Pound for Pound with Mike Kai

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey everybody, thank you for tuning into pray dot com Radio.
My name is Mike Kai, the senior pastor of Inspired
Church in Hawaii. Be sure to check out my channel
on pray dot com and for more messages and other
great content. You can also head over to www dot
mike ki dot tv for leadership resources, podcast information, and

(00:23):
ways to connect from Hawaii to wherever you are listening from.
I hope you enjoy this message right here on prey
dot com Radio. Today, I want to talk about faith.
I want to deep dive faith with you. Wants you
to come with me to Luke chapter nineteen. Luke chapter nineteen,
and in your Bible in the New Testament, is going

(00:44):
to talk to us about a great man. At the point,
he wasn't such a great man. But his name is Zachias. Zachias.
As a matter of fact, it says in Luke chapter nineteen,
verse one, it says Jesus entered Jericho and made his
way through the town. Now, if you know anything about Jericho,
Jericho was a cursed city. This is the place where

(01:04):
the Israelites marched around it seven times seven one time
for seven days, and on the seventh day they marched
around it seven times, and they shouted, and the walls
came down, and the city was cursed and said may
never be rebuilt. But it was rebuilt at the price
of a firstborn son and the last son by a
man that I forget his name, but it was recorded

(01:24):
in first Kings. Now when you look at this, when
you look at this city of Jericho, now Jericho has
risen from the ruins, and Jesus is making his way
through the town. I find it very very interesting at
this moment that instead of Jesus going around the town
that was once previously cursed, Jesus decides to go in
through the town. I want you to know right now

(01:46):
that no matter what situation you're going through, no matter
what's happening in your life, if you thinking that your
life is cursed, if you're thinking that you made some mistakes,
that you'll never be able to come back to church,
or if you'll never get back into the ministry again,
or you'll never be able to do what you want,
and once you do know that your life is not cursed,
that Jesus is coming through your city and through your
town because he has an appointment with you, and he

(02:08):
has an appointment with Zakias. And Zachias is a chief
tax collector, says in verse two, in the region, and
he'd become very rich. In other words, he was a
tax collector. And in those days, tax collectors were hated.
They were semi mafia. Okay, they were money collectors, debt collectors,
and you had to pay the Roman government, so you

(02:29):
got to cut from the money that you collected and
then you gave the rest to the Roman government. So
you were kind of playing against your Jewish people, but
you were still working with the Roman government. And at
that time, tax collectors were absolutely hated. Jesus had a
tax collector, a former tax collector on his staff, and
on his team his name was Matthew. Matthew was a
tax collector, former tax collector. Now Jesus finds possibly the boss,

(02:55):
Matthew's previous boss, and his name is Zachias, and Us
was the chief tax collector. So not only did they
can't couldn't stand him, they actually hated him. So it
says in verse three that he tried to get a
look at Jesus, but he was too short to see
over the crowd. He was too short to see over

(03:17):
the crowd. As a matter of fact, his name is.
He was one of the shortest men that ever recorded
in the Bible. He's probably taller than neamayah Niehai mayah
Nea Miya is probably a taller man. But Zacchias was
a wee little man. And what a wee little man
was he. If you grew up in Sunday school, you
know what I'm talking about. But it says so he
ran ahead because he was short, climbed the sycamore fig

(03:40):
tree beside the road for Jesus was going to pass
that way. And when Jesus came by, he looked up
at Zachias and called him by names a chius. He said,
come down, come down, I must be a guest in
your home today. Well Zakias quickly climbed down and took
Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But

(04:00):
the people were displeased. He has gone to be the
guest of a notorious sinner, they grumbled. The crowd grumbled. Meanwhile,
the Keyus stood before the Lord and said, I will
give half my wealth to the poor Lord. And if
I have cheated people on their taxes, and you did,

(04:20):
by the way, I will give them back four times
as much. Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today,
for this man has shown himself to be a true
son of Abraham. I love this passage anytime I read
the Bible. I love using my imagination. Can you remember,
can you seize the kis? How Tally is not very tall.

(04:41):
We don't even know how tall he is. But people
weren't very tall in that day anyway, so he must
have been really, really short. So now what you've got
is this man who's a notorious sinner. Number one. Number two,
he's hated by the people. He's already got a couple
of things against him. Number one he is already hated.
Number two he's had a height disadvantage, hated, and his hype.

