Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us today. Now, as we approach
Speaker 1: the new year, it's really a great time to reflect
Speaker 1: on your relationship with God, what's behind you and what's ahead.
Speaker 1: And that's why Pastor Rick has a timely and powerful
Speaker 1: message called how Much You Matter to God? Now. If
Speaker 1: you've ever doubted your value or wondered about your place
Speaker 1: in God's plan, this message is for you. So let's
Speaker 1: get right to Rick with part two of today's message.
Speaker 2: Jesus is walking through Jericho that day, and of all
Speaker 2: the people he stops to talk to, and of all
Speaker 2: the people he pays attention to, and of all the
Speaker 2: people he invites himself to their home, he chooses the
Speaker 2: most unloved, the most disrespected, the most evil, the most
Speaker 2: unappreciated person the entire city, a guy named Zachias. Now
Speaker 2: he's walking through town and when he comes to the
Speaker 2: tree that Zachius is in, he stops. He looks up
Speaker 2: and he says, Zachias, I want you to come down.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: This story teaches us four truths about how much you
Speaker 2: matter to God. You need to write these down. Four
Speaker 2: truths about how much you matter to God.
Speaker 3: Number one.
Speaker 2: The first thing we learned is that no matter how
Speaker 2: small I.
Speaker 3: Feel, Jesus notices me.
Speaker 2: No matter how small I feel, Jesus notices me. Now,
Speaker 2: as I said, Zachius is very wealthy, but he's very lonely.
Speaker 2: And so when he comes he hears Jesus come to
Speaker 2: the city. He wants to see him, but being so short,
Speaker 2: he can't get a glimpse. So he does two things
Speaker 2: that no Middle Eastern wealthy man would ever do. First thing,
Speaker 2: he runs. He runs ahead of the crowd. Now, in
Speaker 2: those days, running was for slaves. No wealthy, self respecting
Speaker 2: Middle Eastern man would run. But Zachias doesn't care. He
Speaker 2: runs ahead of the crowd, and he finds a tree,
Speaker 2: a sycamore tree, and he climbs up in a tree.
Speaker 2: Second thing he does, he climbs up in a tree.
Speaker 2: No self respecting Middle Eastern businessman would climb up in
Speaker 2: a tree. That's what you have a slave do. Now
Speaker 2: he's shocking. He's just hoping for a glimpse of Jesus.
Speaker 2: But Jesus does something even more shocking, and the Bible
Speaker 2: says this verse verse three, and Luke nineteen Zacchias was
Speaker 2: too short.
Speaker 3: But when he climbs up in a tree. But when
Speaker 3: Jesus got to the tree, he looked up.
Speaker 2: Now, those he stops at Zakius's tree, and in a
Speaker 2: packed crowd, he pauses, and of all the people in
Speaker 2: the crowd that he notices and pays attention to, he
Speaker 2: notices Zachias. Can you imagine how this guy's heart started
Speaker 2: racing boom boom. All of a sudden, he thinks, I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna get a glimpse of this guy. And all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, Jesus stops at my tree, looks up
Speaker 2: at me and calls me my name, hello, And he's thinking,
Speaker 2: Jesus is noticing me, and he's totally focused on me,
Speaker 2: And so everybody in the crowd is totally focused on me.
Speaker 2: He's not looking at anybody else. I'm little, I'm short,
Speaker 2: I'm overlooked, I'm.
Speaker 3: Insignificant, but Jesus is paying attention to me. Now, why did.
Speaker 2: Jesus stop at that particular tree and look up? Because
Speaker 2: he knew exactly where Zachias was. Now, let me just
Speaker 2: say this, I don't know what you're going through right now.
Speaker 2: You may feel like you're betrieve financially, you may feel
Speaker 2: like you're out on a limb relationally, you may feel
Speaker 2: like you're in a hole spiritually, and nobody even knows
Speaker 2: you're there. But God knows where you are, and he's
Speaker 2: paying attention to you, and he notices you. He's always
Speaker 2: had his eye on you. That's because you matter to God.
Speaker 2: There has never been a moment of your life when
Speaker 2: God took his eye off of you. When you get
Speaker 2: to heaven one day, if you've trusted in Christ, there's
Speaker 2: not going to be a time because, oh, God says, oh,
Speaker 2: I didn't see that one happen in your life. He
Speaker 2: saw you take your first breath, He heard you scream
Speaker 2: your first scream. He saw you being formed in your
Speaker 2: mother's womb.
