The Good Shepherd: Finding the Lost Sheep.

Finding the Lost Sheep

Hey everyone! Happy fall! If you've been keeping up with my blog series, this is the last part over The Good Shepherd. To see the other two blogs click here to catch up.

As I think about Jesus as a good shepherd, I realize the good shepherd knows if he's missing his sheep or not. In Luke 15:4, Jesus asks the crowds (tax collectors, sinners, and Pharisees) in verse 4, "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?" Think about that question first-century Jesus asks that to us now.

I was reading a commentary on this parable and the author brings up an interesting point about how shepherds that don't normally leave their flock behind... until Jesus shares this parable. "We are not told if he [shepherd] leaves the rest of the flock with the neighbors, though that is likely in the natural understanding of the situation, for he would hardly put the ninety-nine at risk for one sheep. On the other hand, sometimes parables are intentionally surprising, and the twist may be a part of the drama. If so, Jesus is saying that finding the one is so important that he is willing to take such a risk."

Jesus is saying that he cares for everyone and will risk and pursue to find the one sinner and bring him/her back to God. Reflect with God how you were once lost and Jesus found you like the shepherd found the one sheep. Each of you wandered and ended up lost in sin and darkness until you encounter Jesus. Jesus found you and made it clear that he was never far away from you. I think about my first four years in college when I was calling myself a Christian but was following my sins, and straying away from God. I never knew I was lost until one guy who was obediently following Jesus confronted my sin and asked me if I wanted to come back to Jesus. I realized I was lost and I needed to find my way back, so I turned away and ran back to Jesus, the good shepherd who has taken care of me. Since Jesus has found me in my sin, and I turned towards him, He rejoices when I come back to him. And that goes for you too! "And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep'"(verse 5-6).

This passage says much about the heart of God in engaging those who are not interested in him. He cares enough for them to go looking for his people, even when they have stayed away consciously. God calls us to pursue the lost and rejoice in those who have come back home just like the prodigal son. Do you go look for the "lost," as Jesus searches for the lost?

Updates!

Pizza Theology:

Before COVID, all the campuses would meet together once a semester at a large UTD classroom and learn about the topic our staff prepared with and eat pizza together in the commons area. To keep our students and staff safe, we live streamed Pizza Theology and encouraged our cores to set up pizza theology with their core or join with another core group, but had to social distance. Normally Pizza Theology would go for 5 hours, but because we live-streamed it, we decided to make it a two-part series for 2 hours instead of the whole thing. I hosted both Pizza Theology events at my house with a projector and Bluetooth speaker for the guys to hear it. We had pizza from Dominos because I wanted to treat them well! :) 

Our topic this year was "In It, Not of It. How to Think Like a Christian".  People, including our students, have faced many challenges over current world events (i.e; racism, politics, and global pandemic). Our goal is to leave our students with more questions to think about these things, and how to think like Jesus in our society today. This year's topic really challenged me to think deeper about situations through God's perspective instead of the culture's ideology, and I'm still left with questions to ponder on. I'm so thankful for our talented staff that worked very hard of studying and planning for this to bless our ministry.

CORE:

The change of season from high 90 degrees heat to the low 70's has been very nice! My Wednesday core guys are now meeting at my backyard instead of Breckinridge Park. The difference between meeting at the park versus my backyard was having more outdoor lighting and save more gas traveling somewhere closer. My Tuesday Core group in Mckinney is looking for an outdoor area where there's plenty of outdoor lighting to see. My guys are eager to learn about the goodness of Jesus and are pondering how they can imitate Jesus in their daily lives outside of small groups.

Keep FOCUS Growing:

We're ready to initiate our fundraising campaign "Keep Focus Growing." Keep Focus Growing is our annual campaign that creates a fund for our ministry as a whole to use for the next year. Our full-time missionaries raise their own support, but it takes a lot more than that for us to do ministry. Outreach activities/materials, administrative support, health/retirement benefits, etc. Some of our generous donors have banded together and agreed to match up to $42,000 in total donations during this campaign. So if we receive $42,000 in total contributions, they will kick in a SECOND $42,000! Your first chance to give will be on December 1st! You can go to anyfocus.org/KFG.

Church:

I'm excited that my home church (Wylie Northeast Church) is meeting outdoors now. They've been super cautious and thoughtful about social distance and safety guidelines, and they've been going the extra mile in servicing to set up the chairs and sound system so we can have fellowship as a body again. I am encouraged each Sunday to find opportunities to serve and give to the Wylie community.

Closing & Prayers:

Thank you again for your support and prayers for me and our students you invest in! If you need a service or prayer, please feel free to contact me on my cellphone or email me.

Cell: 972-800-9093

Email: austin.bailey@anyfocus.org

If you could please be praying the following:

• Preparing for freezing weather and courage for our guys to continue to meet together despite the weather conditions.

• For new creative ideas for our staff team can reach out to our students on campus.

• Pray for the health and safety of our students and staff team as the weather gets colder.

• Pray for me that God will continue to teach and correct in any heart issues I'm unaware of, and humble myself to walk towards him in repentance.