The Burdens of the Lost | Luke 15:11-32 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 02/23/2025

morning we are looking at a two-part

message this morning is the first part

next Sunday will be the second part this

morning we're going to look at a very

very important motivation for us as a

church to be involved with what God is

doing around the world to be involved

with what he is doing among the Nations

among the lost this is a time for us as

a church to remember what Jesus what we

have called Jesus's great commission or

his great command to us you know

churches that are not mission-minded

die I'm going to say that again churches

that are not mission-minded

die churches that do not hold on to the

gospel listen to this Christians that

ignore God's call to be used by him and

the people around us Christians that

that ignore God's calling and nor ignore

his command will never be all that he's

created them to

be a church that does that will fade

away and that's part of the Great

problem of modern-day liberalism is that

it lost the urgency of the Gospel

there's no gospel message to share and

so many of those churches have

disappeared but the churches that hold

on to God's word and hold on to what he

has said and remember his commands and

then do his commands are the churches

that remain vibrant so we want to be a

church that's mission-minded amen amen

um we want to be a church that challenge

it now I have two illustrations to open

this

sermon the first

one are images from around the

world the first

illustration is images and video for you

to see and think about the masses the

billions that are

lost without the

shepherd they've never been told that

there is a loving Shepherd who laid down

his life for the

sheep and so they are doing religious

things trying to

gain somehow his

acceptance there are some people here

that are like many of the people that

we'll see in the videos some people are

showed up this morning thinking I'm here

so that God will be pleased with

me and I just want to say to you that

we're not called to

religion we're called to a

relationship with a Shepherd who lays

down his life for the

Sheep now this morning we need to

remember the

masses and then the second illustration

will be a very personal one so the

lights are going to fall hit the tape

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oh

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what

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I hope as we enter into God's word this

morning that we will think

about the

compassion that Jesus has for the

lost as we think about this concept of

lostness I think about our words the

words from our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ when he was here look with me and

