You Are Valued by God!

We're going to be in Luke chapter 15 this morning.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 15. I'm going to tell you all why

Luke 15 · chapter mention

you're turning to Luke chapter 15. That's in

Luke 15 · chapter mention

the New Testament, close to the front of the

New Testament. I don't know what heaven's going

to be like, but I think it's going to be a lot

like what it was like up here yesterday at the

church. It was a lot of love and a lot of joy.

Just brothers and sisters in Christ. Just loving

each other and serving God and rejoicing in what

we were doing. And I think that that's just probably

a glimpse of what it's going to be like. That's

going to be a good day. When we get to be united

with all the brothers and sisters in Christ,

all the loved ones that have gone before us,

that's a good day. So we thank the Lord that

he gives us little previews of that in this life.

Luke chapter 15. I've got bad news for you today.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

We're reading a whole chapter. No, all, I think

31 verses it is. So that's the bad news. But

the good news is, is we're not going to go through

it verse by verse. So we'll probably be out on

time. Unless the Lord changes my heart. You never

know. Sometimes that happens. We might be here

till 5 o 'clock. But we'll go till we get done.

I didn't hear no amens on being here till 5 o

'clock. Nobody amen that. If I'd have said we're

going to be out by 1145, half of y 'all would

have said amen. Say 5 o 'clock. Everybody just

kind of there say, I hope he's joking. I know

exactly what y 'all were thinking. All right.

Luke chapter 15. We're going to read through

Luke 15 · chapter mention

the whole chapter. Then we're going to pray.

And then we'll get started. All the tax collectors

and sinners were approaching to listen to him.

That's Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes were

complaining. This man welcomes sinners and eats

with them. So he told them this parable. What

man among you who has 100 sheep and loses one

of them does not leave the 99 in the open field

and go after the lost one until he finds it?

When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on

his shoulders, and coming home he calls his friends

and neighbors together, saying to them, Rejoice

with me. because I have found my lost sheep.

I tell you, in the same way there will be more

joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than

over ninety -nine righteous people who don't

need repentance. Or what woman who has ten silver

coins, if she loses one coin, does not light

a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully

until she finds it? When she finds it, She calls

her women friends and neighbors together, saying,

Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver

coin I lost. I tell you, in the same way there

is joy in the presence of God's angels over one

sinner who repents. He also said, A man had two

sons. The younger of them said to his father,

Father, Give me the share of the estate I have

coming to me. So he distributed the assets to

them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered

together all he had and traveled to a distant

country, where he squandered his estate in foolish

living. After he had spent everything, a severe

famine struck that country, and he had nothing.

Then he went to work for one of the citizens

of that country who sent him into his fields

to feed pigs. He longed to eat his field from

the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one

would give him any. When he came to his senses,

he said, How many of my father's hired hands

have more than enough food? And here I am dying

of hunger. I'll get up, go to my father, and

say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven

and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be

called your son. Make me like one of your hired

hands. So he got up and went to his father. But

while the son was still a long way off, his father

saw him and was filled with compassion. He threw

his arms around his neck and kissed him. The

son said to him, Father, I have sinned against

heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son. But the father told his

slaves, Quick, bring out the best robe and put

it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals

on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and

slaughter it, and let's celebrate with a feast.

Because this son of mine was dead and is alive

again. He was lost and is found. So they began

to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field.

As he came near the house, he heard music and

dancing. So he summoned one of the servants and

asked what these things meant. Your brother is

here, he told him, and your father has slaughtered

the fattened calf because he has him back safe

and sound. Then he became angry and didn't want

to go in. So his father came out and pleaded

with him. But he replied to his father, Look,

I've been slaving many years from you, and I

have never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never

gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with

my friends. But when this son of yours came,

who has devoured your assets with prostitutes,

you slaughtered the fattened calf for him. Son,

he said to him, you are always with me and everything

I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and

rejoice because this brother of yours was dead

and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you

for these beautiful words, these beautiful parables

that Jesus has shared with us, God. I pray that

as we hear these words, that we would examine

our own lives, God, that your Holy Spirit would

help us to see how they apply to us, dear Lord.

Help us to see who we may be in this story, dear

Lord. Of all the characters and all the situations,

dear Lord, who and where are we in the story?

Are we one who is lost that needs to be found?

