The Prodigal God — A Love That Won’t Stop Pursuing You | Luke 15 (Sue Martinsen & Candace Kim)

Good morning.

>> That was quite a exciting um welcome.

Like I feel the love and thankfully it's

a little bright so I can't see your

faces so much because that can be

intimidating. It's intimid stage. Can we

just be honest? It's intimidating.

>> Before we even moved into this place, I

was walking back and forth on this thing

being like I take authority over spirit

of intimidation. And then I still feel

it a little bit. So we need to do that

again. Um and now I have a mic. So, I

actually have one more additional

announcement. We do have this summer our

missional retreat trip dates. Every year

we go to the nation of France. It's the

one continent in the world the gospel is

declining. And this trip, the dates are

June 23rd to June 29th. I want to invite

all of you and ask you, what are you

doing this summer? We'd love to have you

join us. It's been over and over, year

after year, the most transformational

experience that I've seen people walk

through personally. So, we're going to

give a longer announcement next week. I

won't go into it, but just want to say

if you're not doing anything this summer

and you don't have any plans, you can

tap the chair in front of you and all

the information is there. Okay. So, this

morning, as Christian said, I am going

to be in Luke 15 and I've titled this

sermon the prodigal God. It's three

stories, one God, an unstoppable

pursuit. And Luke 15 is not about lost

people. It's about a God who goes

looking.

I want to ask you something. Have you

ever lost something that mattered to

you?

Keys? That's annoying. Phone, yeah,

that's frustrating. Unless you have a

very expensive phone finder, which is

what Christian calls my watch.

But have you ever lost someone you love?

That hits your chest differently.

A few weeks ago, Christian mentioned a

story. He said, "We lost a child and

then we found a child." Well, I'm going

to give you a little bit more colorful

version of that story. As often, if you

want to know the true story, come to me.

I'll give it unfiltered. Okay. So, we

have a incredible fifth child. Her name

is Arya. She is defiant and she does

what she wants when she wants, wherever

she wants. That's just the norm. We've

come to expect it in our home. So, this

is uh Saturday morning and the women

were coming to this building to clean

it. Let's just be honest, friends. Women

clean better than men. I'm just saying

it's a thing. And so, the women were

coming to clean this church. I was on my

way here. Christian was dropping off our

two youngest children at the

babysitters. I go outside to be like,

"Bye, guys. Have a good day." And get in

the car and come. And I only see Cece,

who's our 8-year-old daughter. And I'm

like, CeCe, where's Arya? And she's

like, well, she was here.

And I'm like, uh, in my head, I'm

calculating calcul. I'm like, it's been

about 10 minutes since I heard Arya

scream at Cece. That means she could be

gone for up to 10 minutes. So, I go

inside. I'm like, that doesn't We don't

know. Maybe she's still around. Arya.

Scream a little louder. Arya. No, Arya.

Then I go back to our backyard. Look at

the pool. Look at the bottom of the pool

because you do. And thank God there's no

Arya in the pool. I go to the front back

to the front yard. Go inside. Christian.

And by this time, he hears the urgency

in my voice and he is there. And we both

are back outside. I said, "Cece, what

was Arya doing when you were last with

her?" And he's like, "Oh, she was on her

scooter." And I'm like, "Oh, flip." We

live on Hill Avenue about the middle.

So, Hill Avenue is literally named

because it's a hill. It goes up and it

goes down. And while she is defiant,

she's very agile. So, I'm thinking this

child on her scooter, she's not just

going far, she's going fast. So,

Christian's like, "You go up and I go

down." And I should have been like,

"Let's flip the narrative." But knowing

she doesn't have that much perseverance

yet, you know, so pushing a scooter

uphill, that takes work. She wouldn't

have done that. But anyways, so I He

goes down the hill. I go uphill. I start

running and I'm looking at every face I

pass. I'm looking in every yard for a

little pink scooter. Could it be here?

I'm screaming at the top of my lungs,

Arya. Arya. Because at this point, it's

probably our child's been gone for 15

minutes. And we live in a day and age

where news is all too prevalent. You

know what happens to children all the

time. And so I'm running up this. I'm

like, God, I don't know that we can

recover from this. There's a lot we can

recover. But to have a child kidnapped,

like my mind, it just went there. I'm

praying in this spirit. I'm screaming

out, "God, you know where she is. You

know where she is." So, I get back to

our house. I run into the backyard to

make sure the scooter is not there.

