Questions From Jesus: “What Are You Looking For?” (Part IV)

Sermon Title: Questions Asked by Jesus – “What Are You Looking For?”

Good News Statement: Jesus asks us questions to grow our faith

Summary: The questions Jesus asks us are not meant to tear us down but rather to build us into the disciples and church his creation needs

Preached: Sunday, October 25^th, 2026 at Dogwood Prairie UMC & Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): John 1:35-42 Today’s scripture passage comes from the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus asks a fundamental question in John 1:38 that exposes the deepest longings of the human soul: “What are you seeking?” This sermon explores how our search for meaning meets a God who is already searching for us, drawing us into faith and the community of the church. Let’s read John, Chapter One, Verses Thirty-five thru Forty-two. May the hearing and reading of this scripture add understanding and meaning to your life.

 

The First Disciples of Jesus

³⁵ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴² He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

 

The Word of God, for the People of God; And all God’s People said, “Thanks Be To God.”

 

Introduction:

Throughout his ministry here on earth—approximately 3 to 3.5 years as indicated by John’s timeline in his Gospel which explicitly mentions at least three different annual Passover feasts—Jesus asked about 307 recorded questions across the four Gospels. The Gospel of Matthew records 91 questions, Mark records 67 questions, Luke records 96 questions, and John records 50 to 53 questions.

Jesus enjoyed asking questions, but he also had a knack for not always providing an answer. It is noted that of the 183 questions asked to Jesus, he only answered three of them. Do you know which three he answered? First in Matthew 22:23-40 and Mark 12:28-31, Jesus is asked which commandment is the greatest to which he answered directly by quoting the greatest commandment to love God and neighbor. Second, when asked how to pray in Luke 11:1-4, Jesus answered directly by sharing the Lord’s Prayer. Third, when the high priest asked, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” while on trial in Mark 14:61-62, Jesus directly answered by saying, “I am.” Keep in mind, although Jesus only answered three questions directly that doesn’t mean he ignored the other 180 questions. He heard those questions, just like he hears your questions, and answered them in way that was most beneficial to the one asking the question. Said another way, rather than acting as a simple “answer man,” Jesus used questions and counter-questions to provoke deep thought, challenge motives, and inspire spiritual transformation.

Today, we continue asking Jesus questions. Most of the questions we ask Jesus deal with suffering, personal pain, and the reasons behind tragedy in the world. For example, the most frequently asked questions are as follows: “Why do bad things happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do I feel alone? Are you disappointed in me? Why do you love a broken world? Why is there so much evil? Who gets to go to heaven? What is heaven like? And How can I serve you better?” Be honest with yourself, have you ever found yourself asking Jesus any of these questions? Do any of them resonate with you? For me personally, I have found myself asking “Why do bad things happen? Why did this happen to me? And How can I better serve your mission?”

For the next couple of weeks, I want us to spend some time thinking about some of the questions that Jesus asked his followers and those whom he was healing. Out of the 307 questions Jesus asked, Biblical teachers often highlight seven major, profound questions. Those questions include: “What do you want me to do for you? Who do you say that I am? Why are you afraid, you of little faith? Who touched me? Do you believe I am able to do this? Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? And Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Each week will explore one of these questions and discern what it is that Jesus wants us to glean from his words. So, what question is Jesus asking you?

 

Body:

Good morning Church, I need a favor from you. Now, you have to promise me that you will be honest and truthful and won’t fib or succumb to a “white-lie.” Can you do this for me? (Remember, it’s Pastor Appreciation Month!) I need you to answer, honestly and truthfully, the following questions. Are you ready? Here we go: Who here has ever lost their car keys? Who here has ever lost their cellphone? (Believe it or not, you can purchase an attachment for your cellphone that turns it into a corded phone.[1]) Who here has ever lost their eyeglasses and/or sunglasses? Who here has ever lost their wallet or purse or even an item from their wallet or purse? Who here has ever lost the remote for the television? Who here has ever lost a water bottle? For the parents out there, have your children ever lost a sock before? I will be honest with you, I tend to lose my car keys from time to time; but the one item I constantly lose is the cleaning cloth for my glasses. Usually, I stick in my back pocket; but sometimes, when I take it out, I forget to put it back where it should be. At that point, I get to make a trip to Dollar General or to Wal-Mart.

