Not in Church

And we want this to be a blessed year and so excited.

There's going to be some prayer walks that we'll mention here in a little while this morning, opportunities today and tonight to walk on campuses and pray literally over the campuses and classrooms and everything that's taking place.

And it is my prayer.

It's my prayer that our students will be bold.

My prayer that we would see revival.

I believe we're seeing seeds of revival, but I want to see it ramped up.

How about you?

I want to see something that can only be explained by the power of God and that they will walk in boldness.

And that we, listen, we're going to baptize three people at the next service, at the 11 o'clock service.

And I know we've got multiple baptisms already scheduled.

And as a result of the prayers that we pray today, I pray for more baptisms in the future.

And I think in the book of Acts, and I think about how the Holy Spirit fell on God's disciples in the upper room, and they came out of that upper room preaching the gospel.

And Peter stood up and preached a first sermon.

3,000 people came to Christ.

Can you imagine the celebration?

Can you imagine what it was like to baptize all those people in a short period of time?

And then we see how the disciples are sent out.

They are sent out to carry out the Great Commission.

And I'm telling you, Paul, Paul's one of my favorite characters.

He wasn't perfect, but God used him in a powerful way.

So much so, if you read through the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 14, Paul is traveling from town to town, city to city, and he goes from this um uh he's followed, he goes to this place called Iconium, and he and he and he's run out.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

I mean, they run him off.

And so he moves on to the next place.

He moves on to Antioch and to Lystra, where they literally take him outside of the city and they stone Paul.

Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Go read it for yourself.

They take stones and they throw at them and they think they've killed him.

They literally walk away believing that he is dead.

And what does Paul do?

He stands back up and he goes back into the city because he wasn't finished.

That's the kind of faith and the boldness that I'm praying for for our church and for our community and for our students.

Paul was willing to do whatever it took, whatever it took to take the gospel to people that didn't know Jesus.

You know, we don't brag, we don't talk about attendance, and we don't talk about how many people are showing up to church.

You rarely see us or hear us brag or talk or boast or celebrate just numbers in general.

And you know why?

It's because years ago, the Lord put something on my heart that that says this that God takes attendance not by counting who's here at the church.

He takes attendance by counting who is outside the walls of the church.

He takes attendance by counting the ones who have yet to be reached, the ones who are lost, the ones who need Christ.

He doesn't take attendance by counting who's here.

He takes attendance by counting who's not here.

Who is not here is the people yet to be reached with the gospel.

It's people that need Jesus.

God has called us.

Luke 19, 10, and this is where we're gonna be.

We're gonna be in the gospel of Luke today.

If you want to turn to Luke chapter 19, Luke 19, 10 says, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And you know, lost people matter to God.

Can you say that with me?

Lost people matter to God.

Now, what do I mean by by lost?

I don't want to take it for granted that you understand what I mean by distinguishing people who are lost and who are found.

People that are lost are outside of the kingdom of God.

They have yet to be, they have yet to put their faith in Jesus.

And so they're not saved.

They are unsaved.

They are not in the kingdom of light, they are in the kingdom of darkness.

They have not been found by the Holy Spirit.

They have not, they have, they have not come to belong as a part of God's family yet.

And they don't know it.

They may not feel that they're lost, they may not define that they are lost, but but they are lost without Christ.

Anyone without Christ, outside of Jesus, is lost.

And so when Jesus says, for the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost, he's talking about the lost.

And lost people matter to God.

Can you say that with me?

Lost people matter to God.

Lost people matter to God.

Something I've noticed a lot, and I just pay attention.

As I'm out in the lobby of the building, I've been doing this for years.

I love when new people come and I get to meet people, they're here for the first time or second time or third time, whatever I get a chance to meet them, I love to ask them, how did you come to know, how did you come to know about Church at the Grove?

How did you come to be here and be with us on a Sunday?

Because I want to hear, what is it?

What is it that God is doing to bring people?

