst of the worst. The Bible says that tax

collectors were on par in the people's eyes with prostitutes

and sinners. His reputation was in a full

blown nosedive. Meanwhile, Jesus's honor shame

society. His stock was up and to the

right like no stock you have ever seen before, climbing

higher and higher every single day.

And in an unexpected turn of events, Jesus leverages his own

honor to honor Zacchaeus, the outcast that nobody wanted

anything to do with. The most respected person in

Jericho wants to spend time with the person that nobody wants to

spend time with. Jesus is doing way more than

saying, I want to be around you. I accept you.

He's saying, Would you join me in my work?

He's looking at Zacchaeus and say, would you be my patron?

Would you help me accomplish my mission #3 Zacchaeus welcomed

him gladly. Zacchaeus no doubt had the

biggest house in Jericho and nobody to share it with.

When he built the house from extracting money from his fellow

countrymen and friends and relatives, he built a house that

nobody else would ever see. Nobody else would ever

appreciate. The biggest house in Jericho had

one man in it. Until Jesus said I'm coming to

your house today. And Zacchaeus welcomed him

gladly. And my prayer all week has been

that if you can hear my voice, that you would do the same thing

that Zacchaeus did, that you would welcome Jesus gladly into

your life today #4 All the people were muttering.

He has gone to be the guest of a Sinner.

Can I talk to you for just a second?

If you're running low on fuel, the very best place on planet

Earth is a gas station. Ladies, now that there's decent

weather out, you should be able to find them.

It's amazing how you lose track of where all the gas stations

are the colder it gets. Your husbands, your boyfriends

would like a break. When you are running low on

food, the best place to go is a grocery store.

When you are in need of some makeup, I've been told the best

place is Sephora. When you're sick, the best place

is a hospital. When you need to lose weight

quickly, the best place is the worst Taco Bell.

You can shed those pounds lickity split.

And when you are a Sinner, the very best place for you to be is

in the arms of a Savior. When you're broken, the very

best place to be is in the hands of a Creator.

When you're mourning, the very best place to be is with a

comforter. And when you're hurt, you need a

healer. When you are at your wits and

you need a waymaker. When you're in the fire, you

need somebody with you. When you're lost, you need a

seeker. When you're dying inside, you

need a life giver. And when you need to be saved,

there's no better place than with a Savior.

And that is exactly what Zacchaeus did.

He invited into one who could do the unexpected with the

unexpected into his life. I came to preach today.

The world may have told you that you blew it as a parent because

you served time, because you got hooked on drugs, because you

struggled with addiction, because you cheated on your

spouse, because you used to party too hard and you still

party too hard, and because you did a bad thing and because

you're still doing bad things, that you cannot become a part of

the family of God. But hear me, that is exactly who

Jesus came to save sinners like you and me.

Luke chapter 19, verses 8 through 10.

Luke 19:8–10

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, he's

referring to Jesus here and now I give half of my possessions to

the poor. And if I have cheated anybody

out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount Jesus said

to him today. Salvation has come to this house

because this man too is a son of Abraham for the son of man.

That's Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

You want to talk about unexpected?

The worst man in Jericho became a child of God.

He experienced salvation. Now don't get this twisted.

Salvation did not come to Zacchaeus because of his good

work of making things right with his fellow countrymen.

Salvation did not come to Zacchaeus because he gave all of

his money away and he made everything right.

Salvation came to Zacchaeus because he accepted who Jesus

was and what Jesus did. Let's go back to Colossians

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 again, verse 19. For God was pleased to have all

of his fullness dwell in him. That's Jesus, and through him

Jesus to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on

earth or things in heaven, by making peace through Jesus's

blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God

and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior,

but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through

death to present you. Check this Holy in His sight,

without blemish and free from accusation.

God, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and through

the vindication of the empty tomb, no longer sees my sin.

He sees his Son, Jesus Christ. And how does he view me?

He sees me as holy in His sight. There is no way that I could

ever get rid of all of my sin, all of my shame, all of my

misdeeds. But I don't get rid of it.

Jesus did. I accept what Jesus did on my

behalf at the orders of God, who came after his enemies, of which

I was 1. And because of Jesus, he sees me

as holy. Because of him, I am seen

without blemish and I am free from accusation.

