Speaker 1: Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so glad
Speaker 1: you're here with us today. As we close out the year,
Speaker 1: it's such a powerful time to pause and reflect, not
Speaker 1: just on what's behind us, but on what truly matters
Speaker 1: moving forward. And that's why Pastor Rick has a timely
Speaker 1: and encouraging message for you called how Much You Matter
Speaker 1: to God. So, whether this year is filled with joy
Speaker 1: or challenge, one truth remains. God sees you and loves
Speaker 1: you and has a purpose for your life. So let's
Speaker 1: join Rick right now for the final part of this message.
Speaker 2: Number three. This is a bigger one.
Speaker 3: No matter what I've done, Jesus wants me. WHOA, No
Speaker 3: matter what I've done, Jesus wants me now. Zechi Has
Speaker 3: appearance made him feel insecure and lonely inferior. Zaichius's accusers
Speaker 3: made him feel bitter and resentful. He's pretty mad at society,
Speaker 3: but Zakius's sins made him feel guilty and ashamed. So
Speaker 3: Jesus does the most shocking thing of all. He invites
Speaker 3: himself to Zachias's home. He doesn't wait for an invitation,
Speaker 3: he takes the initiative and invites himself to the worst
Speaker 3: guy's home in the city of Jericho Luke nineteen. Jesus
Speaker 3: looked up and Zachias called him by names, said, Zachias,
Speaker 3: come down quickly, for I'm going to be a guest
Speaker 3: in your home today.
Speaker 2: Do you think that was a shocker?
Speaker 3: Now, Jesus knows that Zachius would be filled with guilt
Speaker 3: and shame and would never think himself worthy enough to
Speaker 3: have Jesus in his home. Zachius wouldn't even consider inviting
Speaker 3: Jesus to come to his house and goes, man, I'm
Speaker 3: a sinner, I'm no good man.
Speaker 2: I'm a cheat.
Speaker 3: I'm not worthy of having a relationship with Jim Jesus.
Speaker 3: I'm not good enough to have a relationship with Jesus.
Speaker 3: I've done too many bad things. I don't deserve to
Speaker 3: have him in my home. So Jesus takes the initiative
Speaker 3: and he looks up and.
Speaker 2: He says, zach Chius, come on down.
Speaker 3: How long do you think it took him to get
Speaker 3: out of that tree. I think he probably did it
Speaker 3: in record time. I think he slid down the tree.
Speaker 3: I think you're saying, I don't care if I get
Speaker 3: splinters in my butt. I'm hitting the ground as fast
Speaker 3: as I can because I'm been invited. I've been invited
Speaker 3: by Jesus to take him to my house.
Speaker 2: Blew his mind.
Speaker 3: Now, the fact is, you're ashamed of a lot of
Speaker 3: things you've done in your life. How do I know that?
Speaker 3: Because you're a human being. We've all done things that
Speaker 3: we're ashamed of. I've done things that I'm ashamed of.
Speaker 3: The Bible says we all have sinned and fallen short.
Speaker 3: He's not the only short guy. We've all fallen short.
Speaker 3: I fall short as a parent, I fall short as
Speaker 3: a husband, I fall short as a pastor. I fall
Speaker 3: short as a person. I don't measure up to my standards,
Speaker 3: much less God's perfect standards, and neither do you. You
Speaker 3: don't keep all your promises, you don't measure up to
Speaker 3: all your standards. You fall short. Why because all have sinned?
Speaker 3: Everybody had a pastor friend who's teaching on that verse.
Speaker 3: One time he said, thank God, he forgives all our
Speaker 3: falling shorts, and yes, if your shorts fall, he forgives
Speaker 3: those two. You've done a lot of things you're ashamed of.
Speaker 3: You've had plenty of time to hurt people with your
Speaker 3: own personal brand of selfishness. And we all have our
Speaker 3: own personal brand of selfishness. You hurt people in your
Speaker 3: selfish way, and I hurt people in my selfish way,
Speaker 3: and everybody has their own personal brand. But it's all
Speaker 3: all the same. But you know what, Jesus is more
Speaker 3: interested in changing you than condemning you. He said, I
Speaker 3: didn't come to condemn the world. I came to save it.
Speaker 3: Says that in John three. If you want to be
Speaker 3: like Jesus Christ, then don't go out condemning the world.
Speaker 3: Jesus said, I didn't come to condemn the world. I
Speaker 3: came to save it. And I decided about thirty years
Speaker 3: ago I wanted to have a ministry like Jesus. I
Speaker 3: didn't come to condemn the world. I came to save it,
Speaker 3: Which means I don't spend any of my time condemning culture.
Speaker 3: Why because Jesus didn't. He said, I didn't come to
Speaker 3: condemn the world. I came to save it. You see,
Speaker 3: most Christians spend all their time either condemning the world
Speaker 3: saying how badly society sucks, and then be looking for
Speaker 3: a political solution to figure out how to get rid.
