Traveling Mercies: Seen by Christ on the Journey

Feb 22, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Certainty of God's Fulfilled Promises

The journey of faith is built upon the foundation of God's faithfulness. He has declared His plans from the beginning, and what He has promised, He will bring to pass. The past fulfillment of prophecy concerning Christ's first coming gives us unwavering confidence in the future fulfillment of His second coming. This certainty is not meant to be a distant doctrine but a truth that deeply impacts how we live each day. We can travel with assurance, knowing our destination is secure in Him. [40:21]

“He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’” (Luke 24:44 NIV)

Reflection: As you consider the promises of God, which one do you find yourself needing to cling to with greater certainty this week, and how can you actively remind yourself of His past faithfulness to strengthen your trust?

Day 2: Insisting on God's Mercy in Our Journey

God's mercy is available to us throughout our lives, but we must actively seek it. It often requires persistence to push past the distractions and discouragements that would tell us to be quiet. Just as physical senses can perceive a presence that eyes cannot see, our spirits can sense the nearness of God. When we recognize that nearness, we are to call out to Him with insistence, believing that He hears and that He responds to those who earnestly seek His compassion for their journey. [48:05]

“He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Luke 18:38-39 NIV)

Reflection: What is the persistent cry of your heart right now, and what internal or external voices do you need to overcome to bring that cry honestly and boldly to Jesus?

Day 3: The Desire to See and Be Seen by Jesus

Our deepest need is not merely to observe Jesus from a distance but to be fully known and seen by Him. This requires a willingness to move past our shame and the obstacles created by our own choices. God sees us in our entirety—our failures, our shortcomings, and our longing—and His response is one of loving invitation. He calls us out of hiding and into a relationship where we are fully known and fully loved, offering us a mercy that transforms our identity. [56:07]

“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.” (Luke 19:5-6 NIV)

Reflection: Is there a part of your life you are tempted to hide from God, and what would it look like today to welcome His gracious invitation to be fully seen and known by Him?

Day 4: Participating in God's Work Through Surrender

God invites us to participate in His purposes, often by surrendering what we hold dear. Whether it is a possession, our time, or our praise, giving it to the Lord is an act of trust that unlocks His work in and through us. This surrender is not a loss but an exchange; we give Him what we have, and He gives us the profound privilege of joining Him. When we offer our lives to Him, we step into the story He is writing and experience the joy of being used for His glory. [01:01:55]

“They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.” (Luke 19:35-36 NIV)

Reflection: What is one thing—a possession, a dream, or a habit—that God may be asking you to release to Him so you can more fully participate in what He is doing?

Day 5: The Urgent Choice Between Peace and Judgment

A day of decision is placed before every person, a choice with eternal consequences. The offer of God's peace is extended to all, but it must be personally received. To ignore or reject this offer is to choose a path that leads to devastation. This is not a threat but a sobering truth about the reality of our freedom to choose. The time to receive God's mercy is now, on the journey, before we reach the final destination. [01:09:18]

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.’” (Luke 19:41-42 NIV)

Reflection: In light of Christ's heartfelt offer of peace, what step can you take today to move from a place of hesitation to a place of full acceptance and assurance in Him?

Sermon Summary

Luke frames Christ’s final movement to Jerusalem as a deliberate travel narrative that models how mercy must meet people on the road, not only at the destination. The journey to Jerusalem shows prophetic fulfillment and personal reckoning: enemies who oppose God finally agree on the necessity of the cross, and that agreement exposes the urgency of receiving mercy before arrival. Three scenes along the road to Jericho dramatize how mercy works: a blind beggar insists loudly and receives sight; a notoriously corrupt tax collector climbs a tree to see and discovers that being seen by Christ demands immediate repentance and reversal; and the humble entry on an unbroken colt invites worship while exposing hearts that will later reject him. Each encounter emphasizes personal responsibility—insistence opens the door to mercy, desire to see results in being seen, and willing surrender prepares a person to participate in God’s purposes.

The narrative pivots from public praise to impending judgment. Palm-week joy coexists with prophetic sorrow: the same crowd capable of shouting “Blessed is the king” can fail to recognize what brings peace, and Jerusalem’s failure to respond brings a hard warning of siege and devastation as partial fulfillment and foreshadowing of final judgment. The cleansing of the temple condemns religious systems that exploit sincerity and commerce; true access to God requires sincerity, not manipulation. The account insists that spiritual sight correlates to spiritual responsibility—if a person truly longs to see, that longing will produce the actions that bring sight and mercy. Finally, the text anchors hope in resurrection: Christ’s self-resurrection validates present confidence and guarantees ultimate vindication, so mercy now determines standing at the final arrival. The overall call remains urgent and clear: choose mercy on the way, insist on sight, be willing to be seen, and worship with a heart that resists the corruptions of religion or else face the consequences described in Scripture.

Key Takeaways

1. Insist until mercy comes Persistent, vocal longing broken through obstacles in the Jericho road story; insistence exposes whether desire for God outweighs social pressure or shame. Spiritual courage often looks like loud, undeterred begging, not quiet resignation; insistence forces an encounter with grace. This insists on a faith that acts, not a faith that passively hopes mercy will arrive. [49:40]
2. Desire to see brings sight Both the blind beggar and Zacchaeus illustrate that true vision begins with a hunger for reality, not mere curiosity or convenience. Desire reorganizes priorities, pushes through barriers, and repositions a heart so God can respond. Vision follows an ethical movement: wanting to see changes what a person will do to be seen. [35:26]
3. Being seen demands surrender Zacchaeus’s climb and immediate descent show that being noticed by God requires stepping out of hiding and giving up the posture that sustains sin. To be seen means to accept exposure, restitution, and welcome—grace both convicts and restores. Mercy often arrives as an invitation to undo what made one invisible in the first place. [56:07]
4. Peace or destruction awaits choice The lament over Jerusalem frames mercy as urgent: recognition of God’s visitation produces peace; refusal produces judgment and devastation. Scripture links present response with future outcomes, making the current choice existential and eternal. The warning compels sober assessment of where longing, sight, and surrender truly stand. [68:53]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[33:18] - Opening and a note about the game
[35:26] - Traveling mercies and Luke’s purpose
[39:47] - Enemies agree: the cross announced
[45:10] - Jericho: blind beggar insists
[55:35] - Zacchaeus: climbed to be seen
[59:42] - Triumphal entry on the colt
[65:45] - Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
[71:16] - Cleansing the temple: corruption exposed
[75:33] - Final appeal: choose mercy or judgment
[77:10] - Closing prayer and benediction

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading: Luke 18:31-19:10 (ESV)
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 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.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 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.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Observation questions

What specific details does Jesus give the twelve about what will happen to him in Jerusalem?
What two obstacles did Zacchaeus face that prevented him from seeing Jesus, and what specific action did he take to overcome them?
What was the crowd’s reaction when Jesus decided to go to Zacchaeus’s house, and how did Zacchaeus himself respond to Jesus’s attention?
According to the sermon, what was the surprising point of agreement between Jesus and his enemies, the Pharisees and teachers of the law? [43:01]

Interpretation questions

The blind beggar and Zacchaeus both had a strong desire to see Jesus. What does their insistence, despite social pressure and physical obstacles, reveal about the nature of true spiritual seeking? [49:40]
Jesus tells Zacchaeus to "come down immediately." Why is this sense of urgency and immediate action so important in the moment someone is seen by Christ? What does delaying that response risk? [58:29]
The sermon states that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was a "partial fulfillment" of Jesus's warning. What does this historical event help us understand about the seriousness of the choice between receiving peace or facing judgment? [01:08:53]
How does the concept of "traveling mercies" reframe the Christian life from simply focusing on a future destination to experiencing God's mercy in the present journey? [35:26]

Application questions

What are the "crowds" or voices in your life that tell you to be quiet about your need for God's mercy? What would it look like for you to insist more loudly and persistently in prayer this week? [47:40]
Being seen by God means accepting exposure and being willing to surrender the things we use to hide. What is one area of your life you have been keeping in the shadows, and what would it look like to "come down immediately" and bring it into the light of Christ's presence? [56:07]
The sermon contrasts coming to Christ with coming to religion or a system that can manipulate sincerity. Are there any religious habits or practices in your life that have become more about routine than a genuine desire to see and be seen by Jesus? How can you recalibrate your heart towards true worship? [01:11:16]
Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not recognize what would bring them peace. Is there a person or situation in your life that you look upon with frustration that you could instead begin to see with Christ's heart of sorrowful compassion? [01:05:45]
The choice presented is to either experience God's peace or be torn to pieces. How does this ultimate reality affect the daily, smaller choices you make regarding your time, relationships, and priorities? [01:08:53]
The owner of the colt gave it up immediately when he heard "the Lord needs it." What is one thing—a possession, a skill, or your time—that you feel the Lord might be asking for, and what is holding you back from surrendering it as immediately as the colt's owner did? [01:00:42]

Sermon Clips

38s

#FulfillmentShapesLiving

“And I'm gonna show you past fulfillment to give you confidence that that which you wait to have fulfilled can deeply impact you how you live. And if that's the concept, then certainly we're supposed to glean that from the final week of Christ's life. And today, you will see that there is an unnoticeable pointing towards not just the cross for Luke, but fulfillment. And what he sees in that journey is what he would like to, if you will, extrapolate out of that and lay it not only in the life of Theophilus, but in our lives. Okay?”

40s

#UnexpectedAgreement

“And as we get to the final week, there's there's something that happens that's quite it's quite interesting the way I see it to be quite honest with you. Maybe I've lost my ever loving mind, but that wouldn't surprise you a single bit, I'm sure. But the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, and the leaders of Jerusalem and Jesus finally agree on something. There's been so much tension over the last four or five weeks that we have seen in the gospel of Luke as he covers the three year ministry time of Christ. There was never a moment in Luke's gospel where the Pharisees were like, hey, you know what? I like this guy. It's always been, you're a pain in the neck.”

41s

#CertaintyOfSecondComing

“Okay? Long before it happened. So what's gonna happen in Jerusalem isn't a situation that gets out of control. It's not a situation that Christ didn't understand was coming. Alright? And this is to give us the same confidence about a second coming. Alright? If that which was prophetically declared about him was fulfilled in his execution, then we should be able to safely live with certainty that that which remains about a second coming will be fulfilled. And if we know with certainty he's coming again, that should affect the way you live now. And we're gonna see the first thing today that will affect you as you live now. Now, let's look and see what they could possibly agree on.”

38s

#DeathAsFulfillment

“You must die. Jesus knew he had to die so that we could be forgiven. The Pharisees knew they had to kill him or they were never gonna be able to have what they once had amongst the people. They have finally come to an agreement about the death of Jesus Christ. That ultimately, they both agreed his death was going to be a significant thing to be accomplished. They finally have the agenda. The enemies have agreed that this is what must happen. And as he prepares, he's moving from this moment into Jerusalem, we're gonna see three scenes. Okay? And it's all about whether or not you want traveling mercies.”

41s

#EnteringJericho

“as Jesus approached Jericho, which is a very interesting thing, he he could have come down the way he almost always went, a pathway near the Sea Of Galilee, But he's entering Jerusalem the same way the Israelites did in the wilderness. Remember, this would be the first challenging city that they would face. In fact, the most fortified city of the world in the day that the Israelites came in was Jericho. And remember what they had to do, they had to go around it once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh day, and then blow a trumpet. And when they blew the trumpet, it was said that all the walls would fall down. It is still to this day considered the worst military strategy ever for defeating a fortified city.”

55s

#BlindBeggarSenses

“So when you start at the top and you walk down, man, it was a very sharp pathway to go and a lot of rocks and caves and places for people to hide. And this guy, he's sitting there begging. When he heard the crowd going by, why did he hear the crowd? Because he couldn't see it. But it doesn't mean he was senseless. Right? Just because I can't see, doesn't mean I can't feel. He felt something, and he could feel the the crowd going by and he asked what was happening and they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Christ is on the road to Jericho. He's on his way up the road and he's going into Jerusalem. He called out Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. That's what he wants.”

