Please read Luke 15:4-32 and use these notes to prepare for Sunday morning worship.
Sermon Focus: Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son
Key Verse: “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.” (Luke 15:7)
- What does this tell you about God’s love, and God’s unwavering knowledge of our potential?
Key Verse: “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?” (Luke 15:8)
- What do you value that, if lost, you would not rest until you found it? What does this say about how God values each of us?
Key Verse: “’You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15:31-32)
- What more could our congregation be doing to connect with and serve those both within and without our own community of faith who appear “missing” or “lost”?
“While Christians believe Jesus was (and is) much more than a devout, intelligent, and creative first-century rabbi, he was not less, and he expected his hearers to engage with the parables as stories. In the interaction between hearer and story, the Word of God begins to be heard.”
– Amy-Jill Levine