(05:03):
Now I want you to say this. I want to
say this that if you're short, this is nothing to
do with you. Okay. I was once a shorter kid.
As a matter of fact, we were short growing up.
We were late bloomers. That there was this old song
back in the day called short People, and I hated
that song. It was such like the worst song. That
song would never fly today. That song is so politically incorrect,

(05:25):
it's not even funny and the words that I talked
about short people ain't got this. They don't have that.
And I would cry because my brother was short and
he was getting picked on because he was short when
he was in boarding school on Oahu when we were
growing up on the Big Island, and I'd remember him
because the kids would pick on him all the time.
I have a soft spot for being short. I was
shorter when I was a kid. I remember being shorter

(05:48):
not being able to be as good as you could
in sports, and it was very, very difficult. Zakias, for
some reason, has an uncontrollable disadvantage in his life during
that time because of his height. But I also want
you to know not only was it his height was
his disadvantage, but it's also that he was hated, now
hated probably his own fault. His height had nothing to

(06:08):
do with his fault. That's just the way it was.
That was genetics. But his choices got him into a
place where the people could not stand him. But I
want you to notice something. There are three types of
people in our lives that we've got to be concerned about.
The first one is the crowd. Now, the crowd was
there to see Jesus, of course, and Zakis couldn't get

(06:30):
through the crowd. He couldn't see, so he climbed up
a sycamore fig tree. He was a smart man. He
couldn't get through. The One thing I want to tell
you about the crowd, The crowd is fickle. The crowd
will turn coat on you. Crowds they become more concerned
about what people say about you rather than what God
says about you. Right now, you can't be so concerned
about what the crowd says. Crowd cannot be more important

(06:54):
than what God has to say about you. Because the crowds,
they're unpredictable. Right now, Crowds are right right now, Crowds
are attracting other people that want to just jump in
on the fun and say that they're there. And right now,
you don't want to be a part of the crowd
or the herd, and some people call them or the crowd.
The crowd will turn on you. Social media profiles, people

(07:16):
hide behind the crowd popping off and they pop out.
They bounce in, but they bounce out, they blow in,
they blow up and they blow out. Has anybody done
that to your Instagram, your Facebook, your social media account
it's happened to mine, It's happened in mind, because you
know why people hide behind the crowd, and you don't
want to be in that crowd church. And if you're

(07:38):
in that crowd that pops in, pops up and blows out,
and come on, now, we got to be better than that.
We operate with honor, and let's be careful on how
we cancel people. The crowd is all about a cancel culture.
The crowd is all about ghosting you. That's what the
crowd does. And you know what this crowd, even though

(08:01):
he was hated and he had a short in stature.
You don't want to be concerned about the crowd. You
want to be more concerned about the cloud. Because the
Bible tells us that we have such a great cloud
of witnesses that are cheering a song to the faith
that you and I are running Hebrews chapter twelve, verse one. Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

(08:23):
who is the great cloud? Well, the great cloud was Enoch,
who walked with God, and then God took him up
the clouds. People like Moses. The cloud were people who've
gone before us, heroes of the faith listed in Hebrews
chapter eleven. Those are the people in the cloud. As
a matter of fact, the word is stadia like stadium,

(08:47):
and we have a stadium of witnesses that are in
the cloud, not the cloud that you store all your
stuff up in that I wouldn't trust anyway. Okay, I'm
about to get all my stuff off the cloud. Clint.
Let's get my stuff off the cloud. Please, thank you, Clint.
We're gonna get my stuff off the cloud. Because I
don't trust the cloud, but I trust the other cloud.
The cloud that I trust is the cloud of witnesses

(09:08):
that have gone before us, people of the faith who
have fought the good fight and have finished the race.
They are the cloud. Forget the crowd, run with the cloud.
Third group of people that you need to run with
your corner, your corner. You got a crowd, you got

(09:32):
a cloud, absolutely, and then you've got your corner. My
friend Sean Nepstad sent me a boxing glove in his
book with his book called Don't Quit in the Dip. Now.
Not promoting his book right now because it's our program.
I'm promoting my book called the Pound for Pound Principle.
You know what it comes out of boxing pound for pound,
MMA fighting pound for pound. That's how you're measured. But

(09:53):
I'm telling you right now, if you are a MMA fighter,
or if you are a boxer, you got somebody that
is in your corner. Look at this left handed Haymaker,
way Maker, knock somebody out left jab coming with a
roundhouse right because you know why, right here, you need
somebody that is in your corner, not just one person.

