Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / Hit The Spot - Bishop T.D. Jakes

Transcript

Hit The Spot - Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Luke chapter 19, verse 1 through 10 in the NIV,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and it reads as follows. Jesus entered Jericho and was
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: passing through. A man that was there by the name
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: was short, he was what? Because he was short, he
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and climbed the sycamore fig tree to see him. Since
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Jesus was coming that way. Oh, do you believe Jesus
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: is coming your way? This next part of a clause
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of a sentence possessed me. When Jesus reached the spot.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: That's it right there. When Jesus reached the spot. Zacchaeus
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: had already gotten there, but when Jesus reached the spot,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I must stay at your house today. So he came
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: saw this and began to mutter, he has gone to
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: be the guest of a sinner. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: here and now I give half of my possessions to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the poor. And if I have cheated anybody out of anything,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I will pay back four times the amount. Jesus said
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: to him today, salvation has come to this house because
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: this man too is a son of Abraham. For the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: son of man came to seek and to save the lost.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Can you say amen? Amen. Take me back up to
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the third verse, please. No, verse five. When Jesus reached
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the spot, My subject this morning is simply hit the spot.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Whatever you got to do, whatever you got to crawl through,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: whatever you got to cry through, whatever you got to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: pray through, whatever you got to endure, whoever's got to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: hate on you, whoever despises you, whoever turns against you,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: none of that is going to matter as long as
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: you hit the spot. You will not spend the rest
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of your life nor legacy talking about the obstacles that
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: got in between you and the spot. If you hit
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the spot, you will forget the struggle that preceded the spot.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Somebody in here has been commissioned by the Holy Spirit.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Somebody watching online has been commissioned by the Holy Spirit
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to hit the spot. Somebody shout, hit the spot. On
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: your way down to your seat, tell your neighbor, I
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: got to hit the spot. Holy Spirit, speak in this
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: place today. Gratify yourself. Establish yourself. Extend yourself. magnify yourself, electrify, illuminate,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: declare yourself in such a dynamic way that we are
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: left awed by the presence of your glory. I thank
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: you in advance for what you're about to do. I
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: believe you, oh God, to have your way. In Jesus'
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: name we pray, amen. Dr. Maya Angelou is known to
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: have quoted this statement, which is, become a household reflection
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of some of the many granular wisdom thoughts that she
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: left as grains of sand in time that extend beyond death.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: She says, when a person tells you who they are,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: believe them. And this grain of wisdom is quite profound
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and quite prolific. It is quite impactful. It helps us
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to understand the sociological impact that we have dealing with people,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the psychology behind people, to understand that when a person
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: tells you who they are, to believe them, not to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: argue with them, not to have such a Messiah complex
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: that you are trying to turn water into wine. Leave
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: that for Jesus. It is... You will notice the enemy
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: tempted Jesus to turn the rock to bread, but if
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: it's a rock, it's a rock. And some of us
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: are bent on turning people into what we want them
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to be rather than to accept them as they are.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: So Dr. Angelou concluded when people tell us who they are,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: believe them. The reality, however, is most people don't know
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: who they are. So it is not that you meet
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: people so often who have a definitive that describes accurately
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and profoundly who a person is, but rather, in fact,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: you have most people who have a question, not an
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: exclamation point over their head because they are uncertain about
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: who they are. They're not foolish or ignorant, simply evolving.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Simply transforming. Simply vessels of clay spinning on a wheel
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: touched by a master who it does not yet appear
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: what they shall be. And so when we ask them
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: who they are, it becomes difficult for them to define
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: who they are because they are yet becoming. The process
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: of yet becoming is very important. The process is more
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: important than the product. Because if the process is not comprehensive,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the product will be fragile and broken. We race to
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the finished product, but we don't have a great appreciation
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: for the process. I personally believe one of the reasons
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: that it became difficult for Adam to withstand the temptation
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: that Eve offered to him is that Adam was created grown.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: And anytime you are thrust into something without process, you
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: lack the ability to be able to manage what has
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: been given to you because it is in fact the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: process itself that helps to teach you how to manage
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: what has been given to you. Thrust upon you. He
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: was born a man. Being born a baby and evolving
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: to a toddler and becoming a young person and ultimately
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: going through adolescence is a part of your development that
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: helps you to self-discover who you are. But to be
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: shaped out of clay and blown a breath of life
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: into and wake up a man and wake up a
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: husband and wake up a father is a lot to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: thrust on somebody who was a lump of clay a
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: moment ago And yet there are some people in this
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: room that will be thrust into areas that do not
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: reflect your background. And it will be difficult to withstand
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the very thing you ask God to do because you
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: ask God for the product, not the process. And many
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: times God will oblige you and allow you to have
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the product without the process and you don't realize that
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: it is in fact the process that prepares you to
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: withstand the weight, the pain and the agony of the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: product itself. I submit for your consideration that 80% of
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: people who hit the lottery go broke in two years.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: They go broke in two years because they are thrust
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: into a lifestyle for which their life has not been
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: built up to. They don't have the right attorneys. They
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: don't have the right PR people. They don't have the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: right accountants. They don't have the right relationships, the accruements
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that accessorize the level of grandeur to which they have
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: been lifted. So there they are with the Bill Gates
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: wallet and a Joe Pools Hall mentality. It is better
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: to enter into a thing gradually. So the first man
