Jesus consistently declared His mission was to seek and save lost people. Zacchaeus was a man whose mind and heart were captured with a desire to find out more about Jesus. When we are saved the inner work of God will be seen in changes of our outward actions.

Blindness and sight are both powerful realities and metaphors that reveal Jesus as the unique Son of God who can heal and save people. When Jesus opens your eyes, you will know who He is, follow Him, and glorify Him with your life.

Jesus talks to a man about how he can have eternal life and go to heaven.

Self-righteous, legalistic obedience can never save us, but God’s mercy can rescue even the worst sinner who comes to Him in humility and brokenness.

Jesus calls His disciples to persistent prayer. Without prayer or sometimes because of the delay between beginning to ask God for something and seeing His answer, we can lose our courage and give in to despair. God, our Father, hears our prayers, is just, and does answer prayers offered in faith.

The Bible teaches that all of life - where and why it started and when and where it is headed - are in the hand and heart of God. We’ll never understand the origin or the destination of life - the past, present, and the future - until we know God through Jesus Christ and start living in His Kingdom.

We cannot be saved, know the Lord, or please the Lord without faith. It is no surprise that the Disciples asked Jesus to give them greater faith. Jesus surprises them by redirecting their desires toward greater obedience. Of these two things - faith and obedience, what do we need more of?

In a teaching section aimed at His disciples Jesus calls us to treasure relationships by watching our teaching and example, keeping a closer watch on ourselves than we do others, and by forgiving people when they hurt us.

Every Kingdom is ruled by authority. The Word of God (both written and the Living Word - Jesus) are the authority over lives of the followers of Jesus. Jesus invites us into God’s Kingdom. His authority trumps my opinion, public opinion, and our traditions.

The BIG Idea: Jesus calls us to look past the “now” of life and into the future, boht ofr ourselves and others. He reminds us of a choice we must all make - that there can only be one Lord of our life. The preoccupation of earth is “how much will we leave behind?” while the preoccupation of heaven is “how much are we sending ahead?”