The one that was lost
26th May 2009
The shepherd lost a sheep
I really enjoyed youth church last Sunday night. We looked at Luke 15 - the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who had 100 sheep and lost just one of them. You might expect that he'd be like, "Oh well, that's a shame but I've got the other 99 so never mind", but that's not what he says. He leaves the 99, he goes out and he begins a long, thorough search.
God is like that shepherd
God is like that shepherd. There's no: ‘Oh well, you can't win them all' with God. There's no: ‘Well we might have lost some people, but the youth group is still pretty good and strong'. There's none of that with God. Make no mistake. He weeps over every single lost individual. His mind is on every single person who is away from him. He hasn't given up on anyone.
Do you love the one enough to go look for them?
Matt Gluyas asked the young people to raise their hands if they knew of a young person who used to be a part of the church but is no longer walking with God. Hands went up across the room. My hand went up. Matt's next question was the all-important one:
"Do you love the one enough to leave the 99 behind to go find them?"
As the song ‘Tears from the Saints' by Leeland played we spent time praying for our friends who are no longer walking with God - committing to going after them, committing to loving like only God enables us to. There were tears as we:
- repented - ‘sorry God for the times when I've forgotten about people',
- expressed our sadness/concerns to God - ‘God I just want my friend to know your love. God I'm worried about them',
- were comforted by God's heart for our lost friends - ‘thank you God that I don't have to do this alone. Thank you that you care about my friend's salvation even way more than I do.'
There are probably hundreds of young people across our territory who used to live in relationship with Jesus, but no longer do. Chances are you're friends with some of them - or you at least used to be.
May we see this generation in a state of desperation...
In the Leeland song I mentioned earlier a prayer is sung:
‘May we see this generation
In a state of desperation
For your glory.'
Today - I encourage you to take a minute to listen to this song and pray for those friends.
Comments
What a powerful night where God moved!
Great blog Claire! :)
That night was amazing, I love the way God moves in the hearts of passionate young people! Lets go get the lost sheep!