The Father’s Love: From Orphan to Son | Marvele Jean-Baptiste, Pastor Evan Wilson & Pastor Daniel Santise

God is good.

It really is an honor and a privilege to be able to kick this

thing off.

My name is Marvel.

I am one of the worship directors here at V1 Church.

I am proud to say that I am a product not only of my parents, but

also of V1 Church, my spiritual family.

Apostle Mike is my spiritual dad.

Pastor Julie is my spiritual mother.

I'm just so grateful for everyone who's poured into me B1

College, V1X.

Like, I've been developed, okay?

I've been invested in.

And so I just want to impart some of the things that I've learned

on my journey to you guys.

So let us pray first.

Father God, I ask for you to have your way.

If you can use anything, Lord, use me.

This is all for your glory, Lord.

I thank you for your patience with me and your love, Lord God.

And I just pray, Lord God, that you would remind someone that

they are a son and daughter and that you see them, that you understand,

and you're not done with them yet.

In Jesus name, amen.

All right, guys.

Last week, though, that was an interesting sermon.

I know some of you guys are still processing it, and it's all

right.

Some of you guys might have, I don't know, got a little convicted

and realized you might have some things you need to bring up

to the Lord.

You might need to go up to the prayer line or something like that.

And we're not judging.

We don't judge here in B1 church.

But I know for me, I've sat in these seats several times, a lot

of times, actually, of the Lord just convicting me and just

picking at things that I was oblivious to.

I didn't think I had a problem.

I thought, you know, I knew everything.

And I've been humbled several times, but in love.

The Lord's correction is love.

How do many of you guys know that?

His correction is love.

He is protecting you.

And so.

So last week's sermon was very powerful.

Apostle spoke about the orphan spirit.

And I definitely, definitely needed to be delivered from that.

And so I'm just gonna kind of take you back a little bit.

But before that, for those who don't know me, if you go to V1 and

you ask someone, you know, who's Marvell and how is she?

Like, like, how would you describe her?

Some people might say I'm extroverted.

Some people might.

Some people might say I'm super friendly.

I am that person that will walk up to you.

Yes, I am.

If I don't know you, I'm Gonna know you today.

I'm gonna ask you for your name, your story.

Did you make any friends?

Why you run?

I will run after you.

Actually, I've done that several times.

I'm like, girl, I saw you in the service, but you left so fast,

I had to stop you.

I just want to let you know that I want to see you more often.

That's marvel.

Okay?

And I really love people, but I wasn't always like that.

Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but when I came to V1, I

was everything that apostles mentioned, like, those qualities.

Like, I was mean.

I was definitely guarded.

I had walls up.

I did not want to talk to nobody.

But I love God.

I love church.

People would say, hi, like, how are you doing?

I'm like, I gotta go.

I'm sorry.

Like, I.

And the reason why I was like that is because I was in church my

whole entire life.

I.

My dad's a preacher.

My grandfather's a preacher.

I was born and raised in the church.

And there were some things that I would see, and I just didn't

really understand it.

I would see people fighting for titles, talking about each other.

And my father's, like, one of the nicest people ever.

Like, people were hurting him.

I'm like, my dad is so nice.

Like, how could you talk about him?

How could you ever say anything bad about him?

And I just couldn't understand that church culture.

And I made a plan.

I said, when I get older, I'm going to leave the church.

I do not want to be, like, a church person.

I don't wanna play a role.

I feel like everybody's fake, and I'm gonna walk away.

But God had other plans.

All right, So I love God so much.

I just never had the courage to fully walk away.

I couldn't do it.

My foundation was in my heart.

I'm like.

My flesh wanted to leave.

My flesh wanted to quit.

My flesh wanted to do its own thing.

Like, I'm gonna have fun.

I'm gonna do my own rules.

But something just kept pulling me to still stay.

And even though I stayed, my heart was hardening.

And I think the orphan heart grows from disappointment.

And so, as I continued on, I got to keep this story short, but

it's a lot that the Lord was doing, but he was working on me little

by little.

And then I got to be one.

I got to be one.

You guys are clapping.

But like I said, I didn't come in, like, how I am now.

Okay.

And I was kind of giving people a hard Time.

I'm not gonna lie.

I was not submitted.

I wasn't in my mind.

I was saying things.

I was talking back.

