Check the Events Page for What is Happening (not everything is listed here) (waterschurch.org/events)

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR OUR NA EASTER EXTRAVAGANZA!

We will need lots of help that day, so please pass this along to your group members and serve teams!  Use the link below to register!

EASTER EXTRAVAGANZA: PRESENTED BY WATERS KIDS

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Reminders:

✳ Please regularly check your Planning Center profiles for requests to join your life groups, remove members from the list that no longer attend, or add members not listed. Please ensure that you have added no-reply@churchcenter.com to your email contacts so that you do not miss an email from Planning Center and encourage your members to do so as well.  This will ensure you do not miss a member request or any emails that come from the Planning Center site. Thank you!

Waters Class Schedule:

• 1st Sunday: Discover Waters – after 1st service
• 2nd Sunday: NO CLASSES
• 3rd Sunday: Connect Class – after 1st service
• 4th Sunday: Baptism Class – after 1st service

Waters Help: Need marriage and family care  or have a group member in need of marriage and family care?   Click here:  help resources page  or visit waterschurch.org/help

Location Text Alerts:

Icebreaker Question:

If you could choose any nickname for yourself, what would it be and why?

Opening Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing us together today. Open our hearts and minds to hear Your truth. Help us to see ourselves as You see us and to embrace the identity You have given us. Lead our discussion and draw us closer to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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How would Jesus introduce you to someone?

We see ourselves differently than Jesus sees us.  We tend to believe about ourselves that which the enemy thinks about us, but Jesus sees who He made us to be.

Point 1: Jesus Sees the Real You

Luke 19:1-2 ESV

The name Zacchaeus means ‘pure and innocent one.’

The crowd knows Zacchaeus as a person who extorts money, a murderer, a publican, and a rich guy.  Jesus sees Zacchaeus as who He made him to be.

Luke 19:3-4 ESV

Zacchaeus was short in stature, which means he had a bad reputation among the crowd.  It was not that he was a short man, that he had to climb the tree to see Jesus, but it was because of what the crowd knew of him. 

He sought to see, understand, and experience Jesus. He wanted to encounter Jesus to see who He really was and experience His reality.

Q. How does knowing that Jesus sees the real you—beyond your past or what others say about you—affect your desire to seek and experience Him, as Zacchaeus did?

Practical Application: This week, take a moment to imagine Jesus looking at you and calling you by your true name. Journal what you believe He would say about you.

Point 2: Jesus Calls You By Your True Identity

Luke 19:5 (ESV)

Jesus looked up and saw him in the tree. Most people don’t look up, but Jesus, in a crowd of people, went past the tree and came to a place to look up so he could see Zacchaeus. Jesus wanted to see him. He wanted to know Zacchaeus fully.

Jesus already knows who he is because He made him (Psalm 139:13 (ESV).

Zacchaeus wanted to perceive Jesus but did not want Jesus to perceive him.  He was afraid Jesus would call him an extortionist and a murderer, but Jesus calls Zacchaeus innocent and pure.

Jesus introduces Zacchaeus to the crowd as ‘the innocent and pure one.’

No matter what we have done or think of ourselves, Jesus sees what He has made and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39 ESV).

Luke 19:6-7 (ESV)

Zacchaeus came to the truth of who he was and received Jesus joyfully.

Q. When Jesus calls Zacchaeus by his true identity, “innocent and pure one,” how do you think that impacted Zacchaeus’ view of himself? How does it make you feel to know that Jesus sees you for who He created you to be, not for what you’ve done or how others see you?

Practical Application:  What false identities might you have about yourself? Reflect on them. Pray and ask Jesus to reveal His true identity for you, and write it down somewhere you will see it every day.

Point 3: Jesus Invites You to Live Out Your True Identity

Luke 19:8-10 (ESV)

Zacchaeus begins to act like who he truly is.  The real him is a giver, not a hoarder.  

If the crowd knew who they were, they would be givers, too.

Jesus never asked Zacchaeus to give all he had to the poor; he did it because of who he truly was: innocent and pure, a true son of Abraham.

Q. How does discovering your true identity in Christ change the way you live and respond to others?

Practical Application: This week, ask God to show you a tangible step to live out your true identity. Share your experience with a trusted friend or group member for encouragement.

What are the 3 Key takeaways you received from this message?

Closing Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for calling us by our true names and seeing us as You created us to be. Help us to walk in our true identity this week, to live out the purpose You have for us, and to show Your love to others. In Your precious name, Amen.