The Father who waits

How's everybody doing today?

We good?

Well, my name is Pastor Joe.

I am the student pastor here.

I want to say, Pastor Rick told me to let you guys know that he loves you.

He sends his greetings, and he said he'll be back in a couple weeks and he's ready to start the new sermon series.

But for today, you got me, so suck it up, alright?

But as we get started, I like to do things to kind of help me feel comfortable.

So if we could all stand up, and depending on how this goes, it's gonna depend on how the sermon goes, okay?

So if y'all do well, we'll get done short.

If y'all don't, we're gonna be here all day.

Alright?

So I hope you had a good breakfast.

Uh so this is what we're gonna do.

I want the men to start out, okay?

All the men, let me hear you shout.

Let me hear you shout.

Okay.

Men are gonna start, and then I'm gonna have the ladies join in.

So, men, I want you to sing this song with me.

Lean on me.

When you're not strong, come on, and I'll be up.

Come on, get it.

I'll help you, K.

Alright, ladies, jump in.

Lean on me.

When you're not strong, and I'll be up.

Y'all sound beautiful.

And I'll help you, K.

Alright, I need a solo, babe, babe.

No.

Alright, never mind.

Y'all can be seated.

Alright, look, look, now we're family here, okay?

So we gotta act like family.

So I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, you look good.

Alright, turn to the other neighbor and say, neighbor, you look even better.

Like I said, I'm the student pastor here, and uh I like to have fun.

Um and we're gonna get into the word today.

And God has given me a message.

And I just want to say before we get started, worship was so good.

Like I, you know, obviously I get to do worship, and it's great doing that, but like being out there and just seeing your guys' hands raised and seeing you guys singing like worship, like, oh my gosh, like it touched my soul.

And like just the love of the Father.

That's what we're gonna be talking about today.

God's love for us.

Um, and as we get started, I have a picture.

We can put this on the wall.

This is me with this magnificent afro, right?

Some of y'all, y'all know, some of y'all may know this word.

It's called nappy, all right?

Yeah, some of y'all know what I'm talking about, right?

It's where you can't get a comb through your hair, right?

Some of y'all have beautiful hair and it just comes right through.

Mine didn't do that, okay?

It's like it gets stuck, okay?

So, growing up, my mom would pick out my hair at nighttime, right before I went to bed, because she knew in the morning, one, she wasn't gonna wake up, and two, I didn't want to, I don't want to go to school crying, okay?

So my mom would pick my hair at night, and the kids would make fun of me.

They'd say, uh, Joe, because I would sleep on this and I'd wake up and just go to school, right?

So some of y'all know what I'm talking about.

I would wake up and one side of my hair would be just straight.

Like, y'all know kid and play, like it would just be a high top, and the other side would be beautiful and round, right?

And the kids would say, I bet I know what side of the bed you slept on.

Like, no, you don't.

They said, Yeah, you slept on that side.

How do you know?

I said, because your hair's flat, right?

So I had this huge afro, and kids would throw stuff in there, erasing.

Like, one time I got a haircut, and just erasers and and spitballs flew out of my hair.

My uncle's like, What is going on?

It just kids were mean, right?

Some kids are still mean today.

My little cousin, she's very mean.

Uh, but I grew up in a time where afros were awesome.

And me and my brother were the only ones that had an afro.

And uh I was in class one day and school was about to start, and I was looking for my pencil.

And I started digging in other people's stuff.

I'm like, man, who's got my pencil?

It was a mechanical pencil.

It wasn't just a number two, it was a mechanical.

So I'm like looking at stuff, my teacher's yelling at me, like, sit down.

I'm like, no, somebody's got my pencil.

And then all the kids start pointing at me, laughing.

I'm like, what are y'all laughing at?

I had lost my pencil in my afro, right?

So uh today we're talking about people who are lost and needing to be found, right?

Jesus in Luke chapter 15 is talking about three things that were lost and were found.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

So let's go to chapter 15 of Luke, and we're gonna start out in verse 15.

