You're Not Too Far Gone for God's Forgiveness

All right, Good morning. Good morning, Church.

Good morning. Good morning.

It is a good morning to be in the House of the Lord.

You agree. Welcome to Illuminate Church.

Welcome. If you're watching online, I'm

glad you're here today. I honestly believe God is going

to do something special today, and I hope you do too.

That's what we're here for. We're in a series.

Did I introduce myself yet? I'm Kim Tough.

I'm one of the executive pastors.

Illuminate Church. If we haven't met each other

yet, hope we do soon. Hope to get to know you.

But we're in a series on the parables of Jesus.

And Jesus used parables to make the Kingdom of heaven understood

by those who heard the parable. So Jesus from heaven came to

earth and he would teach the people, including us, because we

have his word and say the Kingdom of heaven is like and he

would teach us the Kingdom of heaven.

And in fact the name of this series is the Kingdom revealed.

And Jesus told us 46 parables in the gospels to teach us how the

Kingdom of heaven is so different than the Kingdom of

this world. And the aim, the purpose of a

parable, the reason Jesus told parables, was not just to

educate us or to tell us an interesting story or where we'd

go. Wow, that Jesus is such an

amazing story to that. Wow, that was deep.

That is so cool. I mean, all those things are

true, but that wasn't the purpose of a parable.

It wasn't just a good moral lesson.

The aim of a parable was then and is now, to transform how we

understand the Kingdom of God so that we can change how we live

our lives now as a result of the understanding.

And the Kingdom isn't a place or a location like a country or a

territory. A Kingdom is wherever a King's

authority is recognized and obeyed.

A Kingdom is anywhere where a king, a king is the king.

And I'm not talking about Elvis, although not even close.

So when Jesus talked about the Kingdom of heaven, he wasn't

talking about a place we go and we die.

He wasn't describing a place we go and we die.

He wasn't talking about later. He was talking about here on

earth right now. Matthew 417 Jesus said the

Kingdom of heaven is at hand, and that hand literally means

within reach or close by. And Jesus's goal of telling us

the parables was to bring us the truth so that you and I

understand what the Kingdom of heaven is like.

And then invite us to make a decision.

Which king will you follow? Which ruler will you obey?

Which Kingdom are you part of now?

And our invitation, our opportunity is to be part of and

live by the Kingdom of heaven now in this life, not just when

we die. Every parable wasn't just a

teaching. Every parable, ask the listener,

challenges the listener and says, now that you've heard

this, now that you understand this, what will you do?

And I hope that's how you listen to the parable today, asking

yourself, what will I do now that I understand every parable?

Jesus asked us the question, now that you understand this, will

you choose to live by the Kingdom of heaven or will you

choose or continue to live by the Kingdom of this world?

And the Kingdom of this world is where we put anything other than

God on the throne of our lives as the king.

And most of the time, the king of this world isn't the things

we usually think of. Success, money, fame,

popularity, pleasure, comfort, all those things, those are

usually symptoms of the first king in our lives.

The most common king we have in our lives that we most often put

before God is ourself, which is when we say, not usually with

words, but we say it. I'm the king of my life.

I decide what's right for me. This is my life.

I do what I want to do. My will not.

Thy will be done on earth but not in heaven.

And Jesus taught us that the live our lives when God is truly

our King is very different. Jesus taught us the Kingdom of

heaven is when we willingly place God's will before before

our own will like Jesus did. And the Kingdom of heaven is

here right now, today. For people who choose to

recognize the lordship and kingship of Jesus, we can sing

songs like All Hail King Jesus, and that's great.

But the question is, do we live our lives with Jesus as our

king? So today we're sharing the

parable that many people have heard of.

It's one of the more popular parables.

We've heard the story probably growing up in Sunday school,

things like that. But it's the it's the prodigal

of the prodigal son, the parable of the prodigal son.

And I know that when I say that the risk is my concern is that

some people will say, oh, I've heard that one.

I know that one. What I would say this morning is

even to you who heard that one or know that one, see what fresh

word God has for you today. I believe God has something new

fresh bread for every single one of us.

