Opening Remarks

I asked the Board… by the way, we had our first Board meeting, and it was very interesting. I’m going to give you a little report. But I asked them to compile a list of young adults: people in their 20s and 30s who used to go to church here but no longer do. And to my knowledge, we don’t have a list like that? And if we don’t even know who they are, how are we going to find them? I like to get in touch with my sheep—all of them. So, please help me. Can I get some help? Can I get some help from the church? Will you help me? I need to find these people. I don’t know where they are. I don’t know their names.

Remember: for the first six months, I’m the dumb guy. Right? I don’t know the name, I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know the names and how to pronounce “Newark” properly. You know I’m the guy who has to learn all this stuff. So if your Interest Coordinator (and if you don’t have an Interest Coordinator, maybe we need to get one) can help me, we need to compile a list of all the people, all the way up to their 40s and beyond. It can be anybody, really. I know there are quite a few of them are on the membership rolls, perhaps. But wouldn’t it be nice if maybe your 30-year-old son or daughter who used to attend here got a phone call from the new preacher saying, “Hey, we miss you. Why don’t you come? I’m the new preacher and I haven’t met you yet.”

“Well, I haven’t been to that church in fifteen years!”

“Well that’s okay, I want you to come, I want to meet ya! I looked around and you weren’t there, so come on back!”

I’d like to, at least, give it a shot. But I can’t do that if I don’t know where they are. So can you help me out? I don’t know how you’re going to do it or who you’re going to give the names to or anything. I’m the dumb guy. I need your help. Please help me, I want to find them. I miss our lost sheep, our younger generation. I don’t know how, but somehow we turned some of ‘em off and we’ve got to get them back. Don’t we? We gotta get ‘em.

Well, I want to especially welcome our visitors today. The Newark Church is an accepting, loving, friendly, welcoming church, and we’re glad you came to worship with us today.

I also want to welcome my friend. I just noticed Hubert Cisneros and his dear wife. Happy Sabbath! I’m glad you’ve graced us with your presence here today.

He works for the Ohio Conference. Some of you may know or not know that. And we’re glad that all of you have come to worship.

I just wanted to mention that I went to see Rhonda McManus and we had a good experience, Dave. Did she tell you? It was really neat. I had the privilege of going down with her—I asked her if I could go pray for the baby, you know. And the doctors were telling them all sorts of dire things, you know, that the child wouldn’t have motor movement and wouldn’t respond, and all this stuff. And we had prayer in the room and you know our God is a great God! He knows all about nerve endings and brains, and spinal columns, and He can just, you know, the doctors might think “Well, this needs to go like this,” and the Lord can just say, “Well we’ll just reroute that thing. We’ll just shoot it down there, and go around there, and go back up there!” And they’ll go “(Gasp) How’d that happen?” Well, God is good, isn’t He! So, we’re going to pray, we’re gonna pray for Mary Beth Faith McManus – is her name. Will you help me pray? We need to pray that God will heal this baby and help this baby to have a normal brain function, and all that stuff. So, join with me.

But anyway, she was saying she was a little concerned because the baby hadn’t opened its eyes. But it had been around for a couple days but it did seem to have good motor skills and all this. Well, we went down, we opened the little incubator, and Rhonda was in her wheelchair right in front of it. And as soon as we opened it, I leaned down, and I said, “Mary Beth, I’m Pastor Hughes and I’m here to welcome you to church. I want to be the first pastor to shake your hand.”

As soon as I started talking, she opened her eyes, turned right toward me, looked right at me. And Rhonda was like “Ohhhhhh!” And I’m like, “Wow! Look at that!” So, I put my hand in, and she’s six weeks premature, so I got this teeny-weeny little hand—and I grabbed her hand and started shaking it. I said, “I’m the first pastor to ever shake your hand!” And, you know, “Mama, you make sure you tell her who the first preacher was that ever got her by the hand.” And I’m shaking her hand…she held on to my little hand for five minutes—wouldn’t let go of my little hand!

You know, it seems to me, it takes a motor skill to hold hands with someone! And it seems to me that when somebody likes your voice, and they open their eyes and turn and look at you, that’s a response. So, I’ve got high hopes and I hope you’ll pray. And the neat thing was, she said, “The baby’s perfect to me right now. I don’t care how she is or what. We love her, she’s great, Voila!” You know, which is the way mamas should look at it. Isn’t it. But, I want the best.

Don’t you? I want to ask God for the best. I just don’t want “Okay,” I want something good!

