Anchors of Truth

One More

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Hiram Rester

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000075


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 His Character Counts with Hiram Rester.
00:21 Well good afternoon.
00:23 We welcome you again to the 3ABN Worship Center,
00:27 slash Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, for the last
00:32 in our series by our pastor, or friend, Hiram Rester.
00:36 The title of this series, His Character Counts.
00:38 And we have listened to four very, very fine
00:42 very, very anointed messages.
00:44 And I was particularly impressed with this morning's message.
00:47 It was one that touched my heart.
00:48 And we have prayed with him and expect from him
00:52 nothing best than God's very best.
00:55 And we know we're going to have a good time together.
00:58 You know, we begin these little odysseys on Wednesday afternoon.
01:01 We've got five series to go through, five sermons.
01:03 And then very, very soon, all too soon, we come down to the
01:07 nether end of the meetings and it's time
01:09 for the very last sermon, and you feel a little wistful.
01:13 He was teasing backstage saying, "Well, I've
01:14 given all my best stuff.
01:16 I don't have anything more.
01:17 You can't invite me back again."
01:18 And I told him, "The same place you got this stuff from,
01:20 you can go back and get some more.
01:22 Because God does not run out, pastor.
01:24 You know that."
01:25 The same well never runs dry.
01:28 And so we are praying for a good meeting this afternoon.
01:31 We have sung Happy Birthday to him.
01:34 And this is a great way to spend your birthday.
01:39 And he is one year older and hopefully one year wiser
01:44 in the Lord.
01:45 He's a good guy, a good sense of humor, loves the Lord.
01:47 And is very, very much loved by his church.
01:50 And that speaks well for him.
01:53 Shall we pray, now, and then we'll have a song.
01:56 And then we'll listen to the man of God as he preaches.
01:58 Father God, we just thank You and praise You.
02:06 The list is almost without end.
02:10 We're thankful for life and health and strength.
02:15 We're thankful for the Sabbath.
02:17 We're thankful for an opportunity turn off the noise
02:21 of the world and tune into the voice of Jesus.
02:26 We're thankful for the call that brought us from darkness
02:30 to light, and error to truth.
02:33 We're thankful for fellowship and for friendship,
02:37 and for Christian partners to walk together the
02:40 road that leads to glory.
02:43 We are thankful for the power of the preached word.
02:47 For You have said that You have designed that through the
02:49 foolishness of preaching, men and women will be prepared
02:54 for the coming of the Lord.
02:56 And so we ask a number of things, Lord.
02:57 We ask that You will be with Your servant
03:01 whom you have anointed to speak at this point in this day
03:04 in this hour.
03:06 We ask for open and receptive ears and hearts,
03:10 not only for those who sit in this house,
03:13 but for the thousands, yea tens of thousands,
03:17 who around the world will hear this broadcast.
03:20 And we ask that our hearts and minds may be
03:23 open and receptive.
03:25 Because we don't want to be just hearers of the Word.
03:27 We want to be doers of the Word.
03:30 Because it is in the doing that we are made like Christ Jesus.
03:36 So Father, quicken our ears, quicken our hearts,
03:39 as we listen to Your words spoken with power.
03:43 And we thank You, oh Lord we thank You.
03:47 In Jesus' name, amen.
03:51 I want to do just a little song, an old Adventist standard.
03:56 It's from the hymnal.
03:57 I was teasing the pastor this morning.
03:59 He said the song that he referred to
04:00 was in the Baptist hymnal.
04:02 I said it was in the Adventist hymnal before
04:03 it was in the Baptist hymnal.
04:05 I don't know if that was true or not.
04:06 Having said so, this song is in the Adventist hymnal.
04:10 It's called, So Send I You.
04:12 It's a call from Christ that once you heard the Word,
04:14 He send us out to minister that Word.
04:27 So send I you; by grace made strong to triumph.
04:36 O'er hosts of hell, o'er darkness, death, and sin.
04:45 My name to bear, and in that name to conquer;
04:54 so send I you, My victory to win.
05:08 So send I you to take to souls in bondage;
05:16 the word of truth that sets the captives free.
05:24 To break the bonds of sin, to loose death's fetters;
05:32 so send I you, to bring the lost to Me.
05:46 So send I you, My strength to know in weakness;
05:55 My joy in grief, My perfect peace in pain.
06:03 To prove My power, My grace, My promised presence;
06:12 so send I you, eternal fruit to gain.
06:25 So send I you to bear My cross with patience;
06:34 and then one day with joy to lay it down.
06:43 To hear My voice, "Well done, thou faithful servant.
06:52 Come share My throne,
06:55 My kingdom, and My crown."
07:04 As the Father hath sent Me,
07:16 so send I you.
07:42 Amen.
07:44 Thank you, Brother C.A.
07:46 And God says, "So send I you."
07:49 As we come to the end of our series here
07:53 on His Character Counts, and as we see Him as He is,
08:00 He sends us forth to tell others.
08:05 Come see a Man, come meet my Jesus.
08:10 So Send I You.
08:11 What an excellent message in song to introduce our
08:16 last topic in this series, His Character Counts.
08:21 I would like to invite you to seek the Lord with me
08:23 once again in prayer today.
08:26 Oh dear Lord, we come before You thanking You
08:30 once again for all the blessings and the mercies You've
08:35 given to each of us.
08:37 Help us, Lord, to be more thankful, to be more aware
08:42 of your loving watch care over us.
08:46 Bless us now as we open Your Word.
08:50 And touch our hearts with Your passion and love
08:56 for each of us, and let it flow forth through us to others.
09:02 We do pray in Jesus' name, amen.
09:08 I've shared with you that my wife, Libby, and I and the kids,
09:11 we spent ten and a half years living on the road
09:16 doing fulltime evangelism.
