Understand - Pt. 1 - Found People Series

Understand

Pt. 1 – Found People

I. Introduction

There is a high value placed on knowledge and understanding in the Word. In fact, Solomon was blessed in part because of his desire and request for wisdom. On numerous occasions in Scripture we are encouraged to seek knowledge/understanding . . . Proverbs 2:1-5 is one of the key passages regarding the pursuit of understanding or insight.

1-5 Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.

That's right—if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer, Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.

So, I want to talk to you about some things that you need to understand and that we as a body must understand! If we are going to be great together there are several key things to understand! I want to address these items because we have to be in harmony about what is important to us! To do this I will tell you that I am purposely going to simplify everything. I am going to make fewer and very simple straightforward points and statement. I don’t want to impress you I want to make sure we understand what is important.

II. Text

Luke 15:4-10 ... entire chapter

4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

8-10"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."

III. Understanding

Jesus, like other preachers/teachers before Him and after Him, tell stories to make their point! That is what He did in the parables! He used simple stories to communicate kingdom principles and truth! However, Jesus goes one step further than most teachers/preachers and actually takes steps to live out what He has taught with His words with His actions!

His words are clear. His word teaches us what our mandate is! His simple illustrations force us to gain clear focus! Our mission, the driving force, the thing that should get us up and keep us up and that we should be expending our energy on is lost folks!

He could have commissioned us to do many things with His words: Save the whales, save the planet, educate people, and any other cause all of which are worthy and definitely demand attention. Make no mistake about it with Word Jesus addresses what we should be about . . . He says it strikingly clear in Matthew 28. There can be no misunderstanding. "18... All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

He reveals that our understanding must be that Found People . . . Find People!

He drives this home with words, but most dramatically He drives this message home with His actions!

Jesus was constantly on a mission to find people . . . He found Philip! John 1:43-45 . . . 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Did you get that? He found Philip!

He preaches with His actions again in John 4 verse 4. The passage makes a literal statement (He needed to go to through Samaria), but I think it was more than just a necessary travel route to get to another destination. I believe you can read it like this . . . He needed to go there. There he finds the Woman at the Well. He went out of His way to find this woman! She gets it . . . John 4:28-30, 39 - 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”