1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,400 Thank you for listening to this message from LifeHouse Church. 2 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:18,180 Good morning, good morning LifeHouse. 3 00:00:18,180 --> 00:00:20,680 Listen, turn to somebody right now, look to your left, 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,440 look to your right, turn over and give them a high five, 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,080 shake their hand, tell them it's good to have you here this 6 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:27,140 morning. 7 00:00:27,140 --> 00:00:28,540 Come on, do it, do it. 8 00:00:28,540 --> 00:00:30,280 I'm watching, I can see you. 9 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:31,940 They need encouragement, tell them they're looking pretty 10 00:00:31,940 --> 00:00:33,900 good on a Sunday, looking pretty good. 11 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:35,400 It's good to be back. 12 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,940 Dixie and I were away last week for a little R&R vacation, 13 00:00:38,940 --> 00:00:41,100 went down to Myrtle Beach, spent some time with family down 14 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:42,880 there and just had a great time. 15 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,280 And it's good to be back though and the weather's beautiful 16 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,500 here as well, so it's been good. 17 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:52,740 Listen, love to hear in the praise and the worship this 18 00:00:52,740 --> 00:00:55,440 morning, I could hear your voices just being lifted up to 19 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,440 heaven and I'm telling you, God moves in the middle of that 20 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,800 just continue to praise them all week long. 21 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:02,540 I don't know how many of you go out of here singing some of 22 00:01:02,540 --> 00:01:05,040 the songs that we sing, but I do it all week long. 23 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,100 I don't even know the titles, right? 24 00:01:07,100 --> 00:01:08,680 Yeah, and sometimes I get the words wrong. 25 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,740 If you're listening to me, I probably don't have the words. 26 00:01:10,740 --> 00:01:13,100 How many of you sing the wrong verses, you just make them up? 27 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:14,700 All right, sweet, so me too. 28 00:01:14,700 --> 00:01:17,400 All right, I just make them up as I go. 29 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,380 Some of these days I'll just write all those down just to 30 00:01:19,380 --> 00:01:20,640 see what they look like. 31 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,300 But it's good to have you in the house this morning. 32 00:01:23,300 --> 00:01:26,240 If you're listening online, if you're up at East Shore this 33 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:27,500 morning, welcome. 34 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:28,500 It's good to have you. 35 00:01:28,500 --> 00:01:31,000 If you're online, feel free to type in the chat. 36 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:32,180 We like to get feedback. 37 00:01:32,180 --> 00:01:34,000 I don't know if you know this or not, but we've got a whole 38 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,540 group of people that listen online and on podcasts. 39 00:01:37,540 --> 00:01:40,300 As far as Canada, a lot of times there's a group of people 40 00:01:40,300 --> 00:01:43,940 that listen up in Canada on a regular basis, so it's just good 41 00:01:43,940 --> 00:01:46,780 to have everybody in the house and it's probably a little 42 00:01:46,780 --> 00:01:49,480 chillier up in that neck of the woods for sure. 43 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:50,980 But can I say this? 44 00:01:50,980 --> 00:01:53,980 Can I be transparent about something? 45 00:01:53,980 --> 00:01:57,240 There are certain areas of life, right? 46 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,340 In my life and probably in your life that it seems hard or it's 47 00:02:01,340 --> 00:02:06,140 almost a battle to find this consistent balance, right? 48 00:02:06,140 --> 00:02:10,700 As a believer, as a human being, as a follower of Jesus Christ, 49 00:02:10,700 --> 00:02:13,080 you know, and I want to follow Jesus with everything that's 50 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,000 in me, there's sometimes these areas of life that it seems so 51 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,700 hard to consistently achieve what we call a good rhythm or a 52 00:02:21,700 --> 00:02:24,040 good balance in something, right? 53 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,340 And one of those things is time, say time. 54 00:02:28,340 --> 00:02:30,380 Yeah, time is one of those areas, right? 55 00:02:30,380 --> 00:02:34,040 It's one of those indispensable and most valuable things, gifts 56 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,340 that we are given, but it's hard to find balance sometimes with 57 00:02:37,340 --> 00:02:38,340 all that, right? 58 00:02:38,340 --> 00:02:39,540 We all get the same thing. 59 00:02:39,540 --> 00:02:40,940 We all get the same amount of seconds. 60 00:02:40,940 --> 00:02:42,400 We all get the same amount of minutes. 61 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,280 We all get the same amount of hours in a week, right? 62 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,740 Same increments of time get allocated to everybody in the 63 00:02:48,740 --> 00:02:52,600 house and the person even next to you, but how do I use that 64 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:53,800 time wisely? 65 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:54,880 Where do I invest? 66 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,500 Where do I get balance in all this? 67 00:02:58,500 --> 00:03:01,600 Because everything competes for my time. 68 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:02,540 It really does. 69 00:03:02,540 --> 00:03:04,980 Everything competes for your time. 70 00:03:04,980 --> 00:03:08,040 Outside factors and what I call outside factors and inside 71 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,280 factors compete for our time. 72 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,340 And some of the outside factors, you really don't have any 73 00:03:14,340 --> 00:03:15,340 control over. 74 00:03:15,340 --> 00:03:17,280 There's things like your education or your career. 75 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,180 How many of you got to go to work so you can get some food on 76 00:03:19,180 --> 00:03:21,800 the table and eat and pay for your shelter and clothing and 77 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:23,640 we appreciate you having clothing, right? 78 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:25,140 All those kind of things. 79 00:03:25,140 --> 00:03:27,740 You got to go and they're kind of out of your control. 80 00:03:27,740 --> 00:03:31,480 And family life and as much as we want to invest as much as we 81 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,540 can in our family, there's finding that balance with 82 00:03:34,540 --> 00:03:35,540 everything. 83 00:03:35,540 --> 00:03:37,580 And that's those outside things. 84 00:03:37,580 --> 00:03:39,500 Sometimes there's those inside things where we're trying to 85 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:40,940 achieve balance, right? 86 00:03:40,940 --> 00:03:42,380 Things like our devices, right? 87 00:03:42,380 --> 00:03:48,040 Our iPhones or our phones or our pads, iPads or our 88 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,340 computers, right? 89 00:03:50,340 --> 00:03:54,100 I call that kind of the self-inflicted time snatchers, 90 00:03:54,100 --> 00:03:55,100 right? 91 00:03:55,100 --> 00:03:58,240 Listen, I don't know if you know this or not, but the average 92 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:03,880 American spends 5.4 hours on their phone. 93 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,340 13, you're supposed to go, ooh. 94 00:04:06,340 --> 00:04:08,140 You guys weren't even surprised. 95 00:04:08,140 --> 00:04:09,140 All right. 96 00:04:09,140 --> 00:04:11,300 13% of millennials, right? 97 00:04:11,300 --> 00:04:17,040 And 5% of baby boomers, that's a generation older than I am. 98 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:23,140 5% of the baby boomers say they spend at least 12 hours a day on 99 00:04:23,140 --> 00:04:24,140 their devices. 