09:18 Some for the Gulf States Conference, and Mississippi
09:21 and Alabama area, panhandle of Florida.
09:23 And then in the Texico Conference which is
09:27 right beside Exxon.
09:28 Well no, actually Texico; west Texas and New Mexico.
09:33 And we were there and that was great.
09:36 Got to do lots of meetings out in New Mexico and west Texas.
09:41 And then we spent six years traveling the nation,
09:44 traveling the United States, doing meetings all over
09:47 the country in freelance evangelism while I was
09:51 working on Master's level classes at Andrews University.
09:57 Well, during that time period traveling the nation,
10:00 one of our series was out in Colorado.
10:04 We had more than one series in Colorado.
10:06 But the one that comes to mind, we were preaching a series
10:11 there, and it was in the town of Greeley, Colorado.
10:15 We were staying just a town over or so in a little town
10:19 called Windsor, Colorado.
10:21 And the wind really blew there one day.
10:24 The wind blew there very strongly, in fact, on that
10:27 particular day that I have in mind.
10:29 We had a van borrowed that was our vehicle during the meetings,
10:35 because we had flown in.
10:36 And we had a vehicle borrowed from a church member
10:39 that we were using to get around and do the things
10:42 we needed to do.
10:43 And all of a sudden, this rain began to fall.
10:47 And then it turned into hail.
10:50 And as the hail got bigger and bigger, we thought,
10:53 "You know what? We should move the van."
10:56 Because where it was sitting, it could get dents on it.
10:59 It could get hail damage.
11:00 And so as my wife and I decided that we should move the van,
11:04 she concluded I should be the one to go move it.
11:07 As the hail was falling out of the sky, I went running out
11:10 toward the van with a towel over my head
11:12 getting pelted pretty well.
11:15 And then it stopped.
11:17 And I thought, "Okay, fine."
11:19 Just as I was getting ready to get into the van
11:21 and move it, the hail stopped.
11:23 And what's the point in moving it now.
11:25 The hail stopped, right?
11:26 So I start back into the apartment.
11:28 It was an upstairs apartment, a furnished apartment,
11:31 where we were staying during the meeting.
11:33 And just as I get under the edge of the roof...
11:37 Actually, I'm not quite under the edge of the roof
11:39 when the first ones start to fall around me.
11:41 But quickly I am under the edge of the roof.
11:43 Hail started to come down again.
11:45 But this time, no joke, it was baseball sized hail.
11:52 Yea, it totaled out the van.
11:55 Seriously, it totaled it out. Dents all over the thing.
11:59 Well, I'm standing under the edge of the roof.
12:01 I'm not going back out there now in this.
12:03 Baseball sized hail could hurt you.
12:07 It was hitting the grass and bouncing.
12:09 It was hitting the pavement and splattering.
12:12 Crazy, I'd never seen baseball sized hail.
12:15 Not in Mississippi, anyway.
12:18 And I'm standing under the stoop as it's falling all around.
12:21 The ground is quickly becoming white from the hail
12:24 coming out of the sky.
12:25 And I'm thinking Revelation and hail about the size of a talent.
12:28 Which is a lot bigger than that, but it's the
12:30 closest thing to that I'd ever seen.
12:32 Very surreal situation.
12:33 And then I look up into the sky
12:37 and I see two black birds way up in the sky.
12:46 And I'm thinking, "What are they doing out in this?"
12:51 And then I realize it's not birds.
12:55 Those are shingles.
12:57 And then I'm thinking, "How did they get up there?"
13:01 I'm a little slow sometimes, you see.
13:05 I'm heading in the house and I say, "Dear, would you
13:08 turn on the TV and see what the weather is saying.
13:12 I think there may be some really bad weather in the area here."
13:16 At the time, the power went out.
13:20 Well, I called Pastor Roger Walter.
13:23 He's now out in Vancouver, Washington.
13:25 But he was the pastor there at the time.
13:27 And I knew he lived, you know, 30 minutes or so away.
13:31 And he always had good internet at his house, it seemed.
13:36 And I thought, I'll call Roger and have him
13:38 check the weather for me.
13:40 So the phone begins to ring and I have it up to my ear.
13:44 And as I'm looking outside and the phone is ringing,
13:49 all of a sudden the garbage bags in the dumpster
13:55 begin to levitate.
13:58 That they literally start floating up.
14:04 And I'm like, this is a tornado.
14:08 I've never been in a tornado before, but pretty sure
14:11 that's what's going on here.
14:14 I yell to my wife, "Get the kids, get in the closet."
14:17 We're not even on the ground floor, we don't have a basement.
14:19 We're in a second story apartment in the meeting.
14:22 "Get in the closet."
14:23 There's a walk-in closet in the bigger bedroom.
14:26 They call it the master bedroom, but there wasn't
14:28 nothing master about it.
14:29 It wasn't grand or nothing.
14:31 It was just a walk-in closet there attached to it.
14:33 And they head in, Libby and the girls run in.
14:36 And I'm still kind of there watching.
14:40 About that time, I didn't realize I still have a phone
14:42 in my ear, Roger goes, "Hello."
14:45 And I'm like, "Roger, we're in a tornado.
14:48 Pray for us."
14:50 Now Roger knew that I liked to joke and pick around some.
14:54 And so, he's 45 minutes away with some church members
14:58 having a pristine sunny day water skiing on the lake.
15:03 And he goes, "Ha, ha. Yea right."
15:05 At which point I just look at the phone and threw it.
15:09 I don't need it right now.
15:11 I grab the mattress with all of the bedding and
15:14 everything on it, the queen mattress,
15:18 and I pick it up, my arms stretched out, I've got it bent,
15:21 and I hit that closet door full speed.
15:23 Poom.
15:25 And I go right through it.
15:26 I'm on top of Libby and the girls holding the mattress.