They didn't know, but I was talking back in my mind.

I'm like, I don't agree with that.

And I also was saying things that, like, you know what?

Why is she looking at me like that?

I don't think she likes me.

You know what?

I don't fit in here.

You know what?

Maybe they have something against me just making up all of

these assumptions, but it really was an orphan language that

I developed over the years.

And it's just crazy because when you're in that position, no

one can tell you anything.

There's like a.

There's scales on your eyes, and you don't even realize that your

reality is not even truth.

And that's a scary place to be.

In Hebrews 15, you're actually not supposed to be problematic.

I don't know if you guys know that.

I had a verse.

We're actually supposed to have confidence in our leaders.

Like, if you believe that the Lord called you to this church, that

means you're trusting him and you're trusting the leaders that

he put over you.

And it took me a very long time to get to that point.

Like, I said, I came.

I'm like, okay, apostle, I see you.

You preaching.

That was good.

That was good.

That was nice.

You still not my pastor.

People were catching me.

They're like, but you said, he's your pastor.

I'm like, I meant.

I meant.

No, I just like the sermon.

Like, just.

It just didn't make sense.

But it was the orphan spirit, and I was blind to that.

And sometimes we don't want the correction.

Sometimes we don't want someone to tell us about ourselves,

but we really need someone to correct us in love.

Now, I've seen people get disciplined in churches before.

I've seen people get embarrassed in church before.

I've been embarrassed sometimes.

I've heard people talk about me, or maybe they gave me a correction,

and the tone or the delivery, it didn't really teach me anything.

It just hurt my heart, and it made me even harder.

And so we just have to be careful with that, and we really

have to walk in humility.

And I know it's.

I know there's someone here.

They're like, I'm not going to listen to her.

You're still going to do your own thing.

I'm telling you, I was you.

So I know.

I made the excuses.

I kept coming to the church looking for A problem.

I just.

I'm like, you know what?

I like what they said, but that's fake.

How do I know it's fake?

How would you know, Marvel?

I'm like, you know, something don't seem right.

It seem a little too good.

Just making up things, right?

And so the Lord had to correct me because he's my father.

And there was a sermon where apostle was talking, and I felt like

he was directly talking to me.

That's the Holy Spirit.

You can't make certain things up.

I don't know if you guys could relate, but there's some sermons.

It's like, did someone tell my business?

Like, did they know I was coming today?

Did my wife tell.

Did my husband say something?

Right?

Like, there's just certain things, you know, it's God talking

directly to you, so you can't even get mad at nobody.

You can't get mad at who's preaching because you know that it's

the Holy Spirit touching your heart and picking at something that

you need to work on.

And so with that being said, there was a sermon.

And he said, yeah, I know you're cheating on this sermon on

this church with another church.

I was like, What's going on?

And so.

And.

And I was like, okay, God.

And mind you, God gave me confirmation.

After confirmation, after confirmation.

This is your church, and you need to commit.

It's time for you to stop running.

I know it's uncomfortable.

I know it's not something that you're used to, but you need to settle

down, and you need to commit, and you need to accept the people

that I'm sending to you to help build you up.

I said, okay, Lord, I'll give it one more chance.

And at that time, there was a Q and A membership that Pastor Mike

did at the Stanhope location in Brooklyn.

We didn't even have an official Brooklyn location yet.

And, guys, I came in with bad intentions.

I'm not gonna lie.

I was like, okay, he's telling us about the core values of the church.

I like it.

I'm gonna ask him a hard question, and when I ask him this

question, I know he's probably gonna get offended or he's probably

gonna stutter or he's probably not gonna like me.

But you know what?

I don't care.

I'm just gonna ask it, and let's see what he says.

Is that not kind of like the prodigal son when he was saying in

his mind in Luke 15, verse 17, 18, 19, he's basically, like, making

Luke 15:17

up what the Conversation with his dad is going to be like.

And he's already taking 10 steps ahead and saying, you know

what?

He's going to.

He won't accept me as a son, but he'll at least accept me as a

servant, making assumptions, thinking the worst case scenario.

And so I asked this question, and it was something like, you know,

everything you say, you're saying it sounds good.

But for someone who's been in church, who knows ministry, they're

having a hard time trusting you.

What advice would you give them?

And I want you guys to see his response.

