It Is Written

Lessons for All Time: Lost

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW001402A


01:30 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:40 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:48 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
01:51 Thanks for joining me.
01:52 Mary Sawyer lived in Sterling, Massachusetts,
01:55 in Worcester County, Massachusetts,
01:57 about 12 miles from Worcester.
01:59 She attended the Red Stone School in Sudbury,
02:01 a little distance from her house.
02:03 Like many children, Mary enjoyed animals.
02:06 She had pets of her own.
02:08 Now, one day something unusual and unexpected happened.
02:13 One of her pets actually followed her to school.
02:16 As you can imagine,
02:18 the other children at that little school were delighted,
02:20 none more so than a young man named John
02:22 Ralston, who was visiting the school that day.
02:25 John was so tickled by what he saw
02:27 that he wrote a little poem about it, and it went like this.
02:30 He wrote, “Mary had a little lamb,
02:34 its fleece was white as snow.
02:36 And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
02:40 It followed her to school one day.
02:43 That was against the rules.
02:44 It made the children laugh and play,
02:46 to see a lamb at school.
02:48 That lamb is probably the most famous ovine in all of history.
02:52 And there are other famous sheep.
02:55 Dolly the sheep was the first mammal ever to be cloned.
02:58 Scientists in Scotland cloned her in 1996.
03:02 At the time it was a massive news story.
03:05 Now, for all of that, you sort of have to feel for sheep.
03:08 They're immensely useful animals,
03:10 but they're, well, they're sheep.
03:11 Can't ride them.
03:13 In terms of dollars and cents,
03:15 they're not really worth that much.
03:17 Not like other farm animals, like cows or,
03:19 or alpacas or ostriches.
03:22 Sheep are vulnerable.
03:23 Vulnerable to predators.
03:24 Now, they're as sweet as anything.
03:26 I had a pet lamb when I was a child.
03:28 Terrific at keeping the grass down in our big backyard,
03:31 even if they could be a little bit messy.
03:34 Now, our lamb, my lamb, Sweet Corn was his name,
03:38 disappeared one day.
03:39 Now, Dad said Sweet Corn was getting too big.
03:43 So we needed to get rid of him.
03:45 Dad said he gave him to a farmer.
03:48 I figured out what Dad meant a few weeks later when I noticed
03:52 that our freezer was suddenly full of mutton.
03:58 But go to the Bible,
04:00 and that's when sheep really come into focus.
04:02 Isaiah equated sheep with God's people.
04:04 He wrote in Isaiah 53,
04:06 “All we like sheep have gone astray.”
04:09 Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd.
04:11 Ministers of the gospel are referred to as shepherds.
04:14 The word pastor, like a local church pastor,
04:17 means shepherd.
04:18 The Bible refers to the church as a flock.
04:22 Abraham and his family were keepers of sheep.
04:24 A ram caught by its horns in a thicket
04:26 was offered as a sacrifice when Isaac was spared.
04:29 Lambs were offered as the Passover sacrifice.
04:32 Lambs were offered as sacrifices throughout the Old Testament,
04:35 and they prefigured Jesus,
04:37 whom John the Baptist referred to as
04:39 “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
04:42 The Book of Revelation refers to Jesus as
04:44 “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
04:48 Now, Jesus shared a significant story about sheep,
04:52 a parable, actually.
04:53 It's found in Luke 15, and it's the first of three parables
04:56 that deal with a similar subject or, you might say,
04:59 the same subject but from slightly different angles.
05:02 Now, here's the parable of the lost sheep.
05:05 You find it in Luke chapter 15,
05:07 and we'll pick it up starting in verse 1:
05:10 "Then all the tax collectors and sinners
05:13 drew near to Him to hear Him.
05:15 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying,
05:17 'This Man receives sinners and eats with them.'
05:20 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
05:23 'What man of you, having a hundred sheep,
05:25 if he loses one of them,
05:27 does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness,
05:29 and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
05:32 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,
05:35 rejoicing.
05:36 And when he comes home,
05:37 he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,
05:39 "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!"
05:43 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven
05:46 over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
05:50 just persons who need no repentance."
05:54 Now, notice the context.
05:55 Jesus is speaking with the publicans and sinners,
05:58 the bad crowd, the undesirables.
06:01 You know, it's worth noting that Jesus spent time with sinners,
06:05 with those on the fringes,
06:07 even beyond the fringes of religious society.
