We find JOY in our Father

And why is this so important? And you might be asking, wait, why are we talking about being lost if we're all Christians in the house, if we all serve God? But let me ask you, please don't raise your hand, but how many of you have felt lost one time or maybe more than once? Maybe you're coming to church, maybe you're serving God, but you feel lost. [00:41:37] (25 seconds)

``And the other thing that hits me hard is that he when he finds the sheep, he doesn't say, okay. I found you. Now follow me. And continues walking expecting the sheep to walk behind him. It says that he carries it on his shoulders. He makes sure that that sheep goes back. He makes sure that that sheep returns to the flock where it's supposed to be. And that's what the father does. He goes seeking. He goes searching. He reaches us, and he brings us back. [00:42:53] (36 seconds)  #ShepherdFindsYou

Because all the situations we've been going through, maybe the storms we've been going through, maybe we've been having loss after loss, situation after situation, and we find our place in a dark we find ourselves in a dark place where we don't know how to come back. That's when the love of the father seeks and brings us back. [00:46:56] (23 seconds)

Sometimes we lose that first love. When we come to Jesus, we're in that first love and we wanna do everything for Jesus and we wanna come to church every day. But as time passes by and situations start hitting us hard, we might lose that first love. We might lose that communion with the father. We might lose that communion with other believers, and we don't know how to return. But the beautiful thing is that the father's love takes the initiative. His love is unconditional. The father loves takes the initiative. His love is unconditional. [00:47:19] (46 seconds)

We've all been that sheep and maybe more than once but it has to come to a point where we understand that we need to shift and change from being that one to being the 99. We cannot always be the one that gets lost. We cannot always be that one that wanders away. We cannot always be the one that gets distracted to, going to other pastures. There's gotta come a day where we understand that we need to be connected to the shepherd and we don't wanna wander away. [00:48:42] (40 seconds)

And this parable really hit me hard, very hard. Did you notice where the coin was lost? Tell me, where was the coin lost? In the house. In the house. It's not like she went outside. It's not like she went for a walk and she had a bag and the bag fell and the coin fell. She lost it in the house. And why is this important? Because we might be in the house. We might be at home coming to church every Sunday serving God, committed in a ministry, maybe more than one, doing what we're called to do or what we think we're called to do and still feel lost. [00:51:21] (59 seconds)  #HiddenYetValuable

Did you realize that it doesn't say the value of the coin? It just says a silver coin. It could be a denarii. It could be a shekel. It doesn't say. But for her, it was valuable. And that's exactly what happens with our father. Your value is determined not by people, not by situations, not by your talents, by your father. [00:53:28] (27 seconds)

You know what really touches my heart every single time I read this story? The son knew knew that the father loved him. Not he wouldn't have come back. He knew here in his mind that his dad loved him. However, he didn't understand the fullness of that love. He had no idea how his father was going to receive him. Remember what he said, I'm gonna go and ask him just to be a servant, just to be a worker. That was me. I knew God loved me here. I read verse after verse. I knew here that God loved me, but I didn't understand it here. [01:13:20] (55 seconds)