Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Thanks, tom.
[00:00:06] Thank you, Tom. Can everyone hear me okay?
[00:00:10] No.
[00:00:13] Hello?
[00:00:17] No, it's on.
[00:00:19] Hello.
[00:00:23] Thank you all for being here. People online. I'm sorry, that just looked like weirdness.
[00:00:30] Have you ever asked a kid what they want to be when they grow up?
[00:00:34] I love asking this question because you don't know what answer you're going to get. I've enjoyed asking my kids this question, what do you want to be when you grow up? I remember years ago asking my daughter this question and she thought about it, she looked at me and she said, a unicorn.
[00:00:52] And I'm just like, you just never know what kids are going to say.
[00:00:55] I remember when I was in high school, I was so certain of what I wanted to be when I grew up. But the funny thing is it changed every single year. I was in high school. When I was in ninth grade, I wanted to be a chef.
[00:01:07] I burned toast and I refused to help my parents in the kitchen.
[00:01:11] When I was in 10th grade, I wanted to be a journalist. I enjoyed writing essays. I loved my English class and my English teacher. And I'm like, I want to write for my job. When I was in 11th grade, a lot of this will make a lot of you laugh. I wanted to be a police officer.
[00:01:26] I once heard a car backfire and I jumped to the ground.
[00:01:30] Most people have a fight or flight instinct. I have a flight flight instinct completely. And then when I was a senior, I wanted to be an ultrasound technician. I'm like, I want to be in the room with the moms and dads and they find out if they're having a boy or a girl.
[00:01:44] I even went to college for it until I failed math and medical terminology.
[00:01:48] I quit.
[00:01:51] If someone were to ask you, tell me a little bit about yourself, what are some of your accomplishments?
[00:01:56] What would you tell people? Maybe you'd say, well, I'm married. You know, I'm a husband or a wife, or I'm a mom or a dad. Maybe you're an athlete, maybe you're a musician, maybe you're a model, maybe you're an entrepreneur or best selling writer.
[00:02:11] I think all of these accomplishments, they're important. I think they should be celebrated.
[00:02:16] I think this question seems so important in our life, but I think there's a far more important question than this. And it's, who do you want to be?
[00:02:24] When we ask ourselves, who do we want to be, it kind of shifts the focus from outward and it makes us shift inwardly.
[00:02:30] The thing is, our accomplishments can become us instead of just a part of us.
[00:02:35] And the problem with that is when that happens, jobs will change and change, titles will lose their significance, relationships will end and money will run run out, applause will grow quiet and we will lose a sense of our identity and all of that. But when our identity is rooted in a never changing God, who knows you fully will never be disappointed.
[00:02:58] So the story I'm going to talk about tonight is in the book of Luke. And the cool thing about the story is it's only in the book of Luke.
[00:03:06] So anytime that happens, I like to ask myself, why? Why is this story only in the book of Luke? Well, the cool thing is when you understand the writers of the gospel, it gives you a deeper understanding into who they are and the perspective that they were writing to. So real quick, I'm going to give you a Gospel Writers 101.
[00:03:24] So first we're going to start with Matthew. So Matthew was a Jewish man, so he was writing with a Jewish perspective. And, and he wanted them to know that Jesus was the Messiah.
[00:03:34] And then we have Mark, Mark was writing with a Roman perspective and he wanted his audience to know that Christ gave his life as a ransom for many.
[00:03:41] Then we have John. So John was writing to like the common people of the time, like the blue collar Greek, and he wanted them to know about Christ's divinity and his eternal life. And then we come to Luke. So Luke was a physician, so he's very detailed in all of his writings, which is why a lot of these writings are in the book of Luke.
[00:04:00] And he also only used firsthand accounts when writing in the scriptures.
[00:04:06] So Luke wanted to write an orderly account of the life of Jesus. But all throughout the book of Luke, you will see how Christ found people that were marginalized, they were outcasts, and how he met them.
[00:04:20] So chapter 19 of Luke where we come across the story of a man named Zacchaeus.
[00:04:27] Read it.
[00:04:29] He entered Jericho and was passing through. There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but was not able to because of the crowd since he was a short man.
[00:04:41] So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.
[00:04:55] So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. All who saw it began to complain, he's gone to stay with a sinful man.
