Unmasking the Father's Love: Insights from the Prodigal Son on Personal Relationships, Restoration, and God's Transformative Power

Thanks to Mike O'Neill for telling his story there and what he feels like it's his purpose for being not only at Charleston Southern but being a Christ follower and a man of God.

Mike and Sherry O'Neill are two of our folks here that I would hold up as prime examples of two Christ followers who are sacrificial in not only their worship but their lifestyles, and I appreciate Mike sharing about something very personal and that is that generation ahead and then his role and then his now to the age where he's looking at leaving a legacy today, which is a great lead in.

We're in mindset part two of his teaching series, and the premise of mindset two is that our behavior is going to follow our mindset.

And Jesus came and basically all we have in the gospels was centered on yeah, I want you to act like good people and good believers, but there's something that comes before that and that is the conviction of the heart, where we start to see the world differently and God in the light.

That changes us on the inside and moves out, and that is never so tested and sometimes never so affirmed and taught well as in the family unit.

And so today, with the relational part of that, that's what we're going to talk about mindset towards your relationships.

A lot of you are going to go to that family unit.

A lot of you are going to, in the present, have somebody at work, a neighbor maybe, or someone else, who both can be one of the most affirming and one of the most challenging things too.

So picture with me a scenario just for a minute.

You're at home, your family's all together it might have been earlier in your life, it might even be present, though and your dad, all of a sudden, is scurrying around and he's making some preparations.

He's not only just mowing the grass, he's doing the hedges also.

You're like, oh, something's up, somebody's coming over, maybe tonight.

And you know, mom is getting out the good civilware and all the tea glasses have to match.

And you're like, okay, something's up.

And dad's pretty excited.

They've got a very special guest coming over tonight.

Can't wait, can't wait for this.

And so the big night finally arrives.

Everybody, you know, you got your hair combed, you got to tuck your shirt in, and all like that, doorbell rings and in enters an estranged member of your family that you've not heard from in years and years and years.

And not only did he abandon everybody, he took some stuff with him and when he walked out he took a piece of you with him and you have been forced to do a little bit more and exist in somewhat of a void and in tremendous resentment and in some pain over the loss of that family member ever since.

And now, all of a sudden, with no warning, he shows back up and, furthermore, the actions and the behavior and the attitude of your dad really concerns you and is really not what you at all expected.

The prodigal son is that story.

We've just been put in the role of that elder son and so we're going to walk through for just a few minutes how relationally God places us in this story, and maybe we'll look at all three roles real quickly, because a lot of the things that spur our anger and long-term resentment and a sense of loss is really anchored in a sense of abandonment.

If you've ever gone through a big betrayal, if you've ever watched somebody walk out of your life that you thought you could rely on, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

The best solution to abandonment that I can give you scripturally today is simply this the father never quits on you.

He's not going anywhere.

Matter of fact, he doesn't know how to quit, and so we're going to anchor into that and we're going to take this study into the scripture.

So you got your Bible.

Thanks for bringing it.

Grab your Pew Bible in front of you, turn your device on up in the balcony.

Grab that out there.

My name's Randy, good to see you.

We have some folks that are, I know, very regular.

Oh, speaking of, I want to give a shout out to Tim, who is all the way over in Dubuque, iowa.

So, tim, we are so grateful.

Tim told me that he watches every single Sunday.

So we're glad for all of you out there, whether you're local or not.

Monitors engage through them.

Please tell us how we can help pray for you, how we can help you get to a next step spiritually.

We all have them, whether it's here locally or whether it's in Dubuque, iowa or wherever you may be also.

So Charles Dickens, the great author, one time was asked what is the greatest short story in the history of literature.

What a question.

And he didn't even hesitate.

He said it is the prodigal son of the New Testament.

So let's pray, lord, we all sit in need of restoration on days.

We all sit as someone who has walked away from you.

We all are touched by relationships, both positively and negatively.

The thing we are after, I believe, today, though, is a mindset as a Christ follower that is willing to spend the worst or the best in such a good model of your Son that others around us will be impacted forever and, as Mike shared, our legacy will not be what we did so much, but who we were.

And so, god, in a few moments, I pray that, as we respond to, maybe, a public confession or walk out of here, that we will be closer to you than we were coming in.

We give this time to you and, as always, please come, holy Spirit, amen, amen, let's good see you.