this isn't on your outline but this is

on the screen in front of you in Matthew

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 we see the heart of God

through through

Jesus look at what it says and Jesus

went through all the cities and Villages

teaching in their synagogues and

proclaiming look what it says the gospel

that means the good news of the Kingdom

in healing every disease and every

Affliction verse

36 and when he saw the crowds what he

had compassion for them because they

were harassed and

helpless like

sheep without a

Shepherd when we think about lost people

when we think about people seeking to be

religious listen to this whether they're

here this

morning whether they're call themselves

even oh my goodness

Baptists or whether they are from Islam

or whether they are from Hinduism or

whether they are from buddh ISM or

whatever whether they are from Roman

Catholicism or wherever quarter of the

spectrum that they may be when we think

about them without knowing Christ the

Messiah we see the age old Lie from

Satan that's alive and well in Baptist

Churches

too that you have to do something you

can do something to gain God's

approval and as long long as we do not

understand what Jesus has already done

for us we are what we called

Lost and there are millions and millions

billions that are lost this morning I

also want to start with um a personal

story I was a young Pastor in St

Augustine Florida and we were right

there by the beach in St Augustine our

church was planted in a in a strip

shopping center you know one of those

shopping centers that's a long strip of

stores and we had one end of it and then

we grew a little bit we took over

another part of it and then we took over

another unit and we took over another

before very long we had half the

shopping

center and next door to the shopping

center was an undeveloped plot of land

and it had scrub Oaks on it have you

ever heard of a scrub Oak they're all

over the State of Florida they scrub

Oaks they're this they're like an oak

tree but they're very

small they're super tough and they kind

of have prickly not really Thorns but

their branches are so sharp and and and

prickly and they grow very very thick

they'll grow very thick and part of the

year they're green but then they turn

that dark color again and they become

very hard and they're rough and they're

super thick and they stay down low to

the ground and I remember one day was on

a Tuesday or Wednesday I was coming

around the side of our shopping center

building I'd been in the back for some

reason and I'm walking along and right

there next to a bush very much like this

bush I found

this what is that

ladies what is that don't act like you

don't know what that

is what is

that it's a purse and it's not just a

purse what kind of purse is it

ah see you ladies

know husbands you're acting like you

don't

know it's a Gucci

purse and I don't know much but when I

saw that I thought wow that's an

expensive purse and it's laying next to

the scrub

oat and so I reached down and I picked

up the

purse and I I kind of smelled some

perfume and then I

looked and there under the edge of the

Bush was some type of expensive women's

shoe sticking

out and then I got down lower and I

looked up under the

bushes and there was a beautifully

dressed young

woman under the

bushes how she even got in there I had

no idea

I immediately was concerned and I I

grabbed hold of her leg and I shook her

leg and she moved I thought she's

alive and then as time went on I I tried

to get her free and um she was resistant

and she fell back

asleep and there she

was passed out

intoxicated underneath the

bushes her hair was all caught up in the

bushes and I thought okay I need to do

two things I need to go call the

authorities and I need to find out who

this woman is so I I took the purse I

opened it and there's this beautiful

wallet and inside the wallet were these

business

cards and that was the only real thing

that I could see and it was for an

attorney's firm I was in St Augustine

this is an attorney's firm in

Gainesville and so I took the attorney's

firm and I noticed that there were two

last names there as attorney firms often

do and I just thought maybe these people

know who she is it appears that this is

her so I called the attorney's office I

said hello do you know uh a

Caroline and they said where is

she and I said well I'm in St Augustine

they said is she in s St Augustine I

said yes she is and they said oh oh is

she is she

okay I said well I don't know she's

she's she's moving but she's kind of

unconscious that they said okay tell us

where you are we're

coming it was her

father he said

she she's under the

bondage of

alcohol she'll do great for a while she

graduated with honors from law school

she'll do great for a while and then

something happens and she's right back

and she said we've been looking for her

for 3

Days friends

the world has the

burden of

lostness and this morning I want us to

see the burdens of the

lost when we talk about the lost when we

talk about what we see that they do and

what we see of how they live you know

self-righteous people as we will see can

look down at them

but when we look at what God

says we see how he thinks about

them the world is full of lost people

this morning we come to um one of the

most known Parables of Jesus in fact if

you're new to us just notice down here

at the bottom we have a background we we