Are we one who is like you, but perhaps our heart

is not in the right place? So God, I pray that

your Holy Spirit would be among us today. I pray

that you would just lead me, that I would preach

and teach in a way that brings glory and honor

to you, that you take away any fear or any pride

that I have today, that you take away any distractions

that the enemy has placed before us, and that

in these few minutes we would seek you. And I

ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Oftentimes

when we look at Luke chapter 15, of course there's

Luke 15 · chapter mention

a lot of emphasis placed on the last parable

that Jesus gave, the parable of the prodigal

son. And rightly so. It's a great parable. And

really no matter how many times you read it,

it's very powerful because it connects with us

in a way that we can really understand. And that's

the power of the parable. That's the power of

a simple story. that Jesus so often used. A story

that was simple and not even necessarily religious

in what it was talking about, but the connection

to the spiritual point that Jesus was trying

to make was fairly obvious for those who were

really seeking and listening and paying attention

to what Jesus said. And while the... Parable

of the prodigal son is a beautiful parable. Really,

to understand what's going on, we have to read

the whole of chapter 15. It all really goes together.

And what brought this whole set of parables about

was a situation that had arose. And here was

the situation. This is something we see throughout

Jesus' ministry. Jesus, the Son of God, came

into the world. And he did not just go and hang

out with the church folks. Now, Jesus liked the

righteous people. He liked those who loved God.

It was great. He served alongside those people,

and he loved those people. But Jesus didn't just

love the church folks. Jesus loved everybody.

Everybody. The undesirables. The ones that were

evil and horrible, the murderers and the prostitutes

and the tax collectors, the thieves, the liars,

everybody. Jesus didn't pick favorites. He would

associate with the righteous. He would eat with

the sinners. Jesus came to do what he came to

do, and that was to share the love of God and

to let people know and to see his example. that

he was going to be the sacrifice that was going

to be given for us so that our sins could be

forgiven. He came to promote the good news, to

let people know that the kingdom of God had come

near. And the only entrance into the kingdom

of God would be through Jesus Christ. And so

Jesus went and he talked to everybody that he

could encounter. But there were some who had

a problem with that, and we see that at the beginning

of Luke chapter 15. that there were some of these

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Pharisees and scribes that were complaining.

And what was their complaint? Their complaint

was this, that he eats with sinners, that he

eats with the evil people, that he welcomes sinners

and eats with them. And they took offense to

that. Now these Pharisees would have probably

considered themselves to be pretty religious.

They probably would have considered themselves

to be holier than thou. I think that's obvious

from their statement. Now wait a minute. This

guy, he's supposed to be somebody. He's supposed

to be representing God, the things that he says,

the things that he does. And yet look at what

he's doing. He's associating with these sinners.

Shouldn't he know better than that? And we have

to pause for a moment here and we have to examine

our own life. Do we ever fall into that trap?

Do we ever think that we are too good to serve

somebody else? You are not. You are not too good

to do anything. You are not too good to do the

dirtiest and the nastiest and the stinkiest and

the hardest jobs. You are not too good for that.

There are things sometimes that God puts in our

path, opportunities that he calls us to, and

we pass them up because they're too nasty and

they're too dirty and they're too scary. And

we might justify it by saying to ourselves, well,

God will just have to send somebody else for

that. Well, maybe he sent you for that. And who

are we that we are too good to help the poorest

of the poor and the worst of the worst? We are

not too good for that. And if we are, then we

need to be careful. Because if we are, even if

we don't utter these words the Pharisees uttered

with our mouth, they are in our heart. And we

are just as guilty if we want to avoid sinners

and avoid those who are least of these. Jesus

calls us who are Christians to minister and to

love those who are the least of these. And whatever

we do to them, Jesus says we have done for him.

So we are not too good. To humble ourselves before

those who are in need and to serve those who

are sinners. Because I've got news for you. You

yourself are a sinner. And if you've called on

Jesus Christ, you are a sinner saved by grace.

And if you've experienced the grace of God, then

how can you not share the grace of God with someone

else? And if you can't share the grace of God

with those you encounter, then perhaps you have

not experienced. The grace of God. So that's

the charge against Jesus. This man, he ain't

nothing because, look, he eats with sinners.

He values these people that have no value. They're

the garbage of society. And Jesus told them a

parable. He tells them a series of parables here.

