Today’s Message “Lost & Found”

Luke 15:1-10 (ESV)

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

1.  Be Alarmed Over People Who Are Lost

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 

8 “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?

2.  Focus Our Concentration Over People Who Are Lost

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 
8 “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?

3.  Celebrate When Lost People Are Found

5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 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.’ 
9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’


7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Decisions & Destiny Luke 16:19-31
Key Decisions That Will Determine Your Destiny

 1. Decide Today To ________ Right

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

2. Choose To __________ Ahead 

22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 

3. __________ To God

23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 

23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 

27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 

29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 

31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

PICTURE THIS SERIES “EXCUSE ME PLEASE”

 Luke 14:15-24(ESV)

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 

An Excuse To God Is Like An Abuse To God

1. Have I Heard God’s Invitation To Me?

16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 

1 Timothy 6:17(ESV)
17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 

2. Have I Honored God’s Invitation To Me?

18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 

19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 

20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 

3. Have I Surrendered To God’s Invitation To Me?

21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 

22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 

23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 

24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

​1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 

3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 

8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 

9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 

10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 

11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 

Matt. 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Matt. 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.