in our bi in our church we believe that

understand the context of a passage will

help you understand the passage much

better so let's look and see this number

one um the background of this is this

that this is the most popular of Jesus's

Parables if you give if you talk about

Jesus's Parables um to mention the

prodal son is perhaps the one that most

people kind of relate to in one way or

another at least they know what it is

secondly it is often called the parable

of the prodal son um so that's what it's

often called the parag of the prodal

what does prodal mean well it kind of

comes from the idea of that which is

prodigious and that which is prodigious

is huge it's big in fact if you were to

say wow that kid is a prodigy what do

you mean by that if he's a prodigy on

the piano that means or she's a prodigy

on the violin you would say wow she's

she's really big on the piano she's

really big in that she's able her her

ability is huge a child

prodigy well in this case if we call

this one the prodigal son what we think

of is this we think of living

large that's what this son was doing he

wanted to go and live big he wanted to

go and live large and we'll see that but

number three we want to recognize this

though that we often

miss it's really a story about two

rebellious

sons and their loving gracious father

it's about two rebellious sons and their

loving gracious father look at number

four the the religious leaders of

Jesus's day could see the story

exactly but they were blind to its real

spiritual meaning

so they could see that there was a

father of Honor he had one son that

wanted everything and he would leave and

he had another son that stayed and he

was supposedly the righteous one and

then we see both of the sons come to the

father in different

ways and we see a story that is here of

redemption but the religious leaders

missed it number five while any child

can grasp the story its meaning is

perhaps the richest and most complex Lex

of Jesus's Parables and so just put a

big circle around number five and put on

their homework I would encourage you

this week to meditate on this passage

and meditate on why would we say that

this Parable is one of the most

complex and Rich of Jesus's Parables

let's read the parable and let's see it

um it's right up here Luke 15: 11-32

verse 11 and he said there was a man who

had what two sons and the younger of

them said to his father father give me

the share of property that is coming to

me and he divided his property between

them not many days later the younger son

gathered all that he had and took a

journey into a far country and there he

squandered his property in

what Reckless

living and when he had spent everything

a severe famine arose in that country

and he began to be in need verse 15 so

he went and hired himself out to one of

the citizens of that country who sent

him into his fields to feed

pigs and he was longing to be fed with

the pods that the pigs ate and no one

gave him anything verse 17

but when he came to

himself he said how many of my father's

hired servants have more than enough

bread but I perish here with Hunger I

will rise and go to my father and I will

say to him father I have sinned against

heaven and before you I am no longer

worthy to be called your son treat me as

one of your hired servants and he arose

and came to his father

and while he was still a long way off

his father saw him what does it

say and felt

compassion and his father ran and

embraced him and kissed him and the son

said to him father I have sinned against

heaven and before you I'm no longer

worthy to be called your son verse 22

but the father said to his servants

bring quickly the best robe and put it

on him and bring a ring on his hand and

shoes on his

feet verse 23 and bring the fatted calf

and kill it and let us eat and celebrate

for this my son was dead and is alive

again he was

lost and he's

found and they began to

celebrate verse

25 now his older son was in the field

and and as he came and Drew near to the

house he heard music and

dancing and called one of the servants

so this property was so big that all

this stuff happened I mean this we're

talking quite a ranch so one of the the

older son is far off in another field

word hadn't even got to him yet by the

time the party has started so he finally

comes home from his distant distant

field perhaps miles

away he hears the music

and he seized the party verse 26 and he

called one of the servants and asked

what these things meant and he said to

him your brother has come and your

father has killed the fatted calf

because he has received him back safe

and

sound verse 28 but he was angry and he

refused to go

in and his father came out and intreated

him but he answered his father look

these many years I have served you I

have never disobeyed your command yet

you have never given me give me a young

goat that I may celebrate with my

friends but when this son of yours came

you had you

devoured who had devoured your property

with prostitutes you killed the fatted

calf for him verse 31 and he said to him

son you are always with me and all that

is mine is yours it was fitting to

celebrate and be glad for this your

brother was dead and is alive he was

lost now he's

found you see there's two ways in which

we can be

off there's two ways in which we can be

rebellious and this morning I want us to

look carefully at this and we'll focus