And I'm just gonna be frank with you, and this is a little bit of a challenge, and it's a challenge just as much to me as it is to you, but as I ask people regularly, hey, how did you did somebody invite you?

How did you hear about us?

Most of the answers now, most of the answers that I hear is, well, we we're new to the community and we found you online.

Or they may say, hey, we we we've driven by here and we've noticed that there's some activity here, and we just thought we'd come check out the building.

A lot of people out of curiosity have come to see what's going on with this building that's been built in Little Walnut Grove.

And so what I'm missing, when I ask people, how did you come to know about Church of the Grove?

How did you get here?

I'm missing what I want to hear is so-and-so invited me.

So-and-so brought me, so-and-so reached out to me, so-and-so served me.

Now, I do hear that.

I hear that a lot.

I want to give you credit.

Church, you are a church that is welcoming and hospitable.

But I believe that God is not finished with what he wants us to do here, which is to reach people with the God.

And we we need to engage people and not let just our website be the connection point and not just let them see a building or come to just maybe an event, but but somebody would touch them and reach out to them and engage them in a personal relationship.

What are the reasons?

What are some of the reasons that we we we're hesitant to engage?

I think sometimes it's just the fear of rejection.

Sometimes it's we're busy and it's just not at the front of our mind.

I mean, we we live busy lives and we all have a lot of responsibilities.

Um, and some of us may not know what to say.

We may be scared to death.

Somebody's gonna ask us a question that we can't answer.

I mean, I could go on.

There's a probably a list of uh and tons of reasons, but but one of the reasons I believe that we are are um that we miss out on the opportunity to engage people, to invite people, and to have this sense of missional urgency.

It's just just it's just out of sight, out of mind.

When we walk out of here, we check off a box.

Hey, we've done the church thing, let's go back to doing the work thing and the family thing and the school thing and the business thing.

And listen, there's a bunch of chairs.

Nobody wants to sit on the front row.

I don't understand it, but it's the way it is.

But I want you to look around the room.

There's a lot of people in this room, but there's still a lot of empty chairs in this room.

And every empty chair to me represents a lost soul that has yet to come in and experience what it means to believe and repent, and what it means to belong as part of the church family, and to become part of the process of becoming like Jesus, and to join in building and advancing the gospel and the kingdom of God through sharing our faith and continuing to share our faith.

And so every time I walk into this building, I notice who's here, but I also notice there's a lot of empty chairs.

And so every empty chair represents, and it may not be just empty chair in the church building, it may be when you go to community group and and and as people kind of settle into your community group, there's an open spot on a couch where somebody's not sitting.

And that open spot should trigger, it should be a habit and a pattern.

Automatically, you are reminded that there's somebody out there that needs to be sitting in that spot.

And as we begin this new series called The Empty Chair, that's the focus over these next few weeks is to expand our hearts and to expand our ability to reach people.

Here's something I've come to uh that I've noticed and that I've I've read about, and that there's research out there, is one of the epidemics we have in our society is that people are lonely, incredibly lonely.

Research suggests that three in five Americans feel no one truly knows them.

Most people don't feel too sinful for church, they just feel too invisible for it.

Listen, we pass, we we pass, and we lock eyes with people every day.

Who are desperate in need of the salvation that Jesus offers.

Every day we lock eyes with somebody that Jesus has come and died for, given his life for.

Every day we lock eyes with somebody, we cross paths with somebody who is headed somewhere eternally, either heaven or hell.

Every day we cross paths with people that need to be sitting in a chair, and the one thing that might be simply standing in the way of them where they are in their life, and this empty chair that they should be sitting in is a simple invitation.

So each week we're gonna talk about the different people that Jesus went after, uh who uh uh how he how he filled empty seats and how he uh led people to salvation.

And and and we we want to give you something practical that you can walk away with.

And so the next three weeks we're gonna talk about the three knots.

The three knots.

Uh could it be an N-O-T or a K-N-O-T?

I'm talking about an NOT.

