There Goes That Man | Out On A Limb | Chad Herold

Good morning.

It's good to see you today.

So this will feel weird.

I once almost got arrested in Mexico.

Seems like an appropriate way to start a sermon.

Just kidding.

I did though.

My wife and I, we were traveling, we were filming weddings at the time in our lives, and uh we'd gotten to do a destination wedding in Mexico, which was gonna be awesome.

We arrived at the airport, grabbed all of our gear, lots of cameras and drones and all that good stuff.

We were almost out of the airport, and all of a sudden, some armed guards began to make their way toward us and drug dogs.

It was a little intimidating.

They pulled us aside and said, Hey, we need to open up all of your luggage and we need to look.

So we immediately I thought, what'd my wife do?

But I won't blame her.

So we opened up our luggage and began to look through it.

And they said, Hey, all this uh film equipment you have, you're gonna have to pay a tax on it.

Never heard of that before.

If I'm honest, I was a little upset, feeling a little taken advantage of, and so I started to kind of push back a little bit.

They began to ask, how much is all of this?

Like, how how much is that drone?

I said, a couple hundred dollars.

I may have fudged the numbers just a little bit.

A couple hundred dollars.

I said, Oh, okay, well, we're gonna look it up.

Oh gosh.

$4,000, that drone.

Said, well, we got a good deal.

Really good deal.

Anyways, I uh I was getting frustrated, so I'm I'm uh, you know, sometimes my personality can be strong, and so I wasn't really afraid of the moment.

I'm pushing back a little bit and just this is not right, this isn't okay.

And then I noticed out of the corner of my eye, my my poor, sweet, kind wife about to lose it, just scared to death out of her mind.

And so I realized, okay, I should probably back off.

So I pulled back and we ended up paying hundreds of dollars taxes on our equipment that day.

And I remember just being so frustrated because there wasn't a system, there wasn't a sign that says if you bring this, you pay this.

There was no pre-experience of this.

I really just felt like they took advantage of some out-of-towners, and I man, I was furious.

Now, why do I tell you that?

Because that is essentially the setting of our story today.

We're gonna look at a tax collecting tree climber that was hated by a whole bunch of people because he did what they did to us in Mexico.

I probably shouldn't say where that happened.

I apologize.

So that's our story today.

Now we're in this series.

There goes that man.

We just sang the song.

It's fresh on our minds.

Now, why are we doing that?

Well, because this song gives us the picture, reminds us of what Jesus does when he walks through an area.

That when he walks through, it's divine appointment.

When he walks through, it's intentional.

When he walks through, he's always on mission.

And when he walks through, he is looking to encounter people, just like you and I.

And so the first week we talked about how oftentimes when we hit rock bottom, if we will open ourselves up, that's where we might encounter Jesus, what might feel like the most, because it's the most intentional, it's the most heartfelt.

Week two, we talked about what happens at the end of our rope.

And at the end of our rope, they're waiting for us again.

Is Jesus looking to make things new?

And today we're gonna climb out on a limb.

You like that?

We're gonna climb out on a limb, and we're gonna look at how Jesus encounters us when we take some risk.

So we're gonna be looking at a very familiar story.

It's the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus.

Now, if you grew up in church, you might be familiar with it.

And so what we're gonna do today is a little different.

I'm gonna try to look at it with you from three different perspectives.

I want to look at it in three different ways.

We're gonna look at the same story three times from the perspective of the crowd, the perspective of Zacchaeus, and then the perspective of Jesus, and then we'll end with what happens, and it's extremely powerful.

So we'll be in Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bible, turn there.

And while you turn or scroll, I hope you charged your Bible today.

While we do that, some of you got it, that's okay.

I want to say hi to everybody that's with us.

Uh, my home campus, Missouri City, is with us this morning.

We're so glad you're here.

If you're visiting, be sure to go say hi.

Introduce yourself to T or to Whitney.

They'll be happy to welcome you here.

We also have our West End campus with us.

Uh today, Tanya's filling in, and so if you're visiting there, go meet Tanya.

She'll help you get connected, and I promise it will not disappoint.