He had to come back as the second ago.

Sometimes the only thing that can heal church from one pastor is

sure healing from another that's just not worse.

So I'm sorry, but I know, I know, I know you love Jesus because

the only reason I knew.

There's something about that that's whole and special,.

You guys, that was six years ago.

I could cry about it again because I was so shocked at the response

that I received.

Because really, it was an orphan wanting recognition, just

wanting someone to understand the things that I was feeling, the

hurt that I've been through.

And that was such a healing moment for me.

And that night I was like, you know what, God, I'm gonna stop playing

games.

I hear you, I hear you.

And I'm gonna commit and I'm gonna take another step to trust.

But, guys, I didn't have the right intentions that night.

And this is how he received me.

You get what I'm saying?

And so that moment was a healing moment, but it didn't fix

everything.

It didn't.

As I continued to show up, the orphan thoughts would still creep

back up.

I still would think, oh, you know what?

I made a mistake.

They're going to kick me out the church, they're going to kick

me out.

They don't want me here.

But I didn't realize by me still showing up every Sunday.

I was showing up to a hospital, and every time I showed

up, I was getting better.

I showed up to a flight crew, I got better, I went up for prayer.

I got better.

I had a conversation with a leader.

I got better.

And the Lord really had to show me, like, you're trying to protect

yourself and you have all of these walls up.

You're protecting yourself, but you're also protecting yourself

from the good things that I'm trying to send to you into your life.

And so do you trust me, Marvel, if you trust me, then don't

worry about who's going to hurt you.

Don't Worry about if things are not going to work out.

I have you.

I just need you to listen to me.

I just need you to be obedient to me, and I'm going to take care

of you.

Have I not already taken care of you before?

My whole life, I got stories for days of just the Lord showing

up for me in kindness and gentleness.

And we have to be careful because our environments also influence

us.

My environment didn't make me feel safe, so I felt like I needed

to be tough.

I felt like I needed to portray myself a certain way.

I felt like I didn't need to talk to anybody, but that's not who

I really am.

And so as I continued to show up, I stopped resisting.

The Lord started to have his way.

And literally, I cannot believe that it's really been seven

years, really, of a process of the Lord dealing with me.

And it's like if you.

If you say yes and you humble yourself, you will see that there's

so many things that are open to heal you.

Have you ever read the sermon playbook?

Before you judge the sermon?

Have you ever went to a deliverance, Zoom.

That people take time, they fast over you, they pray to literally

see you get free.

And so I stopped running, I stopped assuming, I stopped resisting,

and I discovered something beautiful.

I am not an orphan, but I'm a daughter who found her home.

Come on.

Can we give five seconds of praise for what God's already doing?

Come on.

Such a powerful testimony.

God's not done yet.

Y' all picked a great day to be in church.

Grateful to be able to stand on Pastor Mike's platform and share

with you.

My name is Evan.

I'm the online campus pastor here at V1 Church.

Shout out, everybody watching online.

We're going to be dropping into Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

You may be familiar, Pastor Mike preached out of it last week.

We're talking about the prodigal son.

And if you don't know, if you didn't color in this page in your

coloring book in Sunday school, this is the son that thought

he could do it better.

He said, father, just, you know, give me my inheritance now,

and I'm gonna go be an independent man.

I'm gonna make moves.

Come on, hustler.

But we're gonna drop into Luke 15, verse 14.

Luke 15:14

And it says, and when he had spent everything, a severe famine

arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens

of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs

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

And no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's

hired servants have more than enough bread?

But yet 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 and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and he came to his father.

You know, there's one phrase in that passage that sticks out to

me and it's, he came to himself.

You know, there comes a moment when you're honest about where you

actually are, not where you'd like to be, not where you hoped you

would be, not where you tell everybody else that you are, hello,

somebody, but where you actually are.

And where he was, was in a pig pen, broke, realizing that his father's

servants were actually doing better than him.

Now, I don't know where you're at today.

Maybe you're sitting here in church, you're watching online, maybe

you even serve, but you haven't actually spoke to God in

months.

Maybe if we looked at your life you're living like you actually

don't even believe any of this.

But see, that's what it means to come to yourself.

The lies, they begin to fall away.

The numbness, it begins to melt.

And you realize, you come to this realization that you need to

go home.

