The One | Donovan Rillion | The One Who's Been Wounded

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

Luke 15:8–10

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

Luke 15:8–10

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

Luke 15:9

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.