Pastor Malachi Maillot | House Rules | September 21st, 2025

It's good to be in church.

Amen.

Thank you, worship team.

Can we just give it up for the worship team?

They're amazing.

Van just can't get away.

She knows this.

Every youth night she's up there for like 45 minutes.

So just getting you better at piano, okay?

Hey, can you turn with me to Luke 15, 11?

We're gonna read all the way to 32.

Gonna kind of dive right in this morning.

Luke 15.

This is Jesus.

He's uh you've if you've been in church, you've probably heard this passage preached on.

Um I pray today that even though you've maybe heard it preached on before, that something new would uh stick out to you this morning, that you'd be reminded, uh, and God would speak to you.

Amen.

Five of you are ready.

That's okay.

We'll get there.

Jesus says this.

He says, uh, there was a man with two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Give me the share of my property uh that is coming to me.

And he divided his property between the two sons.

Not many days later, the son, uh the younger son, gathered all he had and took a journey to a far country where he squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

In verse 15, it says, So he went out and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the field to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Verse 17 says, When he came to himself, when he realized what was happening, uh, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I will perish here in hunger?

I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and I have sinned before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

So he began rehearsing this over and over and over, his speech to his father.

And then it says in verse 20, he arose and he came to his father.

And what?

But while he was a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt compassion.

He began to run towards his son, he embraced him and kissed him.

And then his son says to him, he begins rehearsing that speech.

He says, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

And the father just doesn't listen to him.

Instead, he says to his servants, he says, Bring the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand and the shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it.

And let us eat and celebrate.

For my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found, and then began to celebrate.

Let's pray this morning, Father.

God, I uh I thank you so much for just this place, God, this church.

God, I thank you for your spirit.

I thank you for that person's ringtone going off.

God, I thank you for your Holy Spirit being in this room right now.

God, we invite you into this place.

God, would you speak to us?

God, would you let our ears be open this morning?

Let us not be distracted.

Let us just be able to lean into what you have to say.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Somebody say amen.

Amen.

Hey, thank you, Van.

You can uh give it up for Van.

She's awesome.

She's awesome.

Uh I I don't know if you've ever uh had this happen.

I I hope so, because you probably need to get out more if you haven't.

But have you ever been invited to someone's place for the very first time?

Anybody?

You've been a stranger in someone's house before?

Anybody been a stranger in someone's house before?

For the first time you can remember back.

Um what did you do when you first arrived?

When did you what did you do?

Did you just kind of like waltz in?

You didn't knock on the door, did you leave your shoes on?

Maybe in America you do that, but you left your shoes on, you walked through the house, and uh, you know, you just like invited yourself into the place and you walked upstairs and you started, you know, you went to their bedroom and like, oh see, I knew they didn't make their bed this morning, right?

And you start like walking along the the railings, oh, there's dust everywhere, man.

I think this is this is what happens when when uh ladies have people over, they start cleaning the entire house as if someone's gonna do that, right?

Like walk into the room, oh they didn't clean this, they didn't clean that.

But you don't do that, right?

You don't do that in a stranger's house.

You would probably never be invited back.

It would be incredibly awkward, and they would probably ask you to leave, right?

Like, please don't do that in someone's house.

Um But when you're a stranger in someone's house, right, what happens?

You you go to the house, you do what?

You knock on the door, right?

You wait to be let in.

You you probably take your shoes off at the door, you you hang your coat up, or you uh, if they're really formal, they hang their your coat up for you.

Uh, you know, you wait on the host to invite you through the house tour, right?

As long as everything is clean, right?

Otherwise, they'll avoid certain rooms.

Um, but they invite you to sit at the table, they invite you to sit in the living room, they they offer you a coffee, they offer you something to eat, right?

And you afterwards you wait for the dishes to be taken away, and you you wait on the host.

And and there's this opposite side is when you're a child in the house.

It's completely different, right?

