it was a good night last night sharing about outward focus, who we are, and why we do what we do as a church...some points are always better than others...
two ah has that stood out...
Lost Defined:
people are away from God's presence...He wants to invite people into His presence...they are lost, distant, away, frightened, hiding.
ill.
Have you ever been shopping and lose one of your kids?...a minute seems like an eternity...heart begins to race, mind and senses are on full alert, emotions begin to be churned up, every second intensifies the feeling...
Matthew Dyer, pastor Cedar Ridge Community Church, once told a story about losing one of his kids in Target. He was doing some shopping and one of the kids went missing. He looked around and couldn't find her. As time went by the store was alerted, people were looking, security was called. Each passing second seemed like and hour, minutes seemed like days, panic began to settle in as time slowly passed...
then, out of the corner of his eye spotted her...she was hiding in a clothes rack...even though she heard him call her name, she was frightened, didn't want to get in trouble, so she stayed in her hiding place...away from his presence.
he was too upset to be upset... he turned toward her, called her name and knelt down opening out stretched his arms as she ran to him. The sense of love and relief was overwhelming as they were reconnected, safe...now in his arms, the sense of dread, now a sense of relief... she was found.
God senses this every moment of every passing day...grieved, beckoning with out stretched arms, calling our name, asking us to come out from our hiding place to be in His presence...safe...His...forever.
Get the point...People are lost, away from a Loving Father who is searching, longing for them to come out of hiding, turn to Him and run into His arms...
2nd ah ha...
People don't need to hear they are in the garbage, have their stuff pointed out, they need to have someone point the way out, by presenting the good news. Most people know intuitively the bad news...they need the good news...how to begin again, how to life life in a new way, how to over come, how to love God, how to love and to care for others.
this old cartoon sums it up...Quilt driven preachers tell us...
What Guilt ridden people hear from a guilt driven message.
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