All with a common theme. He shares a simple parable.

A lot of these people probably would have known

what it was like to raise sheep, have a lot of

sheep. And Jesus says, look, there's a shepherd.

Had a hundred sheep. And one of those sheep were

lost. And what did the shepherd do? He went and

he found that lost sheep. And what did he do

when he found it? He rejoiced. He said, look,

my sheep. I found my sheep. He told everybody

around, I found my sheep. My sheep was lost and

I found him. And what beautiful imagery there

because how does he, not only does he find him,

he doesn't just say, hey sheep, you're over there.

Come on back over here sheep, there you are,

come on. He doesn't do that. It says that he

goes and he places the sheep on his shoulder.

The shepherd goes and he retrieves the sheep.

And there is rejoicing when one that is lost

is found. And Jesus says there's rejoicing in

heaven. over one sinner who comes to repentance.

More so than over 99 who don't need repentance.

Now, he's not saying that there are people that

don't need repentance. He's making a point. He's

saying, look, there are some people who are obedient

to God. There are some people who are following

God. There are some people who are God's children

and they are His. But there are some who are

lost. And it's not that God doesn't love the

99, but He wants the one. He even values the

one. He values the 1%. Even if he's got 99%,

God says, but I want 100%. God is not greedy.

He is just a God who loves you. God values people.

That's kind of the point that Jesus is making

as he goes through these parables, is that God

values people. And maybe you're lost today. Maybe

you're lost today. I want to tell you, you need

to know this today. Listen to this. You are valuable

in the eyes of God. You may not think so. The

world may bully you and push you around and tell

you you're not worth anything, but that is a

lie from the pits of hell. I want to tell you

today that you are valuable in God's sight. So

valuable that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died

on a cross for you. That's how much God loves

you. And he'd have done it even for the one.

And there's rejoicing when a lost soul comes

to Jesus Christ. There's rejoicing when Jesus

Christ, the shepherd, comes and you become a

sheep who is part of his fold. There is rejoicing

that takes place. And Jesus continues on. With

another very simple story. Woman's got ten coins.

She loses one of them. She's frantically sweeping

the house. Trying to find that coin. She finally

finds it. And what does she do? She calls all

of her girlfriends up and says, Hey girls, guess

what? That coin I lost, I finally found it. And

there's rejoicing. And the same idea. There's

rejoicing. In heaven, when the lost is found,

when the sinner comes to repentance. Now notice

as the story progresses what we see. In the first

little parable that Jesus gives about the sheep,

there's 1 % of what the shepherd has that's lost.

And yet he cares about that 1%. Now what about

us? Do we care about the 1 %? Now I suspect we're

all guilty of this. You ever go somewhere? and

you pay for something, well, probably not now

because we don't use cash, but back in the day,

and they'd give you some coins, and you'd drop

a penny, and it would kind of roll like under

the counter or something, and you'd say, oh,

I'm not worried about that. It's just a penny,

right? We're not worried about a penny. If you

lost today, if you lost 1 % of everything you

own, well, it might be kind of a bummer, but

it probably wouldn't bother you too much. But

God's not like us. He values everything. He values

even the 1%. And so that scent that we leave

behind, that we take for granted, God's not like

that. He values things that we don't value more

than we value them. So in the first story, there's

1 % of what the shepherd has that's lost. What

about the second story? Well, there's 1 out of

10 coins. Okay, the percentage is getting greater.

And this is 10%. of what this woman had was lost.

Now, if you lost 10 % of what you had today,

you'd probably be sweeping the house too, right?

You'd probably be looking around. If you had

a $100 bill in your wallet, you had 10 of them

and you lost one of them, well, you're going

to look for that more than you're going to look

for that one cent. And so we see that the value

of the main characters or the main portion of

this story is increasing. It goes from 1 % to

10%. And no matter what the percentage is, it's

all valued by God, but the value of what's in

question is rising throughout the story. The

value is rising and there's excitement because

what is lost is valuable. And the sheep's not

that valuable, but the coin is a little more

valuable. And then we get to the third part of

the story. This is where Jesus is really kind

of bringing the point home. The first two were

kind of real simple stories that they could relate

to and understand. Okay, yeah, one sheep, not

that big a deal. One coin, okay, maybe we'll

look a little more for that. But what do we see

the value in the last story? It's 50%. The man

had two sons and he lost one of those sons. He

lost 50 % of what he had. And what a beautiful

story it is. We see in the story that there's

two sons. And one son says, Dad, I want my inheritance.