Today’s the Sabbath. Isn’t it? Doesn’t God delight in doing great things for His church: special gifts on the Sabbath? Let’s all pray that God will give us that special gift on this Sabbath day.

I also wanted to tell about our Board meeting, which was an interesting Board meeting. I got all the way up to the Secretary’s Report. I started to cast a vision for the church—some possibilities, some things that I’d like to see happen—and in walks a lady…and I don’t know, I’m looking around, I was hoping I’d maybe even see her here today. I don’t notice her, but—very nice young lady. She wasn’t an Adventist. She was concerned about that and some other things, and I went back and talked with her and she said, “We need to talk to a pastor.” And I went outside in the parking lot, and her boyfriend was in tears, and it was apparent that they were very upset. Well, they had several children. And I talked with them and he was kind of at the end of his rope. So as we talked, he said, “I was drivin’ by here and the Lord just sent me in.”

And I said, “Why did you come to this church? Do you go to church?”

He said, “No, we don’t.”

And “Well, why did you stop here?”

“Well, I don’t know, we just did.”

Now, if it was on any other night, there might have been no one here. So I started to talk with him and he mentioned to me that he’d talked to counselors; different people, about things. He just felt like he needed God to help him. And I said, “Man, did you come to the right place! You are in the right place!”

So I started talking with him about Jesus, and he started to weep. And as I told him the story of the Gospel, he said, “That’s what I need.”

And I asked him if he’d like to give his heart to Jesus. So right out here in this sacred parking lot, okay. This is a sacred parking lot. These two young people in their twenties gave their heart to Jesus Christ—during the Board meeting. Then I brought ‘em in and introduced them to the Board! And the Board, of course, “Hi, how are ya’ doin’” you know! Then we gave them some literature and some books. We told them when the service was. And it’s gonna take a lot for them to

come, but I have their address, so we’re not done with them yet. What a neat Board meeting! My first Board meeting and I get to lead two people to Jesus! Does it get any better than that! Okay?

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Let’s bow our heads…

Father in heaven, we thank you for being with us through all the moving and the chaos in our lives. Debbie and I are so happy to be here, we’re so glad that You’re working miracles in this church already. We’re thankful, Lord, for this opportunity to preach the Gospel. I thank you for E. K. Bailey, who shared with me the original concept of this message I’m about to give, and I pray that it’ll be a blessing to our people. May they know Jesus when they leave this church today. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

This morning, I want to talk to you about Zaccheus and his testimony. Those of you who have grown up in the church remember from the days of Sabbath School and Vacation Bible School—don’t you remember that rhyme that has eternally embedded the man that the Bible calls Zaccheus in our mind? Do you remember that little rhyme?

By Jove, I believe you’ve got it!

I’ve always wanted to know what drove Zaccheus up that tree. You must admit that it’s a bit out of the ordinary to see a well dressed, well educated, high profile, wealthy man in broad daylight—downtown Columbus—for everybody to see. You must admit that it’s out of the ordinary to see somebody like him, a businessman, climbing a tree in broad daylight and climbing out on a limb!

I’ve always wondered: What drove him up that tree? What made him throw embarrassment, shame, scorn, and ridicule to the wind and to do something so uncharacteristic as climbing up a tree for everybody to see—a man of his stature

and wealth? Well, in order to answer that question and many others, I want to invite you today, this Sabbath, on a journey.

Travel with me through the deserts—and I’ve been through those deserts in Judea many, many times. I’ve been to Jericho. I’ve drank water from Elisha’s stream. I’ve seen how this barren desert suddenly bursts into a beautiful oasis with palm trees and a beautiful pool of water. This is what they call Jericho. Go with me to the back side of the Roman Empire, and we want to make a stop in the sweltering, fly-infested land of Palestine. And we want to track our way across the difficult terrain until we come to the fragrant field city of Jericho. For this is the home of this much-despised man that we call Zaccheus.

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ow I need to do something with you. I need you to get up very early in the morning and travel with this man and observe what he encounters as he endeavors to collect taxes owed the government. He leaves home at the crack of dawn following a dusty, winding road. As he travels, he pulls out his day-timer to check the names and addresses of the people he’s planned to see this day.

And as he looks he walks and it wasn’t long before he arrived at his first stop and he notices, first of all, that it was an unkempt shanty, a small house in much need of paint and repairs. But those things really didn’t matter to Zaccheus. The only thing that mattered was the word “UNPAID” stamped by the name of the person who lived in that house. He knocked on the door and suddenly with the eerie, creepy sound of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, the door swung open and on the other side, there was a frail man who appeared to be blind. The blind man said, “Who’s that?”