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Adam was born a man. The second man Adam was
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: born of a virgin. And look at how much better
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: he did with temptation because he went through process. He
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: was born of a virgin. He lived in a manger.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. He confounded the doctors
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and lawyers at 12 years old. He drops out of
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: sight forever. 18 years because real greatness must be incubated
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: in isolation. I said real greatness must be incubated in isolation.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: You don't want the spotlight to hit you while you
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: are yet evolving because the critics will kill you before
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: you become who God wants you to be. So sometimes
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: God will hide your 18 years of confusion about who
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I am until you come to some conclusion about who
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: you are and then bring you back into the spotlight
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Tina Turner was better on her second round than she
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: was her first round because she had time to incubate
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: for a moment in obscurity. To sort through the linen
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: of her marriage and her life and her trials and
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: her failures requires privacy for reflection. What I exalt before
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: you is not the promise but the wilderness. It is
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: not the mandrakes, it is not the milk and honey
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: that I came to preach to you about. It is
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the significance of the wilderness The isolation, the frustration, the murmuring,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the complaining, the times that you feel like throwing up
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: your hands and walking away, those are the times that
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: prepare you for the promised land. And if you don't
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: have that preparation, you won't be able to fight off
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: the Amorites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Gerasites, and all
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the things that go along with what you have been
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: placed into. NDR says it like this, slow down, baby,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: you're moving too fast. You got your hands on the
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: wheel and the foot on the gas. You're about to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: wreck your future running from your past. Slow down, baby,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: you're moving too fast. Now, slow down messages are not
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: easy to preach because people like right now messages immediately, straightway,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: suddenly message. But the reality is in order to have
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: something that lasts a lifetime, you have to slow down.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Sudden decisions are not good decisions. Sudden decisions are often
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: built off of emotionalism. And then when the emotion changes,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the decision is made and all you're left with regret
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and pain and agony. I bring all of this before
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: you today because finding out who you are takes time.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: It takes a long time because somebody asks you who
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you are at 15 is a completely different answer from
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: who you are at 25. And then somebody comes along
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: and asks you at 42 who you are and you
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: want to cancel everything you said about 25 because you
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: are yet becoming. It takes you a long time to
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: really be able to answer that question. And at the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: risk of disagreeing with Dr. Angelou, please don't tell me
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: too fast who you are because I might believe it.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And then my belief would imprison you to who you were.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: It's okay to say, I don't know yet. I'm becoming,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I'm developing. I'm not sure of who I am. It's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: okay to say I'm still on a journey. I want
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: to give you language that describes confusion. Incompleteness, isolation and wandering.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: You can just say, I'm still on a journey. I'm
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: still becoming. I'm still evolving. I'm on the road to greatness.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I'm on the road to wisdom. I'm on the road
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: to victory. I'm on the road to mastery. I'm not
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: a maestro yet, but I'm on the road to becoming.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not preparatory yet, but I'm on the road to
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: becoming and I'm satisfied to be on the road. Anybody
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: okay with not being finished? Because if you are not
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: okay with not being finished, you will torment yourself trying
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: to be what you are not to live up to
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: an image. And if you are not satisfied with being
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: on the road, you will build camouflage to cover your
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: imperfections so that you will appear to be further along
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: than you are. If you are not willing to be
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: on the road, you will spend too much money on
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: bling To look like the room you're in and not
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: have the experience and the language to communicate in the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: room you're in. Just because you can buy a Brioni
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: suit doesn't make you have a PhD. You have to
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: learn how to give yourself time. I take the time
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: to set it up this way because there are many
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: things that are distinctive to me about this text. I
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: think we have done Zacchaeus a disservice because Zacchaeus' sermon
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: should at least be preached as much as the woman
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: with the issue of blood. He is in the same straits.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: He is rejected by his people. He is ostracized by
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: his own. He is alienated and regulated to a group
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: of people that has earned the ire of his peers.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: And yet he would see Jesus. He's in the same
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: situation because Jesus does not come to see him. He
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: goes to see Jesus. He's in the same situation because
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: he has to press his way through the crowd in
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the hopes of getting in the path of Jesus that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: he might receive something meaningful that is life-changing and we
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: hardly ever talk about Zacchaeus at all. And I want
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to bring it to light this morning and talk to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you just a moment or two about Zacchaeus because everything
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: important that happened to Zacchaeus happened on the road. Now
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: let us put the text in context. Jesus is himself
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: on a journey. He is on a death march to
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: a cross. He's on a death march to an execution.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: He is on a death march to have everything that
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: he has taught put on trial by the nails in
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: his hands and in his feet and the piercing of
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: his side. And now we have to prove what we've
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: been preaching all of this time and he's marching toward it,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: perhaps with some anxiety. with some trepidation, with some resentment.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Perhaps there is some turmoil. Get that from me. Perhaps
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: there is some turmoil going on in his life because
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Jesus has to grapple with the fact that the only
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: way he can validate who he is is to become
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: more vulnerable. And anytime you have to become more vulnerable
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to be successful, it becomes more difficult because we are
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: much better at camouflaging vulnerability than allowing our vulnerability to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: become the canvas of which greatness is shown on. Because
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you have to be strong to be weak. See, little people...
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: can't let themselves be weak. You have to be strong
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: enough to lay your armor down and know that if
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I lay it down, I can take it back up again.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: You have to be confident enough in who you are
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: in order to be nice to people that have been
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: nasty because you know you didn't lose anything by being
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: nice to them. Little people can't be nice to nasty people.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: They have to get even because they are so little
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: that they don't want you to see their littleness. So
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: they dress up in their daddy's shoes and their daddy's
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: clothes and they walk around like they're important. But just
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: because you got your daddy's shoes on doesn't make you
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: anything but a five-year-old with a 10-foot, with a 10-size,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: 10-shoe on. It doesn't even fit your foot. But you're
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: wearing it because you want to camouflage your vulnerability. Jesus
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: is on the road unlike any other road that we
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: will ever see him on. It kind of reminds me
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: of David being on the road back to Bill to
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: establish his kingdom after he has taken Judah. Now after Israel,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: he is on the road. The trouble happens on the road.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Uzzah reaches out and touches the Ark of the Covenant
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: and he dies and the trouble happens on the road.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: And David is delayed for three months.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: a safe place. You get
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to a place of resoluteness and confidence. But while you
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: are in transition, all hell breaks loose. All kind of
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: turmoil breaks loose. All kind of inner pain and insecurity
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: breaks through. And all of a sudden you have to
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: grapple with who you present yourself to be. while you
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: are wrestling with who you are. Now I know you
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: can't afford to say amen to this because you cannot
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: afford to let anybody know that there is any contradiction
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: between what you have presented and what you represent when
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the lights are out and the crowd is gone and
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the people have gone away. I know you can't let
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: anybody know on your job all the different voices that
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: are talking on your shoulder while you go into work.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I know when you walk in the office, you're gonna
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: walk in with total confidence and nobody will ever realize
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: that you were scared to death of the promotion that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: God gave you. And I also know that you will
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: secretly resent them for not comforting what you couldn't even
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: show them. I know your marriages will implode because your
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: real self starved to death while your companion fed your
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: fake self. I know that loneliness exists no matter how
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: many people around because it doesn't matter how many people
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: are around you as long as they're around you and
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: they don't know who you really are. We are only
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: comforted when we are transparent. When we find the kinds
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of relationships with which we can be authentic and we
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: can be real and we can be who we are.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: And it needed to be okay. I don't know if
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: you can handle this, but it needed to be okay
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: for Jesus to be worried. He couldn't show Matthew and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Bartholomew or Judas or any of the rest of them,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: but he needed to be able to go in the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Garden of Gethsemane and wrestle with himself a little bit
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: and say, you know what? I love you, Daddy, but
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know about this cross thing. I don't know whether...
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I want to do this. Now, if it be thy will,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: pass this bitter cup away from me. You can't take
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: everybody into transparency. Only a few people can handle who
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: you really are and respect your ability to produce real miracles.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: But Jesus had the benefit of growing up. Grown in
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the Spirit, but growing in his humanity. Fully God in
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the Spirit. but growing like a child in a manger,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: nursing at his mother's breast, playing games. And it was
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: hard for him to be understood because they kept saying,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: is not this the carpenter's son? The hardest place to
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: flourish is in the place where you grew up. Oh,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you ain't got to say nothing. The people you grew
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: up with know too much. They remember too much. They've
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: seen too much. And they start saying things like, I
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: knew you when. I knew you where. I knew you how.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: And they can't know you now because they're still stuck
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: on when. So Jesus is on the road to fight
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: with the angel of death. to rip the sting out
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: of its paw, the victory away from the grave. This
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: is not a time that he needs distraction because he
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: is headed toward the cross. Everybody in here has had
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: their crosses. It's hard to be pleasant and polite when
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: you're headed for a cross. It's hard to be congenial
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: and mannerable when you're headed for a cross. It's hard
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: to be compassionate and giving when you're headed for a
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: cross because it is natural to do reflection of can
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I handle, not the crown, but can I handle the
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: cross that creates the crown? Meanwhile, Zacchaeus, the Bible takes
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the rare occasion to tell us that he is short.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Why does the Bible, who seldom describes the height of
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: its characters, take the time to point out to us
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that he was short. It doesn't say that about many
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: other characters. Only one I can think of off the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: top of my head is that Saul was tall. He
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: was a head and shoulders above other men. But as
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: a rule, the Bible doesn't tell us about the physical
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: characteristics of the character, especially this one-off mention of Zacchaeus.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Why was it important that he was short? And I
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: assume that if you are a short man, you were
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: a short child. And having been a child myself, it
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: is a disadvantage to grow up around other kids when
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: you are shorter than them.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Short.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: So we must then understand that what we call the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Napoleon spirit is a derivative of the anger that mounts
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: into the victim after they have become weary of being short.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: They attack with severity. They assume you don't like them.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: You come up on me, I'm not going to have you.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: You don't know who you feel. I know it. Don't
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: let this... Zacchaeus is short, so we know about his
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: height and we know about his job. He is neither
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Hebrew enough or Jewish enough to be embraced by his
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: brethren because both culturally and spiritually, he is an outcast.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Bear with me, I'm going somewhere. He is an outcast
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: because he is a tax collector. Now at first you
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: would compare that to working with the IRS, but you
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: have to realize that he is not collecting for the
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Jewish nation. He is collecting for the Roman Empire. So
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: he is a flunky, let me break it down into
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: an African American colloquialism, he's an Uncle Tom. He's a
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: big old Uncle Tom who has gotten rich from ripping
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: off and exploiting and exposing his people. So he has
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: no hiding place amongst his people. And he is rejected
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: from the Romans because no matter how good you try
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: to act, you're still not one of us. And he
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: was short. Watch out for people that nobody likes. Watch
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: out for people that have been locked out of the
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: clique and locked out of the group and locked out
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: of the club. Watch out for people that are misfit,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: misplaced people. I know they got some problems, but when
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: they get their problems worked out, God is going to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: do amazing things in their life. Are there any people
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: in the room? I want to talk to some people
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: in the room that have never been able to fit
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: nowhere at no time with nobody. No matter what you did,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: no matter what you wore, no matter how you changed yourself,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: you still didn't fit. And you had to learn how
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: to be cool with being a misfit. a short tax collector.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: He cannot reap the benefits of the camaraderie that comes
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: along with being the oppressed. Nor can he have the
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: fraternity of being the oppressor. In other words, he can't
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: go to the country club and he's not accepted at
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the barbershop. and he was short. Any short people in
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the room? Vertically challenged people. The truth of the matter
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: is everybody should have put their head up. Because the
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Bible said, I all have sinned and come. Yeah. All
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: have sinned. All have sinned. Rich folks, poor folks, well-dressed folk,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: white folks, black folk, brown folk, Canadian folk, American folk,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Nigerian folk, Bohemian folk, all have sinned and come short.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: And he was short. I want to talk to some
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: people who can admit I come up short. I come
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: up short as a Christian. I come up short as
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: a preacher. I come up short as a mother. I
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: come up short as a father. I come up short
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: in my life. I come up short as a professional
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and I'm doing the best I can with what I
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: got because every day I got to deal with the
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: fact that I am I had to fight harder because
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: I was short. I had to fight longer because I
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: was short. I had to do what I had to
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: do to compensate. To compensate for the nagging, gnawing reality
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: that I am short. I'm married, but I'm short. I'm
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: going to mess with you a little bit. I'm a mother,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: but I'm short. And I deal with the guilt of
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: being short. And I have a dream, and I have
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: a goal, and I have a vision, but I'm short.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: And the worst part about being short is I thought
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: maybe if I wear these heels— Or maybe, maybe if
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: I stood up on a stepladder. Or maybe if I
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: climb up on a rooftop. Or maybe if I climb
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: up a tree. Maybe you won't notice that I'm short
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: because we spend our lives trying to hide our vulnerabilities.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: So he was short. So he was rich. There is
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: a correlation between short and rich. If I don't excel
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: at this, at least I excel at that. Oh, y'all
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: ain't gonna help me. See, I'm trying to tell you
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: that so oftentimes what drives you to be the most
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: successful is the terror of being short. I'm trying to
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: tell you what makes us need to compensate for our
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: inadequacies is the awareness that if you saw who I
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: really was, you wouldn't like me. And so I bought
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: all of this stuff so you wouldn't see that I'm short.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Now I have to live with the contradiction of I'm
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: powerful but I'm short. I'm connected but I'm short. I'm
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: wealthy but I'm short. And I can't make either truth
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: go away. I can't stop being rich and powerful and
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I can't stop being short. Can I talk to some
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: people this morning that are living with contradictions that you
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: can't talk to anybody about because deep down on the inside,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: they talk about how great you are, but you go
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: home with how short you are. Come on, where are
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: my short people? Make some noise. Where are my short people?
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Where are my short people? Where are my short people?
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Where are my short people? Make some noise. I want
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: to talk to some short people. You might be seven
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: foot two, but you're still short. You might be six
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: foot eight, but you're still short. You may have more
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: degrees than a thermometer, but you're still short. In fact,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: that may be why you got the degree. Because if
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: I get enough degrees, maybe you won't see. Oh, y'all
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: don't want to talk to me. Let me quit. Maybe
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: you won't see. Where are my real people at? I
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: want some real people. I need about 3,000 real people
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: there to take 30 seconds and praise him in spite
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: of your shortness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They can come out
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: of the choir. They can come out of the musicians.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: They can come out the back. They can come out
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: of security. But I need about 3,000 people who knew
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: the odds were against him. And in spite of your shortness,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: God bless you to make it anyway. Make some noise
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: in this place. See, all of you people that can't
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: clap about being short, you just proved how short you are.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Because your ego won't allow you to even admit in
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: a church that you are short. But your wife knows it.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Your children know it. Your best friend knows it. And
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: you're just a liar trying to act like you're not short.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to give you a repentance moment. All
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the short people, give God a praise right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Fist bump three people and tell them I come up short.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: I come up short. I come up short. I come
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: up short. I come up short. I come up short
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: at the bank. I come up short with compassion. I
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: come up short with empathy. I come up short with patience.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: I come up short with longevity. I come up short
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: with loyalty. Somewhere in my life, I come up short.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: So I dress up more. So I stand up more.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: So I bought me a boat. So I got me
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: a gun. So I try to be more distinguished. So
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: I try to be more intellectual because I don't want
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: you to see That I'm short and the Bible has
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: told me that all have sinned and come short. I
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: wish I'd have known it was all of us. I
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: thought it was just me. And as long as I
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: thought it was just me, I kind of hated me
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and I prayed to be like you. And then I
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: met you and found out you short too. Come on,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: come on, come on, come on, come on. Come on,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: come on, come on. I met you and found out
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: you short too. And finding out you were short too
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: is what helped me with me. Because as I found
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: out how short you were, I found out I wasn't
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: as weird as I thought I was. Maybe there is
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: no such thing as normal. Maybe we're on the Wizard
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of Oz and we ought to see the Wizard, the
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: wonderful Wizard of Oz. Because all of us are. I'm
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: tired of counseling husbands and wives who always want to
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: tell me how short their spouse is and never admit
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: that you're short too. You are proficient at measuring the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: wrong person. Take out your yardstick and measure yourself. You
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: short too. That's why y'all got together. Y'all too short people.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Too messed up crazy people. Too radical people. I saw
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: something on the TV the other day that said, one
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: of you is an introvert and quiet, and the other
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: one is crazy. Which one are you? Are you the
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: crazy one or the quiet one? One way or the other,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: we come up. He was short. He had a wicked job.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: He was sociologically deprived. He was no doubt psychologically introverted.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: He's wrestling with who he is. is, but he heard.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Look at him, tell somebody and tell them I heard something.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: I know you don't want nobody to know you're a gossiper,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: but everybody in here gossips a little bit. Tell them
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: I heard something, I heard something. I heard, I heard,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: I heard, I heard it through the grapevine. I heard,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: I heard that, I heard that, I heard that Jesus
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: was passing by. Watch this. You're shambol. Glory to God.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Watch this. This, this road he's on. It's the Jesus road.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: It's leading to Jerusalem. And it has a traffic flow.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: And he decides, I may be short, and I may
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: be rejected, and I may be ostracized, but I'm gonna
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: get in the flow. Somebody in this room, you're still
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: not perfect. You're still wrestling with stuff. You're still trying
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: to figure it out. But at least you're on the
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: right road. Come on, come on. Give him a praise
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: if you're on the right road. I'm on the right road.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: I'm on the right road. I may be short, but
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: I ain't deaf. I may be short, but I heard
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Jesus was passing by. And if I can find the
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: right spot, I need a spot. I need a spot, y'all.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to find a spot where shortness don't matter.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: That's why worship has become so popular. In the modern
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: church today. Because nobody measures the height of the worshiper.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: You can be high. You can be low. You can
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: be rich. You can be poor. But if you open
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: your mouth and start praising God. Nobody measures the height
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: of the worshiper. And that's why when we say worship.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: You get all kind of people worship. People who've been fasting.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: People who've been praying. People who've been partying. People who've
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: been getting along. People who hadn't been getting along can
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: get sucked up into worship because worship makes up the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: difference between where I want to be and where I am.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Give me 30 seconds of worship. Come on. I understand.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: I understand. I understand. I understand some of y'all can't
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: worship because you're too dignified. And that's okay. Go ahead
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: and be dignified. But see, when you're short, you get bullied.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: But when you worship, you get help. For the Bible
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: said that the angels of the Lord encamp about them
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: that fear him. And if you're feeling kind of short
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: this morning, you need to open your mouth and give
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: God some praise until the angels come and stand by
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: your side. Yeah, I'm short, but I can praise him.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: I'm short, but I can clap my hands. I'm short,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: but I can lift him up. I'm not there yet,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: but I can give God the glory. I haven't accomplished everything,
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: but I still know how to praise him. I count
