One at a Time | Jesus Made It Personal

well hello how's everyone doing
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there we go
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well my name is misha i'm one of our
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teaching pastors and i want to say happy
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father's day to all the dads i also want
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to say happy juneteenth today we get to
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celebrate our dads and we get to
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celebrate freedom from oppression
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and tomorrow i get to celebrate one more
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thing because on june 20th 2013 i joined
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the staff here at 242 so it's been nine
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years that i've been here you don't need
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to clap
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you don't want to go
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for the first eight and a half of those
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years i was a youth pastor here at our
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brighton location but for the past six
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months since january i've been one of
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our teaching pastors and i've really
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enjoyed the opportunity to to be able to
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share god's heart through scripture and
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and i'm excited i get to do that here
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today i want to show you a picture of my
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son because it's father's day this is me
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and wilder he's three he's pretty
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awesome i just i'll tell you what the
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last three years being able to be this
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kid's dad has been it's been truly
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incredible
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i want to share with you a story
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um about
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someone who changed the world for me to
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start off getting into the message
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it's a guy named scott scott was a
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leader at the church i grew up attending
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he was pretty quiet kept to himself most
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of the time
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and then when i was in high school in
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one summer after church he came up to me
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in the parking lot and he handed me this
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bible
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and he said i feel like god's telling me
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to give this to you
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and i think those are literally the
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first words scott ever said to me so at
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the time i was like okay weird but thank
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you i don't know what to do with this
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later that summer i thought hey maybe i
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should open up that bible and read it
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mostly as a way to like be able to go
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back to scott and be like hey i'm using
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the gift you gave me
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but what i found when i opened the pages
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of scripture that summer was just a love
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for the words of life that i found and
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and there was something that happened
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that summer through reading this bible
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that
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it changed my life and scott didn't have
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any clue what he
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how much of a change he would it would
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mean for me
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when he gave me this he was just doing
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what god told him to
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do uh
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15 years later
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scott has moved to kansas and he's the
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music director at a church out there
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and i've started to do some ministry and
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i got invited to be a speaker at a youth
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retreat in kansas city missouri and when
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i show up
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scott's band is leading worship at that
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retreat
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and i just remember at the first session
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going up holding that bible and thinking
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and you you have no clue what you've
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done to change my life through this gift
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see i think sometimes when we think
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about changing the world it seems like
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this big huge goal like it's so beyond
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our imagination that we don't even think
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of it as something we should try to do
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but when we think back on our lives we
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can all pinpoint a moment or moments
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where somebody did something said
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something
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gave us an opportunity
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and it changed the world for us
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for the next seven weeks we're going to
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be looking at how jesus
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changed the world
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through his compassion for lost people
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to the humility of the cross jesus
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changed the entire world and he never
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once held a political office
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he never fought in a war he didn't even
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leave the region of the world that he
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was born into
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we're going to dive deep into who jesus
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is and what it means to respond to his
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invitation
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to follow him and what we'll discover
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along the way is that jesus's primary
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method of changing the world was
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selflessly loving individual people
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one
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at a time
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now today we're going to specifically
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look at how jesus changed the world by
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getting personal with people see jesus
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was never worried that he couldn't get
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personal with everyone he always chose
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someone
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and got personal with them
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now i told you we were going to dive
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deeper
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uh let me explain what i mean by that
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because oftentimes people come up to me
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and say hey misha i want to go deeper in
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my faith and it's caused me to to ask
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like okay so what does that mean are we
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talking like deeper in theological
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understanding are we talking about like
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deeper and spiritual practice deeper in
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understanding the greek language and
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architecture what are we talking about
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well there's an author and speaker named
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reggie joyner who actually wrote a book
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called make it personal and he says this
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he says sometimes we have a way of
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making deeper just another version of