44s

#MercyNotAlms

“While Christ is on his way in on Palm Sunday, here's a blind beggar on the Jericho Road. He can't see anything, but he senses something. And the fact that he senses something causes him to cry must have heard something about Jesus, because if it was Greg on the Jericho Road, he probably would have asked for alms. Right? But now he's asking for something very different. He's asking for mercy. Okay? Interesting. We don't know what did he mean by that. Did he want mercy for forgiveness? Mercy for his sight? You'll see in a second. Okay? So those who led the way rebuked him and told him to shut up, be quiet, and then he shouted all the more.”

45s

#InsistOnMercy

“So one of the things that Luke wants us to know is that if you really wanna experience God's mercy, you're going to have to get into a position where you insist on it. And remove the excuses. Okay? You'll see this in a second. You can easily sense even though you've never seen. We've never seen Jesus do anything. It doesn't mean you can't sense the presence. Man, there's thousand of you or so sitting in this room right now and, like, none of us seen him, but you can sense it. We can see nothing but the blood of Jesus and your hairs on your arm stands up. What is that? Well, you can sense his presence even though you never seen him. You can sense his presence even though you didn't see him.”

53s

#CryOutForMercy

“And once you sense his presence, if you wanna experience his his mercy, then you got to insist on it. Because there might be some little voice within you that says, shut up. Stop. You gotta scream out and cry out even more. And he says, son of David, once again, you can't miss the context. Just so you know, I don't make these things up. The Bible usually gives me my sermon series titles, have mercy on me. Okay? Once again, this guy wants to experience what all of us need on the journey. Right? Mercy. Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. So what the the the 12 and the people who were leading on the way saw as an annoyance, Jesus saw as an opportunity.”

40s

#FaithBringsSight

“And can we can we get his attention? I mean, is it possible? Well, it's up to you. That's up to you and me. See, he when he came near, Jesus asked him, so what do you want me to do for you? Lord, I wanna see. He replied, and Jesus said to him, receive your sight, your faith has healed you. And this whole thing happened pretty much for one reason, because if you wanna see, you will. If you don't wanna see, you won't. You never you just won't do it. If you don't wanna see and this isn't just the physical. This is about perception. It's in the eyesight. This is vision.”

42s

#VisionBeyondSenses

“Are you do you wanna see truth? Do you wanna see the true realities of life? Do you do you wanna understand that there's multiple layers to reality? One that we that our six senses can take in, but the other layer, you don't have to be able to experience through the smell, taste, touch, and all of that to sense and to experience and to feel. You and I can actually see things at another layer. We can we're we're capable of potentially seeing a different layer to Russia and Ukraine because you you you don't need eyesight to see that, you need vision.”

42s

#CantSeeShortness

“He doesn't know it, but what he wants is he wants to see he wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. Alright? Now let's talk about chief tax collector. A chief tax collector is a tax collector who has bought the rights to multiple tax booths. Okay? So as you would journey from one town to another, one city to another, there you would have to pay taxes to maintain supposedly, to maintain the road to if you were carrying goods, you know, as like if you came in from out of the country and you gotta pay a a tariff on that's a popular word. Pay a tariff on something. Okay? And that money would go to Rome.”

49s

#TaxCollectorsHated

“Well, the Jews hated tax collectors because they were Jews who they thought were infidels supporting Roman taxation that wasn't benefiting the Jewish people. And the way Zacchaeus and the other guys would make money, if the toll was say $10, and when you got to it, it's now $12. 10 goes to Rome, two goes to me. And then the next toll booth, if it was $10, it would be $12. 10 would go to Rome and two would go to me. So you would make, who knows how you could double it, I guess, if you want. And you would think, listen, we little man, we little man is he? I'm gonna whoop your hind end. I ain't paying you nothing. But you see Rome would send soldiers to be Guido at the toll booth.”

38s

#ShortOnCharacter

“You're paying the toll or you're giving us your life. So we little man, we little man is he. He was a thug. It's basically what he was. Okay? And so when Luke tells you, he was short, but he could not see over the crowd, that shortness is more than just stature. He was also very disrespected. The shortness of his character. Because when you think about a crowd, I know most of you, if we're on a parade route and we're waiting for something to come by and a wee little dude comes by, we're like, okay, you can get in front of me because I can still see over you. But the crowd's like, you ain't seeing a squat here, boy.”