[00:05:02] But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, look, I'll give half of my possessions to the poor Lord, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much. Today, salvation has come to this house, Jesus told him, because he too is a son of Abraham, for son of man has come to seek and to save the lost.
[00:05:24] I've heard this story so many times growing up. You hear this story as a kid growing up in church. You even. There's a song that goes with it. I'm not going to sing it, don't worry.
[00:05:33] But the more I studied, there's so many ways to apply all of the stories in the Bible. But the more I dug into this story of Zacchaeus, the more I realized that this man's identity was shaped by everything and everyone around him until he encountered Christ.
[00:05:49] Let's go back to verse one. He entered Jericho and was passing through.
[00:05:53] There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able to because he was a short man.
[00:06:02] Okay, so we're three verses in, and we already see three ways that Zacchaeus is identified. Did you guys pick up on him? He's a chief tax collector, he's rich, and he's short.
[00:06:13] So based on those first two ways of describing him, he's probably not well liked. So Zeke worked for the Roman government. He was a tax collector. No one wants to pay their taxes. But the problem is he probably lied and he probably cheated, and so he stole extra money that he shouldn't have taken.
[00:06:33] If you add three words to identify yourself, what would they be?
[00:06:39] If I were to ask your friends and your family three words to identify them, would their words match yours?
[00:06:47] I think the words we use to describe ourselves, they're important. It tells the world a little bit about who we are.
[00:06:52] But the problem is our identity isn't just shaped on how we see ourselves. It actually affects the choices that we make.
[00:06:58] So after Luke tells us who Zacchaeus is, it jumps into what he does. So let's look at verse four.
[00:07:05] So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way.
[00:07:10] So Zacchaeus is having trouble getting to Christ. There are crowds everywhere.
[00:07:17] What obstacles in your life keep you from pursuing Christ?
[00:07:20] You come to church, you do. You know the Christian checklist. But what truly stops you from pursuing Christ in a deeper way?
[00:07:28] Maybe it's the world. Life's so busy There are so many distractions.
[00:07:33] My phone just going off and off and off and off. It's constant. And maybe sometimes we just don't set aside enough time to spend with Christ.
[00:07:42] Maybe it's people. Maybe some people have lied to you. Maybe they've given you the wrong impression of who Jesus is. Not even necessarily on purpose. It's who they thought Jesus was, and you've believed it for a long time.
[00:07:56] Maybe it's cultural pressure. Maybe you'd lose friends if you actually pursued Christ, more if you said yes to him instead of saying no.
[00:08:04] Maybe it's your past. Maybe you think you can't be accepted by Christ.
[00:08:08] There's no way that Christ can accept me how I am.
[00:08:13] Or maybe it's your pride. Maybe you think you know best and by inviting Christ in, that might upset your life.
[00:08:22] We have to stop making excuses, and we have to start pursuing Christ. And the thing is, you can see it in Scripture. Everyone was around Christ. He had this curiosity about him. Everyone wanted to be around him. And the thing is, our souls, they're natural receptors for Christ. Our soul, it wants to find Christ.
[00:08:43] Maybe you're here because your soul is searching for Christmas.
[00:08:49] So Zacchaeus climbs up a tree because I think his soul wanted to be near him. And here's the thing. So Zacchaeus is a prominent person in the. In the time right now. So climbing a tree would not have been dignified by. By any means. But this tells me the fact that he climbed the tree. It tells me that he wanted to be near Christ more than his social status. He cared more about being around Christ than anything else.
[00:09:15] So I did a lot of research on sycamore trees because in my head growing up, I can imagine a sycamore tree. For those of you who know the story, you can imagine, like, a sycamore tree is great for climbing, but it's short, right? You have to be able to get up a sycamore tree. Well, then I start, like, looking up sigmar trees, and they're huge, Absolutely huge. Like, mature trees can grow up to, like, 130ft tall, and their trunks can be, like, 4, 4 to 8ft wide.
[00:09:42] So I found a picture of a tree in Jericho that a lot of people believe was the tree that Zacchaeus climbed. I'm not saying it's the tree. I'm saying I just want to show you this picture. Do we have it? Look at that tree. Let's just pretend it's the tree.
[00:09:57] It's huge.
