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Wednesday, March 7, 2018
You can take the girl out of the country,
but you can't take the country out of the girl!
"A Lesson From Some Found Keys"
Message summary: Have you ever lost something and then experienced the joy of finding it? Today's parable reminds each of us that we personally matter to God. There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God every time a sinner repents. If you have not repented and placed your faith in Christ, today would be a great day to bring about rejoicing in heaven!
Listen
to our
message on your
audio player.
"...Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:8-10).
For
the last ten days we have been caring for our neighbor's dogs while
they're visiting family in Florida. Twice daily I go down to John's place to walk them, feed
them, and make sure they have water. It's gone very well... until early
this
morning when I found that I had misplaced the keys. I searched all
through our house,
the driveway, and our shed. I was trying to deal with my problem
quietly so I wouldn't get any lectures but I finally gave in and let Brooksyne know what had happened mostly because I
needed her help. We began looking together with no keys in sight.
Finally, we awakened Ester to recruit her help since she's good at finding lost items for me especially when I offer a reward which I was prepared to do. We all searched through our place looking everywhere I could imagine them being, even ridiculous places. Then we went over to John's house and searched the grounds. It was snowing and we knew our time would be short before snow covered the grounds. It seemed hopeless and we were considering work-arounds and the humiliating need to call them.
We returned home and started looking again and behold, I found them! It turns out that when I had hung them up (or at least I thought I had) they slid off the key hook and fell behind a small box sitting below the key rack. It's the most logical place we have should have looked at in the first place. I rejoiced greatly and Brooksyne thanked the Lord with a sigh of relief as well! (For the most part she held back on lecturing, probably because she knows she might be the next one who needs my help looking for a lost item.)
Do you ever misplace anything? Anyone who says "never" I suspect is personally deceived! But certainly some have a greater problem with misplacing items than others ("misplaced" being a gentler word than "losing"). As we age we're more prone to losing things or actually more prone to forgetting where we placed an item. In our home the most frequent items we lose are keys, wallet or purse, and cell phones.
Losing
items is not distinct to our generation or geographical location. Jesus
spoke in parables and remarkably, two thousand years later, people in
every
culture still identify with them. After all, we've all lost something
of value and know the relief and joy in finding it. That's how I felt
this morning when I found the keys to our neighbor's place! The series
of parables in Luke 15 all illustrate the lost state of humanity and
the
great joy redemption brings, with an emphasis today on just one
coin of ten that was found and just one sinner of millions who repents.
Due to our understanding of coins (which to us are usually small change of little value) it's hard to identify with this woman who went to such effort to find one coin out of ten. We might see it like a frantic search for a dime. But without paper currency this coin was a significant loss to the woman either due to its value or her level of poverty.* She lit a lamp, swept the house and searched carefully until she found it.
It's
especially hard for us to imagine calling our friends and neighbors
over to rejoice with us when we find a lost coin and I sure wouldn't
expect our neighbors to come and rejoice with me after I found
John's keys with the exception of John and his wife. But this single
coin had great value to
this woman reminding us of the great value of one sinner who repents.
What's more, aren't you thankful for friends that rejoice with you even
in the small rather than just the large blessings?
This parable reminds each of us that we personally matter to God. There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God every time a sinner repents. If you have not repented and placed your faith in Christ, today would be a great day to bring about some rejoicing in heaven! The great joy of declaring, "I once was lost, but now I'm found!"
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father,
thank You for speaking to us through Bible
doctrine, parables, fellow believers, and through life-altering events
in our lives. You beamed Your searchlight from the portals of heaven to
show us how lost we were. We’re tremendously blessed to know that
celestial beings held a celebration in heaven when we chose to be Your
followers. Though misplacing material items leads to time lost and
great frustration, even panic; misplacing our faith leads to
error here and eternal
damnation there. Father, You've shown us the way and instructed us,
"This is
the way; walk in it." Help us to seek out others who've yet to find The
Way so that they too will follow You and cause rejoicing in heaven over
one sinner who repents. Even as they rejoice in heaven we will rejoice
on earth. Amen.
* The Life Application Study Bible points out that women at that time received ten silver coins as a wedding gift. Besides their monetary value, these coins held sentimental value like that of a wedding ring, and to lose one would be extremely distressing. Just as a woman would rejoice at finding her lost coin or ring, so the angels would rejoice over a repentant sinner. Each individual is precious to God. He grieves over every loss and rejoices whenever one of His children is found and brought into the kingdom. Perhaps we would have more joy in our churches if we shared Jesus' love and concern for the lost.