100 00:04:24,140 --> 00:04:28,300 It seems difficult to find balance in life, right? 101 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:30,840 In our Christian walk, you might want to have a talk if you're 102 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:32,780 doing 12 hours on that thing, right? 103 00:04:32,780 --> 00:04:33,780 With someone. 104 00:04:33,780 --> 00:04:37,700 You might want to go get some counseling about that, right? 105 00:04:37,700 --> 00:04:40,900 But there's different areas in our life where we have a 106 00:04:40,900 --> 00:04:42,740 difficulty finding balance. 107 00:04:42,740 --> 00:04:47,380 And one of those areas is money and possessions. 108 00:04:47,380 --> 00:04:50,600 How do I what do I do with money and possessions as a believer, 109 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:51,560 as a follower of Jesus Christ? 110 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,740 What do I do with my bucks and what do I do with my stuff. 111 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:55,740 All right. 112 00:04:55,740 --> 00:04:58,580 What do I do with my box and what do I do with my stuff as a 113 00:04:58,580 --> 00:05:00,680 Christian as a follower of Christ? 114 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,320 You know, how much money should I make? 115 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,000 How much money should I give away? 116 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,460 How much money should I give to God? 117 00:05:06,460 --> 00:05:09,160 How much money should I save and keep, right? 118 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,940 How much money should I supply to my family? 119 00:05:11,940 --> 00:05:14,300 How much money should I withhold from my family? 120 00:05:14,300 --> 00:05:16,360 How much stuff should I have? 121 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,060 How much stuff shouldn't I have? 122 00:05:18,060 --> 00:05:19,560 How much of it should I give away? 123 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,600 How much should I spend on pleasure? 124 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,080 Or should I spend any money on pleasure? 125 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,920 Do I save up for the next mission trip that's going to take place? 126 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,760 Or do I buy myself a Peloton? 127 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:31,240 We ask ourselves these questions. 128 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:32,640 We struggle with this thing. 129 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:34,320 We try to find balance. 130 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:35,520 What does this look like? 131 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:36,920 What's the right answer? 132 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:38,800 What's the right way to do this? 133 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:40,120 How do I get the balance? 134 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:45,320 Because everything I do, everything I engage in as a follower of Jesus Christ, I want it 135 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:46,840 to honor God. 136 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:52,360 I want Him to be honored in all of it, even in my books and my stuff. 137 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,200 And it turns out that the Lord does not leave us in the dark when it comes to books and 138 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:57,200 stuff. 139 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:58,200 Say, books and stuff. 140 00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,200 Books and stuff. 141 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:00,200 He doesn't leave us waffled. 142 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,120 He doesn't put us in a place where we're trying to just figure this thing out and grab on 143 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:05,160 through. 144 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,420 And I don't know if you know this or not, some of you might have heard this before, 145 00:06:07,420 --> 00:06:11,840 but there are more than 500 verses in Scripture on prayer. 146 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,280 There are nearly 500 concerning faith. 147 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:19,040 There are over 2,000 verses concerning your books and your stuff. 148 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,960 16 of Jesus' 38 parables had something to do with money or possessions or books and 149 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:24,960 stuff. 150 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:31,240 15% of Jesus' recorded words in Scripture had to do with books and stuff. 151 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,520 So our books and stuff matter to God, right? 152 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:38,600 And it should matter to us, and I want to glorify God in all that I do, and I want to 153 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,160 achieve that so-called balance that we're always looking for. 154 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:43,600 How does this work? 155 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,080 What does it look like? 156 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:51,780 And Jesus threaded conversations and He threaded instruction about books and stuff all through 157 00:06:51,780 --> 00:06:55,120 encounters that He had in Scripture with individuals. 158 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,520 So one of those encounters I want to take you to this morning, if you got your Bibles, 159 00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:58,960 I want you to turn to Luke. 160 00:06:58,960 --> 00:06:59,960 Say Luke. 161 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:00,960 Luke chapter 19. 162 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,640 We're going to start at verse 1, and as you're turning there, I'm going to pray. 163 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:05,920 Lord we thank You for this day. 164 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:07,920 God I thank You for Your mercy and love. 165 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,680 I thank You for the opportunity to get together, the beautiful weather that You've given us. 166 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:16,200 And Lord God as we come together, Lord through Your Word, Lord help us to understand, God 167 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,080 that You show us the balance. 168 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,880 You show us the direction in our books and in our stuff. 169 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:27,640 Luke chapter 19 verse 1 says this, Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 170 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,960 Now behold there was a man named Zacchaeus. 171 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:31,960 Say Zacchaeus. 172 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:33,240 I'd like to know who we're talking about. 173 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:34,240 Say Zacchaeus. 174 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:35,240 Go ahead. 175 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:37,200 You can call him Zac for short if you want. 176 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,640 Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus who 177 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,560 was a chief tax collector and he was rich. 178 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:49,640 And he sought to see who Jesus was but could not because of the crowd for he was of short 179 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:50,680 stature. 180 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,760 Now I need you to picture this when we're reading God's Word. 181 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:55,660 It's important to picture what's taking place. 182 00:07:55,660 --> 00:07:59,640 So I want you to picture in your mind this ancient city of Jericho. 183 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,800 And I want you to see, I want you to get a picture of Zacchaeus in your mind. 184 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:10,160 I want you to picture this wealthy guy who is extremely wealthy but he is very much height 185 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,720 challenged. 