Dear Heavenly Father, we do just thank you for the song, we thank you for the prayer,
and we thank you for the moment now, Father, as we prepare to enter into your Word.
Father, I just can never thank you enough and ever so grateful to be your mouthpiece
at a point in time.
Let's pray together weekly that we can hear and digest what it is that you're feeding us.
And so, Father, I just pray for every person on the call, Lord God,
and those that will hear the call, that they would have ears to hear and eyes to see
what's happening in this time and in this season in their lives.
And so, Lord, let me decrease that you would increase,
and you would share what you have with us for this day.
We thank you, we give you all glory and all honor.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
God bless you, church.
Good to see everybody.
Man, I feel like I say this every week about time moving on, but here we are.
It's March.
March 2nd.
I literally felt like, church, this week I was really like pushing through some stuff.
And when yesterday came, March 1st, not that I'm not thankful every day and I thank God,
but I was like, God, thank you for letting me see March 1st.
I came to stand, and I was, you know, earlier this week, man,
battling, as you guys know, from the weekend and the poll, the rolling poll,
and all the stuff that was happening, and getting better each day.
But the week was just a battle between work and all the different things going on.
And when yesterday came, I was just like, man, it's March 1st.
And I was standing and feeling better.
I was like, thank you, Lord.
But I think, as always, God has something for us today.
He's very direct.
And something I've been dealing with all week, he's been dealing with me about all week,
a lot had to do with my attitude, how I was, you know, responding to stuff,
how I was looking at stuff, if I was judging some stuff.
And really got called out on some things, you know.
And, you know, you almost could make an excuse and kind of say, well, you know,
I got this going on or whatever, and I got a right where I should feel this way,
but still ain't Christ-like, you know.
So, yeah, I could have a moment, but I got to come back.
And I was struggling this week on some things.
But I don't think I'm alone.
And this, what God is sharing with us today, I pray that it challenges you in a different way.
Because we're in some times, church, I mean, again, we say it every week,
but it's not getting easier out here, you know.
The, you know, 24 is a full sting.
And you're going to see and hear and experience more things that are, you know,
maybe not what you would want to see that are happening, you know.
That's going to challenge your core.
It's going to challenge your walk, you know, challenge you as a believer.
And actually to still stand as a believer and not lose your witness on some things.
But the thing that I had to get to this week as I was just, you know,
working through some things was that no matter what situation comes up in our life.
And actually, I'm going to read this the way that I was.
I was kind of meditating and going through this because I don't want to miss the flow of how it went.
But says this.
We live in a world where making mistakes can be judged upon harshly depending on the incident.
Some mistakes, call them bad decisions, can cause you a loss of a job, a relationship,
could cost you some time in prison, even loss of life.
But our response to any situation is critical to the outcome of the situation.
Amen.
There are two words.
I'm quite sure there are many others that we come across in our daily life.
It's in our vocabulary.
It's in the dictionary that God was showing me that maybe if you had a deeper understanding of these
or even kind of consider these when you're coming across situations in life that maybe not be favorable to you
or how you would see it, it might give you a different way of looking at it.
We've talked about these words before, church, but it was always only a passing.
One of it is or one is perception.
I've made the comment about your perception is your reality.
So if I say something that offended Sister Loma that I didn't mean to, but she took it that way,
but I could respond to it and either be like, well, I apologize, and say, Sister Loma, I really didn't mean it like that or whatever,
you know, forgive me, or I can get caught up in myself and just say, well, hey, you know, that's in my mind.
And I apologize to her, but just be like, well, that's not what I meant.
And keep it moving. Which is the better?
And see, get this church, give you a couple of definitions.
So in perception, the definition of perception, one says the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.
So our senses, our ears, our eyes, you know, our senses touch the normal limits to human perception.
But then the second definition says this, and this is the one that's kind of where we're at,
says a way of regarding, understanding or interpreting something.
So mental impression. So, again, I said something to Sister Loma or Sister Shelley or Sister Loretta.
They interpreted it a certain way. Not the way I meant for them to interpret it, but that's how they took it.
So that's how they responded to it. I have a choice.
Based on even if they let me know it offended them or not.
So imagine the unforeseen stuff that goes when the person doesn't even say anything, they just keep it to themselves.
That's a whole nother level. But again, perception, your perception can be your reality.
Doesn't matter whether it's true or not. But that's your perception.
So that was dealing with me going at the sweet church, just because, again, it's not saying certain things,
you know, you see on the news or you're talking to people and we're all human.
You know, hey, I'm no better than nobody else. You know, just I think and respond.
And, you know, somebody says something to my perception like, well, what do you mean by it?
You know, are they saying something against me? Whatever. Right. Perception.
But here's the one that. If you take it in, expand upon it, it can kind of really redirect it.
Then you don't get all caught bent out of shape based on if you were offended by something.
The other one is perspective. How is your perspective on something?
So let me read you the definition there. One is as far as perspective, the art of drawing solid objects.
I don't even know this on a two dimensional surface.
So as to give the right impression of the height, width, et cetera.
In position in relation to each other, when viewed for a particular point.
That perception. Right. And that's when I'm thinking of perception.
What's that? I don't think about that. That's not when it comes to mind.
But like when I was reading about it, oh, yeah, that is percent or perspective.
Here's the one perspective. A particular attitude.
Or way of regarding something. Here we go. There's a point of view.
That's the catch right there. The point of view. So.