You can take the girl out of the country,
but you can't take the country out of the girl!
"A Lesson From Some Found Keys"
Message summary: Have you ever lost something and then experienced the joy of finding it? Today's parable reminds each of us that we personally matter to God. There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God every time a sinner repents. If you have not repented and placed your faith in Christ, today would be a great day to bring about rejoicing in heaven!
Listen
to our
message on your
audio player."...Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:8-10).
For
the last ten days we have been caring for our neighbor's dogs while
they're visiting family in Florida. Twice daily I go down to John's place to walk them, feed
them, and make sure they have water. It's gone very well... until early
this
morning when I found that I had misplaced the keys. I searched all
through our house,
the driveway, and our shed. I was trying to deal with my problem
quietly so I wouldn't get any lectures but I finally gave in and let Brooksyne know what had happened mostly because I
needed her help. We began looking together with no keys in sight.Finally, we awakened Ester to recruit her help since she's good at finding lost items for me especially when I offer a reward which I was prepared to do. We all searched through our place looking everywhere I could imagine them being, even ridiculous places. Then we went over to John's house and searched the grounds. It was snowing and we knew our time would be short before snow covered the grounds. It seemed hopeless and we were considering work-arounds and the humiliating need to call them.
We returned home and started looking again and behold, I found them! It turns out that when I had hung them up (or at least I thought I had) they slid off the key hook and fell behind a small box sitting below the key rack. It's the most logical place we have should have looked at in the first place. I rejoiced greatly and Brooksyne thanked the Lord with a sigh of relief as well! (For the most part she held back on lecturing, probably because she knows she might be the next one who needs my help looking for a lost item.)
Do you ever misplace anything? Anyone who says "never" I suspect is personally deceived! But certainly some have a greater problem with misplacing items than others ("misplaced" being a gentler word than "losing"). As we age we're more prone to losing things or actually more prone to forgetting where we placed an item. In our home the most frequent items we lose are keys, wallet or purse, and cell phones.
Losing
items is not distinct to our generation or geographical location. Jesus
spoke in parables and remarkably, two thousand years later, people in
every
culture still identify with them. After all, we've all lost something
of value and know the relief and joy in finding it. That's how I felt
this morning when I found the keys to our neighbor's place! The series
of parables in Luke 15 all illustrate the lost state of humanity and
the
great joy redemption brings, with an emphasis today on just one
coin of ten that was found and just one sinner of millions who repents.Due to our understanding of coins (which to us are usually small change of little value) it's hard to identify with this woman who went to such effort to find one coin out of ten. We might see it like a frantic search for a dime. But without paper currency this coin was a significant loss to the woman either due to its value or her level of poverty.* She lit a lamp, swept the house and searched carefully until she found it.
It's
especially hard for us to imagine calling our friends and neighbors
over to rejoice with us when we find a lost coin and I sure wouldn't
expect our neighbors to come and rejoice with me after I found
John's keys with the exception of John and his wife. But this single
coin had great value to
this woman reminding us of the great value of one sinner who repents.
What's more, aren't you thankful for friends that rejoice with you even
in the small rather than just the large blessings?This parable reminds each of us that we personally matter to God. There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God every time a sinner repents. If you have not repented and placed your faith in Christ, today would be a great day to bring about some rejoicing in heaven! The great joy of declaring, "I once was lost, but now I'm found!"
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father,
thank You for speaking to us through Bible
doctrine, parables, fellow believers, and through life-altering events
in our lives. You beamed Your searchlight from the portals of heaven to
show us how lost we were. We’re tremendously blessed to know that
celestial beings held a celebration in heaven when we chose to be Your
followers. Though misplacing material items leads to time lost and
great frustration, even panic; misplacing our faith leads to
error here and eternal
damnation there. Father, You've shown us the way and instructed us,
"This is
the way; walk in it." Help us to seek out others who've yet to find The
Way so that they too will follow You and cause rejoicing in heaven over
one sinner who repents. Even as they rejoice in heaven we will rejoice
on earth. Amen.* The Life Application Study Bible points out that women at that time received ten silver coins as a wedding gift. Besides their monetary value, these coins held sentimental value like that of a wedding ring, and to lose one would be extremely distressing. Just as a woman would rejoice at finding her lost coin or ring, so the angels would rejoice over a repentant sinner. Each individual is precious to God. He grieves over every loss and rejoices whenever one of His children is found and brought into the kingdom. Perhaps we would have more joy in our churches if we shared Jesus' love and concern for the lost.
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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