When if you if anybody can remember back uh when you were a child, uh, or maybe you're uh a kid today and you know this, that you have privileges as a child when you're not a stranger in the house, right?

Like you have what I like to call fridge privileges.

You can walk, you don't need to like when you come home, you're not knocking on the door, please let me in, sir.

Like, no, you're not doing that.

You're just you're waltzing in.

You go to your own room in the house, you you probab you should take your shoes off.

Uh, some kids just like like kick them off and throw them, right?

Like any kids do that?

Any kids in the house?

Come on, where are you?

I'm exposing you.

One guy said, Yeah, it's me, right?

But you you go to the fridge and you open it up, you don't ask your parents, may I have some no, you just you just start eating whatever you feel like eating, and you have these privileges.

At the same time, there's still rules in the house, right?

Who has like a certain uh like list of house rules in their house?

Like you have house rules.

I don't know if you've ever played a game before and you like add rules to the board game, you call it a house rule, right?

And so there's house rules that apply.

Hopefully, there's house rules that apply.

Um, you know, if you're in Canada, you you take your shoes off at the door, right?

You don't track in dirt through the house where your your mom just freshly vacuumed the carpet.

You take your shoes off.

You don't leave the door open as you walk in.

You do what?

You shut the door, especially when the AC's on, right?

It's the most frustrating thing when someone leaves the door open.

Or uh when my wife leaves the windows open and the AC's on.

I'm just like I'm sitting there and I'm and it's so passive aggressive.

I'll just be sitting there, I'll be like, hey, uh is the AC on?

And she'll kind of like go over to the window and start closing it.

She won't say anything.

I'm just trying to air out the house.

Okay, I get it, I get it.

But we don't leave the lights on when we leave the room.

That's what I do.

That's what annoys my wife.

So I'm telling on myself, okay, it's it goes both ways.

Don't touch the thermostat.

Anybody?

Any dads in here like, yeah, don't touch my thermostat.

That is a sacred holy ground.

Oh, you have to be a dad to be able to do that, okay?

Clean up after yourself, right?

Help with the dishes.

The the person who cooks doesn't clean up.

Anybody else have that rule in their house?

Sometimes it doesn't get upheld.

Uh, take out the garbage, that's one of my jobs.

Clean up after the dog, mow the lawn, right?

But when you're a child in the house, you have freedoms, right?

Within limits, hopefully.

Right?

But you you have a different freedom than if a stranger coming into your house.

If a stranger comes into your house and starts rearranging your furniture, you're probably gonna ask them, like, what are you like, what are you doing?

Get out of my house.

Right?

Like that's it, that's insane.

You don't you don't go to someone's house and just start like move.

I wish, you know, maybe we should move the TV in the bathroom, right?

That would be better for you.

No, no, no.

Like, don't touch my TV, get out of my house.

But when you're a child in the house, you just waltz in.

You go to your room, you have your own space, you have these privileges, but there's rules to the house.

And I think uh for us, we kind of we understand this on a physical level, we understand this on like a reality level, like because we've we've gone through that, but I think oftentimes uh we treat God's house like we are strangers in it.

Right?

We often we often sometimes feel like we're strangers in the house of God.

And I think a lot of us we we act like that because it's a default of ours.

We may say, you know, we may say with our words, and we may, you know, part of our maybe even our faith will actually, hey, you know, I'm a child of God, but sometimes we don't actually act like it.

We say that we're children of God, but we don't always act like we're children of God.

Some of us are are timid, some of us are scared to go in.

We wait outside and we knock on the door.

Can we come in?

Are we allowed to come in?

Am I worthy to come in?

Is this okay, God, if I come in?

And I think some of us we we think that way, and we're waiting to be let in to the house of God.

I want to come back to this passage in in Luke.

Uh, Jesus he tells two parables and then he tells a third, and it's about these two sons.

One of the sons is is obviously more highlighted than the other, uh, but that doesn't mean there's not a lesson in both.

But I want to talk about the first son first.