Indeed, it's gone. And I start going

downhill avenue. By this point,

Christian calls. My phone rings and I

answer it and I go, "Did you find her?"

And he's like, "No, I'm going to go to

the neighbors and then I'm going to call

the police." And I'm like, "Forget the

neighbors. They don't even know our

names. Call the police." right now.

And then a man sees me and he looks at

me and he goes, "Did you lose your

daughter?" And I was like, "Yes."

And he goes, "Keep going. My wife has

her."

And so I'm like, "Keep going. We can see

pretty far, right?" I look as far as I

can into the distance. I see nothing. I

start running. I'm pretty sure I'm

flying at this point. as fast as I could

ever run past cross crosswalks, past

cross streets, and then I finally, if

you know where mountain is, she's now

about, by the point I time I get to her,

a half mile away from her home. And

there I see in the distance, this little

girl standing there. And then I see

there's a older woman kneeling next to

her. And by the time I get to her, I'm

just weeping.

And the woman says to me, she says, "My

husband and I were driving." And I

looked to the right and I saw at the

crosswalk this little girl with a pink

scooter pushing the walk button to go

across like a freaking child.

I love her so much. But she Oh my

goodness. And then she says, "I'm a

pediatric counselor." And I'm like, "Oh

god, you're in this story, too."

And later as I was processing like,

"What the heck was that? God, I mean,

we've miscarried a child. We've lost a

child for real." about that the pain

that I felt it was almost visceral like

it was so wrong. I'd never felt a pain

or a fear that real in my entire life.

And the father said the pain that you

felt is the pain of separation.

So often people think that the almost

the consequence of being lost is

punishment. But he said the greatest

tragedy of being lost is being separated

from the father. That is the pain I feel

every time a lost son or daughter is

separated from me. And so that's what

sent me into Luke 15 which is the

parables of the lost things.

And I had titled it the prodigal God

because so often we hear prodigal

honestly I thought prodigal meant lost

but it means recklessly wasteful.

There's another connotation to the word

prodigal. It means extravagantly

generous. And so what you're going to

see in these stories, you're going to

see a son that was a prodigal with his

sin, recklessly wasteful. But then

you're going to meet a father who was a

prodigal with his love.

So Luke 15, it starts with the why. Why

was Jesus telling these stories? The tax

collectors and sinners were all gathered

around to hear Jesus,

one group. But the Pharisees and scribes

grumbled, "This man welcomes sinners and

eats with them." Another group, there

are two groups listening to Jesus right

now. People who knew they were far from

God and people who thought they were

already close.

So the story he first begins with is out

of the lost sheep. So he tells them this

story. He says, "What man of you having

a hundred sheep, if he had lost one of

them, does not leave the 99 in the open

country and go after that one that is

lost?" And notice this word. He says,

"Until."

Not if, until he finds it, saying to

them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found

my sheep that was lost."

That sheep once belonged.

It was part of the flock, but it

drifted.

And suddenly it doesn't know how to come

home.

But what does the shepherd do? He leaves

the 99. A sheep in Jesus's day, it was

about a worth a day or two of wages. So

losing one mattered, but what would what

would have shocked the audience is not

the value of the sheep, but it's the

value the shepherd placed on it.

So, I want you to just pause and we call

them practices. It's basically how do

you take this and put it in your life?

Think of one person you know who's

drifted away.

And all you have to do is send one

simple message. Hey, I miss you. How are

you really doing?

And then simply pray, Jesus, help us to

bring more of your sheep to you.

Now we get to the story of the lost

coin. I want you to notice that Jesus

moves closer.

Now it's not in a field. It's in a home.

Suppose a woman had 10 silver coins and

loses one. Does she not light a lamp and

sweep the house and seek diligently

until, not if, until she finds it? But

here's the thing, the coin didn't

wander. The coin didn't rebel. The coin

didn't even know it was lost.

And some people are just like that.

They're living their lives. They're not

rejecting God. They're just unaware.