15:28 I roll underneath it and we're just praying out loud.
15:31 It's like a train is hitting the building.
15:34 Whoom, whoom, whoom, whoom, whoom, whoom.
15:35 Yea, everything is shaking now.
15:37 We are in the tornado and we were scared spitless.
15:43 Oh my.
15:44 It was, it was, it was...
15:46 It was one of the most scary moments of my life.
15:51 And a little bit of damage to the building we were in.
15:55 And some windows broken and that kind of thing.
15:58 But the tornado then literally touched down
16:01 right across the road.
16:03 The 18-wheeler, there was an 18-wheeler parked across
16:05 the street a 100 yards away, was flipped over on its side.
16:08 The buildings were ripped to shreds.
16:10 There was a train...
16:12 We've got some pictures they may put up here in a minute
16:14 that my wife took of the damage in Windsor, Colorado
16:18 from that tornado.
16:19 And I went running through this community.
16:21 There's a train, notice the train there.
16:23 It is blown off of its axles.
16:27 I didn't know that the train and its axles would come apart.
16:29 Apparently they just sit down on there.
16:31 The axles were still on the tracks.
16:32 The train was blown off.
16:34 Talk about some serious wind.
16:36 And these houses just torn open.
16:38 And as you go through this community there,
16:41 you could hear the swishing sound.
16:46 The gas lines were broken.
16:51 And me and this group of guys I've never met before or since,
16:55 kind of ended up assembling going from house to house
16:59 getting moms and babies out of the houses
17:02 and making sure people were okay.
17:05 And after, you know, we did what we could,
17:07 I was starting to wonder why have the cops not shown up.
17:10 Where's the first responders?
17:11 I thought it had just hit this one little community.
17:14 No, it had continued a long way and ripped a lot of the town up.
17:18 And so there was too much for them to respond to.
17:20 They were responding, just not where we were.
17:22 And we continued to run from house to house.
17:26 And we're looking for one more, and then another and another.
17:30 Thankfully, very few people were hurt.
17:32 There were some injuries.
17:34 There was one fatality from that tornado.
17:37 But as you look at the damage, it could have been
17:39 so much worse.
17:40 We had a horrible tornado close to where we live now,
17:43 an hour away in Joplin, Missouri.
17:47 And, whew, that one was serious.
17:50 But any tornado, of course, is serious.
17:53 Especially if there's injury and loss of life.
17:57 But we were looking for one more,
17:59 and then another and another.
18:03 You see, ultimately, as we look at Scripture,
18:07 and turn with me to Luke chapter 15 would you,
18:10 there's something that God has placed within us
18:13 that in those situations we hope to see people rescued,
18:17 and look for one more, and then another and another.
18:22 In fact, God Himself is one who seeks to rescue and look
18:26 for those who are in trouble and those who are lost.
18:30 Look with me in Luke 15 verse 1.
18:32 "Then drew near unto Him all the publicans
18:34 and sinners for to hear Him.
18:37 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying,
18:39 'This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.'"
18:42 Oh my.
18:44 "This man receives sinners and eats with them."
18:46 This is the religious people of the day.
18:49 They didn't understand Jesus.
18:51 They did not get how awesome and loving and accepting
18:56 and forgiving and merciful His character was.
19:00 They wouldn't have eaten with the sinners.
19:02 They wouldn't have visited with the sinners.
19:05 They wouldn't talk with them.
19:06 They wouldn't have anything to do with them.
19:07 But my Jesus did.
19:11 And, my friends, they didn't understand Him.
19:14 But He was showing love to all.
19:16 My friends, His character counts.
19:20 We read on.
19:21 Verse 3, "And He spake this parable unto them, saying,
19:26 'What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose
19:29 one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the
19:32 wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it?
19:38 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on
19:40 his shoulders, rejoicing.
19:42 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends
19:45 and neighbors, saying unto them, "Rejoice with me.
19:49 for I have found my sheep which was lost."
19:52 I say unto you...'" verse 7 of Luke 15.
19:55 "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven
19:59 over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine
20:05 just persons, which need no repentance."
20:10 My friends, that shows one of the character
20:12 attributes of our God.
20:14 His passion and desperate love to save the lost.
20:22 My friends, Jesus in His ministry, He ministered
20:26 to the masses, but individually could not pass by the
20:31 opportunity, time and time again, to reach one more soul.
20:41 I was driving over here earlier in the week
20:45 for this weekend here at 3ABN.
20:48 Driving over from Springfield, Missouri.
20:51 It's about five and a half hours to our home from here.
20:56 And I was about four to four and a half hours into my trip,
21:02 and my phone rang.
21:03 It said, "Libby."
21:04 I'm like, "Oh, there's my wife."
21:06 I answer the phone, "Hey Babe, what's up?"
21:09 "You've got one of the keys to the house with you, don't you?"
21:12 I said, "Yea, here on the key ring."
21:15 She goes, "You may have to come back."
21:20 I'm immediately resistant to the idea.
21:23 Because it would be eight hours to drive back and get
21:26 back to where I was.
21:28 Actually, closer to nine.
21:31 She goes, "I've lost my house key.
21:34 We're here at the house, me and the kids."
21:36 And I'm picturing my wife in the driveway
21:39 with Lauren, and you know, she's eleven,
21:43 and Savannah, she's six, and Jackson, he's two.
21:46 She said, "We can't get in the house, I've lost the key.
21:49 All the windows are locked.
21:50 There's a window upstairs that may be open."
21:54 And she's going through this and I'm thinking, "Oh my."
21:57 She goes, "I'm going to need you to bring that key back."
21:59 And I'm like, "Baby, I'll probably have you break a
22:01 window out before I would drive back."
22:04 She thought that was absolutely crazy.
