Reading: Luke 15:1-10 NLT
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
“In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’
“In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus – give me your passion and welcoming spirit for lost souls… near and far away. And use this Easter season to bring them home. To you be all honor and glory. Amen.
Hymn: “Softly and Tenderly” – Will L. Thompson (1880)
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me; see, on the portals he’s waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. Come home, come home; you who are weary come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, mercies for you and for me? Come home, come home; you who are weary come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me; shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me. Come home, come home; you who are weary come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
O for the wonderful love he has promised, promised for you and for me! Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me. Come home, come home; you who are weary come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
The Peanut Gallery 