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shallow in disguise what if deeper isn't
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to be compared with more confusing
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what if the alternative to shallow faith
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is learning to be
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personal he goes on to make some
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statements
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he says this he says
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shallow is fast personal takes time
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shallow is easy
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personal is complicated
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shallow is safe
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personal is risky
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shallow is certain personal is
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unresolved shallow is dismissive
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personal is interested
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shallow is familiar personal is
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unpredictable
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shallow costs money
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personal
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costs me
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think about your
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deepest relationships they've probably
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taken time
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they're risky sometimes a little bit
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unpredictable
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and they've cost you more than money
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i have a good friend named aaron
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aaron and i have been friends for almost
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a decade now aaron if you're watching
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thanks for letting me share this
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uh we both started in ministry around
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the same time he was right out of
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college i would just left another career
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to come work here at 242 and we got to
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know each other pretty well we were in
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small group together we also took like
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the last hour or two of each day to go
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down to the student room and play video
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games together
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we got breakfast together often i mean
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aaron and i have eaten so much mediocre
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breakfast food we should both own some
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stock in sausage patties okay we've done
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jet skiing together go-karting laser tag
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we did the polar plunge the ice bucket
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challenge the harlem shake if it was an
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internet meme around 2015 aaron and i
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did that
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we skipped work one time to go to a
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tigers game because someone was giving
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away tickets right behind home plate
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and we got to see a brawl between the
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tigers and the yankees it was awesome
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aaron and i have shared snippets of our
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lives but we've also shared the depths
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of our hearts
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and there's been times where we've felt
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distant and we've grown apart from each
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other but what's made that a deep and
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enduring friendship is that sometime
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early on
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aaron got personal with me
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he got me to open up and somehow and if
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you know aaron you know this is the
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miracle of the story somehow i got him
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to open up
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too
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see when we think about our deepest
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relationships they're all
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personal
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and then when we open up the bible and
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we study jesus we discover that the way
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that he modeled going deep was that he
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got personal with people
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one at a time i mean think about it he
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he he touched people with diseases
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he wept at the tomb of his friend
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he played with toddlers
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he washed his disciples
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feet
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and sure he was often surrounded by
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crowds but jesus had this ability in the
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midst of a crowd to like zero in on one
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person
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and what he did with the crowds gave
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shape and organization to his mission
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but what he did with individual people
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mobilized a movement
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a movement that is still changing this
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world one life
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at a time
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so if we're gonna
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follow jesus we all need to learn how to
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get personal with someone
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and some of you may be called to give
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shape to a larger group of people but
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we're all called to make jesus personal
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for someone
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and if we're going to get personal the
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way jesus did we need to recognize the
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way that he saw
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the world
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see jesus
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had
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it seems like he had this zoom lens on
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life
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he had this ability it seems to connect
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with what god was doing on a grand scale
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while also being able to focus in on
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what he was doing in the lives of
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individual people it actually makes me
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think about birding is there anyone out
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here who's a birder anyone into like
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birding i mean
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okay so few most of us i mean i get it
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right like it's not a thing we usually
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brag about but in 2021 birding kind of
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took off because of because of uh social
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distancing and you know binoculars were
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like a hot item
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but i actually got into birding long
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before
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it was cool back in 2009 i was uh
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i joined the audubon society and i
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actually also coached a team of third
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grade birders
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in science olympiad we were the
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feathered friends that was our team okay
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and and this is my birding scope and i
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use this usually when i'm looking at a
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large group of birds either out in a
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field or out on a lake or along a
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shoreline
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and it's it's a common mistake for
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people to see a large group of birds
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maybe like a large group of goals on the