But before we do that, I want to pray and just ask God to move.

So let's pray.

Dearly Father, God, I thank you.

Lord, that we can run to you.

God, and that you will never turn your back on us.

God, you know who's here, and and Lord, that they were supposed to be here.

And um, God, they need to see your heart for them.

God, they need to know that you love them so much.

So, God, as we get into the word, hide me behind the cross.

God, so that only you are seen and only you are heard.

God, we love you and we thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I want to let y'all know before I get started, too, that uh I my my friends back home they call me a weeping preacher.

All right, I cry about everything.

Um, but that's okay.

So if you see me crying, just keep it moving.

Don't worry about me, I'll be all right.

Uh so let's go to Luke chapter 15, verse 1.

Luke 15:1

We're gonna get some context.

It says this Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him.

And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, The man, this man receives sinners and eats with them.

So he spoke to them in a parable saying this.

Uh so first thing I want you guys to realize is Jesus is for everybody, right?

Jesus is for everybody.

So he's he's talking to Pharisees, and then the next thing you know, a bunch of people, misfits, start showing up to the service.

Right?

They it it would have been in our times, it would have been the bikers or uh the people who were in strip clubs or the alcoholics or the drug addicts, the people that you don't usually see in church.

Jesus is for everybody.

Like he he was willing to eat with them because he loved them.

Jesus didn't just come for those who look good, who got their suit on, right, who got it all together.

He came for the sick, for the hurting, for the sinner.

So we see who Jesus is talking about.

Uh the first thing I want to I want to turn to uh verse 11 and 12, and it says this.

Then he said, A certain man had two sons.

The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.

So he divided to them his livelihood.

The first thing in your outline is this we see the son's demand.

We see the son's demand.

Point A is this it was a selfish demand.

So the the son comes in and he's saying, Father, give me a portion of your goods, right?

I want my inheritance now.

I remember I was 17 years old, and my mom had gotten to some trouble, and I had to move out of the house.

I I never had a job, I didn't have my license, like my life was just a wreck.

I didn't know what to do, and I got a phone call from my brother's dad, and he came and got me, he said, You're gonna live with me.

So I remember he picked me up, I got my bags, and I to set the tone, like I was born kind of you know in a rough area.

We didn't have a lot of money, okay?

So we were kind of poor, and I get picked up, and he takes me to his house, and it was like a scene from The Fresh Prince.

Like I have this song in the back that I want them to play.

Uh but this is what it felt like to Roles' house.

Can we get that song playing?

I pulled to the house about seven of Marine and I yelled to the cabin.

Yo, homes clear later.

Look at my kingdom.

I was finally there.

Cut it off, cut it off, cut it off, cut it off.

We're not gonna do that in church.

But but I grew up I I came to this house and I'm like, yo, like I have made it.

Like it was a two-story house.

There was a top floor and a bottom floor.

I'm like, what is this?

There were two bathrooms.

I had my own room and a washer and dryer.

Like, yo, I made it.

And the first weekend, being there, his dad, I used to call him Pops, uh, he gave us money for the movies.

And I'm like, yo, I am here.

I made it.

Then the second weekend happened.

He gave us more money for the movies.

I'm like, yo, I'm rich, right?

The third weekend came.

We came with our hands out, and he gave us a high five.

Like, no, no, no, no.

It's time for the movies.

He's like, no, I mean, you need to get you a job.

A J-O-B.

I'm like, a job?

Like, I don't even know how to spell job.

Like, what do you mean?

Right?

And he said, like, no, I'm not giving you any money.

Like, back up.

And I'm thinking in my head, and I didn't say this to him because Pops was a big guy, right?

He bench pressed 300 pounds.

I wasn't gonna say this, I would have got slapped in the next Tuesday.

But I'm thinking to myself, like, you got enough money for me and you.

Like, like, ain't that why you go to work, like to take care of my needs?

Right?

I was being so selfish in my mind.