The answer came, “Zaccheus. I’m here to collect your taxes, the taxes that you owe the Roman government.”

And in a trembling voice, the blind man began to explain his inability to pay his taxes. He said, “I have no family, I don’t receive any kind of a pension, and there is no society for the blind. I want to pay you, but I’m not able to pay you, Mr. Zaccheus. I can’t pay my taxes. But if you’ll give me thirty days, I don’t know how but somehow if you’ll give me just a thirty-day extension, I’ll find the money to pay my taxes.”

Now there was Zaccheus – caught now between money and mercy.

He said, “That’s not usually my style, but you have thirty days.” And as he walked away, he said, “Blind man, when I get back in thirty days, if you don’t show me the money, not only will you be blind but you’ll be blind and homeless.” He turned and walked away and he muttered to himself “Well, maybe I’ll have better luck next time.”

As he looked at his book, it wasn’t long before he came upon the second house. As he knocked on the door of the second house, immediately as the woman opened the door, Zaccheus saw that there was a terrible problem. The woman’s color was yellow from head to toe as if there were no blood in her veins. Her hair was matted, her face was wet with tears; her speech was slurred. But through it all, she was able to say, “I know who you are and I know why you’ve come, but Zaccheus, I don’t have any way of paying my taxes. You see, for twelve years, I’ve had a blood disorder and (in) those twelve years, my insurance has been canceled. In those twelve years, my husband divorced me. In those twelve years my inheritance has been spent.”

Some of us could relate to this poor lady.

“I want to pay my taxes, Zaccheus, but I’m not able to pay! Not only do I have no money but I have no means of paying my taxes. I don’t want your pity, what I need is just thirty days. Will you give me thirty days, Mr. Zaccheus?”

There was Zaccheus caught between greed and grace. He said, “For some reason, I feel a little bit benevolent today. You’ve got thirty days and when I get back in thirty days, I want my taxes!” And as he walked away he thought, “Well, maybe I’ll have better luck next time.”

As he walked, he came around the bend in the road and there was the third house but in front of the house stood a woman. The closer he got to her the more obvious; it became that she was catatonic. And as she stared off into infinity, not even seeming to recognize that he was getting closer, he walked up, looked at her and tried to speak (to her) but there was no response. As she stared straight ahead, suddenly there was this blood-curdling scream that came from behind him.

Zaccheus whirled to see if he could identify the source of the scream. There on the hillside, running nude and cutting himself, between the stones in the graveyard was the silhouette of a cross between a man and a wild animal! And as he looked; trying to make out what it was, suddenly the

woman spoke and she said, “Every day I come here and I hope against hope. What you see there used to be my husband. He was a good man and I love him. And I’m praying that one day my husband would come back home. I know I ought to move on with my life but I love him. And he’s the father of my children, but I don’t know if it will ever happen, because no man can tame him; no man can bind him. He calls himself “Legion” because he’s possessed by many demons.”

Not anxious to dialogue with demons, Zaccheus began to slowly back up. And without the woman even saying anything, he said, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll just be back in thirty days, thank you very much!”

As he hurried away from this demonic situation, with his heart still palpitating, he looked at his book, and there was yet one more house that he had planned to visit. When he got there, there was a spray hanging on the front door that suggested that someone had recently died. He knocked anyhow and there was a grieving woman veiled and dressed in black. She said, “I know who you are, and I know why you’ve come. Zaccheus, my son died yesterday, and I’m on my way to the funeral. And the money I had saved to pay my taxes I had to use to bury my only son.”

He said, “I know that you’re having this problem and I’ve already given some of your neighbors a thirty-day extension. So I’ll be back in thirty days.”

The thirty days passed quickly. And soon, as he did every day, he looked in his day-timer. And he left his home at the crack of dawn, and he noticed that this was the day he had to return to those same four homes, and that it represented the most non-productive day in his career as a tax collector. So he squared his shoulders and he started walking. And while he was walking, he resolved in his spirit that “No sad sob story will dissuade me from doing my job today. They will either pay or surrender their property, or be thrown in prison! I’m gonna do my job today!”

As he walked up to the first house that day, he noticed that there had been a change in the house. The grass had been manicured. The house had gone under renovation; it had been painted a beautiful color. He knocked on the door and a man with piercing eyes and authority in his voice answered the door. “May I help you?”

