LOST | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

praise the Lord everyone amen and amen it's so good to see you and so good to be in the house of the Lord and I'm going to quickly read a scripture and have you be seated but if you will turn with me this is going to be the key verse for this series in Luke chapter 15 and 24 and excited pastor excited that he has invited me to share this with the church I'm looking forward to I'm going to kind of give you an idea of what this series is going to be about and gonna kind of tell you for the next few weeks what is gonna be taught and then we'll kind of delve into each one of the subjects as we go but this first simply says for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be merry the theme right here of this whole series is simply this for this my son was dead and is alive again for this my son was dead and is alive again this is the pathway home series and this lesson is going to be simply entitled lost simply title loss you may be seated where would I be I'm glad you see through a hopeless team and then we'll see if not for a can't testify on me where would I be such a name if not I feel so to anybody thankful tonight for the grace the mercy of the Lord for a father loved us enough that he looked and he said you know what I know they're not perfect I know they sure need a whole lot of help but I'm willing to be the sacrifice and so the questions simply this song I love this song because it's a question the whole song is a question is simply says where would I be there's only one who truly knows oh you only know how glad you see nice I feel if not for great then it says and I think of all the things I cannot see so many things you better shelter from the storm a shield surrounding me thank you for the mercy you put I know you're cool but you stay my son thus far my beer such a No not for morale it's not for girl come on one more time as I love him in this place and thank him come on for the grace that he's poured upon us thank you for your grace unmerited oh we thank you Jesus home I began to study on this subject and with this subject there comes many subjects within within a subject and I first want to kind of just talk about what we will cover in the next few weeks this week we're going to study the three types of lost the next week we're going to study the attitude of the return because it's very important how if you are truly a political how you react and respond to the pathway home and so we'll talk about and I'm going to preach and speak directly to the prodigal and and I'm going to kind of shine light on the correct way to return to ministry and let me say this when we say ministry we're not talking about we're not preaching about just just the pulpit ministry because we have a ministry team in this church of hundreds absolute from the music department to our nursery staff our daycare workers school teachers archers greeters security staff of boots store workers coffee shop workers that there is a ministry staff in this church this surpasses really any that I've ever seen matter of fact when we call a ministry staff meeting here at this church it doesn't look much different than this I mean we have sections that are filled with people who work in a ministry so when when we begin to teach on the subject of a pathway home this is not just for preachers this is not for fallen preachers this can be any person that finds himself away from God that wants to come back home and then the following week after that our third part of the series is going to be the response of the elder son the response of the elder son in it's going to be a lesson on how we must respond as a church to the prodigal who comes home how we are going to respond because you know the story and I don't want to get ahead of myself but the elder son did not respond correctly and we can learn a whole lot from this parable in this older son so with all those three today what I want to start with what I want to begin with is a series in the part one is simply entitled lost I'm so thankful for pastor carpenters keynote to this series that he preached on Sunday night I hope most of you are here Sunday night if you weren't here please get online and watch pastors keynote because it's amazing because there were six cities of refuge in the Old Testament and it was a beautiful plan it was a beautiful path for the innocent to follow however we talked about this later what about the guilty what about the man or the woman not the second-degree offender but what about the first-degree offender what about the person who made the decision the bad decision and knew exactly what they were doing they survived the consequences but where was their pathway home where did they find mercy because every one of us are going to make mistakes we were born in sin in iniquity and we're going to make mistakes we are but a flesh we're gonna fall but the important thing is this if we fall we must arise I love this song that says a saint is but a sinner who falls down but then gets back up again I'm so thankful for the opportunity because the opportunity we have in the New Testament that they did not have in the Old Testament is we were given a pathway the New Testament we have a plan of redemption mercy and grace entered into this world in the form of a man named Christ Jesus second Corinthians five and 21 says for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him I thank God for before the foundation of the world was even set in motion there was a pathway of redemption can anybody just lift up hands to heaven and say thank you Jesus for a pathway that Jesus Christ gave us through the cross of Calvary a pathway of restoration and if a righteous God listen if a righteous God can create a pathway