Studies have suggested that car keys, phones, wallets, purses, headphones, TV remotes, chargers, water bottles, sunglasses, eyeglasses, chapstick, and socks are the most frequently lost items in our culture today. For example, phones are frequently misplaced around the house or left on surfaces, most likely in plain sight; wallets and purses are often lost in transit, restaurants, or couch cushions; TV remotes, besides wandering off in the hands of children, regularly slip between couch cushions; and socks famously disappear inside washing machines and dryers, behind dressers, and under beds. As you all just honestly demonstrated—by the way thank you for being honest—losing items is part of life. I don’t know what life would be like if we didn’t lose or misplace something; and most of the time by the time we realize the item is missing is when we need it the most.

For those that admitted to losing something, when you realized that item was missing how did you respond? Were you mad, angry, and upset? Were you ready to blame someone? Were you frustrated, stressed, or even worried? Did you immediately begin to retrace your steps? Did you panic so much that you called someone for help? (Did you call someone using the phone you thought you lost?) When you found that lost item, was it where you thought it would be? How did you feel? Are there items in your life today that you lost days, weeks, months, or even years ago that have yet to be found? When we lose something, we tend to become someone that we are not and do things that we thought we wouldn’t do. We respond as if our life couldn’t exist without the item we have lost.

Today, the question Jesus asks us is “What are you looking for?” or “What are you seeking?” Every human being is driven by the act of seeking. We seek careers, relationships, financial security, experiences, answers, good deals, and items we have lost all in an attempt to satisfy an inner restlessness. In John 1:38, two disciples of John the Baptist begin following Jesus. Jesus turns, sees them, and asks a disarmingly simple question: “What are you seeking?” He doesn’t ask who they are looking for or even what item they have lost or just misplaced. Rather, Jesus wants to know an answer to this question, “What is your heart looking for?” or “What is your heart seeking?” This is your question today from Jesus. If Jesus asked you this question today, right here, what would be your response?

 

Movement One: Setting the Stage and the Question

At the beginning of John’s Gospel, written sometime between 90CE and 100CE, and after reading these profound words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it…. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-5, 14), and after hearing John the Baptist’s words of “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord” (John 1:23), and after reading about the baptism of Jesus, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove…” (John 1:32), we find ourselves at the beginning of Jesus calling his first disciples: Andrew and Simon Peter (John 1:35-42) and then Philip and Nathanael (John 1:43-51).

This is the context in which we hear these words, “The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’” (John 1:35-38).

Notice that Jesus doesn’t ask them, “Who are you looking for?” He didn’t ask for their names, their credentials, or their theological background. He bypassed all the superficial pleasantries and threw a diagnostic spear straight into their souls: “What are you seeking?” Today, Jesus turns around, looks directly at you, and asks the exact same thing.

To truly understand the weight of this moment, we have to look closely at the language being used here. John’s Gospel is beautifully layered, and this first dialogue spoken by Jesus in the entire book is not accidental. In the original Greek text, Jesus’ question is short and sharp, just two words which, according to John’s Gospel are the first words that Jesus speaks. These two words are “Tí zēteite?”[2] (Τί ζητεῖτε; [tee, zee-tay-teh]). The root verb here is zēteō. In the ancient world, this wasn’t used for casually looking around for a misplaced item. Zēteō means to seek after with desire, to require, to demand, or to investigate intensely. It implies a vital, consuming search for something you cannot live without. Jesus is looking at these two men and asking, “What is the underlying engine driving your life? What is the ultimate desire of your heart? What can you not live without?”

