Ryland Epworth United Methodist Church

September 13, 1998

Thought for the Week:

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalm 46:11

• Organ Prelude:

  Arioso                                                         Handel

• Postlude:

  Rigaudon                                                       De Lully

Sermon Title:    What Really Makes God Happy

Scripture Lessons: Psalm 14; I Timothy 1:12-17; St. Luke 15:1-10

Summary: Jesus' parable of the lost sheep is a story of how to make God happy. We discover how our heavenly Father mercifully looks beyond the conflict of merit and demerit and sees our need.
Our Lord uses this story to call decent, upright people to the recognition that we're all one in sin, and that the way for the "righteous" to make God happy is to move over from acrimony to affirmation, from rejection to redemption's feast. Our entrapment in the delusion of exclusion makes God weep.
What really makes God happy is our glorying in the wealth of his mercy and his unwearied eagerness to celebrate the recovery and return of a lost soul. Thus we are healed.

• Anthem:

  Loving Shepherd of Thy Sheep                                French Melody

  
  

• Offertory:

  The Ninety and Nine                                         Sankey

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