I'm like, I'm thinking to myself, like, I want what you got.

The prodigal son is saying to his father, I know you worked hard for what you have.

But I want what I want.

And that sounds to me like some of our kids in here, right?

Like, yeah, I know some of y'all's kids, like, they think you're made out of money.

Okay, they don't understand work ethic.

But the son didn't care about that.

And so when we think about the context of the story, right, in the Middle Eastern culture, him taking one-third of his father's goods would have been land, would have been livestock, would have been crops, right?

He's basically wanting one-third of his family's business.

And he's not caring what type of pressure that's gonna put on his family.

He was only thinking about himself, and I know sometimes that's how we are, right?

If we're if we're totally honest, like when I got married, I didn't really, I thought I was so selfless.

I'm like, man, like I am the most selfless guy there is, right?

Then I got married, and I have realized it's taking some time, but I realized I am so selfish.

Like, I wake up and I'm thinking about me.

I'm thinking about my needs, right?

The son didn't care about his father.

He wanted what his father could give him.

Point B is this that it was a separating demand.

What do I mean by that?

We know that inheritances are tied to a person.

Okay?

When somebody passes away, then you get your portion of inheritance.

He didn't want that.

He wanted it right now, he didn't care what it would cost him.

And so as I'm looking at this, I'm thinking to myself, like, all he wanted was riches.

He wanted riches over a relationship with his father.

Right?

And that's how we can be sometimes.

Like I've seen people who basically they get saved and then they put Jesus in their back pocket.

Like they want what God offers without God, they want all the things, the blessings, uh, the everything that God can give without the relationship.

The son didn't care about a relationship with his father.

He was basically telling him, You're dead to me.

Like, I want riches over a relationship.

Romans 125 says this that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever and ever.

Amen.

Like church, sometimes we're pursuing these things, and in our pursuit of these things, we're saying that we don't want God.

Like, I want an iPhone, and I want all that the iPhone can give me more than a relationship with God.

Right?

Basically, what this text is saying that that we elevate things over God, that we elevate his creation, the things that he's created over the creator.

Which takes me to point C.

That this was a silly demand.

Right?

The son wanted a portion of the goods.

Right?

I I heard somebody say this before.

They said, uh, why would you want a slice of a pie when you could have the whole thing?

The son had access to everything that the father had, yet he just wanted a portion of what he had.

That's crazy to me.

Right?

And it makes me think about when I was a teenager, I just wanted to be on my own.

I wanted to have my own house, my own car.

I just wanted to do my own thing.

And then my first bill came.

I was like, what is this?

Like, what do I do with this?

And my roommate's like, you you pay it.

Like, no, I don't want to do that, right?

And so I paid that bill.

All right, well, I'm done with that.

Then another bill came.

I'm like, what is going on?

Like, I didn't know there was such thing as bills when I lived in my parents' house.

I didn't see that side.

All I saw was is things were happening, right?

Right.

I saw there were lights, there was water, right?

Everything I needed was coming to me.

But what happens when we get outside of the Father's house?

In the same sense as Christians, everything we need is with God the Father.

And yet we go outside of Him to try to find something.

It's like, no, no, no.

Everything I need is already here.

My provision, all the things that I could ever want.

God has.

Right?

I've heard somebody say it like this that we have a God-sized hole in our heart.

And what we do is we we go for partying to fill it, and then we're still empty.

We go for relationships to fill it, and we're still empty.

We go for all the money we could get, and then we get it, and that's still not enough.

Everything that we need is with the Father.

Point two is this.

We're gonna go to verse 13 and 16, but the second point is we see the sons fall.

So verse 13 says, And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

But when he had spent all, there arose a famine in the land, and he began to be in want.

Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he and he sent him into the fields to feed the swine, and he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

So the son journeys off.

He has his one-third of inheritance right away, and he goes and he blows it.

Right?

He would have been the guy at the party that's buying everybody's drinks.

Everybody loves this guy like he's got it all, right?

He's got the mansion, he's doing everything he wanted to do.

