A Story of a Son getting Lost on His Journey

Today's scripture is found in Luke 15.

Please follow along in your bulletin.

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.

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.

While he had spent everything,

there was a severe famine in that whole country,

and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country,

who sent him to his field to feed pigs.

He longed to fill his stomach with the pots that the pigs were eating,

but no one gave him anything.

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.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of the hired servants.

So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off,

his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.

He ran to his sons,

threw his arms around him,

and kissed him.

The son said to him,

Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants,

Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

Let's have a great feast and celebrate.

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

So they began to celebrate.

This is the reading of God's word.

Good morning, Watermark.

My name is Mike,

and I work with the university students here at the church.

And just in case that you're new,

like Tobin already gave you a little snapshot

of what we're talking about currently at Watermark.

But let me just go back to that again.

We're actually looking in the broader scale.

We're looking at the Gospel of Luke.

Luke, and we've been on the journey

through the Gospel of Luke for almost two years.

And we'll probably have another year or so to go.

But there are still a lot of exciting things to come.

The last few weeks, so we looked at lost things.

We looked at the lost sheep especially last week.

We looked at how sheep are driven by the appetite

and how they kind of start getting,

wandering away, like they follow the food

and they don't look around, so they just like wander off.

And we looked at how that's sometimes with us

that we begin to follow our desires and our appetite.

And then we just get lost on the journey of life.

But we also looked at how in the story,

we see how God pursues us

and how he brings us back

and how he carries us back to him.

In the message also,

Tobin gave an example of how husbands

sometimes lose their kids

because they're not very attentive

and just get sidetracked.

And so now that led to a longer conversation

with my wife after the sermon.

So Katie and I got married about a year and a half ago

and we're currently talking about,

let's say, family expansion.

But after last week's sermon,

and Tobin talking about husbands losing their kids,

so I had to kind of clarify a few things

and I had to convince my wife

that it's still a good idea to actually get kids,

that I would try my best to be responsible,

not lose any on the way.

And anyways, Katie is not here today.

She is actually still on the retreat.

We took 40 students over to Chengchao.

Actually, if we could look like straight over

to Chengchao Island to the beach,

you'd actually see like 45 people

they're worshiping on the beach right now.

So if you miss some of the students,

then that's where they are.

Anyway, so I told Katie in the preparation of the camp,

so we have done a lot of camps

and this one actually has 45 students.

Isn't that a pretty good indicator?

I haven't lost any student on any of the retreats

that I would also be a responsible father.

But she said, like, they're all grown up

and they're responsible, so that wouldn't count.

And I said, yeah, they're all grown up,

but with a responsible heart,

like, I let everybody judge that for themselves.

So I'm just talking out of experience

of working with college students in the city

for seven years.

So the story that we just heard

is about a father and a lost son.

But it's not so much about a father losing a son,

but it's more about a son getting lost

on his way, on his life journey.

So let me tell you a little bit more

about that student retreat

that the students were on and are still on.

Because it kind of ties in

with what we are talking about today,

the topic of the retreat is don't waste your life.

So for the last days, we had, like, group meetings

and breakout sessions and talks

on what it means to live a meaningful life,

what it means to live a life in a way

that one day when we come to the end

and we look back,

that we wouldn't say that we have wasted

the one life we had.

What do you consider a wasted life?

What are things in your life

that one day you may look back

and you say,

I wish I would have done it,

or I wouldn't have done it.

What does it mean for you to waste your life?

In one of the videos that we watched on the retreat,

it told a story of a couple in the end 50s.

Now, the couple had finally come to the point

where they could retire.

They had achieved the things they wanted.

They bought a beach house in Florida,

and they actually had enough

to even get a yacht,

like a 30 feet yacht,

and enjoying the area.

And then they had the time now

being retired to take long walks on the beach

and collect shells on the way.

So at the end of the video,

the question was posed,

what it means to not waste our lives?

And they painted the picture of this couple

standing in front of Christ.

And Christ asking them,

so what have you done with your life?

And they stand and saying,

oh, the last few years,

look at my shell collection.

Look at my house.

Look at my yacht.

Look at the things I have achieved in my life.

