Search Party | Broken Things Restored

Welcome to Westside! Engage in the chat and Follow along with message notes at https://www.westsidecommunitychurch.com/notes-resources

Join us as Stephen Radie brings us a message about Search Party.

#broken #repaired #restored #Jesus #fullservice #fullchurchservice #christian #sermon #worship #westside #church #2026sermon #churchonline #stephenradie

Westside is a place made up of real people from all walks of life. We are a “come as you are” church that strives to be a safe place for people to investigate faith. No matter your story, questions, doubts or struggles, we’re glad you’re here today.

LINKS & RESOURCES:
SUBSCRIBE to always see our content and let us reach more people for Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/westsidecommunitychurchpdx?sub_confirmation=1
Give to support this ministry and help us reach people all around the world: https://www.westsidecommunitychurch.com/give

STAY CONNECTED:
Website: https://www.westsidecommunitychurch.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westsidecommunitychurch/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westsidecommunitychurchpdx/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Well, good morning. It is so good to be here with you. If I've not met you yet, my name is Steve Brady. I am the outreach pastor here at Wedside. You that are joining us online, we're glad that you're here with us. We are in part two of our series, Broken Things Restored. And today's message is titled Search Party. And I think you'll get the gist as we go along. But I have a question for you. Have you ever noticed that losing something changes your personality? Yeah, one minute you're you're calm, you're you're cool. You can agree with that. You're cool, you're collected. But the minute you lose your phone, all bets are off. All of a sudden, you become a Navy SEAL on a recovery mission. Like you're throwing couch cushions everywhere, you're digging through the couch, you're finding lost popcorn in there, and you're like, where's my phone? You're looking in places that phones should never be, you're looking in the freezer, the dishwasher, in a shoe. It's possible. It could have gotten a shoe. But the point is that then what happens is when we don't find it, that paranoia kicks in. And you're like, who has my phone? Somebody took it. So then you start interrogating your family. Where were you between the hours of 3:01 p.m. and 3.03 p.m.? Right? And then and then they do this to you. You know, because you've tried everything, they ask you that question. Have you tried calling it? Really? Of course. Do you mind calling my phone so I can listen for it? Right? We've all been there. And it's funny when it when it's a phone that's missing. But the truth is, the more valuable something is, the more intense the search becomes. You lose your car keys, you're searching for them. You lose your wallet, you're retracing all of your steps. But you lose your child and you drop everything. Few years ago, a little boy wandered off from the campground that he was at with his family. One minute, he's at the creek pitching rocks. The next minute, I'm pretty sure he saw a squirrel, because squirrels are like Disney characters to kids, and off he was chasing these things. Like he's auditioning for the preschool version of Survivor. He's gone. He's jumping over trees, he's looking for this thing, and within minutes, he's completely gone. Parents, you know, you know that feeling. You know that moment when your heart stops, your stomach drops, and your brain goes into emergency mode. And immediately you're thinking the worst case scenarios. And suddenly, nothing else in the world matters but finding that child. And you start yelling his name like you're calling a dog, hey Jacob, come here, Jacob. Like, you know, he's gonna respond the louder you get. He's just gonna all of a sudden he's gonna summon. You've searched everywhere. Nothing. And next thing, an hour's gone by, and now it's a full-on search party. There's flashlights cutting through the trees. There's search dogs that are sniffing everything. There's volunteers that are forming search lines. In fact, there's helicopters overhead that are straight out of a scene from Stranger Things. And you know what's wild during this search? No one says he should have known better. No one says, Well, he wandered off. Let him figure out how to get home. Why? Because when something that is valuable is lost, you go searching. Hours passed. The temperature dropped. Darkness started to set in. And you know what the mom said? That it wasn't the silence. Not hearing anything wasn't the worst part. You know what the worst part was? That she had the fear that her son was out there wondering if someone was coming to look for them. What the child didn't know was dozens of people were crashing through the forest to find him, calling his name, refusing to quit. And around 2 a.m., there was a faint cry. The silence was broken. They found him. He was cold. He was scratched up, terrified, but alive. And they carried him out of the woods to his mother. And you know how the mother responded? What she didn't do was she didn't say, Young man, you're grounded. No, those weren't the first words out of her mouth. In fact, she didn't even scold