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What a wonderful Empower Conference God blessed us with on Feb. 26-27 at the Irving Convention Center. I am so grateful for the inspiration and encouragement my wife, Ashley, and I received. I want to say a special thank you to our executive director, Nathan Lorick, and Tony Mathews, senior strategist of missional ministries at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. We are so blessed to have gifted men of God full of integrity leading our convention.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus states, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus sought and saved Zacchaeus, a tax collector deeply hated by most. Jesus first found him perched in a sycamore tree. Our Lord told him to come down out of the tree so He could come stay at Zacchaeus’s house. After encountering Christ and hearing the message of salvation, Zacchaeus surrendered his life to Jesus and started following Him.
After encountering Christ and hearing the message of salvation, Zacchaeus surrendered his life to Jesus and started following Him.
No one is ever beyond the reach of God. He can save anyone. Consider these other examples:
- One of my favorite hobbies is reading biographies and autobiographies. I am currently reading the remarkable story of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese fighter pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. In his book, Wounded Tiger, T. Martin Bennett recounts the fascinating story of how Fuchida came to faith in Jesus.
- In Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton, he chronicles the life of the greatest founding father of the U.S. never to have been elected president. Hamilton was a genius in the fields of politics, banking, and commerce. He was the first treasury secretary to serve under President George Washington. Some of his many accomplishments include writing most of the Federalist Papers, creating the first bank in America, and starting the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs Service.
But most do not remember him for these prodigious accomplishments. They remember Hamilton as the man who lost the pistol duel in 1801 to Aaron Burr, the U.S. vice president at the time. As he lay on his deathbed, Hamilton asked for a pastor to come and administer the Lord’s Supper to him. Chernow records the conversation Hamilton had with the Rev. John Mason: “As Mason told how Christ’s blood would wash away his sins, Hamilton grasped his hand, rolled his eyes heavenward, and exclaimed with great fervor, ‘I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Jesus is still seeking and saving the lost today. He invites you and me as His disciples to join Him in this wonderful adventure of seeking out the lost and sharing the good news with them. No one is ever so far from God that He cannot reach them.
Keep going, loving, helping, and sharing the wonderful message of salvation. I invite you to join me today to obey our Lord when He said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Let us not give up on anyone!