And so when I read about this prodigal son's story, you know, there's

actually one question that really sticks in my mind, and it's

this question of I wonder how long he knew that he should go home,

but that he avoided doing it because he was ashamed.

Because can I tell you that what you avoid reveals what still

has you bound.

And so maybe you're here and you haven't prayed in months.

Maybe you're here, you're watching online.

And maybe if you're being honest, you haven't cracked open

your Bible and read it for yourself in years.

And actually, the self condemnation and the shame that has

been accumulating day after day of knowing you're not measuring

up, knowing that you're falling short, has actually started

to drive a wedge between you and God getting bigger.

You know, it's kind of like, you know, when somebody texts you

and you mean to respond, you really do.

You see the notification, you're gonna respond.

But then a distraction comes.

You know, I got a three year old, and that can happen very easily.

And you mean to respond, but you don't anybody else.

This is a support group for all of us.

But.

And you don't realize it's out of your mind until three weeks later

when you go to text that same person about something completely

unrelated.

And then you realize, oh, no, I never responded.

This was important.

You know what?

I'm actually not even gonna reach out to them again about this

new thing, because then I'd have to rehash the fact that I didn't

reach back out to them.

Let me just leave it here.

Yeah, I don't need to text them.

And then before you know it, you're at the grocery store and you

see him across the way, and you're, like, hiding behind the produce

aisle because it's just too awkward.

But, you know, that's where some of you are right now.

You know you've been running from God, and you actually know that

you need to go back home.

But with each passing day, the tension builds in your heart, and

so does the fear that he wouldn't even receive you back if

you tried.

But I want you to hear me, church, because pride will actually

cause you to run from God in the first place, but shame will keep

you from returning back to him.

And so some of you, you might be in a running season.

That might be you today, but I believe that many of you are actually

in a shame season, knowing that you've ran, but you're here

in.

In the pig pen.

And you know that the one thing that you actually need is to

go home.

But shame won't let you.

And so you've been fighting it, you've been toiling, you've been

wrestling, and you're laying in the slop, crafting your speech,

scripting it, rehearsing it, exactly what you're going to say

to hopefully convince your father to welcome you back.

But can I tell you that maybe you've been scripting how you're

gonna come back to God, because deep down, you don't believe

that he even wants to ever see you again, especially the parts of

you that you're most ashamed of.

But I want you to look at what Jesus actually says happens next

in this story.

Says.

But while he was still a long way off, Somebody say a long way

off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and he ran and embraced

him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, come on, this is the speech that he was

working on, right?

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father, he cuts him off and he says, but the father said

to his servants, bring quickly the best robe.

Come on.

Before he can even finish, bring quickly the best robe and put

it on him.

Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.

But wait, wait, wait.

Wasn't this.

He cuts him off in the middle of the speech.

I thought this speech was gonna be the thing that convinced

his father to welcome him back.

That speech.

But he doesn't even let him finish.

But can I tell you that it wasn't the words that the son was

gonna say revealed his repentance.

It was the fact that he came home.

And so the evidence of your repentance, it's not the perfect

apology.

It's the fact that you've moved in the direction of your father.

Come on.

Somebody's getting free today.

And so some of you, you've actually been thinking, man, when

I finally go back home, when I finally give God this piece of my

life, when I finally go home and I give him my apology, I've got

to sound sorry enough.

I've got to sound spiritual enough.

I got to time it out to when the worship team is playing just

right in church service.

And then I run up to the altar, and we got this idea of what

it's got to be like.

But hear me.

It's not your words.

It's your direction.

God is not grading you on the eloquence of your apology.

He's looking at which direction your feet are pointed.

And some of you, you feel so far off from God that you actually

think it disqualifies you.

But the scripture says that while the son was a long way off,

somebody say, a long way off, his father saw him and ran.

The son didn't even have to walk the full journey to the doorstep.

Isn't that our God says, bring quickly the best robe.

Put it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.

The robe says, you're covered and you're mine.

The ring says, you still carry my name and my authority.

And the sandals say, you're not a slave.

You're my son.

Oh, come on, Church.

This is not the kind of love that tolerates you enough to sneak.

Sneak you in the back entrance.

This is the kind of love that says, you are mine.

Come on.

Come on, Church.

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor

rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor

height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation can separate

us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Come on can you give five seconds of praise?