him and saying, Look what you put us through. And she didn't respond how I think my parents would have responded, we're getting a leash for you. Pretty sure that's how my parents would have responded that I got lost in the woods. No, what she did is she ran to him with open arms and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him and loved him. Because love runs towards what's lost. And here's the thing today, we're gonna discover in Luke 15 that Jesus says the exact same thing that this is what God is like. It's we're gonna hear three different stories, but it's not a chapter about an irresponsible sheep. It's not a story about a distraught woman or a rebellious son. It's a chapter about a searching shepherd, a sweeping woman, and a running father. It's a chapter about a God who refuses to stop pursuing us and stop looking. Some of us walked in today, or we're a little spiritually cold. Maybe we're bruised and battered, or we've got some of those scratches, just like that little kid from life. We've been wandering in our own woods, worried that no one is coming. But here today, we're gonna learn of the promise in Luke 15 that God's not waiting for us with crossed arms. No, God is the one crashing through the woods of our wandering. He's a God that comes looking, he's a God that comes searching. And every one of us knows what it's like to lose something valuable, whether it's a wallet, a watch, a season of life. But when something valuable is lost, we go looking. And here's the thing: Luke 15 actually starts with a little bit of tension. In fact, it talks about the tax collectors and the notorious sinners that would often come to listen to Jesus speak. And here's the thing: the Pharisees, you know, the religious teachers of the law were angry about it. They didn't understand why Jesus was spending his time with the broken. And so Jesus makes sure to share this stories with them to help them understand. See, Jesus is comfortable being with broken people. These aren't stories of fix it yourself. These aren't stories of find your way back. These aren't even stories of earn your return. No. What Jesus does is he paints a story and a picture of God who moves first. And I and I love this next verse because it reminds us that this is an intentional, these are intentional stories. Luke 15, 3 says this. So Jesus told them a story. And not just heard, that they're understood. That they dig into our hearts. So the first thing in your fill-ins, you're taking notes, is grab that is God initiates the search. That's the first point I want you to really hear as we unpack this first story that Jesus uses. In fact, I've got uh I've got a little bit of help here. I've got a lost in found box to kind of help us on our journey today. And lost in found boxes are pretty fun, aren't they? You can find some, you can find some pretty nice stuff. Yeah, that's that's nice. Huh. Anyone missing a shoe? Oh, look at this. Finally, I can tell my wife I found my lost marble. Found it. But actually, this first story is about a lost sheep. And Jesus tells us in Luke 15, 4 this if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go search for the one that is lost until he finds it? There's something powerful there. He's telling us, doesn't the shepherd leave? Doesn't matter where they're at, he's going after the one that's missing. And I don't know if you know anything about sheep or you've ever actually watched sheep, but basically they're like furry little toddlers. They have zero survival instincts out there on their own. See, sheep don't find their way home. Sheep get stuck in bushes, sheep walk off cliffs. In fact, sheep are the only animal that can actually get lost walking in a straight line. I promise you. Sheep see a butterfly and they think, oh, my whole purpose in life is changed, and five minutes later, they're gone. Nobody's ever watched a sheep and said, wow, that's an animal that has it all together. You know what Jesus says? That's us. We're that sheep. We're not the wolves, we're not the lions. We get lost in this world. We get distracted by the things that are around us. Which means that our spiritual problems don't actually start with rebellion, they actually start with drift. Sound familiar? We're not that different from the sheep. See, I think what happens is we often imagine that God is waiting for us. He's waiting for us to get together before we decide we're gonna focus on that relationship. I think we we think that we've gotta be we've gotta be perfect before we can we can we can pursue it. But that's not it at all. I promise you, no one wakes up in the morning and says, you know what? I'm gonna ruin my spiritual journey today. But life just comes at us. It comes in the form or it sounds something like, you know what, I'm just busy. Who's who said that? I'm just too busy. Or I'll pray tomorrow. Maybe I'll feel like it. Or I'll deal with that issue later. Or I'll start reading my Bible again when life slows down. And you know what? Life starts to work, and then we end up wandering. So I don't know if you're like me, or maybe you've you've come in and you feel like you've been wandering. But I think we can find three things in this story about God leaving the 99 and searching for the one. Is one, we learn that the sheep doesn't look for the