22:07 I can understand that.
22:09 I'm like, "Well, you know, I can call a locksmith for you."
22:12 I mean, I know locksmiths will open car doors if you,
22:16 you know, lock your keys in.
22:18 Maybe they'll unlock the house.
22:20 She said, "Well, I'm going to look for the key really good
22:23 here in the truck."
22:24 And so I get off the phone with her and I'm trying to,
22:28 you know, find a way to contact a locksmith to see if they could
22:32 open the house.
22:34 Because I've got a phone that can, you know, get on the
22:36 internet and stuff when I'm traveling.
22:38 It's an iPhone.
22:40 I like Apple stuff, for those that are into computers.
22:43 I know that PC, that stands for "problem computers."
22:45 Something like that, for those of you that are using computers.
22:49 But none the less, I was looking on my iPhone there,
22:53 and my wife calls back.
22:54 She had gotten down in the Jeep, or the truck,
22:59 on her hands and knees and was looking.
23:02 And she found that it had come off the key ring
23:05 and was underneath the seat.
23:07 She found the key.
23:09 I breathed a big sigh of relief and continued on my journey
23:14 here to 3ABN for this weekend.
23:18 But she looked fervently for that key.
23:22 Perhaps with the fervor that the woman in the next story,
23:26 or parable that Jesus comes up with, would have.
23:30 In fact, it says here in verse 8, "Either what woman
23:35 having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece,
23:39 doth not light a candle, and sweep the house,
23:42 and seek..." How?
23:45 "...diligently till she find it?
23:49 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends
23:52 and her neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me.
23:57 For I have found the piece which I had lost.'
24:01 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence
24:07 of the angels of God over..." How many?
24:11 "...one sinner that repenteth."
24:17 My friends, Jesus was always looking for one more,
24:20 and then another and another.
24:22 Now in this particular parable, that was likely a dowry
24:26 for the woman, you see.
24:28 The dowry would often be paid to the father of the bride.
24:31 At which point, that would generally, in many of the
24:35 cultures, be passed on to the bride to keep as her own.
24:39 That if she was mistreated by that husband,
24:41 she could have the funds to come home to daddy.
24:45 And so this was her savings, this was her life savings,
24:52 and she'd lost part of it.
24:53 She's looking for it diligently.
24:55 And she finds it and she rejoices.
24:59 My friends, there is such joy over one sinner that repenteth.
25:07 I think of a horrible accident, not accident, but
25:10 terrorist attack that we're all familiar with
25:13 in New York City; the twin towers.
25:16 In fact, there's two ladies, Genelle and Rosa,
25:21 they settled into work in the Port Authority offices
25:26 on floor 64, I believe it was, of tower one of the
25:30 World Trade Center.
25:32 And as they were talking excitedly about the events
25:35 of the weekend, all of a sudden there was a huge noise.
25:40 It sounded like an explosion, and the building
25:42 somewhat rocked side to side.
25:45 Genelle and Rosa ran over to the glass looking out of the
25:50 building where people were gathering, noticing paper and
25:55 bits of debris coming down, falling down, outside from
26:01 somewhere up above.
26:03 The PA system came on, public address system,
26:06 with an announcement, "Everybody remain calm,
26:11 and remain where you're at."
26:15 Most of the people in the office ignored it
26:18 and were rushing out of the building.
26:20 Genelle and Rosa decided to heed the announcement and stay.
26:23 And a few minutes later, they've got the TV on there
26:26 in the conference room and they are watching the footage of
26:29 thick black smoke coming from the building they're in.
26:33 Genelle gets hold of her fiancé, Roger, on the phone and
26:37 he immediately yells, "What are you still there for?
26:39 Get out of there."
26:40 It was at that moment that there was another explosion.
26:43 Tower two was hit.
26:46 Genelle and Rosa began going down the flights of stairs.
26:49 64 floors to the bottom, right?
26:52 They're on floor 64.
26:54 They're going down the flights of stairs.
26:56 At the 13th floor, they stop to pause for just a moment
27:00 as Genelle decides to take off her shoes.
27:03 And it was at that moment that the floor buckled.
27:06 And something hit Genelle in her back.
27:09 There was a horrible rumbling.
27:12 And when the rumbling came to an end,
27:15 she found that her head was sandwiched between two
27:20 massive concrete pillars, and her leg was buried in rubble
27:23 up to her thigh, and she was unable to move.
27:28 Claustrophobia and panic set in.
27:33 As the rescue efforts began shortly thereafter,
27:37 she found herself under the rubble for 26 hours.
27:43 She would cry out until she would pass out.
27:46 And upon waking up, would once again call for help.
27:51 Finally, help arrived.
27:53 And Genelle Guzman became the fifth and final survivor to be
27:56 pulled directly from the carnage of Ground Zero.
27:59 But I remember, do you, of watching on TV as rescue
28:05 efforts continued, as the firemen and the other
28:09 rescue personnel searched for one more,
28:14 hoping to find one more, just one more person.
28:19 And always as someone would be found,
28:23 looking for another and another; one more soul.
28:31 One more person.
28:32 Well, my friends, there has been another terrorist attack.
28:36 That as awful as that was, it pales into...
28:41 Well, it's not as significant compared to this other one.
28:45 There has been a hijacking. That's part of the problem.
28:49 An entire planet flying through space has been hijacked.
28:56 What I can tell you is, presently, rescue efforts
29:00 are underway.
29:02 We read about it here in Luke chapter 19.
29:07 Luke chapter 19 and verse 10.
29:10 It says this, rescue efforts currently underway, Luke 19:10.
29:15 It says, "For the Son of man," that's my Jesus,
29:18 "is come to seek and to save that which was..." What?
29:24 Does that sound like a rescue effort?
29:26 "He's come to..." What?