Give it to me or I don't want to wait on you

to die. Just give me what's coming to me. Well,

that's a bad place to be. Sometimes you even

see that with people today. That's not a good

place to be. Your heart's in a bad place if that's

where your heart's at. So this young man said,

Dad, I want what's coming to me. Give me my inheritance.

And the father said, Okay, son, if that's what

you want, I'll give it to you. And so the son

receives his inheritance. And guess what he does?

He blows it. He goes out and he lives for the

world and he does all these horrible things and

blows his money and it's gone. And then guess

what happens? Scripture says that a famine comes

into the land. Well, now he's in bad shape. He

was good at home. When he was at home, the father

took care of everything. The father provided

for him. The father protected him. The father

gave him everything that he needed. In the father's

house, he was in a good spot. But he chose to

leave the father's house. And he found himself

in a bad spot. He started feeding pigs. That's

the job that he had, feeding pigs. And it said

he longed to eat from the pig slot, but nobody

would give him any. He didn't even have pig slop

to eat. Boy, it looked pretty good at Daddy's

house. I bet about that point. Isn't that amazing

how it is when we're young? It seems like living

with our parents is the worst thing ever. Like

our parents are just so evil. Like they're anti

-fun. Like they just had us and they just had

a meeting and decided we're not going to do anything

fun for them. We're going to be hard on them.

And then we get to growing up. We can't wait

to get out. And then we get out and we're not

so different from the prodigal son, are we? We

get out working to do things our way, and then

we're eating like Hot Pockets like three times

a day. And then we think, man, when I was at

home, Dad used to make chicken wings, or he'd

make a steak sometimes, and we realized that

maybe being at home wasn't so bad. And the prodigal

son, boy, he was ready to go, and he went, and

he figured out that being apart from the Father

was a bad place to be. So now he's in a bad,

bad place. Now listen, maybe that's where some

of you are today. Because sometimes in life,

we make stupid decisions. I'm not talking about

leaving home. We're talking about a bigger picture

here. Sometimes we do stupid stuff. And we find

ourselves going down a pathway that's leading

us away from God the Father. That's leading us

away from what God desires in our life and what

God calls us to in our life. And if we seek God

and follow Him, God takes care of us and He provides

for us. And it may not always be easy, but God

always comes through. But the moment that we

abandon God and we seek to live for ourselves,

we are in a bad situation. And we find ourselves

living in sin and living for the world and pretty

soon we have hit rock bottom. And that's exactly

where this son was. He had hit rock bottom. And

he knew that he was in a bad shape. He also knew

that there was only one thing he could do. The

scripture says that he came to his senses. I

love that part of it. He came to his senses.

Now maybe God's calling some of us today to come

to our senses. It's time to wake up. It's time

to repent. That's what this is about. These parables,

they have a theme. They're about repentance.

They're about God values people. He values you.

You have value in His sight. He sent Jesus to

die for you so that you would come to Him so

that He could provide for you and take care of

you so that you would live in obedience to Him

under His protection and under His care that

He would guide your path. That's kind of the

theme that we see. Is that you are valued by

God and what God wants is for you to repent of

your sinfulness and to come to Him. Maybe today

there are some of us. Maybe you used to walk

real close to the Lord. Maybe you've never trusted

in the Lord. Maybe you've been living your way

and your sin for a long time. Maybe today the

Holy Spirit is working on your heart and you

feel that conviction and you know today that

you need to seek Him while I pray that today

you would come to your senses. That you would

say, this is foolishness for me to live for the

world and to do the things that I've been doing.

It's foolishness. God, I want to seek You and

I want to come to You. And that's exactly what

the Son does. He realizes that He is in bad shape.

And he comes to his senses and he says to himself,

he says, you know what? He said, even my father's

slaves have it better than I do. I can't even

eat the pig slop. Nobody will even give me that.

Even my father's slaves are better off than me.

So he says to himself, I'll tell you what I'm

going to do. I'll go back. Boy, that's hard.