Uh, the first son, he demands his inheritance from his father.

He he essentially rebels against his father.

And and I could say this, it's a strong language, but he essentially, by doing this, he disowns his father.

He disowns his father.

Taking his inheritance was kind of like saying, You're dead to me.

I I am no longer in requirement of you in my life.

I want what's owed to me.

I want what is owed to me, what is promised to me.

And and this is a huge statement.

It's a huge thing for this son to do.

And then he goes away, it says this the scripture says that he he proceeds to live wildly.

Uh he squanders his property and reckless living, he's partying it up, he's blowing through all of his money, and the son lived as if there was no rules.

There was no rules applied to his life.

And what happens is it leads him to a place where he's he finds himself with absolutely nothing.

He le it leads him to a place of destitute, it leads him to a place of desperation.

And as as Jesus was telling this story, he talks, he talks about how he went to the pigs.

And and the Jewish audience that was that was listening was appalled by this, right?

Because the the being even near a pig, they were completely uh it was unclean, right?

And so it it really shows us this contrast of how far this son had fallen away.

How far was the distance between him and his father?

My first point is this from this passage that every house has rules.

Say that with me.

Every house has rules.

God's house has rules.

As a Christian, we have rules that we have to live by, we have to abide by.

And the Bible is very, very clear on the rules that we have to abide by.

It's not a murky area of the Bible.

The Bible is clear on the rules uh that we have to follow.

And here's the thing about the rules the rules are not there to be like no fun for you, right?

Like that's that's not the idea, and that's not the purpose of the rules.

The rules are there for your protection.

The rules are there for your uh thriving, for you to be able to thrive in that environment where you are protected.

There's freedom within the boundary.

True freedom is actually found within the boundaries that God places in our life.

John 15, 10 says this if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

If you keep and you obey me, you will abide in me.

You will stay within my household.

Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you.

See, there's joy in it.

It's not just like I'm just gonna obey God and my life is gonna be miserable.

It's it's his joy is inside of that boundary.

Do you see that?

And he says, so that your joy may be full.

And I think I I think I've used this uh analogy before, but I think it's fun.

So just imagine this stage, yeah, and they and the edges of the stage of the boundary, right?

And as if it's it's as if you're like in a box and there's a walls in front of you.

And I think a lot of Christians live like this.

They live as if they're like as close to the edge as they possibly can, and they're just like staring out the window at the world.

They're having so much fun out there.

Like, man, look at those guys out there.

Their grass is so much greener than mine.

I wonder what seed they use.

Right?

Like, all that party looks so fun, man.

They're just living life, and oh man, this person's just making way more money than me.

Oh, this just I just can't, you know, cross this boundary.

Life is just boring in here.

And we just stare at the walls and we stare at all the things that I can and can't do.

And it's all I do with my life.

And and I think there's there's some people that live a little bit riskier where we're we're kind of like walking as close to the line, but we kind of step off and we kind of walk in one foot out and one foot in, and one foot out and one foot in.

You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna go to that party, but I'm not gonna drink.

You know, I can I can handle it.

You know, I oh maybe just one or two.

Maybe just, you know, I can I can control it.

Oh, okay.

You know, on Sunday I'm here, you know, I'm worshiping, but you know, I'm gonna go to that party on Friday night.

Yeah, it's okay.

And we're kind of one foot in, one foot out.

Or that, you know, that movie, you know, it has some stuff in it, but you know, I can really handle it.

It's not gonna bother me, right?

Or hey, you know, me and my girlfriend, we talked about boundaries, you know, we talked about boundaries, but hey, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell that person and I'm not gonna bring someone in to keep me accountable.

We can do it ourselves.

We can we can take care of ourselves and and we're starting to live outside of the line, and we're starting to walk on this, like this, and you and you see the drop-off.

Like, if I try to do that, I'm gonna break something, right?

But we we live as if we're as as close to the line as we can.

But it's actually when we turn around.