If we open our ears, open our hearts, open our minds.

So today we're talking about the prodigal son.

Today's message is called is titled come home.

And this morning we're in the book of Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Luke.

It's in the New Testament third book, Matthew Mark Luke chapter

Luke 15 · chapter mention

15. If you need a Bible, raise your

hand and usher will bring one to you.

Anybody want a Bible need a Bible You can use it for today.

You can keep it. Take it home.

You're you're more than we would love to bless you.

If you want a Bible, take it home with you.

But we're in Luke chapter 15. And before I read to you the

Luke 15 · chapter mention

prodigal son story, I wanted to set the context.

I want to paint the picture of what's going on, visualize the

scene. Because obviously Jesus tells

this parable, but who's he talking to?

Who's, Who's around him? Who is he talking to?

His disciples? Is he talking to who?

Because if we picture a story in our minds, it's much more

impactful than if we just hear it.

You know what I'm saying? So the story of the prodigal son

is in verses 11 through 32 of chapter 15.

But chapter 15 starts out explaining the scene in verses 1

and 2. This is what Luke 15, verses one

and two says. It says now the tax collectors

and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

There was there was people, normal people just gathering

around. They wanted to be near Jesus.

They would hear what he had to say.

But the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, this man

welcomes sinners and eats with them, muttered literally means

they grumbled their disapproval, they were grumbling, they were

standing around also. So you had the regular people

and you had the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, the

religious leaders. So this scene is Jesus is

surrounded by non religious people, normal people, regular

people and also present were the religious people.

Both groups were listening and the religious people in their

minds, their opinions, they are the good people.

They're the good team. They're the good size.

They're they're wearing the white cowboy riding the White

Horse. You don't talk about they, they

were the the good team, the good guys and the people not like

them in their minds were not good.

In fact, they called them the sinners and the religious people

didn't really understand this Jesus guy because here they were

the people worthy to, you know, to listen to this interesting

teaching that Jesus was giving. But here he had the normal

people hanging around too. And they were like, I don't

understand why this Jesus guy even invites those people.

Why would he eat with bad people, unholy people?

He seems happy that they're here.

Why doesn't he shoo them off, get go away.

It's like he welcomes them. He includes them and they were

literally confused and the answer to their confusion they

had, especially in today's parable is because God's heart

is to seek and save what is lost.

And let me tell you a truth this morning, we'll get to more of

this later, but God loves all people.

God loves all people regardless of what they do, regardless of

their religion, regardless of their age, regardless of where

they live in the world. God loves all people and his

desire is that all people would choose to be saved, would choose

to receive Jesus as their savior because that's how our sins are

atoned. Second Peter 39, you don't have

to go there. It'll be on the screen.

Stay in Luke 15 but it says the Lord is not slow to fulfill his

promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not

wishing that any should perish, say any, not wishing that any

should perish, but that all say all, but that all should reach

repentance. His desire is that all, all

humanity, all the world would reach a a repentance because He

loves all people. And His hope, His desire is that

all people would choose to repent.

All people would choose to turn to Jesus to receive him as

Savior because what Jesus did on the cross is enough for all

people and all means all and all is all.

All means something like that. And the Pharisees believe now

that they had a different, they had a different belief.

They believe the favor of God was earned by following the

rules, by, by obeying the law and they knew what the law was.

And some of these other people weren't as good as them at

following all the rules. And they believed the holy

people like themselves were better.

They really believed that and that they should separate

themselves from the unholy people, the sinners.

And here was Jesus hanging out with those people who didn't

qualify as perfect people, righteous people.

They were normal, regular, everyday people.

Can you relate to that? They weren't like the Pharisees.

So Jesus replied to them. He tells these three parables

we're going to go through this morning mainly directed to the

Pharisees, but there are other people gathered around

listening. But he was addressing this

mainly to the Pharisees who were listening with three parables

about things that were lost and then found first.