Perception. Your perception is your reality. So I didn't mean it that way.
Maybe I offended you or however some of this went. But on the other hand,
if you had or were open to a broader perspective, you might specifically be like,
well, I'm not offended that way. You know, let me look at another perspective.
They were saying this, but they were talking in the larger. It wasn't nothing directed at me.
Church. We're in a time and we're going into a time even more so, as I just shared,
that things are heating. People are on edge.
As we even shared last week about the pain and what folks are dealing with.
And you don't know what folks are dealing with. You know what you may be dealing with, but people got things going on.
And so their reaction to something may totally take you off because you might.
Man, I wasn't there. They could be. Guess what? On their last fuse.
Right. The old, you know, their final straw. You know, that was the final straw.
So what you said. Well, if only they'd be good enough to them,
but they've been hearing things up until this point that kind of building them up where they had maybe some resentment or feeling a certain way about something.
And then your comment was the one that just took them over the edge. So when you really value is just where they were.
And then, boom, we got an unfortunate situation and misunderstandings and all that.
Church. God is trying to prepare us.
For the heavier things to come in back to again, if you get caught up in the name calling or, you know,
when I was hearing some things in the past about, you know. Daddy, my name was somebody said the N word.
If you get caught up in these initial kinds of things, guys, we're just going to inspire right where the enemy wants us to go,
because we've got to be strong and girded up in what's really important in where God's trying to take us.
Amen. Let me give you an example. Simple example. Like, oh, yeah.
So get this. Back to. Perception and perspective.
I had a T-shirt on earlier and it said Black Lives Matter.
So Black Lives Matter T-shirt. All right. Now, depending on who saw that shirt and where I may have been,
that can be taken a whole different context of how people respond.
Let me share this with you, because this attack actually happened and how people have responded.
So wearing a shirt. Now, we know that when it's kind of a few years back,
when we had a lot of unfortunate situations going on in the Black Lives Matter movement kind of started in that official sense of that name.
It was about, you know, empowerment and black folks as the people having a voice and all these different things.
Right. Black Lives Matter. Not somebody, you know, we don't care about.
And they're getting gunned down on the side and all these other various things that are happening. Right.
That's just one one spin. But the point being this. I've had that shirt on before.
But just give me this example. So and this is among, you know.
People, professionals, whatever it may be, not necessarily, you know, put it this way.
Not me wearing that shirt and going to a KKK rally. Right.
Where it's going to be like, you know, I mean, you already know. But so I see that shirt and say, well, brother Conrad or Pastor Conrad,
and even more so with me being being a pastor. Right. Black Lives Matter. And say to me, well, all lives matter.
Right. Right. And be on the fence. Be looking at me like, you know, oh, how about this church?
Oh, he wanted him. Oh, he wanted him guys.
Right. I just got a shirt on. I ain't said nothing. Right. But all this stuff being performed.
Perception about me already.
He got this shirt on. People turn away from me or, you know, oh, you know, ground up their face, whatever.
Right. Oh, this is my shirt. I didn't say a word. Perception. Now, wherever they living at.
If you had now flip it to perspective and get past whatever those initial thoughts be and say, well, you know what?
Doctor didn't even have to know me, but Pastor Conrad or, you know, this guy or whatever.
Black Lives Matter. Well, hey, I know all my lives matter to me for sure.
But but maybe if you had a broader perspective, you might recognize or understand that.
Well, maybe. He's not this is not about offending anybody or whatever, but he's speaking to somebody in particular at the moment.
So or he's trying to encourage somebody in the moment. Right. Or maybe you don't know that.
I deal with a lot of young people, could be all people, but a lot of young males that don't feel like they're like, oh, come on, church.
See, you don't understand. And so by me wearing this or speaking to you to say your life matters.
I'm not talking about anybody else's life right now or any other particular group.
I'm not speaking against any particular group. I'm just speaking to you and telling you your life matters.
Right. Because maybe that could be the thing that lifts you up, that lets you know, hey, I can go on.
See, you don't know what I'm dealing with.
You don't know the past that I'm walking in. You don't know the lives that I've seen wasted on the side, taken out by gunfire or whatever the case may be.
So when I wear that shirt, it really means something to me. But I'm trying to speak to somebody.
So but you got a perception in your reality that, oh, he's one of them. Like I'm a rebel rouser.
No, all eyes matter to me. But I'm speaking to you, Sister Loma, because you know what? Maybe you're down right now.
Maybe you felt because you were bypassed or whatever you might have been told coming up that your life doesn't matter.
But I'm telling you that it does. Perspective, church. Perspective.
You've got to be able to step back and not just respond in terms of what I think is perception of what initially came at me or how I look at something or how I might have been raised.
That causes your perception of that. You think about stuff. We in the world, there's a whole lot of stuff going on.
You've got to open up. Come on, church. You've got to be like, hey, there's some things going on.
Hey, I got to have a broader perspective. See, we as a people get caught up sometimes in our strength and focuses on my perception.
Right. But we need to strengthen up on our perspective. Come on, church.
That's got to be the thing that wides up, because if I don't, then I start to judge.
See, church, I was there earlier this week. I've been there more times than just this week.
And I'm quite sure you have, too, where you kind of say like, hey, what's going on? The flesh raises up.
Come on, church. He's like, well, what's going on with that? What did you mean by that or whatever?
Right. And that's where the enemy's right at. And he's saying, yeah, they're saying that to you.
