The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-07-27
STOvALL DESCRIBES
HOW LITTLE THINGS
CHANGE MEMS LIVES
Baptist Pastor Concludes
Series of Twenty-Minute
Sermons Before Leaving
City for Vacation.

When Zachoeus climbed tree to see
q glimpse of Christ, the whole trend OF
his life was changed. said the Rev. w.
O. Stovall in the last Of his series OF
twenty-minute sermons on 1.-THE Little
Things That Have Changed the Lives
of Men," In the course of his talk he
described things which will change
the lives Ct persons today. Following
this sermon the Rev. Mr.. Stovan Will
discontinue Sunday evening services
until after the Chautauqua and his va
cation is over.
The following is an excerpt from
his Sunday evening address:
H ran on before and climbed up
into sycamore tree to see Him.
Luke xix:4.
These words describe the act of
Zachaeus, a leader among the publ
cans, when he learned that the Lord
Jesus was coming along the way. Zach
aeus was religiously and politically an
outcast because he had become a tax
collector from his own people for the
hated Roman government. He was
one of that kind of men to whom we
ascribe complete religious indiffer-
ence. He was busy with affairs. But
We are often mistaken in these men.
They do 60 after the money. They
do sacrifice higher ideals for gain.
But In the bosom Of many a man like
that there are emotions of which we
do not know. there are longings of
which We have never dreamed.
Reveals Inner Man.
This was what happened to Zach
aeus. A great teacher who was re-
ported to be interested in men just
like him, was coming his way. A
great throng was about the Teacher,
and he himself was a short man, but
he was going to get one good look
even if it cost him all the dignity ne
ever had. So he rushed on ahead and
climbed up into tree by the road.
And this simple act changed the whole
current of his life, because 1t revealed
that inner Zachaeus, that Zachaeus
whose existence nobody had ever sus-
pected; the Zachaeus of hidden emo
lions and soul hungry. And that was
the Zachaeus Jesus saw when He
came along and looked up in that
tree and saw the man up there.
This is the explanation of the whole
transaction. When an earnest man
comes with his soul hunger to Jesus
Christ there will be a change in that
Zachaeus.
know that some very learned men
have said and keep on saying that
such instantaneous changes in men
are a psychological impossibility. But
while they are saying these things, the
changes are taking place. 1t makes
me think Of something read many
years ago Of a college professor, who,
when baseball pitchers began pitching
curve balls, said it was not so, be-
cause such a thing was a physical i'm
possibility. But while he was writing
learnedly on the subject, men who
never heard of natural philosophy were
out on the diamond pitching curve
balls.
Needs Broken Deadlock.
The thing that is needed is that act
of decision on the part of the man
that will give God his chance. The
deadlock between God and the human
soul is always broken when the man
does the thing that shows that he is
willing to have it broken. The time
comes in your life when God says it
is your move. The conditions seem
to become set for you. The people
you meet, the conversations you hear,
the things you read, the places you
upon you in your quiet moments, the
usefulness of your own heart; all
these things seem to tell you that God
is saying that your moment has come;
He waits on you.
Now what you need to do IS that
thing that will bring you before God
rs though you were in earnest. If the
thing before you seems to be to climb
into a tree then climb tree If it is
to "hit the sawdust TRAIL" then hit the
sawdust trail. If it is to stand up and
speak out, then stand up and speak
out. If it is to pray, then pray. What
the Lord wants from you first is some
move that shows that you are ready.
When He sees you looking for Him,
He will not delay in looking for you.
When He saw Zachaeus up there in
that tree and knew what had sent him
there, he said, "Zachaeus, make haste,
and come down; for today l must
abide at thy house." 1t was only a lit
tie thing that he had done, but it put
him in the way of Jesus