And then he goes broke.

He's that guy at the casino that bets it all and loses everything.

And if that wasn't bad enough, then a famine happened, right?

And I'm thinking about this, like when we chase sin, it only leads to more sin, right?

Sin only gets darker, it doesn't get lighter.

Okay, so the sun is chasing after sin and he gets it.

But then that's not enough.

And then he's chasing more and more and more and to the point where he has nothing left.

And in my mind, I'm thinking, well, it's time to go back home.

Right?

You done spent everything, go back home.

And he doesn't do that.

Right?

Sometimes shame will keep you from coming back to the Father.

I've heard so many people say, I when I get myself together, then I'll come back to God.

When sin is less fun, then I'll come back to God.

So the son continues to the point that he's feeding pigs.

And so, in context, Jewish people did not feed pigs.

They did not do life with pigs, right?

They didn't own pigs.

Pigs were seen as ceremonial unclean.

Okay.

So he's feeding them, but he gets so low that he begins to eat what they eat.

Right?

And I don't know if you guys know anything about pigs, but I grew up in Indiana.

Uh, there's farms everywhere, and I helped some guys with pigs, and they basically eat anything and everything.

It doesn't matter what it is.

You put it in front of them, they're gonna eat it.

Okay, so this uh this makes me think about what is the son even eating?

Right?

I'm sure he doesn't even know what kind of slop he's eating.

Sin is gonna take you further than you ever thought you would go.

Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.

And sin is gonna take everything that you have.

Now I'm thinking in this story, what got him so low?

What was so important that he would leave his father?

And it's this point A is this a false sense of freedom.

Right?

He wanted to be out of his father's house.

He didn't want any rules.

So, what is freedom?

The definition of freedom is this the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

The son was chasing freedom.

And maybe you're like me, right?

Maybe you're that way sometimes too, where you think less rules equals more freedom, right?

If I could just do what I want, then I'll be free.

Right?

You know how I knew I was selfish when I got married?

I wasn't able to do what I wanted, and that made me mad.

Like, man, if I want to watch TV all night, I want to do that.

If I want to play hours of Fortnite, I don't play Fortnite, I'm not good at that.

But if I want to play video games, let me do it.

Like, I want to be free.

Don't tell me what and what I can do and what I can't do.

Right?

It caused a lot of arguments in my marriage because I was trying to be what I thought was freedom.

Doing what I wanted without anybody telling me what to do.

The Son was chasing the world's idea of freedom.

1 John 2, 15 says this do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Verse 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of this world.

And the world is passing away in the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

See, true freedom is not being able to do whatever you want.

Right?

That that actually is anarchy, right?

If we had a whole world, just everybody doing what they wanted, we'd have a whole bunch of Hitlers.

That's just it.

Like, if we had like we would have a world full of chaos if everybody Was doing whatever they wanted without any accountability.

Right?

What happens in life when you just say what you want to your spouse?

Right?

When they say, does this dress make me look nah, nah, nah, nah.

I'm not gonna say nothing, okay?

You look good, baby.

That's it, right?

What happens when we say what we want without accountability?

We get in trouble.

I had a coworker of mine back in Ohio, and he was, we were talking about uh one of my friends, and he had said, yeah, he said something crazy.

I'm not even gonna repeat it.

But he said something about my friend that was like over the top.

He lost his job.

Okay, my friend was Hispanic, and he said something crazy, and he lost his job for what he was saying, right?

There is accountability for what we say.

Because if we could just do what we want, then we're gonna be hurting people.

We're gonna be choosing to sin, right?

The sun was chasing after this false sense of freedom.

But I want to key in on verse 17.

It says, and the world is passing away, and the lust of it.

The sun was chasing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the proud of life.

He was getting everything that he could want, and it wasn't leading him towards God.

Right?

It was leading him further away.

So he was chasing after power and pleasure and popularity and possessions and position.

Church, I want to remind you that those things aren't what make you free.

Having all the money in the world doesn't make you free.