more on the first Sun this morning and a

little bit next Sunday we'll focus on

the second sun a little bit but we're

going to really look at something very

different part of the story next Sunday

there's many things you can say about a

parable especially a parable at this

length and uh I want us to know just a

few things from this Parable we want to

look at these and they come straight out

of the text that's what expository

teaching is it's when we seek to expose

what is here in the text and so first of

all I want us to notice when it comes to

the loss notice this notice number one

the

shamelessness of the Lost notice the

shamelessness of the lost and we see it

in verse 12 look what it says in verse

12 and the younger of them so the

younger son said to his father father

give me the share of property that is

coming to me now that's a pretty

Shameless thing to do

your father isn't even dead yet and

you're showing up saying I want mine

now just go ahead and give it to me

because I'm

leaving I'm going to get something and

so apparently this father is so gracious

and so kind that the son thought that he

could ask for it and get it and he was

right and so he goes to his father

shamelessly with Absol absolutely no

shame and ask for this wicked

thing I want mine now and you can die

alone or with my

brother notice this the wicked know no

shame the wicked have a seared

conscience and notice this in our lost

State we and I say we here because in

our own Hearts without Christ

we are

this not one of us is

not tainted and poisoned with sin notice

this in our lost State we are capable of

what anything including so dishonorable

now there's another part of homework

right here notice all of these verses I

would encourage you to study these

verses this week and see if this is not

true but not only do we see the

shamelessness within themselves but then

we also see in these verses we notice

the

shamefulness the

shamefulness of the lost it's

shameful and so look what it says in

verse 13 so the the father divides out

immediately doesn't argue with him the

father divides out what is his and gives

it to

him not many days later the younger son

gathered all he had so all he had been

given and took a journey into a far

country and there he squandered his

property in Reckless living so a lot is

said in these Verses first of all this

big conversation between a father and a

son saying give me what is mine the the

father immediately does that and then we

see this notice this and filled in these

these uh bullet points he would have to

he would have had to sell his father's

property because in that day and time

while you may have gotten some money you

would have gotten other things you would

have gotten actually perhaps

land and you would have gotten tools and

you would have gotten buildings and you

would have gotten

livestock from a wealthy man who had

lands and

Fields so what does he quickly do

liquidate I'm going to liquidate all of

these assets I'm going to get the cash

so I can go have

fun he would have had

to sell his father's property perhaps

representing generations of family

wealth we see the

foolishness notice this on the screen in

front of you only fools throw away a

positive Family

Heritage some of you in this room would

say in my younger years and through my

upbringing I was given a positive Family

Heritage some of you could say that some

of you would say I was definitely not

given a positive Family

Heritage if you only knew what heritage

I grew up with but here in this case we

have a positive Family Heritage one of

even it seems to be honor and

wealth and yet notice

what a

heart without God is capable of doing

it's capable of being incredibly

selfish and that's where we often wind

up you see he wanted to get away from

fill it in he wanted to get away from

accountability that's why he wanted to

go to a foreign land he wanted to get

and that's what it says he went off to a

far country so fill this in he wanted to

get away from God's people you see going

to a far country means that you're no

longer in Israel

you're know you're now going out among

the Pagan Nations he wanted to go where

they did all kinds of things that God

did not

prohibit you know that can be the case

for a person in this room in fact we

have people in this room that they would

say as a young man I went out from my

father's

Heritage and I

left what he had given and I wanted to

go do my own thing I he's in heaven now

he's experiencing all the joys that we

have sung about already but I think

about Ted capella that was Ted

Capella's testimony who would sit right

here for decade after decade and worship

would teach the Bible he had spent 41

years rejecting the

Lord and I couldn't never mention the

prodical son or preach about the

prodical son and Ted capella wouldn't

say that was

me he wanted to get away from God's

people and go do his own thing young

people watch out for that

lie you see he would blow it all fill it

in he would blow it all on

prostitutes fake friends and

foolishness and oh how the world at one

level or another very often lives it one

degree or another on these things the

sensuality of this life prostitutes fake

friends wanting Fame wanting certain

number of people wanting to be liked or

whatever especially in this day and time

we have what kind of friends we have

Facebook friends I'll never forget we

came home from the mission field

Facebook was taken off this is 13 14 15