[00:09:59] That tree doesn't seem like that would be easy to get up. To me.
[00:10:04] Zacchaeus had an excuse not to see Christ, but that didn't stop him.
[00:10:12] Let's look at verse five.
[00:10:14] When he came to the place, he looked up and said to him, zacchaeus, hurry and come down, because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.
[00:10:23] Okay, so Jesus looks up.
[00:10:26] There are crowds everywhere.
[00:10:29] But this tells me something. He sees Zacchaeus. So this tells me he doesn't just see crowds, He. He sees people.
[00:10:37] Jesus saw Zacchaeus. And when he saw him, what did he say? Hurry and come down, because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.
[00:10:48] This was a new idea that jumped out to me when I was working on this. He called him by his name.
[00:10:53] He didn't call him, hey, tax collector. He didn't call him, hey, rich guy. He didn't call him short Round. He didn't call him liar or cheater.
[00:11:04] He called him by his name.
[00:11:08] Jesus knew Zacchaeus. The crowd knew him by his reputation, but Christ knew him by his name.
[00:11:14] Have you ever felt invisible to God?
[00:11:16] Have you ever felt like you were just another face in the crowd?
[00:11:21] Well, in the book of Psalms 139, verse 13, we have a beautiful verse. And I want to prove to you that we are more special to God than you could ever know.
[00:11:33] For it was you who created my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother's womb.
[00:11:40] So I was looking at this verse, and I'm like, okay, I want to know, like, the original of this verse.
[00:11:47] So I went to Doc's office. I'm like, I need your help. And he pulled out for one verse, like, five books. It was insane. And we're looking. He's like, nope, nope, not that, and pulled out another one. Nope, not that. And so we actually looked up this verse in the Septuagint, and if you don't know what this Septuagint is, it is.
[00:12:04] So the Bible was originally in Hebrew, and then it was translated into Greek. So the Septuagint is the English version of the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
[00:12:15] And in the Septuagint, it actually says instead of inward parts, it says, my mind.
[00:12:22] And so it makes me think about how complex our minds are, how intricate they are. And God formed all of that before we were ever born.
[00:12:33] And then he goes on to say, you knit me together in my mother's womb. Some versions might say weaved or even fashioned, but in the Hebrew, the word is sakar, and it actually means covering. And it's like this spiritual covering that Christ put over you.
[00:12:50] Have you ever felt safe being covered by something?
[00:12:53] Maybe it was raining and it was an umbrella. Maybe it was your home. Maybe it was a blanket. Maybe it was someone who just covered you and you felt safe before you were ever born. God gave us this covering, but he didn't just create you and move on. You weren't just a number.
[00:13:13] He gave you something so special. And here's the thing he's thought through. This is a crazy thought he has thought through every day.
[00:13:21] Your life before, all of it. And that's not just for all of us, for just us. It's for everybody. I have trouble figuring out if the kids are going to have school the next day. If it's a snow day, I'm like, okay, what are we going to do? If it's this day, what are we going to do?
[00:13:36] God has figured out all of it just for you.
[00:13:42] God formed you before anyone else could define you.
[00:13:46] The thing is, we can define ourselves by our reputation, whether that's good or bad. And we can define ourselves by the past mistakes or the accomplishments, and we just walk in that.
[00:13:56] But the thing is, I want to honor Christ's sacrifice by embracing who Christ has called me to be.
[00:14:02] So I grew up in church, and, you know, I would do the checklist. I would do the, you know, go to church check. You know, read your Bible, check.
[00:14:10] You know, give to the church, check. Like, I did all of the things and I thought that was good enough. I truly, truly did.
[00:14:18] But it wasn't until I was just tossed by this world and I was hanging around people that weren't bad, and I didn't make bad decisions. It was just not the right decision for me.
[00:14:31] And so I have eight tattoos, and I regret every single one of them.
[00:14:36] Not because I think tattoos are bad. If you have tattoos, that's fine.
[00:14:39] But they remind me of the person that I was. And that person that I was, I had no idea who she was.
[00:14:45] I was so badly trying to figure out who I was. And I'm like, okay, well, let's do that. I like them. They do this. And I was just so easily shifted.
[00:14:54] I thought I knew who I wanted to be. But the problem was God's voice was so quiet compared to everyone's else because this world is so loud.
