God Has a Purpose for Me

“ ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” —2 Corinthians 5:17-20

“ ¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. ⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. ⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ ⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ ⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’” —Luke 19:1-10

“ ³¹ We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³² They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, ³³ flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” —Luke 18:31-33

“ ²⁰ Jesus said, ‘I stand at the door and knock, and if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’” —Revelation 3:20

Big Idea: Jesus moved towards Zacchaeus—a man who was lost and lonely—and it changed his life. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to go and do the same!

(1.) Move towards the lost

(2.) Move towards the lonely

“ ²¹ Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” —John 20:21