years ago and I remember Laura bevel was

in the gym and her daughter came up to

her and said oh yeah she's one of my

friends on Facebook Facebook and Laura

just looked at her daughter and said

well I have real

friends I remember thinking well I

friended or I defriended them you know

oh is that how quickly it

goes fake friends and then the issue of

foolishness this is a life lived just

pursuing that which is going to pass

away in fact in the Great Hall of faith

in the New Testament Hebrews 11 when we

see that notice this that

Moses did not did not

engage the passing pleasures of sin for

a

season because that's what it is when we

go and chase after what the Lost are

chasing after these are the passing

pleasures of sin for a season you should

think about

that if you're living your life and you

know that you're starting to go off the

path of young people if you're starting

to be a attracted to the things of the

world you have to understand that are

they pleasurable yes they're pleasurable

but they are going to pass

away the passing pleasures of sin don't

last they're only for a

season and in that

season they can destroy your life and so

what we see in this is not only the

shamefulness the shame that was brought

upon his family the shame that was

brought I mean think about it everybody

knew this wealthy man this wealthy land

owner and everybody knew he had two sons

and everybody knew that he had given

away part for the heart of a son that

would not be

turned can you imagine the

Scandal but we also see something else

here look in verse

14 and when he had spent

what everything you know what I just

call that I I have to say number three

notice the insanity of the

lost it's just

foolish when he had spent everything

isn't that what the pursuit of the world

does it just says blow it all

out it's the Brickle Avenue

mentality it's the Avenue of get it

all use it all blow it up out well

notice this there's a difference between

sanity and Insanity sanity is this and

it's right here on your outline sanity

is that which is sensible it makes sense

it's sound-minded it's logical it's

rational it's advisable it's

responsible it thinks about the true

future whereas insanity is circle it

it's the opposite of all those things so

it's insensible

it's not of sound mind it's of a weak

mind it's not logical it's illogical

it's

irrational it's not advisable and it's

irresponsible and that's where our

sinful Hearts go and that's what so

often the world finds itself

on Mark it

down when we look at this first son that

goes out he comes to the

place that sin will make you

stupid how often have you looked at

something that someone has done whether

it be a friend or a family member or

somebody in the news and you look at it

and you go that is so stupid I mean have

you watched any of these security cam

videos from um convenience stores or

people that break into people's houses

or people that go into a business or

whatever and you look at what they do

it's so

stupid in fact a great example of that

was um we had a member of our church who

was having their house

tented okay so you have your house

tented and um it's kind of dangerous in

that they build this big tent goes over

your house and then what do they do

inside the

house there's a gas that is released

inside that house the tent is to hold

the gas in there right well when you see

the tent

you know that that means nobody's

home so this guy said yeah you know we

we usually have to station someone there

to watch over the house to to try to

make sure that no one tries to break

into the house um while the house is

tinted I said you're kidding me somebody

would do he goes oh yeah oh yeah he said

you're not going to believe what we

found on one of them he said we got in

there and lay in there in the middle of

the living room floor was a guy with a

mask on and a

snorkel just think about

it sin will make you

stupid it'll make you do stupid

things you're on a trip you see somebody

cute

and you think oh that'd be

nice and before very long you lose your

whole family you lose half your wealth

and you see your kids on the weekend was

it worth

it

no it'll make you

stupid notice this number 4 verses 14-

16 we see the desperation of the lost it

comes to

desperation look what it says in verse

14 and when he had spent everything a

severe famine arose in that country see

he had blown it all he hadn't thought

about a day when there wouldn't be as

much and he began to be in

need and so he went and he hired himself

out to one of the citizens of that

country and he sent him into the field

into his fields to feed

pigs verse

and he was longing to be fed with the

pods that the pigs

ate and no one gave

him

anything you see what happens is this

our sin will bring us into

desperation and if not desperation

listen physically it will bring us into

desperation spiritually and emotionally

there's some people who run in their sin

and and they have all the wealth in the

world but with no joy and no happiness

and no peace of

mind because this world cannot satisfy

in the things that really matter but our

sin will make us stupid and sometimes

we'll even come to the end of our

physical rope as a result of this you

see eventually fill it in eventually the

Music Stops and time runs out the bottom

falls out and the top caves in you see

young people you can run off and leave

the truth of God for a little while and

