Communion Message
Lost and Found
April 25, 2004
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Jesus spoke in pictures and I can remember when I was quite young a Sunday school teacher telling me a story that I have never, never forgotten. Which goes to not only underscore the importance of stories, but also goes to underscore the importance of Sunday school teachers as well.

It's the story of a boy who had a summer project and he was given a block of wood. And day after day he would painstakingly and meticulously carve that piece of wood into the form of a little sailing boat. He formed the hull and he painted it, and he put a mast on it. He found some cloth and created a sail, and detailed it with the portals and the rails and so forth. And the day came when he went out to the wide river and put the boat in the river, and of course wouldn't you know it, that day the breeze drew that boat away from the boy and the boy powerless watched that breeze and the current take that boat away from him.

Time passed, weeks, months, perhaps years passed and one day the boy was walking down the street and glanced into a pawnbroker's shop window and there he saw his boat. It was weathered and beaten, but it was his boat. He recognized it. And so we went into the shopkeeper and he said, please hold onto this boat, I'll be right back. He went home and got the money out of his piggy bank and went back and he bought that boat.

That story has stayed with me all through the years because it's an allegory of what God has done for us. No allegory is perfect, but the story is well told. God formed us, we were drawn away by sin, God redeemed us, He bought us back, and it wasn't with some coins out of a piggybank; He bought us back with His blood shed on Calvary's cross; a wonderful story of redemption. And He continues redeeming us because He continues pouring out His life and His blood, and the cleansing of our sins when we come to Him and we say, Lord, we have sinned; please forgive us, please cleanse us.

And today we can come and we can confess our sins and the Scriptures say He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. His blood is just as powerful today as it was when we first accepted Him, as it was when He died on Calvary's cross 2000 years ago. The Scriptures say at times like this we should examine our self and so I would like to invite you, if you're physically able, to join with me now as we kneel in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

Lord we were formed by Your hands. We were drawn away by sin, and You have redeemed us on Calvary's cross. Lord, Your word says if we confess our sin You are faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Each and every one of us have sinned each and every day, if not in deed then in word, if not in word then in thought for sin resides in our members, in this body of flesh. Forgive us and cleanse us this day we pray in Jesus' name. Let's partake of the bread and also the cup.

Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Hallelujah. Can we say hallelujah together? Hallelujah. Let's say it again. Hallelujah. Glory to God. We worship You this day, in Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people again said, amen...and hallelujah, that's right. Let's stand and greet those who've come to worship with us today.