Gospel | Luke 19:1-10 (with Nick Locke)

Opening Song:
Gratitude by Benjamin Hastings, Brandon Lake, and Dante Bowe, sung by Hillside Recording

Lyrics:
All my words fall short
I got nothing new
How could I express
All my gratitude

I could sing these songs
As I often do
But every song must end
And You never do

So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again
‘Cause all that I have is a hallelujah hallelujah
And I know it’s not much
But I’ve nothing else fit for a king
Except for a heart singing hallelujah
Hallelujah

I’ve got one response
I’ve got just one move
With my arms stretched wide
I will worship You

Come on my soul
Oh don’t you get shy on me
Lift up your song
‘Cause you’ve got a lion inside of those lungs
Get up and praise the Lord

Passage:
He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Musical Reflection:
I Need Thee Every Hour (NEED) by Robert Lowry

Reflection Notes:
Each stanza of this familiar hymn was written by Annie Hawks as part of a poem. When she showed the composition to her pastor, Robert Lowry, he added the refrain and set the text to music for their congregation to enjoy. The musical lines always tend upward before falling back down, an apt parallel to the textual pleas reaching up to God.

Prayer:
God grant that we may live our lives here without trouble and in security, and attain the joys of eternal life, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and his love for us, to whom be glory and might, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
-Chrysostom