So last week, I told you that I do believe we
can fit most of our friends in one of a few categories.
And I'll put those on the screen again. So we've
got the friends that grew up in church, but maybe
they've wandered away. They've drifted. They
didn't leave because they wanted to. Life just
kind of got busy or they just kind of stopped
feeling like it was important. And then you've
got the friends that maybe they grew up in church,
but they were hurt, whether that be by life or
by the church. And they chose to walk away. You've
also got the friends that believe that they found
a better way to live. So maybe that's another
religious leaning or maybe they've just decided
to give up on religion because it's not the ideal
way to live. And so they've walked away for that
reason. Then you've got the ones that they claim
Christ. They call themselves Christians, but
they're really trusting more in their own goodness
than they are in Jesus. They're trusting more
in their own self -righteousness than they are
the righteousness of God. I think that's where
probably a majority fit. And then there are the
friends that are genuine followers of Jesus.
They genuinely want to be like Christ. They are
trying to be disciples. And so they're following
him. They're still flawed. They're still human,
but they are faithfully following. So we began
last week with the one who has wandered. We talked
about the sheep that, you know, a sheep doesn't
really choose to stray from the flock. It just
kind of finds itself gone. As one friend put
it, a preacher, he said, the sheep nibbled its
way into being lost. It kind of nibbled at some
grass here and nibbled at some grass there. And
before it knew it, it was gone. It sounds familiar,
right? We nibble in some things here and we kind
of dabble in that. And next thing you know, we
haven't been to church in a year. And now we're
not talking to God as much because we're kind
of distracted and we find ourselves drifted away.
I actually think that's where a lot of our friends
who grow up with a faith background fit. But
today I want us to go into the next chapter in
Luke 15, verses 8 through 10. And I think this
is where another big chunk of our friends fit.
And this is a passage that I feel is often overlooked.
It's just three verses. And in these three verses,
it's kind of a story that Jesus tells that we
don't necessarily focus on as much. I heard a
friend put it. This is the lost parable among
the parables. So it is the lost coin. This is
three verses that my friend Buddy, he delivered
a keynote on this at a lectureship last year.
And he made me realize just how much depth is
in these three verses that we just kind of gloss
over. So this morning, we're going to have an
entire sermon on just three verses. And so that
must mean it's going to be short, right? No,
wrong. Luke 15, verses 8 through 10. Let's read
it together. Or what woman having 10 silver coins,
if she loses one coin, doesn't light a lamp and
sweep the house and seek diligently until she
finds it. And when she's found it, she calls
together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice
with me. For I found the coin that I had lost.
Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels
of God over one sinner who repents. Now, to give
some backstory here in case you weren't here
last week or you've never read the Gospels before,
Jesus here in Luke 15 is telling these stories
in response to some religious leaders that have
been complaining about his teachings and who
he hangs out with. Because they're saying this
guy cannot be the Messiah. He hangs out with
sinners. He eats with tax collectors. No holy
man would hang out with these bad people. That's
what they're saying about Jesus. The lost sheep
story makes sense because people wander. They
get lost. But what about a coin? What about a
coin? What does a coin do to get lost? Does a
coin grow feet and walk away? Is it like in Toy
Story where when the people are looking, the
toys are laying down on the ground and they're
just kind of inanimate? But when people walk
away, now the toys can run around and they can
play. Is that what the coin does? Or could it
be that a coin doesn't get lost by someone or
it doesn't get lost on its own, but instead it's
lost by someone else? The coin doesn't walk away.
The coin doesn't run away. It doesn't even wander
away. The coin is usually dropped or maybe it's
thrown away. When I was a kid, please don't judge
me or call the police. When I was a kid, I used
to throw change away. Like my grandma would send
me to Winn -Dixie. I'd get the stuff that I was
supposed to buy. She'd give me $5. It was $3.