[00:15:03] So I have these scars, but maybe you have scars. They just look different.
[00:15:07] Maybe it's a broken relationship or regret, shame, grief, missed opportunities. Because the fact is, it's a part of my story, but it doesn't have to be the author of my future.
[00:15:20] We can't let the words of others drown out the sound of our Father.
[00:15:25] Do you remember in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when they get to the city of Petra and they find the Holy Grail, and then they decide to leave with the Holy Grail and the ground cracks open and the girl falls and Indy falls and his dad grabs his arm and he's saying, junior, Junior, give me your other arm. But he's not listening.
[00:15:42] It wasn't until he said, indiana.
[00:15:44] Indiana, give me your hand. And Indy looks up at his dad.
[00:15:50] God does the same thing for us. He calls us by name.
[00:15:58] So Zacchaeus is identified by Christ, but look what he does in response to Christ.
[00:16:03] Let's look at verse six.
[00:16:06] So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully.
[00:16:11] So the first time Zacchaeus encounters Christ, he feels joy.
[00:16:17] Not shame, not regret, not fear.
[00:16:23] Nothing about his circumstances had changed. He was still the bad guy, but he felt this joy.
[00:16:32] When was the last time you experienced joy?
[00:16:34] What brings you joy?
[00:16:38] Being here with all of you brings me joy.
[00:16:42] Not necessarily the building, just with you guys.
[00:16:45] There's something so beautiful about being together and on Sunday mornings and seeing people being baptized, and life's still hard. I still kind of leave everything at the door. My life doesn't instantly get better because I come into this building, but joy is an attitude of the heart. It's not circumstantial like happiness, Because the text doesn't say. I like to think, when was the last time Zacchaeus experienced joy?
[00:17:13] And I don't think he experienced joy a whole lot. He had a hard life.
[00:17:17] It was a life he chose, but it was still a hard life.
[00:17:20] Think about being hated by so many people.
[00:17:25] Christ knew who Zacchaeus was. He didn't approve of who he was, yet he still intended to save him.
[00:17:30] Jesus knew every penny he stole, every compromise, every lie, every sin.
[00:17:36] But he still wanted to be around him.
[00:17:39] And the thing is, Jesus wants to be with us too. Not because he approves of our sin. You know, we think, well, we sin differently. So Christ will love and accept me.
[00:17:50] The thing is, we don't have to get our lives together before we come to Christ. We don't have to figure life out. We don't have to be good enough or fix the habit or change the addiction. We don't have to do any of that. Christ just wants us to show up where we are.
[00:18:04] Verse 7.
[00:18:06] All who sought began to complain.
[00:18:08] He has gone to stay with a Sinful man.
[00:18:12] Okay, I might annoy some of you.
[00:18:15] Jesus came for the people you don't think deserve it.
[00:18:19] Jesus came for the broken people that you don't approve of.
[00:18:25] Because I'll be perfectly honest, if I was there, I know I would have been annoyed.
[00:18:32] I'd have been like, Jesus, you don't get it. He's a liar.
[00:18:35] Because I know how I feel when people lie to me. I feel angry, I feel upset. And I'd be like, Jesus, you don't know who this guy is.
[00:18:45] So I think as Christians, we have to do a gut check. We have to put aside our own self righteousness and we have to say Christ came for all of us no matter how we sin.
[00:18:59] And the thing is, people are gonna look differently than us. They're going to believe different things differently than us. They have a different moral code or even maybe a job that you don't approve of.
[00:19:11] Sometimes God's grace doesn't feel good unless it's for me.
[00:19:16] Okay, so Christ goes to Zacchaeus's house.
[00:19:20] And we have to remember, Zacchaeus is rich. So he wouldn't have a normal home like everybody else. He would have had a Roman style home. So it would have been huge.
[00:19:30] And in the middle of his home would have been a giant, open, round courtyard. And that's where he would entertain.
[00:19:37] And there would have been a huge long table where people wouldn't sit at with chairs, but like they would recline at the table.
[00:19:44] And so Zacchaeus is there, Jesus, the disciples, others people are there.
[00:19:48] And Zacchaeus says something that no one expects him to say.
[00:19:52] Look at verse 8.