of restoration for the Lost how much more should we an imperfect Church desire to create a pathway of restoration for those that fall away from the church if you think about it this is we had a conversation our pastoral staff had a conversation and we are coming up with a plan we are praying we are asking God to help us to form this pathway this is going to be more than just a series there's going to be more than just a series of teaching of preaching this is going to be something that we could put into a book form that somebody can follow the step of this path can progress down this path in return back home because let me tell you something there's nothing more important than making sure that a prodigal can get back home to the house of the Lord because listen all we like sheep have gone astray and if we're not careful each one of us in some form in some way can become a prodigal we can we can live a messed up lifestyle and make bad decisions in a way that we're going to pray one day that we have a path to follow to return back home so there's there's there's definitions of a word lost in an order to create a pathway of restoration for someone who is lost that person must first recognize that they're lost so what does the word loss really mean and I didn't even go to Webster's dictionary I know there's at least two definitions one definition is someone who has not followed the plan of salvation in their destination is an eternal destruction we call them also we say it all the time we make statements like this world is lost in they're headed to a devil's hell we talk about a person we say we've got to reach them we've got to preach the gospel to them because they are lost so that's the first definition but the second definition of the word lost is what I want to teach about tonight it's what we find in all three of the parables that Jesus tells about the lost he tells the parable of a lost sheep lost coin and then he follows it with a lost son and all three of these lost parables have a very same definition of lost it's something or someone who at one time was where they were supposed to be but now cannot be found the worn lost sheep at one time was in the fold with the other 99 the one lost coin at one time was with the other nine pieces of silver and the one lost son at one time was living with the second son under the same roof of their father the parable is not about a shepherd finding somebody else's sheep or a woman finding somebody else's coin or a father that adopts somebody else's son all three have been lost by the owner or by the parent and all free have this same definition of this word lost and I I want to make sure that I'm giving this a cross and this point across because it's gonna play into what I'm gonna teach the next three weeks you see in the first lesson in this series called the pathway home it's very important to understand that all three objects that have been lost don't necessarily realize that they are lost there is a possibility that somebody in this room tonight could very well be lost and not even realize it you can very well be in a state in a lifestyle that's headed into destruction and not even realize that you're lost for a parable listen I kind of want to parallel between a parable and a proverb because there's a lot of similarities between a parable in a problem a parable is not necessarily an event that actually took place in history we understand this but the principle of the parable that is taught is true no matter if it actually took place or not I compared a parable to a proverb because good advice and good wit good wisdom is given within a proverb but but a proverb is not a promise I'm gonna say that again a proverb is not a promise because God will never force someone to they in the faith and I say that because one of our favorite proverbs is simply train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart but we understand if that child makes a decision to walk away God is not going to stop him just because a parent brought him up in the way that he should go and just like with a proverb in a parable that does the same thing is with both them you've got to kind of research every word every detail of both a proverb in a in a parable means something nothing is written in a proverb or a parable it is just you know if I tell you a story if I witness something that happened at Walmart and you can witness some crazy things at Walmart but if I witness something at Walmart and I tell you the story you know there's some obviously it's fact and obviously it's what I saw and it's my perspective and I might add some details that really don't matter but when you tell a parable when Jesus would teach a parable every single thing within that parable meant something he just did add details that didn't matter so as we begin to delve into and dissect each one of these parables I want us to realize that we've got to go slow and we got to understand what we're reading because Jesus had a purpose to everything that he told so we begin with the parable of the lost sheep look with me in Luke chapter 15 and let's just start in verse 1 so we can kind of pick up the setting before Jesus tells a parable there's obviously a reason why he told the parable there's some issues that the Jews had the religious the the the righteous you might say the Pharisees the scribes they had some issue with the publicans and the sinners that were hanging out with Jesus and really they had more of an issue with Jesus hanging out with them but it says then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear and the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them and so here we go he spake this parable unto them saying what man of you having an hundred sheep if he lose one of them