Lost and Found

August 26, 2026

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
-Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)

Perhaps you feel lost right now.  Perhaps you know someone that feels lost or seems like they’re lost.  The good news is there’s always hope, and God seeks the lost (Luke 19:10).  Now for anyone that doesn’t feel lost now, I’m sure when you look back at your life you could remember a time when you really did feel lost.  What other feelings or thoughts did you have then?  Perhaps you felt lonely, isolated, wanting to escape your circumstances but couldn’t.  Perhaps you somehow found yourself in troubling situations and didn’t know of a way to proceed.  Perhaps some relationships that were great in your life suddenly went sour.  Whatever the case may be, we all have a time in our life when things weren’t going well, and we felt lost.  If you know of anyone that feels lost at the moment, please consider this famous story of the Prodigal Son.

Arguably this is the greatest story that captures what heaven is like and God the Father’s love.  Arguably this story also reflects the circumstances that many people go through when feeling lost.  For those reading this story for the first time, the younger son is the person that becomes “lost”.  Throughout a good portion of the story we learn about selfish desires – in verse 12 the younger son demanded his portion of his father’s inheritance.  Demanding such a thing while the father is alive would be considered a great insult for the ancient Jewish people back in the day.  And what did the younger son do?  He did what his selfish and reckless heart desired.  In verse 13 it says he literally squandered the money on wild living.  Later on, and in verse 30 we know this account of wild living involved promiscuity.

There’s a bit of a side note I want to share here: sin may feel fun for a time (due to our fallen nature), but the cost is heavy and certain (separation from God).

To make matters worse (and after he was financially “broke” with a famine that hit the land), he had the audacity to take a job to work with pigs.  It was considered immoral, dirty and culturally inappropriate to have anything to do with pigs.  This tells me he crossed over to Gentile territory and places he shouldn’t be in.  He also caused a great disgrace to his reputation and the family’s reputation by taking up this job feeding pigs.  Ancient Hebrew culture always revolved around a theme of honour and shame and in modern times many people lost the concept of family or group influenced honour and shame.  Acts do not just affect an individual, but they effect whole groups of people including families, friends, organizations and sometimes even ethnicity and culture.  In the case of the younger son, he thought life would be better thinking quite selfishly, but it never works well that way.  Verse 16 tells us that he was starving and even wanted to have what the pigs were eating but couldn’t.

And then he realized enough is enough.  Would his father take him back and even after all the wrongs he did to his father?  Now the first amazing thing is he admitted doing wrong to his father and to heaven.

Did you catch the reaction of the father in verse 20?  Even before the son got to the father, the father desperately searched for the son.  The father was willing to walk away from his kingdom in search of his “lost” son.  And once the father found him, he embraced him with a warm hug and even kissed him, showing a restored family relationship and affection.  The father was not angry and only wanted his beloved son back.  No matter how much the son disrespected the father, the family’s reputation and his own reputation, all the father wanted was to have this loving relationship restored.

And once home, the father ensured the younger son had honour, dignity and respect (represented by the robe), authority and reinstatement into the family (represented by the ring), and showed the son he is not a hired servant but a free man (represented by the sandals).

And the beautiful thing is when God the Father finds us, he spiritually gives us these things as well.

God the Father searches for us when we are lost and wants a right relationship with us.  And he left his kingdom in search of us (through Jesus Christ-Lk. 19:10), and once found, he adorns us with honour, dignity, respect, authority, reinstatement into his royal family, and declaring us free!

What a beautiful story!  And the other beautiful part? All the heavens celebrate when we are found and brought into Gods family (no matter how much of a messy life we lived and no matter what terrible things we did) just like with the celebration feast in verse 23 and 24.

But of course, there are naysayers and people that are jealous.  The older brother in the story was this type of person.  May we not have the heart of the older brother (especially if you’ve been a faithful follower of Jesus for quite some time now) when comparing ourselves to newcomers to the faith or people that have been far away from God and are now found and restored.  And may we know apart from Jesus there is no life worth living.

If you’re feeling lost, don’t give up and run to Jesus like this Prodigal Son.  God the Father is waiting for you, searching for you and wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around you in amazing love!  Come home to God the Father.

___________________________

Church Matters

August 19, 2026

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
-Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)

To some people because they work so hard Monday to Friday, sleeping-in on Sundays matters.  To some people running marathons on Sunday matters.  To some people having children play organized sports on Sundays matters.  To some people getting all your grocery shopping and errands accomplished on Sundays matters.  To some people discovering the latest entertainment venue or restaurant on Sundays matters.  To some people getting together with close friends and family and forgetting about everything else on Sundays matters.  To some people watching the latest football or sports games on Sundays matters.  On that list of things that matter and especially on Sundays, where is church?

Let me tell you – CHURCH MATTERS!

Church matters so much that 2,000+ years ago God himself didn’t abandon his people and came down to earth to establish his church at Pentecost.  Church matters so much that God didn’t want to leave it up to anyone else to establish his church and so he took it upon himself to build a supernatural, unbreakable and powerful assembly before the world known as the church.  God through Jesus Christ promised he would establish his church (ekklesia in Greek) upon himself as the sole foundation in Matthew 16:18, where ekklesia means “called out from” and so the church is an assembly of people called out from the world and called to God.  And the raising of God’s church dramatically came on the scene with the descending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, empowering a group of God’s chosen people.  And what was its impact?

