REV. Zachery Sarrault, Associate PASTOR
Pastor’s Corner for September 14-20, 2025
Sinner/Saint
(1 Timothy 1:12-17)
What does God do in the Bible? Stop reading and answer that question. You could answer it any number of ways, depending on the experiences you have had in your relationships with God, His Word, the Church, and other Christians. There are right and wrong answers to the question and, depending on the state of our faith, we might argue in any number of ways. One answer that I find compellingly prominent is that all throughout the Bible God looks for sinners.
From the moment sin entered the world, God looks for those who have turned from Him (Genesis 3:9). That is the theme, not just in the New Testament when God puts on flesh and enters into a sinful creation (John 1:14), but also in the Old Testament because those are the only people God must look for. If God was looking for sinless people, He would never find them. God intimately knows His creation and what they need (John 2:25).
Why does God look for sinners? Because He loves them and wants them to be with Him! God comes looking for us to bring us back into His presence. In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul says, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” because the only people in the world are sinners in need of Christ. With His presence, He makes us whole, clean, renewed, forgiven.
In your relationship with Jesus, you are one whom God has sought, found, and brought into His eternal presence, which is why the end of verse 15 can be so confusing. Right after Paul proclaims that Jesus’ saving purpose, Paul calls himself a sinner, and a big one at that! So, which is it? Is he (and us) forgiven or a sinner? The answer is both. And as weird as that answer can be, that is how God chooses to use us.
What does God do in the Bible? He saves sinners to use sinners in His Mission. If God didn’t want to use Paul, you, and me in His Mission to save sinners, He would have zapped us into heaven the moment we were baptized. Instead, He brings His presence to us so that He “might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16). When we are aware of our sin, both past and present (as Paul certainly is) that affects our relationship with God and others. It reminds us that we always need the work of our Seeking-God and it causes us to be compassionate and merciful to the sinners that God intentionally places around us.
In the tension of our relationship with Jesus, it is good to know that we are at the same time forgiven and sinners because that is how God uses us to point people to Him.
Your sinner/saint brother in Christ,
Pastor Zach Sarrault
Ordination and Installation of Pastor Zachery Sarrault (July 18, 2021):
Sunday was a great day at RLC! We celebrated the Ordination and Installation of our new Associate Pastor Zachery Sarrault. It was a beautiful service with a heartfelt sermon by his father, Pastor Joel Sarrault. Congratulations and welcome, Pastor Zach! Thank you to all who participated in this special day.
Pastor Sarrault Ordination and Installation
Pastor Zachery Sarrault Ordination and Installation Bulletin
From Pastor Zach (July 16, 2021):
Hey Resurrection Family!
Kelsey and I are finally here! We have finished up at St. Louis, seen family in Michigan, and moved into our new home. After all of that traveling and living out of suitcases, we couldn’t be happier to finally be back to something comfortable. Comfort is always something nice to hold on to. All of us have something that makes us comfortable, whether it be a family member or friend, a good book or fishing pole, a quilting machine or a wood shed, we all have our go-to comfort places. This is part of being human! We love comfort!
The thing with comfort is that sometimes we get too comfortable. We can settle in and tell ourselves that we never wish to see any change. “Life would be perfect if I could just stay in my recliner with Tom Sawyer all day.” Or whatever your comfort may be. Sadly, we know that this isn’t how life works. No matter how much we enjoy our comforts, ‘real life’ happens and it disrupts those little joys. But, is it ‘real life’ or is it God, calling us into His mission to do more than just the comfortable?
Jesus never led a life of comfort. From the manger to the cross and even the empty tomb, Jesus’ life was one of challenge and the uncomfortable. When one of the scribes declared that he would follow Jesus, all Jesus had to say was, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20). Kind of an odd response, one that rightly scared away the scribe. Probably would have scared me too!
So, what does this mean for us? Are we supposed to throw away all of our earthly comforts and live lives of asceticism? Not at all! But we are called to know where these comforts come from and who our ultimate comfort is. In all things, comfort or challenge, our Lord and Savior stands before us, behind us, and beside us. As Jesus prepared His disciples for life after His death and resurrection, Jesus told His followers, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
There is our ultimate comfort! Not in our little hide-a-ways or indulgences, but in the One who has overcome all sin and who has promised us peace. Our comfort is in the faith that we have through Christ’s death and resurrection. Our comfort is in the kingdom of God that has already been given to us! That is a comfort that is never changing and never ending. No matter what God has in store the Sarraults in North Carolina, we know that the comfort of our Lord will always prevail!
In the comfortable and the uncomfortable, but always in Christ,
Pastor Zach Sarrault
From Pastor Jonathan (July 15, 2021):
There's a new face at Resurrection! Seminarian Zach Sarrault and wife Kelsey made it down to Cary last Monday, and soon-to-be "Pastor Zach" is already taking part in leadership team activities here at RLC. He will serve as Associate Pastor at Resurrection... meaning he will be working full-time in all aspects of ministry: preaching and teaching, visiting the homebound, discipling others, showing up at youth events, leading school and preschool chapel services, making friends in his neighborhood, evangelizing... and doing it all as one who is privileged to be an Under-Shepherd of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. We are very blessed to have him and Kelsey in our midst!
Though the Sarraults hail from Michigan they know a little bit about our area already since Zach served as Vicar at Hope Lutheran Church in Wake Forest from 2019 to 2020. At church you can find Pastor Zach in the Associate Pastor's office, next door to the main office on the left side. I look forward to working with Pastor Zach and seeing him welcomed as warmly by all of you as Juli and I were not so long ago! May God bless and further your ministry among us, Pastor!