[00:00:01] Thanks for tuning in to the Met church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
[email protected], dot. We would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now. Enjoy the message.
[00:00:24] Good morning, med church. How are you doing this morning?
[00:00:30] Okay, that's not giving me much hope. This morning.
[00:00:33] I thought you were going to be a little more. So how are you doing this morning?
[00:00:38] Good. You may be lying, but I'll take it. I will take it. We are so glad that you have joined us here in the room and those of you watching online. We are in week two of our series called Finder, and we are looking at three parables in the book of Luke, chapter 15, parables being stored. Stories that Jesus told that had spiritual parallels. So there were stories that people of the time would understand a little bit better, and there would be a point that he was trying to drive home. And we see three parables in a row of Jesus trying to get a message across.
[00:01:19] And in each story, we see that there are two things. There is something that is lost, and, spoiler alert, that something becomes found. And in a world where we have so many categories that we can fall into when it comes to God, there are really only two categories. There is lost and there is found.
[00:01:45] And the people back then and the people of today, us, we can understand stories about something that is lost because we have all lost something.
[00:01:57] I saw a poll recently that talked about the top things most often lost. So we're gonna have a little interactive part. This is where you get to participate. And I'm gonna tell you the top six things that are most often lost. And you're gonna raise your hand if you've lost this before. Now, this is not a time, if you're married, to hit your spouse.
[00:02:20] When I name something that they lose all the time. This is about you, not them.
[00:02:26] You can talk about that later on the way home. Remember when Pastor Corey said, remember, you lose this. I know. Don't use that. Okay, so number six wallet.
[00:02:39] Man, you guys are good. You've never lost a wallet. Okay? Some of you have. That's a pretty serious thing because if you lose it, you freak out. You start thinking about all the things you have to cancel your credit cards, you gotta call your bank, you gotta get a new license, your Starbucks card, you gotta fill that up again.
[00:02:57] Number five, headphones.
[00:03:00] Okay. I think this is probably a newer thing with, you know, the smaller headphones that you can. How many of you have just lost one headphone? And so you just jammed with one for a long time?
[00:03:11] That's my son, currently number four, glasses.
[00:03:18] Good. Let me write something down real quick.
[00:03:21] Serve carrots in the lobby.
[00:03:25] We got a lot of people that wear glasses. That's awesome. So when I was doing this and I was gonna say that little joke, I was like, I better check because I haven't glasses. But everybody keeps telling me, oh, they're coming. Everybody says that to me. Makes me feel real good. So I started doing this in my office and I think they're coming pretty soon. Number three. And pastor Bill talked about this last week. The remote. How many of you have lost the remote?
[00:03:53] How traumatic is this?
[00:03:56] When you are searching everywhere, you cannot find it. You finally sit down and say, I guess I'm never watching tv again.
[00:04:04] Because heaven forbid that we get up 10ft and actually push a button on your tv. How many of you remember when there was not a remote and if you wanted to change the channel, your parents as a kid would say, hey, get up and change the channel.
[00:04:19] You would walk and you would turn the knob. Click, click, click. And then as you got older, you noticed that the remote control and new tvs came along. But your grandparents old tv that weighed 1000 pounds, it died. So of course they moved it out, right? No, they left it set the new tv on top of the old one, and it was like that the rest of your life.
[00:04:43] It's amazing.
[00:04:45] The number two thing that people lose most often, keys. How many of you lost keys before?
[00:04:53] That's why you got to have a basket in the house. Keys love a home. Okay, so when you get there, you put them straight in. How many of you have a basket in your house, but yet you never put your keys there? Awesome. And the number one thing, 62.5% of Americans lose often their phone.
[00:05:16] I think we've all done that. And this is what we do. It's so funny, when you're in your house, you'll be like, hey, can you call my phone?
[00:05:25] But then you remember it's on vibrate, right? And so what do you do next? You go, everybody be quiet.
[00:05:32] Shh. And then you listen, you wait, and then you're like on the search trying to figure out where it is until you find your phone. And it seems like the toughest things to lose are those that are of the most importance to us. The things that are most valuable.