So I had, you know, let's say it's $3 .20. So
I had $1 .80 left. I'd throw the 80 cents away
because I don't need those coins. Right. And
I'd keep the dollar. Well, I learned later that
throwing money away is actually illegal. So don't
throw coins away. But it's also irresponsible
because 80 cents can go a long way. Right. So
I would throw these coins away. A coin doesn't
just walk away. It gets lost by someone else.
And so what Jesus what I want us to consider
this morning is that. Jesus is not talking about
someone getting lost on their own. But when he's
talking about this coin, he's saying she lost
her coin. She set the coin down somewhere and
it got lost. She dropped it. And something I
didn't realize until I listened to a sermon on
this was that in that culture, in their homes,
the floors were made of dirt and they would maybe
have some hay on the ground as like a carpet,
if you will. And so can you imagine you drop
this little silver coin on the ground in this
hay and now you can't find it because it's in
the hay. So the woman, she was irresponsible
with her coin. Kind of like me throwing my change
away. The woman is the one who mishandled something
valuable. The truth is there are many people
out there and there may be some in this room.
And I want to be very aware of that, that there
may be people in this room, but there are definitely
people outside of it who have been lost because
of someone else's actions. There are people that
have been lost because someone else mishandled
them. And they are valuable, as we talked about
last week. To say someone is lost is not an insult.
It is not judgmental. To say someone is lost
is to say they have value and we need to find
them. And God wants them to be found. So this
morning, I want to put the church in the shoes
of the woman. I want you to consider that there
are many people who have been lost because of
something the church did or maybe the church
failed to do. There are many people who have
been lost Things people said in the church, things
people did in the church. We live in a time where
church hurt is a major topic of discussion. I
mean, I think I scroll past a video of someone
on a podcast talking about why they don't go
to church anymore because the church hurt them.
That's a real thing. We hear so much about people
deconstructing their faith and often they are
deconstructing not because they disbelieve God.
It's not because they don't believe in the Bible,
but it's because they stop believing in the church.
So when we talk about this, we've got to be very
aware that this is a real thing that happens
and we can't look at it as, oh, well, that's
just too bad. We've got to look at it as these
people have value and we need to find them and
we need to bring them home. And as we talk about
this, I do think statistics are helpful. I'm
not a math person, but I do like statistics.
They're fun to look at. Sometimes they can be
kind of painful to look at. And that's what these
statistics are. So bear with me this morning.
According to the Center for Church Renewal in
a 2023 reporting, 40 million adults have stopped
attending church over the last 25 years. So that
would be, let's say, since the year 2000. Well,
at this point, it was 2023. So since the year
1998, which is the year I was born, 40 million
people stopped attending church. That's a lot
of people. I don't know if that sounds like a
lot to you, but that sounds like a lot of people.
Essentially, one in seven who used to attend
church no longer do. So in this room, that would
mean if you've got seven people on a row, one
of those people in the last 25 years is likely
to have walked away. That's a lot of people.
In that same report, they state that for the
first time in 80 years, more adults do not attend
church than those that do. Now, it's important
to note that 97 % of ex -evangelicals, so that's
people that left the church, ex -evangelicals,
right? So 97 % of them still believe in God.
So of those 40 million people, 90 % or 97 % still
believe in God. So we like to say, well, they
left the church. They left God. No, no, no. They
did not leave God. They left. The church. They
may be left Christianity. They may be left the
faith, but they still believe in a higher power
that calls them to moral good. So 97 percent
of people still believe in God. That's according
to the book, The Great Dechurching. And in this
book, they list a few reasons for why these people
left. So why the 40 million left? And we'll look
at two of those reasons today. The first one
is what we talked about last week. A majority
of these people, they just wandered. They just
kind of drifted away. Three quarters of them
would say or three quarters of the 40 million
people left because they moved. They got married.