(10:13):
You need a circle in your corner and your corner.
If you're a fighter, you got a cut man, you
got a manager, you got a coach, you got a trainer,
you got a nutritionist. I heard Lebron James spends a
million dollars a year maintaining his body with nutrition at
the optimum level. Okay, so that what he can do

(10:34):
and become the greatest basketball player that he wants to
be of all time. Can't get close to Michael Jordan though,
but anyway, he's still amazing because why that's who's in
his corner. My question is, when you're getting beat up
and busted up in life, forget the crowd, crowd turns
against you. You want the cloud, and you gotta know
who's in your corner. Somebody throwing me some chakas in

(10:55):
the chat pastor mic is pretchig. Think about this for
a moment. The crowd can do something to our faith,
gets us stuck, makes us swallow, and self pity makes
us look at ourselves and realize, I don't have what
you have. I didn't buy what you bought. I want
your life. Do you realize that most people don't put
terrible stuff up on their Instagram? They put only the

(11:16):
best stuff. They curate that stuff. You look at my
Instagram profile and I wish you would follow me on
Instagram at miki Okay, I could use about three hundred
more followers push me over the ten thousand mark. Please
just plain kind of think about this for a moment.
What are you gonna throw up on your Instagram? Only
the best, not the worst moments of your life, not

(11:37):
the ugliest moments, not when you just woke up. This
is what I look like when I woke up. The
crowd does not really care. It's the cloud in your corner.
They're the most important people. The crowd can hold you back.
The crowd can stifle your growth. The crowd gets you preoccupied.
The crowd makes you go, where did the time go today,

(11:58):
What did I do? Was I deductive at all? Today?
Like like like common common comment. Think about this for
a moment, Zakias, he need to push through the crowd.
And if you're taking notes today, and it's been highly
proven that people take notes get a nicer house in heaven.
It says this. I want you to write this down
that if you're going to be like Zakias and have

(12:21):
great faith, like in a moment like this and in
the season that we're in number one, you have to
have faith to run ahead of the crowd. You have
to have faith to run ahead of the crowd, not
with the crowd, ahead of the crowd. The Bible says,

(12:43):
So he ran verse four. So he ran, he couldn't
see because of his height. Maybe the people were boxing,
boxing him out, like I would box you out if
you tried to get a rebound on me, box you out.
Maybe they wouldn't let Zakis. They couldn't stand him. No,
you don't deserve to see Jesus, deserve to get to Jesus. No, no, sir,
But his current circumstances had him stuck. He wanted to see,

(13:07):
but he couldn't. His stature not necessarily on how tall
he was. But maybe the way that he was respected
the optics of his life kept him down. Maybe this
is all he could do with his life. But now
it's time to change. So what does he do? He
runs ahead of the crowd. Church, don't freeze in a

(13:27):
season like this. Don't run away, but run ahead. Don't
run away, but ron ahead of the crowd. The herd
mentality the crowd mentality. Be an independent thinker that is
in touch with the Word of God, filled with the
spirit of God, who holy ghost it before they post it.

(13:48):
That is making sure that they're not like the crowd,
not with the crowd, but they are running ahead of
the crowd. Somebody say, a man, you got to be
able to find those moments, find those pockets of clarity
in order to get to the place and position yourself
where you need to be. To have great faith. You
got to run ahead of the crowd because the crowd
might be holding back your faith. Run ahead of the crowd.

(14:09):
Number two, have faith to climb above the crowd. Have
faith to climb above the crowd, says So he ran
ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road
for Jesus was going to pass that way. See, he
sees the crowd coming, problems coming, the wave of discouragement

(14:30):
is creeping up. But he doesn't want to get stuck
because he knows what being stuck is like. He knows
what it's like to stay where he's at. So he
gets out of his character and he runs because why
because Jewish men didn't run. Tell they got no cardio
back in those days. The Jewish man didn't run, especially
an older man. But what does he do. He hikes

(14:50):
up his skirt. It wasn't a skirt, it was a tunic.
And he lifts up his robe and he runs and
tries to find himself with his Tiva sandals, dusty all
over the place. I don't like tivas, I don't like Birkenstock,
and I don't like tivas. I will wear slippers, rub
as slippers everybody. And he rolls up his robe, puts
on his tevas. If you live in the Northwest, you

(15:11):
know exactly what I'm talking about. And he climbs the
sycamore fig tree so he can get a higher look
at Jesus. You got to have faith to climb above
the crowd. Number one, you get ahead of the crowd.
Number two, you go above the crowd, and he's getting
above the crowd so you can get a better glimpse
of Jesus. And it's not so Jesus can see him,
and so that he can see Jesus. And when he

(15:33):
goes above, it's not about Jesus looking for him, it's
him looking for Jesus. Because why because Jesus, I guarantee you,
was going through Jericho, being God who he is, already knew.
I got an appointment with a wee widow man and
his name is Achias, and I'm looking for Zacchias and
he's walking and Zakias makes himself known unbeknownst to us.