[00:05:51] Tiffany Otterbeck. She was cooking in her kitchen, and she took off her two diamond rings and placed them inside a paper towel and set it to the side.
[00:06:02] She continued to cook, continued to clean, and later on, realized when she went back that she had thrown the paper towel away.
[00:06:12] But by this time, the trash had already been taken out.
[00:06:17] Just the one time your husband takes the trash out on time, right?
[00:06:21] The dump truck. The trash truck had already come and picked up the trash.
[00:06:27] So in a last ditch effort, she makes a phone call to the sanitation company, and she tells them the story. And the sanitation director is a superhero. He calls the truck, tells them to stop, pull over in a safe spot, and that's when the search team showed up. It was Tiffany, her husband, and five employees who volunteered their time to help dig through. Get this.
[00:06:54] Seven tons of garbage.
[00:06:58] Think about the stuff you throw away.
[00:07:00] Seven tons of garbage.
[00:07:04] When all of a sudden, they see a paper towel wrapped up, they go, they open it. The two diamond rings are in there. They found it. It was amazing. But it took them 45 minutes of going through seven tons of garbage. But this would be a lifelong story that you could tell, except for the fact that they all agreed after what they saw digging through people's trash, they never wanted to speak of this again.
[00:07:36] But it's such an amazing feeling when you find something that is lost.
[00:07:41] I've been married to my wife, Amanda, for almost 18 years. Coming up.
[00:07:47] Yeah, I know you're cheering for her being with me that long. I get it. But when we got married, I also got married to a two year old pug named Grady.
[00:07:59] And Grady was awesome. He loved people, and he loved adventures. And so every so often, we'd put Grady in the backyard to go take care of his business, and he would always want to come back in, but when he wouldn't, we just let him kind of hang out. Well, we would be looking on the Facebook page of our neighborhood, and sure enough, we would see this has happened multiple times. Did anybody lose a pug?
[00:08:26] And we knew it was Grady, and so we would go check in the backyard. He wasn't there. We would go searching in our neighborhood to find Grady, and we would always find him in the arms of somebody, just licking their face like crazy. He had this really long tongue just going to town on their face, and we'd be like, oh, thank you. Sorry about that. And we would take him back. And then there was one time I was home alone. I let Grady out. He was out there having a good time, and I went to go open the door and say, grady, come back in. And he didn't come back in. So I went and I searched. I was like, oh, gosh. Went over to the side. Sure enough, the gate was wide open. So I run back in, put my tennis shoes on. I'm ready to run up to the front. I'm going to open the door to take off. Springing in our neighborhood, fast, light jog. Okay, let's be honest.
[00:09:16] I open the door, ready to go. And who is sitting there on the rug just looking at me? Grady. He had never done that before. And he's just looking at me like, where have you been?
[00:09:27] And he comes in, doesn't say anything. Doesn't say, hey, sorry about that, or anything. Just comes in breathing like a freight train. Because if you've ever heard a pugden, they breathe like that. And he was there. And the thing is, even though I thought he was lost, he was at the house the whole time.
[00:09:44] And today, in the parable that we're going to read, that's the similar story about losing something that's inside the house. So if you'll go with me, we're going to be in Luke, chapter 15.
[00:09:58] Pastor Bill started off with the first parable, but we're going to actually read that again. Cause I think it sets up context. So if you weren't here, you'll be able to catch up quickly. And if you were here, it'll be a reminder of where we were. But we're gonna be in Luke, chapter 15, starting in verse one, it says, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, meaning Jesus and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. So he told them a parable.
[00:10:33] What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country. And go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.
[00:10:58] Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. Than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. So as we move on to our parable that we're going to read today, I wanted to read that one. So you can kind of have some context of who Jesus talking to. And you can see in the beginning that there are scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders, right? The ones who know God. And they are upset about what literally God is doing. Don't you find that kind of funny?
[00:11:35] That they grumble, they are mad, like, what are you doing? God would never do. They're saying this to Jesus. God in flesh. God would never do this. And Jesus is like, okay, well, let me tell you a little story. So he goes on to tell this story. The Pharisees and the scribes weren't the only ones listening. There were other people around. His disciples who were always with Jesus, were there listening to this story. And he tells the story of a shepherd. A man who watches sheep. A hundred of them. One goes away. The shepherd leaves the 99 who were safe.