And Luke chapter 15, verses 3 through 7 is the parable of the

Luke 15:3–7

lost sheep. It says if a man has 100 sheep

and one is lost, he loses 1. He leaves the 99 to go after, to

seek after to the one, and when he finds it, he lays it on his

shoulders rejoicing. He doesn't say too bad, don't

care about you if you want to run off and get eaten by the

wolves, your decision. He goes after the one who's lost

and when he finds it rejoices. Then in Luke 15, eight through

10, he tells the next parable of of the lost coin.

Jesus said if a woman has 10 coins and loses 1, she searches

for the 1 and sweeps the house and rejoices when she finds it.

In verse 10 of chapter 15, Jesus said, I tell you there is joy

before the angels of God over 1 Sinner who repents.

When 1 Sinner repents, there's a party, there's a celebration

going on in heaven. Jesus said it, then immediately

after telling the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, he

tells the story of the lost son, the prodigal son, and the reason

he tells 3 parables. He's actually making three

different points about the heart of God.

The lost sheep shows us God actively pursues, seeks, and

goes after what is lost. He doesn't give up on it.

He doesn't not care anymore. He cares about the one.

The lost coin shows the US the value of what's lost.

Notice the coin never lost its value even when it was lost.

And the lost son shows us the Father longs to restore his

relationship with the lost. He doesn't stop loving who is

lost. And the main point of the three

parables isn't the item that's lost.

It's the attitude in the heart of the one who seeks and finds.

So this story told by Jesus in Luke 1511 through 32.

The religious leaders are standing there.

I picture them like this arms crossed, smug, arrogant,

murmuring to each other. Jesus guy.

He's not he he allows those we would never all smug, arrogant.

I picture them kind of like shaking their heads and disgust

like, you know, he's feeling better then if you ever golf

with Pastor Tim, it's just like that.

He knows he's better. Unless he's golfing with Owen.

He's not. He's not like that.

I'm kidding. He's a great, but he knows he's

he's a good golf anyway. I feel like that if you go, it's

like your ball goes that way and you look at the other people and

they're like, it's a good swing, just not a good hit.

And Jesus tells them this story. I'm going to read to you the

story of the prodigal son. It's a bit long.

It's 22 verses long. Can you stay with me?

Can you follow along? Because I want you to visualize

this story. Don't just hear it.

Picture it like a movie in your mind.

Picture this story with me as I read it.

Will you do that? Luke, chapter 15, verse 11.

Luke 15:11

Here we go. Are you ready to say yes?

Yes, and he, Jesus said there was a man who had two sons.

Are you with me? So you're sticking with me, a

man, Two sons with me. So far we're good.

You can picture this. And the younger of them said to

his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming

to me. And he divided his property

between them two sons. Not many days later, the younger

son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country.

And there, eek, he squandered his property in reckless living.

Now one translation says wild living.

You can kind of picture what we're talking about.

He was attempting to have a good time, and when he had spent

everything, a severe famine arose across the country and he

began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out

to one of the citizens of the country, who sent him into the

field to feed his pigs. Now, that sounds like a

glamorous job, but not for a Jewish young man.

OK, That's just not. That's probably like, the worst

job you can have. Not exactly fun.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.

He was so hungry. He's like, that doesn't look

bad. And no one gave him anything.

So this guy's hungry. Are you with me?

You're following the story. And when he came to himself,

this is the key. This is a turning point.

Another translation says, when he came to his senses, he said,

How many of my father's hired servants have more been up, more

than enough bread. But I perish here with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,

Father, I have sinned against heaven before and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son, so treat me as

one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his

father, But while he was still a long ways off, his father saw

him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him

again. Are you seeing this picture?

The Father runs to the Son, He sees him, he runs to him,

hugging him, embracing him, kissing him.

And the father went into or the son went into the speech that he

had prepared. He was ready.

He said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the Father said to his servants, bring quickly the best

robe and put it on, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on

his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat

and celebrate. For this my son was dead and of

alive again. He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate. Wasn't what his son expected.

Now the older son, the one who had stayed with the father, was

in the field. And he came.

And as he came, he drew near to the house and he heard music and

dancing. And he was like, what is going

on? Today's a regular work day.

There's some kind of party going on.

And he called to one of his servants and asked what these

things mean. And he said, your brother has

come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has

received him back safe and sound.