Oh, come on, church. But I got to be the bigger man or the bigger woman to step back and be like, wait a minute.
It may not be all that. You know, let me let me see where they're really coming from.
Oh, he got that shirt on. He's speaking to a young teenager right now that just lost his brother to gun violence.
And they told him he would never amount to be nothing because he was black.
Oh, come on, church. I'm telling you their life matters because nobody else may not be telling you that.
I'm not saying that another group of life doesn't matter. All lives matter.
But I'm not speaking to you right now. I'm speaking to you. Church.
This is where we live in. It is getting thicker, thicker out here between all of the racial stuff that's raising up and people going on their side and choosing.
God, as we believe in, there is no side. It's only God's side.
It ain't a black or white thing or Hispanic thing. It's a God thing. It's all people.
But again, perspective, broaden your perspective, open up your mind, get out the box, get past all of that stuff.
Oh, man. OK. Let's shift gears.
Let's take it into the word like, you know, we always do.
This story I'm going to share on. Is. Generally one is shared.
In children's church. It's very simple.
And they always try to make this example to start to let children understand.
How God moves and what he may be saying about some things.
And so. But remember. We're still children.
So it says what? Right. Right. If we come like a child. Right. That's that's that's that's how God wants us to come.
Like that. Hey, what's going on here? What I got to do.
See what we get. We get to the point where we always think that we'd be on or whatever.
We miss it. Right. Come like a child. Oh, I was like, well, the child still needs you, Sister Loretta.
So this story here. One person that have we have not spoken about since I've been preaching.
His name is that he is. Now, six years was a tax collector.
In Jericho. And. Referencing back to the title again.
Lesson from a sinner. I don't even know if I mentioned that at the beginning, if I did.
I was already back to the title. Got the title was lesson from the title is lesson from a sinner.
So get this. This is out of Luke 19.
A simple Bible story for a powerful one. As I said, Zacchaeus was a tax collector.
And basically kind of despised up in the city. You know, he was he was basically cheating people, overcharging them on their taxes.
And and he had a bad name on it. On top of that, though, Zacchaeus was a little man.
Little short, dude. Matter of fact, they kind of referenced in terms of dwarfism, like he was a dwarf.
So we're not we're not even talking about short. We're talking about like midget kind of style. OK.
So kind of setting a context for you here, because back to perception and perspective.
See, when we hear about people, see people, meet people, we don't know where they've been or what they've been through.
And so really, that means you shouldn't be causing or drawing no perception or perspective about them.
Because maybe I grew up in this neighborhood or whatever. You automatically think this way.
I don't need to think nothing until we start talking. You tell me. All right.
But let me read this to you, church, because it's it's it's amazing how God will just break some stuff down.
And you say, man, but this is in, again, Luke 19, verses one through 10.
It says this. Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through town.
There was a man there named Zacchaeus. Oh, by the way, in the name Zacchaeus means pure and innocent.
Oh, man. In the Greek. He was the chief tax collector in the region.
So he wasn't just a little tax collector, a little small. He had a big job.
It's like one of the main people. Right. And he had become very rich.
In that church, very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus when he was too short to see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree beside the road.
When Jesus was going to pass that way. Verse five.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name.
Hmm. It is called him by name. Zacchaeus.
He said, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today.
That part there when it talks about, you know, Zia, Zia come down.
That's the part in the children's story where they always have children like that.
They say Zacchaeus come out of the tree. Verse six.
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
Here we go, sirs. But the people were displeased.
Here we go. He has gone to be a guest of a notorious sinner.
They grumbled. They didn't like the idea of Jesus hanging out with this guy.
Verse eight. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor.
Lord, and I have cheated people on their taxes.
I will give them back four times as much. Verse nine.
Jesus responded. Get this church. Salvation has come to this home today.
Oh, my goodness. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.
For the son of man came to seek and save those who were lost.
Amen. Amen, church. Let me break this down a little further for you.
So. Zacchaeus. Little short Zacchaeus.
Many stories that we hear in the Bible, we've talked about before, one with the issue of blood and.
And it was paralyzed and got healed. We know what we're told, but we don't know about their life.
Things that they may have been through. Right. We just get the point of what's shared at this particular point.
But everybody's got a story. Everybody's dealing with things out here.
So we can look. You can just make some observations. And it's kind of like, OK, the people hated him.
Now, you can say, well, he calls that, you know, you see people in their money, whatever.
But if you have a what system over broader perspective, you might be able to step back and say, well,
maybe there was some reason for this in terms of why he was doing it, why he was taking the people's money.
Now. The reason it may not never be good enough or get this church, we're not giving him a pass.
Right. We're not saying, yeah, you're right. Right. But we give a little grace.
Oh, man. Like Jesus does say, well, before I just judge the Loretta and say this man is this, he's dead.
Call him out of his name and everything else. Maybe there's something going on with this guy that I don't know about that caused him to go down that path.
Oh, man, church. So. Dwarfism or imagine being a mission.
Hey, we got all kinds of people out here. Right. You got super tall people.
We got extra wide, fat people, whatever they may be. Right.
You got people with limbs, you know, walking with Brooklyn, all kinds of scenarios with people.
But. Being that short.
Can kind of come with some challenges where people make money.
Right. Little guy, whatever. Gosh, I ain't no mission. I was I was considered shorter in my time or whatever.
People would tease me. Now, this is amazing. Right.
I'm five nine. Now, that's that's actually the average height.
