Coming for You

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello, you gorgeous church. How is everybody? I thought I was going to wear black to mourn the loss of the browns, but I said, we are from Cleveland. His mercies are new every morning. We'll get them next year. My dad is over at west campus because, as many of you know, they have recently purchased property. And they are in that fundraising phase of walking with God in faithfulness to try to raise money to build a building because they've outgrown theirs. So he is vision casting his heart out over there, and I am up today, and I am pumped to be here with you. Let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, you are worthy of it all. There are so many different things happening in the hearts and souls of each person sitting here and each person online, but you are worthy of it all. I pray that you will meet us here today. No one wants to hear from me, father. Everyone wants to hear and be touched by something of who you are. So I pray with all that I am. Those who are seeking to see who you are, will you please show yourself true? Will you please meet the lost, meet the hurt, meet the happy father. Meet us here. In your son's name, I pray. Amen. So, two weeks ago, Jacob and I took a crew to the passion conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference is for 18 to 25 year olds. So I have aged out, just barely aged out. Why are you laughing? I call them the kids, but 18 to 25. So we took this crew of eight and we drove there. It took a ridiculous amount of time, but the company was delightful. And my entire time, my prayer was, Father, can you just show something of who you are to them? Can they see that you are alive in this world? And can they just want to follow you heart and soul? I mean, I must have prayed that prayer over and over and over. And I have a little video clip because I want you to see a little bit of what it meant to them and their experience. [00:02:29] Speaker B: This past week, the church took me and some of my best friends to go to passion, and it was just breathtaking. You stand in this room with 60,000 other people your own age, and you can't help but imagine that this would be what heaven's like. It was this confidence that I've never felt before. I felt this assurance in my calling. I got to be refreshed of the gospel, hearing this good news in a new light, knowing that the magnitude of it shouldn't be lost on you. Passion 2024 was an amazing experience. It was so cool to see God moving in the room. It was like you could feel God's love around us, and it was surreal. And the best part about all of it was that it didn't just stop in that room, and we get to take that back with us to our church, to our families, to our college campuses. And I left with a desire for more. I want to learn more about God. I want to be closer with God. I want to serve God better. And I honestly owe so much of it to that experience. [00:03:45] Speaker C: I just thought it was so cool how it was. People from all across, not just the United States, but I think they said it was something like 72 countries, all came together in the same place to worship. I think it's super special. I got to be a part of it. [00:04:01] Speaker D: Passion 2024 was such a cool experience. I feel so grateful that I got the opportunity to be in a room with 60,000 people all worshipping the Lord. Now, after being there, it gave me so much inspiration to come home and use what we learned for the good of God's kingdom. I want to use what I learned to spread the word of God. Because once you get transformed, you can cause transformation in others lives. And then once they get transformed, they can cause transformation in others lives. And it's a domino effect. It just keeps going. [00:04:38] Speaker B: This past week, I was given the amazing opportunity to attend passion 2024. I was in a room with 60,000 people authentically worshipping the Lord. And I never thought I would experience that in our generation today. That's a crazy thing to witness. It's a crazy thing to be around. But I couldn't have been happier and more grateful and at peace with my life. [00:05:04] Speaker A: It was amazing for me to witness. [00:05:08] Speaker E: Everybody there for one person, and that person was God. And it was just awesome because it's the same God that everyone's serving. And for me, it was just awesome. [00:05:22] Speaker C: To see that I had such a good time. It was like a true blessing for me to know that I'm not alone in know there's so many others. But my biggest takeaway was from night one. Sadie Robertson Huff spoke. And she's like, my girl. Like, I love her, but she spoke on the Bible. And she reminded me that the same spirit that Rose Christ from death is the same spirit that's alive in me today. And that just blows my mind. And I don't want to take it for granted. So I want to share the good news. She said, as for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. And that's how I grew up. And it's a blessing that I grew up that way. But I don't want to stop with me. I want to keep going. [00:06:22] Speaker A: It was neat because each of them had experienced God in certain ways, and really, what passion is. They bring the best worship leaders from around the world. In the US, they bring the best preachers, and it's just like a shot of adrenaline to the heart of the goodness of God. And what the impression was with the kids was they weren't in it alone. I heard it over and over, like 60,000 people in this room, their age, seeking to know God, worshipping him with all their hearts. And the heartbeat of what touched them was they were not alone in it. Church. We're doing a better together Sunday because there is a gift in togetherness. There is a gift in not having to do life alone. But the problem is, there's a new epidemic that's happening, and the new epidemic is loneliness. 