But he, the older brother, was angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated him.

I had to look up what entreated means.

It means pleaded with the father, came out and pleaded

with him, but he answered his father.

Look, these many years I have served you, and I never

disobeyed your command really. Yet you never gave me a young

goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours came, who, in case you forgot,

devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed a

fattened calf for him. And he said to him, son, you are

always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

And it was fitting and right to celebrate and be glad.

For your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found. That's the parable.

Did you, did you see that in your minds as we read it this

morning? So this story has three main

characters, three people we can relate to, the father and the

two sons. And we're going to talk about

all three this morning. We can kind of in some ways

relate to all three. I hope there's there's something

to learn from all three. The first one we're going to

look at is the prodigal son. The word prodigal.

I don't know that I really fully understood this before.

I used to kind of think like it. I knew it meant something not

good, but I thought it meant like foolish or one who ran away

or one who, you know, whatever. I thought it meant one who

returns home, something like that.

But the word prodigal literally means wasteful.

It was talking about how he handled his money.

The word prodigal means careless with money or tending to

squander resources. It'd be like the guy who calls

up Dave Ramsey. You ever listen to Dave Ramsey?

The worst ones are always on Instagram.

I was like, I got like a million in credit card debt amusement.

How did you manage to do that? But it's the kind of guy who

calls Dave Ramsey. If you picture this, this is

this is what prodigal means. And he says, hey Dave, how are

you? And let me do my he says better

than I deserve. How can I help you?

And he said, hey Dave, I'm going to pickle.

I need some advice. I have about 80,000 in credit

card debt, maybe more, maybe 100,000.

My rent takes half my take home pay.

I have a nice car but I got a big car loan.

Motorcycle loans, school loans and I didn't finish school and

Yolo. I just bought a new boat on I

mean, you only live once. God, enjoy life.

I bought a new boat on credit and now I'm in the bind.

I I don't know what to do. I don't have enough money to

make all my pay. What what should I do?

And if you know Dave, he'd probably be quiet and he would

just like shape me. But he's thinking, what an

idiot, what a fool, what a fool. When it comes to money.

He's right. I mean, I was like, you got to

try hard to be that that bad. But hey, some people do it

anyway. That's what prodigal means.

And the prodigal son story is he's the youngest son and he

comes to his father and he says, hey, Dad Pops, let's talk.

I would like my inheritance now. I don't want to wait till I'm

old. Is there any way you can give me

my inheritance now? Because I don't want to wait.

Show me the money. Let's go.

If you can give me my money now instead of later, give me my

money now. And the story says he wanted the

money, but the money wasn't what he really wanted.

What he really wanted was what the money he thought could give

him, which was freedom. He wanted independence from his

father. He wanted to make his own rules,

have a good time by his own terms, his own rules.

Get out of this father's oppression, telling me what to

do, controlling me, setting all the rules.

I want to live my own life. So the younger son wanted to go

his own way. I don't want to follow your

rules. I want to have fun, enjoy life,

be free, see ya peace out. And he had all the money he

needed to have a good time, really enjoy life.

His inheritance was in his hand. He had everything he needed to

really enjoy life, right? But what did he find?

Pain, shame, guilt, emptiness. He found he what he found was a

dissatisfying and disappointing life.

And there's a reason for it. And listen close.

The reason is the bait of sin always hides the trap of the

consequences. The Father's rules that the Son

thought was confining and restricting was actually

protecting and loving and life giving.

But sin promises freedom and delivers slavery.

Satan has a pattern for temptation and sin.

And tell me you, you can just think to yourself, have you

ever, have you ever thought, have you ever experienced this

before? You don't have to raise your

hand. You don't have to say anything,

but tell me. Just just tell me if you agree

with me, if you ever experienced this first.

The pattern for temptation and sin is Satan tempts us.

God does not tempt us. Satan tempt us with with

thoughts like nobody's going to know.

Everybody does this. This is 2026.

It's normal these days. It's not that big of a deal.

We're not talking about murder and you deserve this.

You'll enjoy this. It'll make you feel better, the

stress, whatever. But #2 Satan fails to warn us.