In our text the believers were empowered to glorify God, enjoy God, serve God and be witnesses to God’s grace by worship, celebration, sharing in fellowship, building-up of God’s people, aiding each other, being unified and the list goes on and on.  With the help of God the early believers were able to help each other, lift each other up and truly enjoyed each other’s company, and how did God further respond?  The LORD added to their numbers…

I’ve heard people preach this text before but too often such people forget to highlight two crucial elements with God’s response.  The first element is this:  Not only did God add to their number, but God added to their numbers daily!  Can you think of another organization with that kind of growth?  I can’t.  Now some people probably think, “Well, the church has stopped growing centuries ago…”  Hold on a second!  When did that happen?...because it didn’t!  In terms of God’s global church, God is still adding numbers of people every day!  The second often forgotten element is this:  God added believers every day and in other words, those who are being saved!

Yes, it’s true!  Every local church has people that are both saved (and are being saved) and those who are unsaved!  Just like any company you have employees that love the company and those who hate it and you wonder why they’re still there with the company.  But the fact that God established his church, built upon himself as the foundation (in Jesus Christ) and empowered the church to add to their number people who are being saved daily is extraordinary!

To these people church matters!  To these people worshipping God and enjoying him matters!  To these people aiding each other and building each other up matters!  And it matters to be this living example and witness to God, to demonstrate to the world of what it means to be in God’s family!

And so how about you?  Does it matter or not?  Do you reallyy think church is mediocre, mundane, boring, lackluster and meaningless or in other words, it doesn’t matter?

If so, I pray God changes your mind!

CHURCH MATTERS!

___________________________

That’s Impressive

August 12, 2026

12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
-Galatians 6:12-18 (NIV)

What does it take to be valuable in life?  What does it take to be respected?  What does it take to impress?  In many cases and in the eyes of the world respect is earned and titles are achieved.  Typically, the world sees respect in terms of how you appear in physical beauty, how much money is in your bank account, how successful your business is, what job title you have, how big your house is, what kind of car you drive, what clothing label you wear, etc…..but all of that means nothing to God.  Furthermore, we can never gain any better status with God with anything we’ve ever done or will ever do.  And this flies in the face of how the world is run.  What is really humbling and sobering is the fact that God sees what’s in the heart.  It’s a terrifying statement if you think about it.

In other words, you cannot run from God.  Try as you may God always sees your true motives behind every action.

Now you may find it’s very difficult to get away from societal pressures and norms.  Others may often pressure you to conform to their standards to achieve some form of respect.  Sometimes these pressures come from family, sometimes they come from friends or sometimes they come from media or other cultural standards.  On the surface you may even find some cultural norms are seen as good and appropriate, but what’s the motive behind them?

In the case of Paul in our text today, he warns believers to not follow others in society that on the outside appear proper, but on the inside their hearts were far away from God.  This is not different Jesus rebuking the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27 saying they’re whitewashed tombs (clean on the outside, but unclean and dead on the inside).  In verse 12 in our text, it was both culturally and faith expressed right to be circumcised as a male Jew.  But Paul caught an emptiness to these acts.  Such men wanted personal glorification/adoration and pushed these values upon others because they really couldn’t take being personally exposed by taking up their own crosses.  They didn’t want to and couldn’t deal with their own sins, so they made life difficult for others.

Take a few moments now and reflect on the people in your life.  Are there people “pointing the finger at you”, in other words, blaming you for something?  Perhaps on the outside they have everything in life put together.  You may be surprised to realize they’re not all as they seem.  Maybe these people seem very impressive in the eyes of many but deep down and in the eyes of God (and for all of us), there’s a lot of “cleaning to do”.  Paul takes the correct approach here.  In verse 15 Paul correctly identifies that all our actions mean nothing to God on their own.  The only thing that matters is our changed heart (the new creation).  Thus, people can say anything about you; often it sounds like,” You should’ve done this…” or “You haven’t done that!”….but the truth of the matter is, the only thing that God looks at is our changed hearts.  A changed heart, that’s impressive! – not a changed outfit, changed car or anything else.

___________________________

You’re Commissioned

August 5, 2026

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
-Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV)

At the end of Matthew, these were the last instructions given to the disciples by Jesus.  For some reason I find many Christians like remembering verse 20 but forget verses 16-19.  We all like to feel comforted and reassured which is why verse 20 is something we all gravitate towards.  I mean what can be more reassuring than Jesus promising he’ll be with us and even till the end?  Arguably nothing can be more reassuring.  But at the same time so many of us forget we have tremendous work to do because let’s face it, many of us get “too comfortable” and complacent.

The truth of the matter is and because Jesus is with us, we are empowered, encouraged and propelled to carry out the work of the Great Commission.  It’s this idea taken from passages such as these where God instructs all believers to make disciples of him.  But admittedly and even though we honestly try and make disciples of Jesus, there will be some doubters out there (verse 17) and this verse confirms it wasn’t just the eleven disciples here.  Regardless of what happens, we must keep trying to make disciples of Jesus and leave the results to God.  God wills salvation and gives the gift of saving faith to whom and when he wants, and we should be happy to be a part of the process.  In fact, it’s a privilege to be a part of the process to help bring people to saving faith with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Now let me ask you this:  When was the last time you brought the message of the hope of the gospel to someone?  Doesn’t 1 Peter 3:15 teach us to always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have?  You are officially commissioned to be partners in Christ service.  You are officially commissioned to bring the good news of the gospel message onto anyone and everyone around you.  You are officially commissioned to not be complacent in life and to make a lifesaving difference by bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to the world.  Let’s not be afraid of the results and let’s keep trying because I don’t see anywhere in Jesus’ instructions to ever stop!