[00:12:11] And goes and finds the one who was lost.
[00:12:17] He was telling them about God's love. And how God will come and find you. No matter how far away from everybody else you are. No matter how lost you may be. He will come, search until he finds you. And not just find you, he will bring you back so that you will be safe.
[00:12:39] And then it leads in to our parable that starts in verse eight. And it says, this or what, woman?
[00:12:48] Can I stop for a second?
[00:12:50] I love that. Jesus, in the first parable, uses the example of a shepherd.
[00:12:59] A shepherd who represents God coming to find the lost. Why? Because I think it's interesting that he uses somebody that on the stature of society. Is considered one of the lowest. And that's who he uses. But look who he uses in the second parable that we're talking about today. Somebody that's actually probably lower on the society stature than even the shepherds. And that would be women.
[00:13:32] Can I show you something?
[00:13:35] In this time in Palestine and even today in most world religions. Women are less than women. Are told to be quiet, to cover up and to follow from behind. But what does jesus do?
[00:13:54] Jesus comes and he elevates women. And he uses them to change the world.
[00:14:03] Hear me, ladies, in the New Testament. Let me show you some examples. Aquila and Priscilla, missionaries with Paul who went around telling people about Jesus. And were changing people's lives. By telling them about the saving grace of Jesus. Martha, a disciple of Jesus who opened up her home. Where the disciples and Jesus would come to rest. And she would help meet their needs. As they would continue to do ministry. Mary, the mother of Jesus, gave birth to our savior. A virgin birth to our savior. And was a disciple of Christ. Followed, was full of humility. Was full of obedience to follow Jesus, her son. And the calling that he had in this world, Mary Magdalene.
[00:14:54] A follower of Christ who was there for the crucifixion, who was there for the burial. And was the first person Jesus appeared to after his resurrection. Think about that for a second. You don't think that was planned? Jesus could have appeared to anyone. He could have appeared to a disciple. He could have appeared to anybody he wanted to. And who did he appear to?
[00:15:19] A woman.
[00:15:21] Mary Magdalene. Ladies, this morning, hear this.
[00:15:27] And this is free. This is extra. This was not even a part of the message. I just felt like I needed to share this this morning.
[00:15:34] In the kingdom of God, you are loved, you are cherished, and you are elevated to do amazing things in this world for the Lord. Can I get an amen?
[00:15:50] Continue on. Or what? Woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, rejoice with me, for I have 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.
[00:16:22] So who are we talking about here?
[00:16:25] Who is the coin? That's the question, right? Like we want to know who is the coin? Is it the Pharisees that he's talking to, letting them know that even though you think you're in God's house, you could still be lost?
[00:16:41] Yes.
[00:16:43] Is it to those that don't know Jesus, who were lost, who were listening to him, who don't even know who Jesus is, really, but know that they may need. Is he talking to those people?
[00:16:58] Yes.
[00:16:59] Is he talking to. I think about. We had those baby dedications this morning, which was awesome. I think we have ten more next service, which is incredible. Is he talking to those of us who may consider ourselves saved? We have a relationship with Jesus, but yet we may have people in our house, our children, our relatives, maybe even people around us, our coworkers, our neighbors. Is he talking to us to say, hey, you may be saved, but there's other people around you who are lost, who you need to share? Is that who he's talking to?
[00:17:34] Yes, I think he's talking to all of us. So how do we compare to a coin? Because you know that we are like sheep. It's referenced many times in the Bible.
[00:17:48] How do we compare to a coin? And I have three things how we compare to a coin. And these aren't going to be on the screen, but if you want to take some notes. I think these are pretty interesting. Like a coin. We have two sides.
[00:18:03] It's called the duality of man. We have spirit and we have flesh, and we struggle with being in either one of those. Think about it. I know you're going to say, corey, that's not me. I am the same person. When I wake up to. When I go to sleep, I do not change. I'm not different at church than I am in the grocery store. I'm not different in church. When I'm driving my car and somebody cuts me off, that's not me.