But the woman, she lights the lamp,

sweeps the whole house, searches

everywhere, turns everything upside down

until

and sometimes the way God searches for

people is through you and through I

as I was be praying into God, what you

want, what do you want me to share? Do

you really want me to go into the

parable of the prodigal son, which I've

now named the parable of the prodigal

God? I heard a few simple questions.

He said, 'When you were lost, when were

you Oh.' He said, 'W were you lost when

I found you? I was like, yep. He goes,

did you know you were lost? Nope.

Did you pursue me or did I pursue you? I

was like, oh yeah, you pursued me.

I remember the moment. I was about 20

years old walking on our college campus

across a huge green field, walking with

a sorority sister, and she's like, "Sue,

I want to ask you a question." And I was

like, "Okay, great." And she asked me a

simple question. She said, "What do you

think about God?"

I looked at her like she's smoking

crack. It's aging myself. No one says

that this day and age, but I was like,

"I don't think of God."

Like, "What? Who says that?" But then

I'd started to think of God. And soon my

life got radically turned upside down.

So much so that just a short while later

we had a big campus ministry about 700

students or so and the woman's director

um I've later heard this story but

wanted was had a disciplehip group and

she saw something in me that most people

were would have just flown right by and

she said I want that girl to be in my

disciplehip group at 10 and so she went

to the men's director and said what do

you think about this and he goes

honestly

I think she's too far gone I I think

you're wasting your time.

And I am so thankful that she did not

live by the word of man, but by every

word that proceeded from the mouth of

God to her because I don't know where

I'd be today without that woman. That

one group changed my life forever.

So the practice this week just to ask

God, God, who are you highlighting to me

to reach out to? Maybe it's coffee,

maybe it's meal, maybe it's just a gift

of your time. And don't don't look at

what you see on the outside. I was

living a life opposite of anything that

looked like one following Jesus.

And yet now when I see where I am and my

family is, only God could do that. Okay.

So, we're going on to the prodigal son.

I want to just draw out the progression.

We were at one to 100, one out of 10,

and now we're going from one to two.

First it was about property, then it was

about livelihood, and now it's family.

Jesus keeps moving closer.

God's pursuit. It isn't general. It's

deeply personal.

Okay, another Arya story. I know it's a

lot of kids stories, but it's my season

in life, so I'm sorry.

I come downstairs one day and I notice

on a stack of paper plates a word. Don't

know if you can tell what that says.

Ara.

I noticed another word. Arya.

>> I noticed another word. Arya.

And again.

And again. And again. So I call her. It

keeps going. I call her down. I'm like,

Arya, come downstairs right now. Okay, I

know we use a lot of paper plates in

this home. I know we host all the time,

but you cannot write your name on every

single paper plate. I'm like, note to

self. Okay, poverty mentality, mindset

of lack. We got to deal with that later.

But I'm like, all right, you cannot do

this. That's so wasteful. And as

5-year-olds do, threw herself on the

ground and starts wailing because I said

no to her. And the words that came out

of her mouth, she's like, she's like,

"Mom, you don't even love me anymore."

And I was like, "That's intense." And

then she goes, "You don't even want me

to be part of this family." And I'm

like, "What? Where do you go from?" And

at this point, I'm almost laughing at

her, but wasn't because she was also

melting down. Realized how quickly a

child can confuse correction with

rejection.

When something is wrong, they wonder,

"Do I still even belong here?" And

friends, if we're honest, sometimes we

carry that same fear with God. We w when

we wander, when we fail, when we feel

far from him, we assume the relationship

must be broken.

And that is exactly where the f the

prodigal son finds himself.

So, it's this story. I'm going to just

summarize it for the sake of time. It's

a father. He has two sons. The younger

son took his inheritance. He burned

through every penny. He ends up feeding

pigs in a foreign country. And somewhere

in the mud, he comes to his senses.

He says, "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." The son, he expects distance.

He expects to return as less than a son.

But it says while he was still a long

way off, his father saw him.

I want to pause there. How did the

father see him?

Because the father was already watching

the road.

And then Jesus says something that would

have shocked every man, woman, child

that heard. He said, "And he ran to his

son." The father running would have been

shocking on every level. Middle Eastern

patriarchs, which this man would have

been, he was a land owner, never ran.

