Grateful for this series and the different voices speaking into evangelism in our year of discipleship: Al Gordon, Ben, Will, Amy Orr-Ewing. It’s a privilege to commission us today to shepherd our flock, to bring in one more, to speak Jesus to the lost.

Online audience: over 400 of you tune in weekly. Glad you are here.

Before we get into this message, I appreciate Jesus’ parables on the lost and as Pastor Will lead us in the reading of all three. Did you notice each time the lost were found there was rejoicing and celebrating? Lost people haven’t found Jesus yet. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He is pursuing us. We’re lost until we encounter Jesus our Savior and Lord and say yes to Him.

We do a wonderful job at Epic and as the Church for baptisms - so grateful for that. What about celebrating those who were lost and are now found? Has Jesus found you and you are in a personal relationship with Him? Whether you were found this year or last year or 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 40 or more years ago. I was found March of 1986, 40 years ago. Let’s celebrate even more! If you were lost and Jesus found you and you are in a personal relationship with Him, will you stand and let’s celebrate like Jesus and all of heaven does when any of us are found! We have reason to greatly rejoice when anyone is found!

Let’s all stand and read Luke 15:1-7.

Luke 15:1-7

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. You can be seated.

Religious people are unhappy because Jesus is giving his attention to the lost. So Jesus told them a story:

Suppose a momma was at Disney and was looking so cute and stylish and had her 3 kids in matching outfits. Her mother was there as was her husband as was her mother. They looked so happy, until she freezes and looks around and starts yelling, "EDWARD". She could not have cared about how she looked or what she sounded like. Her toddler son was no longer with them. He was lost. She shouted all kinds of stuff in a normal voice but kept looking in every direction, moving in every direction shouting EDWARD. Her own mother kept the other two close by and when momma found EDWARD, she was celebrating so big because he was found. Could you have imagined watching this play out and you hear her shout Edward, he doesn’t respond, she doesn’t see him as she looked around and she shrugs and says, "Oh well, I’ve still got these two" and carries on?

That would be absolutely absurd. Inhuman.

In late April 1945, 26-year-old Desmond Doss and his battalion were called up to help fight in Okinawa, Japan in a campaign that would be one of the last and biggest in the Pacific. Using cargo nets, Doss' battalion was tasked with climbing a treacherous, 400-foot-high jagged cliff, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge, to get to a plateau. Waiting for them were thousands of heavily armed Japanese soldiers entrenched in hidden caves and holes. During the monthlong campaign, as an army medic, Desmond Doss treated several injured men, dressing their wounds right in front of the enemy before dragging them to safety. About a week into the fight, Doss was the only medic available to advance with the rest of the men, who were close to taking the ridge from the enemy. Doss joined his men just as the Japanese concentrated massive artillery and other heavy fire on them. The assault left many dead and injured soldiers in its wake. The remaining Americans were driven back down the ridge, except for Doss. He was the only one to remain with the wounded. Over the span of 12 hours, Doss treated the injured and, one by one, dragged them to the edge of the cliff and lowered them to safety in a rope sling using his bare hands to shimmy the rope with each soldier. After each successful delivery, he reportedly said, "Dear God, let me get just one more man." PAUSE By nightfall, he had rescued 75 soldiers, including many of the men who had made fun of his Christian beliefs earlier in his military career.

"God, just one more. Just one more. Help me get one more." This prayer aligns with God’s heart that all may be saved. This is why He sent his son Jesus. Look at what the Gospel writer John recorded from his time with Jesus:

John 10:14-16

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one fl ock and one shepherd.

I’m not a sheep person, yet where most of our Sacred Scriptures took place, shepherding was a common sight. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. He calls us His sheep. He says clearly He gave His life for us. I have sheep not of this sheep pen. Jesus is for everyone, not just those who are in the pen now. His salvation, His love, His mission extend beyond Israel. Every tongue, every tribe, every people, every nation - He gave His life for everyone.

If you’ve been found, consider yourself in His sheep pen, essentially. If Jesus has other sheep who are not of this pen yet, he says he will bring them in. But how? This is where we come in!

Who’s your flock?

Your kids are in your flock.

Psalm 78:4, 6-7

We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

Invitation:

if you have kids, stand. They are your flock.

If you have neighbors, stand. They are your flock.

if you lead a small group at epic, stand. They are your flock.

if you manage people, are on a work team, stand. They are your flock.

if you attend class with peers or teach a class, stand. They are your flock.

Do you have a friend in your life? Stand. They are your flock.

Psalm 79:13

Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.

Isaiah 56:8

The Sovereign LORD declares— he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”

We must live with a mentality and reality that we are on enemy-occupied territory and we’ve got many people lost who don’t know Jesus.

Listen to how C.S. Lewis writes of this in Mere Christianity:

“Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed—you might say landed in disguise as one of us—and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. So when you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret communications from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going to church or reading the Bible. He does it by playing on our conceit and pride and laziness and intellectual snobbery.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Two people hold the door open for you! One who is lost. One who is found. May there be more kindness in the world, but kindness will not get me, you, or our neighbors, co-workers, children, parents, friends into a forever life with Jesus.