[00:18:34] But what's interesting is a lot of us, we wake up on Sunday mornings. We had maybe a busy, rough week. We're stressed. We wake up just saying, I just need to go to church. I need to be with the Lord. I need to be with my people. It's gonna be great. And we wake up and we start getting ready. All of our clothes are dirty or they don't fit. You finally find an outfit that's good. What do you do? You spill coffee on it, right? Things just start happening. Your kids, who I'm sure are angels 100% of the time, I just happen to not listen to you when you say, get out of bed, get dressed, we're leaving in ten minutes, right? And so you start. You start arguing with them. They don't want to wear what you planned. They want to wear their pajamas to church. I know that never happens, right? And so you have all this stress. You're going to work, traffic is bad. You're already running late. And so you are stressed. You argue the whole way here. You are arguing all the way up to the church door. And when you get here, one of our amazing greeters says, hey, good morning. How are you guys this morning? You're mad. You're mad. But I'm doing great. I'm having a good week. I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Bless you, brother.
[00:19:41] It's the duality of man. There's two sides. And what's interesting is the one that gets to see the other side more than anybody or the ones that you love the most. And what I mean by that, like a coin, sometimes they see you use your head. Sometimes they see you act like the tail. You know what I mean?
[00:20:03] The second comparison of us and a coin is a coin can't find themselves.
[00:20:10] If a coin is lost, first of all, it doesn't know it's lost. It's just on the ground.
[00:20:16] It can't just magically pop up, roll hit a shoe, land on a table. Land in the pocket of the person who lost the coin.
[00:20:23] The same is true with us. We don't know that we're lost until we're told that we're lost. But even then, in our world, it's not about being found. It's about finding your true self. Maybe you've heard that before.
[00:20:39] We spend a lot of money and a lot of time trying to find our true selves.
[00:20:45] Some of us may go and get in a tp at 160 degrees, sweat so we can understand and feel, feel what it means to be our true selves.
[00:20:55] Some of us may go to an island and spend weeks there by ourselves, in our thoughts, so we can figure out who our true self is. Some of you, even as I say that, will say I sign up for that.
[00:21:08] Some of us, we read self help books and we read all these books and we listen to all these podcasts. I'm not saying any of these are a bad thing. But when it comes to finding who you truly are, this is not the answer. Let me save you time, let me save you money, because I feel the same way. But I realize that my true self, your true self, is just this. We're sinners.
[00:21:34] We are sinners born into a sinful world. That's why we need a savior. But even when you have a savior, even if you're a follower of Christ and you have Jesus, that does not mean that you're not a sinner any longer. It just means that you're a sinner saved by grace.
[00:21:53] And that's who we are. That's our true self. And the third thing that compares us to a coin, and I really like this one, is we're stamped with an image.
[00:22:06] We're stamped with an image. All currencies all over the world have an image on their money. There's presidents, there's dignitaries, there's monarchs. There was one person that at one point was on over 33 currencies in this world. Do you know who that is?
[00:22:25] A lot of world travelers, apparently. Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth was on over 33 currencies of different countries because they were all a part of the Commonwealth of England.
[00:22:37] So whoever was on your money showed whose you were.
[00:22:44] Same is true with us. You and I are the same. Genesis 127 says this. So God created mankind in his own image.
[00:22:55] In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. You and I, whether you are a follower of Christ or nothing, you are stamped with the image of Christ because he is the one who created you what I've learned. Even last week when we were in Belize on a mission trip. I have a lot of random coins that I always find. And none of them ever work here, by the way. You go to pay for stuff, and they're like, sir, that's not a real dollar.
[00:23:31] But there's coins, and there's a 25 cent coin I in Belize, which is different than a quarter here.
[00:23:41] It's half the value of what a quarter here is. All because of what's stamped on the quarter.
[00:23:50] See, I know my value because I am worth so much. Because I'm stamped by the image of goddesse.
[00:24:02] And the same is true for you. You are valuable and worthy and worth so much. Than anybody could ever tell you or show you. Because you are stamped with the image of Christ. And let me tell you, the stamp matters in our parable. What makes the coin so special to this lady is the big question.
