So, do you ever wave at people? Are you a waiver? Do, do you wave? Yeah, when I was a junior in high school, uh, I got a 1983 Selica GTs. Oh, yeah, man. It, it was quite a ride. I loved it and I would ride around town all the time and I waved at every single person I passed constantly, always waved, always did it. Anybody on the sidewalk, anybody in the car. I'm a waver. I'm waving. I'm w didn't blow the horn. I don't blow my horn. But I wave wave, wave, wave wave. And my premise was even as a junior in high school I knew one day I was going to run for City Council in North Augusta. I was, I was going to do that. So my idea was all I was going to do was put up posters around town and it was just going to be me standing by my Seleka and I was just going to say, hey vote for Dale because then they're like, oh, I know that guy. He's the guy that always waves at me. I'll vote for him. I mean, I thought it was going to work. I mean, it could still work. I don't know, may, maybe, maybe I'll try it. Uh, but I was, I was a waiver this past week. My wife and I have been riding to work together and there is a house on our way between here and the church where there's a man who every morning is always doing exercise, walking in his little, uh, semi circle driveway. He's just doing loops. I mean, he's moving, walking every morning and every time he makes the loop, whichever direction he's facing, he waves every car that's coming by. And I noticed this week as we got there and he waved Karen and I kind of weren't even necessarily pay attention, but we both, you know, did the little, huh? Yeah. At the same time, we're like, hey, you know, like, like we know this guy, we don't know this guy. We don't know this guy at all, but we waved at him like he's one of our best friends. Why? Because he waves all the time. We've grown accustomed to the fact that he's going to wave. He is opening the lines of communication and we are responding back this morning is our first time that our first through sixth graders are with us. Uh We're going to be doing this once a month uh and on behalf of our congregation to our first through sixth grade. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are super glad y'all are here. And today, what we're going to do is we are thinking that on our, our first official morning with you, we thought it would be good if all of us, Children and adults could learn about the one way that we really need to wave one of the most important waves that you can have in your life and I can have in my life. What kind of lave or wave are we talking about? Well, let's, let's find out together. Uh, our sermon today is called Wave back. And we're going to be looking in the Bible at Luke chapter 19. And we're going to begin with verse one. And this is what verse one says Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through and there was a man called by the name of Zachaeus. He was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zachaeus was trying to see who Jesus was and he was unable due to the crowd because he was short in stature. So he ran on ahead, climbed up a sycamore tree in order to see him because he was about to pass through that way. So Jesus was walking through a place called Jericho and there was a man there by the name of Zachaeus. Zachaeus was crazy rich, he was crazy greedy and he was crazy, powerful. What Zach Keys would do is he would charge people a certain amount of money that he had to charge them, but actually he charged them more than that. So we always charged them more and then what he did was the money he had to give to the government, he gave to the government and then he kept the rest and that's how he got super, super rich. You ever seen the movie Tangled? And do you remember in the movie Tangled? There was two guys called the Stabbing to Brothers and the Stabbing Brothers were the two guys, the goons that Rapunzel's mom would always send to go beat Flynn up when she wasn't getting their way. Well, Zachaeus was the kind of guy that could have some stamp aine brothers. He, he had some guys that if you didn't pay your taxes, they'd be showing up at your door. In other words, Zachaeus was the kind of guy that none of us would like. No one liked Zachaeus. He was, he was greedy. He was not honest. He was the kind of guy who would come after you if he didn't get what he wanted. He wasn't the kind of guy that people wanted to be around. He wasn't the kind of guy that people wanted to have anything to do with. And the Bible says he was also a short man, meaning that if there was a crowd of people, he wasn't going to be able to see over the crowd. So he was a short, rich, greedy, powerful man and that short, rich, greedy, powerful man heard that Jesus was coming through town and he wanted to see why, why did he want to see Jesus. Well, we don't know for sure. The Bible doesn't tell us exactly. But, but it seems that he would want to see Jesus because he heard about Jesus. He, he heard the rumors about Jesus. He heard the rumors about how Jesus didn't preach, like those other preachers that he taxed in town. Jesus preached with authority, like, like Jesus had a direct connection with God. He, he wasn't just talking about God. There was some connection and people saw it, they knew it. He heard the rumors of Jesus healing people from sicknesses that religious leaders and and doctors couldn't figure out. He heard the rumors of Jesus performing miracles that were impossible to explain. But most of all, he heard the message that the message of Jesus was for anyone and everyone that anyone and everyone could hear this message. In other words, he kept hearing the rumors that the message from Jesus was this that short rich, greedy, powerful mean men like himself. He too could be right with God. He too could be invited into the kingdom that has no end high school and college graduates. You're in a season of life where the culture