Wow, there's a lot of space up here, right?

I imagine that's how Ryan feels in the drum cage, right?

You've locked me in.

But there's freedom within there.

He can play louder, okay?

But it's but it's it's when we when we turn away from just staring at the walls and the cans and the cannots, and we just focus on, oh, I just can't, you know, I can't say that, or I can't post this, or I can't do that.

Man, all these other people get to share their opinions and they get to do this, and but I don't get to because I'm gonna look like this, or I'm gonna make myself look bad.

But it's but it's actually when you turn around and you realize that there's all this freedom and there's all this room inside of the boundaries that God places in our life, and there's actually joy, and that his joy is in that, and his freedom's in that, and you don't have to stare and stand at the line and be like, man, woe is me.

And instead, we look around and we say, No, there's lots of room in here.

There's actually so there's so much room for activities.

Terrible reference, okay.

If you've seen the movie, forgive me.

That was when I was over here at the line, okay.

But there's joy in the boundary, and we actually see God's love in it because he actually sees what's best for us with the boundary.

Again, the boundary is not for you to be like, oh, I'm just oh, like Christians, being a Christian is so hard.

You know, it's not that.

It's he sees what's best for you.

Where we where we are looking out and we desire the the things that are temporary, he has something eternal for us.

He has something eternal for us.

Here's some house rules uh that I had some fun with.

Uh, the first one is take off your shoes, right?

In most houses, we talked about that, especially in Canada.

I don't I can't speak for America.

Uh it's weird.

I don't know why.

There's houses must be just so dirty, or they have the little roombas everywhere.

Uh, anyways, I really want one of those.

Um, but in most houses, you remove your shoes out of what?

Respect and honor, right?

You remove your shoes out of uh out of respect and honor.

You remove what tracks in dirt.

And so in God's house, before we come in, we remove sin in our life.

We remove bitterness, we remove pride, we we leave it at the door.

Anything that's gonna dirty the space, we leave it at the door.

Right?

We repent.

We ask God to clean our hearts daily.

It's not just a one-time thing.

We we ask God to cleanse me, God, cleanse me this morning, help me to obey you.

Holy Spirit, help me today.

And we we leave it at the door.

Uh 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Number two, honor the head of the house.

Honor the head of the house.

Just as you would honor the father of the house, God is the father of the house.

And we honor him with our life, and we we we honor him by living under his word, and that's that scripture, John 14.

It says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

You will keep my commandments.

Number three, share what's in our fridge.

Some of you don't like to do that.

One of them's me.

Um, but he has given us gifts and provision and talents.

And if we just hold on to those and have a hoarder mentality, we're actually not doing what he's saying.

Right?

It says Matthew 10 freely you've received, so freely give.

And we walk in generosity, we walk with our hands open, we share what's in our fridge.

Number four, I said three, but four.

Number three, my lord.

Uh I'm just giving the meme guys some content, all right?

Number four, speak words of life.

Do you know that gossip is actually evil?

Slandering people is actually evil.

Do you know what is also evil?

Be in a space that accepts that.

You might not be gossiping, but you're listening to it.

And you're sitting there not saying anything against it.

It's just as bad as the gossiper.

And so we we have this saying in my house don't be a safe space for gossip.

Don't be a safe space for it.

James talks about your words have the power to like to steer a ship.

There's power, uh there's life and death in your tongue.

And so we choose to speak words of life, especially in God's house, where we build each other up.

We speak life over each other, we stand up for each other.

We give people the benefit of the doubt.

And if you hear someone gossiping, either walk away or challenge that person.

Because iron sharpens iron, right?

Hey, no.

Do you uh you know, are you gonna tell that person that you're talking about what you think of them?

Oh man, they will shut up quickly.

Or they'll fight you.

Whether the two, right?

But you say, hey, did you tell that person what you're saying about them right now?

It'll get awkward really quick.

But don't be a safe place for gossip.

Speak words of life.