70% of 15 to 24 year olds are hanging out with friends way less than they ever have in their life. The amount of mental health and the amount of isolation has gone up considerably since COVID And inside of my heart, although I can be surrounded by a group of people, sometimes I can feel the loneliness. It's not even just you have to be alone. It can be something that's going on within. And when I think about this, my heart is like, there are so many different things going on in people's lives. It's a gift to work at the church, but it's also like, there's a heaviness to it, because you hear all your stories, you hear the pain that you guys go through. And as I get ready to preach, my heart is always thinking about you guys. And my desire today is that you will experience God in a fresh way. My desire is that whatever hole that's in your heart, because we all have them in one shape or the other, that God can fill it for you. There's a story in Luke, and I grew up in church, so I am like a church girl. I said, I think I had more church than Jesus had church growing up. And so I learned this song about a man named Zacchaeus. Is that Zacchaeus was a wee little man. And, yes. So that is my lens of the story of Zacchaeus. It's this little girl. I heard another preacher say, he thinks he looks like Danny Devito. Like, when he thinks about Zacchaeus, that's the look he goes for. And I grew up with this cartoon version of this man's story in my head. And as I was rereading it, it captivated my heart in my grown up version. So if you've never heard the story of Zacchaeus, I'm glad, because it's so much more than just a song. You see, Zacchaeus was. He was a tax collector. And, in fact, in the book of Luke, they tell you he was a chief tax collector, and they don't really use it in any other part of the Bible. So what they think is multiple people were collecting taxes, because at this time, Rome, here we go talking about the roman empire again. You're welcome, men. Rome had taken charge of this territory, and so the jewish people had to pay taxes to Caesar. And what would happen is the jewish people, some would choose to collect the taxes. And the way you got paid really was if you took a little more off the top. So you would charge your community, your friends, you would charge the people around you more money than they had to pay for taxes. And it really made people mad. And if you were a tax collector, you were, in fact, despised. You were hated. No one liked you, except maybe other tax collectors. And so it was a very, very lonely world for Zacchaeus. And he made his bed, right? That was the profession he chose. He made his bed, but it was a lonely world. And you see, earlier it says that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, and he was passing by Jericho. And right before he gets into Jericho, he sees this man who is crying out to him, and he's saying, son of David, have mercy on me. And he keeps crying out, this son of David, have mercy on me. And the crowd's, like, super annoyed, and they're like, dude, shut up. Leave him alone. But Jesus comes over. He asks him, what do you want? The man says, I want to be healed. And Jesus says, your faith has made you well. And the man could see. And now rumors started to travel like they do, and it made its way to the city of Jericho, and it made its way to Zacchaeus that there was somebody that they were calling the son of David. Now, that would have deep meaning to the jewish culture because they knew that the messiah was going to come from the lineage of David. And so someone calling Jesus the son of David was basically saying, the messiah, the Christ, is here. And now the people in Jericho heard these rumors, and they all came out because Luke tells us Jesus was passing by. And Zacchaeus comes out, and he is surrounded by thousands of people. And the Bible makes a point to tell us that Zacchaeus was of small stature. Now, sure, people, don't you think they could have left that out. Do you know what I'm saying? But I heard a pastor question that why do they add that Zacchaeus was small and he know. You don't hear about what color Mary's hair was or you never see in the Bible a description of what Jesus looks like, which I was like, bro, that would be know. And you don't see those things. And so when you do see these descriptions, he said, take note of it and sit in it for a minute. And he said what he thought is that inside each and every one of us, we know the feeling of what it feels like to feel small. Inside each and every one of us, we know the feeling of really not measuring up sometimes. We know the feeling of what it might feel like to be rejected or passed over or to compare ourselves and fall short. Inside of us, we all know that feeling. And there was a longing in Zacchaeus, a longing that, I don't know if he ever even said it out loud, but that he felt lost. You see, the Bible tells us he was rich, his profession was fine, it was paying good, but there was a hole that it was not filling. And church, I believe that Christ wants you to know that there are holes in our hearts that only he can fill. There are things in our life that we go to all the wrong things to try to fill it, to try to feel better, to try to numb it, to try to escape it. But it leaves a