shepherd. God makes the first move. And the scripture teaches us that he always takes that first step. And you know what it says? He searches until he finds it. Notice it doesn't say he searched for a while. That's not what the scripture says. It says he searched until he found it. Because here's the thing that I want you to hear today. God is not casual about you. You might give up on yourself, but we have a God that will never quit on you. Gabe touched on this a little bit last week when sin entered the world and he talked about Adam and Eve. And I think sometimes we feel that shame of our sins that we've done wrong, just like them. When God went to them after the sin, what were they doing? They were hiding. God's like, what are you doing? Well, we're naked. God asks, Well, who told you you were naked? God didn't see them that way. But isn't how that how we feel sometimes when we're lost? But you know what happens when we recognize that God's been looking for us? Is we recognize he's not a God that lectures. When he finds that sheep, this is the third thing, when he finds the sheep, he actually carries it home. Verse 5, it's not in your notes, but it says, He will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. He doesn't lecture it, he doesn't say, Do you know what you put me through? He picks it up, dusts it off, puts it on his shoulder, and brings it home. And here's the thing that's beautiful about that, that we can rest in is that the sheep, us, we don't contribute anything to being home. It's not about that. The shepherd carries all the weight. See, that's the that's the beauty of the gospel. And I think some of us need to burn this image in our minds to remind us that God is not irritated by our weaknesses. No, God is moved by our wandering. He doesn't shrug his shoulders and roll his eyes, he shoulders them. He runs towards us in our brokenness, not away from us. In fact, 1 John 4 19 says this we love each other because he first loved us. We love because God loved us first. God always makes the first move. So here's the thing I I want you to write in the the notes as we're paying attention to the second story is God sees what others overlook. I'm gonna jump back in over here for the second story. And it's a story about a woman with ten coins. And I have ten coins in here. Pretty silver bag. See if I can get them out without dropping them all over the stage. Luke 15, 8 says this. Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? See, one coin might seem casual to us. We might not think that it's that big of a deal. Most of us would say if we lost a coin, we'd like, uh, I'll survive. But in her world, that coin meant everything. In fact, many scholars actually believe that the coins were part of a wedding headdress, which is the equivalent to us losing a wedding ring. That's how valuable it was. So I guarantee you, if you lose your wedding ring, you're not gonna ignore that, are you? No, you're gonna tear your house apart, and that's how that works. You become a forensic investigator, you're gonna find it. You're gonna move the furniture, check under the couch. See, that coin was everything to her. It was her identity, it was her security, it was her future. So she lights the lamp, she sweeps the floor, and she searches carefully. See, that first story of the Lamb is God showing initiative. This second story is an example of God searching intentionally for us. God's not careless with you. You're not just a face in the crowd, and you're not replaceable. But some of us feel what it's like to be overlooked, forgotten in a relationship, ignored by people we serve, devalued by our own family, or I think this is worse, invisible in a crowded room. But the kingdom of God is not majority rules. God doesn't say nine out of ten is okay. No, what God does is he lights a lamp, and because he cares enough that even in your dark corners of life, it matters to him. You matter to him. He's searching for you. He sweeps the whole house because he refuses to lose what belong what it belongs to him. And I and I want you to hear this. I want you to hear this next part. Because this is something that is so deeply true about the heart of God. Tim Keller once said this to be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and fully loved by God is, well, a lot like being loved by God. Yeah, let that sink in. See, I think we we've experienced one of those two fears that somebody gets to know us and they don't love us once they really get to know us, or the other, they love us, but they truly don't know us. But here's the thing about our God is he does both. He sees everything about us and he refuses to stop searching, he refuses to give up on us because he fully sees every flaw, every failure, every fear, and you know what? He loves us anyway. He loves us despite ourselves. See, that coin was fully known. That woman knew that coin intimately. Even though it was dark and it was covered in dust and it was overlooked by everyone else. Here's the thing we learned about that coin is that it was fully loved by the one searching. And we have to remember that God doesn't overlook us, that he doesn't forget us, and God doesn't replace us. And here's the great thing, and it goes on to say in verse 9 that rejoice with me, I found the coin. When she finds