So, in Luke, chapter 15, a real quick context before we get into the Scripture Jesus is in His ministry with His 12, and he's got a lot of stiff opposition already, and they're testing Him and they're, you know, opposing Him, and he knows that, and so, to try to address their mindset, which was very legalistic and very functional and very institutionalized, he tells three stories.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

He pops three stories on them real quick, and they all carry a common theme there's the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost Son, the lost coin.

They just look and look and look and they turn over the house until they find it the lost sheep.

He leaves the 99 and he goes out and he keeps walking until he finds that sheep and the lost Son.

Well, they're all going to gather up a posse and they're going to go find that lost Son, aren't they?

Well, we're going to find out, right quick.

So in relationships, I want to share with you four things real quick that the Scripture is teaching us through this great parable on how we ought to function in light of the fact that you know God is not going to quit, so he doesn't expect us to quit either.

The first one let's read verses 11 and 12.

We'll read them through and talk about them, because the first thing is, for me and you, when somebody hits you with something that is not right, just flat out not right it's always better to respond than to react.

You know what I'm saying.

Verse 11, 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, for he divided his property.

And he divided his property between them.

Can you imagine the audacity?

He's got two sons.

He says he comes to them.

First, reminds you too.

The dad has not died yet and he says hey, I know I've got an inheritance, my brother's got an inheritance.

I want my share now.

I want to get it while I can use it, and I'm out of here.

And so put yourself in that dad's role for a second.

My heads.

How would you have responded?

I'm afraid that I would have reacted and not responded, and there's a lot of little witty, anger-filled comebacks I could give you right now, but I won't do that.

The dad, it just said, we don't know what he said, but the dad gave him his share.

Now, in the first century Middle East, the eldest son legally was entitled to twice as much of the estate as the others, and so this means that in this, this son got this younger son automatically gets a third of the assets that are, I guess, liquid and he takes off and this leaves every the other two, as you can imagine, in a bind.

So back to the responding.

James mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.

James has great advice for all of us Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Qtl, sts, sta.

That'd be a good plaque on a desk, wouldn't it?

Or on your well quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.

That will save a lot of grief for everybody.

So we know he has two sons here.

The father has made a decision.

Now let's be real.

Let's be real real about all of this.

When he makes this decision, this affects all three of these gentlemen in a profound way for the rest of their life.

This is not a hey, I might have made a mistake there, or hey, did the right thing, so we're good with all of that.

This is going to follow all three of them as long as they're still alive.

The father in the scenario now put yourself in, if you will, a father role.

Somebody comes to you and makes a request like that, whether it's a son, daughter, whether it's a co-worker, whether it's somebody that reports to you, whether it's a spouse, and you see a little bit more of the bigger view than they do.

What are some questions that can be asked?

One is in light of your past, how do you think this is going to turn out in your future?

That's always a good one.

Another question is will this still be a good idea, you think, in five years or in ten years?

Another good question to ask, sometimes more internally, but I think sometimes you can kind of pose it to someone else too.

What would a great son be asking for right here, in our context?

What would a great teacher do in this situation?

I ask it occasionally myself.

What would a great pastor do right here?

It pulls us out of the emotional, out of this to take one step back and forces us maybe, hopefully, to see the whole picture.

What would a great husband do right here?

Son, I understand all what you want to do, but what would a very honorable thing to do here from a son be?

Is that it?

If you think that's it, we'll go with it.

In the background there's this heavenly Father that's not about to quit on this, whether it's the biggest mistake of the kid's life or whether it turns out to be the right move.

So let's go on down the Scripture.

Let's read verse 13, 16.

Once that decision was made, the Father does something very important.

He lets the choice carry the responsibility.

He made His choice, the dad gave it.

Now he's going to live it, he's going to walk it out.

13,.

Not long after that, the youngest son got together and all he had and he set off for a distant country and there he squandered his wealth and while living, that word literally meant scattered it all over the place.

Can you picture it?

He's got dollar bills hanging out of his pocket.

He's lighting cigars on a $20 bill Rather than tipping 20%, he's just like 100% tipping.

He's having a high time.

Verse 14, after he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country and he began to be in need.

This so happened that the forces of nature lined up negatively with the emptying of his bank account.

So he went and he hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.

Now, remember, this is a Jewish storyteller telling Jews in the first century about someone who's hit rock bottom.

What's the best scenario you can think of for somebody, a Jewish person, to really hit rock bottom?

Oh, you're keeping swine, you're keeping pigs for someone.

He goes off into a foreign country.

So what they would say is a gentile nation, and it can't get any worse than that.