186 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:13,880 He was short. 187 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:15,800 He was a little man. 188 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:17,560 Now I don't know what your Zacchaeus looks like. 189 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,000 I know what my Zacchaeus looks like. 190 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,360 And some of you are thinking well if they had iPhones back then you could just take 191 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:22,600 a selfie and show us. 192 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,320 But listen what does your Zacchaeus look like? 193 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,160 Mine has bling all over because he's very wealthy. 194 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:30,240 He's got bling. 195 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:31,960 He's got all the newest clothes. 196 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:33,880 He's got the right shoes. 197 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:40,400 And I'm picturing this guy who is Jewish and he's in this culture in Jericho and he's 198 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,080 wealthy tax collector. 199 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,860 And just to give you a little context with Zacchaeus you've got to understand something 200 00:08:45,860 --> 00:08:48,200 about Jewish tax collectors back then. 201 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,680 They were hated. 202 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:51,560 They were hated individuals. 203 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:54,200 They collected Roman taxes. 204 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,120 They were Jewish but they collected Roman taxes from the Jews that were living in Roman 205 00:08:58,120 --> 00:08:59,600 territory. 206 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:04,800 And the Jewish people hated them for good reason because almost all the tax collectors, 207 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:07,600 these Jewish tax collectors were on the take. 208 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:09,520 All of them were crooks. 209 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,600 They were collecting more money than they were supposed to from the Romans that the 210 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,680 Romans wanted them to collect and they would keep it for themselves. 211 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:25,360 They were scamming, extorting money on the regular and Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. 212 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,360 He was wealthy because he was stealing money. 213 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,440 He was a chief crook and he was considered a traitor to his people. 214 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:34,400 So I want you to kind of picture all this. 215 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:39,840 This little short guy and Jesus is coming into town in Jericho and people are lining 216 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,560 the streets and I just see this little short guy hopping. 217 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:44,520 He's in the background. 218 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:45,520 His bling is jingling. 219 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,560 He's trying to get in and nobody is going to let him in because nobody likes him. 220 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:52,480 And he's trying to see Jesus but he can't see Jesus. 221 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,960 He wants to get a look because he's heard about this man who's coming to town. 222 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,360 Verse 4 says this, so he ran ahead. 223 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,400 He climbed into a sycamore tree to see him. 224 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:02,400 That's Jesus. 225 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,280 For he was going to pass that way and when Jesus came to the place he looked up and saw 226 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:12,040 him and said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must stay at your house. 227 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:16,760 So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully but when they saw it they all 228 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:22,320 complained saying he's gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. 229 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:29,640 Of all the people that Jesus would pick to go spend time with in this city of Jericho 230 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:34,320 he picks this little annoying chief tax collector who everybody hates. 231 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,080 This guy named Zacchaeus. 232 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,340 And you've got to understand something here. 233 00:10:39,340 --> 00:10:41,500 Jesus is pretty famous at this point. 234 00:10:41,500 --> 00:10:43,360 People have heard how he heals. 235 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,680 They've heard of the miracles. 236 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,000 Everybody wants to have lunch with Jesus. 237 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,400 Everybody wants to sit down and interview him whether they like him or don't like him. 238 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,360 Whether it was people who were his enemies they wanted to sit and find out and question 239 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:01,600 him and ask where did this power come from and then the people that did know him or heard 240 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,120 of him and did like him they wanted to spend time with him. 241 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,880 All these people are vying for time. 242 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:12,800 So Jesus could have invited himself to anybody's house at that point and they would have gladly 243 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:13,800 taken him in. 244 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,240 People of influence, people of power, officials in the community. 245 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:24,840 But he picks this hated Jewish tax collector for Rome. 246 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,840 How many know Jesus doesn't view us through the lens of our failures? 247 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,160 He doesn't view us through the lens of our mess and our sin. 248 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:37,060 When he looks at Zacchaeus he's looking at Zacchaeus and he's thinking you know I think 249 00:11:37,060 --> 00:11:39,520 I know who this man could be in me. 250 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,060 I know how I could change his life. 251 00:11:42,060 --> 00:11:47,760 He sees Zacchaeus and if Zacchaeus repents, if he truly repents, if he truly gives his 252 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:52,340 life over to the Lord, Jesus sees who he can be. 253 00:11:52,340 --> 00:11:53,840 That should give me hope today. 254 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:55,280 That should give you hope today. 255 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:56,600 That should give everyone hope today. 256 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:57,600 Amen? 257 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:58,600 It's true. 258 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,320 So Jesus heads to Zacchaeus' house. 259 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:07,200 All political correctness and crowd expectation aside, he heads to Zacchaeus' house. 260 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:13,880 Verse 8 says, then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Jesus shows up, has lunch or 261 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,760 supper, spends time with him and he stood and said to the Lord, Lord look I gave half 262 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,320 of my goods to the poor and if I've taken anything from anyone by false accusation I 263 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,240 restore fourfold. 