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shore and to think that because they all
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look the same it must mean they all
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are the same
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but as you start to zoom in you might
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notice hey there's some there's some
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herring goals there's some ring build
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goals there's some turns in there
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there's all these different species of
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birds and if you zoom in further you
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might start to notice some differences
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even within a certain species and then
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the cool thing about a scope like this
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is you can zoom in on one bird in the
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midst of a huge flock and you can start
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to notice the nuanced differences that
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give each bird it's like
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unique identity
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see when we study jesus
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in the new testament it's as if he
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had the ability to use a zoom lens
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where he could step into a crowded room
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or hillside or village
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and he could just see the individual
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stories of each person
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that he looked at he could see past the
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sin and the shame and he could see to
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the nuanced differences
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that he could recognize how each person
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bears the image
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of god
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now one of my favorite uh stories like
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this is the story of zacchaeus
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it's it's brought to us in luke chapter
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19 if you want to follow along this is
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how luke starts telling the story
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he says jesus entered jericho and was
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passing through
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all right let's zoom out what's going on
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here
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jesus is actually at this time on his
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way to jerusalem where in less than two
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weeks he's going to be arrested
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and he's going to be killed
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he's uh
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he's he's here in jericho
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and he's also just raised lazarus from
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the dead and word's gotten out about
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lazarus coming back from the dead people
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are talking and people were already
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curious about the things he had been
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doing and teaching
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but now his popularity has skyrocketed
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so when he steps into jericho the
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streets are aligned with crowds of
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people
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but jesus is
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just passing through he has nothing on
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his agenda there
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well the man was there by the name of
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zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector
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and was wealthy
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so in the crowds that followed jesus
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there were
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people of all ethnicities all
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socioeconomic statuses and in this crowd
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was a wealthy man named zacchaeus
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and we're told that he's a tax collector
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now tax collecting came with its
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benefits mostly lots of money
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but it also came with its downsides
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which was that you were treated as a
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sellout in the jewish community you were
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treated as religiously unclean and you
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weren't allowed to participate in jewish
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society and it seems here that zacchaeus
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is uh has has entrenched himself in this
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system
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he's made a business out of tax
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collecting he's a manager of tax
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collectors
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well he wanted to see who jesus was but
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because he was short he could not see
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over the crowd so he ran ahead and
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climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him
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since jesus was coming that way
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now zacchaeus wants to get a glimpse of
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the man everyone's talking about so he
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runs up he climbs
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a tree
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zacchaeus was probably not the only
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person in a tree that day in fact he was
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maybe not even the only person in that
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tree that day this is what a sycamore
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fig tree looks like
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looks pretty easy to climb even if
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you're shorter and it looks like a lot
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of people could fit in that one tree and
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there were so many people in the crowd
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that day
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that were hoping to get a glimpse of
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jesus hoping that maybe just a sight of
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jesus would change
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their life would solve their issues
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and look there were people with all
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kinds of issues
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in that crowd
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health issues
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marriage issues
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financial issues probably some people
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with some zacchaeus issues
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many who had questions about what jesus
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had been teaching
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many hoping that just
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a glimpse of the man who changed water
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into wine and raised lazarus from the
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dead maybe just some eye contact
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would change the world for them well
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here's where jesus's lens
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starts to zoom in
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when jesus reached the spot he looked up
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and said to him zacchaeus come down
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immediately i must stay at your house
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today
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so he came down at once
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and welcomed him gladly
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and this is where
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jesus's lens
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starts to zero in on on one
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seen that entire town of jericho
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jesus picked
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zacchaeus
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and it changed his entire life
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but before we get to that i want you to
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remember
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jesus was just
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passing through
