Luke 19: How Can I Be a Better Person?

good morning welcome to sandals church man happy Mother's Day mom's we love you all without you we wouldn't be here so we're so glad that you are here and to hope that you having a great day but we're talking today about how to be better we're going to be looking at Luke 19 how many of you guys if you look at your life would say I need to be better Ridge fans anybody okay I think we all feel like this and there's just this this this overwhelming feeling today that we need to be better some of that social media like for example mom's you're going to look today at all the things that mom's did and you're like oh my gosh I hate Pinterest I need to be better or Instagram all this stuff we feel all of this pressure and the reality is some of that pressure most of it's bad but some of its good it tells us hey I need to be a better dad I need to be a better mom I need to be a better friend I need to be a better boyfriend girlfriend employee employer I mean all of us have this deep sense that we need to be better and we need to improve what we're doing and so here's the good news the good news is Jesus Christ is going to teach you today in Luke 19 through a story of Zacchaeus how to be better and so what I would encourage you to do today is just to have a desire say God I want to be better I want you to change me I want you to help me become better and I believe that he will do that so let's begin with the word of Prayer and let's ask God to bless just this time together so that we can all leave here today encouraged and challenged at the same time let's pray Heavenly Father God thank you today for the opportunity to be better Lord every day is a new day and an opportunity to change Lord our lives forever we can't change yesterday but we can change today and ultimately tomorrow so god help us today to the power of your Holy Spirit and the vision and message of Jesus Christ to become better people so Lord bless my words and our ears so that we can hear your truth and change our lives we pray this in Christ's name Amen we're going to look today at one of my favorite stories I don't you grew up in church but we grew up in church this is my favorite kids story in the Bible the story of Zacchaeus we should sing a little song about this guy it went like this that kiss was a wee little man and a wee little man was he he climbs a tree and all this other stuff and it's really really cool and had dance moves and I love this story but I want you to know that that kiss is not a kids story Zacchaeus is an adult story it's about how to change your life and specifically what your changed life will look like so let's begin in Luke 19 verse 1 if you have your Bibles open to Luke 19 I'm going to give you almost all the scripture there'll be one verse and I'm going to add in because I had a little inspiration later in the week so let's begin with verse one first three words Jesus entered Jericho Circle the word Jericho we're going to talk about this because a lot of you you know you don't even know the capital of Mississippi much less cities and towns in the Middle East the Jericho is an important city it's someplace to know it's an important biblical city but it's also an important historical city it's one of the oldest known continuous cities in the history of the world thousands of years older than London Paris thousands of years older than many of the cities that you hear about around the world when you think oh this is an ancient city this city existed before anything was built in these old old cities it's literally I mean there's there's people that have been living there for over 6,000 years isn't that crazy I mean it's one of the oldest cities continual cities in the world and the reason it is because it's a very very safe place to live Jericho is nestled between two mountain ranges so the mountain range that leads to the Arabian desert and the mountain range that separates them from the Mediterranean so it's kind of like Bakersfield in California right you have the Sierra Nevada you know to the east and then you have the coastal mountain range to the west and so it became a very very protective City unless of course you take God off and then people will march around your city and blow trumpets and the walls fall but other than that it's a pretty safe city it's also an important city because it runs along the ancient highway that ran from Egypt all the way up to Damascus and so it was think about highway 5 in California and so because it was along this highway where everybody traveled it became a stopping place a resting place think of like Bakersfield not exactly you know awesome unless of course you're a Bakersfield we're glad you're here but you know what do you do in Bakersfield not a whole lot get a burger gas move on so you know what I'm saying so Jericho is like that and so what the Romans did is they set up tax booths in Jericho and so tax collectors became very very wealthy in the city of Jericho because they not only tax the residents who live there but they tax the people who traveled through there so think like the 91 toll road rolling it's just collecting money all day long as people go through that and so tax collectors made their money by collecting taxes and then charging a fee so they would make you pay your taxes and they would add a fee on that now some tax collectors would add a small fee a medium fee and some would collect an exorbitant fee and so what happened is nobody likes tax collectors like nobody's favorite day is April 15th unless it's your birthday apologize it's tax day right nobody is excited today I'm going to give you no third of my money to the government because they're so efficient like nobody is excited about that right so nobody likes tax collectors but these guys weren't even liked by their family by their friends nobody liked him because they were con-artists and thieves and so Zacchaeus is a tax collector not only is he a tax collector collector he's the chief tax collector so he is a high-ranking tax official so Jesus entered Jericho we just talked about that you all historians now on the ancient city of Jericho and he made his way through the town there was a man there named Zacchaeus and he was a chief tax collector in the region and he had become very rich why we just explained it he ripped people off he tried to get a look at Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd so here is this guy he's the wealthiest guy in town but he can't pay anybody to lift him on the shoulders cuz nobody likes him nobody cares for him he doesn't have a friend to help him so he ran ahead and he climbed a sycamore tree beside the road so not only is he rich but he's agile this guy I mean right I mean he's probably older I mean old people do you climb trees know why because you fall that's why you don't climb trees that's how you know you're old when you stop climbing trees it's official you're old that's just the way that it goes okay so he climbs his tree and you know apparently he's pretty agile he goes to the tree for Jesus was going to pass that way so he figured it out I know which way he's going I'm going to run ahead I'm gonna get in this tree and I'm gonna wait for him which is a little awkward being the only guy an old guy in a tree but he doesn't care he does it so he goes ahead and then when Jesus came by it says he looked up at Zacchaeus and he called him by name he says that Kias he said quick come down I must be at a guest at your home today so here's that kiyose he's probably the most famous person in town for all the wrong reasons he's the most hated person in town for all the right reasons he's a thief and gee Jesus right has never traveled through okay he's been through the town of Jericho but he doesn't stay it's like Barstow Barstow is where you stop on the way to Vegas and the way you stop on the way back you don't hang out in Jericho so Jesus is passing through and he says he said kiyose and I want you to notice here it shocks that kiyose he can't believe he knows me I don't want you to know that's where a lot of you guys are you feel very very far from God you feel very very unseen but God sees you knows you he knows your name he knows a man how many hairs are on your head or if you're bald how many aren't on your head he knows everything about you he knows your prayers your thoughts your desires he knows the number of your days every single one of us has a desire to be seen that's why Instagram so famous Facebook so famous that's why all of these sites you know that are you know look at me look at me the reason that these sites are taking off is because people have an inherent desire to be seen and the reason for that is God has put that desire inside you why because he wants to see you just like a parent lives watching their kid do you know the ridiculous things you know come watch my kid you know do basket-weaving they're the greatest basket weaver on earth nobody wants to see that except a parent God wants to see you and notice you and he's put a desire in us to be seen and to be noticed but he says that kiyose Zacchaeus you ever had an encounter where you were surprised as something knew your name you ever had that you're like oh I didn't know that they know my name but 18 years ago when we started sandals Church you know I was I was a nobody came out here you know to Riverside and and with Tammy I moved from Huntington Beach we came out here to plant sandals Church and I went to this pastors conference in San Diego and it was put on by this book company where they invite all their famous pastors to come and teach and talk about you know their specific book and there was a guy by the name of Rick Warren has anybody heard Rick of Rick Warren okay if you haven't heard of him he's really really famous at that time he wrote his first famous book which was called Purpose Driven Church not life it was Purpose Driven Church and so he was one of the speakers there and so he came and spoke and after he spoke literally a thousands of pastors there to watch him he's walking in the hallway and so he's walking through the hallway it's like President Obama except not skinny or black right and he's he's like walking through the hallway and he's got a Secret Service around him and there's all these people it looked like a Queen V with bees all around and people are like you know trying to interview him asking questions and there's literally like over a hundred people moving with him through this hallway so I just kind of I just kind of move up against the wall to get out of the way and as he's passing by he points in my direction and he goes hey Matt which I was kind of startled because I didn't know if he was talking to me because when you call out Matt that's not always that helpful it's like saying Jose and like eight people are like what right hey that doesn't that doesn't clarify you know who you're talking to and so so he says hey Matt and then he says I heard sandals broke a hundred people now I know he's talking to me because there's only one pastor at sandals named Matt at the time and it was me and I knew he was talking to me I couldn't believe he knew my name or my church's name or that we had broken a hundred thank God he didn't know we only had 20 the next week but we had broken we had broken a hundred people right and I was like oh my gosh she knows my name he goes way to go and I was like whoo I was like yeah I knows my name but it felt so good right felt so good I don't want you to know that God knows your name he knows you by name and he says hey Zacchaeus come down quickly I must be a guest at your home and Zakia's quickly climbed down the tree why cause he's super athletic he took Jesus to his house listen his language with great excitement and joy this is the best day of Zacchaeus his life he normally eats alone why cuz nobody likes him he's very very rich can eat whatever food he wants but he can't eat with the company that he wants because people can't stand him so he has great minute excitement and joy verse 7 but the people were circle this word displeased now a lot of you are very very frustrated with God I hear this all the time I don't understand why God did this I don't understand why you know God chose this I don't understand why God hasn't blessed me answer my prayer I don't understand why God blesses them doesn't bless me understand why this person who lives in this person dies listen I don't understand why you don't understand you're not God that's what you know I wouldn't say that to you because that'd be offensive but I can offend all of you right now at one time but you don't say when someone says I don't know why God you know what they're really saying is I don't know why God doesn't listen to me that's what they're saying you know why that is because many Christians live self-centered lives even though they claim to live a god-centered life and they truly believe that the revolves around them and that they know and understand the way that things should be let me help you out here you're not God he doesn't have to consult you then people ask me well why did God do he doesn't call me to tell me what he did and why I did it he doesn't and you know what he doesn't have to I want you to notice here that everybody that came to see Jesus is now upset at Jesus because he's not doing and living life the way that they think he should be doing and living life he does what he wants and you're gonna have a hard time with this and you may have a hard time with this when you get to heaven I tell people all the time there's gonna be been a bunch of Baptist women in heaven who are critical of Jesus because he still drinks I just don't feel like he should drink maybe Jesus hasn't saved oh he saved problems not with Jesus the problems with you look what this it says that they're displeased he's going to be the house of a notorious sinner and they what this is a Christian spiritual gift they grumbled that's what we do we grumble so what is grumbling it's complaining but not actually ever telling someone that you're upset you just refer her over all right okay you grumble you don't know what that is means you're not married yet right right you'll learn to do this when you get married meanwhile Zacchaeus stood before the Lord so these people who've come and see Jesus are grumbling I want you to notice here Zacchaeus is changing so Luke talks very clearly about how to become a Christian this is how you become a Christian you repent of your sins you say God I'm sorry for my sins you turn from your life of sin and you turn to Jesus so you move from a self-centered life to a god centered life it's a complete change and so if someone tells you that they're our follower of Jesus but they still live a self-centered life they are not a follower of Jesus Luke 9:23 you can write that down Luke 9:23 says this if anyone wants to come and follow me he or she must turn from their selfish ways turn from a self-centered life pick up their cross that is die to self come and follow me that is how we live a god-centered life saying yes to Jesus means we say no to ourselves no to our selves if you've never said no to yourself you've never said yes to Jesus and a lot of people don't understand that so these people are grumbling Zacchaeus is changing listen what he says so he's the richest guy in town he says I will give half of my wealth to the poor I'm gonna get half of everything I have to the poor we say well he's rich he's still going to be rich listen what he says next and if I've ripped off anybody which by the way he has he says I will pay them back four times the amount I took four times this guy just went from the richest guide to the poorest guy why because he just discovered what true riches really are Jesus says this in Luke don't be rich in life be rich towards God many of you are pursuing wealth pursuing money pursuing power Jesus says all of those things if that's what you pursue leads to hell the only thing that leads to heaven Jesus says is to pursue me and so here's a guy that many of us think is crazy because he's giving up all his worldly wealth why because he discovered what wealth really is he says I will give back four times as much Jesus responded this is huge he says salvation has come to this home today what is he saying this is what a born-again Christian looks like so we have a picture throughout the Bible of how to become a Christian Zacchaeus the story of Zacchaeus is what it's supposed to look like when you become a Christian now is that key is suddenly perfect no but his life has changed and this is what needs to happen in your life if Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life you need to be changing he says for this man has shown himself underlying these words to be a true son of Abraham what does that mean Jesus is saying Zacchaeus is the real deal he's the real deal a lot of people that you meet they wear Christian t-shirts they have crosses tattooed on their arms they say forgiven on their chest and all these tattoos sandals bumper sticker on the back of their car but they it doesn't mean they're saved Jesus says this guy is the real deal why he wasn't saved because of what he did but what he's doing shows that he's saved his heart's changed therefore his behavior has changed he's fallen in love with Jesus and therefore he has fallen out of love with money he says for the Son of came to seek and to save those who are lost that's why I came so let's talk about how to become a better person Jesus is going to teach us today how to become a better person number one I become a better person when I see good in even the worst people who's the worst person in the town Zacchaeus who's the one person Jesus wants to eat with Zacchaeus he's a notorious Center he has the worst reputation nobody likes him everybody knows he's evil and that's the one guy Jesus wants to meet with we got to learn to see good in even the worst people okay we got to learn to see how many of you've ever been irritated by somebody reg enemies irritated you okay if you've never been irritated you've lived in a hole your entire life okay because to be around people is to be irritated look what the Bible says it says make an allowance for each other's faults why would it say that what's an allowance like if you're a kid you get an allowance it's a predetermined set amount of money that's going to be given to you you know before you even you even get it it's an allowance I'm going to give this to you we need to have an allowance a predetermined set amount of grace that we set aside for people to irritate us okay so when you come to church you can have your allowance you just give it to people here you go here you go you're irritated me you're attended to me your and then we'll all give it back to you because you irritated all of us making allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you anybody been offended lately oh my gosh so always pray for me on Friday if I don't have a sermon illustration let me tell you why because that means God's gonna give me one you can't go to Friday without an illustration so on Friday I'm doing some work with a friend at church I have a rental property and so some plumbing issues and we had to fix it and so I have to hire a real man to help me fix my problems and so we go to my house to fix it and I play the woman oh that's good you look nice that's amazing that's my job all day long let's course your woman you're more manly than me case you can fix plumbing so praise God don't tell me that I don't even further emasculate me so we go there all day Friday on my day off we're working all day you know we do plumbing stuff there's gross stuff and drains there just there's stuff that like it's disgusting and it's all over me it's gross some way to do some painting with you some spackling and I look like a mess man absolute mess so we get done we're trying to rush back because we're going to see Captain America Civil War with my family but I got to get in the tub and soak in like chlorine and acid that's what I need to do because I am covered in filth and so I got to get home but I got to fill the gas take up real quickly before I go home so I stopped by Chevron stopped by Chevron put my credit card in and you have to punch your your zip code I don't know why this is but I always punch the wrong zip code I get to the last number and I panic and hit the wrong number and then what that means is I mean don't do this because if you do this it shuts down the whole process now let me give you some advice if you press the wrong number in whatever you do do not press cancel never press cancel because when you press cancel all the computers in the entire earth go and they break down and they have to shoot a message of space and Martians have to come from Mars to fix the problem and you will be there forever don't press cancel don't do it but I press cancel right when I press something ah so then the next thing you do is you don't press the Help button never press the Help button they don't want to help you in there they don't want to talk to you they that don't press the help but all they do is get irritated right we have condescending attitudes come on you I don't know why you can't just fill it out you know I mean they don't say that but you can feel that so I press the Help button act for help ask them to reset it he says he did it doesn't and now I'm noticing people around the gas station are noticing he's been there a long time like people are done pumping but they're just going to hang out and see what's happening what's going on with this guy so I finally got so irritated I can't take it anymore I just get my car pull around to the other side and try to get gas on another pump so I slide my credit card in but now my credit card is fixed that figured out that someone's trying to charge gas twice at one gas station so they shut it down and it says please see cashier which you never want to talk to the cashier you don't ever want to talk to them especially if you've had a push help conversation you don't want to go in there and talk because they're irritated at you you're irritated so I go in there and I'm just like I got filth all over me and I walk in and I say man I'm just trying to pump some gas he says cuts to your credit card I get my credit card he says sir I'm going to need to see your ID I said dude you're killing me we've been in a relationship now for a year I've had a birthday right I might come on dude and he's like no it's our company policy I have to see your ID and I'm like fine so I run back out get my credit card I'm doing the fast Walker come in there I'm super irritated and now my helper is gone into the manager and he's standing there I hand my credit card he swipes it checks my ID he hands me back I take it back he says sir you need to calm down don't swipe the card out of my hand like husband's have you ever had this conversation with your wife where she says you need to stop yelling but you don't think you're yelling have you ever had this you never had this like you're literally like I don't feel like I'm yelling but she feels like you're yelling so you have to step back and so I feel like I don't think I need to calm down but the manager is Chevron is yelling at me - calm down which by the way I don't think the most efficient way to help someone to calm down is to yell at them calm down right I mean what if there's people from other countries and they're looking at their language book trying to figure out what that means calm down that means to yell at someone all right it doesn't make any sense it's so he tells me says you need to calm down and so I don't know if you know this but there's a string in men's heads it runs from that one side of their skull to the other and if youíre Tate a man enough it goes like this just snaps and they don't know anything they don't see anything they don't feel anything they just want to hurt something in the name of Jesus that's what that's what happens so literally literally I'm in chevron being rebuked by the manager at Chevron and I look back and now all those people outside who wanted to see what happened are now inside and they got snacks they're getting they got I mean it's a movie show and a snack you know there's like Oh and one guy I don't even know he je chimes in he goes I don't think he needs to calm down my god I know who this guy is but did another people go he needs to calm down like people like there's a jury inside Chevron and they're all deciding whether or not I need to calm down and I'm just like standing there literally raging inside like what not want to jump over the counter and hug him deeply and then here here I'm gonna be honest with you here's what I wish happened what I wish happened as your pastor your spiritual leader the one who's telling you how to get in heaven this is what I wish would have happened I wish I would have said what would Jesus do in this situation but that's not that's not what happened here's my thought here's my thought the only thing that kept me from judgment jumping over the counter and hugging him tightly is the fact that I realized every time you see a robbery every time you see a robbery at these gas stations they're always on film they're always on video right every single time and so I realized if I cause a fight it's gonna be mega pastor you know goes to jail at Chevron and it's on tape tonight at 11:00 I mean can you guys imagine you know it's Friday night you're sitting out watching some TV hey buster Matt's going to jail oh you really just get angry I wonder who's preaching on Sunday right be Dan Crowley probably Dan yeah you think they'll use our tide to bail him out on our own right so I have this moment I'm telling my wife is the only thing that kept me from exploding is the fear of video viral threats right you know cuz let me just help you out the goal in life is to never be the biggest idiot on any given day that is your goal in life because if you're the biggest idiot you will be the news story that's this tonyia and I may have been the biggest idiot on Friday night in Southern California so loser I said I said I'm sorry I will calm down and I sign my receipt and I literally have been shamed in Chevron I'm like yeah and I'm like don't go to jail don't go to jail don't go to jail don't go to gym I mean that's that's what's happening this guy totally offended me I got told to calm down in a gas station full of snacks surrounded by beverages and treats of joy he says make an allowance for each other's faults that includes gas station attendants and forgive anyone who offends you including those in the managerial profession remember Matt Brown the Lord forgave you and so you must forgive others so what do we do you know we live in a society that's hyper critical especially men let me talk to the men men will boo professional athletes you're a bum they're not bums you're the bum they're getting paid to play you're sitting in the stands drinking a beer patent your beer belly it suck okay okay that guys are loads are they should be like me and pay to be here hey we're so we're so hyper critical of everything I mean every we just just thrash people first thing you want if you want to be more positive towards people you want to see the good in people write this down this is the easiest one this is a softball pitch look for abilities okay you might not like somebody but they have to have some ability nobody is totally lacking all abilities even you know the worst personal world can do something right try to notice that okay try to notice that this guy at the gas station he's got some abilities what they are I don't know but they've got to be there why the sermon says so look for Billy's next looks look for positive intentions so this next person that's irritating you okay what was his point his point is he wants to make sure that I'm not some dude that's ripping off Matt brown charging gas in a car that's not his he's trying to follow company policy which is actually in my best interest I'm glad that they checked for ID I was just irritated that I forgot it in the car and had to go back and want get out of there okay nobody wants to spend 27 minutes at Chevron except all those people who like watching the show so look for positive intentions okay this is huge it's Mother's Day Mother's and law can be somewhat irritable ladies right you're like my mother-in-law's the devil okay some of you are praying that she'll go to heaven because she'll be in a better place and so will your family right try to look for positive intentions maybe the reason that she's controlling is she's trying to help you okay try to try to look for intention so it may drive you crazy it may irritate you it may bother you but what's the reason behind what they're doing I was out to lunch with a guy who got super irritated at our waitress he's like how many times she gonna bring us water I don't need any more water we're like Noah you're flooding us with water okay okay yeah it made the conversation a little difficult but what is the waitress trying to do she's trying to make sure that we're adequately hydrated okay look for positive intentions next look for this look for a desire to change here's what's so beautiful is the people completely miss out on a radical transformation of the Nommo of the worst center in town because they're focused on themselves look for a desire to change why is this because God is in the business of taking the very worst people and transforming them into the very best people if you're just a moderately you know dysfunctional person God probably will never dramatically use you to change the world you know what God does he recruits the biggest idiots to become his greatest champions that's what he does you don't believe me read what Paul says he says this is a trustworthy saying that everyone should accept it Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and what I'm the worst he took the worst and he turned it into the best so we've got to learn to see the best and even the worst people next I got to learn to release the things that have a negative hold on me every single person in this room today has something that's holding you back it's not God and it's probably not the things you think it is there's something in your life a personality trait a sin that you're harboring some unforgiveness that you're holding on to there's something in your life that you're holding on to that's keeping you from becoming the person that God has meant you to be list very carefully stop blaming everybody else for why your life is not the way it is look at yourself and see what you can change and you will become a better person I'm sure is that key has blamed everybody for why he had no friends people are hypocritical people are judgmental people are shallow people don't know how to be friends today right I'm sure he had a thousand reasons why he didn't have a friend but none of them were accurate they had to do with the fact that he was self-centered and cared more about money than he did about relationships and so he was all alone so you got to learn to release the things to have a negative hold on me here's the three classic things that hold us back and you can figure out which one holds you back the first ones money people always say this I don't know why the church always has to talk about money well why did Jesus always talk about money do you know that Jesus talked more about money than any other subject why would he do that did Jesus have a problem with money no we have a problem with money when people say the church is all about money you know what that usually says that usually doesn't say what the church is about it says what they're about you see when we criticize people usually what we reveal is not the intentions of another person's heart when we're critical of other people what it reveals is what's in our heart so people who lie all the time guess what they call everybody liars people who cheat all the time guess what they call everybody cheaters when we label someone else in a negative manner it usually indicates who we are on the inside not who they are so the first is money the second is power people are interested in power why is Washington DC so corrupt because it's about power it messes people up you take the most noble innocent pure people who run for office to make a change they get there what happens they're swallowed by power and then this is a huge one sex money power insects these are the three great vices of our modern society and the world says this is what you should live for you should give up your life for the most money you can make the most power you can attain in the most sex that you sex that you can have and you will be happy and look at what we're seeing people who have the most money the most power and the most sex are the most what miserable there's nothing wrong with those things as long as you don't worship those things and our society worships money it worships power and it worships sex you were made to worship God notice what Zacchaeus releases the moment he gets saved what does he do he releases half his money instantaneously I'm gonna give half of what I have the poor why because he has to let go of what he was holding on to so they can hold on to Jesus listen Jesus talks about money so often because you can't hold money and Jesus at the same time he says you will love one and hate the other Zacchaeus let's go of money this is why at the end of church every week the offering is so important do you know what it is it's a time of releasing it's a reminder that we need to release we worship God not money and we release we release it's important next we need to work to make things right with people I have wronged I know I skipped a verse I'll cover it in the debrief this week sorry about that I'm running out of time we need to work to make things right with the people I've wronged I with you I I'm guilty of this and I think most pastors are guilty of this you don't hear enough sermons on writing relationships with people you just don't what we usually hear about in church is how to get right with God which is important I want you to get right with God I want you to be saved I don't want you to spend an eternity in Hell apart from God I want you to do that here's here's how you get right with God you confess your sins to God you turn from a self-centered life to a christ-centered life and Jesus says he will save you he promises that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved that's how you're saved you repent of your sins you place your faith to trust Jesus Christ God says you're good with him the problem is we don't stop there we have to deal with our relationships with others being right with God means we have to make every effort we can to be right with others that's why Zacchaeus says when he gets saved I'm going to give half of my money to the poor and listen to these words very carefully and if I have wronged anybody I will pay them back four times the amount I got to work to make things right with people that I have wronged so I'm going to give you three steps to walk through now here's the truth every single one of you if I ask you this question how many of you have been deeply hurt by somebody in your life let's let's just ask how many of you been deeply hurt by somebody life or dran look around almost every hand is up we know how painful that is we know how that holds us back here's the thing we focus on who has hurt us and we maximize that pain but what we do is when we focus on the pain that we've caused others we minimize it right when someone hurts me it's abuse when I hurt someone else it was an accident you see same action we give ourselves grace that we don't give to others so if people have wounded you and it's that big of a deal in your life why wouldn't you free someone that you've hurt from that same pain you see becoming a Christian is moving from a self focused life to a God focused life if you are a self focused person you're going to be all about your pain and who's hurt you if you are a God focused person you're going to transition to being a person who's concerned about the pain that you've caused others and the wound isn't woundedness it doesn't take much we can work we can hurt people with actions we can hurt people with words we can hurt people by ending relationships or starting them we can wound them so how do you make it right number one you got to do this you got to share your story why is that kiyose giving half of his wealth to the poor why is he going to pay four times as much money back to those he's wronged why not because he's a better person but because he's met Jesus you've got to share your story so if you're going to go back and make things right with people that you've hurt the thing that you have to begin with is this I've got my life right with Jesus and I want to get my life right with you someone you need to write that down I got my life right with Jesus I need to get my life right with you Jesus Christ has changed my life I'm a different person the person that you knew the person that hurt you no longer exists I live for Christ I follow Jesus and I want to make things right with you you always start with Jesus why because if you start with yourself you're not a better person you're still the same if you need the credit if you need the glory you're not improving if you give the credit to Jesus if you give Jesus the Jesus the credit and the glory you're improving you're becoming better the way to become better is not to put attention on you but to put it on Jesus so you start with your story the Apostle Paul is standing before a council and he's going to go to jail and he's talking about why he does what he does he's just because of this who is this it's Jesus he says I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and guess who look all people so what's my story it's your story how Jesus has changed me you start with your story whenever you got to work back and seek forgiveness from somebody you wounded you start with Jesus let me tell you why I'm here because of Jesus next you seek forgiveness you know as Christians we should be the best people at saying I was wrong I'm sorry please forgive me Christians should be the best in the world it's saying I was wrong I'm sorry please forgive me we should be the best because Jesus says we should be praying that every day remember our Father was in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done give us this day our daily bread forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us this is something that we should be doing on a regular basis we should be the very best at saying we're sorry and some of us are still the very worst why because we're living a self-centered life as opposed to a God centered life look at the last sentence in 2nd Corinthians 12:13 he says please forgive me for this wrong you know who this is the Apostle Paul he's saying he's sorry we should be able to go back and say to people that we've hurt friends that we've stabbed in the back relationships that have ended in divorce or just ended in a bad way kids we've hurt or parents that we've wounded employers that we've stole from or didn't work well for we need to be able to go back and say you know what I need to share my story I've gotten saved and I've kind of come under conviction that I've hurt you I've done wrong to you and I need to make it right we need to