I'm so funny. I run across so many people much shorter than me on the record.
I'm like, man, you know. But the point is, though, but point being that.
That can cause some stuff for some people when you're made fun of. Oh, come on, church.
I used to hang out in school with the fat kid, the kid that everybody made fun of.
And they would be like, you know, and they'd be like, why are you with him? You know, whatever.
Kids can be mean. Right. And be like, why am I with him? Why am I not with him?
You know, that's Joe. I don't see no fat Joe. That's Joe. Right.
But people. And so here's this guy, Zacchaeus, whoever he could have dealt with.
You know, they say this thing, you know, about shorter men having this Napoleon complex.
You know, Napoleon, where, you know, when you're kind of despised, though, when you're, you know, smaller in stature or whatever,
that you kind of make up for when if you get in power, then you're going to be ruthless.
Right. You know, I'm going to do Hitler. Right. Hitler was my height.
And, you know, you know, I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to control. I'm a dominant.
So all kinds of things to cause you to back away or step in, however it might be.
But again, Zacchaeus just dealing with stuff probably through his life.
Well, church. We didn't get I'm not going to we're not going to pass that he was cheating the people.
But back to the point of, hey, man, some things might have happened along the way,
just like some things could happen to you, sister, to cause you to do some things that are not approved of.
You know, why so or so running around with this person?
Oh, man. Right. Hanging out with this one. Right.
Hanging with this person and he's out in trouble and getting in trouble in the streets or whatever. Right.
Why is he doing it? Don't know. Something could have happened, triggered him to go this way.
This happens in life. But when people automatically judge, oh, come on, church.
And say, oh, man, yeah, look at him or look at her or whatever. Right.
And have no compassion or no, no, no corner like, hey, you know what?
Like Jesus would do. They as they say, Jesus was going by.
And I'm talking about the elders prayer about Jesus not passing us by.
Jesus is walking by. Can you imagine Zacchaeus, even the fact that he climbed the sycamore tree?
So he's so sure he can't even see all the people. Right.
And to see Jesus. But something was inquisitive in him to say, you know what?
There's something about that man. Oh, come on, church.
Just like the woman at the issue of blood that said, you know what? I'm going past everything.
I don't care what anybody thinks. I'm getting to Jesus.
Zacchaeus said, I'm going up the tree. Now, imagine how people were looking at me like that.
But this fool going to climb the tree. Zacchaeus, right. Going up in a tree.
He didn't care. But how about this church? Back to broader perspective to Stallone.
See, sometimes you try to get above the circumstances.
So you can see correctly. He got a hierarchical view. He said, you know what? I can't be amongst the proud.
I got to go above the crowd. I got to get a view of Jesus that's clear. I can see, oh, there he is. Here he comes, whatever.
There's nobody blocking my view. How about this? There's nobody blocking my perspective. Right?
Nobody can tell me he's this or that. I can see for myself. Oh, church. See, that's where God is trying to get us today.
So he goes up in the tree. Get this. Jesus is walking by, crowds are forming.
Now, again, he didn't know Jesus. Jesus didn't know him in the natural.
But he has heard about this guy that's walking around healing, healing the sick.
You know, and here I am, Zacchaeus. I'm in my foolishness of what I do. I'm a sinner.
Oh, come on, church. Blessing of a sinner. I'm out here cutting up, right? I'm robbing people of their stuff.
But remember what I said his name was? Represented innocent impurity.
See, there was still something inside. Oh, my gosh.
Right. See, we can have just like David and these guys that were doing stuff out there, right?
David, sleeping with a married woman, had the husband killed. I mean, brutal stuff, right?
But God can say he's a man of his own heart. Come on, church. Like, like, how can that be?
If God can say something like that, you mean to tell me we can't give Zacchaeus a little bit of a grace and people like Zacchaeus?
Matter of fact, those are us. Right. We all fall short.
Church. Jesus goes by. He's coming up. Zacchaeus is in the tree.
Jesus says, Zacchaeus, he called him by name. Oh, my goodness. Right. Right. He didn't call him a sinner.
He didn't say you were a thief. Oh, he didn't say you've been robbing all the people.
He says, Zacchaeus, you got a name. Right. Come on down out of that tree.
See, Jesus knew that this man deep down inside. Oh, man. Right.
Innocent, furious, but something kind of caused him to go off track a little bit.
Can't that be any of us? Matter of fact, hasn't that been us? We all ain't ran a straight line all from the day we were born till now.
Everybody went off the track at some point. But if nobody gave us the grace.
Oh, come on, church. Just say, you know what? Hey, I know you fell. I know some things happen all the way.
Well, hey, brother, sister, I'm right here. Get back up. Let's get on this thing. Let's keep moving.
Church. That's what the church is supposed to be today. That's what the body of Christ.
But see, we get caught up in the same thing the world is. Right. My perspective. Right.
Again, my perspective, not the broader perspective. Right. Or what's the other one? My perception.
Well, I perceive that as such and such or whatever. And I ain't even giving you a second chance. Oh, man.
I don't cut you off. Imagine if Jesus did that to us. So Jesus walks by.
Come on down out of this tree. Right. Can you imagine the love that he has felt to see he knew right off the bat Jesus wasn't judging him.
And he knew Jesus knew about it. Right. That Jesus didn't say, hey, man, you need to get it together.
Right. That was the first thing he said. He said, come on down out of that tree. I want to go to your house.
What you want? Come on, sister. You go to my house.