[00:19:54] But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, look, I'll give half of my possessions to the poor Lord. And if I have exhorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.
[00:20:06] Okay, so Zacchaeus didn't have to do this.
[00:20:10] He, he didn't have to say. He could have. He could have been like, okay, from this moment forward, this is the person I'm going to be. From this moment forward, I'm not going to steal. From this moment forward, I'm going to give to the poor. But he didn't. He made a public declaration to everyone that he was going to be a different man.
[00:20:28] And he said it probably in front of people that were going to make sure that they held him accountable for it.
[00:20:34] But then, so I'm like studying this with Doc and not that I was going to pass over any verses, but like, you know, when he said back I'm going to pay back four times as much. And Doc's like, well, do you know why you said that? And I was like, no. He's like, do you want to know? I'm like, yes.
[00:20:48] I was like, tell me. Like, there has to be more talk about no throwaway verses in the Bible.
[00:20:53] So when he said, I'll pay back four times as much, he was connecting this to the law.
[00:20:58] So back in the day, if you stole a sheet, you'd have to pay back a sheet. If you stole two, you'd have to give back two. But four was the maximum penalty, the maximum fee that you'd have to pay back.
[00:21:09] Well, look what Zacchaeus does. He goes straight to the maximum. He says, I'm going to give back four times as much.
[00:21:19] Charles Swindoll says Zacchaeus showed an outward evidence of an inward change.
[00:21:25] When we are around Christ, we change from the inside out.
[00:21:29] We want to make the world a better place when we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
[00:21:37] Verse 9.
[00:21:39] Today, salvation has come to this house. Jesus told him, because he too is the son of Abraham.
[00:21:45] So I'm like, okay, son of Abraham. I'm like, doc, please enlighten me. I don't get it.
[00:21:50] And so what he said was the same blessings that God gave Abraham 2,000 years earlier, he was giving to Zacchaeus, the blessings of Abraham were going to rest on Zacchaeus the same way.
[00:22:10] And here's the thing. Christ didn't wait for Zacchaeus to make good on his promises. He didn't say, let me know when you give away half your stuff. Let me know when you repay.
[00:22:21] Right now you get my blessing.
[00:22:24] And that was also even a nod to the people who didn't even approve of Jesus being around Zacchaeus. Like, hey, he gets the same blessing as Abraham. Because everyone knew the blessings of Abraham.
[00:22:37] Spending time with Christ changed everything for Zacchaeus. And the thing is, I feel like we all struggle with who we want to be. And the world does a great job of telling you that you are not enough.
[00:22:48] The world that my kids are growing up in was not the world that I was growing up in. And so it's just crazy to me to see how the world has such an effect on us when we don't have that foundation of Christ.
[00:23:01] Guys, we have to take intentional time and we have to spend time with God daily.
[00:23:06] Work it in to your daily schedule. If you're getting the kids ready for everything, have something going on in the background, whether it's worship music, use the time in your car.
[00:23:16] Seek after God. I promise you. It might have to start off as a habit, but it will become something that you cannot live without.
[00:23:25] When Christ entered the village that day when he was passing through Jericho, he didn't come for everyone who was welcoming him. Welcoming him. He came for the broken man who was up in the tree.
[00:23:35] The crowd saw Zacchaeus as a sinner, but Christ saw him as someone that was worth saving. And no matter how far you have fallen, no matter how many mistakes you have made, and you think you are not eligible for God's grace or salvation, I'm here to tell you you are wrong. You are a hundred percent worth it to him.
[00:23:53] And the thing is, we can't earn this gift. It's not something we can earn. We can try. We feel like we can get into the. The rhythm of, I can earn God's favor on us, but we can't. Because Zacchaeus wasn't saved because he climbed a tree. And he wasn't saved because he gave away his money. He was saved because Jesus came for him.
[00:24:12] Zacchaeus wasn't saved by what he did for Jesus. He was came because of what Jesus did for him.
[00:24:17] Do you remember in the movie Spider Man Homecoming when Peter Parker is on the ferry and everything goes bad and he's trying to save everyone, but it doesn't work.
[00:24:29] But Iron man shows up. Iron man shows up and he fixes it and Peter's not having a good day and Tony shows up and he says, give me the suit.