Whether you are here today just in school,

or whether you are kind of like

in these last chapters

that you are writing in your life,

we will all come to the day one day

where we will have to talk about that

and where we have to look at

what have we done with this life?

Have we wasted it?

So after the talk

that we had yesterday morning,

I sat there at lunch

and one of the students

were deep in his thoughts.

And I started to wonder

what was going on

and he was just thinking,

so I asked him,

what's on your mind?

And he said,

my dad.

So I've had a couple of conversations

with that student of the past year

and walking alongside him

as his father walked out of the family

to pursue another relationship.

And he hadn't seen his dad in a month.

So I kept talking

and then he said,

I wonder what my dad will one day say

when he stands in front of Jesus.

I wonder whether he'll say

I once had a family and kids

and I once had integrity

and I once had a life

that was glorifying God,

but I have recklessly wasted it

on my journey.

Today I want to invite you

to follow the younger son

on his journey

and specifically

we'll look at like

four different movements

in the story

and you may be surprised

of how much the younger son

lives in all of us,

in me and in you.

Sometimes the story

is referred to as

the prodigal son

and prodigal means

wasteful and reckless.

Which leads me

to that first movement

that I want to highlight

about the younger son journey.

It's the movement

of the younger son

basically going out of home,

like leaving home,

taking his life

in his own hands,

basically saying

I want to have control

over my life,

I want to make my choices

and I know better

what to do with my life

and in the process

of walking his journey

and taking life

in his own hands,

he recklessly

and wastefully

throws everything away.

The story actually

only gives one verse

to that movement

in the story.

in verse 13 it says,

Not long after that,

the younger son

got together all he had,

set up for a distant country

and there he squandered

his wealth

in wild living.

But this one line

over centuries

and all around the globe

has defined

how people have referred to

in this story

as the prodigal son.

The son who is wasteful

and reckless

in his life.

Now I'm prone

to look at people

around me

and see them

as being the prodigal.

I don't know,

how about you?

But I see people

living extravagant lifestyles

and I see people

recklessly living

for their own pleasure

and I see people

not caring about God

and walking away

from the Father

and I see people

kind of being caught up

in the selfish desires

of their lives

and treating people

for their own benefit

and I try to tell myself

that I do not squander

my life away

in wild living.

But then when I'm honest

to myself,

when I think about

the day that I stand

in front of Jesus

and I think of everything,

everything that he has given me,

the time on this planet,

the resources he gave me,

the relationships

he put in my place

and then he asked me

how I used it all

for his redemption

and for his glory,

then my wastefulness

will catch up with me

because I know

where I've wasted it.

But the comforting thing

about the whole story

is that this is by far

not everything Jesus tells us.

It's not a story

that ends in a wasted life,

it's not a story

that ends in the guilt

and shame of wasting it all

and standing in front of Christ

and that's it.

But before we kind of look

at the conclusion of the story

and where it actually leads,

I want to suggest

another movement,

a movement that I think

is often overlooked

and not that obvious

because it's not really

mentioned in the story.

The second movement

I actually think

begins before

even the story begins.

So the story that we have,

it begins with the younger son

asking the father

for his share of the inheritance

and the father grants the wish

and then shortly after that

the younger son sets off

on his wasteful journey.

So that's what we have

here in the story

but now I believe

the real story starts

in the heart

of the younger son

much earlier,

long before he actually

leaves the house

and he takes a step.

Now let me tell you

a little bit about my life

and my journey

and why I think that's true.

So I grew up in Germany.

Some of you know,

some are here

through my accent

and I was the youngest

of three sons

and I sometimes say

that I grew up

under a German tiger dad.

I mean,

I kind of grew up

with the burden

of a Prussian father

that had a lot

of expectations

where I always felt

that I was not quite good enough,

that I had to work harder.

My brother was one year older

and it seemed to me

at least that he did

everything right

and that he was

my dad's favorite

and that I could do whatever

and I wouldn't be good enough.

So in all of that,

somehow deep inside of me,

deep down I hope

that one day

I would be able

to break out of that,

that I could do

my own thing.

It didn't start

with a step out

but it started

with this desire

of one day

leaving the expectations behind,

leaving that life behind,

to walk into the direction

that I want.

And in it all,

I just thought

that I would have freedom,

I would be free

to do what I should

really be doing

with my life.