You Jesus. Right. Remember the Roman soldier that said, hey, Jesus, I'm not even good enough for you to come to my house.
Right. Just change your word. And he was my servant. He tells the kids, this is Jesus speaking.
Come on out of your house. What? He is like, oh, man, he's excited.
They go church. What does he say as he goes on at the end?
The kids now get this. Flip it to the other side a little bit.
Remember the story when I shared to y'all about the rich young ruler. Oh, man.
This is only a couple of chapters back, by the way. Look at the difference.
Let me highlight this for you. Remember when you said he was following the commands.
Good. Good guy. Right. Had wealth. And remember, he asked Jesus, you know, what?
You know, what? What does it take for eternal life or whatever? And Jesus and he said to him and he told you, hey, I'm doing this.
I'm obeying. Right. You know, you get to follow the commandments.
And then when Jesus turns up and say, well, you haven't done this one thing, sell all your possessions, whatever.
Right. Remember the story. And what did he say? He's like, he got stabbed and walked away.
Gave it all for that. Right. Just like, oh, I can't do that. That's too much.
He comes the other way. Jesus didn't ask him the question. He told Jesus, this is what I'm going to do.
He knew he had conviction. He was convicted in the presence of the Lord.
And he says, you know what? Hey, you ain't got to tell me what to do.
I know I ain't been doing right. I'll give up half of my stuff right.
And I'll get back four times to the church. What? Jesus and Jesus says, get to church.
Hey, Zekias, what he said, still before the Lord, verse eight, it said, I will give up half my wealth to the poor.
And I have cheated people on their taxes. I will give them that four times as much.
Then Jesus says, salvation has come to your home today.
For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost.
Church, that is a powerful, powerful thing of repentance, forgiveness, all in one.
By Zekias, right, who was in a sense living off a lonely life.
Yeah, he had money. He was cheating people however he got it.
But again, we don't know what Zekias went through in his life that caused him to go that route.
Maybe that was the way that he got attention. It wasn't a healthy, good way.
Well, hey, I'm a dwarf. Nobody sees me up there. Oh, come on, church.
People are stepping on me. I have no voice. So, you know what?
This is the way I can execute. I got wealth. I got my money. So, you know what?
They're talking about me. Right. But at least guess what? They know who I am.
It ain't in a good light, but they know this guy Zekias. Prior to that, I was nothing. Right.
Nobody knew my name. Oh, man. Church, see. If you, we get a hold of this.
Because here's the here's the cream of it all, church. And I said it slightly before.
Lesson from a sinner. Hey, lesson from a sinner to a sinner.
Hey, guys, we're all nothing but sinners saved by grace.
And guess what, church? We still sin throughout the day in our life.
We're not sinless. We still do stuff. Right. But we have the opportunity to come back and repent.
Say, God, forgive me. It may not our intentions. We're not, you know, sinful.
But, hey, it happens. Just like I had this judgment thing going on this week.
Oh, come on, church. I'm a pastor. I'm not exempt from that.
I still got to say I was wrong or whatever. Church. Powerful. Rich young ruler.
Had all this stuff going right. Right. Telling Jesus, yeah, I'm doing this. I'm following that command or whatever.
Right. Almost pumping himself up. Like, yeah, I got this. Whatever.
Whatever. Oh, whoa, whoa. That's too much. Couldn't get in.
Talks about the rich. It's tougher for a rich person to get in to heaven than a camel through the eye of the needle.
Church. But then you got a little Zacchaeus up in a sycamore tree.
A sycamore tree represented like restoration, regenerative growth.
Sycamore tree. You know, you got actually real sycamore trees like California, the big trees.
It's just the right to know about the trees. She loves to read. Drawings. It's just the right artist.
And it draws a lot of trees. Church. So even that was symbolic of him going up a sycamore tree.
Right. Guys. God wants us.
The tying clothes to this message was God wants us to get to a place.
That, you know what? We can't judge. We can't judge nobody or no thing.
We don't have a right to judge. Only he is the righteous judge. Ain't us.
Because God, if he was judging us on the day by day, we'd be a black side on the road.
Because we all fall short. But if we can step into this season and open up and broaden our perspective.
And say, oh, you know what? Regardless of what my perceptions may have been and how I grew up or how I understood things or whatever.
I still got to be open enough to say, hey, some things can be different.
I got to maybe approach some things differently because they that's certainly the way I see it.
And therefore, I can't judge you or be in such a place.
Well, hey, you know, I don't know about that. Guys, we're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
If we're really doing that, that means we got to have grace in our hearts.
If that's what he did. Again, guys, sinners saved by grace. There before the grace of God go I.
Who can I be the one to judge and say, yeah, yeah, they're doing that.
No, I don't like to sin. But I still love the sinner. Oh, come on, church.
I mean, if that's that salvation, that's what repentance is to bring us into the kingdom in an improper alignment with God.
So, man, I'm not condoning your bad behavior or the things you might be doing.
I'm still going to show you love. No, I can't set myself to take the ball with you.
Right. And let me think we both out. But no, I'm not going to judge you.
And I'm still be there on the side and say, hey, man, woman, let's go. It's going to be all right.
You can do better than that because the enemy is always trying to spin us out the other way and that we're done.
But God is trying to show us in a simple child story or when it's used for a child in a lot of ways.
Right. Because, again, to get it, the joke is out for decades come out of tree and he's still living.
You know, that's why it's the other thing. You know, those to keep church.
