Finding our Way Back to God, from Luke 15, 01.10.16, www.mympumc.net

1. Looking for Something More?
Luke 15:11-20
Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church
Worship Services: 8:15 and 10:45 am

2. Where do we go from here?

3. There’s got to be more than this

4. I’m not sure where I am
I don’t know how I got here

5. I am drawn to something…

6. God wants to be found even more than
you want to find Him.

7. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I
was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation
that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, Here
am I.’ Isaiah 65:1

8. Longing
strong, persistent desire or craving for something distant

9. All of life is a coming home.

10. Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two
sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give
me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his
property between them.

11. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all
he had, set off for a distant country and there
squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had
spent everything, there was a severe famine in that
whole country, and he began to be in need.

12. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that
country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He
longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs
were eating, but no one gave him anything.

13. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of
my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and
here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back
to my father and say to him: Father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you.

14. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me
like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and
went to his father.”
Luke 15:11-20 (NIV)

15. Find Our Way Back to God
A hunger for something more!

16. We are RESTLESS
“You have made us for yourself, O God, and our souls
are restless until they rest in thee.” Augustine

17. We’ve drifted from GOD
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;” Is 53:6

18. We’ve drifted from WORSHIP
“For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship
nothing, we worship anything.” G. K. Chesterton

19. We’ve drifted from JOY
Joy is the pursuit of a great and noble adventure.
Joy is greater than circumstances, greater than happiness.

20. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with
drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is
offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on
making mud pies in a slum because he cannot
imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the
sea. We are far too easily pleased.” CS Lewis

21. There’s got to be more!
This is not all there is!

22. PURPOSE – I was meant to be something special (value)

23. PURPOSE – I was meant to be something special (value)
LOVE – I was meant to be connected with others (trust)

24. PURPOSE – I was meant to be something special (value)
LOVE – I was meant to be connected with others (trust)
SIGNIFICANCE – I was meant to add to human joy (nobility)

25. 30 Day Prayer Challenge
“God, if you are real, make Yourself real to me!”