Those that are not in church, those who are going through life and things are not going well, and people who might be going through something that they are not prepared for.

And so just as you have conversations with people, it is it all it is is saying, God, would you speak to me and give me ears to listen for the cues that will remind me when people mention that they are not in church, when people mention that things are not going well, what does that mean?

It might be a sickness, it might be a diagnosis, it might be, it might be struggling issues in a family or a marriage or a relationship, things are not going well, that ought to trigger an immediate thought, man.

They just simply need somebody to invest in them in such a way that I can share the love of Jesus.

Be Jesus.

And then how about not prepared for?

A lot of people don't know something's about to happen.

We don't know.

A lot of people are uh we have things all the time.

People get sick, people, things happen.

I mean, we're there's how many of you know what I'm talking about?

There's things that happen in life and we're just simply, I mean, after after we walk through it, we realize, man, we weren't prepared for that.

And so when you maybe maybe you see a young couple walking uh through Walmart and and and and and the the wife is obviously ready to have a child.

Now, how many of you agree with me?

Especially if it's the first time that they're going through this, they are not prepared.

Anyone agree with me?

Now, I'm not looking over here for any specific reason.

And it can be something great, it can be a blessing, or it can be something that is a tragic illness, sickness, accident.

You name it, something we're not prepared for.

And so these three knots ought to remind us that somebody needs to be invited to sit in the empty chair.

Matter of fact, so today is not, number one, not in church.

And here's the big idea, a big idea for the morning is this not in church does not mean not within reach.

Not in church is not out of reach.

Not in church doesn't mean they don't have value.

Not in church doesn't mean it's impossible.

Not in church simply means they are not in church.

And it and it should be a sign that we need to be sensitive.

And as we read through Luke chapter 19, we see a story about a wee little man named Zacchaeus.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Verses 1 and 2 out of Luke chapter 19, it says, He entered Jericho.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Y'all know that now all of us that have grown up in church, especially those of us that that um uh there's songs written about Zacchaeus, right?

Zacchaeus was a wee little man.

A wee little man was he.

Climbed up.

Come on, sing it with me, church.

All together now.

It says he entered Jericho and was passing through, and there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

So the first thing we learn about Zacchaeus is not that he's a wee little man, it's not about his size or anything like that.

It says he's a chief tax collector.

He's a tax collector, but he's not only the tax collector, he's the chief tax collector, and he's rich, and those two things go together.

Anybody work for the IRS in here?

Don't raise your hand.

I don't don't want to know.

So, so we just like we, I mean, when we talk about the IRS, it's I would say nine out of ten times, it's probably not out of a positive context.

And and and so back then it was much worse.

Tax collectors um in that culture uh were were were criminals.

I mean, they were treated like criminals by their own people.

See, this is during a period of time where the Roman Empire has expanded and is pretty much controlling the whole world, and including this little spot called that we call Israel or Palestine in the middle there of the Middle East.

And God's people reside there and they've been conquered by this empire, the Roman Empire.

And the Roman Empire is gonna demand taxes from these people, and the the way that they, their primary means by which they would uh go and collect taxes is they would pick someone out of the Jewish people, out of the Jewish population, and they'd say, hey, you're gonna be the tax collector.

And what they would do is they would basically uh just wear people down, collecting money.

Now, how did they make their money?

How did Zacchaeus get rich?

It was through a commission-based system.

The more he collected, the more he made.

The more he collected, the more hated he was.

But the more he collected, the more money he had.

And so can you imagine?

Zacchaeus coming to your house, you knowing what he's coming, he's coming to take money out of your pocket and put it into the pockets of the Roman Empire.

And he's gonna keep a portion of it for his own, um, for himself.

It's gonna be his commission, so to speak.

And to say that Zacchaeus was disliked would probably be an understatement.

As a matter of fact, Zacchaeus was not in church partly because he was not welcome.

A tax collector, or and of course, he's a chief tax collector, which means he was hated even more because he's in charge of part of the system.