06:10 A lot of people who claim to be followers of God today
06:12 don't model this aspect of Jesus' behavior.
06:15 If the church is to reach the lost,
06:17 then the people in the church, by definition,
06:19 would need to interact with lost people.
06:22 Now, Jesus wasn't hanging out with the lost
06:24 so He could participate in their sins.
06:27 He did what He did in order to reach the unsaved
06:30 with the gospel.
06:31 If you're a follower of Jesus, a believer,
06:35 give this some thought.
06:36 If the orbit of your life doesn't bring you into contact
06:39 with people who don't know Jesus,
06:41 you might want to do something about that.
06:43 And then, if you're not a believer,
06:46 if you're not a church member,
06:47 if you're not walking with God,
06:48 I want you to notice what this points out.
06:50 This story shows you that God is, is interested in you.
06:53 It shows you that no matter what's going on in your life,
06:56 you are of value to God.
06:57 Jesus could have gone to the publicans and sinners
07:00 and excoriated them,
07:01 criticized them,
07:02 condemned them.
07:03 He could have just kept away from them.
07:05 But He didn't, because that's not what Jesus is all about.
07:09 Jesus lifts up people.
07:11 If you're willing to be lifted up,
07:13 if you sense a need for God in your life,
07:15 then you can know that the same Jesus
07:17 who hung out with the outsiders back then,
07:19 who encouraged people back then,
07:21 well, that's what Jesus still does today.
07:25 Now, verse 2 could keep us busy
07:27 for the rest of our time together.
07:28 Here's what the Bible says:
07:30 "And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying,
07:33 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'"
07:37 Yes, yes, He does.
07:39 Guilty as charged.
07:41 Now, again, this isn't Jesus saying it's okay.
07:44 This isn't Jesus saying that sin's just fine.
07:46 This is Jesus showing that God cares
07:49 and that God wants to receive sinners and save them.
07:53 So Jesus has been criticized by a bunch of self-righteous
07:57 hypocrites who don't feel a need to help
08:00 their fellow human beings come to know the blessings of God,
08:02 a group of people who couldn't be bothered
08:04 lifting a finger to help somebody find a better way.
08:07 Pious, religious snobs so caught up in their own selves
08:11 that they can't see the worth of a fellow human being.
08:13 So, He tells them a story.
08:15 Well, as a parable, it's more than a story.
08:18 It's a story with a point.
08:20 Not exactly an allegory, but a story designed to teach lessons.
08:25 So, verse 3:
08:26 "So he spoke this parable to them, saying:
08:29 'What man of you, having a hundred sheep,
08:31 if he loses one of them,
08:32 does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness,
08:35 and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?'"
08:40 Jesus asked a rhetorical question.
08:43 He said,
08:44 "Which one of you wouldn't go and find a lost animal?"
08:47 Well, the answer is obvious.
08:48 They all would.
08:49 None of them would be so heartless
08:51 as to leave the animal in the wilderness someplace,
08:53 vulnerable to attack, exposed to the elements.
08:55 None of those men listening would have done so.
08:58 But a human being outside the fold of God,
09:01 a person made in the image of God but outside the will of God?
09:05 They couldn't care less about that person.
09:07 Jesus was hoping to help them understand His mission.
09:10 He was there to save the lost.
09:12 And He hoped that He could help them
09:14 to see their own true mission.
09:16 God has raised up the church for the purpose of reaching the lost
09:21 with the love of Jesus.
09:23 And yet we both know it's true: there are many churches,
09:26 many, that do nothing to reach the lost.
09:29 They don't allocate resources; they don't work a plan;
09:32 they're not losing any sleep over the fact that every day
09:35 there are people dying without ever having known Jesus.
09:38 If churches like that closed,
09:40 nobody would know the difference.
09:41 In fact, it's hard to imagine why they remain open.
09:45 Church isn't a social club; a church is a missionary center.
09:49 We don't go to be entertained or merely to see our friends.
09:52 We go so we can worship God, know God,
09:55 and those who know God
09:56 will love God and love those whom God loves.
09:59 God loves the lost.
10:02 So what's the sheep doing out there in the wilderness
10:04 and not with the other sheep in the sheep in the sheepfold?
10:07 And what does this tell us about Jesus?
10:10 And here's a question: He has 99;
10:13 what's one sheep?
10:15 They're not even worth much.
10:17 He could've easily replaced it,
10:19 or get by without it, without even noticing.