Lifting up his robe, because they wore

big robes, exposing his legs would have

brought public humiliation

onto himself. So we see this father, he

runs to reach his son, probably runs

through the village, embraces him. The

father absorbs the public humiliation

and takes the shame so that the son

doesn't have to because love will always

run faster than shame.

The son, he had a whole rehearsed plan

speech. But I love this because as it

continue you the story continues on. The

father didn't even let him get through

his speech. He cuts him off halfway

and he says hold on the father to his

servant. He says, "Bring me my robe, my

ring, my sandals." And that's a whole

sermon in itself. But the robe, what

does that represent? My robe would have

been the very best robe. So, he brought

back covering. The ring would have been

a family signant ring, one they used to

do contracts and sign the family name.

He gave him his authority back. And then

he gave him sandals.

Only sons wore sandals. Slaves were

barefoot. He restores his identity.

You cannot earn sunship. Only the father

can restore it.

So for the lost son in this room,

I want to ask you to do one thing this

week. Write down the one thing that

you're telling yourself you have to fix

first

and then write down he already knows.

And now bring it to him.

But the story goes on. The father says,

"Then bring the fattened calf and kill

it. Let's have a feast and celebrate for

the son of mine that was dead is alive

again. He was lost and he is found." And

they begin to celebrate. But there's

actually two lost sons in this story.

The younger son was lost through

rebellion, but the older brother was

lost through entitlement.

While the celebration is happening

inside, the older brother refuses to go

in. And instead he says to his father,

"I have been serving you all of these

years." Note he said, "Serving."

That's not the language of a son. It's

the language of someone keeping score.

While one son was lost in rebellion,

running to a faroff country, the other

was lost in resentment in the father's

house.

But never did he enter into the father's

heart.

Both sons wanted the father's things,

but we don't see either son wanted the

father.

And how does God God the father who the

father represents respond? He says, "My

son, everything I have is yours.

The door is opening. The feast is

happening. The older brother is standing

outside." And then Jesus does something

surprising. Note how the first three

stories progressed. The sheep was lost.

found celebration says more joy in

heaven will there be when one sinner

that was repent comes home and then the

coin was lost it was found there was

celebration the son the first prodigal

the younger son was lost found

celebration the older son he just stops

the story

he never we never he never tells us does

the older brother come in does he come

into the

Why? Do you remember at the beginning I

said the context, the people, the two

parties that were sitting there who

Jesus was speaking to? He was speaking

to the tax collectors and the sinners

and the Pharisees and the scribes. The

Pharisees were the older brother. They

followed every rule. They stayed home.

They did everything expected of them.

And the question that they got they had

then we have today. When grace shows up

for someone who doesn't deserve it, can

you celebrate them?

>> Somewhere in this story, we all appear.

Some of us are like sheep wandering.

Some of us, like the coin, like me, lost

and didn't even know it. Some of us,

like the younger son, running far from

home. And some of us, like the older

brother in the father's house, but far

from the father's heart.

But what we see is the continual

display, the continual pursuit of the

heart of the father. He goes out, he

searches, he runs until

the one that was lost is now found.

Because the hero of this story, it isn't

the sheep, it isn't the coin, it isn't

the prodigal son, it's the father.

A father who searches, a father who

runs, a father who pleads. And that

father in the who runs in the parable,

he put on flesh in the person of Jesus

Christ. And he ran all the way to the

cross so that we would never know the

pain of separation and that we could

come home.

Now I have the honor of inviting up

bringing up Candace Kim to share today.

Now I just shared the story of a father

who runs, who searches, who goes to the

farthest places to bring back their lost

sons and daughters.

This woman the world had discarded. They

said, "You're not worth our time. You're

not worth our energy. You're not even

worth being

gazed upon or looked at. Her story of

the pursuit of the father is unlike

anything I've ever heard. I have asked

her probably four, five, maybe I don't

even know, six times, Candace, will you

share your testimony? Will you share

your testimony? I'll build a whole

message around. Will you share your

testimony?

And this time she said yes. So you guys

are in for a treat. There's the ultimate

pursuit of the father seen through this

one life because he's still running

today.