Having all the girls or guys in the world doesn't make you free.

But in turn, what it does is makes you a slave.

The Bible talks about you're either a slave to righteousness or you're a slave to sin.

And we just saw what sin does to us, right?

It robs us of everything.

The son was not free, he was a slave to sin.

And that sin pulled him down.

And so I want to really encourage you today, like if you think chasing after things is gonna make you free, it's not.

And I'll be real honest with you.

When I was a teenager, I thought lust, like I thought having any girl like it I wanted, or watching anything I wanted was gonna lead to me being free.

And what it turned into was a struggle with pornography that was just killing my life.

Right?

Sometimes more freedom is more slavery.

The more I was free to watch pornography, the more I became a slave to it.

The more free I was to chasing after women, the more I felt like I needed that to sustain me.

Church, I don't know if you're chasing after possessions, I don't know if you're chasing after money or you want somebody to know your name.

But if that's what you're chasing after, that's what's gonna make you a slave.

That's what's gonna be your master.

And if it isn't God, it's gonna be a terrible master.

Uh Jason has said it to me one time that when we try to make things our God, they are terrible gods.

But if we allow God to be our God, that's where it's at.

So if true freedom doesn't come from doing what you want, what does it come from?

Point B is this true freedom is found in discipline.

I was talking to Pastor Eli and we were talking about guitars, right?

There's a sense of freedom if you buy a guitar and you don't train, like you can just do what you want.

But you know what happens when that that kid or that adult gets a guitar and they're just jamming away, right?

It sounds awful.

Or the kid who gets the drum set, right, and they're and it's just garbage, right?

They may think they're free, and yes, they can do what they want, but it's not that good.

But what happens when you take hours and hours to train on that instrument?

We got some of the best instrumentals around here, right?

Sean plays that guitar like crazy.

Ella is awesome at piano, right?

But they have spent time training on their instrument to get to a place where they can be free to play more songs.

When we discipline our body, when we discipline our mind, that's where true freedom comes from.

And I'm not just saying discipline for the sake of discipline, right?

I'm saying spiritual discipline.

Right?

When we get ourselves in a place where we're in God's word daily, that leads to a freedom.

Okay?

It's not that we're we're doing discipline or we're training for the sake of training.

We're not doing that.

We're not just reading our Bible to say, ah, checked it off.

Look at me.

Right?

No.

Like we're reading our Bible so that we can come to know God better.

That we can know Him deeper.

Right?

When my wife and I first started dating, our relationship was so shallow.

Like we just, well, it's a beautiful day.

The clouds are clouds, like, right?

It was so shallow, you know?

You think I'm joking, but it was really rough.

You know, but but as we grew together, as I made time to spend with my wife, I got to know her a little deeper.

I got to know her a little better, and our love grew.

Are you reading your Bible, church?

Are you setting aside time to get along with God?

Right?

Not just to say you did it, okay, but because from it, we get to know God better.

We get to know who He is.

I want to give you three things that if you'll do this, it's gonna help you be truly free from sin and from what the world wants you to believe, right?

If you'll do these three things, the first is this to read, believe, and memorize God's word.

The Bible says that it is a lamp unto our feet, right?

It shows us the way to go.

Are you reading God's word?

The second thing is this to pray.

Are you praying?

Are you having now I'm not just saying like, are you asking God for things?

There's a time for that, but are you spending time just talking to God, just trying to hear what he has to say?

I remember I heard this guy talking about his relationship with his daughter.

And when she was little, all she ever did was ask her dad for things.

Sounds like some of our kids, right?

She just wanted things from her dad, but then she moved out.

And he got a call from her.

And he's thinking, oh man, what does my daughter want now?

She said, No, I don't want anything.

I just want to hear your voice.

I just want to talk to you.

I just want to spend time with my father.

As we grow in our relationship with God, as we grow in reading his word, it's what it'll lead us to is wanting to just spend time with Abba Father.

Right?