He he was considered unwelcome at the temple.

See, in Jewish life, everything was centered around the festivals that happened at the temple throughout the year and the sacrificial system, and and and even if you lived in a different location, you know that you would travel uh several times for these festivals, and and and so uh Zacchaeus would not have been welcome uh to come to the temple for worship.

He would have been considered unclean for it, and not only that, they had a synagogue uh system in place by this time.

We know that Jesus, Jesus was part of the synagogue in a little town called Capernaum, um, and and and so that was that was kind of how they would worship in their local context.

They couldn't always travel the long distance to Jerusalem, and so those were big festivals that they would travel to uh several times during the year, but on a weekly, daily basis, they would experience worship in the local synagogue.

And and and Zacchaeus was considered unclean and not welcome to come to the local synagogue for worship.

So much so, the religious and social uh ostracism went beyond just worship restrictions.

Jews were forbidden to receive money and even alms from tax collectors.

By the way, if if if if somebody who doesn't know Jesus comes and hands me a big check, I don't ask him where it comes from.

We're gonna take it, okay?

I just want you to know that.

We'll take the devil's money and use it for the advancement of the gospel all day long.

But in here, they hated the tax collectors so much they would not even accept his money or his offerings to the temple.

In other words, Zacchaeus is the guy who was not in church.

Zacchaeus is the one who has left the chair empty.

But just like God doesn't give up on your family, God doesn't give up on your spouse, God hasn't given up on your child, God hasn't given up on your parent, God hasn't given up on somebody in your life that's important.

God did not give up on Zacchaeus as evil as he was considered.

Look at verse 3.

It says he was trying to see.

He was trying to see who Jesus was.

See, Jesus is coming to the town.

He's coming to Jericho.

And so he says he's trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able to see him because of the crowd, since he was a short man.

He was a short man.

So running ahead, he climbed up in the sycamore tree to see Jesus since he was about to pass that way.

Because look at what this not in church man does.

He demonstrates to us that just because you're not in church doesn't mean you're not interested.

He cares about the deep things of life.

He's heard about this Jesus.

He's heard about Jesus who spends time with sinners.

Who's the man that eats with sinners?

Hangs out with sinners, that hangs out with people that don't look like him or act like him or live like him.

Jesus does.

He's heard about him.

And so he wants to get to see Jesus.

So what does he do?

He runs ahead of the crowd.

Which, if you are an older man in Jewish culture, it would have been considered undignified.

Now, I would imagine if I watched some of you older men run, I would consider you undignified as well.

If you saw me run, you would laugh.

Because I would probably seem undignified.

But he runs ahead.

He's got to pull up his robe and he and he's grown men just don't run.

And not only does he run ahead, what does he do that that grown men don't do?

He climbs a tree.

Who climbs trees?

Kids climb trees.

But you know what?

People who are hungry for love, hungry for life, hungry for hope, hungry for peace, hungry for meaning and significance, they'll do crazy things.

That's why we see people live their lives in crazy ways.

Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint.

And they're searching for hope and meaning significance.

And so Zacchaeus is hungry and interested in the truth, even though he is not in church.

He is looking.

As a matter of fact, you could write that down.

Not in church does not mean not interested.

He throws away his pride, he throws away his dignity, and he climbs a tree in nice clothes just to catch a glimpse of Jesus.

And there are people that are in your life, there are people that are in your families, there are people in your circle of friendships, there are people in your office, there are people that you're going to be in class with starting this week.

There are people who are willing to climb proverbial trees.

They do silly things in life trying to find hope when really what they're looking for is the love and acceptance of a heavenly father.

And so not in church does not mean not interested.

We live in a society where I think a lot of people are interested.

A lot of people are confused by a lot of our mess-ups and trying to be the church that God's called us to be.

By the way, there should not be an expectation that when you show up in church that everybody is perfect.

We're family.

And if your family is anything like my family, it's not perfect.

I love getting my kids together.

