Storyteller | Part 1 – A Lost and Found Story!

Mark 4:34 (MSG)

Jesus was never without a story when he spoke.

Matthew 13:34-35 (MSG)

All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. ³⁵ His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world’s first day.

Luke 15:11-24 (MSG)

Jesus said — “There was once a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ (My inheritance)

So the father divided the property between them. ¹³ It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There … he wasted everything he had. ¹⁴ After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. ¹⁵ He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. ¹⁶ He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

¹⁷ That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. ¹⁸ I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; ¹⁹ I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.‘ ²⁰ He got right up and went home to his father.

When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. ²¹ The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

²² But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes (the best robe) and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! ²⁴ My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

Jesus’ “lost and found” story challenges us to – up!

“Prodigal” — Rashly or recklessly extravagant, lavishly generous, one who spends everything!

Jesus’ “lost and found” story challenges us to – up!

Luke 15:14-19 (NLT)

When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you …’

Romans 1:21-24 (MSG)

People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives … ²⁴ It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out.

James 2:13 (NIV)

Mercy triumphs over judgement.

Jesus’ “lost and found” story challenges us to – up!

Luke 15:25-31 (MSG)

All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing.

²⁶ Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. ²⁷ He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’

²⁸ The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. ²⁹ The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? ³⁰ Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up you go all out with a feast!’

³¹ His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours— ³² but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!‘”

Religion is spelled – Do!

Christianity is spelled – Done!

Ephesians 2:8 (TEV)

For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it.