hole and a longing for more. And as I read Zacchaeus's story, I felt the longing for the first time. Because he goes out and he sees this crowd and he's small and he can't see over it, but it says he was seeking to see who Jesus was. Something inside of him wanted to know, who is Jesus? Who is this man that's passing by? And he sees a tree and it's a sycamore tree. And he runs and he climbs up the sycamore tree. Now, I pulled up this picture of a sycamore tree because in Jericho, this sycamore tree still exists. They give tours because they believe that maybe, possibly this is the tree he climbed. They tested it. It's over 2000 years old. So I was like, that's kind of cool. Looks a little tall for a short guy to hang up on, you know what I'm saying? But it's 2000 years old, so maybe it was smaller at the time, but this is the tree that could possibly be it. You never know. And Zacchaeus climbs up this tree, and he's waiting to see Jesus, just get a glimpse of him. But something so much better happens. I think sometimes we come to church or we pray or we try to get a glimpse of Jesus, but church, I want to call you to go a little bit deeper. I want to call you, like, in your heart of hearts. Do you seek to know him? Do you seek to find him in your life? I think about this past year, and I've never been hungrier in all of my life. Just to know him, just to find him, just to be in his presence for a moment, because it is so much better than anything else I have tried in my life. I learned a long time ago, I just want to be where Jesus is. I want to be where God is moving. And I feel that call on Zacchaeus'heart. He just wanted to see. And he climbs this tree, and the Bible tells us that Jesus comes right to the tree. There are thousands of people there that day. And Jesus walks right to this tree, and he calls up and he says, zacchaeus, I want you to come down. Hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. I must stay at your house today. You see, Luke opens up this passage by saying that Jesus was passing through. But one thing I know for sure is Jesus doesn't do anything by accident. I think he was pursuing Zacchaeus that day. I think he was on his way to Jerusalem. But he knew there was a blind man who needed him. And he knew there was a man who had a longing in his heart that would be willing to do the undignified thing as a tax collector and climb a tree just to see him. And he pursued Zacchaeus. And where Zacchaeus said, I'm seeking to see who Jesus is. Jesus said, I am already on my way to you. And he doesn't know Zacchaeus. He's never met. Zacchaeus is going to see who he is. Yet Jesus knows him by name. Church. I remember when Christ found me. I remember when I was lost and seeking and searching, and I just longed for something better in my life. And I felt the call of him. Just saying, sarah, I love you. I believe your heavenly father calls to each and every single person in this room and online, whoever is listening, wherever you are, and he calls you by name. It is a personal relationship. He's not just the God of the crowd and the God of the universe. You see, he's intimate enough to know us personally, but big enough to take care of the world. That is the God we follow. And he shows up and he goes to the spot right where Zacchaeus is, and he calls him and he says, I must go to your house. That captivated my heart, too. What does that mean? He must, like Jesus, had the desire to seek out Zacchaeus. He had the urgency, the need. I must go to your house, because later in the story, we see that Jesus says, I came to seek and save the lost. And church. I don't know about you, but there are moments in my life I feel lost. There are moments that the loneliness and I might not know what to do next, where I just have to seek a savior. I have to seek him and climb up that sycamore tree. But when Jesus says, I'm coming to your house, the crowd around starts to murmur. They start to say what a loser Zacchaeus is. They start to say, how could jesus go to a guy's house like Zacchaeus? He's a sinner. Isn't it easy to point out other people's shortcomings? A little bit harder to recognize them within ourself? And here's what I know, church. I know that most times people are not turned off by God. They're turned off by the crowd that's around them. And it is my heart's desire that we are a church that is different, that we are a crowd that is different, that we are a crowd that rejoices when people come to church. We are a crowd not that's like these seats are taken, but says, come and sit with me. Life is better together. Come join this life group with me. Come serve in this ministry. Come be a part of what God is doing. You were a tax collector. You're welcome. There's things in our lives that, if we are honest, and that's what I love about the leadership of this church, is nobody on this platform is perfect. Nobody that speaks is without sin. But we long to know God. We long to see him move in the world. We long to see hearts transformed. I heard a preacher once say that if the crowd is what gets in the way of Jesus, then we got to be planters of the sycamore tree. We got to start planting things in our lives that helps people see Jesus better. And what I find is what happens is a lot of times, it's us. It's my love, my grace, my patience, my consistency, my faith with God that helps people see God more clearly. Because if I am a jerk and telling you how good God is, how much do you want to follow God? If I'm judging you and talking about you behind your back, how much do you want to be a part of what God's doing in the