And then finally, we have our men at the Ramsey Unit.

So we want to welcome them to the extra round of applause.

I also want to say to the men at the Ramsey Unit, uh, I want to tell you guys, so every week when we have our service out there, uh, they are given an opportunity to write in prayer requests, things that we as a church can be praying for them and their families.

And I want you to know when we go through those requests, so many of them are not for themselves, but actually for us.

That they are writing in prayer requests for us here.

And so I just want to say, men, we welcome your prayers.

We thank you for them.

Keep sending them.

We need them all, and we're gonna keep sending them right back to you.

And so we're just so thrilled y'all are here with us today.

Okay, Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Now, before we get into the perspectives, I want to look at a couple of verses to just kind of set the tone and the setting for our story.

All right, you ready?

Somebody is.

If not, I'm ready, so the doors are locked.

You're stuck.

Here we go.

Luke chapter 19, verse 1.

Luke 19:1

It says this.

Words will be up on the screen.

I'm gonna read from the text.

He, Jesus, entered Jericho and was passing through.

Okay, so let's pause.

There's some setting information for us.

Jesus is again on mission.

Where is he headed?

He's not headed to Jericho, he's actually headed to Jerusalem.

He's about a week to a week and a half away from being crucified.

He is on mission to the end.

But on the journey, he passes through a place called Jericho.

And in this place, what we're gonna see is another one of those there goes that man moments.

So Jesus is on mission to Jerusalem, stops in Jericho.

Then in verse 2, and behold, there is 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, or other words, he was short.

Alright, so short people, this is for you.

Alright, this is a great story to encourage you.

Uh, that is my wife.

Okay, so just kidding.

I mean, sorry.

First, our guy.

Now, his name is Zacchaeus, okay?

So his name, in biblical times, it's important to understand this.

In biblical times, your name was very significant.

Your father would typically name the child, and what he would be doing is he's trying to speak some life into you.

Like he's naming you what he believes God could do through you, in you, around you.

And so the name Zacchaeus is given to this man, and it means pure or innocent one, which is cool and ironic, because in his vocation, he is the opposite of pure nor innocent.

We're gonna see this play out in our story.

But then it also says that he was a tax collector, a tax collector.

Now, you may have heard this before, but I want to make sure we all understand it because it really is the heart of the story.

That the idea of a tax collector was just like what happened to us in Mexico.

They would set up booths, and as you traveled through, and Jericho was a city that many people would travel through, as you traveled through, you would come across a tax booth, and you would be forced to pay taxes on the goods that you had.

And the tax system was created by Rome.

Rome was the one trying to collect the taxes, but Rome were sneaky.

They didn't send Roman officials to man the booths.

No, they would hire Jewish people to host those booths.

They would actually bid out the opportunity for you to take the booth.

And so when you were giving your taxes, you were giving it to one of your own people who was taking it from you.

Now, all of us understand taxes.

This is not a day to beat down the IRS.

You also understand when you drive, you go through the easy tag or the toll booth.

So we all understand.

Nobody's excited.

I don't drive through the easy tag, oh, this is great.

$4, there it goes.

Like, I don't do that.

But I also, uh maybe just me, I don't complain every time I go through because I can appreciate this is needed, right?

We understand that.

But there was a big difference in this time.

Because, see, what tax collectors were given permission by Rome to do was once they collected the tax that Rome needed, they were able to charge whatever else they wanted on top.

And these men had no restrictions, just like I felt in Mexico.

I don't know if that's true, but that's how I felt.

They could charge whatever they wanted:$800,$1,000, whatever, pay it.

And here's how you'd have to pay.

Because just like in Mexico, where there were armed guards and dogs, they had Roman soldiers standing next to them.

There was no way out.

And so here you walk up to the tax with and you see one of your fellow people, your Jewish brother, charging you above and beyond so that he could line his pockets at your expense.

When we say that tax collectors were hated, that might be an understatement.

And what was Zacchaeus?

He wasn't just a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector.

Which and hard to fully understand this, but ideally, he's at the top of the pyramid, and he's probably getting kickbacks from every booth around.