it, she says, Come rejoice with me. And you know what's cool? Is that heaven? Heaven celebrates your return to God. Celebrates when you come back to that relationship. In fact, heaven is so much louder when you return than it is ever when you fail. You are pursued by God. He's intentional. And he's personal. He cares. See, God sees what others overlook. And that brings us to our third story. And the point I want you to get is this God runs towards the broken. Now, this next story, the last story, is a story of the prodigal son. Some of you may have heard it, some of you may have known what that story is, and it's about a son that rebels. And unfortunately, I couldn't put my own son in uh in this lost and found box. I tried. So I did the next best thing. I bought, I brought somebody that uh that is used to being in a lost and found box. And and and Woody's a little bit like the rebellious son. He gets himself in a little trouble from now and again. But see, the thing about the the prodigal son is he tells his dad, I want my inheritance now. I want it up front. And what he's telling his dad in that culture is, I don't care about you. I just want your stuff. And so he takes his inheritance, the dad gives it to him, and he runs. He goes down the street, and you know what happens? He wastes it all. He ends up poor. In fact, he ends up having to go to work for a pig farmer, and he's in the filth of the slot, which is the worst place to be on a farm. Let me tell you, I grew up on one. Is in the slop. Of course, unless you're the pig, then it's okay. It's an okay place to be. But here's what happened: it goes on to say in verse 17 that he came to his senses. See, brokenness has a way of waking us up. Pain becomes a mirror. So he gets ready. He starts practicing this speech to give to his dad as he's going back home, telling his dad that I'm sorry. I disrespected you, I disrespected God. And isn't that kind of how we feel sometimes? Like we're we're trying to find apologies. But you know what the father does? While we're practicing our apologies, the father's running towards us. In fact, Luke 15, 20 says this. So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, the father saw him coming. I'm gonna pause right there because that's something incredible. You know what that means? That means the father's watching every morning, every evening, every day he's looking, waiting, hoping that one day that silhouette will appear on the horizon. The father doesn't wait, he doesn't lecture, he doesn't fold his arms and go, well, let me hear what you have to say, because God doesn't care. No, he runs. The rest of the verse says, filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. See why this is so important that Jesus is telling this story at this place in time is Middle Eastern men did not run. They wore robes and they had sandals on. And running meant that was undignified because you had to pull your robe up and your legs were exposed. And they had some pretty white legs, so they just kept the robes on. But you know what love does is it makes you do some undignified things. It'd be kind of like watching your grandfather run through Costco saying, My son is home wearing Crocs. You you disown him, right? You'd be like, I don't know who that is. Grandpa's gonna find his own way home today. But here's the thing: God is not pacing heaven with folded arms. No, he's sprinting towards us, he's pursuing us intentionally with outstretched arms. See, what happens is the father restores the son by giving him his robe, which is his identity restored. He gives him a ring, which is his authority restored, and he gives him sandals, which is his sonship restored. See, he doesn't make him earn his way back, he doesn't hire him as a servant, he restores him, and that's exactly what God does for us. He restores us, and this isn't cheap grace, no, this is running grace. And I want you to remember, God can run faster than you can wander. But here's the thing about this story: just when you think it's it's over, you know, because the dad's like, hey, let's celebrate. My son's home, let's get the fattened pig, let's, let's, let's have a party, bring in the calf, let's celebrate. There's another kind of lostness there. The older brother. Now, listen, I want you to understand this that the older brother is not a villain in this story, he's not the cartoon bad guy, he's the responsible one. He's you and me. He's the rule follower, he's the I'll just do it myself kind of sibling. You know the type. He's the kid who did all the chores without getting celebrated. He's the kid that reminded the teacher that the homework is due. He does the right things. He's the coworker that trains the new guy and then has to watch as the new guy gets promoted over him. He's the church volunteer who serves every week, but secretly wonders if God even notices. See, the older brother is close to the house, he's 10 feet away from the door, but he's far from the father's heart, and I think sometimes that's where we're at. See, he hears the music, the dancing, he smells the barbecue, but he doesn't join the party. Why? Because he's got his arms folded, he's standing outside being stubborn. Anybody else feel like you you're being stubborn with God right now? Yeah. I think what he does is he actually says