world? And if we're going to be sycamore tree planters so that we can help people see Christ in a better way, then it has to start here. It has to start with us saying, I desire to seek who Jesus is. I desire to know him more and more and more each and every day. I desire to be the kind of mom or wife or girlfriend or woman or student or whatever it is that shows and reflects something of the goodness of God into the world. We've got to be sycamore tree planters. Zacchaeus sees Jesus calling him by name, and something in his heart where he has been despised, where he has been hated, something in his heart feels a sense of joy like he has never felt before. And he hops down from the tree and he rejoices in receiving Jesus, and they go to his house. I heard another cool idea, that maybe Jesus invited one of his disciples, Matthew, to come stay with Zacchaeus with him. Because Matthew was a tax collector. The Bible doesn't say this, so it's all just a wonder. But maybe Matthew was there with Jesus. And maybe that night when Jesus went to bed, Matthew stayed up a little later and he looked at Zacchaeus and he said, I was just like you. I was a tax collector. And Jesus said, follow me. And I have never regretted it for the rest of my life. See, something happened just by the experience of being around Jesus that transformed Zacchaeus's life. We'll see later on that Zacchaeus, he says, I'm going to give half of my stuff to the poor, and then I'll return fourfold. Anything that I have taken from people and what I love is that what Zacchaeus was doing was he found God. The desire and the loneliness and the hole in his heart that needed filled. He just was in the presence of God. He just hung around him. All we hear is that Jesus said, come down. I need to go to your house. And Zacchaeus hung around him. And it was so beautiful and so full of grace that he said, I am no longer going to be the man I was. Church. I loved that. We are a church that says, come as you are. Just come. Come and see who he is. But there should be something in our lives when we get touched by the grace of Jesus Christ that we want to move forward differently. That longing is filled in some way. So now I want to be better because I've experienced the love, the acceptance, and the grace of Jesus Christ. And now because of that, not because of duty, not because I'm afraid I'm going to go to hell, not because of the wrath of God, but because the love of God. It says, first, john says this. This is love. That Christ loved us, not that we loved him. God found us. He sought us out. He knows us by name. He knows the plan for your life. And when you cling to him, when you sit in his presence, when you worship him, when you talk to other people about him, when you get the focus off yourself and start serving and helping and making difference in this world, transformation starts to happen. I think about that crowd quite a bit because I've had so many different experiences in my life, but I love God, so I am solid and I am not going anywhere. Okay? You can be as mean as you want. I ignore you, I reject you. Get behind me, Satan. Amen. But I've experienced people leaving the church. I've experienced the pain of friendships being broken. I've experienced those things. But I've experienced the gift and the beauty of what it looks like to start something better. I've experienced that somebody has to. The crowd is fed by something. Do you know what I'm saying? If your home, there's some sort of misery in your home, you got to start feeding it the right stuff. If there's something in your workplace, could you be the one to come in and just plant that sycamore tree? Because I believe that God has called Christ church to be a church of unity, a church of a voice that is louder than most, louder than the hate, louder than the ugly, louder than the stuff that we can't stand. And it takes one voice to start that. We were at passion. And it was the second day, and it was like a 14 hours day for the kids. And Jacob and I picked them up at 1230 at night. Can I get an amen for that? Mama goes to bed at eight. Okay. I thought we were saints from heaven for doing that. Jacob drove, but I was with him. And we picked the kids up that night. And there had been different moments at passion that really, really stuck out. It had been doing passion for 27 years. And stuff that happened this year had never happened before. And one of those things were multiple times worship would break out from the kids. So there was a moment where the band all stopped and the speaker was like, ready to come on stage. But the kids weren't done worshipping. And for 15 minutes they glorified God in one voice. And this night at 1230, the kids were all walking out to go home. And there's 60,000 kids, okay? It's packed. And they are all walking out to go home. And you will see all over social media. I think this picture is from the passion. It says Passion 2024 ended, but the worship kept going. Passion conference. And the crowd started worshipping as we were leaving. Here's another video that Sadie Robertson. The kids were just worshipping as they went out. And we picked up the kids that night and we're saying, like, what was the highlight of your day? And Anthony Kennel, he's up here. He had the cast on. He was worshiping, he was singing. He said there was a moment when it was quiet and we're all walking out and the kids are like, let's worship. And Anthony Kennel had the courage to start singing gratitude. And he said, what happened was it took over. Here's a little video after it started. [00:28:51] Speaker E: Just