29:27 "...seek..." To look for.
29:29 "...and to save..." Take to safety.
29:31 "...that which was lost."
29:34 And as the universe looks on, and the unfallen host,
29:39 they're watching what's taking place, and they see
29:42 souls redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
29:45 And they're hoping.
29:47 Every time there is salvation for one, there is rejoicing.
29:51 But they're hoping for one more.
29:55 And then another and another.
29:57 One more soul.
30:00 We see the passion, the love, as Jesus in His life would
30:05 minister to the masses, but always be looking for one more,
30:10 and then another and another.
30:11 We're here in Luke chapter 19, and so let's look at it.
30:16 We'll start here in verse 1 in just a moment.
30:18 We're going to talk about a short man.
30:23 Zacchaeus.
30:25 Do you remember the story?
30:26 I sang it growing up in the Baptist church in Sunday school.
30:31 Zacchaeus was a wee little man.
30:35 And a wee little man was he.
30:38 He climbed up in a Sycamore tree,
30:42 for the Lord he wanted to see.
30:46 And as the Savior passed that way,
30:49 He looked up in the tree and said, "Zacchaeus, you come down.
30:55 For I'm going to your house today."
30:59 Is that the first time you've ever heard someone
31:01 preach the song, "Zacchaeus was a wee little man."
31:08 Powerful, powerful story in the Scriptures.
31:12 You see, Jesus was pressed about on all sides.
31:18 So much so that the only way the man could see Jesus
31:21 was to climb up in a tree.
31:23 And you would think Jesus is ministering to too many people
31:25 to worry about this short guy.
31:28 Vertically challenged man.
31:32 But no.
31:33 We find it here, Luke 19 verse 1.
31:35 "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
31:38 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus,
31:41 which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
31:45 And he sought to see Jesus, who He was; and could not
31:48 for the press," so many people around him,
31:51 "because he was little of stature.
31:53 And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to
31:57 see Him: for He was to pass that way."
32:02 Now, why did he climb up in a tree?
32:06 The common answer is, because he was short.
32:08 You say, "Well, it just said he was short."
32:09 Yea.
32:11 He climbed up in a tree...
32:14 Well, what sent him up the tree?
32:16 You say, "He was short." No.
32:17 You know what?
32:18 There's short people out there all over the place.
32:20 And you don't see most of them in trees.
32:24 What sent him up that tree?
32:26 He had been hearing about Jesus.
32:30 He had heard enough about Jesus that he wanted to
32:35 see Jesus.
32:38 That's what sent him up the tree.
32:40 And, yea, he was short. I'll admit it.
32:43 But we read on.
32:45 And it says here, verse 5, "And when Jesus came
32:49 to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said unto him,
32:52 'Zacchaeus, make haste and come down;
32:53 for today I must abide at thy house.'
32:56 And he made haste, and came down,
32:57 and received Him joyfully.
32:58 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying
33:01 that He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner."
33:04 Here again, Jesus is ministering to lost souls,
33:08 and the religious people of the day are complaining about it.
33:13 Let us never be among the complainers to Jesus' ministry.
33:19 Especially in the church today.
33:22 And so we notice here what happens.
33:26 Verse 10, in this context Jesus says what?
33:31 "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save
33:34 that which was lost."
33:38 The religious people of Jesus' day, and many from today,
33:41 don't know what God is like.
33:43 They don't get His character, His loving character.
33:45 And it's so good for them, for us when we're possibly
33:50 critical of others, that God has such a loving character.
33:55 Because He'll forgive us for that too.
33:58 And He'll change us.
34:01 Thankfully, He loves the religious Pharisees,
34:05 that don't see His character as they should,
34:09 as much as the harlot and the drunkard and the tax collector.
34:14 He loves us all.
34:16 Jesus ministers to the masses, but He could not pass by the
34:20 opportunity to win one more, and then another and another.
34:24 Would you go with me to John chapter 8 and let's see it here.
34:27 Here we have a woman that's caught in adultery.
34:30 John 8 verse 1, "Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
34:35 And early in the morning He came again into the temple,
34:39 and all the people came unto Him.
34:41 And He sat down and taught them."
34:43 So there's all kinds of people, all the people came unto Him.
34:45 People are pressing about Him.
34:47 Again, Jesus is ministering to the masses.
34:51 And His sermon gets interrupted.
34:56 Now I've thought about this.
34:58 If some people came in right now while I'm trying to preach to
35:01 you folks and interrupted my sermon, I'm afraid that
35:04 I might would get aggravated or something.
35:09 Jesus saw it as a ministry opportunity.
35:12 Right?
35:14 That's the truth.
35:16 Verse 3, "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him
35:19 a woman taken in adultery.
35:20 And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto Him,
35:23 'Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.'"
35:26 They talk about the law of Moses and how she should be stoned,
35:29 and ask Jesus what to do.
35:30 And He stoops down and He writes in the ground.
35:32 And they think, you know, He's ignoring them.
35:35 And so they talk to Him some more about it.
35:38 He writes in the ground, and then He says,
35:41 "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone."
35:47 See, Jesus was ministering to the masses.
35:53 But in this humiliated puddled mass of human flesh
35:59 sitting weeping upon the ground, my Savior could not
36:08 pass by the opportunity to win one more soul.
36:18 And so what does Jesus do?
36:20 He says, "He that's without sin, let him cast the first stone,"
36:23 as the convicting power of the Holy Spirit
36:28 burned into their hearts.
36:31 From the oldest to the youngest, they slowly went away.
36:35 Jesus was the only one left.
36:38 Verse 10 of John 8, "When Jesus had lifted up Himself
36:43 and saw none but the woman, He said unto her,
36:47 'Woman, where are thine accusers?
36:49 Hath no man condemned thee?'
36:53 She said, 'No man, Lord.'
