Ask a friend at school—what would she say?

How about those you rub shoulders with throughout the week?

Does your friend that you work out with or the one who is a part of that social agency in the community think that the Church has anything meaningful to say about their struggles?

What about that gay friend or the guy who’s made out well through this recession—or the single mother out of work? 

What about your spouse?

Many of them will honestly tell you that “good news” and Christianity are rarely—if ever—found together in the same thought.

Yet, if you spend any time in the first four books of the New Testament, we find Jesus, going “throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…” (Mark 9:35).

 So, how relevant was Jesus’ “good news”?

People flocked to hear Him. In fact, the book of Mark tells us that “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach…” (9:5)  So these very lost people, the ones who in our day shun Christianity, flocked to Jesus.

What’s happened? Have we lost something? What is this gospel that Jesus taught? Have we misunderstood the message? What does it mean to be lost and how are we found? What is the implication of this “gospel” and just how good is the news?

Let’s rediscover the “good news” of Jesus that you may have lost and that is better news than your friends could ever imagine—found in a story that Jesus tells about a lost son. 

Luke 15

September 13	A Community of Grace	Luke 15:1-10
September 20	Wanting What’s Mine	Luke 15:11-14
September 27	Coming to Our Senses	Luke 15:11-20
October 11	Called “Son”	Luke 15:21-24
October 18	Experiencing Forgiveness	Luke 15:11-24
October 25	Homecoming	Luke 15:17-32
November 1	The Other Lost Brother	Luke 15:17-32