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: not myself ever apprehended, but I still give him the glory.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Don't let the suit fool you. I will break out
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: in a praise. Don't let the hairdo fool you. I
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: will praise the Lord. In fact, I got to praise
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: him because I know I'm short. And if I don't
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: praise him, I can't get high enough to be recognized.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: But when I, oh, I better quit. When I begin,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: when I just begin to give God the praise, I
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: start standing up tall. Somebody stand up tall and give
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: him a crazy praise. Something is happening to you just
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: because you're in the flow. Just because you're in the flow.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Just because you're on the right road. Just because you're
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: in the right direction. Just because Jesus is coming your way.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Can I tell you to tell somebody Jesus is coming
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: your way? You may not see him right now, but
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: he's coming your way. He's headed in your direction. He's
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: coming up your street. He's coming into your circumstance. He's
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: coming into your situation. He's coming into your circumstance. He's
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: coming into your dilemma. If you just stand still and
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: wait on the Lord, somebody's been around Jesus. It's coming
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: your way. He's coming into your storm. He's coming into
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: your pain. He's coming into your shortness. He's coming into
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: your crisis. Oh, here he comes. He's the devil leader. Oh,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: here he comes. He's a devil leader. Uh-oh, here he comes.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: I got a prophetic word for somebody. Uh-oh, here he comes.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: You've been trying to fight this by yourself, but uh-oh,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: here he comes. Uh-oh, here he comes. Uh-oh, here he comes.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Don't run, don't duck, don't hide, don't dodge. Just wait
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: on him because you're in the flow. You're in the flow.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: There's a flow in the spirit. The Bible is called
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, a flow of living water. And if
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: you get in the flow, it will change your life forever.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: For the next end of this message, I need a
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: thousand people that are getting the flow. You may be dirty, Naaman,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: but get in the flow. You may have leprosy, but
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: get in the flow. You may be blind, but get
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: in the flow. Because if there be any healing, If
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: there be any healing, it's not going to come because
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: of how tall you are. It's going to come because
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: you got in the flow. See, Zacchaeus was hated. They
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: called him a sinner. He worked for the Romans. He
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: ripped off the Jews. The Jews hated him. The Romans
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: didn't respect him. And he was short. But he got
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: in the flow. Sometimes God doesn't bless you because of
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: how gifted or talented or intellectual or smart you are.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: You just happen. You just happen to get in the flow.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: You didn't get that job because you were the most qualified.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: You just happen. to get in the flow. And if
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: you get in the flow where Jesus is passing by,
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: something amazing is gonna happen in your life. That's why
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: I can't go to church with people who are trying
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: to be cute because cute can't heal cancer. But if
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: I get in the flow, God will open up the
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: windows of heaven and pour me out a blessing. I
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: want to have room to receive. If there's anybody in
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: this room that needs a miracle, get in the floor.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: So let me hear, let me hear, let me hear.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Sit down because you're going to make me, you're going
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: to make me, you're going to make me holler. If
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: you make me holler, you're going to make me run.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: If you make me run, you're going to make me shout.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: If you make me shout, you're going to make me holler.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Because I don't mind hollering. Because I'm short. And if
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: God is going to get my attention, I got to
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: do something radical. I'm too short to be cool. I
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: got to do something radical to get God's attention. Shout yes!
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: And so, the story. goes. That the short man found
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: a tall tree. There is a way out of this
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: for you. You just gotta find a tall tree. And
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: the Bible said that this rich man climbed a tree.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. Rich folk don't climb trees.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Rich folk hire people to climb trees. I got some
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: rich folk in here. There's not a rich person in
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: here that climbs trees because that's why you got rich.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: So you wouldn't have to climb the tree. You don't
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: trim your trees. You don't cut off dead limbs. You
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: call somebody. Zacchaeus was rich. But the richness was not enough.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: Because sometimes the money don't pay for The poverty of
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: living with the reality that try all I want, I
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: come up. And every night I lay down. I don't
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: lay down. I'm six foot two. I don't lay down
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: as a person that's six foot two. I lay down short.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: But if I were not short... I would not be
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: eligible for grace. That's why the Bible said, let the
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: weak say, I'm strong. Let the poor say, I'm rich.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: Because grace is the differential between where I am and
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: what I am called to be. Grace is the equalizer.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: Grace makes up the heads and closes up the gap.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Grace enables me to appear taller than I am. Now
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: I got to live with you defining me by what
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: grace has done. And I have to accept it as
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: my identity while I deal with the reality that if
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: it were not for God's grace, if it were not
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: for God's grace, I'm so short. The Bible says he
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: came to the sycamore fig tree. And he came to
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: a tree that Jesus had cursed. Just a few pages back,
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus has cursed a fig tree. Now blind, now Zacchaeus,
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: whose name incidentally means pure. What? Short but pure. Messed
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: up but innocent. Wrong but right. Guilty but innocent. Y'all
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: don't understand the dichotomy of the human experience. That's why
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you who I am. Because you don't
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: have time to hear. I can tell my therapist. by
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: the hour but when you say how I'm doing you
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: don't really want to know because I would have to
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: say I'm good but I'm bad and I'm I'm excited
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: but I'm scared to death and I'm nervous but I
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: got faith and I believe God but I'm worried to
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: death and and and I'm righteous but I'm freaky and
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: I'm holy but I'm broken and I'm I'm sanctified, but
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: I'm wild. Y'all not going to talk to me. Come on.
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: Where the real people at? I just need some real people.