>> Thank you, Sue.

I get to be here today because

I got to experience family.

I'm part of a family now. And so I'm so

grateful.

Um yeah. Wow. It does feel different up

here.

Jesus.

Let's do this.

Um, so my name is Candace Kim and I, um,

I'm going to just jump right into it for

the sake of time, but my story begins

with rejection and abandonment. Um when

I was born, when my mom was pregnant

with me, um she uh wanted to abort me

right away, but she was too far along.

And so she wasn't able to abort me. And

so um by the time she had me in the

hospital, she ran away with my uh

four-year-old brother and left me at the

hospital. My dad was nowhere to be

found. He was a alcoholic.

Um most of my life, I believed that I

was unwanted. Uh what I didn't know was

that God has been pursuing me all my

life. I was passed around like a hot

potato. Family to family members, um

friends, just all around passed around.

Nobody wanted to commit to me. It was

too much of a big responsibility.

And um and like I said, my dad was an

alcoholic. He was absent most of my

life, but periodically he would u pop in

because he would find a girlfriend. And

he would say, "We're going to live in a

big house together. You're going to have

a new mom. We're going to all be

together one day." And so he would pick

me up. He's like, "I found you a mom.

You're going to move in there with her.

You're going to call her mom." And I was

very excited to call her mom. And it

happened several times. Um it usually

lasts a couple months. You know, my dad

was quite abusive. He's a good man, but

he was very broken. And when he couldn't

control his anger, he he, you know, it

led to abuse. And so, um, one of my

favorite, um,

you know, moms, I was living with her

for 3 months and, um, it shortly ended

with him, you know, like hitting her to

the ground and he quickly dropped me

back off to my grandma. So, my life felt

like a pingpong. I was just kind of

bounced around just you know picked up

dropped off picked up dropped off and

nothing was really stable in my life. Um

and nothing lasted and even when it when

there was a little bit of hope it seemed

to be quickly met with um some sort of

disappointment.

Um when I was four years old um I my

brother I met my brother for the first

time and he came to stay with us for a

little short period of time because my

mom and um stepdad went to jail because

of the domestic abuse and my little

brother half brother went to an

orphanage and while my brother briefly

stayed with me um my mom came to uh

visit him um after she got out of jail

and I remember she you know she was she

missed him so much and she ran up to him

and she was just embracing him and

kissing him and I was like telling my

grandma like I need a new outfit. Like I

don't want these swap me clothes. Like I

need a new outfit. I was so excited to

to meet her and I I was just so eager to

show her that I'm worthy of keeping. And

so I, you know, ran out and she was like

embracing my brother. She hadn't seen

him in a while. And then I I stood

around and I was just kind of like

swinging my body hoping that she'd see

my new outfit and that it was good

enough for her to take me with them. Um,

but unfortunately she just took my

brother and I was left behind.

Um, so from that moment a a belief was

planted in my heart that I truly was

unwanted and I was disposable.

the rest of the time um up until high

school I bounced around room to room

renting out different rooms uh about

like 40 times and I became a scapegoat

to my family where my existence was the

reason for the problems in in my

relatives lives. Um during this time I

started experiencing severe demonic

attacks. Um every single day legions of

demons would come and want to destroy

me. every day it would just be swirls of

like swarms of demons all around my room

and it would just torment me every

night. And you know I was really young

you know it started from second grade

and it continued up until um close to m

middle school and then um but strangely

um

yeah so I at 14 um I ended up living at

my aunt and uncle's house and we um you

know we were renting a room there and um

we weren't allowed to eat with them. we

had to, you know, um, wait till the

whole family went to sleep and then my

grandma and I would sneak downstairs and

eat their scraps of food and that was

the way we were able to survive through

high school and um, not through high

school. It lasted um, a short period of

time. Um, I had to tiptoe around the

house and um, anytime I made a sound or

a beep like you know they would rage at

me. um my aunts and uncles, just my very

existence triggered everyone around me

for some reason. And so I I was very

careful and cautious in how I walked,

where I went. I stayed in the room all

the time. And then eventually um you

know, I kind of spiraled out and I

started um I couldn't handle the pain

and the loneliness and the rejection and

the abandonment. And I it led me to

cutting myself every single day to

release the pain and tension that was

going on inside of me.