Have you ever thought about what you cannot live without? Biologically, we can’t live without oxygen; we can’t live without water; and we can’t live without nutritious food. Health-wise, we can’t live without proper health care, medications, and sleep. Socially, we can’t live without human contact, but on the flip side we can’t live without some sort of personal space and solitude either. Studies have suggested that humans cannot live without some sort of purpose or feeling of hope. Some research has proven that people can’t live without feeling loved—needed, appreciated, cared for. Today’s generation may say they can’t live without cellphones, indoor plumbing, electricity, television, social media, streaming platforms, and instant gratification like Amazon and other online shopping markets. If my nieces and nephews couldn’t have access to their electronics, it’s the end of the world! Needless to say, a few of these items are essential for life, but I am wondering what in your life you cannot live without.

Could you live without electricity? Could you live without indoor plumbing? Could you live without television, Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, or YouTube? Could you live without social media? Could you live without your phone? Could you live without a backup camera on your vehicle? Could you live without GPS? There was a day when none of these things existed, but could you live without them today?

Now look at how the disciples respond in verse 38.  It seems almost awkward at first. They answer his question with another question, a typical Jesus move: “Rabbi (which means Teacher), where are you staying?” In the Greek, they ask, “pou meneis;” (ποῦ μένεις;[poo meh-nees]). The key word here is menō. Throughout the Gospel of John, this word is translated as “abide,” “dwell,” “remain,” or “endure.” Later in John 15, Jesus will say, “Abide (menō) in me, and I in you.” When the disciples ask, “Where are you staying?”, they aren’t just asking for Jesus’ GPS coordinates or his physical street address for the night. Subconsciously, guided by the Holy Spirit, their souls are crying out: “We don’t just want information from you, Rabbi. We want to know where you abide. We want to know where your peace comes from. We want to remain with you. We want to endure with you. We want to dwell where you dwell, because our souls are homeless.” They were searching for a home. They were searching for a place to rest their heavy hearts. They were looking for and seeking a pace to feel safe.

And how does Jesus respond? He doesn’t give them a lecture. He doesn’t hand them a list of rules to follow or a checklist of doctrines to master before they are qualified. In verse 39, he gives them a simple, beautiful, open-ended invitation: “Come, and you will see.” He invites them into an experience. He invites them into a relationship. He says, “If you want to find what your soul is searching for, stop looking from a distance. Step into my space. Walk in my footsteps. Abide with me.”

Think about the thief on the cross. I can’t wait to find that fellow one day to ask him, “How did that shake out for you? Because you were cussing Jesus out with your friend. You’d never been in a Bible study. You’d never got baptized. You didn’t know a thing about church membership. And yet—and yet, you made it! You made it! How did you make it?”[3]

That’s what the angel must have said—you know, like, “What are you doing here?” To which the thief said, “Well, I don’t know.” “What do you mean, you don’t know?” “Well, ’cause I don’t know.” “Well, you know… Excuse me. Let me get my supervisor.” They go get the supervisor angel: “So, we have just a few questions for you. First of all, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?” The guy says, “I’ve never heard of it in my life.” “And what about… Let’s just go to the doctrine of Scripture immediately.” This guy’s just staring. And eventually, in frustration, he says, “On what basis are you here?” And he said, “The man on the middle cross said I can come.”[4] That thief, that day, just hours maybe minutes from death, realized that what he was looking for was for Jesus to dwell within his heart. He wanted Jesus to stay in his heart. And because of that Jesus said to the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is what we should all be looking for in our life. We should be looking for how Jesus can search our heart and reveal what we need to do to have him abide within us. When was the last time you simply prayed for Jesus to look into your heart, to promise you paradise?