Speaker 3: Why because He made you. God fought you up.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't exist if God hadn't thought of you first,
Speaker 2: and he wanted you alive. And he's watched every second
Speaker 2: of your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Speaker 2: You may feel you're all alone right now. You may
Speaker 2: feel that what you're going through God's a million miles away.
Speaker 3: Well, you're dead wrong.
Speaker 2: God is paying intimate, close attention, and just as much
Speaker 2: as a year before Zach, he has even decided to
Speaker 2: go to that tree. God knew he'd be there. God
Speaker 2: knows where you are right now. He knows where you're
Speaker 2: going to be in the next hour. He knows where
Speaker 2: you're going to be next month. He knows where you're
Speaker 2: going to be next year. He knows where you're going
Speaker 2: to be on the last day of your life and
Speaker 2: the last breast you're going to take. Why Because God
Speaker 2: is not limited by time. God does not live on
Speaker 2: the earth, which rotates in a twenty four hour cycle
Speaker 2: around the sun, so he's not limited by time. God
Speaker 2: can see the past, the present, and the future all
Speaker 2: at once, and he knows it all, and he never
Speaker 2: takes his eye off you. And just as much as
Speaker 2: a thousand years before this happened, God knew Zachias would
Speaker 2: be in that tree at that moment. I want to
Speaker 2: tell you, God knows where you are in this moment,
Speaker 2: and he's seen everything that happens to you. He's seen
Speaker 2: every word of abuse that has been said to you
Speaker 2: that hurt, and he heard it. He saw every unkind
Speaker 2: act that's ever been done to you, and he grieved
Speaker 2: when it happened.
Speaker 3: No hurt has ever been hidden from him.
Speaker 2: He saw Zachias every mean thing that was said to
Speaker 2: him on the playground about his size when he was
Speaker 2: growing up. And God, no matter what you're going through,
Speaker 2: has not forgotten you, no matter how small, how insignificant
Speaker 2: I feel.
Speaker 3: Jesus notices me.
Speaker 2: Look at this verse Luke, Chapter twelve. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: God never overlooks a single sparrow. How many sparrows you
Speaker 2: think they're in the world, How many birds you think
Speaker 2: they're in the world. The Bible says, God notices every
Speaker 2: bird and everything they're doing, every time. And he says
Speaker 2: he pays even greater attention to you, down to the
Speaker 2: last detail. God knows more about your life than you do,
Speaker 2: even numbering the hairs on your head. Do you know
Speaker 2: what the greatest expression of love is. It's not given
Speaker 2: somebody flowers. The greatest expression of love is not buying
Speaker 2: somebody a box of chocolates. The greatest expression of love
Speaker 2: is not given them a gift card to Best Buy.
Speaker 2: The greatest expression of love is attention. It's attention paying attention,
Speaker 2: because when you pay attention to somebody, you're giving them
Speaker 2: your time, and your time is your life, and you're
Speaker 2: never going to get that time back, you were giving
Speaker 2: them a part of your life. And when you pay
Speaker 2: attention to somebody and you look them in the eyes,
Speaker 2: that child, that husband, that wife, that friend, and you
Speaker 2: pay attention to them, you were saying you matter to me.
Speaker 3: It is the great, greatest gift.
Speaker 2: Some of you grew up with parents who thought that
Speaker 2: what you needed were things.
Speaker 3: Kids don't need things. They need attention.
Speaker 2: Little kids, they're obvious about their need for it. They
Speaker 2: crave attention. Watch me, daddy, Watch me, daddy. And for
Speaker 2: the rest of your life you're going to be saying,
Speaker 2: watch me, daddy. You're still saying it today. Watch me
Speaker 2: everybody by the kind of car I drive, Watch me
Speaker 2: everybody by the kind of clothes I wear, Watch me
Speaker 2: everybody by the way I manicure my front lawn. Watch
Speaker 2: me everybody by how I make myself stand out. You
Speaker 2: crave attention. It is a fundamental human need. You crave attention.
Speaker 2: And there are people all around you, the people you
Speaker 2: work with, they're starving for attention. Your next door neighbors,
Speaker 2: and the people around you, they're starving for attention. And
Speaker 2: if you want to be like Jesus, you pay attention,
Speaker 2: You show up up and you pay attention, and you
Speaker 2: be there when they need you. There are people all
Speaker 2: around you dying to be noticed. Most of you do
Speaker 2: not realize the awesome attention that God is paying to
Speaker 2: you every single second of your life. Why, because you
Speaker 2: matter to God. Number two, not only no matter how
Speaker 2: small I feel, Jesus notices me. The second thing we
Speaker 2: learned is that no matter who ignores me, Jesus knows me.