from our kids before king. Except for heart singing Hallelujah church, it. [00:29:05] Speaker A: Takes one act of courage to spread through a crowd like wildfire for the honor and the glory of Jesus Christ. He is worthy of it all. Beautiful church. And where we are seeking to find Jesus, he is already here, calling you by name and saying, come down. I've got to go to your house today. He's got to go to your heart, your mind, your soul. He's coming for you. And now it's our responsibility to receive him joyfully, to be a voice in the crowd that spreads something way more beautiful. Will you have the courage to be this in your home, in your workplace, in your school, wherever you are, spread it like wildfire. He ends all this by saying, this is Jesus. I came to seek and save the lost. He's coming for us. He's coming for you. Let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, you are worthy of it all. And my heart cries out to you. Thank you. Thank you that I get to experience your goodness. Thank you that when we are in need, there is a better way, father. And it is always connected through you. I pray where we have been living life the same way you will help us transform it this year. I pray that we will have a desire to do life better together with you, father. I pray where there are whispers of being a part of you or you're whispering to just connect to you, father, that we will not ignore it, but we will step into it. We love you with all our heart and all our soul. In your son's mighty name, we pray. Amen. [00:31:15] Speaker E: Safari your spirit leads you. Broken as my life may be, I will give you every peace I hear you come. I am a yes I am available here I am with open head counting on your grace again less of me and more of you. I just want to see you. [00:32:53] Speaker A: Hi. [00:32:53] Speaker F: I'm Cindy and I just wanted to share with you my experience with the night to shine event. Last year was the first opportunity that was presented to me to be a part of such an amazing event. And I chose to become the role of a prom buddy, which has spoken to me in so many ways even before this opportunity with Christchurch was presented itself to me. So when it was presented and I was given that opportunity, I think I signed up like seconds when I heard about it and I was so excited. And prom Buddy was what I knew I wanted to do. And that night they call it the night to shine. But I call it the night to remember. Because to me it was truly a night to remember. The man that I was buddied up with, I was his prom buddy, was this most amazing, loving, kind hearted man. And we had such a good time. And that whole night he just kept telling. Telling me how he was having such a blast and he's never been part of anything like this in his life. Never been able to dress up and really partake in that kind of an event, like a prom. So just watching the joy in his eyes and was just everything to me. And then I kind of looked around the room and I saw that everybody was just exuding joy. The volunteers, the participants, everybody involved was just exuding joy. That room was contagious. And I had found out that two weeks after the event he had passed away. I got a call from one of the people that he was with that evening and they told me that he had passed away. So to me, the fact that this event had that impact on him and I was able to experience that with him really did give me a night to remember. God called me to do this years ago and I never had the opportunity. But then Christchurch presented that opportunity to me and I was so excited to take it. So if you have the opportunity, the want, the need, the desire, whatever it is, to partake in such an amazing event, I urge you to do so because it will change your life. It certainly was a night to remember and I'm sure it will be for you as well. [00:35:43] Speaker E: I hear you. Come, I am available. I say yes love, I am a boss. Hands are open wide. My heart is open wide. Come do whatever you want to. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I have Jesus. You can have it all. You can have it all. Come to whatever you want to. My head are open wide. My heart is open wide. Come heavyweight Jesus. For the one who gave me life nothing is a sacrifice. Use me how you want to. God have you thrown within my heart. I hear. I hear you call. I am available. [00:39:15] Speaker A: I think about the times in my life where I've heard the whisper of the Holy Spirit and I didn't do it. And I'm telling you that sometimes we have those moments of regret. I think of Cindy's story and her prompting of the spirit to lead her to be at that event that night. It changed her life. And I believe if we have a prompting from the Holy Spirit, don't ignore it. And you're going to get those promptings and then you might sign up today and then you're going to be tired when it comes around. I know how it goes, but show up anyways. I believe that God wants to do something special through and in Christchurch. I believe he's moving here locally but he's moving in the world because of you. Now when you go out there's going to be tables and there's going to be things to sign up and maybe you've never been a part of ministry and maybe today's the day. Maybe you feel the prompting of saying, I want to get off the bench and I want to be on the team. Maybe you're grieving or maybe you're going through something hard and you need cared for. We've got things to connect to. We've got different care groups, different life groups because life is better together. I love you. Thank you. Have a wonderful week. God bless.