 

Movement Second: The God Who Searches the Heart…

This brings us to the first major truth of our message today: While we are busy seeking external satisfaction, Scripture reveals that God is actively searching our internal landscape. Jesus’ question in John 1:38 acts as a divine diagnostic tool. It cuts through our self-deception. We often think we know what we want. We think, “If I just had more money, I’d be happy. If I had this tool, I could get more things done. If my house was painted this color, then I would wake up happier every day.” But God looks past the request for money and material things and sees a heart gripped by a fear of scarcity. We think, “If I just had more influence,” but God looks past the ambition and sees a heart deeply wounded by rejection, begging to be noticed, possibly broken, in pain, suffering and grieving, and longing to be loved. Have you ever thought that maybe how we feel is actually a hint to help you look for something specific in our life?

The prophet Jeremiah speaks to this internal reality in Jeremiah 17:10: “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” The Hebrew word for “search” here is chaqar, which means to examine intimately, to mine deep into the earth, to thoroughly investigate. God is a spiritual miner. He goes down into the dark, hidden shafts of our motives, our secrets, our unconfessed sins, and our deepest fears and finds a way to bring them to the service so that they disappear. If God were to do some mining today in your heart, what would he find? Would it be a mess? Would it be a mine of emotions, of sadness, of hurt, of sorrow, of regret? Would he find a heart needing to be mended? Would he find a heart full of joy and happiness and peace? Would he find a heart longing for a new beginning, of hope, and perseverance? God doesn’t just search your heart on the surface; He intimately searches your heart with the intention of healing and making things better.

King David understood this intimately. After committing terrible sins of adultery and murder, after trying to hide his true self behind his royal robes, he finally broke down before God in Psalm 139:1: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” And how does David end that beautiful Psalm? In verses 23–24, he invites the search: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” The King James Version notes, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me…” (Psalm 139:23-34). The Message Bible offers the same message but uses a more modern take on the text: “Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—then guide me on the road to eternal life” (Psalm 139:23-24). In the church in which I grew up, we would sing these words during our prayer time: “Change my heart, O God, make it ever true; Change my heart, O God, may I be like you. You are the Potter, I am the clay; mold me and make me, and this is what I pray.”

Here is the beautiful, terrifying, and liberating theological truth: we do not initiate the search for God. You did not wake up one day and suddenly decide to be a seeker of God out of your own human wisdom. Romans 3:11 explicitly tells us, “No one understands; no one seeks for God.” Last week, we learned that Peter was able to identify who Jesus is not by his own understanding but by the wisdom given to him by God. Left to ourselves, we only seek idols. We only seek things that comfort our flesh. God is the one who seeks us out; and once he seeks us out, then we begin to find him in our life. But God is the one who initiates the seeking because He is the one who has searched out heart and found what we were missing, what we have been looking for.

The only reason you are sitting in this church building today, the only reason you have a stirring in your heart to know truth, is because God has already been searching your heart. He has been probing your heart, exposing your emptiness, shaking up your false securities, and making you aware of your profound need for Him. He exposes the wound so that He can be the surgeon. In the words of Jeremiah 2:13, God has seen our “cracked cisterns” and has chosen to fix them so that they can hold water again, so that they hold the “fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13).

God doesn’t just search out hearts just because; no, He searches our heart because He wants to, because He knows that there is something in our heart that needs to be found, that there is something in our heart that needs mending, that there is something in our heart that will give us a new life. God wants to search your heart because He wants to. He wants you to know that whatever you are carrying with you today—whatever heavy burden weighs upon your shoulders like a yoke—He can take care of.

Now, I want you to be honest with yourself again. You don’t have to raise your hand. You don’t even have to show any sign of acknowledgement. But I invite to be honest with yourself when you answer this question: “If God would search your heart right now, what prayers would He find?” What is it that you are deeply—with conviction and truth and trust and faith—praying for today? Emily and I both have prayers on our heart that we want God to find and answer. Some of those prayers our individual prayers and some are joint prayers.  I believe each of you have a prayer or maybe many prayers on your heart that no one knows about. But God does! Let Him search your heart, let Him see those prayers, let Him change your heart, and let Him into your heart to stay.

