zacchaeus

Hay Day One – VBS

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Tis the month of summer and VBS is my favorite way to share the love of Jesus, to share what I know about God’s Word, and especially HIS LOVE! This is at my friend’s VBS – with great organizers and volunteers – oh the love of the Lord exudes from these folks! I love VBS and love to see my VBS friends.

If you have never volunteered for a VBS – I urge you to do so – the real real Holy Spirit in mega proportions shows up in the kids and volunteers – Jesus is there!

It’s also so much fun to do projects! This 2 day VBS is my chance to do science projects in Imagination Station – one day Zacchaes and Jesus and one day Peter and Jesus. Here is my write up (editted now) that I was able to share – along with “experiments” of planting seeds – and one last Holy Spirit experiment of yeast and hydrogen peroxide and dishsoap to show the change of heart that Zacchaes had was like a chemical reaction when he encountered Jesus – and Zacchaes’s heart overflowed.

From the handout with the seeds:We are all able to plant the seeds of friendship and faith at VBS and everywhere. We can share our knowledge of God and ask God to water the seeds of faith in each other. We can plant that seed of knowledge of: “Jesus loves me”, especially to our friends and family by letting them know that “Our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God” Romans 5:11.

Seeds grow (both the physical seed and those of faith). Just like seeds growing and changing, we are also growing in friendship with Jesus, He helps us improve and be better friends with all others around us.

Talking intro (roughly) just before we planted seed (physically and of faith):

So we’re starting to learn about one of the great friends that Jesus made from a man named Zacchaeus. Jesus knew Zacchaeus would be up in the tree. Jesus certainly already knew everything about Zacchaeus and the crowd that day was surely busy, packed, and it’s not like today where young people and today young at heart climb trees for fun, that wasn’t really Zacchaeus’s expected behavior- not for a professional businessman. He must have been really excited. 

Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. He had to reach up to get a bigger view- let me get our crew leaders here to help me make a tree from these tubes and long cardboard supports. Use your imagination to see Zacchaeus up in this tree but know that Jesus KNEW that tree would be there, KNEW the seed was planted many years before to make the tree available for Zacchaeus to decide to act when he got interested in Jesus. 

This weekend at VBS, we are learning about Jesus being our friend, and how Jesus gets close to us, how Jesus recognizes us and meets us where we are. I have some beautiful plants here that are like miniature trees, Do you recognize them? (Start with seedlings then pots of sunflowers) This is Imagination Station so you might need to imagine how tall this was going to grow.It should get taller than me. Here are some more seeds of all sizes – they are all unique aren’t they – like us.. 

Well, we are HayDay farmers this weekend, aren’t we? And we are friends of Jesus too. And when we become friends with other people, it is like we are planting seeds of friendliness, of sharing, of love, of joy. And here’s a phrase we use all the time in talking about Jesus- that we plant seeds of faith. Then God sends the water to help those seeds sprout and grow. And we hope that people have good soil and the seeds take root, and are willing to hear how Jesus wants to be their friend. 

So we are going to do an activity – and plant seeds of three sizes – sunflowers, radishes, and peas. I hope that you think about each seed and think of what it could represent – perhaps a radish seed is a smile you could give someone, perhaps a big seed is forgiveness you give someone – each seed a friendship action.

OK – let’s go plant!!!

Son of Man, FULFILLED

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Stand in the Gap – that’s a position no one would do in the time of rebellious Israelites about to be put away to Babylon for punishment, with Ezekiel speaking out the judgment from God against them. Then God said no one would stand in the GAP, but someone, a BIG Someone could and would. JESUS came to stand in the gap for all of us, for each of us.

And we know Jesus as forever present, forever God, not an afterthought of repair but a pre-positioned acceptance of purpose and plan. Jesus, a lamb slain before the foundation of the world, came to save it and knew how.

Jesus stood in the GAP to save. He stood on earth calling up to Zacchaeus who was in a tree – and Zacchaeus stood up to repent and give back what he stole in tax collecting. Jesus in Heaven was set to go to earth – and awaits the time now to come back from Heaven, awaiting His second coming. The Wall of strength we must stand on is Jesus. The Gap we must fill in ourselves is Jesus. The HOPE is that the SON OF MAN fulfilled the Gap in man – and we are saved in repent.

Repent – Intent – Heaven Sent

Amen

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So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.  Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. Ezekiel 22:30-31

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Luke 19:1-10 New King James Version

Jesus Comes to Zacchaeus’ House

Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore  tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”