Back to Innocence | You Are Mine | Judah Smith

hey welcome back to church home I'm Judah I'm so glad you are here and what you may not know is this is a conclusion of a collection of talks we've done on the subject of innocence and how Jesus uh helps you ReDiscover your innocence in life and uh we're going to go to the end of a story one of my favorite stories in all of scripture where Jesus encounters zakus goes to his home changes his life forever and the thought working from is that what Jesus did for zakus he can do for you and if I can say it plainly he did it for me and I'm so excited to take you to this last little portion of the story and I think it's going to be a real encouragement to you but I want to restate something that we stated all the way back at the beginning of this month the month of March and that is I believe Jesus can do for you what you can't do for yourself if you're like me life has happened to you pain has happened loss has happened things that aren't Fair have happened to you people have said mean things and done hurtful things to you and all of a sudden that can kind of shape your day-to-day life all of a sudden that becomes kind of the thing you are constantly protecting yourself from I know I do things to I don't want to get hurt anymore I don't want to be disappointed anymore and and frankly it's it's it's a loss of Innocence it's this feeling that bad things have happened before and maybe they're going to keep happening so I got to protect myself I got to distance myself or numb myself or remove myself from the realities and pains of Life perhaps you have jumped into this content I mean here you are in part five but maybe this is part one for you if you've ever felt like this that's what we're talking about these messages are are dedicated to that feeling that I know I've had what if Jesus could help you recover that innocent Outlook in life that freedom from guilt shame and pain that letting go of the need to insulate protect yourself numb yourself from the realities of Life what if you woke up with hope what if you lived your days feeling like something Grand and great is going to happen to you because God loves you we ended last week talking about how Jesus really is home he's the home we all crave and the home we're all looking for and I want to add one more observation and thought from this story so without giving you all the context I want to say it again if you need some of the backstory and the history and the context of this 2,000-year old story please please if you get a chance go to part one we um we set a lot of the framework and the context there in in that message but I want to jump to Luke chapter 19 verses 9 and 10 which are well and truly the concluding words that are shared in this scene and the story and their quotes of Jesus my hero and I really mean it when I say this the person that has absolutely categorically changed my life Jesus is quoted is saying this Jesus said to them this shows that today zakus life has come to you and your household for you are a true son of Abraham son of man Jesus says speaking of himself has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost now if you know the story very quickly zakus has um well he's had the the favor of all favors the moment of all moments Jesus the man of the hour has visited his home and probably stayed the night I think zaki's friends came over and the love of Jesus changes zaki's life so much so that all of his wealth and money that he's made from stealing from his own people the Jewish people he promises probably at a dinner party to give it all back I'm going to give it all away and anything that I've robbed or cheated people from which he had done a lot I'm going to give back four times which is to say I'm giving all of my money away I'm changing my entire life because of what I've experienced and witness from this man Jesus now after he makes that toast if you will after he makes that announcement Jesus is quoted saying the words I just read to you Jesus in essence says to everybody at the dinner or everybody in the scene this man's life has been changed his life is compl completely transformed verses 9 and 10 outline those words and Jesus responds to zakus saying he's going to give everything away and he says well this this just demonstrates it proves that you've changed your life is never going to be the same but I want to draw your attention to something that Jesus says in verse 9 that is very controversial very very very heated he says to zakus you're a true son of Abraham now if you know about the Jewish community in Antiquity to be a true son of Abraham means that you are a true Jew to your core Abraham the great uh hero of the Jewish people the great vessel used by God right to to bring in an invent if you will along with God the nation of Israel and it and its favor and blessing in the world to be a true son of Abraham Jesus is saying about zakus you're as true as it gets you're true blue now that would have been hugely problematic because the performance of zakus had made him a reject of the Jewish people they wouldn't even acknowledge Him in the marketplace eat with him look him in the eye or respond to him if he spoke to him he was treated as invisible almost his friends would have been people who were crooked as he was or people from Rome which was the oppressive country that was obviously um excessively and overbearingly ruling over Israel he was an enemy of the state of Israel if you will zakus was not a true son at least amongst the people and yet in this one moment of time Jesus says you are a true son of Abraham by the way Jesus is also saying I have the authority and power to say who's true your life has changed you're true which is wild because zakus has had one good night do you know what I mean like he's had kind of one good moment and now Jesus is making a public announcement it seems he's real this is authentic and this is genuine in our world you it's kind of what you do over a long term not just what you do in the short term yet God's love is so extraordinary and his grace is so extensive that in one moment of transformation the love of Jesus and the person of Jesus says you're mine and that's my message to end this series I