Well, yet can.

Look at verse 16.

He so longed to fill his stomach, his own starvation borderline, with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything the pods.

There was things called carob trees that they would harvest these pod type things, the fruit that grew on them.

They weren't useful for anything but not human consumption.

They were good to grind up or just feed whole to pigs and sheep and things like that.

They would throw those to the hogs, the pigs, and he's eating those pods that no human would eat.

That's as low as it can go, right, he is carrying the responsibility for his choice and dad has allowed this to happen.

Dad, really, in this scenario which we think was fictional, but it still is a strong point that you know he couldn't have done anything about it anyway there's two dangers, y'all.

When, whether it's a child of yours, a grandchild, or whether it's just somebody that you feel responsive to, that does something, you clearly know it's the wrong choice and allowing them.

Tothere's two things we need to stay away from.

One is the strong tendency to buy them out of the problem.

Now, if you've got children, as they've got to be teenagers, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

More than likely, right?

Oh man, he got into trouble.

And if I do this, if I go to this person, if I write a check, that can all go away.

But is that really a loving thing to do for that child.

That's one tendency, and it is a strong one.

The other tendency that is a strong one is to blame that person for everything that happens, whether it's related or not, you know.

Well, it's because if he hadn't done that, you know you start to attach meaning of every misfortunate adversity into that.

Both of those are skewed, both of those are not the right mindset, both of those are very improper.

As you know, in our society today, many, many, many things that are being marketed as the answer to your life.

This will give you peace, security, freedom, happiness.

You will be set happy for the rest of your life if you just buy this, do this, engage in this, whatnot?

And you know that it all leads to either ruin or a dead end and emptiness.

And so, as much as any time, I think, in our history, here we have the opportunity to not just observe but to maybe minister to people who are realizing as we speak.

You know there's massive lessons I can learn from failure.

Some of you I could tell some on me too.

Some of you could come up here and give really eloquent speeches on how one of the biggest lessons you ever learned in your life was a massive failure.

Right, and it started with a choice.

At the time seemed like the right choice.

And when somebody doesn't bear the responsibility of their choices and you're involved, we're kind of cheating them from maturity or learning life lessons or maybe even developing more of a Christ-centered mindset when we step in and try to rescue our help in a way in which really is not helping in a way.

So let's read on now, just to keep up with the story verse 17 through 20,.

Verse 20, when he came to His senses he said how many of my fathers hired men or servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death.

You know, you're in bad shape.

When your dad's servants start to look good to you, their roles, I will set out and I will go back to my father and I will say to him Father, I have sinned against heaven in you.

I love that the boy is thinking clearly, maybe for the first time in a long time, because even in his sorrow he's like got the order right.

I've sinned against God first, but I've also sinned very deeply against my dad.

So verse 19, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

He's making up His speech.

You ever done that.

Oh man, I'm going to have to go back and you rehearse your speech 22 times.

And you got it down, you've edited it and all.

Okay, I think I can do this.

I'm not worthy to be called your son.

Just make me like one of your hired men Again.

That's the right approach, humble submissive.

If you will even take me back I know I have blown my chest.

I'm not worthy for son status anymore.

I've spent, wasted the inheritance.

If you'll just take me back, I'll be happy to be an entry-level worker from here on 20,.

So he got up and he went back to his father.

Now, at this point we're going to transition and talk a little bit more from the father's viewpoint, because the dad does a great job of one thing here, and that is maintaining his authority.

That's number three.

We're going to respond before we react.

We're going to let the other person run with that line.

If they are doing it, we're going to let them carry the burden of their choices.

But you, our job, is to maintain our authority and not give that away unnecessarily trying to help.

What do you mean by that?

Let's look at verse 20 through 24.

Y'all still with me, still good.

So he got up and he went to.

I read that.

But while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and he was filled with compassion and he ran to his son and he threw his arms around him and he kissed him.

You get the impression that while he's still a long way off, dad must be watching for him, right?

You know?

We wonder all kinds of scenario.

Did he go out and he looked for him?

Is he roaming around?

Is he trying to through word of mouth, through merchants coming through town?

Have you ever seen this kid that looked like me and all like that?

But he's watching for this son and he sees him.

When he sees him, he doesn't wait on him to come ring the doorbell.

I'm going to let him crawl in here and I'm going to let him, you know, say he's sorry for oh no, oh no, he runs and throwsnow, he breaks some traditions and is the bottom line of this is first century Jewish father.