264 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:30,000 And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because he also is the 265 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:36,880 son of Abraham, for the son of man has come to seek and save that which is lost. 266 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:44,080 Jesus hangs out with Zacchaeus for a day, actually less than a day, part of a day. 267 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,000 And everything in Zacchaeus' life changes. 268 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:49,320 Everything shifts. 269 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:54,600 This sawed off, no good for nothing, crook trader, tax collector spends part of a day 270 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:56,460 with Jesus Christ. 271 00:12:56,460 --> 00:12:59,940 He repents of his corrupt ways. 272 00:12:59,940 --> 00:13:03,580 He begins to make crazy declarations. 273 00:13:03,580 --> 00:13:06,880 He doesn't just get saved and quietly thank God in his heart. 274 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,480 He begins to make crazy declarations. 275 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,480 He begins to say crazy stuff, radical stuff. 276 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:17,880 He says today I'm going to give half of my goods to the poor. 277 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:22,420 Half of my stuff, half of my bucks, half of my stuff. 278 00:13:22,420 --> 00:13:24,580 I want you to think about that for a minute. 279 00:13:24,580 --> 00:13:28,520 Just take a little bit of inventory of everything that you own, everything that you have, everything 280 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,760 you've got in accounts, take a little inventory of that and think, you know today after church 281 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,000 I'm going to go home and I'm going to split all that right in half. 282 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,600 I've got two cars, I'm going to set one aside, I'm going to sell the house, I'm going to 283 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:43,040 give half the money, I've got all this stuff in there, I've got this, I've got that, I'm 284 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,920 going to take it and I'm going to figure out what half that is and I'm just going to give 285 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:46,920 it to the poor. 286 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:48,680 How many know that's radical? 287 00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:50,240 That's radical. 288 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:51,780 That's wild. 289 00:13:51,780 --> 00:13:53,280 And then he doesn't stop there. 290 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,840 He continues on with the declarations and he says I'm going to restore up to four fold 291 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:02,880 what I took unjustly, 400% return on what he stole. 292 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:03,880 Can you see him? 293 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:05,160 I can see him just going down through town, right? 294 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:06,160 All his bling. 295 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:08,240 Well he's only got half of it now because he gave half of it away. 296 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:12,240 But you know he's got half of his bling hanging on him, clunk, clunk, clunk, knocks on the 297 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,280 door, somebody opens up and they're like oh it's you, you back here to steal more of my 298 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:16,280 money? 299 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:17,280 You know you want more of my money? 300 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:18,960 He goes oh no, no, no, no, no, no. 301 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,440 Listen I know I came and I took $100 the other day and I took it unjustly so here let me 302 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,720 write you a check, I'm going to write you a check for $400. 303 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,720 He takes it and he rips off his check book and he lays it in their hands and they're 304 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,600 just standing there stunned, right? 305 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:33,680 Jaw dropped, what just happened? 306 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:34,680 What's taking place here? 307 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:36,680 Am I on, you know, somebody got a camera? 308 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:37,680 Is this just some kind of trick? 309 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,440 Is this a reality show? 310 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,540 What's happening right now? 311 00:14:41,540 --> 00:14:48,400 This guy, Zacchaeus makes, he goes crazy and he makes these declarations. 312 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,840 What makes Zacchaeus' conversion so radical? 313 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:55,560 His salvation so obvious that Jesus declares it. 314 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:56,600 It's this. 315 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:02,400 His money and possessions held a new position in Zacchaeus' life. 316 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:03,480 Money and possessions held. 317 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:08,400 His bucks and his stuff took a whole new position in his life. 318 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:13,160 Now I don't know if bucks and stuff were the first place in his life, probably by the sounds 319 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:14,160 of it, right? 320 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:15,160 Because he didn't care who hated him. 321 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:19,320 He just was after the bucks and his stuff before meeting Jesus. 322 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,920 But I'm thinking somewhere along the way that was kind of in first place. 323 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,400 And we don't, you know the Bible doesn't really tell us a lot about Zacchaeus. 324 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,960 We don't know about Zacchaeus' securities or insecurities. 325 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:33,760 We don't know if he was poor as a child and overcompensated by making all this money later 326 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:35,440 on and even stealing it. 327 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,120 We don't know his background or his family situation. 328 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:43,000 We don't know the psychology of anything about Zacchaeus and it didn't really even matter. 329 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,100 All I know is that he spent a half a day with Jesus. 330 00:15:46,100 --> 00:15:49,560 Something like a half a day with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 331 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:54,600 Conviction sets into his heart and what he held in the highest position in his life, 332 00:15:54,600 --> 00:16:01,640 his bucks and his stuff, he's given away like candy at a Christmas parade. 333 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:03,520 He's just thrown it out. 334 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,600 What changed? 335 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:10,460 Bucks and stuff held a new position in Zacchaeus' life. 336 00:16:10,460 --> 00:16:15,560 We freely give away what is devalued in our lives. 337 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:21,160 If you don't believe this, maybe later this and maybe this coming next weekend, find out 338 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:22,840 where the nearest yard sale is. 339 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:28,080 Either they run like about 10 to 2 o'clock or 8 to 2 o'clock. 