God Is Searching For You And Me

God Is Looking For You and For Me

Scripture: Luke 15:1-32; Matthew 6:33

Introduction

Webster’s dictionary defines the word lost as “ruined; destroyed; not to be found; missing; having wandered away.” Spiritually we often think of the “lost” as those persons who have not accepted Christ and are headed to hell and this is accurate from our understanding of what the Bible teaches. However, this morning I want you to expand your definition to include Christians who because of their own circumstances have lost their way or they cannot see their way through a situation. Furthermore the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” In the Greek, the word “devour” means to swallow; to gulp down. Our adversary encourages that “lost” feeling within us so that we can devoured spiritually. Think about the animals in the wild – the predators isolate the one they think they have the best chance of capturing and our isolation and feelings of being lost can lead to our being devoured. Keep this in mind today as I share with you the message that came to me early Thursday morning.

On Monday afternoon of last week I received a phone call from a co-worker that her sister-in-law had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Having received the diagnosis, she was immediately scheduled for a mastectomy and chemotherapy treatments. Because the cancer was so aggressive, they also scheduled her for tests to determine how much it had spread – not if it had spread, but how much it had spread. I shared with my co-worker that I would be praying for her sister-in-law along with the others who were praying. As you can imagine, everyone was worried and concerned. She had her initial tests done on Wednesday. I will share with you what those tests showed at the end of this message.

On Tuesday morning I was in a meeting in Topeka when I received a phone call from my brother telling me that my niece had been in a one car accident. She was being rushed to the Emergency Room and at the time, it was not looking good. Her airbag did not deploy and at the time that we talked, she had paralysis in one of her arms and was paralyzed in both legs. I stepped away from my meeting for a few minutes to talk with him and to pray. I shared with him what immediately came to my spirit that the paralysis was “possibly” due to swelling on her nerves due to the accident. They were scheduling her for more tests to determine how extensive the damage was. I will share with you the test results at the end of this message.

I wanted to share these two incidents with you because they have something in common. In both cases there was a feeling of “loss”, physical and emotional. There were feelings of uncertainty – you know that feeling when you’re driving to an address and you are having trouble finding it and you do not know exactly where to turn. That is the feeling of being lost. When traumatic things happen in our lives and we get to the point of giving up, that is the feeling of being lost. If you are experiencing these feelings right now – whether it is because of a circumstance or repeated circumstances in your life, God wants you to know this morning that He is looking diligently for you. If you are not having that experience right now and things are going good in your life – God wants you to know that He is also looking for you to send you out on a rescue mission to find those who are spiritually lost and our Christian brothers and sisters who are experiencing something right now that makes them think they are lost.

I. Confused About God’s Desire

We often think of the lost (sinners) as someone whom God despises. They are obviously in their current state because of something they did or are doing and therefore God does not want to be associated with them. That is the farthest, most ridiculous teaching that ever came from someone’s mouth. The lost does not just include those who have not accepted Christ, but also those who may have turned their backs on Him for whatever reason and those who because of their circumstances are feeling that way even though they are still coming to Church. In each and every case, regardless of why and how it happened, God is searching for each person. He is searching and will not give up until either the person dies or they are restored to their place of recognition by Him. Contrary to popular belief, a Christian’s life is not a prosperity message, it is a restoration message. Regardless of what you see on TV, we are about restoration. Turn to Luke the 15th chapter. Let’s begin reading at verse one.