Luke 19 / August - excuses, excuses...

Hey guys, great day yesterday! It was an exciting day and a good start to the fall season. You all did a great job making our guests feel welcome and wanted and want to come back.

Today I want to put the Zaccheaus narrative and the parable of the "minas" (coins/$$).

First, Zacch: Here's a guy that was too short to see over the crowd and so he climbed up a tree in order to see Jesus and we know that Jesus was concerned about little Zacch because he stopped and wanted to have dinner with him. Because Zacch was short he had difficulty seeing Jesus. It was a disability to him because it kept him from seeing or doing what he wanted to. There are a lot of people who have issues and challenges in seeing Jesus in today's world too. It may not be their height but could be a past experience with the church or a "christian" family member. It could be the time, the building, the people, the music, etc., etc. We hear lots of things like, "all they want is my money." "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian." These are all excuses but the bottom line is people want to see Jesus and they will find a way to overcome their "disability" in order to see HIM.

In the Parable of the minas it is impossible to miss the point, Jesus expects us to use what we have been given to reap a benefit for Him. And He will hold us responsible for what we did with what we had. (please note that we are not held responsible for what we don't have but only for what we do have.) So in the end Jesus is going to want to know, did you have access to a step-ladder? That's right, did you have the ability to help someone "see" Jesus, and did you employ it?

What have we been given? What are we doing with it? What have you been given? What are you doing with it? You've heard me say many times that people have lots of excuses (disabilities) as to why they don't come to church, instead of fighting it, let's get a ladder (or plant a sycamore tree!)

Just to help people see Jesus - Corey