{"id":12181,"date":"2020-10-25T20:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T03:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_18_31-43-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-10-25T17:12:52","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T00:12:52","slug":"luke_19_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_19_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed are the Proactive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 19:1-10 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 19:1-10. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 19:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1 \u00a0Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
\n2 \u00a0A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
\n3 \u00a0He wanted to see who Jesus was\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3: In Jesus\u2019 day, tax collectors had a reputation for being greedy and dishonest. Tax collectors were notorious for trying to collect more taxes from the Jews than they actually owed, pocketing the difference for themselves.\u00a0As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus was wealthy and unpopular. Ironically, Zacchaeus\u2019 name means \u201crighteous\u201d or \u201cpure one\u201d, though Zacchaeus probably felt like he was anything but righteous and pure.\u00a0Despite having much wealth, Zacchaeus\u2019 relationships were a mess. One of the big lessons from Zacchaeus\u2019 story is that\u00a0you can have great material wealth, but if your relationships with God and with people are broken, you will feel empty, poor and stressed with life<\/strong>. It\u2019s no wonder Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus probably thought: \u201cMaybe this guy has something that I\u2019m missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luke 19:3-4 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u2026but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.
\n4 \u00a0So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see\u00a0<\/em>him,<\/em>\u00a0since Jesus was coming that way.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-4: Zacchaeus did not allow his own limitations or his circumstances to keep him from seeing Jesus. Zacchaeus chose to be proactive by running ahead of the crowd and climbing a sycamore-fig tree so that he could have a good view of Jesus as Jesus passed by.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0If you want a greater experience of Jesus, don\u2019t make any excuses for yourself.\u00a0Instead, be proactive in your relationship with God. \u00a0To be proactive means to take initiative and to do something in advance about a situation rather than just reacting to the situation later<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When it comes to your relationship with God, how proactive are you? Do you take initiative or do you lazily wait until others challenge you?\u00a0Blessed are the proactive, for they will experience God at a greater level.<\/p>\n

Luke 10:5-6 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5 \u00a0When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
\n6 \u00a0So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-6: For a short time the tree was helpful to Zacchaeus.\u00a0From that tree Zacchaeus could see and experience Jesus from afar.\u00a0But Jesus didn\u2019t want Zacchaeus to settle for being a spectator. Jesus wanted an up close and personal relationship with Zacchaeus.\u00a0So Jesus tells Zacchaeus, \u201cCome down immediately. I must stay at your house today.\u201d If Zacchaeus insisted on staying in the tree, he would have missed the greater things Jesus wanted to do in his life.<\/p>\n

Likewise, is there a tree that you\u2019re hanging onto today? At first you might find that the tree holds you up, gives you comfort, makes life convenient, helps you stay in control, and might even help you see a bit of Jesus. But after Jesus calls you to something greater, that tree is no longer holding you up.\u00a0It\u2019s holding you back.<\/p>\n

You will not grow or experience the greater things that God has for you just by doing what you have always done. You need to be willing to change and get down from your tree.<\/p>\n

Luke 10:7-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n7 \u00a0All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.'”
\n8 \u00a0But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
\n9 \u00a0Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 7-9: What caused Jesus to say about Zacchaeus, \u201cToday salvation has come to this house?\u201d (v9) Was it the fact that Zacchaeus dealt with 2 sins in his life? No.\u00a0Zacchaeus had a lot more sins in his life than just these two. \u00a0The reason why Jesus says to Zacchaeus, \u201cSalvation has come to this house\u201d is because Zacchaeus said yes when Jesus said, \u201cLet me into your life.\u201d\u00a0In other words,\u00a0it wasn\u2019t Zacchaeus\u2019 good works that brought salvation to Zacchaeus\u2019 house. \u00a0It was because Zacchaeus opened the door to Jesus, who is salvation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You could even say\u00a0that the tree Zacchaeus climbed up and eventually came down from represents Zacchaeus\u2019 effort to reach God. The best he could do with his own effort was to see Jesus from a distance, but he had no relationship with Jesus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Luke 10:10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10 \u00a0For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 10: It wasn\u2019t so much that Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus. It was Jesus who was looking for Zacchaeus. Evidently Jesus wasn\u2019t just passing through Zacchaeus\u2019 town. Jesus was heading straight in Zacchaeus\u2019 path.<\/p>\n

In the same way,\u00a0realize that long before you ever searched for God, God was searching for you<\/strong>. Eventually Zacchaeus would have to come down from that tree.\u00a0But a few days later, in order to seek and to save what was lost,\u00a0Jesus Himself would get up on a tree and die for Zacchaeus\u2019 sins and our sins as well<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, I pray that I would be proactive in the way I worship You, seek Your face and approach my relationship with You. Thank You that, like Zacchaeus, long before I was looking for You, You were looking for me and wanted a relationship with me. I open up my heart to You today and say come have Your way.\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 19:1-10. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 19:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1 \u00a0Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.\u00a0
\n2 \u00a0A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
\n3 \u00a0He wanted to see who Jesus was\u2026<\/p>\n

On verses 1-3: In Jesus\u2019 day, tax collectors had a reputation for being greedy and dishonest. Tax collectors were notorious for trying to collect more taxes from the Jews than they actually owed, pocketing the difference for themselves.\u00a0As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus was wealthy and unpopular. Ironically, Zacchaeus\u2019 name means \u201crighteous\u201d or \u201cpure one\u201d, though Zacchaeus probably felt like he was anything but righteous and pure.\u00a0Despite having much wealth, Zacchaeus\u2019 relationships were a mess. One of the big lessons from Zacchaeus\u2019 story is that\u00a0you can have great material wealth, but if your relationships with God and with people are broken, you will feel empty, poor and stressed with life. It\u2019s no wonder Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus probably thought: \u201cMaybe this guy has something that I\u2019m missing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12182,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12181\/revisions\/12182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}