think you're getting away with it think

it's going to be okay but in the end

what you

find is that it all comes down like a

house of

cards I've seen it a thousand

times Proverbs 14 14:12 says this and

could you read this out loud with me

Proverbs 14:12 let's read it there is a

Proverbs 14:12

way that seems right to a man but its

end is the way to death it's exactly the

truth Romans 3:23 says for the wages of

Romans 3:23

sin is death and it's talking about

being cut off from God not merely

physical death it's the death of your

soul it's the death of being in right

relationship with

God God in his grace and in his Mercy

gives us his word tells us of all that

he's done in the Old Testament before

the coming of the Messiah and then the

Messiah and then all that comes after

the Messiah has come in the age of the

church in this beautiful picture of his

Plan of Redemption so that we can know

him so that we can walk with him so that

we can make sense of the world so that

we can see the dangers remember there

signs um on the on the side of the ski

slopes you remember danger you can

die all of these warning us in love not

because God wants to make your life less

fun but because God wants you to really

live Jesus said I came that you might

have life and that you might have it

abundantly it's the LIE from Satan that

says that there's a better

life somewhere

else but the Lost don't know any of this

and so the Lost grasping that straws are

Shameless and then shameful it comes

into Insanity it comes into a

desperation

and then we also see in this son number

two

um the first son actually look what it

says in verse five or or number five we

notice the

selfish angry Envy of any wicked

heart and that's what you see in this

son that is mentioned in fact I'm going

to ask you if you would to just flip

your sheet back over and look at the

look look at the verses

25-32 we see the other way that this can

go in verse 25 now this older son was in

the field and he came and he drew near

the house and he heard music and dancing

verse 26 he called one of the servants

and asked what are these what these

things meant verse 27 and he said to

them your brother has come and your

father has killed the fatted calf

because he has received him back safe

and

sound and he was angry and refused to go

in his father came out and intreated him

so this good father comes out to plead

with his

son but when his son but when this son

of your excuse me um in verse 29 but his

father answered look these many years I

have served you and I never disobeyed

your commands so the son is giving his

reason for his being

angry you never gave me a young goat so

the idea is you never even gave me a

little goat much less a fatted calf that

I may celebrate with my friends so he he

sees a great disservice supposedly with

his father verse 30 but when this son of

yours came who has devoured your

property with prostitutes you killed the

fatted calf for it and he said to him

son you are always with me and all that

is mine is yours it was fitting to

celebrate and be glad for this your

brother was dead and is

alive he was lost and is found his

brother could not

rejoice that his brother you

know his rebellious brother would come

home you know there are some people in

the

church that look at the lost and they

just shake their

head in self-righteousness and they go

can you believe those

people and you know there are some

people in the church that can come to

hate the

lost all they do is Judge

them all they do is come to separate

from

them and there's no interest in those

people coming home to

God my friends when we see the

Lamborghini on Bickle

Avenue going 50 m an hour in first gear

saying look at me

now we can be annoyed and hate them if

we want to but we can also have the

mindset of Christ is there he

goes he needs

Jesus I hope he will come home to

God when we see the

thief when we see

the person that wrongs us when we see

the L when we see the Muslim the

Buddhist when we see the people that are

all around us that don't know God and

even declare the things that are

righteous to be unrighteous I'm not

saying that we do not recognize their

lostness we do but what we need to do is

that we need to have the mindset of

God we need to have compassion for

them because you see Jesus who at the

beginning of the sermon I read for you

from Matthew I read for you the passage

that said that Jesus saw them for they

were lost like sheep without a Shepherd

just a few days later Jesus would be

crucified on the cross and from the

cross looking at those who crucified him

he would say oh Father forgive them for

they know not what they

do you see this is the mind of

God it is compassion

do we have the compassion of God for

those that are lost see number five

underneath number five whether in Wild

Rebellion or in

self-righteous arrogance so one son was

wildly rebellious the other son was in

self-righteous arrogance whether in Wild

Rebellion or self-righteous arrogance a

wicked heart Circle it is what miserable

so you can be miserable outside the

church but you can also be miserable

quote unquote inside the

church in your

self-righteousness God does not call us

to be self-righteous and arrogant God

calls us to have

compassion for people that so

desperately

need the

cross there is only one solution to our

Wicked Hearts whether wild Rebellion or

self-righteous arrogance there's only

one