They had kids. They got new jobs, etc. Essentially,
they claim that it became inconvenient for them
to be a part of a church. And you know that feeling,
right? You wake up on a Sunday morning at eight
o 'clock and you're like, man, do I really want
to rush to get out of the house so I can be at
church at 930? Or do I want to roll back over
and get another hour of sleep? Or I've worked
really long and it's been a stressful week, so
do I really want to take the time to go to Wednesday
night Bible study? You get the picture there.
The second reason is the one we're talking about
this morning. Ten million stopped going to church
or stopped being a part of a faith community
because of church hurt. They gave it up because
someone hurt them. A majority of those who have
left the church claim they left because, and
this is a quote, the church wasn't practicing.
You hear the church talk about love and we talk
about compassion. We talk about grace. We talk
about kindness. We talk about peace. But then
here we are. We're causing problems. We're stirring
the pot. We're causing arguments and fighting
and splitting and hurting. I mean, there are
some serious things. And what I want to make
sure I mentioned this morning is there are some
serious cases of abuse that need to be addressed.
So you have these issues ranging from overt legalism
to hypocrisy and in some cases abuse that have
caused so many people to leave. And according
to the Barna Research Group, they did a report
in 2010 that said 37 % of those who left church,
they avoid it as in they will not try. They will
not walk back in the doors of a church. Maybe
they think about it, but they say, no, not today
because of negative past experiences in churches
or with church people. Now, that's relevant because
while people being lost is often a consequence
of their own choices, I don't want it to sound
like people don't have autonomy in this. If I
walk away from the church, I chose to do that.
But my choices are often affected by outside
circumstances. And so when someone chooses to
walk away, we've got to ask the question, what
led them to do that? And this morning we're talking
about. What may be the cause of some of our brothers
and sisters walking away? I'm not saying that
it's right. I'm not saying it's acceptable. In
fact, if I was talking to a person that left
the church because of some traumatic experiences
or because of some discrepancies, I would tell
that person that they need to remember that people
hurt people. God never does. People mess up a
really good thing sometimes, but God does not.
So we can give up on a certain group of people,
but we do not give up on God and his family.
But I'm also aware that that's a lot easier said
than done. I'm aware that that's not an easy
thing when you've been through that. And I can
honestly say I've not been hurt by the church.
My experience with the church is nothing but
good. In fact, I would say I would not be the
man I am. I would go as far as say I would probably
be in jail right now had it not been for the
church. And so my experience with the church
is good. But I'm also aware that someone in this
room and a lot of people out there cannot say
the same. And I want to be very cautious of that.
In ministry, I've dealt with a lot of instances
of church hurt. In fact, one of my best friends,
he was on pace to be an amazing minister. He's
a great speaker. He's great at dealing with kids.
He was going to be a youth minister. He's great
at dealing with people. He's very, very intelligent.
I mean, one of the top in his class. This guy
was going to be an awesome minister one day.
But because of the experiences he had with a
church that he interned with while he was in
college, he barely goes to church anymore. He
barely sets foot in a church to this day because
of the negative experiences he had with a church.
Like I said, this is a guy who knew his Bible.
This is a guy that was on fire for God, was on
fire for reaching people with the gospel. But
because of some negative experiences, he can't
go. I mean, he can, but he chooses not to. People
hurt people. When that happens in the church,
it can deeply wound something that God designed
to give life because when someone we love or
when an institution that we love, something we
value very highly hurts us, it becomes really
hard to trust them again. Look, I've been a Saints
fan my whole life. I love the New Orleans Saints,
but I got to tell you, the last couple of years,
they have stunk at football. They have stunk
at football. And I mean, honestly, I'm at the
point where I would just stop expecting good
from them. I just don't expect them to be good
anymore because they've hurt me. An institution
that I've loved my whole life has hurt me so
much in the last couple of years that I just
don't trust them anymore. Now think about how
much you love the church. Because I know some
of us really love the church. Like we want to
be with the church as often as the doors are
open. We want to be here in every activity, every
event, every fellowship gathering we can be.