This guy conviction, he he he didn't say he told Jesus, Jesus didn't say, hey, you need to watch this.
He didn't say to him, you need to get your life together. You know, you take the people's money.
You know, like you told your original ruler, which he wasn't getting on him.
He just told me, hey, you're doing those things, but you need to do this.
And if you chose not to, that is confetti himself.
So, hey, I'm not limerick to the point of being church. You show a little bit of love.
You show a little bit of grace towards those that might be slipping.
What change might happen versus if I'm judging you and saying, oh, I knew you would do that.
Yeah, you're a loser. Just like that. Come on, y'all.
Come on, just a little bit. Just a little bit.
We do our part, man. That's the body.
That's what we're called to do. When our sister or brother has slipped and fallen or whatever, we come alongside of them.
We don't fall as salt in the wound. We speak. We try to sweeten it up.
Say, hey, I know that ain't right. You know, that ain't right.
But I'm not here to say that. We already know. So let's talk about what we got to do.
Church. Time is too short.
People ain't making it. They're dropping off still left and right.
Things are happening. And if we are spending time on that, judging, lack of forgiveness.
I keep on. God keeps on coming back to that, guys. Right.
Must be a big thing. There's got to be something. Hey, forgiveness has got to come down.
We can't live in that. Right. I read a saying the other day. When you choose not to forgive.
Right. You're not holding a person in prison. You're in prison. Oh, man.
I said, oh, my goodness. Church, we got to get past that.
You want me to get a little closer to you now? So that ain't just your neighbor or the person that saw me wearing my Black Lives Matter shirt.
And for an opinion, how about this? They could be living in the house.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you were there.
Yeah. Now we're here. It could be in the house. Right.
That elephant in the room. We just, yeah, you know, whatever.
Gosh, there's going to be misunderstandings. Don't get me wrong. That's what my point is.
You know what? How about this, church? We can get so familiar.
Oh, my goodness. The familiar spirit in knowing somebody because we've been around them a long time.
We've seen it. And guess what? We think we saw it all. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. I've seen that before. So you know what? Race.
We ain't got no lesson. Now, I'm not talking about being in an abusive situation where, you know, your violence and all that and you hurt, whatever.
I mean, you know, there's going to be other help that needs to be coming.
I'm talking about your judgment and how you looking at this or how you're not even giving that person a chance already.
You know, cut them off in your mind. Oh, my gosh. They could be coming back and telling you, hey, I'm trying to do this now.
Hey, church, they might have fell seven times. Oh, come on, church. Don't bring me to the word.
Right. And how the enemy would do it. Come back. Comes back stronger the next time.
God, they could have fell behind you all these times.
He's like, oh, yeah, I'm going to do that. And they don't do it. Yeah, I'm going to do that.
They don't do it. Meaning I make an attempt, but I still fell short. Church.
Oh, come on, sister. If they forget this church.
You might be the only hope that they have outside of Jesus.
So when you gave up on them, they gave up all together.
So as hard as it might be where you still got to look that person in the eye and say, yeah, OK.
Go for it. Right. And let me get on the wheel again and go for this church.
Here's the thing. Would you rather. Not have done that.
Oh, man, I got to go here. Would have done that.
Then not have a chance to say that again. Right.
Y'all know where I'm at. There is no more opportunity.
And now you've got to deal with it. See, church, this is real talk, real stuff in your face.
That's got to be called out. Folks ain't dealing with it's not being preached from a pulpit like that.
You know, I'm not I'm not talking about anything bad.
I'm saying, hey, God has put me in a spot to say, call it out for what it is.
We ain't got no time to be playing games. Is he church? If we can get to that place.
See, you don't get there overnight, but you start chipping away, making a little bit of headway.
So it's March 2nd, maybe by the end of the month, you're taking a couple of steps.
See, a couple of steps has been. Oh, my God. Right.
At least there's an opportunity that I'm moving towards something church.
I talked about the Black Lives Matter shirt. A young man was saying to me, I had a conversation.
Was it earlier this week? I got a few things going on.
A really timely guy right now. You got to hear about more in the days ahead.
But God got me in the spot. I'm in the zone right now.
And it's been a time when it's his time.
You know, but y'all know me. I ain't a talker. I'm just a dude, you know, to turn around.
Oh, yeah. Because it ain't about me. But guys, it's all about if I can make a difference.
If God can make a difference to me, that's what I'm all about.
But a person was saying to me, they said, they reminded, they brought me back to my nephew.
Many of y'all know me. We all family here. But that was murdered several years ago in Florida, Georgia.
And the thing was that. You can almost forget.
Situations and back to perspective.
And honestly, that was some of the stuff I was even working through the past week about just judging and saying, come on, sister.
Saying some things like, you know, like, like, you know, that stuff is one thing you see it on the news.
But when I say your door, that's a whole different ballgame. Right.
And so when you live through that. But they reminded me, church. Oh, man.
It ain't over. Meaning your time, it ain't over. Brother Conrad, Pastor Conrad, you know, stuff that, you know, you know, that was then.
And but this is still now. And you still have an opportunity to touch that population.
It was messed up, y'all. And I say, God, the church.
I say that to say we are in a time where.
We have to become and get real with ourselves.
No more playing games. No more making excuses.
You know, I was this. I was there. That was the war.
However tall that was. Easily disregarded and bypassed.
Right. Which could have formed all kinds of complexes and whatever else was going on in his life.