So in the same way,

I think in all of us,

there are these desires

that grow.

It doesn't start

with that first step

but it starts

in our heart

when we start

to wrestle with these things,

these things

that are building up

in our hearts

that we're not

taking action yet

but they are growing

and one day

we're just waiting

for the moment

to take a step

and to develop

the courage

to take that step

and maybe

you've been growing

discontent with

kind of like

the same thing.

Maybe it's

the expectations

of your family

or society.

We often talk

about bankers

and lawyers here.

We just want

to make sure

that I think

there are a lot

of people

that join

the route

of being a banker

and lawyer

just because

that's the passion

of their heart

and that's what

they are supposed

to do

and that's how

God wired them.

But then from

my journey

of working

with university

students

I also see

that there are

a lot of people

in the city

that become

bankers and lawyers

not because

it's the passion

on their heart

but it's because

that's what

provides a good job

and that's just

what's expected

of them

and they go

on this journey

and ultimately

deep down

there's this desire

and I just want

to be an artist

and I just want

to be a writer

and all these jobs

that nobody values

so much

in the city

because you have

to pay rent

and you have

to provide

for your life

and so somehow

these desires

grow deep

inside of us

and maybe you're

sitting here

and you have

taken a path

and you are now

in some kind

of position

in your job

but you say

I wish

when I was 20

I would have

studied this

subject I really

wanted

and taken that

path that I would

really be happy

with and you

never took that

step that the

younger son took

to actually walk

out of what

these desires were

that were growing

but maybe you're

discontent with

something very

different

maybe you are

discontent with

God

like you haven't

taken a step

away and leave

the church or leave

Christ but deep

down you may have

just grown up in

all the do's and

don'ts of religion

and somehow it's

that motion of

going to church

and maybe going to

community group and

serving here and

there but your

heart is just not

there anymore and

if you could just

like take that step

out and you could

just walk your way

you would just

sleep in and be

at the beach or

do whatever and

maybe you're

actually just

discontent with

your relationships

and the dreams

of your life

that you always

wanted to live

differently in a

different place and

not in Hong Kong

a different job

a different family

and these dreams

are deep down

breeding but we

just don't do

something about it

yet and this is

what I think

where the story

of the prodigal

starts and when

I look at the

father's response

I'm intrigued by

how he goes about

his son coming

up and confronting

him with his

desire give me my

inheritance and

let me go and

because here's no

surprise the father

doesn't say what

why did you want to

leave or he doesn't

argue and say but

you have it so good

here and what is

it that where does

it suddenly come from

like what flaws do

you have in your

mind nothing of that

he simply divides

the property and

gives the son what

he asked for and I

would would assume

the reason is because

the father knows the

son very well this is

not the first time that

he has seen these

things growing up in

the son and he

knows he cannot hold

him back and that

the son has made up

his mind I think God

knows our heart and

we can't fool him he

knows what's building

up inside of us and

we need to address

it and ultimately

if we don't it will

take hold of our

heart and one day we

will take the step

so we have looked at

this this movement of

how the discontent

builds up and then

how ultimately the

prodigal son takes

that step out and

then he begins the

journey away from the

father's house in

reckless and wasteful

living so let's look at

and there's the next

part of the storyline

when the son reaches

the end of himself

not just once have I

heard people say

just yeah Christianity

is just for for weak

people religion is just

for people that just

yeah can't handle with

life can't handle life

on their own they just

need to hold on to

something actually he

thought the same things

before I became a

Christian when I was

23 and I think it's

actually somewhat true

most people find God

when they realize that

they can't run life by

themselves when they

finally come to the end

of their own strengths

realizing they can hold

it all together and that

the journey that we want

to run in our own

strength and our own

selfishness ultimately

leads to destruction

let me look again at the

scripture passage starting

verse 14 and here I think

this is very interesting

because there's a longer

passage that addresses

this so after the son had

spent everything there was

a severe famine in that

whole country and he

began to be in need so he

went and hired himself out

to a citizen of that

country who sent him to

his fields to feed the

pigs he longed to fill his

stomach with the pots that

the pigs were eating but

no one gave him anything

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'll

set out and go back to my

father and say to him

father I've sinned against

heaven and against you I'm

no longer worthy to be

called your son make me

like one of your higher

servants so he got up and

went to his father it took