Showing the kindness of Jesus can get lost in translation. Speaking Jesus cannot.

I was chatting with my new friend, Kallie recently and I asked about how Jesus found her. There were kind seeds planted in her college years, then one semester, she overheard classmates in her class talk about Jesus. She sought one out for lunch after class one day. After lots of questions and a walk from the cafeteria to the parking lot, her classmate told her about her pastor’s recent messages on Romans. This classmate sent her a message from her pastor on Romans that evening. Kallie decided to play it in the background as she studied. He was teaching on Romans 10:9, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. She stopped and gave her life to Jesus in the bedroom that evening.

Kindness might be a seed, but kindness will never be a savior.

Well Shauna, you have the gift of evangelism and are the pastor of evangelism here. Friends, if we leave the salvation of souls to the people who are utilizing the gift of evangelism we’re in trouble. God will get it done, but we all have a part to play in this.

How do I do this? What do I say?

God, who do you want me to meet today?

Daily prayer: Ask God: who do you want me to meet today? He will bring you someone because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. There aren’t lots of people asking this question so you can count on Him answering this unpopular question. Pray Desmond’s prayer: Lord, please help me get one more today.

Neighbor, is there anything you need prayer for?

Go on a prayer walk and talk to Jesus and talk to people! Hey, I'm on a prayer walk today, blessing our city. Is there anything you need prayer for or what we can pray for our city for?

Brother or sister, who have you shared your faith with this week?

Hold each other accountable: who have you shared your faith with this week?

Share short examples: Ikuko Roth (got her contact info), Harper (egg hunt), young woman crying in the park: I’m a person of faith, can I pray for you?

Invites to Easter are a great way: "Hey, I would love to invite you as my guest at Easter this Sunday at my church. Will you come?"

Be on an Alpha course. We had 75 of us in this room this past week where we get to talk about Jesus. You get trained to share your faith as we listen, show radical hospitality, and depend on the Holy Spirit. Listen to what Madi Hackworth shared in our team huddle this week:

“Being a part of Alpha has actually helped me in having conversations outside of church about my faith. I met someone at our daughter’s dance class and we started talking about faith. Because of the Alpha videos I felt like I had tools to share about what I believe in a confident and kind way. I invited her to the Easter egg hunt and even though she doesn’t celebrate Easter she said she’d come and bring her family!" - Madi Hackworth

Isn’t this a bit too much?

Maybe you’re thinking: This is nice, but a little over the top.

Ezekiel 34 warning: woe to us if we just take care of ourselves and not the flock God has entrusted to us.

Ezekiel 34:1-16

The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the fl ock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the fl ock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. 7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my fl ock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them. 11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

While there is some overlap and repetition, there are twenty-five promises in this chapter. When you see LORD in all caps in the Bible, it’s the English word used for Yahweh. Yahweh is the personal name for God. Yahweh promised to hold the shepherds accountable for the sheep, remove them from tending the fl ock, rescue his flock from their mouths, search for and look after his sheep, look after and gather them, rescue them from clouds and darkness, and gather them from among the nations. Jesus is saying, you have not strengthened the weak or healed those who are ill or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. We weren’t being shepherds. So they scattered and were scattered and no one searched or looked for them.

I watched my childhood church say to a particular group of people: you’re not welcome here. A portion of the church became closed. They like what they had, what they think they created and they turned inward and started protecting it. I watched God take His hand off that people.

No, We are not that church.

Yes, We live in enemy occupied territory.

Yes, we have been given flocks to care for.

Yes, We have been lost and are now found.

And yes, We carry the message of hope for our city and we will not keep it to ourselves.

Sacrifice > Discipline > Lifeline

What begins as a sacrifice of feeling inconvenienced becomes a discipline as you begin to be the answers to your very prayers and then it’s a lifeline to you and your flock. You become the shepherd.

John 10:15-16

“I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.”

Jesus is always gathering others who aren’t in the fold yet.

- send you out to lay down your lives for the lost sheep

- i love you/care for you too much not to tell you about the love of Jesus

Will you join us?

Three invitations today I bring to us:

1. Invitation to follow Jesus

If you haven’t never experienced the love of Jesus for yourself in the realization that Jesus came for you, died for you, loves you, rescued you from a life of apart from Him, this is your invitation. He loves you and you feel him knocking on your heart. Your heart is not beating erratically for no reason right now. It’s doing so because Jesus is calling your name. Pray with someone up front and when you come up to them say boldly, i have decided to follow Jesus.

2. Invitation to confession

Altar/make your seat an altar: confession - I’ve made this community about my needs and what I can get out of it not what I can give out of it.

Another Confession - I repent Jesus. I’ve been showing kindness and not speaking Jesus.

3. Invitation to join us

Invite people into this! Don’t be outside of this. We’re seeing God do something new and He’s bringing people in by way of invitation.

No one is left out. Everyone is invited in! Which is your invitation today?

Ezekiel closes out his warning with a powerful truth from Yahweh.

You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD. Ezekiel 34:31

Let’s respond to what God is asking of us.