You know, you can actually counter that and be like, actually, and start saying things that are good about them.

You know, I heard so-and-so is actually really generous.

They've actually been really nice to me, they've actually done this good, this then you counter it with good things.

Right?

Are you with me?

I know some of you are quiet because you're like crap.

Right?

Ephesians 4, uh 29 says, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths.

He's very, very clear.

It's not like cryptic.

Don't talk trash about people.

Uh five.

This is my favorite.

Everyone gets involved.

Every kid in your house should have.

Chores.

If they don't, start making up some, okay?

Because it's good for them.

Discipline is good.

But every kid, when I was growing up, we had chores.

We were in charge of certain things.

I feel like I'm still a kid because I'm still in charge of things.

Right after dinner, the person that cooked doesn't clean up the dishes.

Gotta take out the garbage.

Clean your room.

Mow the lawn.

There's rules in the house, but but everybody gets involved.

Everyone's divvied up something to do.

And in God's house, everyone has gifts to serve with.

Everybody.

I think I've said this a hundred times, but I'll say it again.

The Holy Spirit doesn't show up without a gift.

The Holy Spirit does not show up in your life without a gift.

Every single person in this room is gifted.

You have been given a gift.

And what God wants you to do with that gift is each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.

So this one might hurt, but if you're sitting in your seats today and you're waiting on something to happen, and you're waiting on someone to come to you and tell you, hey, I need you here, I need you there, that's on you.

You'll continue to sit there.

But it's when you realize, hey, I have a gift.

I'm gonna go do something with it.

I'm gonna go help Carol.

Because she's got a lot of things to do all the time.

You know, maybe you're administrative.

Maybe you're like my man at the coffee bar.

I actually don't know your name, but you were awesome.

He just showed up one day and started serving in the coffee bar because he loves making coffee and he's good at it.

What what gift has God given you?

Maybe it's not just on a Sunday.

Maybe it's on a youth night.

Hey, come on.

We need a drummer.

Um that we're just challenging people today, okay?

But the Bible is clear what your life should look like.

And it's not complicated.

It's a servant.

A servant.

Number six, invite your friends.

I understand that in some houses you're like, hey, you have to let us know before you invite your friends over.

That's wisdom.

Okay, keep that.

But in God's house, it's the opposite.

Invite everybody into the house.

Invite everybody.

Because God wants his house full.

God wants his house full.

Always invite.

Everyone is welcome.

Everyone is welcome.

Um, the miracle of salvation in your life is not just for you.

Right?

That is the greatest miracle to have ever happened for everybody in humanity is the miracle of salvation.

And it's not for you to hold on to it and be like, I'm saved, and I'm good, and I don't need to worry about it.

No, it's actually for you to actually tell people and give your testimony and to invite people into the same life that you get to live today.

It says in Luke 14, 23, go out onto the roads in the country in the lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full.

Matthew 28, 19, go out and make disciples of all nations.

God's house is not exclusive, it's it's He wants a house, He wants a full house.

And it's our job, it's not my job, it's partially my job too, but it's your job too.

To invite everybody over.

Be generous with what's in the fridge.

Everyone does their part.

Take your shoes off, okay?

My second point is this you belong in the house.

You belong in the house.

You are a child in the house.

Uh back to Luke 15, 17.

But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread?

But I am going to perish here with hunger.

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

And he rehearses and he writes out this script Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he's like, Yeah, that sounds about right.

Okay, I can do that.

And it's so interesting to me that that in his mind, he's actually lost his sonship.

He's convinced himself that he's completely lost his sonship because of what he's done.

That's insane to me because his sonship was not given to him.

It was he was born with it.

He was born a son.

He was born with that inheritance.

And he thinks that because he goes away, that now it's gone.

It's crazy to me that he's completely convinced himself that I'll just come back as a servant.

I'll just come back as someone who could just be hired and bossed around, and that's gonna be good enough for me.