And I sometimes I want to hear them argue and banter and just crawl each other's case because it reminds me of what it was like when they were all at home and it was sweet.

And I hated it back then, but I love it now.

So people are climbing proverbial trees, they're wrestling with God questions.

They want somebody in somewhere to feel safe to be able to talk through their journey.

In verse 5, it says, when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus, Jesus was running through, walks through this crowd.

And he looks up and he sees Zacchaeus.

He knows what's going on.

Matter of fact, I don't believe that Zacchaeus so much climbed the tree because he wanted to see Jesus.

I believe he climbed the tree so much that Jesus wanted to be able to call him out personally.

He climbed the tree because Jesus wanted everybody else to see this interaction and this conversation.

He said, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.

What?

This man of God is going to go to the home of a not just a tax collector, but a chief tax collector.

He's going to go to this guy's house unclean, unpure.

He is our enemy.

He is not worth the time.

He's not worth the energy.

He's not worth, but listen, that's how Jesus is.

That's how our Savior is.

It's not so much that he cares about the crime, he cares about the criminal.

Listen, it's not about how great the sin may be, but it's the person behind the sin.

Jesus cares about lost people.

Jesus cares about every person.

Some of the people that you think, man, I do not want to invite them.

I don't want to invite them because I don't like them.

Those are the people that God's going to probably put on your heart first.

Here's what we learn with this is that it's Jesus is modeling this idea that sometimes relationship comes before repentance.

There is a relationship that God wants to establish between us and the people in our circle.

And yes, one day we're going to share the gospel and we're going to see them turn and put their faith in Jesus.

We're going to watch them go through the baptismal waters.

But you know what it starts with?

It starts with the relationships.

It starts with an engagement.

It may just start with looking somebody in the eye.

It may start with a thank you or a please at a restaurant.

It may start with just giving a tip to a server who maybe doesn't feel like, you didn't feel like they earned their tip, but because of the grace of God that's been shown to you, you are going to be showing the grace of God through your generosity.

And but because you see people this way, you understand that it is a relationship that begins the process that leads to repentance.

It's the way that God reaches us.

Romans 5 says, 5.8 says that God demonstrated his love in this way that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us.

So you didn't come to Christ because you deserved it.

You didn't come to Christ and come to church because you were worthy of it.

You came because you needed Jesus.

So how does this look like what does it look like in practice?

It might be that you seek to actually get to know your neighbors.

And just the person you wave at across the yard, you actually learn what their name is.

It means that wherever you are, wherever God has placed you in your job and your profession, that's not just a place for you just to make money so you can feed your family and put a roof over your kids' houses.

God puts you there for divine appointments.

Because there's people that have yet to be reached.

There's people that need to sit in these empty chairs.

It looks like having people into your home who may or may not believe the same as you or look just the same as you, but you show hospitality because you care about people.

And it's not like, listen, it's not like we're we're we're we've got a project.

People are not projects.

Listen, people are created in the image of God, and we should be seeking out relationships with anybody and everybody we can because every person matters.

It might be sending a text during a difficult time in their life.

It might be taking a meal, it might be just simply being a friend without an agenda or a script.

And sometimes it might be just just showing simple kindness.

Verse 7, look at this.

It says, All who saw it begin to complain.

All who saw it begin to complain.

He's going to stay with a sinful man.

So they're all, who's saying this?

This is all the religious people.

He's going to Zacchaeus' house.

He's going to eat with a sinner.

He's going to stay at Zacchaeus' house.

He's the chief tax collector.

Man, I would hope that at some point that somebody would blame me for hanging out with people who struggle, who have issues.

I want that label.

I want to be friends with people that don't know Christ yet.

I want to be friends because those people matter to the Lord.

You know who typically has a problem with people like Zacchaeus?

Church people.

Church people.

I've got a pastor that I wouldn't call him a friend.

He's invested in my life.

He's an acquaintance, but he he tells a story about the a church that he went to that was uh and he's he's grown he's grown this church now.

