October 11th, 2026: The Always God: God is Always Pursuing - Pastor Corey Hodges

Luke 15 opens with a sharp contrast: tax collectors and sinners draw near to Jesus, while Pharisees and teachers of the law grumble because Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. Jesus does not merely tolerate people with messy, sinful, complicated lives. Jesus welcomes them. The religious crowd cannot understand why He would give His attention, His table, and His presence to people they have already decided are too far gone.

Luke 15 answers that complaint with three stories: one lost sheep, one lost coin, and one lost son. Jesus keeps narrowing the focus down to one because the one matters to God. The shepherd does not settle for ninety-nine percent. The woman does not dismiss one missing coin. The father does not stop loving the son who squandered everything in riotous living and ended up in a hog pen. Different percentages, same response: the missing one matters.

The lost sheep remains valuable even though it wandered foolishly. The lost coin remains valuable even though it was lost through carelessness. The lost sons remain sons even though selfishness separates them from the father. Lostness is not the same as worthlessness. Sin matters, repentance matters, and the prodigal still has to come to himself. Yet distance from God never cancels a person’s value to God.

God’s heart does not stand at a distance and simply feel concerned. The shepherd goes after the sheep. The woman lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches diligently. The father sees the returning son a long way off and runs to meet him. The shepherd goes, the woman searches, and the father runs. That is pursuit. That is grace. Grace moves toward people before they can clean themselves up, prove themselves worthy, or find their own way home.

Christ’s death on Calvary shows the fullest picture of that pursuit. God was thinking about sinners long before sinners were thinking about God. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost, and the church is not a museum for people pretending to have it all together. The church is a hospital where grace receives broken people.

Heaven celebrates when the lost are found. The shepherd calls friends, the woman calls neighbors, and the father throws a party. The Pharisees grumble, but heaven rejoices. The kinds of people heaven celebrates must become the kinds of people the church celebrates, because salvation is for all people and no soul is beyond the reach of a pursuing God.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The one still matters to God. The percentages in the parables keep changing, from one out of a hundred to one out of ten to one out of two. Yet God’s response never changes because human worth cannot be measured by numbers, usefulness, appearance, or current distance from Him. The overlooked, anxious, ashamed, and underqualified person is never invisible to God. [30:45]
• 2. Lostness never means worthlessness. The sheep wandered, the coin was misplaced, and the sons were selfish, but none lost their value. Repentance remains necessary because sin destroys and separates, yet repentance is not an attempt to convince God to care. God’s pursuit reveals that His love reaches people even in the mess they helped create. [44:29]
• 3. Grace moves toward the lost. The shepherd goes after the sheep, the woman searches the house, and the father runs toward his returning son. Grace is not passive permission for sinners to remain far away; grace is God’s holy movement toward those who cannot save themselves. Christ died while sinners were still sinners, not after they had become presentable. [48:04]
• 4. Heaven rejoices over returning sinners. The repeated celebration in Luke 15 exposes the Pharisees’ grumbling as a failure to share God’s heart. The church cannot reserve joy for people who already look religious, respectable, or familiar. Every person who turns toward Christ should be received with the same celebration heaven gives. [52:44]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [17:35] - The God Who Always Pursues
• [21:03] - Luke 15 and the Lost Chapter
• [22:17] - Jesus Welcomes Sinners
• [24:38] - Three Parables, One Truth
• [26:24] - One Sheep, One Coin, One Son
• [30:45] - God Sees People, Not Statistics
• [35:45] - Lost People Still Matter to God
• [36:58] - The Lost Sheep and Lost Coin
• [41:31] - The Prodigal Son Comes Home
• [46:05] - God Moves Toward the Lost
• [49:18] - Grace Finds Sinners First
• [51:01] - Heaven Celebrates the Found
• [53:31] - A Church for All People
• [55:21] - Embrace the Pursuing God

Bible Reading

Luke 15:1-32
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.' So he told them this parable: 'What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.' And he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” [22:17]

Romans 5:8
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [49:18]

Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” [50:44]

Observation questions

1. In Luke 15:1–2, which groups are drawing near to Jesus, which groups are grumbling, and what specifically troubles the religious leaders about Jesus’ actions? [23:08]
2. What repeated pattern appears in the stories of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son—from the loss, to the search or return, to the response when what was lost is found? [52:20]
3. How do the actions of the shepherd, the woman, and the father show movement toward what or who is lost? [46:36]
4. What differences are shown between the younger son’s response to the father and the older son’s response when his brother returns? [42:20]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Jesus tell three stories that focus on one lost sheep, one lost coin, and one lost son instead of speaking only in large numbers? What does this reveal about how God sees people? [30:45]
2. The sheep wanders, the coin is lost through carelessness, and both sons are separated from the father through selfishness. How do these different pictures help explain that lostness can have different causes while a person’s value remains unchanged? [45:20]
3. The father runs to meet the returning son, yet the son still has to come to himself and turn toward home. How do grace and repentance belong together in this story? [49:18]
4. Why is the older brother’s refusal to join the celebration such an important part of Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees’ grumbling? What kind of heart problem does his response expose? [52:44]

Application questions

1. Is there an area of life where someone feels overlooked, ashamed, underqualified, or too far from God? How does the truth that the one still matters to God speak into that situation? [27:14]
2. Who is one specific person God may be placing on the group’s heart—someone distant from God, isolated, or carrying a messy story? What would it look like to move toward them with care rather than keeping a safe distance? [46:05]
3. When has someone’s outward appearance, past, choices, politics, habits, or reputation made it easier to judge them than to welcome them? What could help replace that reaction with the compassion of Jesus? [34:49]
4. Is there any place where a person needs to “come to himself” or “come to herself”—honestly recognizing sin, hurt, or a direction that is leading away from God? What would one humble step of repentance look like this week? [44:20]
5. How can this group and the wider church become more like a hospital for broken people rather than a place where people feel they must pretend to have it all together? [50:44]
6. When someone turns toward Christ, rejoins the church, or begins taking steps of faith, how can the group celebrate in a real and meaningful way rather than responding with suspicion or comparison? [53:31]