and the the world around you, where people, places and things will say to you and communicate to you that you only have value based on your work. You only have value based on your grades. You only have value based on what you look like or what you wear. You only have value based on your resume or how many connections you have on linkedin. You only have value when you finally discover what your true identity is. But with no pomp and circumstance, we want to proclaim to you that you right now in this moment have value value that cannot be changed. You have value because you have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God. You have value because the fingerprints of God are all over you. And nothing can ever change that. Nothing and greater even than that greater than knowing that the fingerprints of God are actually on your life. The greater deeper, more unmistakable satisfying value and reality is that you have identity and can have identity in knowing Jesus Christ, the one true sovereign God. His fingerprints are all over you. But the greater reality is that you can be part of His kingdom, a kingdom that never ends. And that is available to you right now in Jesus Christ, regardless of who you are. The only kingdom that will last forever is the Kingdom of God. There's not another kingdom that lasts forever. So high schoolers, collegians, adults, kids of all ages, the greatest graduation that you can ever have is graduating from death to life. The greatest graduation that you can have is to be transferred from the kingdom of Darkness into the kingdom of light. The kingdom that is separated from God as opposed to the kingdom that is with God forever and ever and ever. And that transfer can only happen through Jesus. And here's why that matters. It means if you're like Zac K, if you're short or if you're tall, if you're rich or if you're poor, if you've been to college, if you haven't been to college, if you're black or white or if you're American or Russian, if you're Jewish or Palestinian, if you're a Republican or a Democrat, if you're a protester or police, if you're Dukes or Helman's, if you're butter or margarine, if you're Ford or Chevy, anything and everything, whatever it is that makes you you the reality of the gospel is that the everlasting Kingdom of God is open to you right now. The kingdom of Light and love is open to everyone right now. And that kingdom is open only through Jesus. And the message of Jesus has never changed. It's the same message 10 years ago. It was the same message 10 decades ago. It will be the same message 10,000 years from now. And that message from Jesus is repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. So, have you repented? Have you turned from sin and turn to God? Have you received the salvation that Jesus offers? Have you graduated? Been transferred from death to life? If not, your graduation could be today, you can turn to Jesus right now and live Zacheaus was stirred to know that was true. He he knew there was something about this message of Jesus that was for him. The invitation was coming to him that, that he a greedy tax collector could come into the kingdom of God. No other religion offered that no other religion had that in their gift shop. This was, this was one of a kind. Zachaeus heard that, that Jesus was coming to town and he wanted to sing and Jesus was pretty popular. So Zachaeus figured there's going to be a crowd and there was a crowd and remember he's short, he can't see in a crowd. So he said, you know what? I gotta do something. So what do you do? We hiked up his versace silk tax robe. He, he climbed up in that tree just so he could see Jesus, the short, rich, greedy, powerful man who could have had the stabbing him. Brothers just go get Jesus manhandling, bring him to his house. But he didn't, he climbed up a tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus. Now a move like that from a man like Zachaeus is very different. It requires humility, it requires some passion, some desire. It requires a sacrifice that Zachaeus was not known for something was different. And what happened when Jesus walked by verse five and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said, Zachaeus hurry and come down for today. I must stay at your house and Zachaeus hurried and came down and received him joyfully. So what happened, Jesus stopped and he waved at Zachaeus. He opened the line of communication with Zachaeus. And what does Zachaeus do? He waved back. He, he responded, not like he, you know, snapped a picture with his phone and put on Instagram. Hey, I waved to Jesus and he waved back. It wasn't like a, hey, what's up Jesus? It's not that he waved in such a way that he moved, he moved from the tree, he moved toward Jesus. Something was happening like an excited kid on a breezy may afternoon. Zachaeus scurried up that tree just to see Jesus and like an excited kid on Christmas morning, Zachaeus scurried down that tree so he could not just see Jesus, but so that he could be with Jesus to our first through sixth graders joining us this morning. We're glad you're staying in, in big church today. And we want you to know that this is the part of the service. If you don't know this called the, the sermon or the message, some churches even call it the talk and the sermon. And the message in the talk is, is an important part of why we gather together. But if there's one thing that we really, really want you to know is that the sermon is kind of like a wave, the sermon is where God kind of waves at you with his truth and he wants you to wave back. He doesn't want you to just wave. That doesn't mean wave at me while I'm preaching. Ok. That's not what you have to do. But he wants you to wave back. He wants you to be engaged. It's different than me and my wife just waving at that guy in his yard. It's a different kind of waving. What, what kind of waving are we talking