Speaker 2: No matter who ignores me, Jesus knows me. That this
Speaker 2: is more than noticing. He doesn't just notice you as
Speaker 2: one in six billion people.
Speaker 3: He doesn't just notice you.
Speaker 2: He knows you, and he calls Zachias by name.
Speaker 3: Now, all of his life.
Speaker 2: Zachias has been ridiculed and rejected. First, as a young person,
Speaker 2: he's ridiculed and rejected for his size. He's not as
Speaker 2: tall as everybody else. His appearance and his physical handicap
Speaker 2: cause him to be the subject of some mean spirited things.
Speaker 2: But then when he gets older, he's ridiculed and rejected
Speaker 2: for his dishonesty and his corruption. Now you could only
Speaker 2: imagine the kind of gossip and the kind of verbal
Speaker 2: abuse that this guy probably receives daily for being a
Speaker 2: jew who sold out to the Romans and is ripping
Speaker 2: off his own people for his own benefit, and he
Speaker 2: is being ignored by everybody. But Jesus has another surprise
Speaker 2: and the second part of this verse, Jesus looked up
Speaker 2: at Zachius.
Speaker 3: And called him by name. He knows me and just
Speaker 3: noticed me.
Speaker 2: He knows me, Zachius, he said, Now, imagine the shock.
Speaker 3: He knows my name. How did he know?
Speaker 2: How did Jesus know the same reason. Jesus knows your
Speaker 2: name because he made you, He created you. He's God.
Speaker 2: That's why he knows your name. Because God knows your name. Now,
Speaker 2: I want to tell you this. God not only knows
Speaker 2: where you are, he knows who you are. He not
Speaker 2: only knows what you're going through right now and knows
Speaker 2: it better than you do. He knows why you're going
Speaker 2: through it, and he knows how you feel about it,
Speaker 2: even when you don't even know how you feel about it.
Speaker 3: He knows you.
Speaker 2: Inside and out. He knows you. He doesn't just notice.
Speaker 2: He cares about you personally, because God is not an
Speaker 2: impersonal force. Now Jesus is walking through the city of Jericho.
Speaker 2: A crowd is following him. He stops at this tree,
Speaker 2: and he looks up and he sees the most hated
Speaker 2: guy in the community. And he not only stops and
Speaker 2: notices him, he calls him out by name, Zacheus, Come down,
Speaker 2: I'm going to your house today. I'm going to have
Speaker 2: a party at your house. He knows his name. Now
Speaker 2: this shocks everybody. First the fact that Jesus, How does
Speaker 2: Jesus know this guy's name? Okay, but in a packed crowd,
Speaker 2: he's noticing him. But not only that, how does he
Speaker 2: know his name? The second shock is the meaning of
Speaker 2: the name. Do you know what Zacheus means?
Speaker 3: It means pure one, pure one.
Speaker 2: Now that's the last thing Zachias was. He's anything but pure.
Speaker 2: He's mister corruption personified. And Jesus looks up at him
Speaker 2: and says.
Speaker 3: Hey, pure one.
Speaker 2: It probably been decades since anybody had ever called him
Speaker 2: by his real name. They're probably calling Zachius every other
Speaker 2: name in the book, okay, every other despised scoundrel. He's
Speaker 2: a crook, he's anything but pure. They're using all kinds
Speaker 2: of derogatory names and behind his back. But Jesus calls
Speaker 2: him by his real name.
Speaker 3: What is he doing here?
Speaker 2: He is affirming his potential rather than pointing out his past.
Speaker 3: Now follow me on this.
Speaker 2: One of the principles of parenting is treat your kids
Speaker 2: the way you want them to be, not the way
Speaker 2: they are. Don't label them, help them see what they
Speaker 2: can become. When you say you're just what are you
Speaker 2: doing only reinforcing the past. Don't tell it like it is,
Speaker 2: Tell it like it can be. Guys, if you want
Speaker 2: your wife to treat you like a king, you treat
Speaker 2: her like a queen. You treat people the way you
Speaker 2: want them to be, and then they tend to measure
Speaker 2: up to your expectations. Jesus looks at Zachius, and he
Speaker 2: doesn't point out his flaws.
Speaker 3: He says, hey, pure one, come on down. Now follow
Speaker 3: me on this.
Speaker 2: The reason your friends are afraid to come to Christ,
Speaker 2: and the reason why you are afraid to get close
Speaker 2: to Jesus is you think if I get close to Jesus,
Speaker 2: he's going to scold me. He's going to nag me,
Speaker 2: and he's going to tell me and remind me of
Speaker 2: all the things I've done wrong in my life.