340 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:29,080 Here's what you do. 341 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,960 I know all the yard sale people, you show up at like 730 and see if you can pillage 342 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:34,920 anything you can before it actually starts. 343 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:36,120 Come on, can I get a witness? 344 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:38,120 I see people with you. 345 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:39,120 Amen. 346 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:43,320 But instead, if it shuts down at 2, go at 145. 347 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,560 Do you know what happens at 145? 348 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,040 They don't want to put that stuff back in their garage. 349 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,440 They don't want to go pack that stuff back away. 350 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,680 They want to get rid of everything. 351 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:58,480 Even the Bowflex that they paid $1,000 for 10 years ago, they're trying to stuff it in 352 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,760 the back of your car for $3. 353 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,880 Or they'll give it to you for free. 354 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:04,880 What happened? 355 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,120 They paid $1,000 for that thing. 356 00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:08,320 It sat in their living room. 357 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:13,440 They hung clothes on it to dry for 10 years. 358 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,280 The value went where? 359 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:18,040 From here to there. 360 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:19,040 It dropped. 361 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,880 Now, you know what you don't see at the art sale? 362 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,320 Even if you go 145, even if you go 155 and it's going to close at 2, they don't sit their 363 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:32,200 children out on the table, stick an orange sticker on there that says $1. 364 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,320 Some people are like, you're coming on the right day. 365 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,360 You guys are on the right day. 366 00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:39,880 They don't do that, right? 367 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:40,880 Why? 368 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:41,880 Because there's value. 369 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,360 Because you never do that with your children. 370 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:48,440 Matter of fact, you'd sell yourself for a buck to save your child, right? 371 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,800 And that's what happened to Zacchaeus. 372 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:56,000 The generosity and the restitution that came in his life is because bucks and stuff were 373 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:01,440 up here and then all of a sudden when he met Jesus, it went down here, right? 374 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:03,480 And Jesus went up here. 375 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:04,480 It changed. 376 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,320 So what are you saying, pastor? 377 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,720 Do I need to give my bucks and stuff away like candy in a parade? 378 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:10,720 Is that what you're saying? 379 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,040 No, what I'm saying is does Jesus hold that kind of position in your life? 380 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,920 With your bucks and your stuff and everything else that's in your life. 381 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,520 Is Jesus up that high that everything else just kind of falls off the mat? 382 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:23,880 It doesn't even matter that much. 383 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,260 Does he have that kind of position, right? 384 00:18:26,260 --> 00:18:32,560 Is it like if it's Jesus or your stuff, you give it away like candy in a parade, right? 385 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,220 What part of your life? 386 00:18:34,220 --> 00:18:40,200 We cannot achieve proper balance in our lives in any area of our lives, including bucks 387 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:44,120 and stuff, if we don't have Jesus at that kind of position in our life. 388 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:45,640 He has to be in that kind of position. 389 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:51,240 He must be Lord of my bucks and he must be Lord of my stuff and he must be Lord of everything 390 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:52,240 else. 391 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:53,520 It's got to be up here. 392 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:55,840 And that's exactly what happens to Zacchaeus. 393 00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:01,080 And you see this in the Word of God and you see this with Zacchaeus and you see this same 394 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:07,160 scenario on play or replay in another position or another place that Jesus is. 395 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:12,520 In Luke chapter 18 verse 18, Jesus runs into another guy and it's similar in nature. 396 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:16,840 It says this, now a certain ruler asked him saying, this is a ruler, good teacher, what 397 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,520 shall I do to inherit the eternal life? 398 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,840 I talked about this guy just a few months ago from a different angle. 399 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,380 So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? 400 00:19:25,380 --> 00:19:27,720 No one is good but one, that is God. 401 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,320 You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false 402 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:32,320 witness. 403 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:33,320 Honor your father and mother. 404 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,980 And he said all these things I've kept from my youth. 405 00:19:35,980 --> 00:19:40,680 So when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, you still lack one thing. 406 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:45,740 So all you have in distribute to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come 407 00:19:45,740 --> 00:19:46,740 follow me. 408 00:19:46,740 --> 00:19:52,840 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful for he was very rich. 409 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,520 Word of God tells us he walked away. 410 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,060 Jesus bumps into another guy, right? 411 00:19:58,060 --> 00:20:00,800 Another bucks and stuff encounter takes place. 412 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:07,680 And this guy is not a self-exorbed, crooked tax collector who's hated by everybody. 413 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:09,600 This guy knows the Bible. 414 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,180 This guy is a ruler. 415 00:20:11,180 --> 00:20:13,000 This guy is respected. 416 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:14,520 This guy was in the temple. 417 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,680 He understands the commandments, right? 418 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,020 He probably sat on some committee at a church. 419 00:20:19,020 --> 00:20:22,840 He probably had a Jesus fish bumper sticker on his camel, right? 420 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:24,600 Oh well, maybe not yet. 421 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:25,600 Okay. 422 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:26,640 He was blessed. 423 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:27,920 He was wealthy. 424 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:28,920 He was religious. 