about? Well, my youngest daughter, MEREDITH has a boyfriend, ah, and his name is Tim. And Tim just graduated with his master's degree. He runs cross country track at his college and we like Tim a lot. He's, he's a good guy. Now on Friday at his graduation, we met Tim's parents for the first time. Now I didn't ride by the car and wave at them and just keep driving. Right. And I, I needed to do more. Now. We, we met them for lunch and, and we hung out with them for a long time and we talked to them about their life and, and what they're like and about what life was like when they were growing up about their family, about what they've done, what they're doing, what they're going to do. We, we engaged with them. It wasn't just a wave. Hey, nice to meet you. It was a wave. Hey, let's get to know each other when it comes to the sermon. When it comes to the message on Sunday. What we want really all of us to learn is that what we do here is a unique way for not just our church but churches all over this community and all over the world to gather together and to have this wave of truth come from God. And then we wave back in such a way that we say, what is this truth? Where did it come from? What is it doing? What is it going to do? What is it done? We want to engage with the truth about God. We receive the wave, but we wanna wave back. We don't just want to sit in the room during the sermon and go, oh, well, you know, Dow's done. Let's go eat. You know, we, we want you to be able to wave back at the truth that God has given us. So, so how do you do that? Well, here's just a few practical ways. Um Hopefully most of you are able to get uh, one of your little handouts today. Um We, we're probably just going to have that every Sunday or something that looks like that every Sunday. So if you're ever here, it'll definitely be, you know, one on the first Sunday of every month when our first through sixth graders come ho but, but any, any of you adults can pick one up. It's fine. It works and, and you'll see some things on there that, that will help you engage and wave back, things like listening to the songs that are sung when Miss Tammy begins the service. She says something about God. She prays something about God. Listen for verbs and adjectives and nouns. And what she's saying start at the beginning and to engage with, listen to the songs that we sing. There may be songs or words in some of those songs that are, that are good to hear. You know, you can remember, hey, we sang a song that says God is faithful that he's in front of us, that he's behind us. That, that he's there for us that we don't have to fear because our God is with us. We listen to songs that the choir sings and when we hear words like, wow, my life is in God and that matters because if something bad happens in my life on earth, it does not take my life away from God. So we listen to the songs, we listen to the prayers, we even listen to the music. Right, right before I get up and preach on Sunday. Uh Miss Emily and Miss Stacy, they, they play a song and it's a great moment. It's like maybe 90 seconds where you have nothing to do, but just, just to kind of be and just let the beauty of the music just kinda calm your mind and just, just help you engage on the back of your worksheet. You'll see some other things. You can write down some important words that you understand. But you can also write down some words you don't understand. Hey, what does that mean? What's that about? You can listen for what part of the Bible we're reading in like today we're in Luke 19 and, and you can make an, hey, we're in Luke 19. Maybe you can go back and read that later in the week. You can listen to, to things that you hear that you understand, you can even write in some questions. What some questions I have. Pastor Dale said this or, or II, I don't know what that means. It's OK. Ma make a question. You can also draw a picture of what you hear, you know what? And you don't have to be a kid to do that because Bill Rogers does it for me all the time. I love it every now and then. I'll just about, you know, midway through the afternoon or sometimes we out after church. Bill will take something that I said in the Thurmon and he's drawn me the coolest picture. I think you do it on your ipad, don't you? Uh But it, but it's great. It's great. So you can draw a picture about something that you're hearing. But, but more than anything, find one thing. Just, just one thing. Take one thing away from the sermons that you hear, have one, take away every sermon you hear is not going to be fun and exciting. Maybe every sermon may not crank your tractor. Look, I've, I've heard some, I've heard some boring sermons, you know, at, at, and churches and, and funerals and other places. I've heard some boring speeches, maybe even at graduations and things like that, you know, I mean, sometimes you'll be somewhere where whoever's speaking may not be the most fantastic in the world, but you can still get one thing out of it. Some of the worst speeches and worst sermons I've ever heard. They still had the name of Jesus in them. So I got something out of it. Find one thing to take away one thing to, to hang on to one thing to, to keep with you and parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and other adults. One of the ways that we can help kids be good waivers to the sermon is that we can be good waivers. You know, we can act like, hey, I'm really excited that I'm in church instead of like, oh, I gotta be here. When's he going to be done? We, we can engage, you know, with sermon, we can pay attention, we can find joy in what's being sung and prayed and preached and we can even help kids next to us, find places in the Bible if they're turning in the Bible or, or even, especially if you're a parent or grandparent. If, if there's something that, you know, is probably confusing, you can lean over and just kind of quickly