solution and it's that we need a new

heart that's the only

fix we need a new heart and the only way

to get a new heart is through our Lord

Jesus

Christ you see Ezekiel 36 veres 26- 27

is talking to a nation whose heart has

been so wicked against God these are

God's people and they're still Wicked

against

God and look what happens the prophet

Ezekiel prophesies from the Lord that

God is going to give a new heart look

what he says he's he's declaring God's

word to them and he says and I will give

you what a new heart and a new spirit I

will put within you it's not that you

will change your heart it's not that you

will fix your heart it's not that you

will get new spirit and attain a new

spirit on your own he's saying I will

give you a new heart I a new spirit I

will put within you look what it says

and I will remove the Heart of Stone

from your flesh and give you a heart of

Flesh so your heart is heart hard

callous Stony toward God and he's saying

I'll make it alive

again you'll go from a stone own hard

heart a diamond hard heart you remember

that a diamond hard

heart to a heart that's alive verse 27

and I will put my spirit within you and

cause you to walk in my statutes and my

ways and be careful to obey my

rules so friends God says I'll give you

a new heart and I'll Empower you to obey

some of you have been thinking well I

would love to obey but I just I've tried

that and it doesn't work you don't know

me I have all these sin problems and I

would say yeah well welcome to the club

that's the reason Jesus went to the

cross and then the reason that he gave

his spirit is so that you can walk with

him you cannot keep the rules of God you

cannot walk with God in your own

strength you cannot change your own

heart can a leopard change its spots

no only God can come and give you a new

heart so now we come to his grace and we

come to see what he did on the cross we

come to see that he died and he rose

again to give us a new heart and that

his holy spirit can cleanse us so that

his Spirit comes to live within us and

then it's his power in you causing you

to change your vocabulary causing you to

change your online habits causing you to

change the feelings and the thoughts

that you have to the people around

you it is only God who can change your

view toward your job and toward your

boss and toward your spouse and toward

your money and toward all of the issues

in your

life this is the reason we need a new

heart I love 2 Corinthians 517 look what

it

says therefore anyone if anyone is where

in Christ he is a filad in a new

creation

put out there to the side born again and

that doesn't come from Jimmy Carter that

comes from Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter

made popular the idea he was a born

again Christian and that was sweet and

and wonderful and I'm glad for his

witness in that way un ashamed of Christ

that was good but you know we don't just

necessarily need to associate that with

him we need to see that there's a very

real concept there that Jesus looked at

Nicodemus and said Nicodemus unless

you're born again you cannot enter the

Kingdom of Heaven unless I'm make you

new you can't come in I have to make you

completely

new and this is the Glorious

gospel the old has passed away behold

fill it in the new has

come he gives you a new heart and a new

power so as we think about our own lives

as we think about the world as we think

about what our church believes in what

you believe in as a person as we think

about all of these things we need to be

mindful of the mission of Christ the

mission of Christ was to seek and to

save that which is Lost That should be

our mission that should be your reason

to live the rest of your

life is that you have joined God's

Mission because what did he

say as the father has sent

me so send I

you and so you don't need to wonder

about what God's will is for your life

it's God's will that you be in faith in

Jesus Christ and that you share the fact

that a savior has died for those who are

going 9 to nothing running hard as they

can thinking that they have the

answer and they

don't

people look at those pictures in front

of you look at that all those people who

do they represent some of those people

represent India some of those people

represent Bangladesh Saudi

Arabia

Colombia some of those people represent

Broward in

Dade some of those people represent your

home so my question is this do you have

a heart that is stuck in in

sin as the lost like this first young

man and the second young

man or has it been made new in God's

grace if you would say I know that my

heart is stuck in sin I haven't been

made new friend

today you can receive Jesus Christ as

the Lord and savior of our life you can

receive his forgiveness full and free

you can receive what he did on the cross

for you and he says to you if anyone

open the door I will come

in Revelation 3:20 says behold I stand

Revelation 3:20

at the door and knock if anyone hears my

voice and opens the door I will come

into him perhaps God is calling

you to get a new

heart receive him by faith what about

the second

question do you care

that there are billions who are stuck in

their

sin I mean does that play into your

thinking does that play into your time

into your finances into your

friendships into your future does

it it's a really big deal to

God and if it's a big deal to God it

should be a big deal to us

amen would you stand with me for prayer