He said, “Oh, I’m sorry sir, but I’m looking for the man of the house.” He said, “I am the man of the house.”

He said, “No, you look kind of like him and maybe you could be his brother, but I was here thirty days ago and the man who said he was master of this house was blind man.”

He said, “I’m that man.”

“No, no way! This man was blind!”

He said, “I’m the man! I was blind, but wait a minute Mr. Zaccheus. Let me tell you a story. One day I was here and a man came by; he told me Jesus was coming to town. And I ran uptown as fast as I could. I knew it might be my only chance to meet him. I went up there and I got a good seat and when Jesus passed by I heard all the commotion in the distance and I asked somebody. I said, What’s happening? And they said, ‘Jesus is passing by.’ And so I said, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

And the townspeople and the mayor and the town council said, ‘Hush! You’re making a nuisance of yourself! You’re embarrassing us! Be quiet!’ But I said, ‘JEEEEEE-SUS! SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!’ They tried to push me in the background. They said, ‘Hush up! Will you please be quiet!’ I said, ‘No! I won’t! This is my only chance! And I yelled even louder, ‘JEEEEEE-SUS! HELP ME, PLEASE! PLEASE, JESUS! SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!’”

And He said, “Zaccheus, sit down. Do you have a little time? This is the way it was:

Zaccheus turned and walked away. He said, “My! This is some day! A man who was blind and who can now see!”

He said, “One day, I hope I can meet Jesus. Maybe Jesus can do something about my condition! That man said that the God of this world had blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they could not see the light of the Gospel, or the glory of Christ, who bears the image of God! I hope maybe I can see Jesus someday!”

It wasn’t long before he came upon the second house. He knocked on the door and suddenly a beautiful woman came to the door radiant with joy. She had color in her cheeks. She had a new “do,” and her nails were freshly manicured! She looked good! She said, “Mr. Zaccheus, it’s good to see you!”

He said, “Well, thank you, ma’am, I’m looking for the woman of the house.”

“I am the woman of the house.”

He said, “No, no, no, ma’am. Oh, wait a minute. Do you know that blind neighbor down the street?”

She said, “Yes, I know him, but he’s not blind anymore!”

He said, “Yeah, I know. He paid his taxes today.”

She said, “You mean he didn’t tell you? He sold his seeing-eye dog.

“Zaccheus, I need to tell you that when I told you to come back in thirty days, that was nothin’ but a ploy. You see, I was confident that in thirty days, I would be dead and buried. If fact, I had been praying to die because I thought that only death could deliver me from this unbearable existence.”

She said, “I elbowed my way through a suffocating crowd and when I got close to Jesus, close enough to stretch out my arm to it’s fullest extent, I was able just to touch the hem of His garment. And for a moment, I felt life pour into me. I touched it and the flow of blood which had been flowing for twelve years immediately dried up and not only was my body healed, bit I was healed at a much deeper level than my blood disease, Mr. Zaccheus. I knew immediately that my soul had been made whole! And I was surprised because I knew that there was superstition in even extending my hand. But even though my faith was inadequate, He made it sufficient. And when I touched Jesus, he healed me!”

He said, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take! A blind man who can see and a dying woman who looked like yellow jaundice and now she’s full of life?”

She said, “Zaccheus, I know it’s hard to believe, but let me explain something to you, okay? Sit down, I need to tell you about it:

That my trials come to only make me strong.

She said, “Zaccheus, I haven’t had to pay all those quack doctors anymore! I’ve been able to save a little money! And like my old, ex-blind friend, here’s the money for your taxes!”

He whirled and headed for the third house! He said, “This has been an unusual day! I wonder if I could ever meet Jesus! Why, if I could meet Jesus, maybe like that woman. I’ve had some longstanding problems and maybe He could help me. I’ve had some painful experiences in my life. Maybe if I could meet Jesus, He could help me with my problems!”

It wasn’t long before he was in front of the third house, and he looked for a woman to be standing in front of the house but she was not there—a catatonic woman. When he finally knocked on the door, this woman that he had talked to, only thirty days earlier, opened the door and she had on a new dress. Before he could start talking, this handsome young man walked out from behind her. And the first thought that came to Zaccheus’ mind was, “I’m glad that this woman got herself a new man! She should have kicked that old grave dweller to the curb a long time ago!”

About this time, the woman spoke up. She said, “Mr. Zaccheus, I want you to meet my husband! Now, you haven’t met this man because when you were here thirty days ago, his home was in the graveyard.”