This man was wealthy and hated.

This is our guy, Zacchaeus.

But what was the other factor that was so important it needed to be put in scripture?

And he was short.

He was short.

Now, have you ever wondered how tall Jesus was?

Have you ever had that thought?

Okay, maybe just me.

That's cool.

Well, and we don't know how tall Jesus actually was, but archaeologists have found, as they go back and look through history and look through evidence, what they found is that the average height of someone in biblical times, ready for this?

Was 5'1 to 5'5.

5'1 to 5'5.

Right?

Uh and so I we have there's a friend of mine back at the Missouri City campus.

I won't say her name, but this girl, Whitney, was telling us that she refuses, she refuses to date someone under six foot.

And I just think like, but if Jesus came by, you'd miss out because he was under six.

I don't know.

Anyways, I'm stretching it a little bit.

You get the point.

Okay, that was just a little fun.

So the average height was 5'1 to 5'5.

Now, the fact that it was made known here, right?

No, we want to be careful because we don't 100% know.

The fact that it was listed here tells me that he was easily on the lower end, but maybe even below.

Like maybe he was under five feet.

All right.

So he's he's powerful, he's rich, he's short.

I mean, Danny DeVito walking in a tunic.

That's what we're seeing here.

Okay.

So that's our guy, that's our setting.

Now let's look at our first perspective, the perspective of the crowd.

So as we unpack the story, I want you just to kind of put yourself in the shoes of all of the people that have gathered for this moment.

Okay, let's look at verse number four.

So he, Zacchaeus, ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, to see Jesus.

For he was about to pass that way.

Okay, so he ran ahead.

Now it's important to understand this.

He ran ahead.

Why?

Because he couldn't see through the crowd, because there were about a thousand people gathered in this moment.

There could have been more, but want to stay conservative here.

There were about a thousand people gathered around Jesus.

So there was no way to see through.

And then, of course, as the text so clearly reminded us, he was short, so he couldn't see over either.

So what's he do?

He is on mission to try to find a way to see Jesus.

So what happens?

It keeps going.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to 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 to be a guest of a man who is a sinner.

Okay, so there's a thousand people gathered together.

And of the whole crowd, remember, people have come from all over.

Many have been traveling with Jesus for a long time.

They have really sacrificed to be here, and they just want to see him, hear him, if possible, maybe touch him.

I mean, everybody's gathered.

And amongst all of these people, Jesus looks up and notices the, I don't know if the tree's there, but notices the guy up in the tree.

And if you're the crowd, immediately you're frustrated.

Because that guy, that sinner, that's what they call tax collectors, by the way, that sinner doesn't deserve the attention of the rabbi.

And that guy's been robbing us, but we've been walking with, like, we're so curious, Jesus.

We want to know you, we want to hear from you, we want to touch you if possible.

Like they are so intrigued.

And Jesus turns his attention to that guy.

And then what does he say?

Hey, I he he literally says, Go get your house ready, get the crib ready.

I'm coming through.

Like I'm coming to your place.

Can you imagine being in the crowd?

And you've traveled miles to hear, to see Jesus, and he ignores you.

That's what you feel, ignores you, looks up at a tree and says, Hey, not only do I see you, but I'm coming to your house.

Now, if you're in the crowd, here's what you're thinking.

You're thinking the house that we built?

Yeah, because he stole our money and built that house.

That's the house you want to go to?

You want to go see him?

You want to spend time with him when all of us have been walking with you?

Are you kidding?

Can you can you get a sense of the tension?

It says that they grumbled.

Why do we grumble?

Do you know why?

Because we feel like we deserve something.

They felt like they deserved Jesus' attention, and that guy definitely did not.

And yet, Jesus sees him amongst the crowd.

This is fascinating and confusing.

And I don't know if you're in the cancel culture, no judgment.

But if you're gonna cancel Jesus, this is the kind of thing that gets you canceled.

The crowd came to see you, and you went for him.

Now they couldn't cancel Jesus three days later to check the tomb, but you get what I'm saying.

Alright.

That's a perspective one.

Let's look at perspective two.

Now let's look at the same story through the eyes of Zacchaeus.

And when he, Zacchaeus, was seeking to see who Jesus was.

Let's let's pause there.

Something in Zacchaeus says, I need to go see that man.

I hear that man's coming through, and I need to go see him.

Now, we don't know, we do not know what it was exactly that drew Zacchaeus there.

It could have simply been just curiosity.

But because of the weight of this story, to me, it feels like there's something more.

To me, it feels like Zacchaeus, while he had all of these things, felt like something was missing.

There was something about this man that was drawing him.

And I wonder if Zacchaeus was wondering if maybe he could fill this void that he felt in his life.

And I gotta believe there's probably some of us in our rooms today that are feeling something similar.

Did you know it's possible to have a full schedule and still feel empty?

You know it's possible to have riches, to have wealth, to have some money, and still feel poor?

It's possible to be physically have a side and still be blind.

It's possible to have a whole lot of people in your life and still feel lonely.

I got the money, I got the power, sure they don't hate me, but it comes with a territory.

Something is still missing.

Something is still broken.

And if you're here today, I just want you to know Jesus is speaking to you too.

And whatever it was that stirred in him, watch this, whatever it was that stirred in him, it stirred so much that he became a kid again.

What did he do?

He ran and climbed the tree.

Men don't climb trees.

If you do, we'll talk later.

Like, I was weird.

I don't go to restaurants, I'm like, oh, look at the dude climbing the tree.

Now I see kids doing that.

Not if you climb a tree, I apologize.

I just offended two of you.

I do apologize.

But whatever it was that stirred in him, it stirred him so much that he became a kid again.

You know what's interesting?

Matthew 18, 3 says something similar.

Look what Jesus said.

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Something is stirring in Zacchaeus.

Let's look what happens.

Next part of verse 3.

But on account of the crowd, he could not, because he was small and poor guy.

We'll remember the story, it's powerful, but you're also going to remember this dude was short.

Alright, because his stature.

So he ran ahead, climbed into the 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.

Okay, couple things.

One, I said it, but I want to say it again.

In this culture, men, particularly wealthy men, you didn't run and you didn't climb trees.

That was no no.

What he's doing, all right, he is breaking social norms.

I would argue he is willing to step into some bit of humility out of the curiosity to see if that man that's going there, there goes that man, if he has the ability to fill the hole in his life.

And he's willing to surrender whatever it might take to be the fool climbing up in a tree out on a limb to see.

He is willing to do it.

And that tree, by the way, just to give you some context historically, a sycamore tree grows to about 20, 30 feet tall, and it would have actually been really easy to climb.

So it was almost like God knew well before this moment ever happened.

I'm planting that tree right there, and nobody knows.

And when that tree grows up, it's gonna have a grown man on it.

It's gonna be weird, but in the end it's gonna make sense because God's about to do something crazy.

So he climbs this tree.

And can you imagine?

Okay, now we're not worried about the crowd.

Now we're Zacchaeus for a minute.

I'm up in the tree, I'm curious, but I'm probably still kind of hiding because I don't want anybody to see me.

And here come a thousand plus people, and in the I'm assuming in the middle of the crowd is Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher, the man of the scriptures, the man with authority.

And that man looks up of a thousand people, looks at me in the tree, looks at you in the tree, and says, Hey you.

Does he call him guy, man?

No, he calls him his name.

He says, Hey you! Calm down.

I'm coming to your place today.

Now, if I'm him, I got two questions.

Number one, how'd you know my name?

Uh we missed that, right?

How'd you know my name?

Number two, you're gonna go to my house?

I did I clean.

Am I ready?

Now here's the thing.

Here's the thing.

God is sovereign.

This this moment is not an accident.

This is divine and deliberate.

Jesus knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly whom he was coming for.

But here's the other thing that's just interesting in culture.

So in our culture, when I say, I'm coming to your house, I want to come to your house for dinner, what do you say?

You go, ah, that's awesome, man.

I'm gonna check my calendar, and then I'll decide when you're away if you're actually coming or not.

Uh, and if I do, I'll send you a dates.

That's our Western culture.

That was not their culture.

And their culture, when someone said, I'm coming to your house, number one, it was well received, and it meant now.

We live in a culture of delay today.

Can I get an amen?

We are delay kings and queens.

That's not how it worked then.

So when he says, I'm coming to the crib, get ready, I'm coming through tonight.

This is a now moment.

And so here is Acchaeus in the tree, just he's overwhelmed, and now he's got joy because he thought he was listening and now somebody walked in one of these rooms feeling the same way.

I'm just here to peek over the edge and to see what's going on over there, but I don't think I belong.

And Jesus says, Hey, you amongst all of these people, I'm coming for you.

In fact, I'm coming to your crib.

I'm coming tonight right now.

That's Zacchaeus.

Okay, last perspective.

Let's look at Jesus.

What was Jesus thinking?

What was Jesus doing?

It's very, very helpful.

One verse, verse five.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus.

I probably said it differently every time.

It's okay.

Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must.

At your house today.

Okay, now I know we've read this already, but we're looking at it from a different perspective.

Watch this.

Jesus on mission sees him, and what did he call him?

Not man, not guy, not dude, not bro, not a sinner.

Remember, all of his adult life, he would have been called sinner, not by his name.

That's how hated he was.

So Jewish people, tax collectors, were the worst of the worst.

They were the top sinners of sinners.

And Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher, the Jewish teacher that knew the scriptures, that knew the people, steps into this moment.

He looks up in that tree and he doesn't call him sinner, he calls him Zacchaeus.

Now listen, you need to hear this because this might be this might be so what you needed this morning.

Listen, when Satan looks at you, he sees your name, but he calls you by your sin.

When Jesus looks at you, he sees your sin, but he calls you by your name.

Why?

Because he knows what he can do when a life is surrendered to him.

When a life is surrendered to him, cheaters, liars, alcoholics, all of those get washed away.

Now, consequences don't go, don't miss that.

But to Jesus, it washes away, and you become son or daughter of God.

That's what he knows.

So he doesn't care about your sin.

Now don't get me wrong, he's gonna deal with it.

We can't we can't belittle that.

But he says, I come in with mercy and grace.

It's scandalous because you don't deserve it.

And neither do I.

I deserve me, Chad Harold deserves hell.

That's what I deserve.

And yet, Jesus says, I'm not, I'm not looking at all that.

I'm looking at you.

I see you.

I know what I can do in you, and by the way, I know what I'm about to do through you.

That's coming soon.

I know, and I'm gonna call you by your name, and I'm gonna restore.

This was a restorative moment right there in the tree.

This is crazy.

And Jesus says, What?

Come down.

Come down.

I'm going to your place, and we're going right now.

Now I want you to see this.

What Jesus is doing, listen, this twofold.

First, first thing he's gonna do is see, I'm gonna give you that, I'm gonna tell you what happens.

He's gonna save him.

He's ready to do something in him, but then God doesn't stop there.

He says, Now I'm about to do something through you, and it's gonna affect everyone.

Watch the response.

You ready?

Are you with me?

Are you here?

Most cities with me.

That's my people over there.

Come on.

Verse 8.

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.

Okay.

Whoa, this is so good.

First of all, I gotta crack a joke because this lightens the mood a little bit before I get intense.

Oh, he says, the scripture tells us that he stood.

Now, sometimes we think, is it because he was short?

Like, did they not know if he was standing?

Is that dude standing or is he sitting?

I don't know.

No, he stood.

Now I don't think that's it, but I thought that was fine.

I laughed in my office when I saw that.

Okay.

What was really happening?

It says that he stood.

Why?

Because in biblical times, when you were about to give a testimony in court, the position was to stand.

And Zacchaeus is about to give a testimony of what Jesus has done and is doing in his life.

And he gave it.

What did he say?

First, he said, I'm giving half of my goods to the poor.

Do you know what the proper response would have been to give to the work of God back then?

It would have been to tithe.

A tithe is 10%.

Now, clearly in this story, there wasn't a church around the corner.

So what does he do?

I'm gonna give to the next best thing.

I'm gonna give to the poor, the people in need, and I'm gonna give half of what I own to them.

I'm giving way more than a tithe because I believe in the work of God.

But then he says, now some of us, maybe you go, well, he stole it all.

Why didn't he give it all?

Because wait, he's not done.

Then he says, What?

Hey, to everyone that I've wronged, to everyone that I stole from, to everyone that I took from, I'm gonna give fourfold.

What does that mean?

I'm gonna give four times back to you, four hundred percent.

Now, why is that significant?

Because in that time the law said, if you stole from someone violently, which they would say was violent because of the Roman soldiers, you were supposed to give 200%.

And he says, uh-uh, when I come, I'm gonna give back more because I care that much.

I'm given fourfold, four times now.

Watch this.

Think about it for a minute.

The same people that grumbled because Jesus is talking to the dude in the tree that doesn't deserve a name, he's a sinner.

Now Jesus got a hold of his life, turned it upside down, and around a full 360 flip, and now he says, I'm gonna take what I stole and I'm gonna give it back.

Do you know our song?

What did he do?

I'm gonna take what the locust stole and I'm gonna restore it.

That's what God does when he gets a hold of someone's life.

That's what he does when he gets a hold of his heart.

Listen, these people here couldn't get over the fact that Jesus was talking to him, but Jesus knew first and foremost, I'm gonna save his soul, and then I'm gonna change your life because I'm gonna bring back everything that was taken from you.

I'm gonna restore it, and I'm gonna do it through the very men that you're complaining about.

So when we can I speak to the Christians for a minute?

When when we get upset because someone that remember the grumbling doesn't deserve it?

Can I just encourage I'm not condemning, I just want to encourage you.

Would you pray that God would help you restore your heart and your mind to give you his eyes to see the way he sees?

What if those people kept Zacchaeus from ever being able to see Jesus?

They would have missed out on what he was gonna return to them.

Like God's always working.

I remember, I'm gonna full confession because I think I need to make this make sense.

I for years I struggled as a follower of Christ.

I struggled with people giving their life to Christ on their deathbed.

Listen, I'm just gonna be honest, this is transparent, this is what we're supposed to do.

I gotta tell you this.

I used to struggle with that because I'm like, man, I I have spent years of my life sacrificing things that would have been much easier to do or to be a part of so that I could live in God's will.

And this fool, just kidding, gets to lay on his deathbed at the last second, be like, oh, by the way, hey, I'm being very, very loose with this for a reason.

Hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna get right with card.

Here's what God showed me.

Not you, I'm not saying this.

He said to me, here's what he said, you ready?

You self-righteous.

You self-righteous.

Whether I save a man as a child or I save a man on his deathbed, I sent my son Jesus to save.

To save.

And as a follower of Christ, Chad Harold, I need you to be in line with that.

And so what he did, God was gracious.

What he started to show me is you gotta stop whining about them going down at the last second on their deathbed, and you need to have some sorrow because that man or that woman that I saved on their deathbed and will spend eternity with me, they've also missed out on a life walking with me.

They missed out on the blessing of being with me.

That's why you gotta stop being self-righteous.

Turn your little booty around talking to me, not you.

Get out there and go lead people to me so that I can get in their life.

I can change them, I can change their family, I can change their situations, and I can make an impact not just in them, but through them.

You self-righteous.

God had to do some work in me.

All right.

Am I allowed to say this?

I already did.

I guess it's too late.

Like, I'm not perfect.

I struggled with this, but I see what God's doing now, and I want us to be that way as well.

Last piece, verse 9.

And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house.

Since he also is the son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

He says, Salvation has come to this house, to this man.

To this man, I'm making a change.

By the way, do you ever think about, maybe you don't, we've been in this for a few minutes.

Do you ever think about what Zacchaeus might have been feeling as he gave all this money away?

I mean, in one day, he went from rich to borderline poor.

He went from a taker to a giver.

You know how I think he felt the full joy of the Lord.

Because his life and his relationships were getting in line with God.