This is about as undignified as he could act.

First of all, men didn't run as a rule in that world.

You certainly, if you're the dad, the patriarch, you certainly don't run out and throw your arms around your son and kiss on him and all that, but that's what he does.

And so verse 20, where were we?

We're in verse 22.

But the father said to his servant oh, wait a minute.

Verse 21,.

You're right.

The son said to him Father, I have sinned against heaven.

He starts his speech remember, heaven and earth against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But then what happens?

Dad cuts him off.

He never finished that great sermon that he was about to tell he never got to go any further.

Dad is so excited, he takes over and by his authority, he's getting ready to act here.

22.

The patriarch said to the servants quick, bring the best robe, put it on, 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 this son of mine was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found.

You know, somebody ought to write a song about that, isn't it?

So they begin to celebrate.

Ephesians 2, by the way, in the New Testament, uses much the same metaphor a lot dead, now alive, lost and found.

You once were far away from God, but now you've been brought up close by Jesus.

In this it's the same imagery.

So he does what is well within His power to do.

Let's pour some gifts on Him.

Let's get that ring that's been passed down through the generations in our family.

Let's put that on Him the fattened calf in those days, the calf that had been put up, it's not been eating wild onions and weeds, it's been eating the good stuff, the grain and stuff.

And that is going to be like today what you would go to Hall's chop house and eat the aged beef.

You know we're not going to go get the cheap stuff down at the supermarket.

We're going to go all out here because we are celebrating and we're having a feast, because I had prettywhat he's saying is, I had pretty much accepted the fact that I would only have one son the rest of my life, and now he's back.

He remembered the abandonment, but that's not what was at the top of His list.

As the patriarch of that house, he takes quick and decisive action.

And it's to not condemn, it's to not recriminate, it is to celebrate, because His mindset is seeing the big picture and it says His motive was compassion, not anger, not any of those things, not retribution, not vindictiveness.

There's principles at stake here.

One biblical principle is when you humble yourself, you have a lot better chance of being exalted one day by the King.

That matters.

The other principle is far, far too important to ignore when you repent, you will be restored.

Now he still had blown all that money, he still had been humiliated.

He still came back penniless.

He probably had regrets and scars for the rest of his life.

But he was being restored into the family and that was the mindset of the authority of the Father who chose to do that.

I'll kid you not.

In a real scenario, he would have gotten pushed back from people in the community.

How dare you?

You just in their eyes, you're just rewarding the problem there.

He's going to be worse than he was before he left you.

That is very short-sighted, narrow vision, absent from the Holy Spirit of God.

If you've ever been in that role, if you've ever been that father or that mother, you know exactly what I'm talking about there.

This is a key point of the whole story.

Now, bear in mind and we'll get more to this in a minute he's paid.

Athe dad has paid a big price.

This elder brother paid a big price also, and we're going to shift the focus to Him in just a minute.

Well, what if other people, what if people even under your own roof, or under your own roof of your organization, or what?

What if they don't recognize your authority?

You continue to do number one and you continue to do number two.

You allow them to live on the weight of their decisions or even their attitude, and you continue to follow Christ.

But do not ever give away your authority, not to abuse it, not to lord it over anybody, but to use it again for the glory of God.

Because if you asin this case, if dad had given away his authority and buckled to the pushback, or buckled to what the elder son has some input of in a minute here, then all is lost and this son does not get fully restored.

And isn't that the end of the game?

Restoration Isn't it better when broken families come back together?

Isn't it better when a broken marriage comes back together?

Isn't it better when divided church bodies come together?

Nations come together?

Of course it is.

And even us and God come back into a relationship.

So the elder brother at this point is clueless about this.

Did the elder brother ever go out and look for his brother?

Ever thought about that?

This is the story of lost things in Luke 15, but nobody ever goes and looks for the boy.

I hesitate to tell you stories that I can't confirm.

Make sure they're factually right.

This one I finally was able to confirm Life magazine, which you know is not around anymore.

Life magazine actually did two pieces on this over the years.

But in 1965, a recon plane of ours over Vietnam was shot down.

There were like three Americans on the plane.

They all went to MIA status.

Don't think that that was ever they were ever identified one way or another.

Well, one of those boys on that flight had an older brother.

He's married, he's older, he's got four small kids at home at this point.

Later in 1965, he kisses his wife goodbye and he gets on a plane and he flies to Vietnam.

