ENROUTE TO JERUSALEM

MEMORY VERSE: Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Ecclesiastes 9:8

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 31-40

READ: Luke 19:1-9

A large crowd followed Jesus as He walked through the streets of Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector. He was a wealthy man. He heard that Jesus was in town and he made up his mind to see Him. There was one little problem; he was a man of small stature. However, he vowed in his heart to do everything humanly possible to see the Lord. Whilst contemplating on what to do, an idea dropped into his heart. “Why not climb up a tree”, he thought to himself. God will inspire you today in the name of Jesus. An idea, a great one, a life transforming one, will drop into your heart in the name of Jesus. He ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree. The bible did not tell us how long he waited on that tree before Jesus arrived at the location. That's immaterial. What matters is he waited until Jesus arrived. People must have made fun of him as he tried to climb the tree. "Look at that short man trying to climb a tree", they must have said cheekily. Does it really matter what people say? No, it doesn't! Zacchaeus probably didn’t take notice of the people who were making fun of him; he knew what he wanted and focused on his goal of seeing Jesus. Focus on your goal this year. Finally, Jesus arrived at the location. He stopped under the tree Zacchaeus was on and looked up. Jesus, no matter how busy, always has time for people for like Zacchaeus - people who are desperate to see Him. Luke 19:5 says: “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.” I can’t imagine the look on the face of Zacchaeus when the Lord looked up and smiled at him.

The bible records, in John 2:24, that Jesus knew the heart of all men. He knew the heart desire of Zacchaeus. He knew this poor man wanted to serve Him. One would have thought that Jesus would have allowed Zacchaeus to join His train to Jerusalem just like that but He didn’t. You see, our God is a God of order. He does not do things anyhow. There are certain issues that must be dealt with, first, before He will allow any man to follow Him. You cannot follow the Lord when there are unsettled matters at home. Jesus went home with Zacchaeus. Whilst in Zacchaeus' living room, the Holy Spirit began to convict Zacchaeus of the "wrongs" that needed to be made right. The Holy Spirit convicted him of restitutions that needed to be made. The same thing with you and me, no matter how passionate we are about the things of God, Jesus will not allow us to join His "train to Jerusalem" until He literally goes home with us to settle the matters at home. Those pornographic movies have to be destroyed first before Jesus will allow you to join Him. Those books you borrowed years back needs to be returned. Those immoral acts you are involved in such as; masturbation, phone sex, fornication, kerb crawling, visiting brothels, dating married men and women, must stop. Abortion must stop. Ecclesiastes 9:8 says; “Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.” Bleaching of your skin must stop if you want to follow Jesus. Gossiping and speaking evil of brethren must stop if you want to follow Jesus.

QUESTION: Is your garment still white? Or, it has been stained by sin.

ACTION: Ask the Lord to wash you in His blood and promise Him never to return to your old ways.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world.