425 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:30,520 And he wants to do the right thing. 426 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:31,520 He asks the right questions. 427 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,600 What do I do to get into the kingdom of God? 428 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,600 He's not like Zacchaeus at all. 429 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:41,760 Zacchaeus hop around trying to find and get a look at Jesus, see what's going on, right? 430 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,160 He's religious. 431 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,120 He's got position. 432 00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:50,960 But after spending just a little bit of time with Jesus, he's not talking like Zacchaeus, 433 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:52,140 is he? 434 00:20:52,140 --> 00:20:56,840 You don't see any wild declarations taking place with this guy. 435 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:01,720 Jesus calls this guy out on his bucks and his stuff. 436 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,920 And this guy gets sad. 437 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,360 And he just turns and walks away. 438 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:11,120 And Jesus knows something when he's talking to this guy. 439 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:12,280 He knows this. 440 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:18,120 He knows that we can only serve one master and it can't be bucks and stuff. 441 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:19,640 We only can serve one master. 442 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,200 Luke 16, 13 says this, no servant can serve two masters. 443 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,120 For either he will hate the one and love the other, right? 444 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:27,840 Notice the contrast there. 445 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,900 Or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. 446 00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:33,760 You cannot serve God and mammon, which is money. 447 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,080 That translates as money. 448 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,560 We can only have one master. 449 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,680 You'll love one or hate the other. 450 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,820 You'll be loyal to one and despise the other. 451 00:21:42,820 --> 00:21:45,520 You see this massive contrast in that scripture. 452 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:47,520 That's to help you see the position, right? 453 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,440 Jesus, if he's up here this high, then everything else is down here. 454 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,840 How many know second place loser, right? 455 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:55,840 Compared to Jesus. 456 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:57,280 Jesus is up here. 457 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:01,640 He said you'll be loyal to one and despise the other or you'll hate one and love the 458 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:02,640 other. 459 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,920 Zach's loyalty changed. 460 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:06,920 It changed. 461 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:12,040 He bumped Jesus up here and he makes crazy decorations. 462 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,520 This verse makes me think of something. 463 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,600 Something that I remember from when I was young. 464 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:20,280 A young girl, I should say. 465 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,840 How many of you know what a master key is? 466 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:25,040 Raise your hand if you know what a master key is. 467 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:26,040 OK, most of you do. 468 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:31,400 Well, a master key is a key that opens doors. 469 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,960 And if you have a master key to a building, now this is an old fashioned skeleton key. 470 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:41,480 But if you had a master key, you could go into a building, a facility, and you can literally 471 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,600 open every door in that facility. 472 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,360 I remember going into a place one time and it was a commercial building and they handed 473 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:49,880 me a master key and I had to just go try it. 474 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,040 I was like, I want to see if this opens. 475 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,200 You know, and I was running around the building, open doors up and apologizing a lot. 476 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:58,980 You know, just step in places. 477 00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:01,200 But it opens every door. 478 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:02,200 There's not a door. 479 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:03,200 There's not a cat. 480 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:08,560 If you have a master key, it opens the door to everything. 481 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,240 Every single door, every place in the building, there's not a place you can go in that building 482 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,160 that you can't get into with the master key. 483 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,520 And that's what that's what happened with Zach. 484 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,440 Jesus became master of his life. 485 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,520 And there wasn't one area of his life that God didn't have access to. 486 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,000 There wasn't one door that God couldn't open. 487 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,080 There wasn't one window cabinet. 488 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,680 And it was nothing that he withheld from God. 489 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:33,680 And it's it. 490 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,760 Listen, the master key controls it all. 491 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:38,120 It controls the doors. 492 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:39,480 It controls the cabinets. 493 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:40,840 It controls it. 494 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,440 And whatever is master in your life controls you. 495 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:46,880 It controls what's going on. 496 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:52,640 If addiction is the master in your life, it will control every room. 497 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,360 It will affect every room in the building. 498 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:56,360 Right. 499 00:23:56,360 --> 00:24:00,680 If selfishness is a master in your life, it will control the house. 500 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:08,560 If selfishness is the master, it controls the facility and those step into every single 501 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,800 room. 502 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,640 That was the rich man's problem. 503 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:15,640 Not Zachius. 504 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:17,480 He got it right. 505 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,560 But the rich guy, he wasn't willing to hand Jesus the key. 506 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:27,200 He said, keep an eye on that. 507 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:28,200 Who's master? 508 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:33,880 I'm going to ask you to stand. 