[00:24:26] Why is this such an important coin? And what does it mean for us compared to the coin? And so if you're taking notes, the first thing is this.
[00:24:36] The coin was personal.
[00:24:39] The coin was personal.
[00:24:42] A semi is a tiara made of silver coins. We have a picture, I believe, of it. This was the silver coins that were made into this tiara. And it was given to engaged women or married woman. And they would wear them above their eyebrows. It was kind of like a wedding ring or an engagement ring. For everybody to know that they're engaged or that they are married. That they're taken.
[00:25:07] But not only did it represent this. The number of coins meant something.
[00:25:13] In the Bible. Numbers matter. They have meaning. It's called biblical numerology. And I want to give you a couple examples of this. For instance, the number one represents unity and the oneness of God.
[00:25:27] The number two, it means difference or division.
[00:25:31] Fall under that, the duality of men. Remember, it's two things.
[00:25:35] It means the spirit and the flesh. Three equals strength. It means strength, the triune nature of God. There's many things in the Bible that have threes. Three kinds of sacrifices, three kinds of laws, three things. In the ark of the covenant. There's three gifts of grace, faith, hope and love. The number seven equals perfection.
[00:25:59] Creation happened in seven days. There's seven great land masses on the earth. There are seven colors in the rainbow. There are seven notes that make a perfect scale. And then the number ten. The number verse ten stands for completion.
[00:26:23] The ten Commandments. The ten spies that were sent into the city. It meant complete. So with only nine coins on her headdress. She would probably pretty stressed because it would stand for being incomplete. Not only that, I learned this and I thought it was interesting is that a woman back then who would have one coin missing represented her being a prostitute. Talk about rallying the troops to find this coin. Right? Let's go. Everybody up. We're finding this quickly. Don't want anybody thinking anything else.
[00:27:02] Ten meant complete.
[00:27:05] We serve a complete God.
[00:27:09] He doesn't have incomplete thoughts, ideas or plans. When he says something is going to happen, it happens. Not only that, he is a personal God, he wants a personal relationship with you and with me. You were created to have a personal relationship with him. And when that didn't happen, when sin got in the way and we couldn't have that personal relationship because the sin separated us from God, he sent Jesus to be the perfect, perfect life, to be the perfect sacrifice. As Jesus took the sin of the world on his shoulders like the shepherd took the sheep on the shoulders, Jesus did the same thing with our sin, and he went to the cross and he paid the ultimate price. So now you and I can have that right relationship with God because sin no longer gets in the way. Why? Because he wants a personal relationship with you and with me. He wants to be in our everyday lives for the rest of our lives. Without him, we are incomplete. And that was not his intention. The second thing that the coin is to this lady is precious.
[00:28:25] Personal and precious.
[00:28:28] It was customary in Palestine for a mother to give ten drachmas to be made into this jewelry, or already made into this jewelry that the mother had when she got married, that she would pass down to her daughter around the wedding day or on the wedding day. So she would retain this dowry as a family treasure. It would be something that she would hand down to her daughter later on. It would be passed down from mother to daughter for generation to generation. It was a family heirloom. It was very precious when you received it. You and I are also very precious to God. Isaiah 43 four says this, you are precious to me, and I have given you a special place of honor. I love you.
[00:29:19] Psalm 130 917 18 says, how precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought. Oh God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore. You are precious to God.
[00:29:42] He loves you. He cherishes you and his love, get this. Which is so awesome, is without condition.
[00:29:51] So even if you're like the coin and you are on the dirt floor, covered in dirt, covered in your own sin, separated from God, he loves you. And he cherishes you, and he's coming to rescue you. And the third thing, the coin was priceless.
[00:30:10] It was priceless.
[00:30:12] I mean, these coins were more than just money. This was something that was passed down. So the value of the coins were not monetary. It was more sentimental.
[00:30:24] It was something that she would hold dear, because not only was it from her family, but it represented her marriage and her life with her husband. It was priceless. But even though it was priceless, it came with a cost.
[00:30:40] I mean, to have this, this was a. Each coin was worth about. Today, a greek drachma is about $100. So each coin was worth about that. And that's like a serious day of labor, a serious day of work.