10:22 In a sense, it's not even practical to go after the sheep.
10:26 There's a really good chance
10:27 this whole sheep-hunting expedition is going to cost
10:29 the farmer a whole lot more than a sheep is worth.
10:33 So why?
10:35 More in just a moment.
10:37 ♪[Music]♪
10:44 >>John: I'd love for you to receive today's free offer.
10:47 Join me on location as I walk with lions in Africa,
10:51 "The King of Beasts,"
10:53 in which we'll discuss the greatest battle ever fought.
10:56 To receive "The King of Beasts,"
10:58 just call 800-253-3000,
11:00 or visit us online, iiwoffer.com.
11:05 "The King of Beasts," today's free offer.
11:07 Receive it by calling 800-253-3000,
11:11 or visit it online at iiwoffer.com.
11:15 >>John: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written.
11:17 It was terrible.
11:19 You could imagine her heartbreak.
11:22 Thankfully, there were people nearby
11:24 who were willing to provide reassurance and confidence
11:27 in what could have been a nerve-wracking time.
11:30 Little Bo Peep had lost her sheep.
11:34 She doesn't know where to find them.
11:36 Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
11:40 wagging their tails behind them.
11:43 A nursery rhyme.
11:44 Now, these days,
11:45 losing a sheep can be a serious issue, for the sheep.
11:49 When Jesus told this story,
11:51 sheep then didn't produce wool in the same quantity
11:53 as they do today.
11:55 If a sheep today wanders on its own for too long,
11:57 it can produce an unsafe amount of wool.
12:00 Shrek was a Merino who spent six years on his own
12:04 in central Otago in New Zealand
12:06 before being caught and sheared.
12:08 While a typical Merino fleece weighs around 10 pounds,
12:12 Shrek's fleece weighed in at 60 pounds!
12:15 Jesus spoke about a lost sheep
12:18 whose situation was even more dire.
12:20 This lost sheep didn't just come home
12:23 like Little Bo Peep's lost sheep.
12:25 And Jesus teaches us in the parable of the lost sheep
12:27 that lost sheep must not be left alone
12:30 in the hope that they'll just somehow wander home.
12:33 Jesus teaches us that lost sheep
12:34 must be pursued and aided back to the sheepfold.
12:40 This is Ezekiel 34, verse 12,
12:42 speaking of the way God pursues lost sheep:
12:45 "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day
12:48 that he is among his sheep that are scattered;
12:50 so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out
12:53 of all places where they've been scattered
12:55 in the cloudy and dark day."
12:56 If you read the book of Ezekiel,
12:58 you know that God was dealing with some profoundly wicked,
13:02 rebellious people.
13:04 And yet what does God say that He'll do?
13:07 He'll go out looking for His sheep
13:08 in an effort to bring them home.
13:12 In the parable,
13:13 the shepherd goes out to search for one sheep.
13:16 He goes out to search.
13:17 He has 99, and He goes looking for just one.
13:21 Do you know if there'd only been one lost soul,
13:23 Jesus would have died on the cross for that one?
13:26 Think about that.
13:29 If you were the only person who had ever sinned,
13:32 God would have emptied heaven for you.
13:34 He would have set in motion the plan of salvation for you.
13:39 A lost sheep cannot find its way back.
13:43 It would be forever lost if someone didn't go and find it.
13:46 That's how it is with sinners.
13:47 Sinners don't find their way back to God.
13:51 Everyone who comes to God or returns to God
13:54 does so because God seeks that lost one.
13:57 God goes after that one.
14:00 And keep in mind, a sheep isn't easy to find.
14:03 They don't bark loudly like a dog.
14:05 They're not big and easy to see like a cow.
14:07 Out on the hillsides of Israel,
14:09 where there weren't fences to keep the sheep
14:11 penned like large farms have today,
14:13 that sheep could easily have been anywhere.
14:17 Finding that lost sheep took some effort,
14:20 because to a compassionate farmer,
14:23 that sheep was important,
14:25 valuable.
14:26 And what does the shepherd do when he finds the lost sheep?
14:30 He didn't beat it.
14:32 Didn't yell at it, didn't berate it.
14:34 He didn't tell that poor sheep how much trouble it had been.
14:38 But what commonly happens when people fall,
14:40 fall into sin?
14:42 Now, I understand that there is such a thing
14:43 as church discipline.
14:44 I understand that.