He fails to warn us in advance and gives us no reminder of the

consequences. He never mentions the pain

ahead, the regret ahead, the consequences ahead, and then the

Satan returns as the accuser. Look what you've chose to do.

Look what you've done. You are not a good person, to

say the least. You are a failure, a

disappointment. You're weak, you can't even

control yourself. You call yourself a Christian.

God will never forgive you and you will never change.

And the story of the prodigal son.

The younger son listened to the promise, the allure of our

country, and it sounded great. It sounded fun.

It sounded exciting. It sounded better than his

father's house. But nobody told him about the

pigpen. Nobody told him there might be

famine. Nobody said anything about

hunger. Nobody mentioned shame.

The far country in our lives is all the other ways, all the

other ways other than abiding in God.

The Father's house with him looks like freedom, but ends in

slavery and pain. Because the enemy will gladly

help you into the pigpen, gladly help you into the mess, but he

will never help you out. And many people can relate to

this guy, the prodigal son. He's messed up.

He's he's made some choices away from God, his own choices.

And he's like, now he's experiencing the consequences.

And some of us, we've chosen by the decisions we make in life to

be farther than we should be from God.

Some people are maybe way over there.

Some people are just like, I want to live in my own house on

the property, but kind of like have freedom.

But you know, you're still close by.

I'll come visit you on Sundays when the prodigal son says I am

no longer worthy to be called your son.

And we can relate to that. If you've ever thought something

like God has to be angry with me, he's disappointed with me,

my life, the choices I've made. God's not going to welcome me

back, back with all the dumb things I've done, all the dumb

decisions. And because of that thinking,

the result of believing that lie, deception by the deceiver.

People who believe that tend to stay away from home, away from

God, away from church, and even away from other godly people

because they're uncomfortable. It's like, so they ignore it,

They stay away and that's because they believe a lie.

What they believe is I'm too far gone from God.

I have made too many mistakes. My, my past is too bad.

I've made dumb choices that I regret.

And the people at church, they don't, they don't know what I've

done. I mean, they seem to have their

lives together, but me, I'm my, I'm my mess.

I need to get my life together and then go to church.

But Jesus showed us that belief is the exact opposite of the

heart of God in the heart of the Father.

Amen. The second person we can look at

in the story is the other son. Some people call him the

faithful Son. Why?

Because he didn't run off, He stayed.

He didn't run away from the Father.

So because he didn't run away from the Father, he believed he

had done quote nothing wrong. He believed that he was good.

He wasn't a bad person like his foolish brother.

He told his father, father, he proudly told his father, I never

disobeyed your commands. I followed all your rules.

So therefore I am the good one here.

That other son of yours, not so much.

But those words and his actions when his brother came home that

he refused to celebrate reveal to us his faults.

In fact, when his brother came home, he didn't even call him

his brother. He had disowned him.

He said to his father, that son of yours and say that foolish

brother, he said, that son of yours, he's no longer my

brother. He was angry.

He refused to join the celebration.

But if the faithful brother was as good as he thought he was, if

he truly had a heart like his father, he wouldn't have been

angry. He would have been the first one

to join the celebration that his lost brother had now come home.

So one brother was rebellious, but the other brother was

self-righteous. One brother struggled with

prostitutes, the other brother struggled with pride.

And if we, the church, if we have a heart like our father, if

we understand this parable, we should be the first ones to

welcome anyone at our door with open arms.

When someone who's lost is now returning home, we should be the

first ones to celebrate, to congratulate, to hug, to welcome

someone home. Amen.

The third person of the story, third of three, three people,

Part number 3, taking notes. The third person in this story

is probably the person this parable is most about, and it's

the loving father. In fact, your Bible has what's

called section headings. It'll say like the lost coin,

the lost sheep, that I mean, they're, that they're not from

the original transcript. They were added later so we

could find things easier. Some people think the story of

the prodigal son should be called the loving father or the

forgiving Father or the waiting father, but I think they

determined that lost sheep, lost coin, lost son had a better

whatever. But it's really about the

father. And let me ask you a question.