He's not in the military but he puts on military gear and equipment, gets some supplies together and he starts wandering through the jungles of Vietnam alone looking for his brother.

He's in our territory part of the time.

He's behind enemy lines part of the time.

And as he walks, word gets out who is this guy?

Who's this guy?

Both on you know, our side of things and even among the enemy, there's this rumor going around, this guy walking around looking for his brother.

We believe he was actually apprehended not killed, but apprehended and put in a POW camp at one time, and spent four months in that POW camp, at which time he told his story to the Viet Cong.

The Viet Cong brought him a flight jacket and claimed it was his brothers that were shot down.

Never know, but this is the proof.

Your brother is no longer here, but then and this is so un-Viet Cong, like in those days, they said when the war ends, we know where his grave is, we'll watch it, and if you want to come back and take him home, you can.

And they let him go Once he had earned a name the brother.

That's the brother.

He did make it back to his family.

He spent nine months in Vietnam and nobody over there really ever knew his name, other than who's that?

Oh, that's the brother.

He's looking for his younger brother.

Well, let's go to our final point here.

Forgiveness is essential, y'all, and it's costly.

We don't talk about the costliness of it, we do talk about how important it is.

Verse 25,.

Meanwhile, the older brother, older son, was in the field.

When he came near the house, he heard the music and the dancing, what's going on?

And so he called one of the servants and he asked him what was going on.

Older brother has come.

He replied and your father has killed the fat and calf because he has him back safe and sound.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in.

So his father went out and pleaded with him.

Let's stop right here.

When he refuses to go in, this is a direct disrespect and an insult to the father.

This is as disrespectful and as insulting as what the younger brother did.

And that day and that time when dad threw a party, there was no way you were there and you were dressed.

To reward that too, he refused to come in.

Dad actually comes out, looking for him too.

Now, right, and rather than scold him, he pleads with him.

He's got the authority to do something about him too, but he does it.

He holds it back because he's responding and not reacting, and he says verse 29,.

He pleaded with him, but he answered his father.

The boy does look Again.

Disrespect, you didn't say hey, look to your dad.

All these years I've been slaving for you.

I've not enjoyed it, but I have been grinding it out for you.

You never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat even so that I could celebrate with my friends.

But when the son of yours, son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes nobody ever said anything about prostitutes or y'all like that it's like this thing's getting bad.

I'm going to add to it a little bit too and make it even worse.

When I was home, you killed the fat cat.

For him, my son, the father, said you are always with me and everything I have is yours.

And he was dead right there.

Everything I have is yours.

I gave him a third.

You own the two thirds.

One day, when I'm gone and you know that, but we had to celebrate, it was necessary For me.

He says this wasn't even a choice to make, it's the only thing to do.

That's what a man of conviction does, and be glad because his brother, this brother of yours, was dead and now he's alive.

And he was lost and now he is found.

We just talked about all of that.

Forgiveness is essential.

Dad's obviously done it.

The brother has not done it.

Mark 11, 25 brings it home a little bit more serious to me and to you too.

Jesus is speaking and he says hey, when you're wronged, you need to forgive, because with the forgiveness you use.

That forgiveness is what God will use to forgive you.

So what he's saying is hey, you don't have to, but your relationship with God will be out of fellowship for as long as you withhold forgiving, because God's forgiven you a tremendous amount.

Also, let's make no mistake about it the elder brother got cut up.

When this boy walks out his younger brother, he's been bleeding and he has carried an extra load and he's had more of a burden, and that part of the estate is gone forever.

Without the relationship and without the work and without the assets that his brother should have brought to the table, he has every reason in the world to feel rejected and betrayed and abandoned.

We all can relate to the elder brother, but let's make no mistake about it.

The elder brother has now turned and is using his obedience as a weapon against the rest of the family.

This elder brother has gotten his righteousness by moral conformity you listening.

He's righteous because he does the right thing.

He didn't walk out, he stayed in the picture.

So what he's saying is therefore Father, you owe me.

How many of us have come at God like that?

Come on, be honest, man.

I've been doing the right thing.

I got nailed what's going for that.

It looks like at least you could do was save me from that.

In other words, god, you owe me.

The other brother sought righteousness by, or sought his way or his identity.

By exploring, by discovery, moral discovery, I'm going to test the limits, I'm going to jump out of the box.

I'm going to find happiness in life and meaning outside of that.

So here's the deal.

Everyone in this room is either the younger brother or the elder brother and you can put yourself in the picture.