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: Come on. I don't need no religious people. I need
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: some real people that are filled with conflict and contradictions
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: and things that are too difficult to explain. So we
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: just say, I'm fine. I'm fine is easier than telling
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: you I'm fragmented. I'm broken. If you flip me off,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: I go crazy. I got a temper like a lunatic,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: but I got a heart like pure gold. I give
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: you the shirt off my back, but if you steal $ 20,
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: I'll run over you with the car. See, I don't
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: have time to explain. Come on, real people. Come on,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: real people. We got to take over. So Zacchaeus climbs
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: a tree that Jesus would curse all because he wants
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: to be in the spot. And he cannot wait until
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: Jesus gets there To hit the spot. See, you all say,
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: when Jesus comes, I'm going to the spot. But when
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: Jesus comes, it's going to be too late to go
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: to the spot. You got to already be in the
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: spot before Jesus passes by. And the reason your life
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: is a mess is that you think you get to
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: act a fool until you see Jesus and then you're
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: going to hit the spot. But no, you got to
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: hit the spot While Jesus is still coming. Watch this
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: and I'll quit. I'll quit because I'm messing around, feel
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: like preaching. And if I mess around, feel like preaching,
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a problem. Because I feel something
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: down on the inside. Amen. It's pushing me around right
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: now when I start preaching. And then when I start
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: talking about being short and I juxtapose being short against trees,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: I start to realize that every major redemptive thing that
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: God would ever do, he would do it on a tree.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: It started in the Garden of Eden. with the tree
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: of life and the tree of knowledge of good and
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: evil and it ended up on the cross when Jesus
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: was hung out on the cross and here we are
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: standing in trees. Zacchaeus climbs A type of tree that
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: has been cursed. And he waits on Jesus to pass by.
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Look at somebody and say, hit the spot. Once you
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: get in the spot, watch this y'all, listen. This is good.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: Once you get in the spot, don't let no devil
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: in hell move you out of the spot. I know
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: the blessing ain't come yet, but stay in the spot.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: Stand fast in the liberties where Christ has made you
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: free and stay in the spot. Neither give place to
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: the devil. See, the devil is after territory. He's trying
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: to move you out of your spot. I don't know
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: who I'm talking to, but the Holy Ghost sent me
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: here to tell you, don't you move out of your spot.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. It
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: might not be working right now, So I'm out of time,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: I gotta close. Zacchaeus climbs the tree to see Jesus
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: at the bottom of the tree. And all Zacchaeus had
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: to do was hit the spot. Now the Bible says
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: Zacchaeus didn't come to the spot he actually got in
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: the flow and created the spot. When it says somebody
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: came to the spot, it wasn't Zacchaeus, it was Jesus.
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: So God says if you position yourself right, Jesus is
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: going to come to the spot. Oh, come on, come on. Oh,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: I wish I had time. Y'all messing with me now.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: Y'all messing with me now. Watch this. Jesus didn't come
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: to the person. He came to the spot. Jesus didn't
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: come to the woman with the issue of blood. He
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: came to the spot. Jesus didn't come to blind Bartimaeus.
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: He came to the spot. Abraham wasn't looking for the ram.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: He came to the spot. Whenever you get in the spot,
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about the blessing because the
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: blessing will always come to the spot. Your question needs
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: to be, Lord, help me to hit the spot. I
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: may be ugly, but I'm in the spot. I may
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: be broke, but I'm in the spot. I may be hated,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: but I'm in the spot. And I ain't gonna let
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: no devil in hell push me out of the spot.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: So Pastor Cheryl, the Bible says, The Bible, the Bible,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: the Bible, the Bible, the Bible, the Bible says, the Bible,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: the Bible says, not Zacchaeus came to the spot, but
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus came to the spot. Can I tell you that
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: Jesus is coming to the spot? And listen, all you
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: have to do, you don't have to be tall, Lord.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be smarter. You don't have to
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: be richer. All you got to do is hit the
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: spot because he's coming to the spot. He told Abraham,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: there's a spot where the miracle will work. If you
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: offer your son up on any other mountain, he's going
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: to die. But go to the place I will show you.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: When you get in the right place, the provision is
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: in the place. Come on, somebody. I don't have rams
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: on no other mountain. I only got rams on the
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: mountain that is the spot. Somebody holler, hit the spot.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: You've been thinking that it's something about your talent that
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: made you exceptional. I hate to hurt your feeling. There
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: are people in jail who can out sing you. There
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: are people sleeping up under bridges who are a better
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: architect than you are. There are people who are shooting
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: up dope that would be a better CEO than you.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: The only reason you got where you got is because
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: you hit the spot. So here's this quick exchange and
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: I'll stop because we're going to go eat now. Zacchaeus
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: is up in a cursed tree looking down at a
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: blessed Jesus. The blessed Jesus said, you got this backwards.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: I am supposed to be on the cursed tree. So
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: in order to straighten this out, You got to trade
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: places with me. I got to go up on the
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: tree so that you can walk down on the ground.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: And if you let me go up on the tree,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: I'll draw men unto me. Can I preach this word?