Eventually, um, no one wanted to take

responsibility for me. So, at 16, I

ended up homeless. Um, I slept in parks.

I slept in my friends closets. I slept

in community pools. Um, I slept in

clothing factory warehouses. Um, I slept

at outside of a mall. It's a mall called

Brea Mall. that's in Brea in Orange

County. Um, I slept in outside of the

mall and when they would open at 10:00,

I would go in and wait around the food

court to eat the food samples and that's

how I got by.

And then um, everything I owned fit in a

black trash bag and um, you know, it was

just survival, pure survival. I worked

as a janitor at LAX airport. Um, and I

would clean the airport and I would just

look around and I would always just

dream like one day I'm going to come

back to this airport, not to clean it,

but I'm going to travel the world. And

so, um, yeah, and eventually I ended up,

um, joining a family. Um, it was a gain.

It protected me. It showed me loyalty.

And I felt belonged. um that life came

with robberies, violence, shootings. Um

many times I was in um car shootings and

there were bullets all around the h all

around the car and then we would get out

and we would wonder how did we survive

this? Like the whole car is smoking with

bullet holes but somehow we didn't get

shot. It was it was truly a miracle. Um,

and one little fun thing about that is

that everyone in that car actually

recently got baptized and saved, which

is really amazing.

So, one day um I uh you know went to

look for my mom in um when I was 19 and

I you know desperately asked her please

can you take me in? My life is so hard

like I can't live like this anymore.

Please take me in. And so she took me in

with my brother and I had a half

brother. Um but it was quickly met with

um just you know so much abuse and she

had so much hatred and she was so

broken. And so I just you know the

little hope that I had was diminished

like I didn't have any more hope

anymore. there was nothing, no reason to

live. And so I quickly um put a cord

around my neck and I jumped out of the

um the top of the house. Um I jumped out

of the window and then suddenly I can

feel something just grab me and slam me

down to the ground really hard. And then

I laid there and I looked around and

there was no no one around me. But all

of a sudden, I felt this like hot liquid

love just pour into me over and over. It

was like wave after wave of just this

love. And it was so explosive. And it

was like I couldn't contain it. Like I

had to like mumble like, "Please stop.

It It's like too much." And this love

was just so pure.

And it wasn't calculative.

It wasn't,

you know, it it it had no bounds. Like

it was unconditional and it was it was

just overflowing and it felt very

eternal.

Um

so

yeah, and as I laid there um the Lord

just kept saying like, "I love you. I

love you. I love you. I love you." over

and over kept saying, "I love you." And

the more he said it, just the the the

weight of my my past and the pain just

was being washed away. Wave after wave,

it was just being washed away and I was

just being set free and I can experience

just a healing taking place. And

um yeah, Romans 8:15 says that we

Romans 8:15

received the spirit of adoption which

cried, "Aba, Father." The moment Abba

Father literally and spiritually saved

me, claimed me and adopted me as his

own,

God spoke to me like a echo in my heart

and he told me, "I pre-registered you. I

put a patent on you so no one can claim

you, no one can take you." He says that

I will never leave you or forsake you.

Later, um eventually I went through

another round of dark season in my life.

My father, um I got reconnected with

him. He got cancer and I had to take

care of him and during that time I had

another fall. It was really difficult

for me to take care of a absent, you

know, a dad that was absent in my life.

But fast forward um after a few

prophetic words, I ended up doing a

program called Circuit Writers at M

Auditorium here in Pasadena.

And there was one of um one of my

favorite speakers, Brian Brent. He he he

passed away during co but he was one of

the most amazing modern-day revivalists.

He spoke on the topic of an unoffendable

heart and it shook me deeply.

If Jesus laid down his life for us, not

holding on to a single right, he laid it

down not holding on to all the

injustice, all the wrong that was done

to him and just the betrayal of his

friends, betrayal of his people, the

backstabbing, the loneliness, you know,

he laid it all down. He did not hold

offense against anyone. but rather he

said, "Father, forgive them for they do

not know what they are doing." And that

just struck me so hard. Like if if he

did that for us, laying it down and not

holding on to any right, then what right

do we have to hold offense against our

offenders? We don't. It's we don't have

any right. And so I

that was the moment where like the

weight of my sin was just floating

before me and I just had this eagerness

to repent. Like I was like God I don't

want to live this life of being holding

on to my rights to be so hurt and so

upset at the people those that have hurt

me.