We want to be a part of all the Bible studies
because we love the church. Now what happens
when the church you love so much hurts you? That's
a deep cut. And so that's hard to heal. It's
hard to come back from. And so I want to ask
this question now that we've identified that
there are some people that are deeply hurt by
the church. What should our response be when
we know of people who they didn't get lost on
their own? They didn't just wander off, but they
got lost by the church. They got dropped like
a coin. What should our response be? Well, we
see what the woman's response was in verse eight.
She lights a lamp. She sweeps the house. She
seeks diligently until she finds it. There's
some powerful words. She lights a lamp. She she
brings light into the darkness. She exposes all
of the things in the house. So you would imagine
this dark house because they didn't have light.
It would be a lamp or a candle. So she lights
this lamp and now she can see. In her home. And
she's going every nook and cranny. She's looking
under the furniture. She's looking in all the
corners. She's looking behind the cabinets. She's
looking everywhere. Where she might not have
been able to see before. Because it was dark.
And now she can see it. And can you imagine along
the way. She probably saw some imperfections
in her home. That she didn't see before. She
probably saw some cracks in the foundation. That
she didn't see before. She's now seeing the holes
in the floor. That she didn't see before. But
because she lit the lamp. She can expose. the
mistakes. She can expose the flaws. Church, what
do we have to do? We've got to light a lamp.
We've got to expose some flaws and see where
are some areas we need to look to improve. She
sweeps the house. She seeks diligently. I mentioned
last week how we lost a car key. Well, we lost
two. I'm saying we. Y 'all notice who's here
this week. We lost a car key. Two in a matter
of months, by the way. But we searched. We searched
all over. We dug through trash. We dug through
the dirty laundry. We looked all over the house,
under the couch, in the cushions, which if you've
got kids and you've ever looked under couch cushions,
do yourself a favor. Don't. It's gross. So we
looked everywhere. We could not find this key,
but we kept searching because of the value that
that key had. And that's what we're looking at
here in Luke 15. We're looking at a woman that
sees this valuable item. This silver coin would
have been worth about a day's wages. And if you've
ever worked for eight hours or for some of you,
you've worked longer. You know how valuable that
day was worth to you. And so she is searching
for this day's wage because she knows the value
that it has. Rather than just saying, well, it's
lost. Guess we won't find it today. She doesn't
just say, well, I'll never find it. She doesn't
say, well, I guess I'll just never be able to
get to it. There's no way I could search this
whole house. There's no way I could look through
all this hay on the floor. There's no point.
She doesn't say that. She searches. And I love
what Jesus says where he says, she seeks diligently
until she finds it. She doesn't give up. We gave
up on that car key because I lost my patience.
I was like, all right, it's gone. The truth is
it probably got lost in a McDonald's bag and
tossed in the trash. But we gave up. But this
woman doesn't give up. She keeps searching. The
religious leaders of the time, they had an issue
with Jesus associating with sinners. These people
that they felt were gone. The people that they
felt were too far off to fix. The people that
they felt were not worth saving. They had an
issue with Jesus associating with these people
because they couldn't imagine a God like Jesus
who would dare offer relationship to sinners.
They couldn't imagine that God would actually
come to earth and instead of being this royal
king that they were expecting that would sit
on a throne that would reign over Israel, they
couldn't imagine that God being the God that
would get down in the weeds with the tax collectors
and sit at a table with the sinful people. would
sit at a well with an adulterous woman who had
had five marriages and was living with somebody
that wasn't her husband. They couldn't imagine
this God being someone who would hug lepers.
They could not imagine a God like Jesus. But
Jesus says, I came for the sinners and I'm going
to seek every single one of them out until they
come home. And they had an issue with that. And
can you imagine the issue they had when Jesus
said, I don't just associate with the sinners.