Now Church, as the collective body of Christ on earth, we, too, have a heart that needs to be searched. We, too, have prayers that we want God to answer. We, too, are looking for something. If God were to search the heart of our Church, what would He find? Would He find pain, grief, sorrow, neglect, confusion, doubt, uncertainty, worry, fear, or lack of joy? Probably. Would He find joy, happiness, laughter, cherished memories, fellowship, good times, the good news, and a soul on fire for Jesus Christ? I hope so. Would He find a group of people—from all walks of life—doing their best, through perseverance and endurance, looking for ways to keep the heartbeat of the church alive? Absolutely! God not only wants to search your heart, but He also wants to search the heart of our church to truly see what is that we are looking for.

 

Movement Three: The Relentless Pursuit of the Lost…

When we understand that God searches our hearts, Jesus’ question—“What are you seeking?”—takes on a beautiful, cosmic irony. Because the One asking the question is actually the One who left heaven to seek us. In Luke 15, Jesus encounters a group of religious elites who are offended that he hangs out with tax collectors and sinners. In response, he pulls back the curtain on the very heart of God by telling three interconnected parables: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son. Let’s look at the progression of God’s relentless pursuit through these three stories.

First, The Lost Sheep as found in Luke 15:3–7. A shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one goes missing. Now, economically, a 1% loss isn’t a total disaster. You can absorb that loss. Most businesses would say, “Cut your losses, protect the ninety-nine, and move on.” But this Shepherd doesn’t operate on worldly economics. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes out into the dangerous wilderness, tracking through the briars, climbing down the rocky cliffs, searching well into the night, fearing predators,  refusing to stop until he finds that one sheep. And when he finds it, he doesn’t beat it, he doesn’t yell at it, he doesn’t threaten it, he doesn’t ground it and send it to the pen—he joyfully lays it on his shoulders and carries it home.

Second, The Lost Coin as found in Luke 15:8–10. A woman loses one silver coin inside her house. In the ancient world, houses didn’t have large windows; they were dark and dusty often lit by natural sunlight or candles. What does she do? She doesn’t wait until morning. She lights a lamp, grabs a broom, and aggressively sweeps every single corner of the house. She moves the furniture, she gets down on her knees, and she searches carefully until she hears the clink of metal against stone. Like the Shepherd, she doesn’t give up until she finds what she is looking for.

And third, The Lost Son or the Prodigal Son as found in Luke 15:11–32. The prodigal son takes his father’s inheritance, essentially wishing his father dead, and squanders it in a distant country on reckless living. He ends up broke, starving, and covered in filth in a pigpen. He decides to walk home, hoping to just be a hired servant. But the scripture says that “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” In ancient Middle Eastern culture, patriarchal figures did not run. It was considered deeply undignified. But this father throws his dignity into the dirt because his love for his lost son outweighs his pride. Like the Shepherd and the woman, the father had found what he had been looking for.

Do you see the pattern here? The sheep was lost through mindless wandering. The coin was lost through circumstance or carelessness. The son was lost through willful rebellion. It doesn’t matter how you became lost. It doesn’t matter if you wandered off slowly, if life just treated you poorly, or if you threw a fist in the face of God and ran away into the dark. The message of Luke 15 is that God is the primary Actor in salvation. The sheep didn’t find the shepherd, the shepherd found the sheep.  The coin didn’t find the woman, the woman found the coin. The son was only able to come home because the father’s grace was already waiting at the edge of the property line.

Imagine an incredibly valuable, multi-million-dollar masterpiece painting from the Renaissance. Over decades of neglect, it gets misplaced. It winds up buried deep in a dark, cluttered, dusty attic, covered by a cheap tarp. That painting cannot rescue itself. It cannot clean off its own canvas. It cannot cry out for help. It sits in the pitch black, completely helpless, accumulating dust and cobwebs. If that painting is ever going to be restored to its rightful place of honor, it requires the master artist or the owner to intentionally go up into the dark attic, clear away the junk, shine a light into the corner, and carefully pull it out because he knows it’s true, intrinsic value.