14:45 I understand churches have standards,
14:46 and they should have standards.
14:48 I understand that parents need to teach their children.
14:50 I understand accountability.
14:53 But it seems the shepherd in this story
14:56 didn't get into condemnation.
14:58 You don't have to go far to hear stories of young people
15:00 who make mistakes,
15:02 who are then pushed away from God
15:03 and pushed away from the church, by the church.
15:06 It's easy to love others when they're doing everything right.
15:09 But when somebody fails, sins, falls,
15:13 gets away from God,
15:15 how do you treat that person then?
15:16 Because that's when someone will see the real you.
15:20 You give them the wrong message,
15:21 they get the wrong picture of God.
15:24 What message about the character of God
15:27 do we send when we deal with people
15:29 who don't measure up to what we think are God's standards?
15:33 Now, for the purpose of this parable,
15:34 we're dealing with people who really have sinned,
15:36 not simply failed to measure up.
15:39 What does the church do with or about the lost?
15:44 Look what the shepherd does.
15:46 Luke 15, verses 5 and 6:
15:48 "And when he has found it,
15:50 he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
15:53 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends
15:55 and neighbors, saying to them,
15:57 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"
16:03 Keep this in mind:
16:04 this is God being portrayed.
16:07 He doesn't yell at the sheep, doesn't try to lead it home.
16:11 He picks up the sheep and puts it on His shoulders.
16:14 He holds it close; He keeps it safe.
16:17 There's a bond there.
16:19 There is a caring there, a love there.
16:22 He isn't angry.
16:24 He's simply thrilled that he's got his lost sheep back.
16:28 And look what Jesus says in Luke 15, verse 7:
16:31 "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven
16:34 over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
16:37 just persons who need no repentance."
16:39 Notice what this says about God.
16:41 God celebrates when a sinner repents,
16:44 when a lost sheep is found and brought back to the flock.
16:47 The rabbis back in Jesus' time,
16:49 they had a belief that there was rejoicing in heaven
16:52 when one who has sinned against God is destroyed.
16:56 Notice what Jesus is doing?
16:58 He's not only telling us the facts of how this process works;
17:02 he also wants us to see the character of God,
17:04 the God who says,
17:06 "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked."
17:08 That's Ezekiel 33:11.
17:09 Second Peter 3, verse 9, says,
17:11 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
17:13 as some count slackness,
17:14 but is longsuffering toward us,
17:17 not willing that any should perish but that all
17:20 should come to repentance."
17:22 Jesus said in Matthew 9 and verse 13
17:24 that His mission was to call sinners to repentance.
17:27 That's what God's about: reaching the lost,
17:29 finding the lost, seeking the lost,
17:31 and bringing them home.
17:34 And rejoicing.
17:36 In the parable of the lost sheep,
17:37 we see that salvation doesn't come through us seeking God,
17:41 but through God seeking after us.
17:44 We do not repent so that God can love us.
17:48 But God reveals His love to us so that we can repent.
17:52 Now, question for you.
17:54 Have you ever lost money, real money,
17:57 at a time when it really mattered?
17:59 I have.
18:01 More than I care to remember,
18:02 at just about the worst possible time.
18:06 I'll tell you more in just a moment.
18:07 ♪[Music]♪
18:15 ♪[Theme music]♪
18:17 >>Announcer: In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says,
18:19 "It is Written,
18:20 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
18:22 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
18:26 "Every Word" is a one-minute, Bible -based daily devotional
18:29 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw,
18:31 and designed especially for busy people like you.
18:34 Look for Every Word on selected networks,
18:37 or watch it online every day on our website,
18:39 itiswritten.com.
18:42 Receive a daily spiritual boost.
18:44 Watch "Every Word." You'll be glad you did.
18:50 ♪[Music - crowd watching eclipse]♪
19:00 ♪[Music - crowd watching eclipse]♪
19:57 >>John: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written.
20:00 In Luke 15, Jesus shares three similar stories:
20:04 the lost young man,
20:05 the prodigal son;
20:06 the lost sheep;
20:08 and then a story about a woman who lost money.
20:11 Have you ever lost something valuable,
20:13 money, for example?
20:15 Imagine being the man in Boston
20:16 who left $187,000 dollars in a taxi.
20:21 Happened in 2016.
20:23 The Boston Globe reported that a homeless man
20:25 had just cashed his inheritance and left a bag of money
20:28 in the back of a cab.