509 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,320 I wanted to start off from doing this message series on bucks and stuff, because there's 510 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,360 one thing that you have to absolutely get right. 511 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:46,060 And that's who holds the master key. 512 00:24:46,060 --> 00:24:47,980 We never achieve balance. 513 00:24:47,980 --> 00:24:51,480 You cannot achieve balance in Jesus Christ. 514 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:56,520 If anything else is holding the key, the master key in your life, you'll have rooms that will 515 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:57,640 be out of control. 516 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,080 Something else will be affecting. 517 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:01,440 You'll never get to a place of balance. 518 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,080 You can't do it. 519 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,320 So I'm going to do something a little different. 520 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:06,320 I wanted to give you something. 521 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:10,920 Sometimes I'll put something in your hand, because sometimes I talk and you all go home 522 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,480 and you forget 10 seconds after you get out of here because you're thinking about burgers 523 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,920 and fries and pizza or whatever else you want to go get something to eat with. 524 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:19,920 You can't get Chick-fil-A. 525 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,520 You can't open on Sunday. 526 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:24,760 But you're thinking about something. 527 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,560 Well, I want to put something in your hand. 528 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:32,320 So when you walk out of here, because this is key, a little pun intended, to this whole 529 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:33,640 message series. 530 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:37,840 Who's got the master key? 531 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,880 You look at Zacchaeus and you look at the rich young ruler. 532 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,400 It had nothing to do with their past, did it? 533 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:48,080 It had to do with their present and who had the key in their life. 534 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,480 You see what God does. 535 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:52,840 The difference between the two. 536 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:53,840 So I'm going to ask you to do this. 537 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,840 I want you to, now Pastor Eric, he's got these keys up there at East Shore. 538 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,760 If you're listening online this morning and you type in the chat and you give the information, 539 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,920 I'll send you one of these in the mail so you have it. 540 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,320 But for everybody else that's in the house, we've got keys up here. 541 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,020 So I want everybody to come up and grab a key. 542 00:26:09,020 --> 00:26:10,020 You can hang out up front here. 543 00:26:10,020 --> 00:26:11,360 We're just going to pray for a few minutes. 544 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:13,360 But just make your way up to the front. 545 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:16,240 If you're comfortable, come up and get a key. 546 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:17,240 Grab a key. 547 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:36,640 I want you to get it in your hand. 548 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,280 Just stay here for prayer if you would. 549 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,520 Get a key. 550 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,600 I give you little things like this so you can hang up somewhere. 551 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:46,780 You can put it in your pocket. 552 00:26:46,780 --> 00:26:48,160 You can hang it up in your car. 553 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,800 Man, you can make a necklace out of this. 554 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:50,800 It's small enough. 555 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:54,280 Put it somewhere that you're going to see it. 556 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,240 Because this matters. 557 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,360 This is something you've got to ask yourself every single day. 558 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:01,360 Who's master? 559 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:05,040 Who has the master key in your life? 560 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,480 Who's opening and closing the doors? 561 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:07,480 If you would move forward a little bit. 562 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,480 We've got some that are just still in the back. 563 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:17,040 Move forward a little bit if you can. 564 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:22,440 As you come in, if I could give you just a little bit of a personal story. 565 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:26,120 This is back when I was a teenager. 566 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:28,520 I'm a pretty single focused guy. 567 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,440 My wife will tell me if I get on something I'm like a dog on a bone. 568 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,240 And I don't even know what's going on around me. 569 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,520 And it's kind of true. 570 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:36,760 And I've been that way my entire life. 571 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,960 And when I was young, I kind of developed this love for automobiles. 572 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,840 And I was 14 years of age. 573 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,520 I started really loving cars. 574 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:46,960 I couldn't drive one yet. 575 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,280 Just around on the farm. 576 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:49,640 But I loved cars. 577 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:54,020 And I remember at 15 I went to work for this guy for the entire summer for free if he would 578 00:27:54,020 --> 00:27:56,280 teach me how to restore cars. 579 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:57,640 And I worked an entire summer. 580 00:27:57,640 --> 00:27:58,640 Got no pay. 581 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:00,000 Just so he would teach me. 582 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,960 And at 15 I launched into restoring cars. 583 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,880 And my life revolved around cars. 584 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:07,360 Cars held the master key to my life. 585 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:08,920 They really did. 586 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,320 I remember coming home. 587 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:12,680 I'd have homework. 588 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:14,120 And I remember walking in the door. 589 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:17,600 We had a washer and dryer right inside the door at our house. 590 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:19,340 And I remember throwing my homework there. 591 00:28:19,340 --> 00:28:23,360 And I'm thinking why would I expend my genius on homework? 592 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:26,360 I'm going to the garage. 593 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:28,320 I'm not messing with that. 594 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:29,320 And chores. 595 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,040 Why would I waste my time with chores? 