one verse for him to set

out on his journey and lose

it all but this whole

paragraph for him to

finally overcome his pride to

return to the father I mean

like how deep do we have to

get into the troubles of

life to realize how

limited we are in really

having any control of our

lives and that we need a

return to the father I

shared with you how I

longed for for the day that

that I could walk my path

that I could walk my

journey in my life and how

this desire just built up

inside of me that I wanted

to live my my own dreams and

not just live for the

expectations of others now

that day for me came in a

pretty unexpected way my

my father suddenly died when I

was 18 and I found myself in

the place where I could move

in my life wherever I wanted

where I had to there was this

freedom and the responsibility

that I wanted but then

followed five years of me being a

prodigal and I found my hope and

my security my identity in in

the success of my banking

career as I tried to just

really get into investment

banking I invested into high

tech stocks and pretty soon I

made a small fortune for myself

and it was not the story of the

prodigal but it led to the same

outcome I traveled I partied I

had different relationships but

even with all these steps that I

took at one point I just found

this immense emptiness that I

tried to take control of a life

that didn't lead anywhere and

that's when I met God it's when I

first learned about about Jesus and

that God himself that he had

become a human being to seek me

out and where I was and that he

died for me and that was just

something that I could not accept

looking at my life like why would

God be interested in my life when

we look at our lives often it's the

guilt and the shame of how we have

recklessly wasted our lives that

holds us back and we think that

it's not redeemable but I look at

the story of the prodigal son and

it's amazing to me how far he had to

go to finally go back but when he

goes back what he really sees about

the father so after overcoming the

guilt and the shame and there's this

whole passage of the the son

wrestling with his shame and him

wasting everything so he starts to

then make up his mind about how he

would return when he goes back he

that's what he's thinking I'll set

out and go back to my father and say

to him father I've sinned against

heaven and against you I'm no longer

worthy to be called your son make my

lie make me like one of your hired

servants so he got up and he went to

his father so broken in his pride he

starts to kind of take this journey

with his big burden of all his guilt

and shame wondering like okay I'll just

be a servant and I'll be humiliated and

I'll pay for all the things that I

have done wrong but I know that I can

run this life on my own we we've all

messed up on our journey and sometimes

when we look at these reckless and

wasteful moments of our life they feel

like that heavy burden that put that

guilt and shame on our shoulders and we

just don't want to walk any further

but what we see in the response of the

father is to me incredible so it says

but while he was still a long way off

his father saw him and was filled with

compassion for him and he ran to his

son he threw his arms around him and

kissed him the son said to him father I

have sinned against heaven and again

against you I'm no longer worthy to be

called you but the father said to his

servants quick bring the best robe and

put it on him put a ring on his finger

and sandals on his feet bring the

fattened calf and kill it let's have a

feast and celebrate for the son of mine

was dead and is alive again he was lost

and is found so they began to celebrate

and that picture of the son walking

back and us walking with our guilt and

shame expecting to pay for what we have

done wrong for the rest of our lives that

picture is shattered as the father stands

at the doorstep and he comes running and

he kisses the son and the speech of

apology that the son had prepared he can't

even finish it and then they begin and

rejoice and they celebrate and to me

there's not much to add to to that

picture if we really take in what the

scripture says here about who God is

like every explanation interpretation I

think will just ultimately fall short of

the the grace and the love and the mercy

that we see in God here we have looked

at four movements in that story we have

we have looked at how these desires grow

in us and that we need to address and

that we cannot ignore them because one

day they'll take we'll take that step and

and walk out and walk on our own

journey but we need to realize that this

journey will ultimately lead to a reckless

disaster but when we come to the end of

ourselves that's not the end of the

story but there's hope because that hope

isn't that we are not stuck in our shame

and guilt but as we return to the father

he is there waiting for us and that

picture of God the true freedom that is

found in who he is and and if we begin to

understand what that freedom looks like in

returning to the father and understanding

his love and his mercy and his grace then

we should be called into running back to

his arms now we can continue looking at

these stories but um these stories are

written all over this congregation all of

you have walked your journey as a prodigal

and you may be here and you may just have

dreams and desires building up and up inside

of you and you wonder what to do with the

desires and you may be on that reckless