It says he arose and he came to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt compassion, and then ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son begins to rehearse his speech and says, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, and I'm no longer to be called your son.

I'm no longer worthy.

There's a few kind of wild things happening here to me when I think about this story.

You know, he wasn't like he wasn't just away in the next town.

Like he was he was in a different country.

He was gone essentially for good.

To the people that would have observed this happening, they're like, he's never coming back.

What he's done, he's never coming back.

And he's the father is again, he's considered dead in the son's eyes.

But the father, he waits on the son.

How long?

We have no idea.

But we know it's a long time because he has enough time to spend through all of his money and then start going through a famine, and then long enough for him to start working with pigs and be so desperate enough to be wanting to eat what the pigs are eating, right?

So we know it's a long time, and and but we see the father he's waiting on the son.

How many times a day throughout his workday is he like looking over his shoulder?

How many times a day?

We don't know, but it says that he saw him from a long way off.

The second thing that's crazy, and again, goes back to the pigs, like the the people that Jesus is talking to see pigs as like they it's like sin, like they are unclean.

If you go near it, you are considered by the law unclean.

But the audacity of the Father is to run and hug and embrace him and not wait for him to wash up.

You see what I'm saying?

God's not waiting for you to wash up to embrace you.

You might feel like you're unclean, you might feel like you're unworthy, but God's not being like, whoa, buddy, you stink.

Like, don't touch me.

You know, you gotta go through your ceremonial cleansing, like as they did back then.

No, that's not what he does.

He embraces him, and the son's like trying to talk to him.

He's like, Dad, I'm just like, I'm not, I'm not worthy.

And the and the father's like not listening.

Bring him a robe, bring him a ring, kill the calf, let's have a party.

It's a beautiful response.

The son could not get rid of his sonship so easily.

He could not get rid of it.

He belonged to the house.

He belonged to the house.

And I'm not gonna talk about the the idea of if he never came back.

It's it's the fact that when he turned around, the moment of turning around is when the father began to run to him.

And it's this idea of when we repent.

You know, I was thinking about this today, I was having a few conversations with people, and it's it's not as if when you mess up that you have to restart your relationship with God.

And I think that's sometimes how we think.

We think, oh man, like I messed up big.

I gotta restart everything.

And it's like and it's this daunting idea that sometimes we never even get around to restarting.

Because we sit in that idea of like, I'm not good enough, like, okay, I gotta, I gotta figure some things out before I go back to him.

But really, it's just he just wants you to turn around and then he's gonna be running at you, like pumped, rejoicing, happy.

You haven't even like gone five minutes from sinning, but you've turned around in your heart.

You said, I'm I'm repenting, I'm turning away from this, and he's running towards you.

And it's not a restart.

It's like, hey, you know, son, you know, we got some stuff to do in the field.

Come on, come with me.

Let's go.

We got some stuff to do, we're got some work to do.

Like, it's not like this reset that happens.

When we accept the free gift of salvation through Christ, Romans says we're adopted in, but I actually love what Galatians 3, 26 uh to 29 says.

It says, now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

Then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

But now faith has come and we are no longer under the guardian.

For in Christ, you are all sons of God through faith.

In Christ, you are how what are you?

All not some of you, all through faith.

For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, nor slave nor free, nor male nor female.

For you are all one in Christ.

And if you are Christ, this is my favorite part, then you are Abraham's offspring.

Heirs according to promise.

You are not a second-rate child.

And that's why I'm like not a fan of the word adopted, because this is telling us, hey, you are in the house of God.

You are not brought, like you are in it.

You are Abraham's offspring.

You are heir to the promise if you are in Christ.

You are one with Christ.

Romans 8:15 uh it says through Christ we are adopted as sons and daughters, Ephesians 2.19.

Romans 8:15

You are no longer foreigners and strangers.

You're not a stranger to the house of God.

You're not a foreigner, you're not some random coming over, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.

Hebrews uh 3.6 says, But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house.

