Who’s Your One? Why Jesus Goes After the One | Luke 15:3–7
Pastor Rajiv Khatri preaches Who’s Your One? from Luke 15:3–7 at Belvedere Church, a West Palm Beach church, on September 27, 2026.
Why Jesus Goes After the One
Think of one person you love who does not know Jesus. A neighbor, a coworker, someone at your dinner table. Hold that name in mind as you listen to this message from Belvedere Church, a Christ-centered West Palm Beach church.
Pastor Rajiv Khatri begins the Who’s Your One? series with Luke 15:3–7. Religious leaders complained that Jesus welcomed sinners. Jesus answered with a shepherd who notices one missing sheep, goes after it, and carries it home with joy.
Scripture: Luke 15:3–7
Speaker: Pastor Rajiv Khatri
Sermon date: September 27, 2026
Series: Who’s Your One?
God’s Concern, Pursuit, and Joy
The shepherd feels the absence of the one. Rajiv asks us to examine our own concern: do our calendars, conversations, and prayers make room for people who do not know Christ? We can spend years in church and lose contact with the people God has placed around us.
Jesus came into our lostness to rescue us. He died and rose so that sinners could receive forgiveness and come home to God. Repentance means turning from our wandering and entrusting ourselves to the Shepherd who came for us. Remembering His grace gives us reason to keep praying and loving, while leaving salvation in God’s hands.
When the shepherd finds his sheep, he carries it home with joy. Jesus says heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents. That joy calls us into the lives of our neighbors, with patience and a desire to see them know Christ.
Key Takeaways
Notice one person. Ask God to help you care for someone by name.
Remember who rescued you. Jesus pursued you in your lostness. Let gratitude shape your concern for others.
Make room for real relationships. Learn about someone’s life at work, in your neighborhood, or beside you at your child’s game.
Keep praying and loving. An unanswered invitation does not end your care for a person. Leave the saving to God.
Share in God’s joy. Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents. Let that hope give you courage to speak about Jesus.
This Week: Pray for Your One
Pray each day, “Lord, show me my one.” Name someone who does not know Jesus, learn what is happening in their life, and look for an opportunity to listen, serve, or invite them. If no one comes to mind, begin with the people you already see at work, in your neighborhood, at the gym, or at your child’s game.
Sermon Reading: Who’s Your One?
Pastor Rajiv Khatri | September 27, 2026 | Luke 15:3–7. Adapted and condensed from the sermon transcript for reading. Watch the video above for the complete message.
One Person, One Name
Today, as a church, we are kicking off a series called Who’s Your One? Over the next few weeks, we are leaning into the mission of seeing God change eternal destinies, one life, one soul, one name at a time.
Imagine you are responsible for one hundred kids at a park. You do a head count: one hundred. You turn away, come back, and count again. This time you get ninety-nine. Nobody says, “Ninety-nine percent is an excellent success rate.” The whole atmosphere changes because one child has gone missing.
Before we enter this passage, put one person in your mind: somebody you love who does not know Jesus. Hold on to that name. If nobody comes to mind, stay with me. We will get there too.
Jesus tells this story because the religious people around Him complained that He spent time with the wrong kind of people. His answer is the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:3–7. A shepherd has one hundred sheep and loses one. He goes after the lost sheep until he finds it, puts it on his shoulders, and calls his friends and neighbors to rejoice with him. Jesus says there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.
Why does heaven get so loud over one person? Jesus shows us God’s concern for the one, His pursuit of the one, and His joy in the one.
God’s Concern for the One
A man with one hundred sheep was doing well financially. He could probably afford to lose a sheep or two. But this shepherd goes after the missing one. He counted. You do not know one is missing unless you count. He went through them and came up one short.
The lost sheep is in danger. Sheep have difficulty finding their way home and are vulnerable to predators. That is a picture of our spiritual condition apart from Christ. We wander in disobedience and rebellion, and we cannot find our own way back to God. We need someone to rescue us.
The shepherd did not congratulate himself on keeping ninety-nine. He felt the absence of the missing one. Church, I can get concerned about a lot of things. The remote goes missing and we form search parties. My phone hits twenty percent and somebody has taken my charger. Somebody eats the leftovers I planned to eat. The Wi-Fi starts buffering. Publix runs out of my favorite ice cream.
But am I concerned about the man who cuts my hair and does not know Jesus? Am I concerned for my neighbor who has lived in spiritual darkness for years? Am I concerned for someone at my dinner table who does not have the hope I have?
Think about a family photograph. Everybody gets in place, fixes their hair, and gets ready to smile. Then somebody says, “Where’s Mikey?” Nobody wants to take the picture yet. Someone goes looking for him. That is the concern we see in this shepherd.
If I looked at your calendar, your phone, your dinner table, and your prayers, would I find evidence that people who do not know Christ are on your heart? I am talking about a person with a name.
When I first got saved, most of my friends did not know Jesus. Talking with them was part of my life. Over the years, after we moved back to the United States, those relationships began to shift. I became an elder and then a pastor. Now I can look at my calendar and see church people, fellow pastors, elders, and leaders.
I did not lose the desire to reach the lost. I lost proximity. It happened over years, until I realized I could go weeks without one real conversation with someone far from God. Some of you have been in church for decades. Somewhere along the way, you stopped noticing the people around you who do not believe.