journey and saying I'm just living my life I'm

in control I'm doing whatever I want or you

may have found that I can't do this on my

own I need to go to the father but my shame

and my guilt about my journey I just feel

unredeemable so my hope is that there we

will see who God is and how he desires for us

to return how he loves us and two of the

stories we want to want to hear now I asked

Henrika and Michael to share a little bit

about their story and their testimony of how

they relate to to the story of the prodigal

actually Henrika is somewhat of a prodigal

for us at Watermark she has been with us for

the past year and then actually went back to

the Netherlands and because she loves us so

much she came back for a few weeks and we

just wanted wanted her to share a little bit

of like what what got it in her life and

Michael is a second year architecture student

and he also has had this amazing journey of

like how God has been been at work in his

life since coming to Hong Kong he's originally

from the US but actually grew up in China

and so Henrika if you would just share a

little bit about your story with us okay

well first of all hello Watermark well we

just got back from a retreat university retreat

that Mike was already mentioning and when I

was writing the story about my testimony I was

thinking about the former retreat which was I

think half a year ago and I can remember the

first night we were there and there was this

song we sung it's called Center and there was

this sentence in it and it said you hold

everything together and when I heard that I got

so annoyed because I really didn't feel like that

so when I was 10 my parents get got a divorce and my dad was a

pastor at the time and yeah it wasn't really well received in church in the

church community there for me there was this huge feeling that I have to live up

to a certain role as a pastor's daughter had to be good but I didn't really feel the

love and the honesty in that church when my parents got a divorce so it was really hard

for me to to really see people how people reacted to that because I didn't feel any love and then I was

thinking if I don't feel the love from the people in the community how can Jesus be love how why did

my parents got a divorce but why didn't Jesus hold everything together so then I was about 12

got to my teenage years and as a true pastor's daughter I began to rebel so it started with

having a bad attitude I didn't go to church that often when I was going because my dad demanded me

to it most of the time it resulted me in like wearing something that he would not really approve of

so I still try to rebel a bit against that I went to high school got kicked out of class a couple of

times so yeah there weren't there wasn't like the most proud moment of my life but in that I was still

mad and but I still wanted to have answers of God and I still there was this I felt a separation but I

really needed God still but then after a while I just noticed all the struggles in my family and

saw how two siblings of me that weren't Christian anymore they just walked away from faith and that

gave so many arguments in our family and so much struggle that I decided that I didn't want to have

any part of that anymore so I decided that I didn't want to go to church anymore I didn't want to be part of

that I didn't want to have the these arguments again but then you have this point in life that you

can't escape anymore it's when you when you're dealing with life questions it's becoming too

hard to just escape and live this kind of life what Mike was just sharing about that you can't you know

that you can't do it on your own anymore like I tried but I failed miserably so that's when I got here

to Hong Kong and I came to Watermark and this community and the university students and then I really realized

that the brokenness I saw before wasn't really from Jesus it was from people and that we actually need

Jesus to not be that broken anymore so I saw that I finally had to separate those two things from each

other that it's not the experience you have but it's more in Jesus itself and so although I felt like

a prodigal daughter before and you know like sinned bad I think that finally I just saw that

it didn't stop there there was still hope and for me that was I don't know pretty amazing

so yeah like Mike said I'm Michael and I've been at Watermark for almost a year

I'm studying architecture at HKU and I think despite growing up in a Christian family and having a

relationship with Christ my first semester at university I think I really lived as the younger

brother in full force and almost everything I did building upon like past insecurities and painful

memories during my childhood my growing up years were characterized by this outwardly normal and

healthy life that disguised the brokenness I really felt on the inside I trained myself to shut down to

fake it I turned to a facade of perfection to avoid myself and in my heart I had already run away from

God I was living in the life that I wanted to providing for myself because I didn't really believe that God

loved me could provide for me or even could take me back I think starting university really introduced

a whole spectrum of ways that I could live out this pretense without the need to fit my family's

expectations I began to live the prodigal life the center of my life was myself and I followed the

things that I believed could ensure security and happiness for me academics social status comfort