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: I need to preach this word. I need to tell somebody,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: come down out of your tree. Zacchaeus is a sinner.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: He can hang on the tree, but he can't redeem
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: anybody on the tree. It has to be a righteous
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: man who dies for sinners. If Jesus goes to the
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: tree with him, he will have made the mistake of
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: the first man, Adam. The first man, Adam, died with
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: his bride. The second man, Adam, died for his bride.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: So Jesus says, both of us can't be on this
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: tree together. So you got to come down so that
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: I can go up. Who am I preaching to in
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: the room? Is there anybody in this room that understands
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: this is good preaching? If you know this is good preaching,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: give God a praise right now. I got to quit.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: God wants to trade places with you. And here is
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: the challenge. You won't come down out of your tree
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: because you're short. And you built the tree so that
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: nobody could see that you're short. Watch this. The very
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: thing you're hiding is the very thing God wants. See,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: the people wanted you to be taller, but God loves short.
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: So God says to Zacchaeus, if you will give up
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: what you built to make you look good, if you
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: will let go of your implicit desperate need for influence
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: to compensate for your deep intrinsic insecurity I blessed you
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: because you were insecure I blessed I blessed you because
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: there were dents in your armor. I blessed you because
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: there were cracks in you. And now you're up on
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: the tree trying to act like you that tall. You
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: know you ain't that tall. I don't recognize you in
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: that tree. If you come down out of your high
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: horse and humble yourself, pass time. Oh, I'm trying to stop.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: If you humble yourself, God says, I will exalt you.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: So what it is, is a peak at substitution. Zacchaeus
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: comes down so Jesus can go up. And God says,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: if you come down out of your tree and become
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: cool with being short. I can handle you being short
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: better than I can you camouflaging your shortness in a tree.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: I don't recognize you in the tree. I loved you
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: when you wasn't important. I loved you when you was nervous.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: I loved you when you were scared to death. I
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: loved you when you were insecure. I loved you when
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: you were on your face. I loved you when you
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: wasn't worthy. I loved you when you laid on your
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: face and sought me early in the morning because you
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: thought without me, I can do nothing. And now you're
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: so important. And I cannot give you what I want
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: to give you. Until you come down out of your tree.
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: So he says to Zacchaeus, listen, I'm closing. Stand up,
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: stand up, because I've got to close. He says, make
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: haste and come down. Don't gradually come down. He says,
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: make haste. He, make haste. hate, come down in a hurry.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: Don't gradually forgive, make haste and come down. Don't gradually transition,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: make haste and come down. Don't gradually evolve, make haste
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: and come down. Don't protect your image, make haste and
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: come down. So Zacchaeus, made haste, and he came down.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: And then Jesus says to him what he never said
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: to him in the tree. As long as he was
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: in the tree, Jesus never offered to stay at his house.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: Jesus says, I will not live with you until you
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: come down. If you come down out of your tree,
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: I will come and stay with you. When Zacchaeus made
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: haste to come down, Everybody was talking about he a sinner.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: Jesus don't know who he living with. How could Jesus
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: go stay at his house? He's a tax collector. None
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: of that was the problem. The problem was Zacchaeus had
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: a complex about his insecurities that he camouflaged. I have
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: learned that most people's behavior is dyslexic. Weak people are
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: generally mean. To protect the lamb they roar. Arrogant people,
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: whenever you meet a man that's arrogant, don't respond to
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: his arrogance because his arrogance is his tree. His insecurity
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: is what drove him up the tree. So the reason
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: he's trying to be important is because he's short. And
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: you're attacking him like he's a tree person. Annoyed at
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: his arrogance rather than ministering to his insecurity. I'm not
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: a billionaire, I might not ever be a billionaire but
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: I got friends who are billionaires and I found out
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: that the only people who dress rich is poor folks.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: billionaires have on tennis shoes and jeans from Target while
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: you got Gucci bags and Louis Vuitton. You know why
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: the billionaire dresses down? Because they don't need a tree.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: You know why poor people will spend their last dollar
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: to get a rich bag? Because they don't want you
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: to know how short they are You know how people
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: who need love act like they don't have time for love?
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: I'm a career woman. I'm a career man. I don't
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: need anybody. I got to shut up. You know as
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: well as I do that money ain't no company at
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: 2 o'clock in the morning. So to all my tree people,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: if you come down this morning out of your tree,
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: Jesus will stay at your house. As I close this
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: morning's message, I just wonder if there's anybody who's got
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: the courage, it ain't easy. It takes a lot of
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: courage to come down out of the tree. The tree
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: makes you look good. The tree makes you look tall.
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: The tree puts you in a category of exceptionalism. Why
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: do you think he was a tax collector in the
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: first place? He wanted to be important. You think you're ambitious, no.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: You're broken. And you are trying to use ambition to
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: add value to your life. And as long as you
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: need a thing to make you valuable, it's an admission
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: that you are not valuable. I'm talking to you. I'm
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: talking to you. The tree has become your idol. You
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: praise God with your mouth, but you won't let nobody
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: touch your tree. Because your tree is your God. Where
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: is my musician? Did he die? Your tree... Call the paramedics.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: Your tree... Come on, stay with me. I'm human, I
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: already told you I'm complicated. I can quote scriptures and
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: go off all at the same time. I'm weird like you.
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: Look at me, here's the question. Will you hold on
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: to your tree at the expense of losing Jesus? Will
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: you spend the rest of your life climbing up on
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: stuff to give you a strategic advantage? Or will you
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: trust God for your shortness?