So long after that, a fun experience

happened. Um, I was driving with my

friend and we came across we drove by a

bar and there was a guy that looked

familiar to me. And he was outside

smoking a cigarette. And I looked over

and I was like, "Oh my gosh, can you

pull over the car?" And so I went up to

him. I got out of the car and he was the

guy that had uh raped me when I was in

the streets. and he was smoking a

cigarette outside and I asked him, "Do

you remember me?" And he said, "Yes."

And I was like, "Do you know what you

did to me?" And he's like, he just like

looked down. He was kind of drunk. He

was smoking a cigarette and he just kind

of like you could see the shame over his

eyes and the guilt. And I told him that

I forgive you.

And he began shaking and he couldn't

look me in the eye. And I told him that

that I died when I received Jesus. That

my flesh was already died with him and

resurrected. And I I don't hold any of

your sin against you. And you could also

experience that same freedom. Like the

Lord wants to set you free of your shame

and your guilt and he wants to pour his

extravagant love on you. and he just was

shaking and he like didn't know how to

handle it and and I asked him, "Would

you like to receive Jesus Christ as your

Lord and Savior and be set free today?"

And he said yes. And it was the most

joyous experience cuz he was full of

joy, full of freedom, and he was just

like laughing and just you can just see

it in his eyes like it was like the

torment had left him. And so

it was easy for me to do that because of

what Jesus has done for me. Because I

don't hold on to rights anymore. I am

fully free. I am fully surrendered.

The word says that when we are forgiven

much, we can love much.

And I really experienced his grace and

his mercy.

And I want to give that opportunity

for you to experience that today as

well. Uh my whole life, I long for a mom

and a dad. I long for a family. I didn't

care with who. It didn't matter. It

didn't have to be my mom or my dad. I

just wanted a family and I wanted just a

mom. And

but I discovered something even greater.

The love of our heavenly father. It far

exceeds

our earthly family could give. Far

exceeds.

It doesn't even come close.

I feel really loved and special.

And I just truly believe that you can

too.

The same God who pursued me is pursuing

each and one of you in this room.

He wants to restore and restore

your life right now by washing it over

with his fresh word and his love.

If he could love a homeless gang

involved

girl that was very that seemed very

hopeless to many,

he can meet you wherever you are at

right now too.

I truly believe that the Lord wants to

squeeze every lie

out of you today with his love. He wants

to squeeze every pain out of you today

with his love.

And I believe that there's some of you

that never had a chance to experience

just his extravagant love over your

life. You've maybe been coming to

church, you know, most of your life, but

it's still not connecting from the head

to the heart. And I really believe that

he wants to drop just that the head

knowledge into your heart, and you're

going to experience a tremendous

breakthrough today with his extravagant

love for you. I feel I believe that

there's some of you who's never ex who's

never received Jesus Christ as your Lord

and Savior. you haven't beholded him as

lordship over your life. I believe that

he wants to to enter into your heart

today and he wants to draw that line

with you to cross over that line into a

life of freedom. And if that's you, I

want to invite you over right now to

receive prayer. If we could have prayer

team come up.

I feel like there's some of you who's

been stuck in cycles of trauma and who

are just exhausted

exhausted of going around the same

mountain.

And no matter what you do, you feel like

it's just I'm it's you're just so tired

of these battles.

I want you to come up and to receive

prayer because the Lord wants to set you

free today. He wants to accelerate your

healing today.

Some of you have been battling with

voice of condemnation and shame. There's

torment in the mind. The Lord wants to

set you free today. Like I just see his

voice just being the volume of his voice

being raised

and the lies just being silenced.

Yeah. I just want to invite you all to

receive just his love today. And those

that really want to experience just this

hope and this freedom that I got to

experience, I invite you over to receive

that. Thank you for listening.

Just give her a hand.

Oh my gosh. How do you I can't even get

up there. Wait, is Candace stay?