Your wife might remember all of your misdeeds, your high school

friends might remember all of your misdeeds, but there is

nobody who can accuse you because Jesus has covered the

debt. And how do I know this all to be

true? Because the tomb is empty.

Because the tomb is empty, Jesus is the Son of God.

Because the tomb is empty, my sins were indeed nailed to the

cross, and I bear them no more. Because the tomb is empty, I

have been made right with God. Because the tomb is empty, God

really does love me. Because the tomb is empty, death

has been defeated. Because the tomb is empty, sin

has no more power. Because the tomb is empty, my

future is secure. As the tomb is empty, my present

has purpose and meaning. Because the tomb is empty, my

failures are not final. I love the phrase but now.

Because there was a time in my life when I had no purpose.

There was a time in my life where I was longing for

acceptance. But now that I have trusted

Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have found meaning,

forgiveness, and purpose. Do you have a story like that?

Let me tell you something that's not unexpected.

Jesus changes people. Why is it not unexpected?

Because I have seen it over and over and over again.

Jesus can change anyone and the resurrection proves that there

is nothing that he can't do. I don't know what you are

navigating. I don't know what you're

struggling with. I don't know what kind of

circumstances you are in, but you are not suffering from

anything that a good resurrection can't fix.

Because when there are no there are storms are no match for his

voice. Demons are no match for his

power. Disease is no match for his

touch. My sins were no match for his

blood. Death is no match for his life.

The tomb is no match for his purpose.

The stone was no match for his strength.

There is nothing that the love of God won't do to bring you

back to Him. My question is this.

Will you, like Zacchaeus, allow Jesus into your life?

Today we're moving to a time of decision.

To those of you gathered here in this room and watching online

who do not have an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus

Christ, you need to hear me say this.

You might not be for God, but God is 100% for you.

You might not love God, but God can tell you with absolute

assurance, because the cross and the empty tomb prove that God

loves you. You don't measure up, but Jesus

does, and his record can become your record today.

And you might be thinking that, Zacchaeus, there's no way that

Jesus still does that. Well, you'd be dead wrong

because I've seen him do it over and over and over again.

I would tell you that the greatest decision that I ever

made was making Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of my life.

And I would tell you that my biggest regret is that I didn't

do it sooner. And I know you're probably

thinking, of course I'm saying that, but you don't have to

believe me because I've seen him do it over and over and over

again. Watch Crossing Family.

If you're here today and the greatest decision you ever made

was making Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of your life,

would you put your hand up Crossing family, If your biggest

regret is that you didn't do it sooner, would you testify?

You don't have to believe me, but like I said, I've just seen

him do it over and over and over again.

And it's because I've seen him do it over and over and over

again. I know that if you'll let Him,

he'll do it for you. And in just a few moments,

people all around this room are going to stand and lift their

hands and their voices and worship, and some of them are

going to come to the steps and pray and just thank God for

everything that He has done on our behalf.

But you, if you've never started an intimate personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, I want to encourage you to do

the same thing that Zacchaeus did.

Would you let Jesus into your life today?

How do you do that? I'm going to encourage you to

walk right over there underneath that screen next to the

baptistry. And there'd be people there that

would love to answer some of the questions that are no doubt

bouncing around in your head. And if you don't want to make

that walk, you can turn to somebody who's sitting next to

you and or you could turn to somebody who brought you, or you

can turn to somebody that you see walking in here and you

didn't think that you would see them here.

And you're thinking maybe they know something that I don't know

and I need to figure out what it is that they know.

I can already tell you what the answer is.

The answer is Jesus, man, I just got to tell you, the burden of

our church is to help every person find what we have found

in Jesus. And that is an intimate personal

relationship with him. And I can just tell you, you

won't regret it. Would you stand with me?

Only you can do what you do. Only you can do what you've

done. And we are forever grateful,

Heavenly Father, for the love that you have shown us in your

Son, Jesus and God, I pray that right now, every single person

would know exactly what it is that you are calling them to do,

that you would make it clear, and God, that you'd give them

the courage to do it. Your name I pray.

Amen.