does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it and when he have found it he lay it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he cometh home he called it together his friends and neighbors saying unto them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost lost in the Shepherd's field this sheep that wandered beyond the sight of the Shepherd it's a slow fade because sheep don't do anything fast it's not intentional I want us to understand sheep there's no intention of the Sheep to escape the Shepherd or to escape the full because sheep they want to be in the fold there's protection in numbers there's protection among the other sheep anything that happened that caused that sheep to be lost was unintentional it was probably because its head was down and it saw greener grass just a few steps further it might have saw calm water just a few steps down the bank but the sheep will never look up and look at the Shepherd and say as soon as he looks away I'm gonna make a break for it because she don't do that sheep congregate congregation fold they want to be together they're followers they find comfort in numbers it's an accident if they get lost so let me let me kind of bring this home and maybe where we're living for just a few minutes because I believe there may very well be a to lost sheep or to this right here amongst us just a little bit out of sight you know maybe I may be a choir member it might get a little it might get a little touchy here just for a minute just bear with me but maybe a choir member that had a really good excuse about getting out of the choir now I'm talking about just a slow fade I'm talking about just just kind of just kind of wandering a little bit maybe they had maybe they had a fear of heights and that choir loft it's it's it is a little bit steep maybe they had I think it's called vertigo where maybe when the choir was swaying they got dizzy there's good excuses we don't want anybody falling out of the loft there's nothing more to strike into a worship service they have somebody come tumbling down those stairs maybe somebody and I've heard this happening I've had friends that have that have gotten throat cancer nodules on their on their on their voice box to where they were not allowed to sing their doctor said you cannot sing for six months or eight months or whatever it is people there listen there are good excuses why you might not be able to sing why you may not be able to be in the choir and believe me as a choir director of this church as one of our quadratures I don't like to admit the fact that there can be excuses but let me say this also as an administrative pastor I also see the big picture when people begin to resign positions it's going to get kind of weird it's okay you got me for three weeks but I'm bright enough to realize those good excuses but I'm also bright enough to realize that for every one good excuse sister carpenter there's probably 10 bad excuses and we can easily tell a good excuse from a bad excuse you want to know how because we monitor the situation and we take notice if after the excuse has expired if that person returns back to Ministry okay so let's let's rewind a little bit because this is very important if you miss this you've missed it sheep get lost but unintentionally I don't believe anybody just comes with sister carpenter myself and just says I need to sit out of the choir because in your mind you're trying to escape in your way to eternal waiters so you can run that we we understand the process of the sheep wandering but Jesus was talking about the loss and and he was trying to give free different perspectives of the loss because with sheep again sheep are looking for water sheep are looking for better grazing sheep are trying to find a better in a more beautiful patch of grass that they've never been to before and it's not intentional but what we see in what we understand is with this slow Fame and it's easy to slow fates easy because all you have to do is get out of the habit of doing something that you've been taught to do attending the house of God listening covin 19 and in the in the self-quarantine that we just went through it's been a little bit scary and pastor has said this the strong Saints I believe we got stronger I believe we had more time to pray and more time to study I've read more books in the last three months and I've read in my life feel like but at the same time people who were in the practice of coming to church every single service they've got out of the habit and now they're finding themselves with well you know we've not gone on vacation because we've been locked inside the house for a while so this this weekend I think you know we're just going to go out of town and we're gonna drive up through the mountains and and we're gonna kind of be out this weekend and then and then the following weekend Sally's got a fever and we got to stay home with salad because you know we can't bring anybody with a fever into the house of God and we thank you for that and so you stay home a salad because she's got a fever and then the follow weekend your your your your business your career your job takes you you got to go to Nashville and you got to work in Nashville or or it's gonna fly you down to Florida or somewhere and over time we get out of the practice of being where we know we ought to be and we find ourselves one day waking up like a lost sheep and we don't know where home is because sheep this pathway that we're making is not for a sheep because sheep can't follow a pathway sheep have to have a shepherd that come after the Sheep and find the Sheep and bring that sheep back a sheep is not a bad person it's a good person who has made a bad decision and they've gone too far and not even realized they've gone