Have you ever wondered or thought about what your heavenly

Father is really like? What does God really like?

What does he, what does he really feel about me?

Does he really love me? Am I lovable?

Do I have I earned it? Am I worthy of his love?

What's he really like? What's his heart, his nature,

his character? If you've ever wondered what God

is like you, you can you can find out.

The 1st place we can look is look at Jesus in John chapter

John 14 · chapter mention

14. John was talking or Jesus was

talking to one of his disciples, Philip.

The disciples had been following Jesus for about 3 years at this

point. It was getting towards the end

of Jesus's ministry, and Philip was like, Jesus, we've seen you

do some amazing things. I mean, that time you told that

guy who'd been on the mat for 30 years to get up and walk that

that was cool. That was like, I mean, that

Lazarus thing, that was epic, right when we've seen some of

blind people could see. I mean, it's just like, wow, all

these people came, got in line and got healed.

We've seen it, Jesus. We've seen it.

But but we have one more thing, Lord, show us the Father and

then we'll be satisfied. Just one more thing.

Show us the Father. And I love Jesus's reply.

He said, Philip, I've been with you all this time.

Don't you know me? John 14 nine Jesus replied, Have

I been with you all this time, Philip?

And yet you still don't know who I am.

Anyone who has seen me, what has seen the Father?

So why are you asking me to show them to you?

I'm I'm right here. Jesus said if you have seen me,

you have seen the father. So if you want to know what God

is like, look at Jesus, read about Jesus, study Jesus.

The 2nd place we can see and know God's heart. 1 great place

is this parable. Luke chapter 15, the lost sheep,

Luke 15 · chapter mention

the lost coin, the lost son. I believe it's one of the best

examples, best lessons to get a visual picture of what the heart

of God the Father really is. And the Father in this story

never gave up. He never stopped loving.

He never gave up hope. The son who ran off, who

squandered everything, who was a fool like Dave Ramsey would say,

never stopped being loved by the Father.

He never did and never could do anything to disqualify himself

by his foolish choices. And as soon as he came to his

senses, when he chose to come back home, the father was the

first one who ran down the road to welcome his son with open

arms. And not changing this topic, but

I'll mention it here since we're talking about the father.

Sometimes people ask, this is going off topic a little bit,

we're going to come back. Sometimes people ask the

question, can a person lose their salvation?

And people go, oh, we're going to talk about this.

We go in there, let's go there. Can a person be a true son or

daughter of God, received Jesus, adopted into God's family and

lose it? And I believe Scripture

repeatedly points to the answer. I believe Luke 15 story is a

clear picture. When someone asks me, can a

person who's truly genuine saved lose their salvation?

I just ask some questions. I say, you know the story of the

prodigal son, or he goes off and he wanders off and he leaves his

father and he makes dumb choices and all those things.

Remember that story when the son was away, Was he still the

father's son? Was the father still his father?

Did the father disown his son? Did his foolish actions

disqualify him as a son? So again, that was just a side

note. Take it for what it's worth.

Chew on it, ponder it. If you have a disagreement,

that's OK. We call those minor issues in

the church, but if you do disagree strongly, you can

e-mail me at Pastor Tim Ingram at Illuminate dot Church.

Pastor Tim Ingram. I'll someone will reply, but

here's some points from the parable.

Jesus told us that we can learn about our father by looking at

the father. In this parable #1 what do we

learn about our father #1 the father watches.

Luke 1520 says while he was still a long way off, the father

saw him. Why?

Because he was looking. Can you imagine this father?

He's going about his day. I don't know how much time has

gone on. Maybe it was years, a long time

had gone by. But he every once in a while

he's going about his day. He's looking up, up the path, up

the road, at the horizon, wandering.

Maybe today's the day, hoping today might be the day my son

comes home. When he saw him, he saw him a

long ways off. He was hoping today would be the

day. He never gave up hope.

First John 48 says that God is love and 1st Corinthians 13

tells us what love is. So First Corinthians 13 really

tells us what God is. God is love.

And then First Corinthians 13, which you often hear at

weddings, says Love Is All these things.

First Corinthians 13 seven says love never gives up.