44s

#ClimbToSee

“Right? Because he has very he's not only short stature, but he's short on character, he's short on integrity. And so this wee little man, wee little man as he is now being blocked. His vision of Christ is being blocked because of the choices that he's made in his life. He can't see over the crowd and the crowd ain't gonna let him in. So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see him. So Zacchaeus runs down the parade route and he finds a tree, and he climbs up in the tree. Now don't miss this. The two things we know about Zacchaeus, well, all the tax collector, but he has something within him now that wants to see Jesus.”

51s

#DontHideFromGod

“Do you wanna be seen by God? Now that's a hard question, ain't it? Because if you're as wicked as Zacchaeus was at that moment, you might just wanna do what Adam and Eve did when they ate from the wrong tree. Hide. Cover yourself. Not look for God. Run from God. Right? Remember the tree? And here this guy has been living in the reality of the fruit of a spoiled tree. It's basically Zacchaeus. He is the fruit of a rotten tree. Okay? So Christ looks up at him and says this, it's great. Zacchaeus, come down immediately. Come down here. Come down here. Now, this is just me. You're never gonna read this in any other book. I promise you. You can email me and tell me I've lost my mind.”

52s

#JesusTakesTheTree

“But you know how when Jesus dies, he takes our place? It's called the imputation of righteousness. He who knew no sin became sin that you and I might become something, the righteousness of God. I see in this moment Christ saying to all of us, the wrong person's in the tree. Because the bible says, cursed is anyone who's hung on a tree, which is used in the New Testament to describe the death of Jesus Christ. Zacchaeus, I'm the one who belongs in the tree. You gotta get out of that tree if I'm gonna climb up in it. I'm the one who's gonna die for what you did. I'm the one who's gonna die for what you became. And I want you to know I see you. I see you. And here's what I want you to do. Get down here.”

52s

#TakeNextStep

“So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. So if you wanna be seen, you will. You just gotta like, are you are you willing to take the next step? Now some of it is you don't wanna be seen because you're you're like Adam and Eve. You're like, I'll cover myself. I'm good. I don't okay. You're you're you're not good. Let me tell you that. You need mercy. And and other times, it's just that we're not so sure we wanna push through the obstacles. We're not so sure, like, just insist and you will be seen. And so the power of mercy is that if you wanna see, you will, and that will affect the journey from that moment forward. If you wanna be seen, you will.”

58s

#PraiseAndRecognize

“When the moment comes when we can declare the glories of who Christ is, declare them. Nobody's what's holding you back from praising Christ? What's holding you back from worshiping God? What's holding you back from joining in the great work of God? Because if you want to, you can. Can you see, I would say so much, I believe this. Now, two things. I believe that if you can't see the Messiah on the back of a donkey, you'll never recognize him on a cross. I believe that. Because on why on a donkey? That's pretty confusing when you think about the creator of heaven and earth. He could have come in on an elephant if he chose. They're all his or even a horse. But it was prophetically declared that he would. The king would enter Jerusalem on a donkey and there's some historical tradition that they would do that. And it's still you're like, but that's God on a donkey.”

51s

#SeeHimInHumility

“What's God doing on a donkey? Well, such a small donkey would have him down here, right at eye level, that he didn't come to lord anything over us, that he wants to be able to see eye to eye with the people who are interested in praising him and worshiping him. So he doesn't wanna lord it over anybody. Okay? So we've gotta be prepared to see him on a donkey or you might miss him on a cross. Okay? And they saw him in the miracles and they'll probably see more. But don't be confused. It's often said the crowd that said, praise him, praise him, praise him is the same crowd that says, crucify, crucify, crucify. We don't know that. Okay? These people are moving based on what they know and what they've seen. How about you? How about you?”

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Traveling Mercies: Seen by Christ on the Journey

Devotional

Day 1: The Certainty of God's Fulfilled Promises

Day 2: Insisting on God's Mercy in Our Journey

Day 3: The Desire to See and Be Seen by Jesus

Day 4: Participating in God's Work Through Surrender

Day 5: The Urgent Choice Between Peace and Judgment

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Traveling Mercies: Seen by Christ on the Journey

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