That's hard, ain't it, right? That's hard when

you mess up and you leave home or you have an

argument with your parents and they say, well,

my house, I mean, my roof, my rules. And then

you say something like, well, it's time for me

to find a new roof. And then you go out and find

a new roof and you find out things under your

roof are pretty bad. And then you've got to make

that trip back home. And you've got to say, Diddy,

can I move back in for a couple months? Boy,

that's tough right there. That's exactly what

he had to do. He said, I'm going to go back and

I'm going to just tell my daddy. I'm going to

say this. I'm going to say, look, if you would

just let me come and be one of your hired hands,

if you just let me come be your slave, I have

sinned against heaven. I've sinned against God.

I've sinned against you. Father, I know that

I have done wrong. I know that I have and I'm

not asking to be your son again. I'm not asking

for the benefits of the son. I'm just asking

if I could just come and work for you. If I could

just be a slave for you. And so there's his little

speech he's going to give. He's ready to give

it. And so he heads back on his way. And I bet

you he is. Boy, that's a tough walk. That's a

tough walk. And he gets close to the house. And

his father runs out and says, boy, I told you

so. No, that's not what he says at all, praise

the Lord. If you're a father, maybe you don't

need to say that too. He doesn't say that at

all. He gets close to the house and he sees his

son in the distance and he knows it's his son.

And he runs out to him and gives him a big old

embrace. My son is home. He rejoices that his

son is home. That that which is lost is found.

The same that we see in the other parables. He

rejoices that the one he had lost was found.

And he tells everybody, my son has come home.

And then the son gives us a little speech. He

says, dad, I know I've sinned against God. And

I've sinned against you. If I could just be your

slave. You know what the father does? He says,

bring my son a robe, put a ring on my son's finger,

prepare a feast for my son, for my son has come

home. It's hard for us sometimes when we have

been living in sin. We have done some wretched

stuff. I'm talking about some wretched stuff.

Every one of us. We have done some stuff that

we are so ashamed of. We have done some stuff

that is so evil. Maybe even last night. Maybe

even this morning. Stuff that you just feel that

conviction about now. And you know that you've

done wrong. And you know that you are sinful.

And it's hard for us sometimes in the midst of

our sin, in the midst of our darkness, and all

the evil that's within us. Sometimes it's hard

for us to come before the Lord and there's probably

a part of you that says, I've done too much and

there's no hope and God doesn't love me. But

I want to tell you today that if you would come

to your senses, if you would come to your senses,

if you would take that step and you would go

before the Father and humble yourself before

Him, God will embrace you as a son. If we would

humble ourselves as the son did, the scripture

says that we are slaves of God. If we humble

ourselves as slaves of God and say, God, I know

that I'm a sinner and I know that I don't deserve

your grace, but God, if you would just forgive

me and just give me the crumbs, God, I don't

want anything. Just give me enough to get by,

dear Lord. If we humble ourselves as slaves,

God accepts us as sons. And he lets us eat of

the feast of the table. I don't know what the

son felt. I suspect a lot of relief. I suspect

the burden of preparing that speech. He probably

said it a thousand times before he got there.

And knowing what he was going back to and knowing

what he had done, I suspect the burden of that

was heavy on him. But I would just bet you anything.

That the moment his father come and embraced

him and welcomed him home as a son, that instantly

his burden was lifted. There's a lot of burden

in this world. Some of you came into this room

today carrying a lot of burden because of your

sins and your decisions. But I want to tell you

today, in the Father's house, there is peace,

there is grace, there is mercy. And the moment

you seek God, the moment that you ask Him to

forgive you, the moment that you humble yourself

before Him, in an instant your burden will be

lifted. You might have brought it in here today,

but I'm going to tell you through Jesus Christ,

you do not have to take it with you when you

leave. And so everybody is feasting and celebrating

and having a big party because that which is

lost is found. The lost son has returned. And

everybody is happy except for the other son.

The other son's out there working. He hears what's

going on. He says, hey, what's going on up there

at the house? They said, oh, wait, you didn't

know? Your brother's home. Your brother's home.

He didn't say hallelujah. He was mad as could

be. He finds out that his daddy had killed a

fatted calf. Are you kidding me? The fatted calf?

He probably says, I've been eating Hot Pockets

all my life, and he gets a fatty cat. And he

goes to his father, and he's so angry. He's so

angry. He says, why are you doing this? This

son of yours went out, and he took your money,

and he wasted it on junk and on prostitutes and

on the things of the world. And now he comes

back into the picture, and you're going to celebrate?