I heard a great quote.

Man, this is an amazing quote.

This guy said, I don't remember who it was, I apologize, whoever it was.

Full credit to you.

He said, When I die, I hope my funeral is packed, but my bank account is empty.

Because I loved people well and I gave the things that mattered.

And I remember thinking, like, write that down.

If I was gonna get a tattoo, that might be the one.

Like right there.

That's that's what I'm talking about.

Man, I think Zacchaeus is living in the moment, and what's God do?

God says, Hey, now I'm about to put some confirmation on this.

He says, guys, listen, he's talking to the crowd now.

Everyone that's anyone that's in this vicinity says, Listen, this guy is the son of Abraham.

What does that mean?

That just means this guy is a Jewish man just like you.

See, to the crowd, he was only Jewish by birth, not by heart, because he was that heartless to steal from them.

But Jesus says, Hey, listen, this man's been restored.

He is a Jewish man just like you.

He is a man of God, he is the son of Abraham, he is part of the line, and there's a restoration moment happening here for Zacchaeus in front of the people given by Jesus.

This is a powerful moment.

This is the new name given to you and me when we surrender our life to Christ.

This is the newness, the new creation given to you, and that is listen, available to every single one of us in any of our rooms, watching the line wherever you are.

If you need to get right with Christ, no, he has already been seeking you.

He has been seeking, you think you're seeking him?

Ha! You're just finally paying attention.

He's been on the move for you from the day you were born.

Today could be the day because Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

So, what do we do with this?

Here's what here it is, you ready?

We gotta be kids again.

We've got to be kids again.

We gotta first climb the tree.

What does that mean?

It's kind of weird because we're going up in the tree.

But it's the picture of him, Zacchaeus, being willing to forget all stereotypes, to humble himself and to climb a tree, which a man would not do, and to look over and to see Jesus.

We've got to surrender our life to Christ.

If you're not walking with him, today's the day, do it.

Turn your back on sin, turn your face toward Christ and walk with him.

He will save you from your sin, he will change your life, prepare a place for you in all of eternity, and while you're here, he'll use your life for kingdom purposes, and it'll be the most fulfilling thing you could ever experience.

We gotta climb the tree.

But then there's a second one, and I'm gonna be honest, I'm stretching a little bit, but just roll with me.

Not only do we climb the tree, now we gotta climb out on the limb.

We gotta climb out on the limb.

What does that mean?

That means we gotta let what God is doing on the inside start to overflow on the outside.

God did not change you to sit in a chair.

God did not change you to sit at home and think about all the good things you could do.

God changed you so that you could step into his story and help move it forward for the kingdom of God.

That he's got plans for you, something significant that he wants to do, not Western culture style delayed later when everything's in order and our money's right and our kids are growing up.

No, he says right now, because by the way, I hate to be a downer, but you may not have another day.

And I don't know about you, but I want to live right now.

So I'll climb the tree first.

I gotta surrender to him, but then I'm getting out on the limb because I see what he did in his life, and if I could even see a glimpse of him being able to do that in my life, I want all of that.

This past Wednesday, we were we we lead a program, my wife and I, uh called Date Night.

It's a program for married and engaged couples, and we try to pour life into them in their marriage, we have some fun.

We and one of the pieces of the program is we get to engage with other couples at a table.

And we were going around the circle and people were sharing different things, and out of nowhere, you know, like when God just, as a as a as a communicator, there are these moments where God's like, ha ha ha! Save that, I'm gonna use that one day, right?

I don't know, it's something for me, anyways.

So we're going around the circle, and this guy, Kevin, starts to share this story, and it captivated me.

And I want to share it with you because it is the picture of what we're talking about today.

His family will be up on the screen here.

That's me, that's weird.

There you go.

He'll be up on the screen.

Let me read this to you, and I want you to watch, just watch this story in a modern context.

My struggle, this is Kevin speaking, with addiction, started in high school.

What began as something social, just drinking with friends, slowly became a way of life.

And over time, I let it get out of control.

What I thought I could manage started managing me.