Not just asking him for things, but but just wanting to know what he thinks about me.

Is he proud of me?

Like, like I just want to know what God thinks about me.

And the third thing is this to have accountability.

Right?

We need to always have somebody that we can just be totally honest with.

That we can just say how we're feeling when you can't say it with your church folks, right?

When you could just be totally honest, and that person's not just gonna be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're good.

Right?

But they're gonna tell you what you need to hear.

And as I'm looking at this story, I'm thinking to myself, what would the story have been like if the brother would have stopped, the older brother would have stopped the younger brother and held him accountable?

If he would have said, no, no, no, no.

Wait until our father passes to get your inheritance.

No, stay with the father.

There is more here than out there in that world.

What would have happened if he had accountability?

Listen, the Bible says this if you isolate yourself, it says that you hate yourself.

Right?

God did not make us to be alone, but he made us for a relationship with him and with others.

We need accountability in our lives.

I, my friends and I, we did this study in college, and it was on these pastors, and it was an interview on what happened to them when they cheated on their wives.

Like, what was going on before they cheated on their spouse?

And there were about 10 pastors, and every single one of them, they stopped having a daily quiet time with God, or they stopped getting in their Bibles.

Two, they stopped praying, and three, they had no accountability.

These three things, if they're absent in our lives, are gonna lead to us being prodigals.

They're gonna lead to us being in far country, and then one day we're gonna look out like, how did I get here?

How did I end up so deep in this sin?

Like I thought I would never get to this point.

But it happens when we're not in God's word, we're not praying, and we don't have somebody that we can be just totally honest with.

But good thing the story doesn't end here.

If we can go to uh verse 17 through 19, and we're gonna look at the son's return.

It says this, but when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired hands or his hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger.

Verse 18, I will rise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants.

And he arose and came to the Father.

Sin had brought him so low, like the lowest of lows, chasing after this freedom, got him nothing.

Then he came to himself.

And as I was thinking about this, like this just shows a glimpse of God's heart.

That even the servants, even the slaves in the Father's house had it better than this son who thought he was free.

The Bible talks about it.

Jesus said, the least in heaven is greater than the greatest on earth.

Listen, church, sin is not going to fulfill you.

Chasing after this false sense of freedom is not going to fulfill you.

It's when we chase after God that life really gets good.

I know I got some seasoned Christians in here that you have tasted and seen that God is good, and you know that there is no turning back.

Right?

You have decided in your heart that I'm going to follow Jesus because what the world gave me was not good.

But everything the Father gave me was more than enough.

The Son came to himself and he said, You know what?

Even the slave is getting a better life than me.

Come on, church.

Anyone who's in church, anybody who knows Christ has it way better than anyone in the world who has riches and gold.

Church, we got it good.

Like God is so good.

I remember when COVID was happening, and I was thinking about people who didn't have a church body to lean on.

Like, I don't know how they made it through.

Because those were some dark days.

Like I love people.

And I was suppressed being locked in my house, but when I had church and I could go and be with my brothers and sisters in Christ, like, man, that was so good.

The son realized just how good it was to be in the Father's house.

Even being a slave.

So he decided to get up and head home.

And as I was doing my research, the son's mindset wasn't one of humility.

What he was saying is, I'm gonna come home and I'm gonna work my way back to the Father.

Listen, somebody's here today, and you've been trying to earn God's favor.

You've been trying to earn a right to stand next to God.

You've been trying to earn his love.

Maybe you you've fallen into sin and you're thinking that I have to do something good to get back to God's good side.

But God is saying, no, come to me as you are, and I'll clean you up.

See, as Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and the sinners and tax collectors, the sinners and tax collectors would have thought, yeah, that's right.

I need to do some good things, and then God will love me.

We're gonna continue in the story, and we're gonna see how Jesus shocked all of his audience.

Let's turn to verse 20.

And it says this.

And he arose and came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servant, Bring out the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it.

Let us eat and be merry, for this this is my son who was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they began to be merry.