Speaker 2: Of the suckiness. Neither of those work.
Speaker 3: Spending all your time condemning society won't change it and
Speaker 3: looking for a political answer to solve the solve problems.
Speaker 2: Society won't change it either.
Speaker 3: God so loved the world, he didn't send a politician. Okay,
Speaker 3: why because you can't change people's hearts by laws. No
Speaker 3: law will turn a bigot into somebody who loves all
Speaker 3: the races. Only Jesus can get rid of racism in
Speaker 3: your heart. Only Jesus can get rid of selfishness in
Speaker 3: your heart. No law is going to turn people who
Speaker 3: are selfish and unselfish people. Jesus said, I didn't come
Speaker 3: to condemn the world. I came to save it. And
Speaker 3: so no matter what I've done, Jesus wants me, and
Speaker 3: he wants you to know him, and he wants you
Speaker 3: to love him because he loves you, and he wants
Speaker 3: you to know how much you love him. You remember
Speaker 3: the story of the prodigal son, the kid who tells
Speaker 3: his father, Dad, give me my half of the inheritance.
Speaker 3: And he splits, and he goes to Sunset Strip in Jerusalem,
Speaker 3: and he spends.
Speaker 2: All of his money on wine, women and song, mostly.
Speaker 3: Women and he ends up feeding pigs and a pig
Speaker 3: sty and finally realizes this doesn't work, so he goes
Speaker 3: home to his dad with a humble attitude and smelling
Speaker 3: of the pig sty. The father runs out to greet
Speaker 3: his younger son and he grabs him in a big
Speaker 3: bear hug that says, my son has come home. Let's
Speaker 3: have a party. He doesn't say to his son, a son,
Speaker 3: go in, get a bath, get shaved, put on some
Speaker 3: clean clothes, get rid of that stinking pig smell, and
Speaker 3: then I'll give you a bear hug. No, he says,
Speaker 3: I love you just the way you are. Jesus loves
Speaker 3: you just the way you are, but he loves you
Speaker 3: too much to let you stay that way, so he's
Speaker 3: going to help you change. Many of you remember a
Speaker 3: story I told years ago when I went and visited
Speaker 3: a prison where we had to celebrate recovery church purpose
Speaker 3: driven celebrate recovery church up in a maximum security prison
Speaker 3: in north in California called Sierre Prison, six thousand maximum
Speaker 3: security prisoners, and they had invited me to come speak
Speaker 3: on the prison yard, and it was about the size
Speaker 3: of a football field, about six thousand prisoners. I mean
Speaker 3: that was everywhere, and I got out to speak, and
Speaker 3: I wanted to get everybody's attention. So I pulled a
Speaker 3: fifty dollars bill out of my wallet and I held
Speaker 3: it up and I said, is there anybody here who'd
Speaker 3: liked this fifty dollars bill? Six thousand hands went up.
Speaker 3: I crumpled it all up in my hand, and I said,
Speaker 3: anybody still want this fifty dollars bill?
Speaker 2: Six thousand hands went up.
Speaker 3: I took that fifty dollars bill and I tore it
Speaker 3: and I put little pears all through it.
Speaker 2: I said, anybody still want it? Every hand went up.
Speaker 3: I took that fifty dollars bill and I threw it
Speaker 3: in the dirt and I spit on it, and I
Speaker 3: took my foot and I crushed it into the ground
Speaker 3: and I held it up and I said, anybody still
Speaker 3: want it? Every hand went up. And then I said
Speaker 3: this guys, a lot of you, This is what your
Speaker 3: daddy did to you. Your daddy said you're worthless, your crud,
Speaker 3: your crap, you're nothing, You're never going to amount to anything.
Speaker 2: You're going to end up in prison or die.
Speaker 3: And then your dad walked out on you, and you
Speaker 3: were left to be raised by your mom. And you've
Speaker 3: been hit on and spit on and crushed into the ground,
Speaker 3: but you have not lost one cent of your original
Speaker 3: value to God. I don't really care what you've done.
Speaker 3: I don't care who you've done it with or how
Speaker 3: long you've done it. What the matters is not where
Speaker 3: you've been, but what direction your feet are headed today.
Speaker 3: And Jesus says, no, matter what you've done, Zachias, I
Speaker 3: want you. I want to party with you. I want
Speaker 3: to have a relationship with you. I want to go
Speaker 3: to your house and have dinner. I want a relationship
Speaker 3: with you. And God says that to you, that's how
Speaker 3: much you matter to God. Yes you've blown it, Yes
Speaker 3: you have. And the starting point of salvation is when
Speaker 3: you swallow your pride and admit I need help. I
Speaker 3: need a savior, I need God in my life. God
Speaker 3: doesn't save prideful people, he says, humble, not arrogant people.
