I Once Was Lost

I am a big fan of the TV series "LOST". My wife and I enjoy sitting down and finding out what new secrets will be revealed from week to week and what twisting path the show will take us down next. What intrigues me about the show are the themes of redemption. We like to dive into the characters lives to find out more about their past. Where did they come from? What were they doing on the plane? What is going on in their lives now? There are definite redemptive overtones to the show that draw us into the story.

Each person in this world has been lost at one point or another. I am not talking about the road trip kind of lost or even the stranded on a desert island brand. What I am talking about is the condition of man without a Savior. Each person is born depraved and hence lost as they have been separated from the God of the Universe. The only way they can be found is through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

But how does one go from a lost sinful condition to which they were born to being found? Our stories are very much like the stories we see unfold before us in a show like Lost. Each person is intertwined into God's great redemptive plan. Each person has come from somehwhere and is going somewhere. God has brought lost people to himself through his choosing, the redemptive work of Christ and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

Haven't you ever asked yourself how it is that you believe what you believe about life and Jesus in general? What spurs you on to continue believing the Bible? Or maybe you haven't even taken that step yet and you are trying to still figure some things out.

Each person has been lost and some now have been found. There are some who are still on the proverbial island trying to understand redemption and their need for a Savior. Others have been found by the Lord Jesus Christ and will never be snatched away.

How God finds us is what this next series is about. We are going to take a leap from Acts 10 and Acts 16 into the Scriptures as we take a look at the conversions of Cornelius, Lydia, and the Philippian jailor. What does the Bible tell us about their conversions? What brought them from being God-fearers or outright pagans to the point of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ? We will look at the prep-work, the calling of God, regeneration, the elements of conversion, faith and repentance unto life, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification as we find out how we, once lost, are now found.

Join us on February 17 as I begin this series and study entitled, "FOUND".