I carried that into college, into my marriage, and eventually into every area of my life.

After losing my mom, things really spiraled.

I found myself battling alcohol, prescription, misuse, and other behaviors that nearly cost me everything.

I hit a place where I had nothing left to stand on.

My marriage was on the brink.

I had reached what I now know was rock bottom.

But what I found there changed everything.

God was already there.

When I had nothing left, he became my rock.

When I felt like I'd lost everything, he began.

You ready for this?

Restoring it.

My wife had the faith to fight for me.

She steered me to treatment, and that was the beginning of everything changing.

By the grace of God, I've been sober since January 6th, 2024.

Come on.

Kevin's at our Missouri City campus right now with his family.

I pray this blesses you, brother.

He goes on.

It hasn't been perfect, but it's been real.

God has restored my life, my marriage, and given me a new purpose now.

Watch all this.

Just wait.

Just wait.

You ready?

I'm going out on a limb now.

Out of that broken place, Shepherd Recovery Center was born.

Shepherd is a Christ-centered, faith-integrated behavioral health program right here in Missouri City, Texas.

We help people struggling with substance abuse, mental health, and co-occurring disorders, and we offer a uniquely Christ-centered track for those who want that faith-based support.

The biggest thing I've learned is this God doesn't waste our pain.

He redeems it, he restores it, and he uses it.

It's like I told him what to say.

This is his story, guys.

Listen, God got a hold of his heart.

Clap for that.

Now, Kevin, listen, because I know the people of Missouri sit here are clapping for you right now, too.

Listen, what he did.

What happened first?

He had to surrender.

He had to climb the tree, surrender humility, surrender it all so that Christ could get in.

And once Christ got in, he did the work in, but then what happens?

Then he started to move through.

He created a place where now God's gonna restore what the locusts stole, not just in Kevin's life, but in the life of hundreds, maybe thousands of people going through the same journey.

He's gonna use what he did in him now to go through him to continue to reach more people to restore what the locusts have stolen in their lives and their families' lives.

This is how God works.

And so that man in the tree, that sinner over there, he didn't deserve it just like we didn't.

And yet, Jesus was on mission as he always is.

He touched his life and he changed it.

Listen to me, your money, your position, your relationships, your intellect, your gifting, your status, your whatever, it can be used for the glory of God.

And let me just add this: it should be because you didn't do it, he gave it to you.

Anything I have is from him.

And so, man, God, would you right now just show us what do you want us to do?

How do we go out on a limb for you?

Because whatever I have is yours.

And I'll tell you this: whatever I think I can do will be minimal compared to what God can do with surrender and faithfulness.

That's how He works.

Man, we want the best for you.

Get out on a limb.

Surrender to Christ first, and then let's risk it for him, for his kingdom.

And I can only imagine the stories that'll come flooding in because of surrender and faithfulness.

Before we go, at all of our rooms, our prayer team is gonna be down front.

And I think when we have messages like this, we get fired up to go do something, and I want you to.

But for a lot of us, there may be some things here that we're still working through.

Like heaven, like Zacchaeus, I gotta deal with this first before God's ready to send me out.

So I want you to come forward after service.

I want you to get someone to pray for you.

And let them let them just speak life into you.

This is how we stay together as a family.

And then maybe some of you, you're feeling it, man.

You're you're stirring, you're going, man, I'm ready, I'm ready to go.

I need some guidance.

Let's pray and ask God to guide us.

We don't risk it just for risk's sake.

We risk because God has led us somewhere and we're just not afraid to go there.

Father, we love you.

Lord, I pray over these rooms.

God, I pray whatever you're doing.

I could never, I could never fully know what you're doing, but God, I pray that you would do your work.

God, that these cities that we represent, these families that we represent will be forever changed because we climbed a tree and got out on the limb.

That we risked it for you because it's in those moments that we encounter you.

Lord, some of us need to give some stuff away.

Some of us need to make some changes.

Some of us need to use these gifts and this intellect and these relationships we have and turn them around for your glory.

God, whatever you want to do, we are ready.

Use us, move us.

It's our prayer in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Love you guys.