Church, you are that masterpiece. Sin and the brokenness of this world have buried you in a dark attic of shame, anxiety, and confusion. You cannot rescue yourself. You cannot clean up your own life to make yourself presentable to God. But Jesus Christ entered the dark attic of our humanity. He came down into the dirt, went to the cross, and took on our shame to pull us out of the darkness and bring us home.

We are the sheep that God is searching for. We are the lost coin that Christ is looking for. We are the prodigal son being met by the Father. No matter how far we wander, no matter how hard we try to hide, and no matter the mistakes we have made, God will always find us. Even though at times we may not be looking for God—because we are ashamed or we feel as if we aren’t good enough or because our life isn’t perfect—God is and always will be looking and searching for us. I guess the question I need to ask you is, “Do you want to be found?” Some people don’t want to be found and they end missing out on the whole story of Jesus. But for those that do want to be found, they will witness the salvation of the cross, the hope of the empty tomb, the unconditional love of a sacrifice, and the promise of receiving a new name in glory. But the choice is yours. But trust me, if Jesus wants to find you; he will. And sometimes he may find you in random places like at a restaurant, in a store, in a window at the bank, at the street corner, in your tractor, or in places that you least expect it. Do you want to be found? Do you need to be found?

 

Movement Four: Found by Faith, Rooted in the Church…

When we finally stop running, when we accept Jesus’ invitation to “come and see,” our exhausting search ends, and true, saving faith begins. Faith is not a blind leap into the dark. Faith is the realization that the thing you were searching for your entire life—that elusive peace, that unshakeable identity—is found completely in a restored relationship with your Creator through Jesus Christ. Faith is dropping your heavy bags at the feet of the cross and saying, “I’m tired of searching. I let myself be found by you.”

But notice what happens next in the Christian life. When those first two disciples asked Jesus where he was staying, and he invited them into his space, they didn’t just receive a private, isolated philosophy. They were invited into a communal lifestyle. They stayed with him that day, and immediately after, they went out and found others—Andrew found his brother Simon Peter, and Philip found Nathanael.[5]

When you are found by Jesus, you are instantly adopted into a family. You cannot have God as your Father without having the church as your community. The church is the earthly, physical manifestation of where Jesus abides today through the power of the Holy Spirit. Look at how the New Testament describes the church: we are called the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Living God, the Household of Faith. Sometimes we view church as an optional weekly event—a filling station where we go to get a little emotional boost for the week ahead. But biblically, the church is a covenant community. It is a gathering of the “found.” The church is not a museum displaying perfect, flawless saints. The church is a hospital for the broken. The church is the sheep pen where the lost sheep, once carried home on the shoulders of the Shepherd, look around, see other bruised and battered sheep, and say, “Wow, he rescued you too?” The church is where the lost coin is found. The church is where the lost are welcomed home.

[6]When we gather as the church, we aren’t just celebrating our own rescue. We are aligning ourselves with the Master’s heart. We look out at a world full of people who are still frantically flipping over couch cushions, still lost in the dark attic, and we join God in His ongoing search. We become the hands and feet of the Shepherd, pointing others to the invitation: “Come and see.”

As a church, we need to ask ourselves 1) what are we searching for, and 2) who is God wanting us to find? If God is constantly founding us, then deep down what is that we want God to find within our church? And as a church we need to do our part and do what we can today to help those who are looking for Jesus in their life find Jesus. What does that look like? What does it look like for Dogwood Prairie/Seed Chapel? It looks like continuing to do the work of Jesus Christ through our missions, through our ministries, through our outreach, through our community involvement, through our willingness to be the church that we want to be, that we need to be, for those here and not here. It’s our commitment to each other. It’s our willingness to try new things. It’s our dedication to see and hear the next generation. It’s our willingness to keep our doors open. It’s our joy to know that we are a church with a big heart.

God has found us here in Oblong, a small dot on a map; and now, it’s our turn to help others find Jesus in their life to let him search their heart like he does with us every day of our life!

