Last night I was privileged to preach at Glad Tidings Assembly of God in San Francisco. It was a lot of fun!
Pastor Beiser had asked me to come and encourage the people to invite their friends to hear Bubba Paris (of the San Francisco 49ers) come and preach this weekend at their special meetings, and to specifically “speak on the lostness of man.”
I decided to speak from Luke 15, the chapter in which Jesus talks about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (prodigal son).
Since Paula’s college roommate, Rachel Spradley, is visiting with us right now I decided to use her in my sermon. I told the congregation that Rachel had just become engaged to be married, and I asked her to stand up and show everyone her ring. Rachel then stood up and flashed her finger sans ring, and convincingly shrieked: “I’ve lost my ring!”
Everyone freaked out and began to scan the floor for her ring. I then read from Luke 15:8: “suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”
It was fun. Unfortunately, two people bolted right away to search the lobby and the restroom (they even put on rubber gloves and dug through the trash). As a result, they missed most of my message. Still, they beautifully illustrated how we respond when we think something valuable is lost!
My points, incidentally, were as follows:
1) Realize people are lost
2) Value lost people
3) Take risks to reach the lost
4) Use every resource at our disposal to reach the lost
5) Celebrate success
Good stuff!
Great sermon illustration! I’ll have to remember that one.