too far their head has been down they've been grazing they've been looking for better water the grass is greener on the other side of the field and they don't even see that the slow fade has brought them to a place but we as as a pastoral team and as leadership and we know we now have great small group and care group leaders and we have under shepherds who are now watching sheep and we're saying oh you don't even realize that you're by yourself you don't even notice that there is a lion about to pounce upon you because if you watch the nature Channel the Lions don't go after the heard they don't go after the flock they look for the one straggler they look for the one water buffalo who's all by himself and he's just he's I've seen a Lions take down elephants small elephants Mania maybe a young elephant who's just kind of been grazed and had been hanging over here and and been getting off to the side over here and not realizing that the herd has moved on and you listen I hate I saw one yesterday I hate those videos they come on Facebook and there's something inside of me I don't know makes the carnivore that I am I don't know but there's something that I I see it I'm just like oh surely surely that that small lion cannot take down that water buffalo there's no way that water buffalo its skin is made of likelike tough rawhide leather there's no way they can't even get they can't even get their claws Harley into that and I watched this video yesterday and I watched as that female lioness from the back jumped on the back of that water buffalo and held on onto his spine with all her might and just would not let go and in that water buffalo was turning from side to side and could not get that lioness off its back and I watched it it blew my mind did these small beat these lines that were not much taller and bigger than this right here and there's water buffalo who stood probably sick his back stood six feet tall they were able to take it down because it was by itself they were able to take it down because it had no help now it had great horns and it was a great mighty beast but when you're by yourself I don't care how strong you think you are I don't care how strong you look I don't care you can read your Bible you can read your Bible to the covers we're off but if you're not where you need to be within the fold within the body of Christ let me tell you something it's just a matter of time you're gonna look up and it's gonna be too late Psalm 23 is a song written in brother ham and I believe it was a couple of years ago he he brought a sheet y'all remember he brought us sheep in here and he taught about this but-but-but Psalm 23 the author is a shepherd but he gets into the mind of his sheep and he writes the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he he leadeth me beside still waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me he's talking to the Shepherd for that I don't have to fear evil because my shepherd is with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me if we're not careful we look at a lot of the staff as something to man Oh rot in a sty don't want nothing to do with a rod and a staff but the Sheep love it you say well what about the hook on the end what about the hook when when the shepherd will we'll grab them in from the underbelly will pull that sheep doesn't that hurt yeah it probably hurts a little bit but you're looking and you see what would happen if the shepherd wasn't pulling with his death and to see what cliff you would be walking off if he wasn't pulling you with us ever or if you'd be getting behind and you be grazing off somewhere all by yourself if he wasn't continued coming up and pulling the sheep back into the fold because all we like sheep have gone astray you're not alone in this office that's that's Bible all oh we we've all gone astray didn't need to weren't trying to be rebellious we're trying to rebuild against the pastor we're trying to rebuild against the church we're trying to rebuild against God's Word we just found ourself astray but it's very important to realize that it took a Shepherd to find the lost sheep and that's that's what we come in as a church as we come in as under we can we know that Jesus he's our great Shepherd but we have a we have a senior pastor who's who is who is in authority below Jesus and then from there we have under shepherds that help Shepherd the flock and it's our job to find people that don't know they're lost and help them back into the fold it's all responsibility every care group leader all our care group leaders are doing so awesome if you're not a part of a care group or if you having a tenant now listen I know it's via zoom and I know that it's kind of getting a little hard because we're I told pastor there day I said you know if I see one more conference if I get if I have to watch one more conference on a screen you know and when we're going to be together pretty soon our care groups we're going to be able to meet in person pretty soon but if you're not in the care get in a care group you need an under shepherd who's watching over you keeping close track of you God help we don't look at that that's not a bad thing that's a good thing if I miss a service I want somebody to text me if I'm not where I should be I want somebody to be calling me and saying hey man love you brother are you sick are you not feeling good can I pray for you about something well I didn't see you at church on Wednesday night come on we ought to want that if we're going through a valley of the shadow jump we all don't want to be able to look up and say yeah got my Shepherd right here next to me the rod the staff that come but what I'm saying is this it's our responsibility to find the lost sheep you say brother Eriksson what I