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there was nothing on his agenda in
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jericho this interaction with zacchaeus
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was an interruption to his schedule
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oftentimes
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when jesus met the needs of people it
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was it was because his schedule had been
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interrupted
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but jesus was interruptable see he was
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never too busy changing the entire world
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that he missed out on the opportunity to
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change the world for the person right in
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front of him
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and it begs the question
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how interruptable are you
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are you too busy
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to get personal
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with the one
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who's someone that's
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maybe up a tree getting a glimpse of
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your life
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a co-worker
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a client
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a friend
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a sibling
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your spouse
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your kids
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what might they see
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someone too busy to notice them
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someone too hurried to make eye contact
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somebody interested but not available
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who's someone that maybe needs you to
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stop and look up
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and get personal with them
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see one thing i love about this story is
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that kious didn't move he just stayed in
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the tree
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jesus
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came to him he did this all the time
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and sure the crowds would follow him and
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people would approach him but jesus also
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moved in the direction of people one at
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a time jesus never he never assumed that
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the people that were around him were
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there by accident
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see jesus chose to get close personally
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with people who are already in close
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proximity to him
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who's someone that's in close proximity
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to you on a regular basis that could
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benefit from you getting close to them
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personally
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check out what happens
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when jesus gets close well first first
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when the people notice jesus getting
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close to zacchaeus they get jealous
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all the people saw this and began to
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mutter he's gone to be the guest
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of a sinner here's a word we don't use
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much anymore mutter you know what mutter
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is
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it's what my grandpa does when he
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watches baseball it's like tigers can't
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score a run
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they scored 14 yesterday grandpa so take
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that
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it's one time they had one good game
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just happened to be last night
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the people in the crowd cannot imagine
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a scenario where jesus is talking with
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zacchaeus like does he know what this
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man has done
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and i think if he's honest zacchaeus
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probably struggled
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with feeling like he was worthy of the
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invitation jesus gave him that day too
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and he knew how he had harmed the people
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many of whom were in that crowd
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and jesus did too
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and he still chose to get personal with
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him and in that moment jesus does
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something for zacchaeus that he does for
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each and every one of us
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all that shame all that sin all that
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guilt all that regret that makes us feel
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like maybe god doesn't want to be near
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me
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jesus just steps right through all that
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and he gets personal with us because he
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loves us
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now let's check out what happens
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when jesus gets personal with zacchaeus
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zacchaeus stood up and he said to the
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lord look lord here now i give half of
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my possessions to the poor and if i've
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cheated anybody out of anything i will
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pay back four times the amount
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and jesus said to him today salvation
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has come to this house
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because this man too is the son of
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abraham
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for the son of man came to seek and to
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save
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the lost
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and zacchaeus entire life has changed
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he admits his sin
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he repents
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he goes from greedy to generous he
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begins to align his life with the way of
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jesus
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and all those people that were muttering
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a minute ago they're about to get a
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stimulus check in the mail
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from zacchaeus himself
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all because jesus stopped
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and got personal with him
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and look for jesus he didn't even really
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care if zacchaeus paid the money back
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when when jesus got personal with
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zacchaeus it was all about him
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experiencing the love of god
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he wanted zacchaeus to know more than
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anything that despite what he had done
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and despite who he'd become
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that god loved him so much and wanted to
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extend his generous grace to him and
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when zacchaeus experiences the grace of
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god it changed everything for him
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and this is so important
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because there are so many people that we
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come in contact with every week every
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day who don't know jesus
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and in my experience in following christ
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before people are are willing to
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investigate jesus for themselves and
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discover his love for them personally
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what they do is they sort of climb
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trees and they look at christians