believe what Jesus is saying in essence is hey zakus you're mine you're mine you're with me and I'm with you now I think this was very meaningful to zakus because well and truly he no longer belonged to Israel he now belonged to Rome Rome was his people Rome was where he was accepted he was no longer accepted amongst Israel amongst the Jews he was rejected and yet here comes quite possibly one of the most famous Jews at the moment say you are one of us but more specifically you're mine you're mind you know I uh sometimes I'll introduce myself with my wife I'll say I I go with her I'm with her she's with me which is to say we mve together I belong to her she belongs to me I'm not trying to be crass or crude but it's a wonderful thing to say hey I I only give my body I only give this kind of affection and attention and intimacy to you I don't share it with anybody else this is my way of even physically saying that I'm yours and then my wife responds 25 years in by saying and and I only give my body this way to you so I am yours and in that space is what's sacred it's intimate it's meaningful it encourages me it gives me value in in a way it gives me purpose I share that with another human that what we share we only share with each other we don't share with anybody else and that makes it valuable this is a moment though obviously this is not the intimacy of a husband and a wife or romance but this is Jesus saying to zakus you're mine and I'm yours I'm with you and you're with me you're forgiven you're accepted I see you and though you are rejected by your people you are not rejected by me you're accepted by me this is also a way of Jesus telling zakus that I'll take care of you I'm going to take care of you and all the sudden this return to innocence starts to make you even more sense I wonder sometimes if you're like me uh I've heard people say and maybe it was Solomon who said you know money has a way of growing wings and flying away um life is hard down here uh you'll make money you'll spend money taxes um dentist I had a toothache the other day and you're just like am I just going to keep getting toothaches you know might just keep going back to the dentist and the answer is essentially yes which is to say life's expensive life's um there's details um you got to sit down and look at the bills um is a friend ever told you like I got to pay the bills too man you know like it's it's The Facts of Life to say it plainly sometimes The Facts of Life just steal our innocence you can't be that kid anymore who's you know running around in the sprinklers in the summertime in your local city because well I got bills to pay miles to feed people to take care of maybe you're an entrepreneur or a business owner you're like I got employees I got people I mean this this is not a game man I got I got to take care of what I got to take care of and some of that mentality and reality robs us of well innocence robs us of that sense of if I'm taking care of everybody who's who's taking care of me and I love love that about marriage I love that about my wife I can hug her and hold her and feel like man somebody's got me and somebody's taking care of me but love here in this life will fail you Chelsea's disappointed me but let me say it more clearly I have definitely disappointed her not showed up for her not been there for her when she needed me most you know whose Love Never Fails you know who's always available and will always take care of you Jesus I think this is Jesus way of saying to zakus who just got done telling everybody he's giving everything away this is Jesus way of saying yeah but I'll take care of you I'll take care of you're mine I'm yours I got you I'm going to provide for you what if that's the message God wants to tell you today did it ever occur to you that he can take care of you he can actually a lot of religion and tradition says you know you you you got to make the money and you got to make it happen and you got to make sure you pay the bills but but I I I got to tell you Jesus can even pay your bills now you're probably watching this going I what do you mean I'm G tell you an old story early on in our marriage Chelsea and I when we were much younger and uh I was going to say less wrinkles but she's only gotten more beautiful but I did have less gray hair back then we were newly married living in Seattle Washington and when you're new newly married things like taxes uh you don't plan for you just kind of live life you get some income and you're like this is awesome and then right around the end of the fiscal year April whatever the time is I act like I know the timelines but anyways we got notified or maybe Chelsea figured it out um I'm not sure we had anybody helping with our money at the time I think Chelsea was doing all of it but it occurred to us um the US government was going to collect more taxes than we planned for and we were going to have to pay thousands of dollars now back then early in our marriage $1,000 might as well been a million dollars because you know when you got no money you got no money it's not no hundred no thousand no million you just got no right it's just no and so that bill was I mean how are we going to pay that bill and I think if I am uh remembering correctly Chelsea is in studio she would remember the actual number but I think it was a few thousand but it was a real specific thous few thousand right wasn't like a round number or anything and um we prayed we were like how we goingon to pay for this I don't know and I was thinking like I could explore like the NBA you know like I could shoot you know I'm King I didn't say I wish right but we didn't know how we're going to pay so we pray this is a real story a pastor from I want to say Oklahoma uh Chelsea would remember this part too I think I think social media was just starting I can't remember if he text me or DMD me I think it was before all that anyways I think you might have text me and I'm trying to wonder if it was before text too but he said hey God spoke to me to send you a gift now when he said gift I thought to myself you know he going to send me some basketball cards or baseball cards or a jacket or a shirt you know whatever that'll be that'll be sick that'll be cool that'll be