something that many of us have felt but never voiced. God, does my faithfulness even matter? Because the older brother is this, and I want you to pay attention to this. He's not mad that grace is given. He's mad that grace feels unfair. And here's the part that we miss. It's just as the father ran out to the rebellious son, he runs out to the resentful son. He pursues both the rule breaker and the rule follower. He's telling us, son, you have everything that I have. It's there for you. He reminds us that we're not working for God's love. No, we already have it, we're actually living in it. See, I think some of us aren't running from God. We're just standing outside the party. We're tired, we're faithful, but we're worn out. We're wondering if God sees us. And all is God is saying, and I want you to hear this today. If you're feeling that way, I want you to hear this that God is calling you home to that relationship to lean back into Him, to call His name, to come home. You don't have to earn what's already given freely by Him. Because whether you've wandered like the sheep or you've been overlooked like the coin, or you stood outside like the older brother, the Father is looking and pursuing you. And the clearest picture that we have of that is the cross. Luke 19, 10 says, This the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. Jesus is that shepherd carrying our sins, searching in the darkness, running down the road. And the cross, the cross is an example of God sprinting towards us. And the resurrection is the example of God restoring us. In a moment, I'm gonna I'm gonna say a prayer. But before I do, I want to speak to whoever's online or whoever's in this room that feels like that little boy, that story that I started with right now. I want to speak to you for a second. Whether you've been wandering, you've been hurting, you've been trying to find your way on your own, or maybe your loudest fear is you're not sure if someone's looking for you. I want you to hear me. God is running towards you. Not to punish you, not to shame you, but to restore you. He wants to wrap his arms around you. So if you're tired of running on your own, you're tired of hiding, and you're ready to come home and accept Jesus as your personal savior, right now is your moment. So you don't have to fix it yourself. Jesus already paid the price on the cross for our sins so that we can be with the Father and you can accept Him in your heart right now. All you have to do, stop running. Turn because the Father's running to you. Let's pray together. God, I'm just thankful for those that are ready right now to say this prayer, that they realize that they've they can't do it on their own anymore, that they need your guidance, they need your love. And they can say this simple prayer right where they're seated, right online. Jesus, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me. I believe in you, your life, your death on the cross, and the resurrection. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Lead me and teach me to follow you. Now, while every head is bowed and every eye is closed, I ask that you'd be bold enough. If you just said that prayer right now, would you slip your hand up so I can support you? God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. God, we're so grateful for each life that just recognized they don't have to be in the woods anymore. They can be with you with your arms wrapped around them, God. They just made the best decision of their life, and we're grateful. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. See, I hope today God spoke to you. And and and and this was a reminder that He loves you. That you can stop running. See, I think we think we got to clean ourselves up before we go home, and God's telling us the opposite. Come home, I'll clean you. We need to stop hiding because despite the best camo that you could buy, God sees you right where you are. He wants you to come home, not to be punished, but to be restored. Psalms 34, 18 says this the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Constantly, we have a reminder that He's there for us. He's not repelled by our brokenness, he's drawn to it. He leaves the 99, he lights the lamp, and he runs down the road. You are not abandoned, you're not forgotten, and you're not too far gone. No matter how much the devil tries to make you believe, you were pursued and you were wanted by God and you are loved. And God is not waiting for you to fix it yourself, he's already running. Reminds me of our slide that we have the journey that we have uh of the mountain range. And some of you just took the first step by accepting Jesus to be your Savior, and we're so proud of you. But there's another step, there's the community mountain. And if you did just say yes to Jesus, you can take that step right into community because then God calls us to be baptized. And we're having baptism. It's coming up. You can check that on the green box and sign up for that, and Melissa will reach out to you. Because that community is so important. That's what we're here for. It's to support and remind and love each other. And then there's that mission mountain. And I can tell you, my mission today is to make sure that you don't walk out of here not knowing that God loves you. Amen. Amen.