 

Conclusion:

If we are honest with ourselves, every single human being in this room is driven by a deep-seated search for something. I’m not talking about finding your car keys, your cellphone, your sunglasses, your water bottle, or even those missing socks. I’m talking about what is deep in your heart. What are you really looking for in your life? What are you hoping God finds when He searches your heart?

As we close today, we circle back to where we started. Imagine Jesus stepping out of the pages of Scripture, walking down the aisle of this sanctuary, stopping right in front of your row, looking directly into your eyes, and asking: “What are you looking for? What are you seeking?” What is your honest answer today? Are you seeking relief? Are you seeking validation? Are you seeking peace? Are you seeking acceptance? Are you seeking for the removal of pain and suffering? Are seeking to get rid of anger or remorse or even regret? Are you seeking answered prayers? Are you seeking help? Are you seeking guidance? Are you seeking joy, happiness, and excitement? Are you seeking healing? Are you seeking to feel blessed? What is it that your heart is seeking today? And Church, what is that we are seeking? What have we lost that needs to be found?

This week, let God search your heart and in the processes, let Him know what it is that you are looking for. And if you have time, take a moment and ask yourself these questions, “What have I missed? and What am I looking for?”

Let it be so…

 

Closing Prayer:

Dear God, help us to turn our eyes toward the cross so that we can look at the Savior who left the ninety-nine, who found the lost coin, and who welcomed the lost son home so that we, too, can be found today. Help us to respond to his radical invitation today to “come and see.” In your mighty name we pray, Amen.

 

Benediction:

Church, the search is officially over, because today, the Savior has found you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; and May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26). In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go forth answering the questions of Jesus. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

 

 

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Opis-Technology-60s-Micro-red/dp/B0087PQGXU/ref=sr_1_8?adgrpid=193180713064&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vWzC_oOMntj3II6ViOTQZzuLGw3u3wlANXJcsSjw6nwJNjfXdkJxi23KH6LMHQH7cZFB4EmRQThRzTH8RBKrXUJNUusjlfVXzP7oqdOSM5_niME7cLuc0HXn_t5H9vqY8pY18z2jr1n5DQdcxOxYCoIV4Nn0NyJwYiMd0GYtMqhHQ_31-GwK3HB-LMLfIpfa98N4-myAO5S9VdNFDa50MvEmZ9f0hIT7U3vDjnH_uDU.IoTewv9pQ7aTiXmCeiGK1nZikzDdZ5CedJMgL0_Gp4w&dib_tag=se&hvadid=779589148794&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9022500&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=6369463119906109592–&hvqmt=b&hvrand=6369463119906109592&hvtargid=kwd-2496761862121&hydadcr=18333_13795645_2102598&keywords=retro+phone+handset+with+cord&mcid=e580261ebb5e38848ca1bc32c4872b77&qid=1792599730&sr=8-8

[2] Τί (ti): What

ζητείτε (zeteite): You seek / you are looking for (plural or formal “you”, from the root verb ζητέω/zeteo)

[3] Preached by Alistair Begg in 2019 at Baylor University’s inaugural National Preaching Conference: https://blog.truthforlife.org/the-man-on-the-middle-cross-said-i-can-come#:~:text=In%20the%20following%20clip%2C%20Alistair,Jesus%2C%20the%20Son%20of%20God.

[4] Preached by Alistair Begg in 2019 at Baylor University’s inaugural National Preaching Conference: https://blog.truthforlife.org/the-man-on-the-middle-cross-said-i-can-come#:~:text=In%20the%20following%20clip%2C%20Alistair,Jesus%2C%20the%20Son%20of%20God.

[5] This brings us to a crucial truth for our modern culture: The discovery of God is never meant to be experienced in isolation.

[6] In the context of the local church, your individual faith is protected, nourished, and sustained. We need each other. We need collective worship to lift our eyes when we are downcast. We need mutual care and small groups to carry our burdens when we are too weak to walk alone. And most importantly, we need a shared mission.