Love never loses. Hope is always hopeful and

endures through every circumstance.

And that is a perfect description of our God.

He never gives up. He always hopes Whatever you've

done, wherever you are, He hasn't given up on you.

He's looking at the horizon, hoping today's the day to come

home #2 that we can learn about the Father from this parable is

the Father runs and you're like, should I be impressed by that?

He ran. OK, Is that a big deal?

It is a big deal. It is a big deal because

something you might not know, but it's a bigger point to the

story than we realize in our culture.

But Jesus's audience would have clearly understood this is that

Middle Eastern patriarchs never run.

Men of power, honor and influence never run.

People come to them. It's it's humiliating, it's

beneath them, it's shameful, it's undignified.

To run to someone, they would have had to lift their big

robes, expose their hairy legs and run to someone.

It's just not something they do. And Jesus was telling this story

to the Pharisees who were wearing what long fancy robes?

They knew exactly what he was saying.

They're like the Father ran to him.

We would never run to someone that is beneath us.

They would have noticed this detail that we might miss in our

culture. But this little notice detail in

the story communicated that even though the Son truly did deserve

the shame, the Father accepted the humiliation in order to

restore his son. The Father was willing to take

on humiliation for the sake of his Son.

And when Jesus chose to include this detail in the story, this

was Jesus giving the listeners a clue of what God was going to do

through him for us #3 the Father restores.

The Father wasn't looking for explanation.

He was looking for a reunion. Let's read chap verses 21 and 22

as he is. And then the Father and the Son

said to him, Father, I have sinned against you in heaven and

before you. I am no longer to be called your

Son. He was giving the speech just

like he had practiced, but the Father cut him off.

He said bring quick the bass robe, put it on and put a ring

on his hand, put shoes on his feet.

The Son practice and prepared a speech, but the Father said save

it, all I care about is your home.

The father didn't ask where have you been?

He didn't say explain. He he interrupted him and said

not bring a robe. He said bring the best robe.

You're my son. The son was hoping to be a

servant, but he never lost his sonship.

The father's response wasn't condemnation, it was compassion

and celebration. And that's God's heart when we

choose, regardless of what we've done, to come home.

Isn't that amazing? I mean, God is good, God is

love. It's the exact opposite of what

the enemy says, by the way. Angry, judgy, disappointed,

that's a lie. If we go back to the prodigal

son in the story, one of the most important verses we

overlook is verse 17. It says when he came to his

senses or when he came to himself.

But when he when he came to his senses, it's one of the greatest

repentance verses and scripture. And repentance doesn't mean feel

guilty. It means waking up, opening our

eyes, coming to our senses. It means accepting that what

I've been doing isn't working and realizing life apart from

God doesn't bring happiness. To repent is turning from the

old way and turning towards God, turning towards our Father,

towards home. And when the Son discovered or

realized that there's another way, He knew there was another

option. There's a better way because

what I'm doing isn't causing me joy.

It's too much pain and shame. It's not bringing me abundant

life. Repentance began not when He

arrived home, but when He made the decision and chose to turn a

new direction towards God. And if that's you today, if

you've ever wondered, I don't know man, I've done some stuff,

Would God really welcome me? Would God forgive me?

Let me give you some good news. You don't have to wonder.

You can know why Jesus told us. It's parable.

The answer is absolutely yes, 100% yes.

Because that is our God. That's his heart for you.

So we're going to close today with two prayers.

Say 2 prayers. The first is for people who

might not be a son or daughter of God yet, but good news,

you're invited. Being a Christian doesn't mean

believing in God or in Jesus, or going to church.

Those are all things a Christian might do, but that doesn't make

you a Christian. It means you put your faith in

Jesus and you ask him to be your savior.

Because we can't save ourselves. We're not good enough, but he

is. None of us are good enough.

And for 30 years I went to church.

I believed in God, I learned all the Bible stories.

But there was one thing I hadn't done yet until I was 32 years

old. 30 years in the church and I had never done this one thing

and that was received Jesus as my savior.

But on September 15th, 1998, I prayed a prayer to receive Jesus

as my Savior, to ask him to be my savior.