20:30 Fortunately, or providentially, the cabbie was an honest man,
20:34 took the money straight to the police,
20:36 and the man got his money back.
20:37 Can you imagine how happy he was?
20:42 Didn't work out that way for me.
20:45 I was on my honeymoon, with a lot of cash in my wallet,
20:50 and somewhere along the way,
20:54 I lost the wallet with all the honeymoon cash in it.
21:00 Oh, she wasn't impressed,
21:01 but thank the Lord she was so sweet about it, my new wife.
21:06 We prayed we'd get it back and...we didn't.
21:09 Not good.
21:12 If I had got it back, you think I'd be celebrating?
21:15 You know I'd be celebrating.
21:16 I wouldn't have been the only one who was celebrating.
21:19 It's good to find something valuable,
21:21 something that you've lost.
21:24 What if that something was a someone?
21:27 And my wife and I, we've never lost one of our children,
21:29 I mean, you know,
21:30 what sometimes happens in a supermarket or wherever.
21:33 You lose something precious,
21:35 something as precious as a child,
21:37 nothing else matters.
21:39 You want to get that precious thing back.
21:41 So imagine how God feels.
21:43 In the beginning He created a perfect world
21:44 with the intention that the people He created
21:46 would live forever.
21:47 He designed Adam and Eve; He made them,
21:50 and He wanted them and their descendents
21:52 to exist with Him for as long as time lasted.
21:56 But sin came, and sin separates people from God.
21:59 Sin causes selfishness,
22:01 the opposite of what God is trying to achieve in our hearts.
22:04 Imagine if you could see this world from God's perspective.
22:07 Billions and billions of people in the world,
22:09 the vast majority of them don't even profess to be close to God.
22:15 But sometimes lost people
22:17 are where you don't expect to find them.
22:19 If I asked you where all the lost people could be found,
22:21 you might say, oh, in the bars,
22:23 in the clubs,
22:24 the casinos and so forth.
22:25 And while, yeah,
22:26 there's undoubtedly some accuracy to that idea,
22:30 lost people can be where you would least expect them.
22:34 So let's look at Luke 15, verses 8-10:
22:38 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins,
22:41 if she loses one coin,
22:43 does not light a lamp, sweep the house,
22:45 and search carefully until she finds it?
22:47 And when she has found it,
22:48 she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying,
22:51 'Rejoice with me,
22:51 for I have found the piece which I lost!'
22:54 Likewise, I say to you,
22:55 there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
22:58 over one sinner who repents."
23:01 Again, something, someone, is lost.
23:04 It's ultimately found and God rejoices.
23:06 The angels rejoice.
23:07 But the wrinkle in this story is that the coin
23:10 in this case is lost inside the house.
23:13 It hasn't wandered off.
23:15 It didn't leave home.
23:17 It's still right there, and yet it's lost.
23:21 I wonder if you'd agree that there are a lot of lost coins
23:24 in the house, literally.
23:26 I'm not referring to coins you find when
23:27 you take up the cushions of the sofa.
23:30 At home, even in Christian homes,
23:32 there are lost people.
23:34 They interact with people in the family;
23:35 they are there but they are lost.
23:38 What are you doing for people who are lost and in your house?
23:43 Notice that Jesus said this woman searched carefully.
23:47 And you want to be careful
23:48 while you're searching for family members.
23:50 What do you do when your kids wander off?
23:53 You have to be careful.
23:55 You come on strong, you criticize,
23:57 you condemn, you've lost them forever.
24:00 It's important to be careful.
24:03 There are people in God's house,
24:05 in church, who are lost.
24:06 And you can't always tell,
24:09 because they know what to say at the right time.
24:10 They know how to act.
24:12 What do you do?
24:13 Well, you do something.
24:14 We think of missionaries as being people
24:16 who go to faraway countries, and while that's true,
24:20 it could be that God is wanting you to be a missionary
24:22 to people a whole lot closer to home.
24:24 I'll tell you about one man I know personally.
24:27 When he left high school, he left the church.
24:29 Never looked back.
24:31 His mother was gracious and tender and kind,
24:33 and she prayed for him.
24:36 For years.
24:37 In fact, she prayed for his conversion
24:40 until she was 99 years old.
24:44 And when she was 99,
24:47 her son came back to faith in Christ.
24:51 Her prayers were answered, not long before she died.
24:55 She took the lamp, got the broom,
24:58 and swept, and swept, and swept,
25:02 and eventually she found her precious lost coin.
