With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.

i want to start

in uh

luke

chapter 19

the first eight verses

and jesus entered jericho and was

passing through it

and there was a man called zacchaeus

a chief tax collector

and he was

rich so this is telling us that

zacchaeus

uh

was

not a real honest guy

tax collectors were

probably hated more than any other group

of people

in those days and so he not only

collected taxes but he obviously got

rich himself

by taking other people’s money

maybe something about zacchaeus wasn’t

satisfied

with his life because he’d heard about

jesus and

he was trying to

see jesus

which one he was because jesus was

coming and it says he could not see him

because he was small in stature

now let’s just be plain that means he

was real short

okay and if a person is real short and

there’s a big crowd

and there’s something you’re wanting to

see

you might feel that that was a like a

little deficit or a handicap for you but

the thing that you’re going to find

interesting that i the reason why i love

this group of scriptures is because

zacchaeus didn’t let

what was going to be

uh

a little problem for him stop him

everybody say determination

see

if you ever want to have what jesus died

to give you you’ve got to have a

boatload of determination

and that determination means that you

have this attitude if anybody can have

what jesus died to give them then i can

have it

if god can bless anybody then god can

bless me now come on i’m talking about

having a more aggressive attitude if god

can bless anybody he can bless me

if god can do that for anybody he can do

that for me if he did it for you he can

do it for me

all too often we look at what’s wrong

with us and why we can’t and can’t and

can’t and can’t

and we need to remember that god is no

respecter of persons

and whatever we will trust god for and

believe for if it’s in his word

not just because you decide you want to

but if it’s in his word

you can count on god doing that in your

life at the right time and in the right

way well zacchaeus wanted something

but he had a challenge in front of him

and i love what happened here he was

trying to see jesus but he was small

verse 4.

so he ran on ahead and climbed up in a

sycamore tree

in order to see him

for he knew that he was about to pass by

that way and i see i have this little

thing that i like to say

more people need to be willing to climb

a tree if that’s what it’s going to take

to get what they want

and you can

translate that however it fits into your

life

so he ran ahead and he climbed up in the

tree and when jesus reached the place

and i love this i want you to get a

picture of this try to imagine this

scene

big crowd

guy wants to see jesus i mean huge crowd

really not a very good guy he’s got

problems in his life but maybe he’s

ready for a change

he wanted to see jesus

couldn’t see him

should he just give up is it going to be

too hard should he just say oh this is

not going to work for me and walk off no

he ran ahead of everybody else and he

climbed up in a tree and when jesus

came passing by

i love this part of the story

it says that he looked up

now why would jesus be walking along and

decide to look up in a tree

i’ll tell you why because there was

something

in the attitude of zacchaeus

that drew the spirit of jesus

to him

come on now and so

and he said to him

now watch this zacchaeus hurry up and

come down

because i must stay at your house today

who does jesus like to hang out with

people that have got a determined

attitude that they’re not going to quit

and give up if we want the presence of

god in our lives then we’ve got to have

the kind of attitude that he wants us to

have and that means i don’t care what

i’m not

jesus is everything that i need and so i

may be short but i can find a way to do

what he wants me to do come on come on

come on come on

stop thinking about what you don’t have

and how you weren’t raised right and how

you didn’t get this and you’re not this

and you’re not that don’t focus on what

you’re not focus on who he is

and what he can do

through you

so

as we go on

so he heard and he came down and he

received and welcomed him

joyfully

verse 7 and when the people saw it and

this always happens these people just

aggravate me no end

when the people saw that jesus was going

to go to zacchaeus house they all

muttered

among themselves indignantly complaining

he has gone to be the guest of an and

lodge with this man who is devoted to

sin and is a preeminent

sinner

it’s amazing the person who has an

aggressive attitude and gets god’s

attention and something good starts to

happen in their life how all the people

don’t like it and they nobody else ran

and climbed up a tree and so they

shouldn’t have been murmuring because

zacchaeus got something from jesus that

they would have liked to have had and

then verse 8 says so then zacchaeus

stood up and solemnly declared i love

this part

to the lord see lord the half of my

goods now i give by way of restoration

to the poor and if i have cheated anyone

out of anything i now restore four times

as much you see what happens to people

when you start hanging out in the

company of jesus all of a sudden you get

generous

all of a sudden you start wanting to

give instead of taking zacchaeus had

been a taker he’d been a thief he’d been

taking other people’s money and using it

for himself now all of a sudden one

encounter with jesus

and he’s a changed man

let me tell you something don’t let any

deficit in your life hold you back you

know my story if you’ve watched me on tv

i mean my gosh i got such a bad start in

life

i mean i was hurt so bad and

you know i had to come to the point

where i just said i’m not going to let

that hold me back

god is greater than your past

amen

he’s greater than any problem

that you’ve got we’ve got a young man

that’s here today and

i don’t know where tony’s at but this is

like the third time he’s been to one of

my conferences i met him 10 years ago

and he was

one of the

uh make-a-wish foundation children

he happens to be in a wheelchair and

he’s got some physical challenges and so

his wish was to was to meet me which i

thought was just it’s just one of the

sweetest things that’s ever happened to

me so anyway they paid for him to come

here and then after meeting him uh

we kind of got it in our heart to help

them a little bit further so

we we bought their family the ministry

bought their family a uh

a wheelchair equipped van

and we bought him a much better

wheelchair than what he had and

so

[Applause]

so anyway

there’s tony right there see there he is

look at that tony now you’re famous

you’re gonna be on tv

check it out all right now he

he came here today they drove from

naples and

he’s so excited because he’s about to

graduate from college

[Applause]

come on

he’s getting a business degree in

administration

now how many people in that situation

would just give up and say well my

life’s over i can never do anything come

on what have you given up on and what

are you whining about let’s let his

testimony

kick us in the tutu a little bit and say

i’m gonna start climbing a tree if

that’s what i have to do to see jesus in

my life amen

yeah

awesome

awesome awesome awesome

i’m trying to get the point across to

you today that you

will be amazed what you can do

if you won’t

have a give up attitude before you ever

give it your best to find out what god

can do through you if you’ll trust him

and take a step of faith

[Applause]

i mean i am telling you

that there is no way that i should be

doing what i’m doing

i talk

and

i gave my mouth to god

and i said i believe that i can overcome

my past because i see the promises in

your word hey listen when i started this

women didn’t do what i’m doing

there was maybe a handful

just a handful and i just want to say

again

determination i love what the apostle

paul said is recorded in philippians 3

my determined purpose is to know him and

the power of his resurrection that lifts

me out from among the dead even while

i’m in the body and if you want to have

a great relationship with jesus you can

have a great relationship with him but

you’re going to have to be determined to

not let the devil or circumstances or

anything else steal it from you

how many of you want to have the best

life that you can have

you might say yeah i’m praying about

that well that’s good you always want to

start with prayer but i want to tell you

something it’s going to take a little

bit more than that because god’s going

to show you some things that you need to

do some things that you need to change

and he will give you the grace to do it

but when it comes right down to it you

got to do the doing