If you believe it, you know, this.

Is that from another country kind of love that Pastor Mike was

preaching on last week, it's the kind of love that isn't swayed

by your performance, but it's the kind of love that sees you a

long way off and says, I'm going to run out to you before you

even get a chance to finish your speech.

And so you know, at the time of this message that I'm preaching,

next week is Father's Day.

Can we talk about it?

Because some of you, you had dads who weaponized approval.

And you grew up in a home where you always felt like you had

to perform, you had to prove, because approval was withheld.

And you actually never felt like a son or a daughter.

You felt like a servant in your own house who just happened

to share the same DNA.

So when you hear us talk in church about God as Father, what

you're actually picturing is just another man with his arms folded,

waiting to see if you're going to measure up.

And when that's the reality that you were raised in, you learn

real quick that approval will even manipulate and control you.

And when you have an orphan heart, it will actually make you

want to work that much harder for that approval.

Because in the world systems, when something is more rare, it's

perceived as more valuable.

And so when the approval of your earthly father, which should

have been abundant, was made rare, then you'll fight that much

harder to do whatever it takes to get it.

But can I tell you, church, that is not the God we serve.

God's approval is not a carrot that he dangles to get something

from you.

It's an affirmation of who you are.

Come on, somebody.

And so while the son was still a long way off, the Father was already

running towards him.

It's not your speech, it's not your apology.

It's not your level of performance that opens his arms.

It's his love for you, it's his grace for you.

And so what do we do with that right now?

You stop editing the speech.

You stop waiting to sound spiritual enough.

You stop waiting to have it all together to come back home.

And so this is your came to himself moment.

This is your let me arise and go to my father moment.

And so it's not about the perfect words.

It's about turning your feet towards him.

And so for those of you that you know, you've been a far way off,

it's time to come home.

Because he's been watching the horizon.

And he's already decided that he's gonna come running for you.

And so your father, he's not standing with his arms crossed, waiting

for you to dazzle him with some rehearsed speech, but he hung

on a cross with his arms open, ready to receive you.

So receive him today, church.

Come on.

How do you follow that?

Right?

It's always put me in the hardest positions, because how can

I preach after two amazing preachers?

Can we hear from Rebel for Pastor Evan?

They did such a phenomenal job, and it's.

Well, first of all, thank you, Apostle, for giving us the opportunity

to preach from your pulpit.

You know, he's the father of our house, and we love him so much.

And he spoke about this message last week, and this week

we all had to, like, speak from the perspective in our lives.

And we heard from Marvell about how she came to V1.

And it's kind of being like that orphaned daughter, that orphan

son, that prodigal, that lost kid that left the father's house

but came back.

And then we learned from Pastor Evan also, almost kind of

in the point of view of the Father, that he's waiting for you

with open arms.

Jesus died in the cross with open arms, waiting for you to go

to him, and he's running back to you.

And that is amazing.

But I said, lord, how is this applied to my life?

Lord, I never left you.

I always been in church.

I've been a minister, even from before V1.

I got married to my beautiful.

The most beautiful woman in the whole entire world, my wife,

Pastor Execa.

Yes.

She had a lapse of judgment.

She saw me.

She said, yes, that's a good joke.

I stole it from another preacher.

But it was good.

I said, lord, how is this applied to my life?

For those that don't know me, I'm the oldest of four.

So I'm like, that's where it applies to me.

I'm the oldest one.

Lord, I always done what you told me to do.

I've always been in church.

I've always been on the straight and narrow.

Yes, maybe sometimes one foot in, one foot out, but always there.

Always in your house, always doing what you told me to do, always

helping my father here on earth, and also you as my father

in heaven.

Always trying to do my best, always following the rules, always

following, following the commandments, always doing the right

thing.

Lord, how does this apply to me?

And that's how it applies to me.

Because this was a party for not just the prodigal son, not for

the youngest one.

But it's also a party that was thrown for the oldest son as well.

We're gonna read this in Luke chapter 15, just as we went on.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Verse 25 says, Meanwhile, the oldest son was in the field working.

See, I was working.

I feel like identify with that.

I was working in my father's house.

Many of us here, how does this apply to me?

I've been at church for a while.

I'm in ministry for a while.

I'm a leader.

Even if I haven't been a leader here, I've been a leader in

my previous church.

