Spending Time with the Spiritually Unresolved

Spiritually unresolved? What does that mean? Kent Hickerson and his wife Merla celebrated their 26th year as ministers at our church - First Christian Church in Clinton, Illinois. That is amazing. Who stays in one church for 26 years, let alone pastor there for that long? Wow!

This morning Kent shared a message entitled, 'More?' from Luke 15. It was an awesome message so I am going to share a bit here. Just because... because it was so good and are things that God has been whispering to me this week. Those whisperings is what made the praise and worship so good, too. I spent time with God. My heart was supple. Even though I didn't feel well, I survived and I was ministered to.

Okay, it's like this: Jesus hung around with the wrong crowd. (Luke 15:1-2) He had the nerve to spend time with the spiritually unresolved. Gotta love that:) Another name for sinners. Why would Jesus do that?

Luke 15:3-7 talks about the lost sheep. Only 1 of 100 was lost. What's the big deal? It's only an animal. The joy wasn't in the 99 right then but in the one that was lost but now found. It was a joyous reunion!

Remember the lost coin? (Luke 15:8) 'Only 1 coin out of 10 was lost, old lady!' It's just a thing. But that woman needed that coin. When she found it she rejoiced and celebrated, because, as we saw above - joy comes in the reunion!

And then there is the lost son. (Luke 15:11-24) 1 out of 2 boys was lost. Well, that is a big deal:) When that prodigal son came back there was such rejoicing and celebrating. Remember - the joy comes in the reunion! But not everyone was joyful. The older brother was mad. He was the one that stood firm. No big party for him. What's up with that? His dad reminded him that the joy comes in the reunion. 'Suck it up, big boy.' (I hope you can figure out what's me and what is Kent in this blog. Oh man.)

The intensity of any search is directly proportional to the perceived value of that which is lost. God wants more. He wants more people to come to Him. More and more and more.

And when we see what God sees, we are motivated to do what God says. He is such a loving Father. He wants to draw us all to Him. All of us. No matter what. We are of great value to Him. Even in our spiritually unresolvedness. (My word, not Kent's.) And there is such joy in the reunion! Such joy!

We have people in our lives that need to know God's fantastic love for them. Can we be passionate about this? Will we make the effort to share Christ with them? Can we be persistent in sharing His love with them?

Anything goofy in this blog was probably me, not Kent. It would be a fun thing to have people write about the sermon - to see what God spoke to each one. Think how different they all would be:) Anyway, it was a great Lord's Day. Hope yours was just as good or better!

And remember this week - the joy is in the reunion! Almost makes me want to lose something so I can celebrate the find:)