Hebrews 4, 16 says, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace and help to help in the time of need.

Verse 24 in Luke 15 says, For my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate on invite the worship team to come back.

The son was considered dead, even by the father's standards.

Not just the son seeing the father is dead, but by his actions, he was dead by this repentance and the turnaround.

Right?

The son doesn't even get to the door, and the father is running towards him in that turnaround.

The last part of this passage I want to I want to touch on is the second son.

The older brother.

Because I think this one almost hits home more for a lot of us that have been in the church for a while.

It says verse 25.

It says, Now the older son was in the field, and he came and drew near to the house, and he heard the music and he heard the dancing, and he was ticked.

Right?

He was mad.

And he called one of the servants and asked, What is going on?

What is happening?

The servant says to him, Your brother has come home, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.

Scripture tells us that he was angry and he refused to go in to celebrate.

But when your son has come home, and actually it's really interesting, he says, When this son of yours, and so he's actually abandoned him as a brother at this point.

So there's unforgiveness in his heart.

There's familiarity towards his father, and there's bitterness in his heart when he says this.

He says, You're he's devoured your property with prostitutes, but you have killed the fattened calf for him.

I think it's really easy for us to focus on the other brother and be like, wow, what an amazing story.

Like, maybe that's your story where you were away, you ran away, and you were brought back into the fold, and the celebration is big and you were dead, now you're alive.

But this other brother he stayed.

He stayed in the house.

He stayed in the house, and he says, Where's my party?

I never left.

What is going on?

I didn't go and squander my inheritance, and he's I guess he's somewhat justified in his anger, but he really misses the point.

He misses the point of the whole thing.

The father responds to him and says, Son, you are you've always been with me.

All that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad that your brother was dead and now he was alive.

He was lost and now he was fine.

This brother, he followed all the rules.

He obeyed.

He maybe read his Bible, went to church every Sunday.

Maybe he served in church.

He followed all the rules, but what did he forget?

He forgot that he was a son.

He obeyed all the rules.

He did all the things that you're supposed to do, but he forgot that he was a son.

He forgot all the things that entail being a son.

All the privileges that he was, and all the all the promise and inheritance that he was actually owed as a son.

He forgot all about that because he was focused on what?

He was staring at the walls.

I guess I gotta just honor my dad.

You know, I gotta go to church on Sunday.

You know, Pastor Brian told me I gotta serve in kids' ministry.

I'll go do that, I guess.

Because I'm supposed to.

You know, I'm not gonna post that because I know that it'll get me in trouble.

You know, I guess I'll serve here and I'll serve there.

But instead, it's like, do you love who you're serving?

And he's forgotten, he's gotten so mixed up in the rules and the cans and can't-d's that he's forgotten who he is as a son.

Man, and I and I think that relates to a lot of us.

Where we go to church, we sit in the seats, like I guess I'll lift my hands this morning, I'll do the things, and I'll go home and watch football.

And we forget all the privileges that we have as children of God.

He acted like a stranger in his own house.

So I think again, I think some of us, for some of us, we were like the first brother.

We we rebelled against God.

We saw that outside was different and we wanted a taste of the world.

And maybe for some of you that's your story.

I know that was my story.

I grew up in church, but I saw what was outside and I just wanted to taste it.

And I had the one foot out, one foot in mentality.

And it eventually brought me to a place of just completely running away from God.

But it was a moment of repentance that he began to run towards me and restored my heart.

But I know for some of you, you you might have grown up in church your whole life, and you're sitting there being like, where's my party?

And you're and you're sitting there with maybe familiarity in your heart towards God.

Maybe you're sitting there with unforgiveness in your heart.

Maybe you're sitting there with bitterness towards your neighbor.

Maybe you're sitting there just following the rules, but you've forgotten the privileges you have as a child of God.

And I and I I personally think that both call for repentance.

Both of these call for repentance.

And I just wanna I just want to close your eyes just for a moment.