Speaker 2: People say I need your help.
Speaker 3: I've made mistakes, I've blown it, I've done wrong, I've sinned,
Speaker 3: and I need to turn and go your way. And
Speaker 3: you've made a lot of mistakes in your life, but
Speaker 3: you have not lost one cent of your value to
Speaker 3: the creator who made you. And Jesus wants a relationship
Speaker 3: with you. He wants to come to your house and
Speaker 3: have dinner. In fact, here's what he says the next verse.
Speaker 3: I stand at.
Speaker 2: The door, the door of your life.
Speaker 3: I stand at the door, and I knock, And if
Speaker 3: you hear my voice and open the door, I will
Speaker 3: come in and eat with you, and you with me.
Speaker 3: There's one other great truth, number four. No matter what
Speaker 3: others say about me, Jesus affirms me. No matter what
Speaker 3: others say, Jesus affirms me. They may call me this name,
Speaker 3: or that, they may criticize this, or that they may
Speaker 3: misjudge this or that, But what matters is that Jesus
Speaker 3: affirms me. Now, when Jesus goes and he pays attention
Speaker 3: to the biggest sinner in town, the most hate man
Speaker 3: that everybody despises, and he says, I want to go
Speaker 3: to your house. I want a relationship with you. Jesus
Speaker 3: did the unthinkable, and the reaction is swift, and it
Speaker 3: is immediate. The crowd goes nuts. And in verse seven,
Speaker 3: all the people saw this, this interaction between Jesus and Zachias,
Speaker 3: and they began to complain. Jesus is having dinner with
Speaker 3: a sinner. Jesus is staying with a sinner.
Speaker 2: And what's his reaction to that? What does he do?
Speaker 3: He defends this guy in the front. He defends this
Speaker 3: guy to the religious, selfrighteous people. Next verse, Jesus says,
Speaker 3: this man is a true son of Abraham.
Speaker 2: That I mean. He hadn't said no, He just said
Speaker 2: he's one of us. He's going to be in my family.
Speaker 3: And if you hear my voice, he says, and I,
Speaker 3: the son of Man, have come to seek and to
Speaker 3: save people like.
Speaker 2: Him who were lost.
Speaker 3: He affirms him, he defends him, he protects him. Jesus
Speaker 3: always did that in the face of criticism from religious people.
Speaker 3: Now you may have been coming to saddle Back for
Speaker 3: weeks or months or men, maybe even years, and you've
Speaker 3: never really opened your life to Christ. You know about him,
Speaker 3: but you've never said yes, Today's your day. Because think
Speaker 3: about this, knowing the fact that Jesus sees everything in
Speaker 3: my life that he made me. He notices me, he
Speaker 3: knows my name, he cares about me, and no matter
Speaker 3: what I've done, he wants me and he wants.
Speaker 2: A relationship with me. How should I respond to Jesus.
Speaker 3: The same way Zachias did the next verse, verse six. So, Zach,
Speaker 3: he has came down at once. He didn't wait, he
Speaker 3: didn't delay, didn't put it off. So let me get
Speaker 3: every week to think about it. He came down at
Speaker 3: once and received him with joy? Have you received Jesus
Speaker 3: with joy? I love the message translation, says Jeep zach.
Speaker 3: He has scrambled out of the tree. He opened his
Speaker 3: heart and his life immediately. Now follow me on this,
Speaker 3: the logic on this with a god who loves you
Speaker 3: this much, with a god who loved he created you,
Speaker 3: he made you, he saves you. He's engraved you on
Speaker 3: the palms of his hands. He wants a relationship with you,
Speaker 3: in spite of all your rebellion. Can you name one logical, rational,
Speaker 3: intelligent reason for saying no to your creator? If you
Speaker 3: can think of any logical, rational, intelligent reason for saying
Speaker 3: no to the God who made you, loves you, saves you, wants.
Speaker 2: You in a relationship.
Speaker 3: If you could think of one good reasons, stand up
Speaker 3: and tell us right now, because I can't think of one.
Speaker 3: In fact, to reject this is stupid, it's insane. It
Speaker 3: is the most irrational thing to do, to say, I
Speaker 3: reject the creator who loves me that much. It is
Speaker 3: the only sane approach to life. And notice the change
Speaker 3: in Zachias is immediate. Look at the next verse Zachius,
Speaker 3: after he's shown this love and grace, he says to
Speaker 3: the Lord Lord, I'll give half of my possessions to
Speaker 3: the poor, and if I've cheated anybody, I'll give back
Speaker 3: four times as much. Now, I want you to circle
Speaker 3: the phrase i'll give. He says it twice. I'll give,
Speaker 3: and I'll give now. The moment Zachiah says that he
Speaker 3: was converted, he was saved the moment he says I'll
Speaker 3: give you say, how do you know that's his conversion?