and quietly explain it to him real quick. That's, that's fine. Just, just any way that we can to engage, to help them see that we're paying attention. But the best way to wave back at a sermon and wave back at a whole worship service is, is really based on three things. What you do before you come, what you do during the time and what you do after. So before you come to church, pray about coming to church, pray about, hey, I'm, I'm glad I'm coming to church, pray about. I'm glad to get to hear these songs and these prayers and, and these sermons pray and ask God to help you and then during stay engaged, look, there will always be things to distract. You know, there's, there's always something that will pull us away but do what you can to fight through that and stay engaged with what God's doing in the service. And then third what you do after matters too. I know one mom that she calls it the sermon dare. And she said their family has a dare. I dare you to listen to something in the sermon and talk about it at lunch. You know, come on. Wh wh what did you hear? What did you find? And, and that's how they enter into lunch conversation and dinner conversation even during the week. So find the, the one thing, pay attention to the one thing and, and why, why should we follow through on a dare like that? Why should we wave back at sermons. Listen to the next part of what happened to Zachaeus verse seven. When the people saw this, they all began to complain, saying he's gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. The people thought it was terrible that, that Jesus would be with this guy. I can't believe he went to his house. I can't believe he was around this man. Why would Jesus be around this horrible person? But Jesus on purpose loved to be around the horrible people because he was trying to help the horrible people find the terrific, the terrible people find the terrific, the news of God. He wanted them to be right with God. The sermon can help people who are not, not right with God. Get right with God and the sermon can help people who are sinners, listen and wave back. So how did Zachaeus wave back? Verse eight? But Zachaeus stopped and said to the Lord behold, Lord, half of my possessions I'm giving to the poor. What is half of what you own right now? I mean, for, for you kids, you might be able to, you know, put it together pretty quickly. But I would say for some of us adults, we know how to put together pretty quickly too. Can you imagine giving half of what you own right now to the poor? I mean, let's just be arrogant and honest with our hearts, right? We probably can't no saving that for retirement. No, I'm saving that for my kids. No, I'm saving that for a vacation. Zachaeus is like, look, half of my possessions gone. And then he says this and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I'm giving back four times as much. In other words, whatever I rip people off from, I, I'll give him four times more back. In other words, what happened was that Zachaeus met Jesus and he repented. He began to believe in Jesus follow Jesus and he changed the way he was actually living his life. Now. Look, none of us are perfect. Ok? We're not. But that's kind of how all of us should wave back at a sermon. We should all listen to the truth of what God has for us and we should respond by repenting of sin by believing and following Jesus either the first time or all over again and then changing how we live to be more like Jesus. And how did Jesus respond to what Zachaeus said? Verse nine. And Jesus said to him today, salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The sermon is not like a TV show or like a movie and the sermon is also not like a, a class at school. The sermon is not designed just to, to be some entertainment on Sunday morning with the rest of things? Nor is it designed to try to help you be good at taking Bible tests. The sermon is designed by God to help people who are lost. The sermon by God's design is to help people see Jesus and to help people see that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And what does it mean to be lost? It means to be separated from God. It means separated from God today and then separated from God forever. And the worst, most terrible, most awful thing in the universe is to be separated from God worse than anything else that can happen in any of our lives. There's nothing worse than being separated from God. So sermons are supposed to be delivered. They're supposed to be preached to help men and women and boys and girls no longer be separated from God. They're designed to help people find God. So what does waving like that look like in real life like in, in real life? How, how we do real life? Well, it looks kind of like this. Uh I just finished preaching a sermon series on the 10 commandments and a few weeks ago, uh, one of our kids in the church came up afterwards and, and gave me a note and I asked their permission to, to read some of their note today. And this is what the note said. I have loved the series. 10 Ways to change the world. And it has inspired me to be a different person. The sermons have helped me solve problems differently and help my connection with Christ to grow more. Can't wait to see what the other sermons are. That's how you wave. That's, that's how you wave back. Hey, I heard some truth about God. It did something, you know, eee, even, even if you think I'm a moron, if I say something good and right about God, let it do something the good and, and right. Things about God are good and right and glorious and awesome. And sermons are designed to help lost people find Christ and help save people get more connected and grow deeper in their relationship with Christ. So if that's true and it is for the good of our souls, when it comes to the sermon, the message, the talk, let us be people for the glory of God and for the good of our lives, let us wave back.