But he chose to climb a tree. Oh, man, church.
Right. I don't care what it looks like. I got to get another view.
You know, just get this. Most of the time, actually, was like he was always lost.
Sister Loretta, he would never get through. He could never see what was going on.
You know, something's happening or whatever. You imagine, you know, by the time he would get to get through the situation, it was over.
This kind of church. He said, oh, no, I'm not going to be denied.
I'm going up the tree. Oh, man. Oh, yeah.
I got to get a perspective for myself.
I heard about this man named Jesus. He's doing miracles in the city.
Right. I got to see this for myself. Hey, I'm coming above all this.
Matter of fact, I'm coming above the name that they call me.
Steve. Robert. Right.
All the negativity or whatever. And really in my heart, I'm honest and pure.
But I'm caught up in all this. I'm going above all that right now because I got to see this man named Jesus.
Church. That's what he's calling for us today.
Rise above. Talk about baptism and rise up or whatever. Rise above the circumstance.
Rise above what's been keeping you locked down.
Rise up. Raise up with your family.
Yeah. You know, church, we can make up a whole lot of excuses.
And I'm not saying that there's been some things, man, that can hold us back, has held us back.
But we know more than anything in here holds us back than anything else.
And so we got to get to a place in closing today.
We have to get to a place. Get an attitude like the kids.
Get an attitude like the woman with the issue of blood. Get an attitude like the paralyzed man.
Remember, his friends had to carry him. His heart was still there.
So what? We carry each other. Whatever the situation might be that you're dealing with in your life.
This church. If we don't do it, who is? Who is? What are we waiting for?
Who's going to tell you you can do it?
Hey, my parents used to tell me that when I was a kid, they're not here no more.
But at least they instilled it. Oh, come on, church. At least they instilled it in me.
And you know what, church? I got this feeling of somebody else.
And I don't mean necessarily a kid. It could be somebody my age or even older.
Say, hey, brother, you can still do it. Elder James.
Yeah, you had the strokes, but you still can serve in a restaurant business.
Oh, man. It ain't over yet.
Yeah. You still got people to meet.
Because the church, the one of the things that when Elder was doing in his restaurant business,
he would never talk about this, but he was serving the people at the church.
We know that food is a touch to the soul.
Right. That's a place where when we break bread, things lighten up a little bit.
We have a little time. We talk, we eat, whatever. Right.
There's no coincidence. God had him in that business.
And he's still in the business today, just a little different way.
But church, he was serving the people.
Elder used to serve reduced cost meals to people that couldn't afford it.
They don't know. He wasn't just getting an award from the city.
He was getting an award from God.
They just caught on and they realized it was time.
Church, when you have that kind of a servant's heart.
Yeah, he made a living, paid his bills or whatever.
But church, his heart was hidden.
So when the people came in, they still know him today.
There are people that know the name of the city.
This is the man used to have the restaurant or whatever.
He served the best wings in town, amongst other things.
Church, that's your story in whatever space you live in.
You do it to the best of your ability.
And you give it to God.
Man might not ever give you the award, but he knows.
And so church, folks in common.
As you think about this title, lesson of a sinner or lesson from a sinner.
And then you recognize that it's a lesson from a sinner to give to a lesson to a sinner.
That's a perspective opener.
If you can settle into that and recognize that there before the grace of God,
when us is saved by his grace and that we still have an opportunity to correct some things.
Church, you can't go forward if you're holding.
If you're holding grudges, if you're holding attitudes, if you're holding unforgiveness.
I know there's some hurtful things that have happened in life.
And I don't believe that some of the things that happened was necessarily those people's intentions.
Right. They were where they were. Oh, my God. Jesus.
Oh, God. But.
There's still an opportunity. There's still an opportunity.
We still here. We still here.
In order to go forward in fullness. Give a chance.
Give her a chance. Doesn't mean guys.
This isn't about, you know, back to necessarily Kumbaya.
And this is somebody I'm hanging out with on a daily basis or I'm doing for church.
Hey, they made a mistake. How about this? They made many mistakes.
How about this? You made many mistakes. I can't judge.
I just got to have a different perspective, a broader perspective.
Yeah. I can't let that or you hurt me that way.
Because maybe you're still working on that. So I got to protect myself to some degree.
Don't get me wrong. But I my attitude can't be.
Burning the. Oh, like out of here. Right.
It's got to be open like Jesus would be. Zacchaeus felt the love church of a man he never met.
Passing by in a shrink. Oh, just a moment. That's deep.
He only heard about this man. We know some of the folks that we know.
He only heard about it and said, you know what? This is something way beyond my comprehension.
I have to get a broader perspective. Little Zacchaeus. And that's what he did.
As a result, salvation. Guess what church? It said.
It didn't say it just came to him. It came to his home. That dude is white.
And whatever else was the church. See what point we have bigger than us is always bigger than us.
And if we get ahold and realize. On March 2nd, 2024, that God is speaking is saying we got to change this thing up,
change our perspective, broaden some things in order to really enter in and serve into the game, serve the kingdom where we need to.
That's what we got to do in the story. There's no question about it.
This guy, that's what God is called. Church. I pray.
That a child's story out of the Bible. Could resonate with you.
To a level that remember talking about when I was a child, I played with childish things.
But when I became an adult, I put away childish things. Church. We share the child's story.
And we're children. But it's a real story. It was just simple enough to break it down for a child.