Remember this: God noticed you. He had concern for you before you were saved. You did not bring Him an impressive résumé or clean yourself up first. You were the one He counted missing. He came for you. Let that grace teach you to notice someone else.
God’s Pursuit of the One
Jesus says the shepherd goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. He goes where the sheep has gone. His search ends with the sheep found.
We can imagine a difficult search through hills and ravines, but Luke does not give us those details. The point Jesus gives us is clear: the shepherd goes after his sheep and brings it home.
In Ezekiel 34, God confronts the shepherds who let His flock scatter and promises to search for His sheep Himself. In Jesus, the Son of God came into our humanity and entered our darkness to rescue us.
A few years ago, I was on a jet ski near Peanut Island. The current was strong, and swimmers were getting pulled away from their boats. I came across a husband and wife who were swimming for their lives. Waves crashed into their faces. They were exhausted, and the harder they tried, the farther they moved from their boat.
I drove over, threw them a rope, and pulled them out of the water onto the jet ski. I saw what helplessness looks like. They were kicking with everything they had and losing ground. Someone needed to reach into that current and bring them to safety.
That was you and me in the current of our sin. Jesus came for us. Some of us still imagine God standing in the distance while we struggle to close the gap. But Jesus entered our lostness. He died and rose from the dead so that we could receive forgiveness and restoration to God.
I have been praying, “Jesus, make it amazing to me again that You pursued me.” He is still bringing people home. His patience gives us reason for gratitude and urgency. Thank God the invitation was open when someone came to me. Thank God He was patient with a young man who thought Christians were brainwashed.
There are people I love who do not know Jesus. There are people in my family and neighborhood whom I want to stand beside in eternity. Jesus pursues His people through His people. He calls us to go with Him.
That means we stop waiting for people to find their own way in. We see their need and move toward them with love. We pray for them and keep caring when it takes longer than we hoped. We leave the saving to God, and we remain faithful with the opportunities He gives us.
Perhaps you have invited someone three times and heard no each time. Keep loving that person. Learn the patience of the Shepherd. And if you hear this message as someone who feels lost, turn to Jesus. Entrust yourself to the Savior who came to rescue sinners.
God’s Joy in the One
When the shepherd finds the sheep, he puts it on his shoulders and carries it home with joy. The sheep receives his rescue. In verse seven, Jesus speaks of repentance. Repentance means turning from your wandering and entrusting yourself to the Shepherd who came for you.
Picture him carrying the sheep across his shoulders, holding its legs as he walks. He feels its weight and its warmth. He knows it is safe. Jesus describes this shepherd as joyful.
We need to see both what God does for the lost and how He receives them. The mercy of Jesus has a cost. Luke does not tell us that this shepherd bled during his search. But the Gospels tell us that thorns pierced Jesus’ head and nails pierced His hands. He went to the cross for people who could not rescue themselves. Hebrews speaks of the joy set before Him.
Then the shepherd calls his friends and neighbors together to rejoice. He wants them to share his joy. Think of a room full of people singing together at a wedding or a ballgame. For a moment, strangers share the same delight. Even that cannot compare to the rejoicing Jesus describes when one sinner repents.
Jesus lifts our eyes to heaven. God rejoices to save sinners. The shepherd carries his sheep home with joy, and he invites others into the celebration.
Some of you hear this and feel heartache. You have prayed for the same person for twenty years. Some of you are raising grandchildren and praying for their parents. You wonder when you will see your loved one come to Christ.
The final celebration has not happened yet. Keep praying. Keep loving. God has given us time and opportunities to care for the people we long to see saved. We can trust Him with what we cannot control.
I want you to act from joy. Guilt might get you to attempt one awkward conversation and then quit. Remembering Christ’s rescue changes what you want. In evangelism, we share in the joy of seeing someone receive forgiveness and life in Jesus. The person whose name you are holding is someone to love.
Lord, Show Me My One
At the beginning, I asked you to put one person in your mind. Who is your one? Each day this week, pray, “Lord, show me my one.”
If no name came to mind, do not invent one. That blank may tell you something about how your life has become arranged. You may spend almost all your time around people who already believe.
Look at the places you already go: the break room, the job site, the office, the clinic, the gym, the golf course, the classroom, the community clubhouse, or the bleachers at your child’s game. People who need Jesus are around you each week. Learn something about one person’s life. Be curious. Listen.
You were somebody’s one. God used someone who noticed you. Somebody prayed, invited, spoke up, and kept caring. Remember what God has done for you as you make room for someone else.
Picture that person receiving forgiveness, coming to faith, and sharing their story at baptism. Picture the joy of knowing Christ together. Ask God to align your heart with His concern for the lost.
Father, align our hearts, activities, and prayers with Your concern and pursuit. Help us recognize the person You want us to reach. Lead our loved ones to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and teach us to rejoice with heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Visit Our West Palm Beach Church
Belvedere Church is a Christ-centered West Palm Beach church where you can hear God’s Word, ask questions, and grow with a church family. In Who’s Your One?, Pastor Rajiv Khatri invites us to remember Jesus’ rescue and share His concern for the people around us. Wherever you are in your journey of faith, we would love to meet you.
Join us Sundays at 11:00 AM at 301 Cherry Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33409. Plan your visit to Belvedere Church or explore more sermons.