But we're all there at one point in time Because we all are tempted to live by moral conformity, our personal self-expression.

Either one y'all is a doletree because we have taken the Father out of the picture we know best and we have assumed the role and the authority we think of the Father.

It's a genius.

It is a genius story by Jesus.

Can we put that picture up there, the painting?

I should say this is a Rembrandt and this is the prodigal son.

Rembrandt is an interesting study all of himself, and I don't have time to get into that, whether he was a believer or not, but a third of his art was biblical art and he died penniless, although he was Rembrandt, and later, of course he got the acclaim he needed.

But of course, as you'd see, this is the prodigal who has come home.

Notice how the prodigal is dressed he's in rags, dirty.

Notice his feet.

One of his shoes or sandals is completely off, the other one is broken.

There's no heel on it.

Notice the people watching in the background.

They're all forming their own opinion about what ought to happen to this boy.

Notice the Father.

He's dressed up very nice.

He's got a red robe on.

He's the patriarch of the whole family and all the servants To the right, standing a little bit elevated and fully facing and observing this.

Notice the expression on his face Could be condemnation.

It could be.

What am I about to do here?

What am I about to say?

Surely I'll wait, because my dad's going to do what he ought to do.

That's the elder son.

Notice how he's dressed, just like dad.

He's got the same robe.

He's got the staff.

He wants to be in charge, but he's not there yet.

He's just biding his time.

And now his life just got a measurably more complicated because this boy, who doesn't deserve to be there, who used to be his younger brother, has shown back up and he doesn't know who to be mad at now.

Am I more mad at dad for his behavior or this son of his for showing back up?

Because dad is not only making a fool out of himself.

We now are expected to have a big party over him.

But here's what I want you to see Now zero in as best you can on the face of the father Compassion, grieving, if you will, over the pain that this boy has obviously been through, but glad he's hurting with his son and he is about to restore him.

He's going to pick him up and he's going to put the best robe on him, and they're going to have a party that that town had not seen in a long, long time.

And that is the God that we worship Y'all.

He doesn't know how to quit.

He's never quit on me and he's never quit on you either.

Let's switch roles just for a second here.

Let's replay the tape and roll it back.

You are the prodigal.

You get to the end of yourself.

You decide to walk home.

You got your speech prepared too.

You're going to go back to the entry level position and hope that you get permission to start over, but now you're stopped at the edge of the farm by someone who's saying well, that's good, but you need to know this it's a different rule in the family now.

Dad has turned the rest of everything else over to your older brother and he's in charge and he's making all the decisions.

Now Dad is there, but dad is not your source.

Your brother has become your go-between, your mediator.

That mediator in my life, in your life, is Jesus Christ, and praise Him.

He did not act like the elder brother.

This younger brother in the story needed a positive mediator.

What he got was a Pharisee for an older brother.

But our older brother is waiting to restore, he's waiting to intercede, is he not?

He is just as loving as his father and he is the path to get back to the father.

And that's the whole point of the Gospels and that's what Jesus is trying to get across to his audience in that day.

Can I give you some really good news?

Before we have an invitation time, there is a day coming when there's going to be this huge, gigantic feast here on this earth, the likes of this earth has never seen before, and the father will come back, who happens to be the older brother, and he is going to collect all the people that are invited to that great feast.

You don't believe me?

Read Revelation 19 through 21.

The new Jerusalem will come to earth and that's where the feast will begin.

And guess what?

If you are a Christ follower, you have a place already at the table.

It's just waiting on that day to happen and there will be this massive restoration.

And that's when all the wrongs will be right and that's when we'll see Him Himself will come running out to me and you and embrace us and put the robe on us and we'll eat the hall's chop house level steak for as long as we want to, not because I deserve it and not because you deserve it.

You know what we deserve?

The opposite.

We deserve the husk and the pods that the pigs were eating, but we're getting the opposite.

So I'm going to ask y'all to stand.

I'm going to ask Eddie to come up and lead us.

This is called an invitation time.

If you're new here, we just love to have you come forward for prayer, if you need that, or to pray at the steps.

If you need to take a next step decision for Christ.

Please do that Now.

Today, you're among friends, whether it's to join church, whether it's to rededicate your life, whether it's to seek that relationship with Jesus Himself.

So let's pray, father, god, we just thank you for your redemption in our lives.

We thank you for stories like this that not only educate us but move us because of the powerful emotions that we all feel, because we're all family members.

So, god, please just do what you need to do in our individual hearts.

Amen.