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and what they see and you and me will
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determine if they're at all interested
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in jesus
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so when people look at christians
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what do you think they see
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people just passing through
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people too hurried to make any eye
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contact
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people so consumed with their own agenda
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that they can't even hear the
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perspective of someone else
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people who jump to judgment before
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understanding
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i mean what if what if
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christians
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started to get personal with people who
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seemed far from god
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what if we started to to ask people to
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step down from the trees and get an
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up-close view of what jesus is like
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i'll tell you what maybe just maybe
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we would see salvation come to their
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house
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as well
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so let's do this church let's all start
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with someone
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let's do for someone maybe what we wish
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we could do for everyone see jesus
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didn't get personal with everyone in
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jericho that day but he did get personal
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with zacchaeus
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who's someone that you could get
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personal with in a way that shows that
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they matter
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to
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god maybe this will help this uh this
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scope here comes with this instruction
21:06
manual on how to use it
21:08
and so i kind of came up with a sort of
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we'll call it an instruction manual on
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how to use a zoom lens in life okay five
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steps and then one overarching print
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principle to pay attention to as we go
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through all the steps okay it starts
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with this identify someone
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identify someone and identify them in a
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way that communicates that they matter
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to you how can you show someone that
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they matter
21:32
and then
21:33
get to know
21:34
what matters to them in fact sometimes
21:37
when we get to know what matters to
21:38
someone else
21:39
that's what proves to them that they
21:41
matter to us so ask questions be curious
21:44
i mean
21:45
what are they like where are they from
21:47
what issues
21:49
are on their mind what difference do
21:51
they want to make in this world
21:54
and then understand start to understand
21:56
their everyday context
21:59
because when we do we can start to we
22:00
can start to
22:02
respond to them in a way that replaces
22:04
shame with
22:05
hope
22:07
when we do that we can we can begin to
22:10
believe in their potential to live a
22:12
remarkable story and when we believe in
22:14
their potential to live a remarkable
22:15
story we can speak to that potential and
22:18
then this whole time as you're going
22:20
through these steps
22:22
remember to look for an opportunity when
22:25
god opens a door
22:27
to share
22:28
jesus
22:31
i mean what if what if going deeper in
22:33
our faith
22:34
actually starts with getting personal
22:38
with someone that's what jesus modeled
22:40
that's what he did with zacchaeus
22:42
and it changed his world salvation came
22:45
to his house and that's what this is all
22:47
about we want to see salvation to come
22:49
to the house of people that may never
22:51
step into an auditorium like this but
22:53
they live in the crowds that surround
22:54
our lives
22:58
who might be someone like that
23:01
for you
23:03
see over the past almost decade joe
23:05
shared some numbers with you
23:07
we've seen hundreds and hundreds of
23:09
people
23:10
be baptized across our seven locations
23:13
many of them have happened in this very
23:15
room some have happened in lakes and
23:17
rivers
23:19
and each and every one of those stories
23:20
is precious and personal
23:25
i've seen friends baptized friends
23:28
husbands baptized wives parents baptized
23:30
kids
23:31
small group leaders baptized people in
23:33
their small group
23:35
co-workers baptized co-workers this past
23:37
mother's day i got to see a grandson
23:39
baptize
23:41
his grandma who he led to christ
23:46
many many of those stories are the
23:48
result of someone zooming in on one
23:52
and getting personal with them and
23:53
introducing them to jesus and then god's
23:55
holy spirit does a work in their life
23:57
that leads them to
23:58
salvation
24:02
look church we'll never know
24:05
what god may do through our willingness
24:07
to get personal with someone
24:09
until we get personal with someone
24:13
so you hand someone a bible
24:16
because that's what god told you to do
24:19
so you're willing to skip work let's go
24:21
to a tigers game because the weather's
24:23
nice but really because you want to take
24:25
some time to get to know someone
24:29
look church we're all one intentional
24:32
moment away from changing the world for
24:34
someone
24:36
by introducing them to jesus
24:41
so what's your next step
24:43
how can you move in the direction of
24:44
jesus by getting personal with someone
24:48
if you're someone that's already said
24:50
yes to jesus if you if you've trusted
24:52
jesus as your lord
24:54
then you just need to identify who that
24:56
person is
24:58
who's someone that maybe you're uniquely
25:00
positioned to bring the hope of jesus to
25:06
if you know who you know your next step
25:08
get personal with them
25:10
do something to get personal with
25:12
someone you're already in close
25:14
proximity with
25:17
if you don't know who then i'm gonna ask
25:19
you to pray this prayer
25:21
lord
25:22
give me your eyes
25:24
for the one
25:25
all series long we're gonna pray this
25:27
prayer until god shows us who
25:29
lord give me your eyes
25:32
for the one
25:34
today
25:36
your next step is a who
25:39
and for some of you
25:41
that who
25:42
is you
25:43
it's cute right because it rhymes you
25:45
and who okay
25:47
luke ends
25:49
his this story by quoting jesus saying
25:51
for the son of man came to seek and to
25:54
save the lost
25:57
and then less than two weeks later
26:00
two weeks after zacchaeus had salvation
26:02
come to his house jesus
26:05
would die on a roman cross as a
26:07
demonstration of god's love for all
26:09
people all time and as a way to make to
26:12
and to make a way for salvation to come
26:14
to all of our house
26:17
see for jesus
26:19
getting personal was was always about
26:22
seeking and saving the lost
26:26
so if you're here today and you're
26:27
searching for something
26:30
if you feel lost
26:33
then perhaps it's time for you to look
26:35
to jesus
26:37
get up a tree
26:39
see for yourself who he is what he
26:41
taught what he did
26:43
i'm confident that what you'll discover
26:45
will change
26:47
your world
26:48
you will discover that his love for you
26:50
is beyond comprehension and this entire
26:52
time he's actually been seeking you out
26:58
maybe today
26:59
is the day salvation comes to your house
27:04
maybe today is the day you say yes to
27:06
jesus
27:07
for the very first time
27:11
when people go down into the water of
27:12
baptism we ask them some questions
27:16
we ask them do you believe jesus is the
27:18
son of god who died on the cross to save
27:20
you from your sins
27:21
do you believe that he rose from the
27:23
dead to reconcile you to god and to and
27:26
to give you the hope of heaven
27:28
and when people go down into the water
27:29
that's what they're saying yes to
27:33
and then the rest of our lives is about
27:34
figuring out what it means to follow
27:36
jesus
27:39
if you've never said yes to jesus and
27:41
you're ready to today don't leave
27:43
without being baptized
27:47
and if you've already said yes to jesus
27:50
if you've already trusted him as lord of
27:52
your life
27:55
then i hope that the story of zacchaeus
27:57
is a reminder that jesus sought you
28:00
and he saved you
28:03
and if that's you i invite you to take
28:05
communion today
28:07
as a reminder of what jesus did for you
28:09
we offer communion to believers every
28:11
week
28:12
in order to help us remember what jesus
28:14
did on the cross as a reminder of the
28:17
day salvation came to our house
28:19
as a reminder that on the cross jesus
28:21
did something to get personal with each
28:23
and every one of us
28:26
communion is one way we remember that
28:28
his body was torn and his blood was shed
28:30
for the forgiveness of our sins
28:33
so as you talk to god about what or who
28:36
your next step is
28:38
maybe
28:39
maybe
28:40
communion will help you remember
28:42
what it costs jesus
28:45
we're going to enter into a time of
28:46
encounter
28:48
and during this time i'm just going to
28:50
ask you to pause
28:52
and pray
28:54
and talk to god about your specific next
28:57
step
28:58
and if your next step is is baptism i
29:01
i'd love for you to head over here
29:03
there's some people here that would love
29:04
to talk with you answer questions you
29:06
have you can go to the back there's some
29:07
some stations with some lights where
29:09
people would love to pray with you
29:12
if your next step is communion you can
29:13
take that in just a moment but i want
29:15
you before you move just just take a
29:18
moment
29:19
and talk to god
29:20
and wherever he leads you that's where i
29:23
want you to go