I am a son of God.

I'm always walking the right path.

I'm always doing the right thing.

I am joining the flight crews.

I am on the ground crews.

I am working.

I'm a musician, I'm a worship leader.

I'm whatever.

Fill in the blank.

You're working.

And that's good.

When he returned home, he heard the music and dancing in the

house and asked one of the servants what was going on.

Your brother's back, he was told, and your father has killed

a fan calf.

We're celebrating because of his safe return.

The oldest brother.

Fill in the blank right there.

Daniel was angry and wouldn't go in the house.

I wouldn't go in.

But listen to this.

Listen to the language that Jesus is using.

His father came out and begged him.

Did you catch that?

His father came out and begged him.

You see, the father didn't only ran for the son that went away

to the far country, but he also went out of the party as the

owner to the son that was already his house.

But that son was too blind to see what was going on.

But the father came out and begged him.

But he replied, all these years I have slaved.

Listen to the language Jesus is using.

The oldest brother myself, I said, I've always slayed.

I always worked for you.

I always did what you told me to do.

I slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing

you told me to.

And all the time I never gave me.

You never even gave me a young goat to feast with my friends.

Yet when this son of yours comes back squandering your money

on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fat calf.

His father said to him, look, dear son, you have always stayed

by me and everything I have is yours.

We have celebrated this happy day, for your brother was dead.

And now he has come back to life.

He was lost, but now he's found.

You see, the son was saying, I slayed for you listen to the language.

I slayed for you.

He didn't say, father, I'm your son, and I'm always here with

you.

He said, I slave.

He treated himself like if he was a slave up to the father, instead

of saying, father, I'm your son.

Thank you.

I'm in your house.

I breathe the same air that you do.

Everything that I do, I do it to please you.

Because I love you, because you love me.

But no, he didn't say it that way.

He said, I slave.

He didn't take into account that he was a child of God, that

he was his son.

So many times we feel like slaves here in the church, but we

need to get away from that and say, no, we are children of God.

Listen to what Romans chapter 8, verse 15 says.

Romans 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into

fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption as sons.

By whom we cry, abba, Father.

Galatians 4, 6, 7 says, the spirit enabled us to cry, abba, Father,

we are no longer slaves, but sons and heirs.

And Ephesians 1:5 says, God decided in advance.

Ephesians 1:5

This is so beautiful.

From before we were even born.

From before the creation of the earth.

For before everything that you can see, he already had in his heart

in advance.

You know what this means?

He was gracious even before we even had the chance to sin.

Even before even being slaves.

He was gracious into his own family by bringing us to himself

through Jesus Christ.

This is what he wanted to do and gave him great pleasure.

We are no longer slaves.

I am no longer a slave.

Slave just because I'm in my Father's house.

But I'm a son of the Almighty God.

I'm a son of the Creator of heavens and earth.

And I don't have to strive for anything because it was pleasing

to Him.

Even before everything, he decided to give me grace.

See?

Grace.

We think that we make a choice, and then the grace of God

follows us.

But it's because he has grace that we get to repent.

His grace comes before that.

And sometimes.

I was sitting down today when Marvel was preaching, and this thought

came to my mind.

I always thought that I always chose God.

I didn't choose nothing.

I realized, I understood that without Him, I am nothing.

I can't even choose.

But I come to the realization that he's my Father, that he loves

me.

So today the question that I have for you.

Is he your Father?

Does he love you?

And if you don't feel that way, let me tell you something.

He is your father.

It pleased him before the creation of the earth to choose for

him to choose you as his son, as his daughter.

He's extending grace that produces that repentment, that saying,

lord, I want to be with you because I understand that there's

nothing I can do without you.

See, the father runs after the prodigal when he's coming back, but

the father also leaves the banquet to plead with the elder brother.

Now the.

The sad part of the story is that I think Jesus left the story

that's sad for me.

I mean, God knows everything, but it's that the story doesn't finish.

There's no ending to the story.

It says the father said to him, look, dear son, you have always

stayed with me and everything I have is yours.

We have to celebrate for this happy day.

For your brother was dead and now he has come back to life.

He was lost and now he's found.

And there's nothing else said about the oldest brother.

I don't know if the older brother repented to God.

I don't know if he repented to his father.