Speaker 3: Because the most selfish man in the city became the
Speaker 3: most generous man like that, and only Jesus can do that.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, he's going, how can I help
Speaker 3: the poor? How can I help other people? How can
Speaker 3: I pay back the people I've ripped off and cheated?
Speaker 3: Only Jesus can change a totally self centered, selfish It's
Speaker 3: all about me, and I don't care who have to
Speaker 3: put down to get a lot of money, and who
Speaker 3: have to climb over in order to get to the top.
Speaker 3: Only Jesus can change that and have a guy's going,
Speaker 3: it's all about me too?
Speaker 2: How can I help other people? That's his conversion.
Speaker 3: How do you know when you've really met Christ? I'll
Speaker 3: tell you how you know. Your attitude toward giving changes. Yep,
Speaker 3: you become generous. All of a sudden, you go it's
Speaker 3: not about me. I want to give back. How can
Speaker 3: I help people? How can I help my neighbors? How
Speaker 3: can I help the poor? How can I help my family?
Speaker 3: How can I help the people around me? How can
Speaker 3: I help people who don't know about Jesus? All of
Speaker 3: a sudden, you become generous, You become like Christ. He
Speaker 3: gives a public demonstration of his change. Jesus asked us
Speaker 3: to make a public demonstration of our change. You know
Speaker 3: what it's called today, baptism. Baptism says, I want the
Speaker 3: whole world to know that I'm changing on the inside,
Speaker 3: that He's changing me, that I want to be a
Speaker 3: different person. I want Christ in my life now. I
Speaker 3: don't know what you're going through.
Speaker 2: List.
Speaker 3: You may feel like you're out on a limb relationally
Speaker 3: or financially, or physically. You may feel like you're up
Speaker 3: a tree, and I invite you to jump out of
Speaker 3: a tree and into the loving arms.
Speaker 2: Of the Savior who made you. That's power heads.
Speaker 3: Would you pray this prayer, Dear God, to say it
Speaker 3: in your mind, Dear God, Man, I have tried to
Speaker 3: find my worth on all the false ways. I've judged
Speaker 3: my value on how I look my appearance, and on
Speaker 3: what I own my affluence. And I've tried to support
Speaker 3: my value on what I've done, my achievement and it
Speaker 3: makes me overwork, and on how well I'm liked. And
Speaker 3: I've really, in many ways lived for the approval of
Speaker 3: other people.
Speaker 2: Thank you for this story of Zachias.
Speaker 3: Thank you that no matter how small and insignificant I feel, Jesus,
Speaker 3: you notice me everything in my life.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: No matter who ignores me, you know my name, and
Speaker 3: you have engraved me on the palms of your hand.
Speaker 3: You've got my picture in your Wow. Thank you, Jesus.
Speaker 3: No matter what I've done, you want me. You want
Speaker 3: to come to my house. You want a relationship, not
Speaker 3: a religion, a relationship with me. And thank you that
Speaker 3: no matter what other people say about me, you affirm
Speaker 3: me when people complain about me. You say this is
Speaker 3: my child. Today I do the most logical rational thing.
Speaker 3: I surrender to your love. I invite you into my
Speaker 3: heart and my life and my mind. I want to
Speaker 3: learn to trust you. Please start making the changes in me.
Speaker 3: Thank you for not being ashamed of me. I don't
Speaker 3: want to be ashamed of you. If I need to
Speaker 3: be baptized, I want to be baptized to show my
Speaker 3: joy in your name.
Speaker 2: I pray Amen.
Speaker 1: Such a great message by Rick today and every day.
Speaker 1: I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.
Speaker 1: And now here's Rick with an important message.
Speaker 3: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 3: according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 3: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 3: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 3: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
Speaker 3: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 3: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 3: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 3: Great Commission. We believe it daily. Hope that a great
Speaker 3: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 3: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 3: a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so
Speaker 3: I could spread the good news about Jesus not just
Speaker 3: across from America, but all around the world. And we
Speaker 3: want people to know that God's word is filled with
Speaker 3: hope and truth, and the power that we need to
Speaker 3: follow him every day is available to every single one.
Speaker 3: You know as well as I do, that the Word
Speaker 3: of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it
Speaker 3: breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 3: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
Speaker 3: the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or
Speaker 3: whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of
Speaker 3: the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We
Speaker 3: could not do this without your support. We're one hundred
Speaker 3: percent listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this
Speaker 3: broadcast and would you continue to support us and let
Speaker 3: write to me, let me hear from you. I absolutely
Speaker 3: love reading the stories that are sent to me. So
Speaker 3: write me, pray for me, and support this ministry and
Speaker 3: God will bless it. And God will bless you and
Speaker 3: we'll get to heaven and we'll thank God for all
Speaker 3: the people going to be in heaven because you.
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