I genuinely thought that you know this was the right place for me I believe that you know this

was a place that could provide approval happiness and contentment in my life that I could provide

that for myself architecture quickly became an outlet for me to express this need for

self-sufficient living I invested my time and effort in creating flawless pieces of work to impress

both my professors and classmates I believed in my own strength and I was working for my own gain

a typical prodigal son at HKU I tried to provide myself in terms of friendship school reputation to avoid

what I really thought about myself that I really didn't have friends that I wasn't that smart and

you know I had these huge character flaws at the end of the first semester I began to realize that these

things were coming up in my life more and more and it seemed more and more difficult to you know keep

keep putting up this facade of um perfection uh it was harder to be this consistently high achieving

student and even harder to be this popular figure among my friends at HKU um whenever I realized this

that I could no longer keep up this this facade or this pretense and that I really needed God I started to

give up this way of life however just like the younger brother um I projected the same mentality on

God I tried to do the right thing I tried to rid myself of the symptoms but I could never get free

from this disease I believe that I still needed to help myself the younger brother inside of me made me

feel like that I had to proactively regain the love of the father the shame and guilt that I felt um that I had

about my life caused me to believe that I need to needed to provide for myself I needed to prove

myself and I needed to redeem the past life that I had um the process of going back to God um was not

painless I still had layers of presuppositions about who God was and I needed to work those away I kept

asking myself you know how can I be a better person for God how can I stop from sinning how can I be the

good son um but not until I completely surrendered my ability was it then that I was able to see it

wasn't about what I could do but what he had already done for me um through the community that surrounded

me I started I started to see bit by bit how God runs after me and how he finds me I think through

surrendering even the things um the ways that I thought I could um the things that I could offer God or the

things that I could do for God I began to see that coming back to the father um wasn't about healing

myself or trying to ensure that I was free free from sin but I think it was more about identifying

my helplessness and allowing him to come in and heal me yeah thank you Henrik and Michael um

I also want to take your time to pray for for them and um

yeah just as you hear their story like maybe something resonates with you and where you are and

how God pursues you uh just join me in prayer for them father I just uh thank you for Henrika and

Michael and the journey that you have taken them on um the way that yeah you just uh gave them freedom

to walk their own way and coming to the end finding you and that you and your love breakthrough through

the shame and guilt that they had and uh you just set them free uh to to live a life that would not be

wasted at the end where they would stand at the end of lives in front of Christ and and look back and see

all the glory they have brought to you and how they have have participated in redeeming the world and

the people around them and so just pray um just over Henrika and Michael as they continue their journey

and that they would continuously be um you know sought out by you and that they would keep running back

to you wherever they fall and stumble on the way and that their lives would be an amazing testimony of

your love and how you pursue us and how you uh find lost things and lost people just in Christ's name amen

so as you may may see in their stories uh we all are somewhat on the journey of the of the younger son

or the younger daughter sometimes we wander away and do our own thing and we can get wasteful and reckless

on our journey but God he waits on the doorstep and he seeks in his love seeks out through our shame and

and guilt uh final thought that i want to close with um is just another little movement that the story

doesn't really mention it's the question of what do you think happens after the story when the son has

returned he's back home the celebration is over his life has been restored

what do you think happens when the famine is gone the things are back to normal and the memories of the

past begin to fade do you think the sun will ever take off again

and do you think that when he takes off again that the father will stand at the doorstep again

it sounds outrageous but jesus actually gives a pretty clear indication about who god is and who the

father is in that story so the story of the lost son uh how toba mentioned is only one of three stories

we already looked at the story of the the sheep and the coin and now the lost son three things lost

they all three talk about god's unending love and and how he never gives up and how he continues to pursue us

that the only thing about god that is wasteful and reckless is his love and grace

now the people at the time that heard jesus talk about these three things they knew exactly what he

was saying for the jewish listeners a three-time repetition was something of completeness

wholeness three-time repetition meant wholeness so for example when when they referred to god in the

hebrew culture they would not say like god was like totally awesome or super duper holy or something like

that like there is no like word like that so when they wanted to talk about this completeness this amazing

complete holiness they would say holy holy holy is the lord god almighty they would repeat it three times to

show that it's such a perfect way in his holiness and when they heard these three stories over the meals

that we talked about before the the lost things they represented all the things that t that jesus taught