But I know one thing for sure, that I don't want to be the one that

says I'm going to let my anger and my jealousy for my younger brother,

the happiness that I should have for my youngest brother.

He has come back to the father's house, not allow me to be

in the father's house.

And now for me to leave my father's house because I have a mindset

of an orphan.

I have a mindset of a slave, I have a victim mindset.

But guess what?

I'm a son of God, you're a daughter of God.

We are his children.

You understand?

So this is so powerful.

You see, in every other religion, you have to strive to get

to the father.

And here the father comes to you.

He runs to you if you have left and if you are here, he's actually

getting up on the table from the place of honor to go to your

arms and to talk to you.

We have a father that loves us, that talks to us.

You understand?

That is, that is, that is rare, that is impossible.

To say that we have a father that loves us.

To say that I have to do good and be better for him to love me.

Do we not understand the love that he has for us?

That it doesn't matter what we have done, he still loves us.

Now.

This doesn't mean I get to do whatever I want.

The hyper grace of God.

We're not talking about that at all.

We're Talking about a father, that he loves us and he will correct

us.

He will make us walk the narrow path, but it's for our good.

It's because we are his children.

See, we live.

I'm gonna even say it out.

It doesn't matter.

The whole entire world right now, there's debates between Christians

and Muslims in Islam.

And there was a debate that was going on online, and I was caught

on watching it, and it was if Jesus was Muslim or if he was a Jew.

And he said, but let me tell you something.

He used the word abba.

In Islam, you cannot have.

God is not a father of anybody.

You have to strive to be good.

And maybe, maybe when you get judged, you might go, whatever.

How beautiful it is that we don't have to.

And we can't do anything to please him, but he just loves us.

He went to the cross for us.

He died for us.

He gets up and runs after us when we are lost.

He gets up from the banquet.

He gets up from the party to say, son, daughter, I love you, and

I want to be with you.

And I'm willing to give my life for you.

See, no other religion gets to say that.

But you know what?

We're not a religion.

Christianity is not a religion.

It's a relationship with God.

This is what this is.

It's a relationship.

But I do not want to be like the oldest son, that the story is

not written for him.

So today, if you're the prodigal or if you're the older brother,

we fall into one of the two.

Into one of the two, we fall.

But today is the day that the Father is running after you.

Can we stand on our feet?

The Father is running after us.

I'm going to close with this.

I'm going to take advantage that my wife is not here right this

moment, because I'm going to use the.

I'm going to put my pride to the side, right?

She said something that she heard many years ago from a preacher.

Don't tell her I told you, but he's a very good preacher.

I didn't say that.

All right.

And he preached about this message.

And the last part of the message was like him extending his

hand as if he was God, saying, son, daughter, may we have this dance

together?

I feel like the Lord is telling us that today, May we have

this dance together.

There is music and there is dancing.

God is not looking for slaves.

He's looking for children.

Music was playing.

The robe, the ring, the sandals, the celebration are still

available.

Will you lay down the Score keeping and receive the love of the

Father.

Will you enjoy the Father in this last dance?

Let's lift our hands and pray.

Father, we give you thanks today because we get to call you

father.

Abba, we get to cry out to you.

We get to tell you Lord, that we love you because you loved us.

We get to enjoy your grace, Lord, because you came running after

us, Lord, you came running after us when you saw us from far.

And you came running after us to beg and talk to us when you were

at the party, Lord.

Lord, we hear music to the and there's dancing, there is joy.

I declare that there will be joy today in the name of Jesus.

The hearts, Lord, that have been sent, Lord, that are sad, that

are broken today will receive joy because of your love.

Father, we are talking to you.

Lord, we are talking to you.

Oh master, you are our Lord, but above everything else you are

our Father.

We get to call you Abba, we get to call you dad.

Dad, we love you.

And even though that there's nothing we can do, you loved us first,

Lord.

Thank you because we get to run to your arms.

You waited for us with your arms open and we're running to you

and you're running to us.

Lord, we want to dance with you.

We want to get joyful with you, Lord.

Lord, today we cry out Abba, we want to be your children.

We're no longer slaves to sin.

We have no fear of nothing because we're your children.

We're in your hands, Lord.

And your word says that you did not lose one of your children.

And we're in your hands, Jesus.

And for that we give you thanks.

In your name we pray.

Amen and amen.