25:05 God rejoices when one of His lost children is found.
25:09 In two short parables in a row
25:11 we read that there is joy in heaven when the lost is found.
25:14 Who's going after the lost sheep?
25:16 Who's going after the lost coin or coins?
25:19 Who's going after the one who's wandered away,
25:21 the one who is lost in the home, or in the church?
25:25 The encouraging thing is that the lost sheep
25:28 was found and brought home.
25:30 The lost coin, likewise, was found.
25:34 People who love God will search for those who are far from God,
25:39 and by the grace of God,
25:41 will find them and bring them home.
25:44 And if you're far from God,
25:46 you know that God is that good shepherd
25:49 who goes in search of the lost and brings them home,
25:53 carries them home.
25:55 You know that God loves the lost.
25:57 He does not look on you with condemnation
25:59 or with harsh judgment if you're outside the will of God.
26:03 God knows that sheep wander off.
26:04 He knows that coins fall to the floor.
26:08 He's interested in finding them
26:10 and getting them to be where they need to be.
26:13 It might be that God is talking to you today,
26:16 that God is looking for you today,
26:19 that God's wanting to bring you back.
26:21 Will you let Him do that for you?
26:24 Are you willing to let God carry you,
26:27 find you, bring you home?
26:28 I hope you are.
26:30 You'll cause rejoicing in heaven,
26:33 rejoicing in God's heart,
26:36 by allowing God to reach you and bring you back to Him.
26:40 Sheep didn't clean itself up; neither did the coin.
26:43 God does that.
26:44 You let God do that for you.
26:46 Notice in the beginning of this passage in Luke 15,
26:48 the scribes and Pharisees complained and they said,
26:51 "This man receives sinners, and He eats with them."
26:54 Yes, He does.
26:55 That's precisely what God does.
26:58 He receives sinners.
27:01 And if you'll let Him do so, He'll receive you right now.
27:06 ♪[Music]♪
27:14 >>John: I'd love for you to receive today's free offer.
27:16 Join me on location as I walk with lions in Africa,
27:20 "The King of Beasts,"
27:22 in which we'll discuss the greatest battle ever fought.
27:25 To receive "The King of Beasts,"
27:27 just call 800-253-3000,
27:29 or visit us online, iiwoffer.com.
27:34 "The King of Beasts," today's free offer.
27:36 Receive it by calling 800-253-3000,
27:40 or visit it online at iiwoffer.com.
27:44 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written
27:46 is a faith-based ministry,
27:48 and it's your support that makes it possible for us
27:51 to share God's good news with the entire world.
27:55 Your tax-deductible gift can be sent
27:56 to the address on your screen,
27:58 or through our website, itiswritten.com.
28:02 Thank you for your continued prayerful support.
28:05 Our toll-free number is 800-253-3000.
28:08 800-253-3000.
28:11 Our web address is itiswritten.com.
28:14 >>John: Let's pray together now, shall we?
28:15 Our Father in heaven,
28:17 thank you that you're such a good shepherd
28:20 you'd go off in search of the lost sheep,
28:22 that you'd take the light and the broom
28:24 and you sweep and search the house
28:25 until you find the lost coin.
28:26 I pray that you'd put in the hearts of those
28:30 who are your followers to be just like that.
28:33 To go outside of themselves,
28:35 to go to some trouble if need be,
28:36 to reach the lost, to seek the lost,
28:39 to gently carry them, to bring them home,
28:41 to find them and bring them to the foot of the cross.
28:45 Dear Lord, I pray right now for that one who is that lost sheep
28:49 or that lost coin.
28:50 Friend, is that you?
28:52 If so, it's time for you to say,
28:54 "Lord, take my heart, bring me home, carry me back;
28:58 I can't make it myself.
28:59 I need your help."
29:01 And if that's your desire,
29:02 know that God accepts you;
29:04 He's found you;
29:05 He takes your heart;
29:07 you are a found sheep, not a lost sheep.
29:10 You are God's possession, God's purchase.
29:14 Know now that you are God's child.
29:18 Lord, we thank you for your goodness and your grace,
29:21 and we pray in Jesus' name,
29:24 Amen.
29:26 >>John: Thank you so much for joining me.
29:27 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
29:29 Until then, remember:
29:30 "It is written:
29:32 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
29:34 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
29:37 ♪[Theme music]♪


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Revised 2018-02-08