I go out of my way to find them. I want you to
think about the parable or not the parable. This
is a real encounter that Jesus had with the Samaritan
woman at the well. You know, it said Jesus was
traveling to Galilee and he had to go through
Samaria. Well, the truth is that most Israelites
would go around Samaria because the Jews and
the Samaritans, they didn't get along. They had
some issues. And so they didn't travel through
Samaria because they were too good for Samaria.
So they'd go around. Well, it's pretty. I'd say
that Jesus goes through Samaria and he just so
happens to sit down at a well at a weird time
of day where a woman who would not normally in
that context be coming to a well, but she comes
to the well at that time of day. Jesus is sitting
there. He talks to this woman. He finds out she's
got a pretty checkered past. And what he tells
her is the same thing he tells all of us. And
that is that nobody is too far gone for my God
to save. Nobody is too far gone for my God to
give life to. He doesn't just associate with
sinners. He goes out of his way to be with them.
And as you'll hear me say many times in this
series, and hopefully as many times as I can
in this pulpit, if we are disciples of Jesus,
if we're going to be like. Christ, we must think
and act like Jesus. So if Jesus goes out of his
way to bring the gospel, to bring hope, to bring
life to the sinner, what do I need to do? Go
out of my way to bring the gospel, to bring life,
to bring hope to the sinner. And I can't do that
if I'm too consumed with me. I can't do that
if I'm too consumed with these seats. I can't
do that if I'm too consumed with my wife. I've
got to be concerned with their life too. So how
does Jesus act? How does he think? Well, he says
it right here in these three verses. When someone
I value is lost, I seek diligently until I find
them. And that's what we've been called to do.
And for the ones that have been lost because
of the church, we've got to take ownership of
our failure. Now, this is not us saying we hurt
them. It's not us saying we've done wrong by
them. In fact, as long as I've been here, it
feels like there is no way possible that this
church could ever hurt anybody because y 'all
are about the nicest people I've ever met. But
I know for a fact there are some churches in
this community that have hurt people. And there
are people sitting in restaurants this morning
eating breakfast. There are people sitting at
their home right now because somebody in this
town that claimed to be a follower of Jesus hurt
them and now they're done with the church. I'm
going to say this. We better go find them and
tell them, hey, we got a group of nice people
here that love and live like Jesus. Because that's
what Jesus did. So we take ownership of the failure
that some. maybe had, and then we go find the
loss. We've got to move past this, and I hear
it so often, this, well, they just need to get
over it mindset. I'm as big of a you need to
get over it person as there is. When my boys
get hurt, it is not, oh, buddy, are you okay?
It's, come on, you're all right. You'll be okay.
And I feel the same way with adults, because
adults should be able to handle some tough times.
That's the human Donovan speaking. The Donovan
that understands that Jesus didn't look at people
and say they need to just get over it has to
think a little bit differently. The Donovan that
understands that Jesus didn't just say, oh, come
on, you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps
and just get over that. That's people hurt people.
That Donovan's got to be quiet for a minute.
Because Jesus looks at the lost and he doesn't
say, get over it. He says, my God is offering
you redemption. My God is offering you healing.
I want you to know that there is life in the
father. And I want to show you how to find it.
That's what Jesus did. And so if that's what
Jesus did and I'm going to be a follower of Jesus,
what do I need to do? Exactly that. And then
once we have. done that. Once we have gotten
past that, they need to get over a mindset we
seek diligently. We look everywhere. We look
in the far corners of this town. We look crazy
concept in the bars. We look at the restaurants.
We look at the auto shop. We look at the Walmart.
Crazy place to be, although we have a nice Walmart
here. So we don't have the craziness that we
had at the Montgomery Walmarts. But you got to
look. Diligently for those that are lost because
they're out there. Who do we know that's been
pushed away because of the church hurt? Who do
we know that's tired of seeing people who don't
practice what they preach? Who do we know that's
gone because of the words or the actions of someone
in the church? And what will we do to find them?