36:55 And Jesus said unto her, 'Neither do I condemn thee.
37:00 Go, and sin no more.'"
37:04 My younger brother, for quite a while, a few years,
37:09 taught at religious high school, the academies.
37:14 He's now back in Mississippi teaching at the public
37:17 middle school where my mom taught.
37:19 He just wants to be back in Mississippi.
37:22 For me and my wife to have traveled all over the country
37:24 is really not in harmony with our heritage.
37:28 My mom still lives in the same county she was born in.
37:31 Worked at the same institution her entire work career,
37:34 and retired.
37:36 My dad is the one that moved away from home.
37:38 He lives there, him and my mom, in the county she was raised in.
37:42 Twenty-five minutes from where he grew up.
37:43 I mean that's... You know, wow.
37:47 So Libby and I having went all over the country.
37:50 My brother, he has traveled around too, but he went back
37:54 to Mississippi this year.
37:56 But he was telling me he did an experiment in one of the
37:59 academies where he was teaching Bible.
38:01 My little brother, he's a brain. He's a walking brain.
38:06 Really, a brain.
38:07 He's way smarter than me.
38:10 He plays 37 different musical instruments.
38:13 I've watched him get up and play recorder.
38:17 He's got a big one that he stuffs in his shirt,
38:20 and one in each hand, and played a song in harmony.
38:30 And he just had one note on the big one,
38:32 but when he didn't need that note, he would cover that
38:34 recorder's opening with his tongue.
38:38 So on and off with that one, and then the others.
38:40 He plays like 37 different musical instruments,
38:43 and all of this.
38:44 My little brother was teaching Bible at this academy
38:49 and he had about 200 students that he was working with.
38:53 And he had them write something down, I believe it was.
38:56 And it was about the woman caught in adultery,
38:58 and what did Jesus say to her?
39:01 And do you know what 98% of our young people wrote down
39:05 out of the 200 sample that he was working with?
39:08 What do you think they wrote down that Jesus said to the
39:11 woman caught in adultery?
39:14 "Go and sin no more."
39:19 There was only 3 or 4 out of 200 that wrote,
39:22 "Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more."
39:29 My friends, let us not make a mistake that we get to thinking
39:34 that God is looking at us when we have sinned
39:37 and fallen into sin, and His response is,
39:41 "Don't do that anymore."
39:44 His response is, "Neither do I condemn thee.
39:50 Go and sin no more."
39:52 When we're feeling condemnation, and we think that's coming from
39:56 God, we don't have the freedom to obey from the heart.
40:02 And we're going to be trapped in a salvation by works experience
40:07 if we don't realize the loving character God has for us.
40:12 You say, "Are you advocating sin?"
40:13 No.
40:15 He said, "Go and sin no more."
40:17 But, my friends, if we emphasize that without bringing out
40:22 that Jesus says, "Neither do I condemn thee,"
40:25 we've left out the part that gives victory over sin
40:29 from the heart, and we create legalists.
40:35 As we look here, Jesus was ministering.
40:37 This is about the character and love of God.
40:40 Go with me to John chapter 3.
40:42 Let's see it again, John 3.
40:45 You know, I use to think that ministers don't really work.
40:50 I don't know if any of you have ever experience that.
40:51 I've got some church members that probably just think
40:53 I work on Sabbath.
40:55 They think, "You get paid pretty good working one day a week."
41:00 I grew up hauling hay and hauling watermelons
41:04 in the, you know, Mississippi sun and the humidity, the heat.
41:08 And, whew, those were some hard days of work.
41:13 Building fence, oh man.
41:16 And at the end of the day, when you lay down to go to sleep,
41:20 you're just exhausted.
41:22 It just feels so good to stretch out and lay down.
41:25 And sleep comes quickly.
41:28 In ministry, you get just as exhausted,
41:30 but in a different way.
41:31 Your body may not be tired, but your mind is drained.
41:37 The emotional energy it takes to be ministering to people and
41:41 to meet their needs.
41:43 Jesus had been ministering to the masses
41:46 here in John chapter 3.
41:48 And finally, he had some time in the evening, some solitude.
41:54 And there's a man that comes to Him.
41:55 This man had been too embarrassed to go and
41:58 see Jesus in the bright of day.
42:00 In the light of day, he wouldn't come and see Jesus.
42:03 He comes sneaking up at night.
42:07 A leader of Israel, Nicodemus.
42:11 And what happens here? We see it.
42:14 Verse 1 of John 3, "There was a man of the Pharisees
42:17 named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
42:19 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him,
42:21 'Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God.
42:23 For no man can do these miracles that Thou doest,
42:25 except God be with Him.'
42:27 Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Verily,'" or truly,
42:30 "I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot
42:33 see the kingdom of God."
42:35 Jesus didn't mince words with him.
42:37 Jesus cut right to the chase.
42:40 You know, I would have been tempted, I must admit,
42:43 "You know, what are you doing calling me on my time off?
42:47 This is my time, I've been ministering and I'm empty."
42:51 I'll tell you, as a minister there are times I turn
42:54 my cell phone off.
42:56 Because I've just given everything I feel like
42:58 I have to give and I need some recharge time.
43:02 I say, you know what?
43:04 I'll check the messages and catch up tomorrow.
43:06 But you know, Jesus, after having the crowd pulling
43:09 at Him all day, He didn't say, "Hey dude, you need to
43:15 come back during business hours."
43:17 No.
43:19 Now He did cut to the chase. There's no doubt.
43:22 But He saw in this gentleman an opportunity
43:27 to reach one more person.
43:30 And that was something my Savior,
43:32 it's part of His character, could never pass up;
43:37 the opportunity to reach one more soul.
43:41 Oh how beautiful it is.