thought you were talking about a pathway home I've got to get there but before I can get through I've got to go through the three types of lost but for the first type the sheep there's no path needed for the Sheep because a sheep cannot follow a path home it needs a shepherd that's why the Shepherd said he went and left in 99 because why the ninety-nine they were protected within the fold and so the Shepherd said I can go and find that one because the one is not protected and in the Shepherd says when I find him I put him on my shoulder and I love the Sheep I come home and we celebrate the fact that I found my sheep that's why every ultra service that we have here at first Apostolic with somebody renews is somebody gets back and somebody prays back through the Holy Ghost that's such a celebration it's not because they left the Shepherd's field they simply got a strength first thing is is a sheep look at verse 8 Luke 15 and 8 now let's kind of move into the next parable the lost coin Jesus goes right into this he says either what woman having ten pieces of silver if she loses one piece does not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it and when she hath found it she calls her friends and her neighbors together saying rejoice with me for I have found this piece which I had lost the lost coin is lost in the house it's lost but it has not lost its value the piece of silver it may be misplaced within the house but it's not truly lost you just got a sweep and you got a shine a light until you can find it and I want you to follow me with this because the silver silver in the Bible always represents truth it represents our beliefs it is listen it is our mind that houses our understanding in our belief system all right follow me with this so this woman she has ten coins I don't even know what countries he's come from but I've got ten coins here silver coins and this woman has lost one of her coins now ten pieces of silver nah I just believe that our beliefs our doctrine listen we have we have been revealed the greatest doctrine of the world we are the most blessed people you you ought to be able to pat yourself on the back and say how in the world did I get to this place that out of the billions of people that live right now on planet Earth somehow I've been revealed truth this found in this world I'm talking about huh I'm talking about the Guardian I'm talking about Jesus the fullness of the Godhead was in him bodily I'm talking about the necessity of repentance I'm talking about the necessity of Jesus name baptism I talked about the necessity of spirit baptism the necessity of holy living anybody glad that they understand what holy living is all about because without holiness no man shall see the Lord what about a prayer life a daily prayer life a daily study of God's Word what about the spiritual desire to grow the fruit of the spirit into your life what about obedience of the ten commandments what about separation from the world you maybe see that these are ten coins that are housed in your mind it's your belief system and if we're not careful listen if we lose any one piece if we say you know what I just don't know how how can we believe that everyone must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost is it really essential or is it is it maybe is it maybe just the frosting on the cake to make us to the next step in our spiritual walk with God and if you're not careful you can lose one of your pieces one of your coins in the house now you may not ever leave the Pew maybe it's maybe it's holiness me maybe it's separation from the world that you struggle with and you question and every time the pastor preaches on it you just kind of in your heart you say well that's his opinion and he that I've got my own opinion and and I know this is how he feels and I know the pastor's got this little handbook that the choir has to sign in the ministry staff at the sign but you know what I've got my own way of thinking about some of those some of those separation standards about some preacher I only got about 10 minutes my mother saw preaching here because I've got a question for you what else is in your mind besides truth besides the coins of truth because whatever it is in your mind in your house it's cluttering your house in a way that things are being misplaced that have no business being misplaced oh my god what's the big deal lady you only lost one of your coins you still got nine more what's your problem take your nine and do something you got nine pieces of silver is it really a big deal that you lose one who cares but the problem is this if we lose any one of the doctors that are taught in this work just think about it if you the fact that Jesus is God that messes up baptism that messes up the reason that we're covered by his blood that mess listen if you don't understand the oneness of God that messes of all the doctrines you might as well as throw all your coins down because if you allow anyone to be lost in the house everything within your mind starts getting messed up bad that's why there's people that that's why it's this is coming now there's a lot of people sister Yoko they'll say I will never have always believed in repented soul I'll always believe there's only one God I always believed in feeling the Holy Ghost is essential but these standards of holiness is that really required I mean how much brother by the way the Li how much does it really take to get into heaven and all it takes is just one piece of silver getting lost up in there and I've seen pastor after pastor all for that one piece lost business and they have not swept their house and they've not found that peace and do to not sweep in their house and and not shining the light of the word of God and looking for that one piece they lost you know what happens sooner or later they lose the rest of the night because they all go together it's what's in the house the silver was a knowledge the silver was the belief system that's what the Bible whenever talked about silver that's what it had to do it oh god help us to sweep anything out of the house that needs to be swept on the house you turn on the light of the word it's a lamp unto my feet it's a lighter to my pathway because I don't want to sin against God if I don't keep my mind illuminated I can't find the things that I've lost oh my god listen is to its due to things like Hollywood entertainment that gets into our minds it puts things in our heads that never belong in our heads and all of a sudden what now what I tell you why what you should be finding the coin that you've lost you can't find it because there's so much debris going on in your brain that televangelist that you've been watching because he is preaches so fiery and what you don't realize is he's preaching stuff into your soul that you don't even see you don't even realize until it's too late and you lose your coin and you can't find it again you can't find it again because so much junk is all around there coin you gotta sleep you gotta sleep you gotta get the light on you with this is social media social media can hurt you maybe see the social media can hurts I'm almost done I'm about to close we'll pick up next week social media can hurt you because you can find the latest greatest muscular pastor put his tweets on Twitter and that stuff can get you thinking thoughts that God never intended you to think put doctrinal thoughts then are not found in the word into your mind - when the pastor gets up here and starts preaching straight from the word you so say well that's not what pastor so is so that I follow on Twitter said that's not what he said about grace and mercy that's not what he said about faith and hope I don't know who ah Polly when I tell you who you believe you are a sweet oh my god you want to sweep your house clean until you can find every one of those toys that you've lost stuffy is they found it is a sensual holiness on this hour oh my god son of a horrible I'm gonna find every coin everything means something to me my god I can't live one coin drama I can't have one coins robbed shut about stand your feet to me with Nikolas is praised for a moment I feel the Holy Ghost in this place I feel that the lost is one that come home in an order for the loss to come home we gotta get our heads up come on there's sheep in this place you're not too far away from the fold you haven't ripped in so far that you can't get back up again you can't wander your way back into the foot come on there's some toys that have been lost there's some scattered toys that can be retrieved and picked up there's some houses that can be swept clean of anything shut up oh shut up haha they get this in a way of truth shut up oh shut up aha come on just for about 2 minutes others praise them I'm gonna let you come up at all this two minutes let's give him praise right here say God if there's anything inside of me huh if there's anything that you want to cleanse God I want you to cleanse it Oh have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving-kindness according it's a multiple like tender mercies blot out my transgressions wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sins I want you to pray this prayer out here behold thou desirest rusa in the inward parts come on this is a prayer to God God you desire truth to be in my inward parts and in the hidden parts that she'll make me to know wisdom oh it says purge me with hyssop ah I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice up high thy face from my sins and blot out all by the Nipponese created me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away cast me not away this is David he said taught cast me not away from that presence O God the last thing the last thing that I want is for you to cast me away from your presence but here it is restore restore restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit come on somebody lift up your hands to heaven right now come on this pray this prayer missin Lord if I found myself drifting away o God I pray I pray Lord God if it takes a Shepherd to come find me gotta pray that you send a Shepherd Oh God the last thing that I want to do Lord God the last thing that I want to do Lord God is be taken huh is the devil to walk into my life I don't want to be the prey of Satan come on if you've been if you've been having questions in your mind come on you know you know what's right do you know what you've been taught many of you been have a Stalag since you were knee-high to a toadstool come on somebody if the Holy Ghost is inside of you you know what the Word of God says you know what you've been taught you got to go back and make sure all ten pieces of silver are found and you can say god I have the fullness of truth kneadable karappa ha come on just one more minute just one more minute it's one minute to nine o'clock come on this is crazy shut it up a quarter of a cup ouple come on and we have a father that loves us we got a father that loves us we gotta follow that knows exactly where we are he's the Good Shepherd he's such a good good you can be dismissed when you want to be dismissed we're gonna sing a little song says thousands stories of the world oi and your leaves and never why - eye to eye he's searching for foreign wine all searchable holy Oh we before we say Joshua one more time good you're a girl I be blessed have a wonderful rest of the week looking for the senior Sunday morning 10:00 a.m. god bless you in Jesus name come on less people less let's do great things in this community in Jesus name