[00:24:40] He's like, no. He's like, for how long? And he goes, forever.
[00:24:44] And do you remember what Peter said? He said, I'm nothing without this suit.
[00:24:49] And Tony says, if you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it.
[00:24:54] Peter started to think that what he wore, his identity, came from what he wore instead of from who he was.
[00:24:59] But the problem is we do the exact same thing.
[00:25:03] Our identity comes from our resume, our success, our money, the city we live in, our political opinion, our failures, or even the things that we wear. And we wear them like a suit.
[00:25:14] But the difference between Peter Parker and us is that apart from Christ, we can't save ourselves. We can't earn God's favor. We can't earn his righteousness.
[00:25:22] But he doesn't want us to.
[00:25:25] He wants us to come to him completely broken. Because I'm good at that.
[00:25:28] I'm good at showing up broken.
[00:25:32] The thing is, I've been a people pleaser for most of my life.
[00:25:35] My whole life. I've been a people pleaser. Let's just be honest. I've always wanted to make people happy. And the thing is, it's consumed my life.
[00:25:44] It's the lens I look through for everything. I don't want to disappoint my parents. I don't want to disappoint my. My family, my kids, my husband, the church.
[00:25:55] And I carry it like a weight, but it wasn't a weight I was ever meant to carry. But I see myself through this lens of people pleaser.
[00:26:04] But how about being a God pleaser?
[00:26:07] Do I care about what God thinks more than what people think?
[00:26:12] Because I've let the words and the worries of everyone else take over, and it's not fair.
[00:26:21] And the thing is, I don't want to pass on my insecurities to my kids because I know that they're listening.
[00:26:26] I once heard a TED Talk and a woman said, what? You don't transform, you will transfer.
[00:26:32] And the only thing I want to transfer to my kids is the beauty and the love and the grace of Jesus Christ.
[00:26:39] I want to be an example of a girl who knows who she is, because I'm close enough for God to tell me.
[00:26:45] I don't have to let the world tell me who I am. I get to let God tell me who I am.
[00:26:50] I found out something really interesting about Zacchaeus.
[00:26:55] I found out what his name meant.
[00:26:59] I found out that his name meant innocent.
[00:27:03] Can you believe that?
[00:27:06] It's the last word I would ever use to describe him.
[00:27:12] But it's also the last word I would ever use to describe myself.
[00:27:18] Romans 3, 23. For we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's the beauty of the Gospel. That's the beauty of Jesus Christ. The real innocent person died for you and for me.
[00:27:36] So in the Book of John, we have the most amazing verse.
[00:27:41] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.
[00:27:50] Love is sacrificial.
[00:27:54] Love is going to cost you something.
[00:27:58] It costs Christ everything.
[00:28:03] That whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life.
[00:28:10] Guys, all we have to do is believe that he came for you when he gave you that spiritual covering. Before anyone else could define you, he came for you.
[00:28:26] We have to let Christ affirm us in our new identity, because when our identity is found in him, we can't really be shaken, because he can't be shaken.
[00:28:39] I want to care more about what Christ thinks than anyone else.
[00:28:43] It's not worth it. I never have to question who God tells me I am. I want him to have the final say in my life.
[00:28:54] I want to share one more idea.
[00:28:57] The same God that created the heavens and the earth, everything in it, the sun, the moon, the stars, looked at you and said, the world needs you.
[00:29:08] But they need. The world needs you, not a copy of somebody else.
[00:29:14] The world needs you. We all have our God's thumbprint on us.
[00:29:20] So who you going to be?
[00:29:22] Let's pray.
[00:29:23] Heavenly Father, I love you. And I. I thank you for the story of Zacus. I thank you that this broken man brought so much beauty to the world because you loved him.
[00:29:37] And Father, I pray for everyone in this room and for everyone online. Father. And I pray that if anyone has ever felt like they are not enough and they have to be someone that they are not. Father, I pray that they are able to see your beauty.
[00:29:50] I pray that they were able to see that you've given up us a plan and a purpose and that you love us more than we could ever imagine.
[00:29:59] I pray that you'd comfort us. I pray that we would be able to seek after you with a heart that wants you and nothing else.
[00:30:06] I love you and I thank you. In your name I pray. Amen.