43:43 And I'm glad that Jesus talked to him,
43:44 not just for Nicodemus' sake, but right here in this chapter
43:50 we find such verses as verse 16, "For God so loved the world,
43:54 that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
43:56 in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
43:59 That most famous verse in the Bible was from right here,
44:02 because Jesus couldn't pass by the opportunity
44:05 to win one more soul.
44:07 And He had that conversation with Nicodemus.
44:10 And in the next chapter, we find this attribute,
44:13 this passion that our Savior has for the lost and dying world.
44:17 We find it again, the woman at the well.
44:20 You can read about it here in verse 5, John 4 and verse 5.
44:24 "Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
44:29 near to the parcel of ground that Jacob
44:31 gave to his son Joseph.
44:33 Now Jacob's well was there."
44:34 Notice verse 7, "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
44:38 Jesus saith unto her, 'Give Me to drink.'"
44:41 And the woman is shocked.
44:42 Why would a man, a Jewish man, speak to a Samaritan woman?
44:48 I mean, no way.
44:51 And furthermore, to ask her to do something for Him.
44:54 But here, our Savior again could not pass by the opportunity
45:00 to win one more soul.
45:02 And what did that lead to? Verse 39 of John 4.
45:05 "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him
45:08 for the saying of the woman, which testified,
45:10 'He told me all things whatsoever I did.'
45:13 So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him
45:16 that He would tarry with them.
45:18 And He abode there two days.
45:19 And many more believed because of His own word."
45:23 And then in John chapter 5, the next chapter of this book,
45:28 there was a man at the Pool of Bethesda who had been there,
45:31 who had been sick, he had been sick for 38 years.
45:37 And Jesus had been ministering to the masses, but He saw
45:40 in this man the opportunity to reach one more,
45:46 and then another and another.
45:49 Jesus was again speaking and preaching and
45:52 ministering to the masses.
45:54 He was in a house and the house was full of people
45:57 as Jesus taught.
45:58 So many people they were standing around the
46:00 door and outside.
46:03 And again, Jesus' sermon gets interrupted.
46:06 There's a paralyzed man.
46:07 In Mark 2, it tells us about it.
46:10 And his friends literally climb up on top of the building and
46:13 tear the roof back.
46:16 Security or something would stop them if they tried
46:18 to do that in our building today.
46:20 Right?
46:24 They tear the roof back and lower the paralyzed man down.
46:32 Jesus couldn't pass by the opportunity
46:36 to reach one more soul.
46:39 That's something I've been trying to learn from Jesus,
46:41 is Jesus saw interruptions as opportunities.
46:46 And I have a personality where my first reaction to an
46:49 interruption is frustration.
46:52 And went, "Jesus change me.
46:53 Help me to be more like You.
46:56 Help me flow with whatever comes my way and
46:59 respond in a way that You would that shows Your love and
47:02 compassion to a lost and dying world."
47:07 Mark chapter 5, let's look there.
47:10 Mark chapter 5.
47:13 We see another example.
47:15 I mean, time and again, as Jesus would minister
47:19 to the masses, but then He couldn't pass by the
47:22 opportunity to win one more soul,
47:25 and then another and another.
47:26 We look here in Mark 5 verse 24, "And Jesus went with him."
47:33 Now, there was the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus,
47:36 and his daughter was sick.
47:37 And Jesus was going with him to heal his daughter.
47:39 His daughter died in the meantime, but Jesus
47:42 still went and then He resurrected the young lady.
47:44 But right in the middle of that story, we find another one.
47:48 Verse 24, "And Jesus went with him.
47:51 And much people followed Him, and thronged Him."
47:53 Notice, how many people are around Him?
47:56 He can't hardly move.
47:58 People are gathered around Him.
48:00 "And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
48:05 and had suffered many things of many physicians,
48:08 and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered,
48:12 but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus,
48:18 came in the press behind and touched His garment."
48:24 The masses thronged about Jesus.
48:31 But Jesus perceived that virtue went forth from Him, it says.
48:34 Let's read on, verse 28.
48:37 "For she said, 'If I may touch but His
48:39 clothes, I shall be whole.'
48:41 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up.
48:44 And she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
48:47 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had
48:51 gone out of Him, turned about in the press, and said,
48:54 'Who touched My clothes?'
48:58 And His disciples said unto Him, 'Thou seest the multitude
49:02 thronging Thee, and sayest Thou, who touched Me?'"
49:06 "Jesus, You see all these people around.
49:08 What do You mean, who touched You?
49:09 Everybody is touching You."
49:11 But this was a different touch.
49:12 It was a touch of faith.
49:14 "And He looked round about to see her
49:17 that had done this thing.
49:18 But the woman fearing and trembling..."
49:20 Now why do you think she was fearing and trembling?
49:23 If she had an issue of blood...
49:26 We won't get into fully what that is here today, but if she
49:28 had an ongoing bleeding, then she's considered,
49:33 according to Mosaic law, as... What word?
49:37 ...unclean.
49:38 And if you came and touched someone and you were unclean,
49:42 what was the penalty for that?
49:46 Could be stoned for that. Yes or no?
49:49 Serious. And now she's very fearful.
49:53 Verse 33, "But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what
49:56 was done in her, came and fell down before Him,
49:58 and told Him all the truth.
50:00 And He said unto her, 'Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.
50:06 Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.'"
50:11 Again, He couldn't pass by the opportunity
50:14 to reach one more.
50:17 I mean, we could think about, you know, where the name for
50:20 modern hearing aids probably came from.
50:23 You know, Miracle Ear.
50:25 Peter chopped off the servants ear when they came to
50:30 take Jesus into custody.
50:32 And what did Jesus do?
50:34 He's about to be taken in and mistreated and tortured,
50:37 and everything else, but He couldn't pass by the opportunity
50:40 to minister to one more.
50:42 Hence, we have a miracle ear.