about over the meals and now we are the three stories of god seeking the lost so his listeners would know

what jesus was saying here that god would never give up seeking the lost that there was completeness

about his grace and what a comfort that is that god does not stand at the doorstep once waiting on us to return

but wherever you are wherever you have been and wherever you will be god will stand at the doorstep

running to you receiving you in his perfect perfect love again and again and again let's pray

father what an amazing picture of your love knowing that you would stand at the doorstep

again and again waiting on us and that even now today you're waiting at the doorstep for us to return to you

i still know where everyone is on their journey here but god you know and

you know the the dreams and desires that are building us and us to just be the prodigal and

and just pray that you would heal and restore that you would align our desires with yours that you would

bring people in our lives to have this honest and open conversation about the discontentment in our

marriages and our jobs and our lives and that you want to speak hope into that

father and um just you know the people that are on their journey that is wasteless and reckless

wasting resources and wasting our time wasting our relationships that you

um you know was breaks break through that and point us to a life that is honoring you and

and for those who are stuck in shame and guilt

not knowing how to return father i pray that your unbelievable love would break through that

that we would know that returning to you

is the best we can ever do experiencing your unending love and mercy

be robed by you and

a celebration being prepared for us and rejoicing for our return and that that's who you are

pray this in christ's name amen

where are you on your journey

some of us are in home with the father

some of us are gathering our staff getting ready because we've been so frustrated we're ready to head out

some of us are eating with the pigs and we're just realizing that

and some of us are turning around and going back to him no matter where we are in that journey

scripture says that god is there waiting for you

you need someone to pray with you at the end of this time there'll be some people with the prayer

teams up here they'd love for you to pray and just they're trained and the elders are up here

i'll be up here we'd love to pray for you about where you're at in your journey and what god's teaching

you and maybe even talking about what the next step is

for us at watermark the next step is to be in a community group

because this is where we believe that we journey together so if you're not in a community group

there's a table right out here and we we want everybody to be in a smaller group than this

where we walk through life together we do things together we learn

together we serve together so right out there join up in a community group if you're not in one

one because you need to be one on the journey because the journey is too hard to do it by yourself

one thing i just wanted to share up here uh we have a special treat uh one of the guys who's really

helped me on the journey through my whole life is going to come visit us this week and his name is

dr hannah he's uh one of the top two or three church historians in the world and so he's going to

talk to us about israel we're going to do israel together but on thursday night we have a date night

now some of the guys have come to me incredibly nervous because they see this picture and the

question is well i have to dance with my wife okay so let me put this the date night is for people who

are single and dating they're for married or dating so bring a date or bring your wife don't bring both

okay this is hong kong uh but bring one of them and thursday night's just a time to have fun it's going

to be a it's going to be a very entertaining relaxing encouraging time uh you don't have to

dance with your wife unless you want to i don't even think we're going to have dancing there but it

is one of those money back guarantees it's at the cricket club and i encourage i i promise if you don't

do it uh you're going to be disappointed because it's it's just a it's gonna be a time of blessing

and encouragement as a family as we go on this journey together okay so guys uh you don't have to dance

with your wife here but you do need to dance with your wife sometime okay that's just that's what my

wife she would kill me if i didn't say that okay uh so how you guys doing you okay this is amazing

when you look at god's word and how he he loves us isn't it yeah father we thank you for this day

we thank you for your goodness and your mercy we thank you that the only thing that you are reckless

and wasteful on is your love and your grace and so we come before you at different stages of the

journey knowing that wherever we're at that you're always looking at us looking for us that your face

is always turned towards us because at one time you turned your face away from your son

as he hung on the cross because of that moment when he took everything upon him

we know as your children that your face is always turned towards us because you turned it away from

him because of our sin so we come before you we worship you we love you we need you desperately

we pray for this community our families we pray for the place you've placed us we pray for our workplace

we pray for our homes we pray for what we go to eat right now realizing that everyone is on a journey there

everyone is seeking for something to fill their bellies and we know that the only thing that will truly satisfy them is your son jesus

help us to walk in courage and to share that message with all those you bring in contact with us

father we love you and we pray these things in your son jesus name amen god bless you have a great week

see you thursday and we'll see you back here back here same place next sunday