And the father says, son, you're always here

with me. Everything I have is yours. You've been

in my presence. You've been in my household.

You have been my son throughout all of this.

But your brother had left. He was lost. I didn't

know if I would ever see him again. But he came

back. That which is lost was found. We have to

rejoice when that which is lost is found. And

Jesus ends the parable there. All of these parables

have a common theme. In each one, the value of

what was lost increases from 1 % to 10 % to 50%.

And in each case, there is rejoicing. Over that

which is lost. The Pharisees and the scribes

came to Jesus. And says how dare he eat with

sinners. And through these parables what Jesus

is telling us. Is that Jesus values sinners.

Praise the Lord. Because that's every one of

us. Jesus values you today. The question is,

of all of these characters we see in Luke chapter

Luke 15 · chapter mention

15, which one do you most relate to today? Are

you the lost sheep that needs to be rescued?

Are you the lost son who has gone astray and

lived for himself and lived for the world? Are

you the father who longs for your children to

be restored to you? Are you the Pharisees and

the scribes and the other brother who are angry

at the grace of God? Who are angry because God

loves sinners? I don't know who you are in the

story today. Perhaps you're the brother who has

strayed and today you feel like you need to come

to your senses. Well, praise God. But who we

do not want to be today is the other brother.

Who we do not want to be today are the Pharisees

and the scribes. We don't want to be those who

look down upon sinners. We want to be those who

rejoice when sinners are saved. And we need to

be reminded that we ourselves are sinners. That

it is God's grace that has saved us. That it

is the love of Jesus Christ on the cross. That

has saved us. Who are we today. To not love others.

Let us not avoid sinners. Let us love sinners.

Let us follow the example of Jesus Christ. That

we can bring the love of God. And the love of

Jesus Christ. And the compassion of Jesus Christ.

And the message of hope. To those who need to

hear it. Perhaps you need a message of hope today.

And the hope that we see in this story and the

hope that we have in Jesus Christ is that you

are valued by God. Whether it's the 1 % or whether

it's the 50%, God values every soul. We see that

in this parable. God values you today. God loves

you today. If you've not followed Jesus Christ,

I pray that today you'd come to your senses and

seek Him. Let's pray. God, we thank you for this

good word. Dear Lord, I pray that we would never

fall into that trap of thinking that we are holier

than thou, thinking that we are somehow better

than anyone else, dear Lord. We thank you that

Jesus came to save sinners, and perhaps we need

to follow the words of Paul in which he says

that... Jesus came to save sinners of which I

am the worst, dear Lord. We need to realize just

how bad our sin is. And God, maybe our sin is

ever before us. And the pain of our sin is ever

before us. And the condemnation of our sin is

ever before us, dear Lord. And I pray that there

is one that is burdened down with their sin today.

I pray that they would just seek you right now.

I pray that they would come before you and know

that you love them dear Lord. That you sent Jesus

Christ to die for them. And that today Jesus

wants to bring you into the kingdom. But God

as we see in the story of the prodigal son. We

have to make that choice. We have to come to

our senses. So I pray God if there is one today

that is just struggling under the weight of their

sin. That today that they would repent. that

they would ask for forgiveness, that they would

accept Jesus Christ and put their faith in Him,

to know that He has died on a cross and His life

was given so that they could be forgiven. God,

I pray that if there is some burden with sin

today, that they would know that You value them,

that You are worth something to them, that You

love everybody. We see that in the Scriptures

time and again with Jesus, God. He loves everybody,

all of us here today. God, maybe there are some

here today and maybe they're yours. But maybe

they're like that prodigal son who has wandered

away. I pray today that they would come home.

That they would come to their senses, dear Lord.

I pray, God, that we would be those who rejoice.

That we don't just seek judgment and punishment

for sinners, dear Lord. But that we seek restoration,

God. We ourselves are sinners. And yet you were

gracious to us. So God, our desire should be

for your grace to extend to others. So let us

be those who long to see lost souls saved. Let

us be those who rejoice, dear Lord, over that

which is lost and is found in Jesus Christ. I

thank you for each one that's here. I pray that

you bless them, God. And as we take these few

moments to close, God, if you've spoken to anyone

today, I pray that they would respond to you

today. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen.