Lost & Found

Imagine this: you are 5 years old and get lost  in an amusement park.  You are there with your 2 sisters, your parents, your aunt and uncle, and a few cousins.  Roughly, you have a dozen family members that know you and are looking for you.  What should you do?  Throw a complete tantrum and panic?  If you are like Megan, you'll find the nearest ice cream stand and wait it out.  Those that are lost know someone is looking for them.  When you are lost, you know you are not at home and not where you are supposed to be. 

Yet when Christians use the term lost - for too long we've looked at it as if we must interrupt and interfere.  Christians have approached finding the lost as though the sole purpose is just to convince the lost that they will be consumed by the fire of hell unless they comply.

What Jesus are you preaching?  Is it one of need and and escaping hell? 

Megan knew who's she was, she knew she was not where she needed to be, and she knew that this would be the place her family would find her and take her with them home.  They did find her.

So - how does evangelism look today?  What is the purpose of reaching out to others and how should that look?


When we don't know who we are, we live like we are someone else's.  When we are lost and do not know whose we are, we have no standards, and think like an orphan.  You adopt the culture you are born into.

If you've been born into the culture of the Father, there is no need of a conversion moment.  They have always known it and practice this in an ongoing way.

Our identity determines thoughts, and thoughts determine behavior.  If we change the way we think, we change our behavior.

Jesus entire attitude was that the sinners were the chosen.    Luke 15:1-2

NOW THE tax collectors and [notorious and especially wicked] sinners were all coming near to [Jesus] to listen to Him.2  And the Pharisees and the scribes kept muttering and indignantly complaining, saying, This man accepts and receives and welcomes [preeminently wicked] sinners and eats with them.

Sin does not separate us from God, but a lost identity.  Are you living like a lost orphan, or do you know whose you are?  Do you know the culture of the Fatherly King.  If we live by the spirit, and put to death the deeds of the flesh, we can live.  Sin is a result of broken relationship and nothing else.

Our goal is to reconcile to the Father.  Our language is no longer sin conscious.  It instead is all about sonship.  Instead - we display the Father.  Who you spend time with is who you become like.

This kingdom of God smells like home.  The more you live like your Dad, act, initiate, do business as,  Him - the more you become like Him.

When you are in the company of others, do others raise their standard?  They change, not to avoid offending you, but to honor you and take on your character.

The sin conscious model says if we act wrong, we tighten up.  God is so much more at peace and ease than we are.

This kingdom elevates people to a higher life.  Learn the culture of the kingdom.   Get to know who's you are.  Reveal the culture of the kingdom without bias or judgment.  Build relationships that cause others to fall in love.  Your life should create a culture that every day people experience Him but don't know they are.  As they begin to learn your culture, they fall in love with the King of your culture.  They come to you and want Him.