[00:30:54] And so even when I was reading, it would say if they were having trouble financially and they had to pay for some stuff every once in a while, if they had to, they would take a coin off to pay for it.
[00:31:06] Remember what that represented? And as soon as they got enough money, they would replace the coin.
[00:31:12] I mean, it was. But it was. But it was priceless because it was more than just money. But even though it was priceless, it was costly because of how much it was actually worth.
[00:31:23] The same is true with us, because even though we are priceless to God, I mean, he loves us so much that he sent his only son to die for us just so he can have a relationship with us, just so one day we can spend eternity with him in heaven. And that is priceless.
[00:31:44] But it came at a cost. It came at a cost. First Corinthians 620 says this, we were bought with a price, and that price was the blood of Jesus.
[00:32:00] But Jesus wasn't done.
[00:32:04] I love how he stirs the pot because he has a message, and the message that's being told is not the truth. And so he comes, and he keeps going. And we see it later in Luke, chapter 19. Just a few chapters later, he is there in the city of Jericho. And he is walking through Jericho, and there are tons of people around waiting to catch a glimpse of this Jesus that they've heard things about but were unsure about. And so they were all there. They were surrounding him as him and his disciples were walking. And there was a man in this town named Zacchaeus.
[00:32:44] And what do we know about Zacchaeus besides? He was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
[00:32:52] He was the chief tax collector.
[00:32:58] Remember?
[00:32:59] The Pharisees and the scribes were mad that he was even hanging out and eating with tax collectors. Right? And sinners.
[00:33:08] So he was going to go, and he was going to have an encounter with the most hated, the one who had stolen from all of these people more than regular tax collectors. He was the main one.
[00:33:22] Nobody likes him. Nobody. And Jesus is walking because he was so small in stature. He got up in this tree because he couldn't see over people. You think they made fun of him for that? I could just see it. I bet they did. So he's in this tree. Jesus is walking with his disciples, and he looks up, and I love this.
[00:33:41] This is a little extra, but I think it's so important. What does he do? The first thing he does is he calls him by name.
[00:33:51] There is something important about knowing someone's name. When you know someone's name, it means they are special. Think about it. When you walk into a room and somebody goes, Corey, how does that make you feel? Well, hopefully it'd be weird because they're calling my name, but when somebody calls your name in a room, it makes you feel special. It makes you feel like you're a wanted. What does jesus do? He looks up in the street to a man he has never met, and he says, Zacchaeus, come down from that tree for I'm coming to your house today.
[00:34:28] Zacchaeus comes down and they go to his house, but it says in there again that there is grumbling. People like to grumble. Back then, there was grumbling because what Jesus was doing, hanging out with the most hated, the most hated person probably in that area, and he goes to his house, and when they get there, Zacchaeus just starts unloading, like, oh, Jesus, I'm going to give away half of my wealth. I'm going to give away half of it. And for those that I've taken more than I should, I'm going to pay them back four times of what I owe them. Just starts gushing about what he's going to do.
[00:35:04] And Jesus says, hold on.
[00:35:07] And he tells him this today.
[00:35:13] Salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham. And then he tells them what it's all about. For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.
[00:35:31] Catch this. In this verse, Jesus in Hebrew is translated to the name Yeshua.
[00:35:41] Yeshua in Hebrew means salvation.
[00:35:49] There's so much meaning in this about who Jesus is and what his name represents and who he is as a person, God and flesh, and what he can do for not only Zacchaeus, but all the disciples, all those that are lost, everyone, even today, that name is special. Why? Because this is what I believe.
[00:36:11] I believe salvation has come to this house today.
[00:36:20] I don't know where you are when you came here today. I don't know your relationship with Jesus.
[00:36:29] I don't know where you stand in this whole faith conversation.
[00:36:34] But what I do know is that Jesus is here today. And salvation is available for all of us.
[00:36:43] Not only does salvation come to this house today, but salvation is going to come to this house tomorrow. And the day after and the day after, until one day he comes back and we're no longer here.
[00:37:00] But until then, the gift of salvation that was provided by Jesus is here and available to all of us.
[00:37:12] Think about that for a second.
[00:37:15] What does that mean for you?