She said, “But look at him now! Doesn’t he look good? He’s clothed and in his right mind!”

She said, “Mr. Zaccheus, I owe you an apology. Thirty days ago, I told you that no man could tame him. I told you that no man could bind him, but now we met Jesus, Mr. Zaccheus. Jesus got off the boat. And when Jesus got off the boat, and when Jesus walked in, all the demons ran out! Now look at him, Mr. Zaccheus, he’s a brand new man! And, Mr. Zaccheus, if you ever want to be a new man, meet Jesus. Jesus will make you a new man! He’ll give you a new relationship with your family. He’ll give you a new relationship with yourself. He’ll sure give you a new relationship with God. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things

have become new! He met Jesus, Zaccheus, and Jesus changed his life, and He changed the life of our family!”

And about that time, the man said, “Wait a minute, I’m of age; I can talk for myself! It’s good for her to tell it, but she didn’t experience it like I experienced it. I want to tell it for myself!”

She said, “You go ahead, Honey; you tell your story.”

He said, “Sit down, Mr. Zaccheus, you can’t stand up and listen to this. Sit down. I need to tell you something.” And then he said,

Zaccheus walked away. He said, “This is some kind of day! A blind man who can now see! A dying woman who’s full of life! A demon-possessed man who’s been delivered!

He said, “You know, I wonder if someday I could meet Jesus!”

He said, “I’ve got some demons who have been hounding my heels. Maybe if I meet Jesus I, too, could get deliverance!”

When he knocked on the last door the cutest little twelve-year-old boy opened the door. Zaccheus said, “Excuse me, I’m sorry, I must be in the wrong house because the house I’m looking for has no little boy that lives there. In fact, thirty days ago, the woman of the house was on her way that day to bury her only son.”

The boy said, “Are you Mr. Zaccheus?”

He said, “Yes.”

The boy said, “Mama’s been lookin’ for you all day. Mama said you would be back in thirty days, and Mama said you are never late collecting your taxes. So we’ve been looking for you all day!”

He said, “But wait a minute, wait a minute. In the house I’m looking for, the little boy is dead!”

And the boy said, “Mr. Zaccheus, I’m that little boy, and you’re right—I died. My mother’s worst fear was that the same disease that took my older brother and my daddy would someday come back to claim me. And Zaccheus, thirty days ago my mother’s worst fear came to reality. I got real sick, Mr. Zack, and my mother prayed for me. Oh, she stayed by my bedside all day and all night, but God chose not to heal me; and I died, Mr. Zaccheus. And my mother had saved up the money to pay the taxes but she had to use that money on my funeral.”

He said, “They went down to the temple and they had my funeral. But as the mourners led the procession out of the city of Nain, as we were going out, there was another procession coming in and the procession of death collided with the procession of deity. Now, Mr. Zack, you know that death and deity cannot occupy the same space. You know that Jesus never attended a funeral. He never preached a funeral because every time Jesus showed up, He transformed the funeral into a resurrection! And there we were at the gate: death and deity. And when death collided with deity, Jesus laid His hands on me. And when He laid His hand on me, something began to move in my body. I began to come back to life! And when I sat up in the casket, it scared the undertaker so bad that he pushed me out of the casket, took his casket back, and gave my mother her money! So, Mr. Zack, here’s the money for your taxes!”

Now, by the time the little boy got through talking, Mama came out. She said, “Now he’s just twelve and he knows a little bit ‘cause he’s been through it, but let me tell it like only a mama can tell it.”

She said, “Sit down if you’ve got a little time. Sit down, Mr. Zaccheus. Let me tell you all about it:

Zaccheus just closed his book and said, “It’s time to go home!” On his way back, he passed a friend.

“Hey Zack! Have you heard what’s been goin’ on?”

He said, “I’ve heard all I can handle! I’ve had enough for one day!”

He said, “Now you’ve heard Jesus is in town, right?”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“Well, you’d better hurry, ‘cause He’s leavin’ after a short while!”

As his little feet began to pitter-patter along the dusty road, his life began to flash before his eyes. He said, “I wonder if I could really meet Jesus? Because all my life, I’ve been a successful failure. I’ve been a paradox. I’ve been an oxymoron of prosperity and poverty because my life is described as being rich. I was rich in the things of this world, but I’m poor in the things of God. I’ve had a tough life even though from the outside it might not look like it. I look like every man’s dream, but they don’t know that sometimes when you get to the top of the ladder, you discover that it’s leaning against the wrong building.”