(15:54):
Maybe that was his motivation. I want Jesus to see me.
I want Jesus to see me. Or maybe it was like,
I just go on, get a better look at this guy.
I've heard so much about him. This man is my
one chance in a lifetime. And he gets a look
at him and something happens to him because why because
of his faith. Guys, you gotta get him faith to
run ahead of the crowd, and you gotta have faith
to rise above the crowd, rise above the crowd, he

(16:18):
climbs the tree. He doesn't care that he's going to
be laughed at. He doesn't care what people think about him.
He doesn't care what people think and say. He needs
to do what he needs to do in order to
see Jesus see. Climbing above gives you vision. Climbing above
gives you clarity, and it helps you see above the
issues of life. When you climb above, it's like taking

(16:42):
the higher road. The higher road the kids did whatever
he needed to do, bob then weave through crowds, duck
under somebody's legs because he was short, walked up you
know I'm talking about, climbed up with his tivas all
the way up to the top to take a look
at Jesus. Did whatever he could so that he could
see Jesus. Faith God still works with different kinds of faith.

(17:04):
But we've got to have faith that runs ahead of
the crowd, rises above the crowd. In number three, we
have to have faith to find Jesus in the crowd.
Finding Jesus in the crowd, it says in verse five,
when Jesus came by, he looked up at z a
Chias and called him by name. The k he yes look.

(17:25):
He yes, He said, quick, come down, I must be
a guest in your home today. In other words, he said,
I'm gonna be a guest in your home today. I'm
coming to your house. I'm coming into your space. You're
gonna entertain me. You could probably Eastern hospitality, demanded it.

(17:47):
Chief tax collector. Got a nice house, feet washed, come
into the home, nice cool towel, wash your face, wash
your hands. Let the feasts be again. He's the keys.
Let's Jesus find him within the crowd. What are we

(18:09):
doing different for God to find us in the crowd?
In other words, the Bible says, I don't have him
memorized where the address, But the eyes of the Lord
search to and fro throughout the earth to strengthen those
whose hearts are for him. Are you distinguishing yourself from

(18:35):
the rest of the crowd, so Jesus he sees you.
Bible says, many are called, but fear are chosen. Are
you standing out because of faith? Are you standing out
because of trusting God? No matter what's going on in
this season? Are you standing out right now? We must
look like fools, don't we, to the rest of the world,
To the rest of the crowd. But man, I'd rather

(18:57):
be a fool for Jesus because I didn't find Jesus.
Jesus found me. He found me in the crowd, and
I'm so grateful that he saved me. And I'm so
grateful that he came into my life, and I'm so
thankful that he picked me. Bible says many are called,
but fear chosen. And he picked you, and for such

(19:20):
a time like we live in now, for that this time.
What distinguishes us and differentiates us from the crowd before
we get to the cloud is finding faith and trusting

(19:42):
God that he sees you right now, whatever you're going through.
I don't know if you lost your job or I
don't know if you got a furlough coming. I don't
know if it's getting crazy up in your house that
oh you got family time now, but now the family

(20:02):
getting on your nerves. I don't know if you feel
like your walls are closing in on you and that
house that seemed apartment seemed big enough now seems so tight,
so small. But I want you to know that God
sees you, that he loves you, that he's with you,

(20:23):
and that he is for you, and no matter what's
going on in your life right now, no matter what's
going to come down the road, that what's going to
get us through this is faith. Faith not in faith,
but faith in God, faith in Jesus, being empowered by
the Holy Spirit and trusting him. You know, the Bible

(20:47):
says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
In other words, the more you read your word, the
more faith you get. Faith comes by hearing the word
of God. Faith comes by this word. Let's make sure
that in this season that we're found more in the book,

(21:10):
then we're found more on our grand found more in
this space right here, building up your corner, help contributing
to someone else's corner, never forsaking the assembling of ourselves,
as some are in the habit of doing. According to
the writer of Hebrews, that we don't stop, that we

(21:32):
keep on going. Have faith. Trust God, You're gonna make it.
You'll make it through this season. God's coming to strengthen
you right now, as He's strengthening all of us right
now in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, everybody, thanks again for
tuning into pray dot com Radio to find more of

(21:54):
my messages, podcasts, and leadership resources go to pray dot
com or head direct plead to my website at mike
Kai dot tv mike Kai dot tv for curated content.
Once again, this is Mike Cott, senior pastor of Inspired
Church in Hawaii. Thank you so much for joining me
on pray dot com Radio. Aloha and God bless h