[00:37:19] Where do you stand with Jesus?
[00:37:23] And if you're. I'm doing good. I'm solid. Where does your family stand with Jesus?
[00:37:29] Where does your coworkers stand with Jesus? Where do your neighbors stand with Jesus?
[00:37:38] Where does the guy that comes and rings your doorbell to sell something that you hide in your house from, where does he stand with Jesus? The waitress that you're gonna go see after this.
[00:37:50] Where do they stand with Jesus?
[00:37:53] Why are we still here?
[00:37:58] If you don't know Jesus, it's to know him. If you do know Jesus, it's to help other people know him.
[00:38:08] So what was Jesus doing with all this? Why was he using stories of the lower class? Why was he stirring the pot with the Pharisees? Why was he doing all this? And I found this quote that I think is great by John Piper. And he said it this way. He is showing the father's heart and filling the father's house.
[00:38:36] That's what we are called to do.
[00:38:39] If you are a follower of Christ, you are here on this earth to make an impact for Jesus by helping the lost become found.
[00:38:52] Where do you search?
[00:38:54] I think you start the search in your house like the lady was looking for the coin. What was she willing to do?
[00:39:02] She was willing to light a lamp.
[00:39:05] What is the light in reference to?
[00:39:08] God's word.
[00:39:10] God's word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Where are you when it comes to God's word?
[00:39:23] Second thing she did was she swept her house back then, small houses, no windows, dirt floors. Something could get lost real easily. She began to sweep her own house in order to find what was lost.
[00:39:42] Now, I'm not telling you, even though it's a good thing to go home and clean your house.
[00:39:47] But what about the inside of you?
[00:39:51] What needs to be swept? What needs to be cleaned in order for your light, for Jesus to shine even brighter so that people that don't know him can see what it looks like.
[00:40:06] Are you willing to put in what needs to be done in order for the people around you to know Jesus and to have salvation in him? If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, I think today is the day for you.
[00:40:28] Don't leave this room without having the assurance of your salvation and your eternity.
[00:40:35] All you have to do. You don't even have to close your eyes. This is how we say it here. All you have to do is say, everything I know about me, Lord, I trust everything I know about you. Come into my life. Forgive me of my sins.
[00:40:51] That's it.
[00:40:53] But if you were here and you've done that, you may be here saying, gosh, I don't even talk to my neighbors. How weird it would be the first time I talk to them. I tell them about Jesus.
[00:41:05] Next weekend, find a friend weekend.
[00:41:10] This is for you to invite people to come to our church. It's people that maybe don't know Jesus. It's people that maybe aren't connected to a church. Don't go invite your friends that already go to a church even though they're welcome. But that's not the main people. We want to come on this Sunday. We want you to invite people that need to be connected to the life of Jesus.
[00:41:34] Invite them. Just invite them. Make a day of it. Come here afterwards. Go do lunch together. Go to a pumpkin patch. I don't know. Make a day. Have fun. Let them see. What you get so excited about on Sunday mornings and why you show up is so that you can connect with others who are trying to connect with the same God that you are. Use next Sunday to be an easy invite to bring people here.
[00:42:02] And as you leave this morning, my prayer is that you realize that God wants to elevate you and use you to change this world, to make an impact for his kingdom so people that are lost can become found. Let's pray.
[00:42:19] God, thank you for your word, your message, your parable this morning. God, I pray that we see the truths in it that we can apply to our own lives. God, that when we read your word, we can see where. Where it is that you want us to follow.
[00:42:36] That it would be so clear, God, that the job that we have to do here on earth is to help you seek and save the lost.
[00:42:50] God, we pray that the lost may be found this morning. Whether it's in this house right here, whether it's in the house that we're about to go to after this, or whether it's somebody that you put in our path, whether at work, whether it's school, wherever it may be. God, may we realize the job that we have is to help the lost become found.
[00:43:17] God, give us that passion to live for you with all that we are, to deny ourselves daily from our own flesh so that we can live in your spirit.
[00:43:29] Thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for sending him to save us.
[00:43:36] God, today, may we realize that salvation is in this house. And may we tell people all about it. It's in your name that we pray. Amen.
[00:43:48] Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
