The Real Picture Of God (7)

So tonight,we will see God from another point of view and I believe at the end of tonight's session,we will all come to a place where we all see God as who He really is The picture of God I want to relay to us tonight is that God that is always reaching out to man and not we reaching out to him as many people would say. For some of us,we say we are waiting on God,but I may in few minutes prove to us that God is actually the one waiting for us Luke 15 KJV:Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 KJV:And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 3 KJV:And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4 KJV:What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 KJV:And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 KJV:And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. This is the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 We are going to verse 3,but I don't mind we starting from verse 1 Luke 15 KJV:Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. Publicans and SINNERS wants to hear Jesus speak Anytime I read something like this in my bible *Sinners* wanting to hear Jesus speak, it ministers alot to me. *There is a vacuum in the heart of every man that can only be filled with God's love* There is nothing that can be replaced with the presence of God in our lives. That is the only thing that can make you complete Isaiah 55 says 'Why do you spend money on what is not bread and wages on what does not satisfy... You can desire everything you want to desire in the would, but we all know and Economics even proved it to us that *The wants of man is insatiable* So we need to Understand that we are not complete without Jesus Then let's go to verse 2. Luke 15:2 KJV:And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. Against the opinions of the pharisees,Jesus received the sinners and He ate with them. This didn't go well with their theology. But the truth is Jesus came purposefully for the sinners. Let me just ask you a question right here and you can answer in your mind For SINNERS to seek to hear Jesus speak,For them to have the boldness to approach the Holy Jesus, *What did you think they heard about Him at the first place?* Whatsoever they heard I believe must either promote LOVE or the opposite FEAR in their hearts. Either ways,they heard something about Him before they decided to take a step and decided they wanted to hear Him speak So to the parable 3 KJV:And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4 KJV:What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 KJV:And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 KJV:And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. So the bible said And He(Jesus) spoke to them(the sinners) in parables saying.... We need to understand who is reaching out to who,else we will be apt to conclude wrongly The parable Jesus told them was actually intentional The compendium of the parable is that *each of you matter to God* He was able to compare 99 believers to 1 unbeliever And permit me to show you something right now Verse 7 KJV:I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth... The bible says ...OVER THE SINNER THAT REPENTS... And from the parable,it wasn't showed that the sheep was the one looking for the shepherd So there are more to the parable than what meets the eye 4 KJV:What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 KJV:And when *He* hath found it, he layeth it on *His* shoulders, rejoicing. 6 KJV:And when *He* cometh home, *He* calleth together *His* friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for *I* have found my sheep which was lost. So see who is reaching out to who The emphasis was on the Shepherd (HE) here and not the sheep From verse 5 And when He(the shepherd) hath found... You can't find a thing until you have sought for that particular thing. So the shepherd went out of His way to Find the sheep Did you see that? And then when He found the sheep,He carried the sheep on his shoulders😊😊 How sweet! And then He was rejoicing And when He got home,he had to tell his neighbors to rejoice with him... God has always been the saviour from day1. And I'm glad he was able to make the sinners who came to hear him speak that even though they have come to Hear him speak, He came first by leaving his kingdom in heaven and IN HIS LOVING KINDNESS employed the faculties of man in other to reach out to them first Did you get that? So this is the repentance that was hidden behind the letters The sheep allowed the shepherd to carry Him on his shoulders. It wasn't by force,for God would never force a man,the sheep had to CONSENT to be carried. To understand this better, we will see together the parable of the prodigal son next week and then we can continue from there Please ask questions if you have any