596 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,360 I'm going to expend my work and my time and my habits over here. 597 00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:39,800 And I kind of got obsessed for a period of time. 598 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,840 And oddly enough, I know that sounds utterly ridiculous. 599 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:45,600 But it had the key to my heart. 600 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:47,360 And it had the key to my life. 601 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,960 And it literally affected every door in my life. 602 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,080 I still love cars but not nowhere near the same. 603 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,920 I had to put all that down at one point. 604 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,320 Because listen, whatever. 605 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:03,000 It sounds strange but it affected my thinking, it affected how I spent my time, it affected 606 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:08,200 how I spent my money, it affected how I thought about things, you know, the next part. 607 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:09,840 Everything it consumed my house. 608 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:10,840 Right? 609 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:11,840 Me. 610 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:12,840 My facility. 611 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,200 It had the master key. 612 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,560 So I'm here to tell you, if you don't got the master key, if God doesn't have the master 613 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,180 key, you will never achieve spiritual balance. 614 00:29:23,180 --> 00:29:24,560 You can't do it. 615 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,240 It cannot happen. 616 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:31,040 I'm just telling you, honest and straight, who has the key? 617 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,440 Who has the key? 618 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,400 Bucks and stuff are just one area of your life. 619 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,120 You got to turn it over. 620 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,960 You got a room that's called the thought room, right? 621 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:43,880 Your inner thoughts. 622 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:45,760 That's a scary room. 623 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:47,100 You know why? 624 00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:49,800 Nobody sees that on the outside, just you know it. 625 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:50,800 That's a scary room. 626 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,920 Guys, ladies, that's a scary room. 627 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:54,920 Come on. 628 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:56,300 That's a scary room. 629 00:29:56,300 --> 00:29:57,680 You got to give that over to Jesus. 630 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,800 You want to get balance in your head and in your thought life, you got to turn that over 631 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:02,800 to Jesus. 632 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:03,800 You got to open that thing up. 633 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,840 You got to say, Jesus, what should I be thinking on, and what should I not be thinking on? 634 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,920 Because everything you think on, right, develops into a belief that drops into your heart, and 635 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,720 whatever belief you have in your heart translates into action in your life. 636 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:16,720 Scary room. 637 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,240 Who's got, who's the master? 638 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:20,240 Who's the master? 639 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,240 The master key by your heads. 640 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,560 It's you and Jesus. 641 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,240 I can't see what you're saying to Him. 642 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,360 It doesn't even matter if I could. 643 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,160 Who has the master key? 644 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,160 Is it in every area of your life? 645 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,160 Father, we come to you today. 646 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,080 Lord God, somebody's holding the key. 647 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,560 And Lord God, we're all got a physical key in our hand. 648 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:42,680 But Lord, we know this. 649 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:44,240 God, there's a spiritual key. 650 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,400 And God, Zacchaeus shows us, he teaches us. 651 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:52,440 God, there's a short piece of scripture given to him, but he shows us what it is. 652 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,640 Lord, God's a hand the key over to you. 653 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,320 And Lord, you begin to make the calls. 654 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,160 And God, we'll make wild, radical declarations for you. 655 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,800 God, when we hand it over to you and we give every room, got every room, every window, 656 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:10,200 every cabinet, got every piece of access, God, everything's open and before you and 657 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:18,040 laid before you, God, you can open every single door and influence our lives. 658 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,200 And God is there where we find balance. 659 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,520 It is there when we get it right. 660 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,280 So Lord, I'm asking right now, God, for each person in the house, for each person that's 661 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:33,880 listening online, God, for those, Lord, that are east shore, God, I pray right now, Lord, 662 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:35,320 that you would just minister. 663 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,080 God, that you would touch. 664 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,800 And Lord, that they would decide who has the key. 665 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:42,760 Some of them right now, they got to hand it over, physically hand it over. 666 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:44,920 God, they got to lay it out and say it's yours. 667 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:49,120 God, you're going to start calling it in my life. 668 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:53,960 Box and stuff and every other area of my life, God, it's yours. 669 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,440 Lord, I give it over to you. 670 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,240 I confess. 671 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,560 I repent. 672 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,400 I confess that something else has the master key. 673 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:06,760 I repent of that. 674 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:11,080 I turn from that and I hand it to you. 675 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:12,080 In Jesus' name. 676 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:21,080 Amen. 677 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,520 Thank you for tuning in to this message from LifeHouse Church. 678 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:28,000 We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message. 679 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,600 If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with 680 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:41,400 us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.LifeHouseCOG.com.