If I mention his name, you would know it in the Atlanta area.

But he shares about the first time he went to this church, and and he he began to witness to people and invite them to church himself.

And so he went, he he he brings this whole family to church that he that he basically led to Christ by going into their home and through a relationship and a friendship.

And so he leads them all to Christ and he explains to them, hey, what you do.

And this is back in the old days.

Hey, what you do is you sit in church at the end of the church, at the end of the service, I'm gonna offer an invitation for you to come and to present yourself as professing your faith and you can join the church.

And so he has them sit right here on the on the front uh pew back then.

Uh there's a chair in church.

That's what we call chairs in church, pews.

I don't know, it's a strange name for chair, but but y'all remember pews.

And so they're sitting in the pew, and and and this lady has been in the church probably for uh at least 80 years, because she's probably a hundred years old, and and so she's walking up uh to and she she realizes they're sitting in her seat.

And so she just stands there.

And imagine, have you ever, you've been, you know what it's like to be new somewhere?

So the husband looks up and says, ma'am, can I help you?

And she says, Yeah, this is my chair, this is my pew, this is my spot.

And the pastor has already taught to his family and said, Hey, hey, at the end of the service, all you gotta do is step right up to the front and we'll welcome you into the fellowship of God's family.

And I and I'm I say a little old lady, it could be a little old man, it could be, it could be somebody middle-aged, it could be a young parent, it could be anybody who doesn't get it.

They think they own the church, they think they're in charge of the church, and so what happened?

That family got up and went to the back row and sat.

And at the end of the service, when the pastor started giving that call and that invitation, they walked out the back door and never stepped foot in that church again.

God forbid that happen here and I ever find out.

And what watch what happens.

Verse 8, but Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, look, I'll give half my possessions to the poor, Lord.

And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.

And look at what Jesus says in verse 9.

Today salvation has come to this house, Jesus told him, because he too is a son of Abraham.

This unchurch man who'd wrote up, wrote off, who everyone had brought off, is now giving half of everything he owns away.

And not only give half of everything he owns away, he begins to methodically pay back everything that he's taken from every person that he wronged.

What he's demonstrating is repentance.

That is repentance.

Repentance is not repeating a prayer after a pastor and then just saying, hey, I'm saved.

Repentance is not just walking through the baptismal waters, which is incredible.

It's awesome.

Repentance is a changed life.

Repentance is I'm going in this direction.

I'm trying to earn salvation in my own strength, which I can't do because I'm an unsaved.

I'm scarred by the fall and the sin that began in the Garden of Eden so much so that I don't even have it in and of myself to seek after the Lord unless the Holy Spirit moves in my heart and draws me into relationship.

And so repentance is when I realize that Jesus is who he says he is, and I change my direction.

And instead of going this way, I'm going this way, and I'm going toward Jesus with Jesus.

I'm putting the cross in front of me.

I'm going to say no to everything in the past.

Behold, all things are now new.

It's repentance.

That's what we see.

Zacchaeus gives everything back that he had taken, and he gives half of what he has away because he knew that God had changed his life.

David Guzick says this that Jesus went in to be a guest with a man who was a sinner, but he came out from the dinner with a saved man.

Hallelujah.

And then verse 10.

We're going back to where we started.

For the Son of Man.

Who's the Son of Man?

Who's the Son of Man?

It's Jesus.

Everybody say Jesus.

It's all about Jesus, nothing but Jesus, everything Jesus, for the Son of Man, Jesus has come to seek and save the lost.

And listen, he didn't choose pastors, he didn't choose priests, he didn't choose ordained people, he didn't choose just just those that wear robes or funny hats or have some type of credential on their walls.

You know who he chose?

He chose you and me, and he chose you and you.

He chose every person, regardless of your background, regardless of every excuse that you could have.

And the empty chair.

And here's what I'm gonna ask you to do this week.

We're gonna pray here in a second.

You may have a name that comes to your mind immediately.

We should.