The son was coming home to earn his relationship with his father.

See, there is a ceremony in Jewish culture that is called Kezekah.

And basically, this ceremony, if somebody was to take their inheritance and lose it to Gentiles, whenever they would try to return home, the old men at the gate, the elders, would take this vase and they would break it at that person's feet.

And this was a symbol to say that you're cut off.

Like you cannot enter this community anymore.

Like you don't belong here.

So it makes sense that the father was looking for when his son would return home.

Because he was ready to run.

He was ready to be the first one to his son.

He was ready to be the first one to reconcile with his son so that his son could come back home.

So the father sees his son, and I imagine in the store that the son is preparing his speech.

Dad, I'm sorry, I don't belong.

No, that's not gonna work.

Father, I what am I gonna say?

And as he's walking up, the father sees him from afar, and he takes off running.

Now, in Jewish culture, the men did not run.

They wore these long robes, so in order for the father to run, he would have had to pull up his robe and take off.

Now, in that time, the men did not show their legs.

That was a disgrace.

But he picked up his robe and he took off running after his son.

We sang that song, Reckless Love.

Because we have a God who would do whatever it took to get us.

He was willing to let his son die the death that we deserve.

So that we could have a relationship with him.

The father did not care what the elders were going to say about him.

Oh, just to get my son.

He just wanted his son to be okay.

He didn't care about how his son would have smelled, even though his son was feeding pigs and eating what they ate.

He ran and he kissed his son and he hugged him.

See, the father was compassionate.

And I remember being a youth leader at a church camp.

And there was a girl at the time that I had loved.

And I remember she had told me some things that had happened in her life.

And I remember being so hurt.

And I took off running.

And I hid away.

And I remember being in this little uh little alley, and I'm just there bawling and I'm crying and just snot everywhere.

I'm just a mess.

And five minutes later, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

And I looked up and it was Pastor Rick.

And I remember thinking I was in trouble.

But he just sat down next to me.

Me and I remember seeing him crying, and he just kept saying, Joe, I'm so sorry that this happened to you.

I'm so sorry that you had to go through this thing, and I I wish I could take your pain away.

But I just want you to know that I'm here, that I love you, that I'm for you.

Listen, church.

God is not worried about where you've been.

He's not worried about the mess that you've made for yourself.

He's saying, I want my child to be okay.

I want you to know that I'm here, that I love you.

I know you took off and I know you ran from me.

But I love you.

And you have a place here with me.

Whenever you're ready to come home, you have a place here with me.

Listen, this story, we get to see the heart of the Father, and it's one of compassion.

Listen, God is not far off away from you, that He doesn't know what's going on in your life.

God is so near that He can see you.

That He can stand next to you and say, I'm here, it's alright.

And I don't know if you're here today, and maybe you don't have a relationship with God.

Maybe today could be that day for you.

That you can be like this son in the prodigal story, that you get to come home and you see that the Father runs to you.

Come on, you don't have to clean yourself up to come to God.

He says, Come as you are.

Or maybe you've been in church for a long time.

Yet you've been far from God.

You don't hear him like you used to.

Maybe you don't feel him like you used to.

Maybe you don't feel that connection you used to have with him like you did before.

God's saying, just come home to me.

Listen, church, God loves you.

He's for you.

He wants a relationship with you.

He doesn't want to just save you for eternity.

He wants to have a relationship with you now.

And everything that we can get from God is so much better than anything this world has to offer.

I heard a man say it like this that I can chase after things, but I'll miss God.

But if I chase after God, I'll never miss a thing.

Listen, church, everything you need is in the Father.

Everything you need is in the Father.

And so, as we have a time of altar, what I want to say is this let's make repentance a normal thing.

Let's make coming and confessing sin a normal thing.

Listen, church, I don't care what kind of clothes you're wearing today.

I don't care if you think you're this or that.

Look, God wants you to come and give everything you have to Him.

He says, Cast your cares on me because I care for you.

God loves a broken and contrite heart.