I Deserve It: Rejection, But HE Gave Me Acceptance

I DESERVE IT—3

I DESERVE REJECTION, BUT HE GAVE ME ACCEPTANCE

1 Peter 2:9-10 (MSG)

9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

Luke 19:1-9 (NIV)  Zacchaeus the Tax Collector 

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 because he was short he could not see over 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 the lost.”

Luke 5:27-28 (NLT) JESUS Calls Levi (Matthew) 

27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. 28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

5:29 Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?[a]”

31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

Here is what I want you to take with you today:

1. What is your 1-minute story? 
2. Share your story with one person this week. 
3. Stop muttering about covid-19 and do whatever it takes to see JESUS. 
4. While you Self Isolate, pray for the person that helps you see JESUS.
5. Social distance yourself from your old life.  (Live out your new identity.) 
6. Repeat this, “I believe”.  

JESUS I believe, I believe you love me, I believe you forgive me, I believe I belong to you LORD.