Speaker 3: Wrong.
Speaker 2: Jesus goes to the biggest center in town in the
Speaker 2: people's view and he doesn't say, Oh, Zachius, let me
Speaker 2: give you one hundred things you've done wrong in the
Speaker 2: last three weeks. No, he looks up at it and
Speaker 2: he says, hey, pure one, let's go party.
Speaker 3: What's going on here? He is treating Jesus.
Speaker 2: He's treating Zachius the way he wants him to be treated.
Speaker 2: He said, I know you, I made you, I know
Speaker 2: your potential. I'm not looking at your sin. I'm looking
Speaker 2: at what I made you to be, and I made you.
Speaker 3: To be a pure one. They can't forget him.
Speaker 2: Look at this next verse, this verse out of Isaiah.
Speaker 2: God says, can a mother forget her nursing child? Can
Speaker 2: she feel no love for a child she has born?
Speaker 2: The answer is obviously no. If you're nursing a baby,
Speaker 2: there's no way. If you're nursing a baby, you're gonna
Speaker 2: forget that baby. It's impossible. If you're nursing a baby,
Speaker 2: you cannot forget a baby. But he says, even if
Speaker 2: that were possible, God says, I would never forget you.
Speaker 2: See I have engraved your name on the palms of
Speaker 2: my hand. When Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross,
Speaker 2: they nailed nails through his hands. Those created scars, and
Speaker 2: God says, I have engraved you on the palms of
Speaker 2: my hands. This is how much I love you. When
Speaker 2: you get to heaven, there aren't going to be any
Speaker 2: scars in heaven. You're not gonna have any imperfections or
Speaker 2: any scars in heaven. The only person with scars in
Speaker 2: heaven will be Jesus. For the rest of eternity, we
Speaker 2: could see how much he loved us.
Speaker 3: I have engraved you on the palms of my hand.
Speaker 3: Look at the.
Speaker 2: Scars on my brow from the crown of thorns. Look
Speaker 2: at the spears scar in my side. Look at the
Speaker 2: nails in my hand, the nails in my feet. These
Speaker 2: are the scars that say this is how much I
Speaker 2: love you. I call this God's tattoo.
Speaker 3: Verse.
Speaker 2: God says, there's no way I could ever forget how
Speaker 2: much I love you. I've engraved you on the palms
Speaker 2: of my hand in spite of his zachiezs and Jesus
Speaker 2: affirms him. You see, God has created you. You're his
Speaker 2: custom creation. He made you. You weren't mass produced when
Speaker 2: he formed you. He uniquely formed you for a purpose,
Speaker 2: and he knows that purpose for your life, and he
Speaker 2: didn't use an assembly line, and he lovingly crafted you,
Speaker 2: and he knows your name, and he's impressed you on
Speaker 2: the palms of his hands. I like to say say
Speaker 2: it this way. God has your picture in his wallet.
Speaker 2: Do you realize that you're not number one billion, four
Speaker 2: hundred and eighty six, two hundred and eighty two whatever.
Speaker 2: God has your picture in his wallet. He made you
Speaker 2: to love you, and there's never been a moment of
Speaker 2: your life that he didn't love you, that he didn't
Speaker 2: see notice, and that he didn't know what's going on
Speaker 2: in your life. Some of you have had some pretty
Speaker 2: tough shots in life, and you've had some pretty mean
Speaker 2: things said about you, and you can still remember the
Speaker 2: names you've been called, names you've been called by your dad,
Speaker 2: names you've been called by your mom, names you've been
Speaker 2: called by people on the playground or at school, and
Speaker 2: you've been the braun of verbal abuse. And you can
Speaker 2: still recard the recall the words, and so you have
Speaker 2: a pretty hard time feeling good about you. But I
Speaker 2: want you to remember this, even though all those other
Speaker 2: people called you, all those other names, you'll never amount
Speaker 2: to anything. Why can't you be like your brother or
Speaker 2: your sister. You're gonna failure, you're gonna end up in prison,
Speaker 2: on on and on and on, and all those things
Speaker 2: that people said about you, and all the names they
Speaker 2: called you. You're dumb, you're uncoordinated, you're a klutz, you
Speaker 2: don't matter, and all of that doesn't really matter, because
Speaker 2: what matters is not the names they've called you, but
Speaker 2: the fact that he knows your name, and he says,
Speaker 2: pure one, I see in you what I made you
Speaker 2: to be, and I've never given up on that. No
Speaker 2: matter how insignificant I feel, Jesus notices me, and no
Speaker 2: matter how things go wrong in my life and people
Speaker 2: ignore me, Jesus knows me.