He said, “I wonder if I can meet Jesus, because Jesus maybe can do something about this emptiness that fills my soul. He said, I’ve had another problem. I’ve been a short man in a tall world and I always thought, Zaccheus said to himself, it was the shortness of my stature that created all my problems. But, maybe if I met Jesus, He could help me understand who I really am. I’m beginning to see, as I search my heart that it’s not the shortness of my stature, but it’s the shortage of my relationship with God. And my shortage of relationship with God has caused my heart to grow cold and uncaring, without compassion. Maybe if I met Jesus, He could change all that.”

And so he ran uptown, and when he got there, he couldn’t see over the crowd. So finally, he decided to run on ahead of Jesus and the crowd, and that’s when he saw that great big tree—and it’s the only one in Jericho, and it’s still there today. It’s the only Sycamore tree. And I’m wondering what drove him up that tree? Well I think I know—it was his shortage in his relationship with God. It was his being a successful failure. It was all those things that he saw that Jesus had done in the lives of all those other people.

And he said, “I know He’s no respecter of persons. What He’s done for them, surely He can do it for me!” And he was up that tree in a flash! And when he got up that tree, Jesus came by. And as the little rhyme says, Jesus saw him in the tree and He says, “Zaccheus, I’m reading that heart. You come down! I’m goin’ to your house today!”

Jesus didn’t care that he was a tax collector.

Jesus didn’t care that he was thief.

Jesus doesn’t care if you’re an adulterer.

Jesus doesn’t care if you’re a homosexual, a drunkard, or a drug addict.

Jesus says, “If you’ll come unto me, I’ll forgive you, I’ll wash away your sins. You don’t have to change. Come to me just as you are, without one plea, but that my blood was shed for thee!”

And Zaccheus sensed in Jesus’ voice when Jesus said, “I’m comin’ to your house,” He didn’t go to the Pharisee’s house, He didn’t go to the rich man’s house who ran the church and the local synagogue. Oh, no. He went to the hated man’s house—the tax collector’s house—the one everybody in the church looked down on; that’s who Jesus chose to go to their house. And Jesus went home with him that day.

He decided that for the rest of his life, he’s gonna walk with Jesus. He came down from that tree and he took Jesus home with him that day! And that man’s life was changed. He said, “First of all, I’ve got to invite Him home with me.” Because Jesus makes a difference when he goes home with you!

In fact, if He doesn’t go home with you, He doesn’t go at all. Because He knows that the way we are at home is the way we really ARE – pastor! The way we are at home is the way we really are – elder, deaconess! The way you treat your wife when nobody else is lookin’. The things you say when nobody else can hear you—that’s who you are.

And if Jesus doesn’t go home with you, He doesn’t go at all. He didn’t call you to be some phony hypocrite who comes to church and struts around like some saved person and then goes home and abuses his FAM-IL-Y! That’s not what Christ called us to be, He called us to be disciples, to be compassionate and loving, and to treat our family BEST OF ALL! Just because they love you, and they’re willing to put up with some of your foolishness, doesn’t give us the right to ABUSE THEM!

The way you talk to your wife is the way you’re talking to Jesus, and the angels are writing down those words. And some of us are going to hear that record repeated back and we’re gonna be horrified. You’ve come to church to worship Jesus. You’ve come to church to get a blessing and to give Him a blessing.

But you can do even better than that—you can take Jesus home with you. You can have Him in your car as you leave here today.

You can be like the one guy, when he went to the 7/11; he’d get out, go around, and open the door for Jesus. And he’d go up to the door or the 7/11 and he’d let Jesus in. One time he came out, hopped in the car, drove away; he was horrified—“Oh no, I’ve left Jesus at the 7/11!” He had to turn around, drive back, open the door, went in, opened the door, “Come on, Jesus!” – put Him in the car – and the guy in the 7/11 is just going “Oh my, people are gettin’ weirder and weirder!”

Now that doesn’t make any sense to you, but he was practicing the presence of Christ, and I know what he was trying to do. You can take Jesus home with you and keep him by your side in your heart forever if you have Jesus when you get home. He knows how to explain His own Word to you.

If you have Jesus in your home, He’ll make a difference in your life.

If you have Jesus in your home, He’ll make a difference in the life of your family.

If you have Jesus in your home, He’ll make a difference in the life that you lead in your community.

Altar Call

Closing Prayer

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