What will we do to reach them? OK, that's been
pretty depressing, right? Yeah. Now I want to
get into the good stuff. The hope side of this.
This is the hope. Did you know that 51 % of people
who have left the church are willing to give
church another try? 51 % of people that feel
like they've been pushed away or maybe they've
just walked away. 51%, that's more than half.
I know that much in math. 51 % would be willing
to give it another try. That's pretty good numbers.
So that would mean if the hundred people in this
room said, I'm going to seek one person for the
next month. At least 51 % of people, if we all
honestly and earnestly did that, 51 % of people
would at least give it a try. So that would mean
if 100 people, 51 % of 100 equals 51. Yeah, Tim
knows math. 51. So could you imagine if we showed
up one Sunday and 51 extra people were in here
and we discipled those people for a year and
then next year. Those 51 are now a part of our
150 or 100. So now it's 151. And now we go reach
one more. So 151 go reach one. And then we have
51 percent. OK, now here's where the math gets
sticky. Fifty one percent of 151. Somebody. Seventy
five and a half infant baptism. All right. So.
Somebody got that joke right. So. All right.
So now we're over 200. Now, 200 people go. And
do you see how this math keeps going? There are
lost people out there that are searching. They're
seeking. You see it on the news right now. People
are claiming that we are in a revival. We're
in this kind of another great awakening. People
are looking. They're interested in God. It's
trendy to be a Christian right now. I'm a country
music fan. And it seems like every other week
a new country song comes on. And guess what it
has to do with? God. It has something to do with
faith. Now, I may not agree with all the theology
in it, but I got to tell you, I'm just glad people
are talking about Jesus. And people are talking
about Jesus. And so people are thinking about
him. If they're interested, if they're talking
about him, what do we need to do? Capitalize
on the moment. They are interested. According
to that same report for the Center for Church
Renewal, those people are willing to give church
another try. But this is what they're looking
for. When they step back in these doors, they
are looking for healthy relationships. Specifically,
this is what they said. They're looking for a
church that both preaches and lives out the gospel.
They don't want people that just talk about how
good God is. They don't want people that just
talk about how Jesus saves. They don't want people
that just talk about how Jesus loves the sinners
and how he seeks the lost. They want people that
live it out. So let me ask you this question
this morning. Are we going to be people that
speak Jesus? and live like Jesus? Or are we going
to be people that just occupy seats? That's a
question we've got to ask ourselves. They want
a church that both preaches the gospel and lives
it out. And this is the gospel right here. It's
a God who searches for the lost. It's a God who
says, I see your brokenness. I see your shame.
I see your pain. I see where you are. And I want
to bring you I see where you're hurting. I see
where people have hurt. I see where you've maybe
wandered off. I see where you have walked away.
I understand. But it's time to come home. It's
time to come back. And then what does Luke 15
verses 9 and 10 say happens when the lost are
found? When the lost finally come home? Well,
it says when the woman finds it, she calls together
her friends and neighbors. saying, rejoice with
me, for I found the coin that I had lost. And
Jesus says, just so I tell you, there is joy
before the angels of God over one sinner who
repents. I think Jesus has made it clear that
he thinks it's something worth celebrating when
the lost are found. I mean, that's two times
already in these 10 verses where Jesus says something
about celebrating the lost being found. He essentially
says heaven throws a party when just one sinner
is saved. So let me tell you what I want. This
is my dream for the Blairsville Church of Christ.
This is my dream for the church in general, globally.
I want to be the party planning committee of
heaven's worst nightmare. I want the angel that
is responsible for throwing the baptism celebrations.
I want that angel to hate us because all we do
is give it more and more and more and more work.
I want us to save people so consistently that
heaven does not have a chance to stop partying.