My life hasn't been the same since that day, September 15th,

19. It's like it's like the before

and after. It's like 2 chapters.

My life changed that day and I went from.

I went from hoping I was good enough to knowing I would spend

eternity with God because I discovered I'm not good enough.

But I discovered He is and that's why He came to the cross.

It was for me, it was for you, it was for our sin, our debt we

could never repay. He took your place on the cross

so you can be sure it's a gift. He did it out of love and all

you need to do is receive and accept what he did for you on

the cross. The Bible says whoever believes

in his heart and proclaims with his mouth that Jesus is Lord

will be saved. Well, maybe you believe in your

heart, but maybe you've never confessed with your mouth or

maybe you've never received him in your heart as your savior.

That that that was the part I was missing.

I believed in my heart. That's like, that's like the

first step. I hadn't opened the gift.

So maybe that's you today. You believe, but maybe you've

never taken that next step. We're going to do that right

now. Everyone pray with me out loud,

heads bowed, eyes closed. Right now, pray out loud, say

Jesus. Jesus, I need you.

I can't save myself. I'm not good enough, but I

believe you are. I believe you are the Son of

God, I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I believe

you rose again from the dead. And today, right now, I receive

you as my Lord and Savior. I receive forgiveness of my

sins. You paid for me on the cross,

and I thank you for doing for me what I could never do for

myself. Amen.

All heads still down, all eyes still closed.

If you prayed that prayer today to receive Jesus and be sure to

receive that gift just like I did September 15th, 1998, I'm

going to ask you to do something bold.

You don't do anything crazy, but I'm just going to ask you to

raise your hand. When I count to three, that's

it. Just raise your hand.

Let me know. All heads are still down, all

eyes are still closed. If that's you, you prayed that

prayer to receive Jesus today as your Savior.

When I count to three, raise your hand up high. 123, put your

hands up high. We see you, we see you any

hands. So we just leave your hand up

high and Usher's going to bring you a card.

All you need is that card. When you get received that card,

you can put it back down. And if you receive that card,

we're going to close today with our prayer ministers up here.

Bring that card up here with you.

Do a prayer minister and they want to pray with you and

they'll talk about what you what to do next.

OK, you can open your eyes. I have one more prayer and I'm

going to have you stand as we do it.

Stand right now. Go ahead and stand.

And that's for people that you know.

You are a believer in Jesus, You receive Jesus, you're saved,

you're a Christian. Hallelujah.

But you've been living apart from God, You haven't been

abiding with the Father. You've been doing your own

things, your own way. And the result is you're not

experiencing A satisfying life, abundant life, peace.

And for some people, it's been a St. a long time.

And today is the day God is calling you.

God is inviting you. Come home.

There's another way, a better way.

Today's the day to return. Satan says you've messed up, run

from the father, stay away. But that's a lie.

The truth is God is saying come home, I welcome you.

I can't wait. I love you like crazy.

I can't wait. If you take a step towards me,

my arms are open wide. So this morning we're going to

close with a song and and prayers we're going to take.

We're going to give the opportunity to take the first

step towards the Father. Our prayer ministers are up here

and I welcome you. If you want to return home

today, return to the Father, come to the Father, return home.

Then start coming up right now to pray with the prayer

minister. Come forward, make your way down

now. If you're in the mezzanine, come

down. If you're in the mezzanine, come

down. Pray with our prayer ministers.

If you're in the back, come forward.

Coming to church isn't about entertainment or sitting in a

seat. Coming into a church is to

connect you or reconnect you to the one who gives us life and

forgiveness and love and joy and so much more.

Don't be deceived. Don't let fear stop you.

Don't let the enemy stop you. Be courageous.

Come forward right now. Come forward.

Pray. Find a prayer minister.

Church, celebrate. We welcome them home.

Lord, thank you that you love us so much.

You never give up on us. If you raise your hand for

salvation today, come up and pray.

If you want to return home to the Father today, come home and

pray. Come home and pray.

God's like God's here. Take a step.

He's going to welcome you. He's not judging you.

Come up front. Thank you God, that we can run

to the Father.