Speaker 1: Wow. Thank you, Rick for that amazing message. You know,
Speaker 1: people are being transformed by these messages every day, but
Speaker 1: that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact,
Speaker 1: here's Rick to share some important news with you.
Speaker 2: Let's be honest about this time of year. At the
Speaker 2: end of every year, there are so many ministries that
Speaker 2: ask for you to support them in the end of
Speaker 2: your giving. And you know what, we believe in every
Speaker 2: ministry that proclaims the name of Jesus, and we thank
Speaker 2: God for them. And I know it can be difficult
Speaker 2: to decide who to give to, So let me just
Speaker 2: give you some biblical foundations forgiving, some simple guidelines for
Speaker 2: end of your giving. You might think of these three
Speaker 2: or four things. Number one, give to the ministry that
Speaker 2: God tells you to support. Go to God, pray to him,
Speaker 2: ask him, say God, who do you want me to support?
Speaker 2: And you know what? I support you giving to whoever
Speaker 2: God tells you to give to. And if it's not daily,
Speaker 2: hope I still support you to give to who God
Speaker 2: tells you to give to, So pray and ask God. Second,
Speaker 2: never give when you feel pressured. The Bible says in
Speaker 2: Corinthians that we are to never give under pressure or
Speaker 2: compulsion or under guilt. So if you ever feel guilty
Speaker 2: about giving, don't give because God tells you in the
Speaker 2: Word not to give at that time. Give because you
Speaker 2: want to give, not out of guilt or pressure. Number three,
Speaker 2: give to where you support and believe in the goals
Speaker 2: of that particular ministry. Now, every ministry has different goals,
Speaker 2: but if you believe in and have a heart for
Speaker 2: going to the last, the least, and the lost, this
Speaker 2: would be a ministry you should consider supporting and then
Speaker 2: finally give where your gift will be multiplied. For instance,
Speaker 2: at the end of every year, there is a donor
Speaker 2: to Daily Hope who offers to give a matching grant
Speaker 2: to apply to any donation that we receive before the
Speaker 2: end of the year. Now what this means is that
Speaker 2: for every dollar you're able to give this month the
Speaker 2: Daily Hope, it's going to be doubled that donor will
Speaker 2: match it. That multiplies your gift. Like the little boy
Speaker 2: who brought his loaves and fishes to Jesus, and Jesus
Speaker 2: fad the five thousand. If you give twenty five dollars
Speaker 2: to Daily Hope this month, the matching grant will match
Speaker 2: it at twenty five dollars. If you're able to give
Speaker 2: one hundred dollars, the matching grant will add another one
Speaker 2: hundred dollars. That multiplies your gift. I would consider that
Speaker 2: as a factor in where to give during this month.
Speaker 2: Now let me just say this. If you can't help
Speaker 2: us financially, that's okay, I understand, but I would ask
Speaker 2: that you pray for us. I'm so grateful for those
Speaker 2: of you who are a financial supporter of this ministry
Speaker 2: that monthly giving, month after month. It means so much
Speaker 2: to me, it means much to God, but it means
Speaker 2: so much for eternity to those who are hearing the
Speaker 2: good news for the very first time. And so you
Speaker 2: and I are partners together in reaching people for Christ
Speaker 2: all around the world. In closing, let me just ask
Speaker 2: you to continue to pray pray for me as I
Speaker 2: pray for you, and pray that God's word will be
Speaker 2: taught clearly, with compassion, with clarity, with simplicity in this
Speaker 2: new year, and that it will not only help you
Speaker 2: as you listen to these broadcasts, but it will help
Speaker 2: us reach people for Christ and disciple believers and build
Speaker 2: churches all around the world, especially in the tribes that
Speaker 2: have never heard the name of Christ. Thanks for your generosity,
Speaker 2: thanks for your prayers, and God bless you.
Speaker 1: All this month. Every dollar you give to help David
Speaker 1: Hope share the transforming love of Jesus with people around
Speaker 1: the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: You can give right now by going to Pastorrick dot com,
Speaker 1: or you can just text the word Hope to seven
Speaker 1: oh three to oh nine. But there's only a few
Speaker 1: more days to have your gift doubled. Anything that's not matched,
Speaker 1: well it's going to be lost. So please give your
Speaker 1: best gift today. Again, that's Pastorrick dot com or just
Speaker 1: text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for your support.
Speaker 3: Be sure to.
Speaker 1: Join us next time as we look into God's word
Speaker 1: for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.