Maybe you can stand with me.

I know we're over time a little bit.

Maybe just uh close your eyes just for a moment.

Just between you and God.

You would say this morning, you relate to that first brother, you feel like you are distant from God.

You feel like you have distance between you and God.

You feel like you maybe have been making some choices, maybe you've made choices that you regret, you feel shame, you feel broken, you feel unworthy, you feel like a stranger today.

You feel like a stranger to him.

That if he would just bring you back as a servant, it would be good.

And that's how you feel, and you feel like you've been far from God.

I just want to give an opportunity this morning.

Uh if that's you, uh no one's looking around, just pop your hand up, say, hey, that's me.

That's me.

I feel that.

Thank you.

I see that hand.

I see that hand in the back.

Awesome.

There's no shame.

You feel like you're distant from God.

Maybe, maybe for some you feel like you don't even know how you got here on a Sunday, and you don't know the love of Christ.

You don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

And I want to invite you, I'm not gonna ask you to put your hand up, but I'm just gonna invite the whole church to pray this prayer with me.

And if that's you, I want you to just mean this with your whole life.

This is a big decision to follow Christ to give your life to Him.

So would you just pray this prayer with me, Church, Father?

Forgive me for my sin.

Help me to live a life for you.

God, I repent today.

I turn from what I'm doing, I turn from that mentality, I turn from that lifestyle, I turn from my sin, and I turn to you.

Jesus, I acknowledge that you died on the cross for me, that you forgive my sin, that your blood covers all.

Holy Spirit, I invite you into my life.

Walk with me, help me to follow you, help me to obey, help me to abide in the house.

In Jesus' name.

My life will never be the same.

Amen.

Amen.

Just give it up for those who prayed that prayer, maybe for the first time today.

If you made that decision this morning, don't leave this room without saying something to somebody and telling somebody, okay?

Don't leave this room.

And for the next people, I just want to pray for the last group of people.

Let's just keep our eyes closed.

The band's gonna close in a song in a minute.

And I just want us to respond.

Maybe, maybe you're like that second brother.

Maybe you've been in the house of God and you are you are feeling like, man, I've been doing all the things.

I've been I've been just obeying, and I've forgotten my place.

I've forgotten that I'm a son or daughter, and that I have all these things that God wants to show me, all these things that God wants me to be a part of, all these things that He wants to take me along the ride.

But I've been sitting there with bitterness in my heart, I've been sitting there with maybe a familiarity towards him.

How should you just keep your eyes closed?

If that's if that's you, you're like the second brother I was talking about, just raise your hand, and we're just gonna pray, and we're just gonna.

I I believe that it just calls for a time of God.

I I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for making it about me.

If you're here, just raise your hand.

Nice and high.

That's me.

That's me.

I've been making it about me.

There's no shame.

There's no shame in acknowledging, hey, that's where I'm at right now.

See the hand, come on.

Why don't we just in this moment, wherever you're at in your journey, wherever you're at in your journey this morning, I believe that when we respond on the outside, God wants to do something on the inside of our hearts.

And so could we just respond to him this morning?

Wherever you're at, maybe you're just feeling like a little bit of distance from him, maybe you're feeling like, God, I just want to be used more by you.

Would you just begin to lift your hands to this place, begin to respond to him?

Even if it's just out of like, I'm thankful for you, God, and I'm thankful for what you've brought into my life.

God, I'm thankful for the the people around me.

I'm thankful for the church that you've put me in.

God, I'm thankful to be in the house of God that I have I have fridge privileges.

God, I have a room in the house.

Maybe you're just thankful today.

Can we just, if you're thankful, just begin to lift your hands this morning.

Come on, let's stop being Western, shy Canadian culture and begin to just we respond on the outside.

God wants to do something in your heart today.

Come on, let's not be shy this morning.

God, I'm thankful.

Maybe it's God I repent.

God, I'm sorry.

Let's just begin to respond to this this morning with this song today.