seek forgiveness you don't minimize it you own it you just own it you just say I'm sorry I'm sorry for what I've done next last point you settle accounts you settle accounts this is what you got to do so when Facebook first came into being some of you are like oh my gosh I'm always going well I didn't always that Facebook wasn't always there and so when Facebook happened you know what happened get let me get a name in from old people people that you never thought you would see or hear from again suddenly we're in your life again you know who that was for me ex-girlfriends trouble trouble you want to know why cuz I wasn't always the godly incredible inspirational man that you see before you you know that's a joke right okay you know you know I'm an idiot just go back to the Chevron story and I told my wife I said all these old high school friends are finding out that I'm a pastor and there's some relationships that I need to go back and I need to get right at my tenure your high school reunion the only reason I went to it was to settle accounts I said I was sorry to like six friends I was not a good friend in high school you know what I was I was a self-centered friend there were some girlfriends and there were some relationships and there was some heartbreak so I asked Tami's permission why because you don't engage in a relationship with your ex-girlfriend online if you're married you don't do that you talk to the captain that's the wife told her I said hey I need to write this relationship I got our approval because she's like you can't do better than me go ahead and I sent this email and I just said hey I'm really sorry for the way we broke up and really the way I broke up because I didn't do it a right way I didn't respect her she's great gal wonderful price it I didn't do it the right way please forgive me I told her I said I've given my life to Christ and part of my faith is writing relationships and people that have wronged please forgive me she sent an email back she says of course you know it's fine we were young she says I've got married have a great life she says but now that I know that you're a pastor she said we have a son and he has a he has a disease where his skull does not grow his brain grows but his skull does it which means he has to have repetitive surgeries they're costly and they're very dangerous where they literally have to cut the skull so it grows she says we don't have a church would you and your church pray for us absolutely absolutely relationship restored settle the account some of you owe people money some of you people owe spouses money you owe child support listen to me if your life is right with Christ you need to settle the financial accounts with those that are behind you okay when you when you when you come to Christ it doesn't mean you have to go back and marry you know your spouse because some of you have to go to three spouses back you don't do that but what you try to do is you try to make things right now you got to be careful because some of you have court order saying you can't go back so you know my pastors out I need to be here you know as you're being tough I'm just paying a barrier to a channel-set no but you know there are ways you know let me give you some subtle ways you know if you can't see a spouse or whatever tell a friend say hey if you ever run into them would you just let them know that I'm sorry that I've given my life to Christ that I've changed and I'm sorry and if I could go back and and not hurt them I would you know if there's if there's somebody that you've stolen from a bill you haven't paid you need to go back and make that right and this is why because their soul might be at stake the one thing that might keep them from being saved is your sin so make it right because your conscience and their soul could be at stake I know this is a hard message I realize it's challenging but I want you to know that there was no happier person in the city that day than Zacchaeus because he was right with God and he was right with all of his neighbors and he got to live and knew an awesome life and that's what Jesus wants for you don't be burdened by the past right your past make it right so that you can move on and be who God's called you to be you can become a better person by doing the three things that we've talked about try to see the good in people release what's ever holding you back and work hard to right the wrongs that you've committed with people in your life do that and you will be ahead better happier healthier person listen I love you and most importantly Jesus loves you and this is his will for your life let's pray Heavenly Father thank you for this amazing church and these amazing people god I pray that we would all be better I pray that these steps would help us figure out how to be better and God I pray that as we attempt to see the best and even the very worst people I just feel it right now there's some people in this room who need to see that in themselves all they see right now is the worst of themselves they need to see what you see you see something worthy of being saved something worthy of being loved something worthy of being redeemed and I pray that they would trust you even as they look at themselves help them to see the good in them even when all they can see is the worst father bless us I pray our families our lives and our relationships as we seek to settle accounts we pray this in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Sandals Church

Views: 55,246

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Id: TTdQd9hzNjc

Length: 43min 19sec (2599 seconds)

Published: Mon May 09 2016