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Luke 19 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
• 0:19
  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
• 0:22
  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. Luke 19 begins with the story of
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  a wee little man that many of us grew up singing about in Sunday
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  School. Of course, I mean Zacchaeus.
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  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector in Jericho who had a
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  powerful encounter with Jesus. Listen to his story as it's
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  described in today's chapter. He entered Jericho and was
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  passing through and there was a man called by the name of
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  Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and
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  he was rich. Zacchaeus was trying to see who
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  Jesus was and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small
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  in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed
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  up into a Sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was about to
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  pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place he
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  looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down,
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  for to day I must stay at your house.
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  And he hurried and came down and received him gladly.
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  When they saw it they all began to grumble, saying, He has gone
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  to be the guest of a man who is a Sinner.
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  Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, Behold Lord, half of
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  my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have
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  defrauded anyone of anything I will give back four times as
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  much. And Jesus said to him to day
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  salvation has come to this house because he too is the Son of
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  Abraham. For the Son of man has come to
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  seek and to save that which was lost.
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  All throughout the Bible we see this reality that real, genuine
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  faith is demonstrated not in what we say, but in what we do.
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  Put another way, faith works. faith in God is lived out in
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  obedience to Him. And that is exactly what we see
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  on display here in the life of Zacchaeus.
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  This is a man whose reputation as a Sinner preceded him.
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  He was well known as someone who did not live for God.
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  He was a tax collector who had likely gotten rich by taking
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  advantage of his fellow Jews. And yet here Zacchaeus has an
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  encounter with Jesus. He puts himself in Jesus path,
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  even climbs a tree to get a good look at him.
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  And Jesus takes notice. He calls him down from the tree
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  by name and tells him that today he will be staying at his house.
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  And then what we see is the display of the faith of a Sinner
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  who has been rescued by God's grace.
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  Zacchaeus is changed. His life has been upended by
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  Christ. He embodies with his actions the
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  reality of 2nd Corinthians 517 that if anyone is in Christ,
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  he's a new creature. The old things passed away.
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  Behold, new things have come. Zacchaeus begins taking radical
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  steps of obedience. He commits to giving half of his
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  possessions to the poor and to paying back anyone that he has
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  cheated 4 times what he took from them.
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  His faith is not just a mental agreement to what Jesus says is
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  true or right. No, his faith gets to work.
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  Zacchaeus has a new master now. No longer is power or position
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  or possessions on the throne of his life.
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  Jesus is. And so we are met with a
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  question that we must evaluate for ourselves.
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  Are we living out what we say we believe?
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  Are we acting on what we claim to follow?
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  The book of James tells us that faith without works is dead,
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  useless faith. It can't exist.
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  If we really believe Jesus is who he claims to be, like
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  Zacchaeus, our lives will reflect it.
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  So take a hard look at your life today.
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  Who is on the throne of your life?
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  Are you practicing what you preach?
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  Are you walking the walk or just talking the talk?
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  Fall on the grace of the Jesus who came to seek and save the
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  lost and live out what you believe.