How does that sound? That sounds fun. Because
I think something cool could happen if heaven's
throwing a party and we're throwing a party and
people outside see that this church here, they
just like to have parties. And they say, why
do y 'all celebrate so much? What are y 'all
so happy about? Oh, well, you know, brother so
-and -so gave his life to Christ yesterday. OK,
well, that was yesterday. What about that? Well,
you know, sister. So and so she gave her life
to Christ today. Well, what's going to happen
tomorrow? Oh, yeah, we've got a baptism plan
for tomorrow morning, too. And what if we just
book our calendar up with people coming to know
the goodness of God? Because if there's more
joy in heaven than there is down here for one
lost sinner saved, just imagine the parties that
heaven is having. If we do our job. So what do
we do with all this? Because there's a lot there.
I've got a few simple but challenging ideas.
The first one, and that's what we've been doing
this month, is we are identifying. We're identifying
the lost. So last week we identified the lost
who may be wandered. Today I'm challenging us
to identify the lost who are lost because they've
been hurt. Who do we know that's been hurt? And
I want to also clarify that sometimes people
leave the church not because the church hurt
them, but because life hurt them, because somebody
walked out on them, because a loved one passed
away, because things didn't go how they wanted
to with their job. And now they don't really
know what their career is supposed to look like
because their friends weren't the friends they
were supposed to be because traumatic things
happen in life. Like I'm aware of that. And sometimes
when people are hurt. In that way, whether in
the church or outside of the church, they feel
like God dropped them like a coin. We identify
those who've been hurt. I don't care what hurt
them. They're hurting and we need to bring them
to the healer. To identify those who've been
hurt for the church specifically, we weed out
the harmful things that drive people away. And
I want to say this very clearly before somebody
comes to me after and says, well, we can't stop
teaching the truth. I'm not saying we fudge on
biblical doctrine. I'm not saying we make it
soft. I'm not saying we make it some cushy thing
where we budge on the truth. I'm not saying that
at all. What I'm saying is there's a lot of hurtful
things that happen in churches that we can do
without. Because I think it needs to be noted
that Jesus didn't go to that leper and say, hey,
dude, you did something wrong. What's your issue?
And just start beating them over the head with
Scripture. Jesus went to the leper and he hugged
him. And he called him to a new life. That's
what we need to do. So we weed out the harmful
things and we seek the lost diligently. We celebrate
when they're found. And please, please remember
that the lost are not just out there. They're
not those that are far away. In fact, I want
you to notice in Luke 15 and this story about
the coin, the coin is the only thing in any of
these parables here that never left the house.
The sheep wandered out of the flock. We'll talk
in a couple of next week and beyond. We'll talk
about the prodigal son. The prodigal son left.
He went way away. But the coin was in the house
the whole time. And what I mean by that is there
are some in this room right now that maybe you're
just barely here. You're here because you feel
like you got to be. You're here because you don't
want to get the text from an elder later saying,
hey, we miss you at church. And then you feel
guilty. Maybe you're just here because you're
giving it another try. There are some in this
room right now that are hurting. And so when
we say we're going to seek the lost diligently.
What we need to also be mindful of is maybe our
seeking doesn't take us very far, that it's the
pew next to us. If you've been hurt by the church,
if you've been hurt by life, if you just feel
like it's not going how you planned, this can't
be the abundant life that God promised, that
this isn't the good life that Jesus came to bring.
If you are feeling hurt, if you feel like a coin
that's been dropped and lost, and in a dark place,
and you just don't know how you got there, you
don't know how you'll ever be found. If you are
hurting, if you're tired, burdened, or unsure
whether there's a place for you anymore, I want
to offer an invitation for you. Because we serve
a God who offers healing to the hurt. We serve
a God that offers restoration for the wounded.
And so my invitation to you is that you bring
it all to Jesus and you let us walk alongside
you as Jesus does the healing. Wherever you're
at this morning, if you're hurt, if you're wounded,
if you feel lost, whatever it is, we want to
pray with you. We want to be here for you as
you go through this time. We offer you this time
of invitation now as we stand and as we sing.