But during this week, you write somebody's name down on a card.

You write it in their in your Bible, you write it somewhere, you put that name where you're gonna see it every day.

And you pray over that name.

You pray over that person, you pray for a conversation, you pray for them to have a heart to seek after the Lord.

You pray that God will give you the words, and I promise you He will.

And at some point, it may not be this week, I'm gonna give you a couple of weeks to let this sink in.

But in the next couple of weeks, I want you to I want you to make the invitation.

I want you to invite that person.

I want you to do whatever it takes.

I want us to be all be on board together.

Can we be unified that lost people matter to God?

That's what why would we do what we're doing if not people matter to the Lord?

And so this morning, before you leave, two things to consider.

Are you Zacchaeus?

Are you Zacchaeus?

Are you the person who is here?

Maybe you've been invited here.

Maybe somebody's already reached out to you.

Maybe you found us on the internet.

It doesn't matter.

The fact is you're here.

And if you are Zacchaeus, when I say you're Zacchaeus, you're someone who may or may not realize it, but you're outside the faith.

You never trusted Jesus, you never put your faith in him, you never said yes, yes, Lord, and believed and repented.

If that's you this morning, I want you to take that first step to say yes to Jesus.

Now, secondly, secondly, you're you're part of the church family.

My hope and prayer is that we all unify that lost people matter to God, and that somebody, somebody comes in, and regardless of where they sit, regardless of what happens, that we're going to treat people with hospitality and we're going to welcome them with open arms.

And it doesn't matter what their past is, what they've done, what they look like, where they're from, what nation, what country, what background, what ethnicity, they all matter to God, and they are all welcome here.

Can we be in unity on that?

And so, church, over the next few weeks, my prayer is that we will humble ourselves before God and we'll beg God, we'll plead with God to work, and that he would pour out his spirit upon us in a way that we would walk with such boldness.

There is a purpose that we are starting this series this week before you go back to your fall schedule.

Because at the top of your mind, in the midst of making sure you got your backpack packed, and you've got all your lesson plans ready and you've got all things ready for your kids to go back to school and you go back to your normal work schedules, that in the midst of all that, you would be aware and be aware in your mind and in your heart and be willing to be prompted by the Holy Spirit to open your mouth and to share the love of Christ.

So would you pray with me?

Let's pray, bow our heads, and let's ask the Lord to work and to speak and to continue to reveal Himself in a powerful way.

Father, this morning as we come, God, the first question, first question is Are we Zacchaeus?

Do we need to put our faith in Jesus?

And if that's you this morning, right now I just want you to, in your mind and your heart, to say, Yes, Jesus.

I put my faith in you, I trust you.

I'm turning my life over to you.

I repent and I believe.

And I and I want to show you with my life that I am living in repentance.

My heart and mind is changing directions of where I'm going to put my allegiance.

And if that's you this morning and you let us know, all you gotta do is take your phone and tap that tag on the back of a chair, or or you let one of us know, you can come up here during this closing time of worship and let us know and let us pray with you.

And then, secondly, if you are a part of this church family, God, that you, I pray, God, you would work and pour out your spirit, that we would have the boldness of the Apostle Paul, that we'd have the boldness of the disciples, that we'd have the boldness of the early church, that we would carry the boldness to walk in faith, to speak up with truth when the opportunity arises.

And that God, as a result of our obedience and our prayer and the way that we think about people and these three knots, this first one, when we hear, I'm not in church, I'm not currently going, I'm looking, it immediately triggers us to think.

I need to invite, I need to engage, I need a relationship, I need to invest in this person.

And as a result of that, we'll see lives changed.

Hearts redeemed, families restored.

God, we'll see you at work.

And we celebrate.

We celebrate more this week than we did this next week than we did this week.

We celebrate more in the coming weeks because we are seeing seeing empty chairs filled.

So pour out your spirit.

Father, may we walk in obedience.

I ask all this in Jesus' name.

Everybody say it together.

Would you stand with me as we close?