awesome I didn't say sick because back then we didn't say that but this the true story that's like the third time I said that we get a knock on the door and a priority mail was sent and we had to sign for the priority mail the mailman handed us the an envelope I looked what's this I don't know we open it up inside the envelope was another envelope we opened it up and inside was a check from that Pastor from Oklahoma or something and I am telling you the truth would you know that that number on that check to the very dollar was the exact amount that the US government had asked us to pay in addition to cover our taxes Chelsea will tell you I think I dropped the envelope like wait who told did you tell she look at me like did you tell and you know cuz of course as pastors we didn't think that it was actually God you know we're like how did somebody know and I learned that day first couple years of our marriage Jesus can actually pay your bills too so when I hear Jesus say I'll take care of you he means it he'll take care of you what if we believe that what if we believe it's not our job that takes care of us it's not our Blood Sweat and Tears that takes care of us it's not our paycheck that takes care of us it's not our taxes or lack thereof that takes it's it's Jesus who takes care of us I'll take care of you I think is what he saying and lastly I Think Jesus is saying I'm proud of you like I'm proud of you you know what I'm convinced I'm convinced the feeling that we're guilty is the feeling that we're not enough and the feeling that we're not enough causes us to vehemently and passionately work hard so that somebody will say we are enough or in other words I'm proud of you I think you're amazing I'll go on record to say I think one of the most important jobs that a dad does in his whole dadhood is to literally just tell his kids I'm proud of you for no particular reason I'm proud of you cuz you're you I'm proud of you because you're my daughter I'm proud of you because you're my son I'm not proud of you because of your performance your performance is great and I'm proud of that too but I'm just proud of of you because you're you I Think Jesus is saying you're mine you belong to me not Rome you belong to me not Israel I'll take care of you and I'm proud of you I wonder how much effort time and attention you spend in your daily life hoping wishing Desiring whether consciously or unconsciously to hear those words I'm proud of you I've done enough therapy I've had enough therapists to know that's one of the primary things we need in this life for somebody somewhere at some point to actually be proud of us I got good news today I really do man guess what Jesus is actually like the god of Heaven and Earth thinks the world of you he likes your eyes your lips your hips your fingertips he thinks you're amazing he's proud of you for you think about it I know Ines 9 and 10 of Luke 19 that Jesus is smiling I know he's smiling and then at the end of this incredible like Declaration of love and affirmation he summarizes by saying this is what I'm all about this is what I do which is to say I don't just do this for zakus I do this for everybody the the son of man has come to seek out and to give life you don't earn it you don't deserve it he gives it he said this is what I do the son of man speaking about himself if you're Jesus you can talk in third person the son of man has come to seek out and to give life to all those who are lost I can't even tell you how many times I have felt lost in this life but I got good news this is what Jesus specializes in he says I'm not just going to do this for zakus the whole story ends please hear me the whole story ends with Jesus saying I'm not just going to do this for Zach I want to do this for you I think that statement is there so that whoever reads it through the corridors of History this story zakus has gone on to Eternity with Jesus this story is not about zakus anymore or for zakus anymore it's for you it's for me and Jesus wants you to know this is what I do and I'd like to do it for you I have done it for you you you're mine you I'll take care of you you I'm proud of you I'm proud of you boy we need to hear that and I think in a way the older I get the more I'm banking on this he's going to take care of me are you stressed about work are you stressed about income maybe you're stressed about taxes I have been there you belong to him maybe you're tired by friendships and relationships that have come and gone that you've lost and have been broken and you're like man I can't even keep friends I can't keep a romantic relationship but you belong to him not them he'll take care of you and he's proud of you simply said he's enough and you're enough because he makes up the Delta and the difference I love this story I do for a lot of reasons but I love it because this story for me ends with two big smiles I know Jesus is smiling and I know zakus is smiling cuz this story is the kind of ending I'm looking for both of these men are smiling like this was a great day this is a great deal I believe the same can be for you and for me let me pray for you God I thank you that you make it so clear that what you did for zakus you will do for us so I'm asking you to do it remind us that we belong to you remind us that you will take care of us and you are proud of us I thank you for these moments we share together together just thinking about people that are about to have a conversation I'm asking that you would be right there in the middle of their conversation and that you would give us the strength and courage to get vulnerable with each other and to share the truth of what we're facing and feeling in this life help us to recover innocence that childlike Wonder help us to be free from guilt and shame and live this life that you beckon us into welcome us into invite us into I thank you for that amen amen thanks for watching hey thanks for watching the whole series some of you have watched all five weeks and that is incredible it means the world let us know if we can do anything for you Pastor chat is available and uh we love you happy March and uh Here Comes April I'm pumped holy yeah are you Lord God 
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