Make it somewhat kind of funny. You know, trees and a little person, whatever.
But a. That story is for anybody and everybody.
That's simple. It is not a coincidence that right before that is the story of the rich young ruler.
Basically opposite. Come on, man. You can't make this stuff up.
Basically opposite. Before that situation.
And then this one pops up. And you don't hear much about it, much more about Zach is period in the Bible.
That's what he's known for. Right. He's in the street.
So church. I hope that. You can take some nuggets from that.
You really apply it in your life. Going forward just to be like, you know what, God?
I got to open up my perspective. I may have been looking at things one way for a long time.
And see, we get we get set on our stuff, you know, like, hey, what?
This is how I do. Yeah. So, you know, this is who I am.
Right. But are you still trying to grow and be like him?
Then that's a problem. Because that's what we're called to do.
So we just want to draw the line and say, well, hey, you know, that's nice, Pastor.
And, you know, I try to do my best.
And, you know, if that's the way you took it, everybody on the line.
You know, I didn't mean it that way, but I ain't going to get that.
No, no, no, no. Hey, I'm sorry. If you took it that way, that's not what I meant.
I told y'all before, please forgive me. But now it's on you.
If you still stay in that place, I'm free, church. I'm free.
We got to give free.
We are bound up and don't even know it, and we're thinking about all these other things
we want to do and think we're supposed to be doing, and we're locked up in this.
Jesus.
Bless them from the center.
Thank you, Lord.
As we always do, if there is anyone on the line that does not know the Lord, we'd like
to make Jesus your personal savior, almost like a Zacchaeus, where he knew there was
something bigger.
Doing things that he probably didn't want to do, again, innocent, sure is what he was
really about, but some things happen in life, it went another way, got caught up, no different
from anybody else, but he went above the crowd, whoo, hey, Jesus, got a broader perspective,
and changed his life, joyfully, gave four times to people.
So if you don't know this Jesus that I'm talking about, this is an opportunity for you to get
to know him.
Verses 10, 9, and 10 makes it very simple about accepting belief, that he is the son
of God, you might make him Lord, and he was raised from the dead.
Those simple two confessions tells us that you are saved.
You can do that publicly or privately.
Again, there are many people, as I know on this line, that already accepted the Lord,
but there are people that hear this message that have not, and by the way, we had a couple
of folks accept the Lord after last week's message, yeah, powerful stuff, guys, I tell
you this, it goes beyond here, it goes beyond here, hit some people, dead in the gut, hey,
thank God, all right, we're good there, and then if there's anybody that would want to
rededicate their life to the Lord, that could have been once like this Zacchaeus person,
you know, well, we don't know, I don't know, we don't know Zacchaeus' story, before what
they described, but obviously if he had innocence and purity, he may have been connected to
the Lord in a different way, we just didn't know about it, but if you have found yourself
away from the Lord, you once was giving your life to him, but then things happened along
the way that you could have found yourself operating in the way that Zacchaeus was, robbing
and stealing from people, that's serious business, guys, right, people trying out here, trying
to do the right thing, and you're taking their stuff amongst whatever else, or any other
thing that falls that is not Christ-like, that's sinful, it's an opportunity to always
get back, that's what happened to Zacchaeus, Jesus went walking by, he knew about and heard
about this man, he was convicted in the spirit, that's what happened, he came and told Jesus
what he was going to do, I'm giving it all back, Jesus, Jesus told him, eternal life
comes to you all, that's us, so you have an opportunity as well, to come back if you
walked off, we do that publicly and privately, publicly we just acknowledge it, and privately
again, it's between you and the Lord, amen, I'll close in prayer and then I'll just leave
the aisle open for a minute if anybody has something they want to say, let's close in
prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this simple but challenging, challenging message,
powerful, you can call me out on it God, who am I to judge, who am I to look at anybody
in any kind of way, not who I am, not my intention, but we all get pulled in certain directions,
this flesh is just what it is, it rises up, it's got to be tamed, it can only be tamed
by your word, so Father I know if I was dealing with this this week, others are dealing with
it as well, whether it was this week, last week, last year, time to come, we got to address
it, and so Father just as you had me even speak out in that, it doesn't have to be your
neighbor, it can be in your own house, let's keep it real God, we love you, we thank you
for challenging us with God, spanking us when we need to be spanked, with love, to
grow us up Father, to be the men and women that you call us to be, to be the light to
this dying and dark world, Father if you came tomorrow, we don't want to be caught on the
dark side, we don't want to be caught on the, I shouldn't have did that side, we want
to be in rightful standing and say I did all I knew to do, and started with my own repentance,
so Father as we pray for this country, and we pray for the divisions, the murders, all
the crazy that's going on and it's getting ready to increase, we pray your grace in a
super amount, a portion be poured out over this land Father God, your spirit, your light
Father, where everything is looking dark, and looking darker, and looking like this is it,
people have lost hope, they want to have hope, but they've lost hope, and what they're seeing
right now is making them say well it's a wrap, and I'll just kind of go with it, whatever goes,
whatever, but Father we have a voice in you, we have a voice in you,
you're mighty, you're still the God that reigns, you're still the God in all power and all control,
and if we can tap in like we need to Father God, this world will see a drastic change,
see you like when the eyes are set against you, that's when you show yourself most mighty,
so Lord start in us, oh God, clean us up first, get us right, that we can lead and show others the way,
so Father we thank you for this word, we give you all praise, all glory, in Jesus name, amen.