50:46 My Savior, He would minister to the masses,
50:49 but the love that flowed forth to him.
50:52 I remember, as the masses gathered about Him,
50:55 there was a blind man, here in the book of Mark chapter 10,
51:00 I believe it is, blind Bartimaeus.
51:04 And he says, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."
51:07 And the people are like, "Go away blind man.
51:09 Leave the Master alone. Are you serious?"
51:13 But Jesus heard his cries.
51:16 If you're turning there, I believe it starts in verse 46,
51:19 probably, of Mark 10.
51:23 It goes to the end of the chapter.
51:24 But, Jesus couldn't pass by the opportunity
51:28 to reach out and win one more, and then another and another;
51:32 to minister to this man.
51:34 Jesus was the one that had the children brought into Him.
51:38 Children weren't considered of much value in biblical times.
51:42 And the disciples were seeing the kids brought to Jesus.
51:45 He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me.
51:48 The character of God flowing forth through Jesus.
51:51 He couldn't pass by the opportunity
51:54 to win one more soul, one more, and then another and another.
51:59 I want to share with you a quote from one of my favorite books,
52:03 possibly my favorite book.
52:05 It's called, Christ's Object Lessons.
52:07 And this particular quote, actually took the time
52:10 to write in the back of my Bible because I like the quote.
52:13 I gather up stuff and write things in.
52:15 That's not uncommon.
52:16 I like to do that.
52:18 And so, for me that's not uncommon.
52:21 And it's from page 196 of the book called,
52:23 Christ's Object Lessons.
52:25 And it says, "The value of a soul, who can estimate?
52:31 Would you know its worth, go to Gethsemane, and there
52:37 watch with Christ through those hours of anguish,
52:42 when He sweat as it were great drops of blood.
52:45 Look upon the Savior uplifted on the cross.
52:50 Hear that despairing cry, 'My God, My God.
52:54 Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Mark 15:34.
52:58 Look upon the wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet.
53:07 Remember that Christ risked all.
53:11 For our redemption, heaven itself was imperiled."
53:16 I can hardly contemplate what that means.
53:18 I mean, I know what it means, but I can hardly contemplate it.
53:21 "At the foot of the cross, remembering that for
53:24 one sinner Christ would have laid down His life,
53:29 you may estimate the value of a soul."
53:37 That's the one more, and than another and another.
53:42 Go with me, would you, to the book of Luke chapter 23.
53:45 I have to show you this.
53:47 Oh, I have to get this in.
53:49 This is exciting to me.
53:51 This just blows my mind.
53:54 It is so amazing, so awesome.
53:56 Go to Luke chapter 23.
53:58 I mean, if there was ever a time that He would have
54:02 had more on His mind.
54:03 We're talking about on the cross, okay?
54:05 If there was ever a time when He'd say, "Ah, hold on here.
54:08 I've got to focus on what I'm really here for."
54:11 What?
54:12 Folks, if you could even contemplate that, you don't
54:14 understand His character.
54:16 What was He there for?
54:17 He was there to save one more, and then another and another.
54:20 If there was ever a time He would have had
54:22 more on His mind, it would have been here.
54:24 But no, my Savior, while dying for the sins of the whole world,
54:30 my sin and your sin, could not pass by the opportunity
54:35 to win one more soul.
54:39 Here it is, check it out. This is neat.
54:41 We see in Luke 23 verse 39, "And one of the malefactors
54:45 which were hanged railed on him, saying,
54:47 If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us.'
54:50 But the other answering rebuked him, saying,
54:52 'Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the
54:55 same condemnation?'"
54:56 Verse 41 of Luke 23, "And we indeed justly;
54:59 for we receive the due reward of our deeds.
55:02 But this man hath done nothing amiss."
55:04 He's done nothing wrong.
55:05 Verse 42 "And he said unto Jesus, 'Lord, remember me
55:09 when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.'
55:11 And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee
55:16 today, shalt thou be with Me in paradise.'"
55:19 Jesus was giving him the assurance that very day
55:21 that he would be in paradise with Him.
55:26 This was actually a gift, I believe, from the
55:28 heavenly Father to the Savior to encourage Him
55:32 right there, "This is what You're dying for."
55:35 But see, I see this, and He's bleeding and He's injured,
55:41 and He's in the most exquisite of physical pain,
55:44 as well as the separation He's experiencing
55:47 from the Father on the cross.
55:49 And then there's this guy over here saying, "Remember me."
55:52 If there was ever a time He would have had more on
55:54 His mind and say, "Hey, I'm busy here right now.
55:56 I'm dying for the whole world.
55:58 You're on your own."
56:02 That's inconceivable that my Savior would be able to
56:07 be that way.
56:08 What passion, what compassion.
56:11 The others-centered, absolute love of God.
56:18 Always searching, always looking,
56:22 for one more, and then another and another.
56:26 That's really the basis of outreach and evangelism,
56:28 my friends, is that Jesus wants to reach the masses.
56:32 And even then, as the signals from 3ABN go out around
56:36 the world, He's still not done because He wants to reach
56:38 one more, and then another and another.
56:41 One more soul.
56:44 Are you that one more soul listening today?
56:47 Is that you?
56:49 Oh, don't say no to Him.
56:51 Say yes to the Savior.
56:54 Is your neighbor, is your work associate, one of your
56:58 family members, that one more soul?
57:00 And you need to reflect the love of Jesus to them and
57:03 share a piece of literature or a sermon of truth with them?
57:09 My friends, Jesus is searching for one more,
57:12 and then another and another.
57:13 And as I see the passion of Jesus, I see my own selfishness.
57:18 And I'm drawn out of myself to serve Him
57:22 and His heart of infinite love.
57:24 I am the one more soul.
57:27 And so are you.


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Revised 2014-12-17