Candace. Candace. So, I'm going to

invite you all to stand.

We're going to go back into worship.

And there are teams of people to our

left and to our right.

But Candace just shared

the real life story

of the father who never stops searching.

No matter how far, how long,

how deep the pain is in you, God says,

"I'm not done with you. I love you. I

love you. I love you."

This morning, there is a fresh release

of the father heart of God in this

space.

That shame is going to be put to the

wayside. Condemnation is going to be

silenced and the love of God is going to

flood this room.

So, I'm going to ask Candace to pray

over us. And then the worship team is

going to take us into worship. But as

you worship and you reconnect with that

heart of the father, not for your person

on your left or your right, but for you

today,

just stay there. Stay there because he

wants to fill you, pour his love into

you today.

And if any of the things that Candace

spoke about or I spoke about, it just

awakened God, I'm not right. I need to

get right with you. We invite you to

come

to receive

cuz the father,

Jesus, the holy spirit is in this room

and he's here for you.

Yeah. Father, I just thank you, God. I

thank you for what you're doing here in

this room today.

This week I broke about four jars of

oil, my castor oil, my essential oils. I

just kept breaking all my oils. I don't

know why. And and then I had a dream. I

woke up. I was screaming, "We need the

oil. We need the oil. Break open the

oil." And I just felt like the Lord is

breaking open the jar of oil over this

place right now, over your minds, over

your hearts. He is tenderizing hearts.

He is breaking open the mind.

He wants to deliver you and set you free

today.

We thank you, Jesus. You are a God of

redemption.

You are a God who heals. And you are a

God who pursues us so extravagantly,

God. You run after us with arms wide

open.

God, we don't want to just attend church

and check it off. God, we want to come

just so hungry, so full of passion, so

desperate for you, God. We want to be

met by your love each and every day,

God. A fresh love, Lord. We don't want

to be dulled out by who you are, God.

God, we can't even put into words who

you are and what you mean to us, God. I

can't even find the right words. It

doesn't even describe, no adjective can

properly describe how great and mighty

and magnificent you are.

He's so after you. He's so after you.

He's so after you.

We just declare and say no more cycles,

no more resistance,

no more heaviness, no more anxiety,

no more fear, no more shame,

no more roller coasters. Up and down, up

and down. The Lord wants to bring

steadiness into your heart and your

mind. Bring peace that surpasses all

understanding.

Just that ache in your heart, that

feeling of lack he wants to fill.

He wants to break off this orphan

mindset that's been robbing you of your

joy and your peace where you can't fully

experience him because you're constantly

dwelling on these cycles of this

mindset.

We say no more.

Jesus, be so real to each and every

person here right now. God,

just as you were so real to me,

you are tangible.

You are so tangible. And I pray that you

would tangibly meet each and every

person in this room. And we just say

that they are marked and never the same.

Never the same. You will leave here

never the same. We just declare freedom

over you. Freedom over your mind,

freedom over your body, freedom over

your hearts, freedom over your thought

life,

freedom over your marriage. Jesus,

we bless the marriages here, God. No

more cycles of fighting.

No more offense against one another.

Offense is the fastest way to kill

anointing.

The oil is being broken over your

marriage today.

And we say no more.

God, I just pray Romans 15:13.

Romans 15:13

God, we just pray may the God of hope

fill you with all joy, with all peace as

you place your trust in him that you

will overflow with the hope and the

power of the Holy Spirit.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit today.

God, you said blessed are those who

hunger and thirst for righteousness. We

ask for just an atmosphere of hunger,

God, that all complacency and apathy

would die right now. We ask that you

stir in a fresh hunger, a hunger that

you could only satisfy, Jesus.

Yeah. We just mark this church and this

body, God, that it will be a church that

beholds you. As we behold you and we

gaze upon your beauty, we will never be

the same. We will be transformed into

the likeness of you.

And lastly, we just thank you, God,

that we are part of a family, a kingdom

family.

And it's far greater

than earthly family because in your

kingdom, it's just perfection. It's it's

so it's pure. It's safe.

And the unity is real. It's

your love.

It's not calculative.

It's abundant. Your agape love.

It's so good.

We ask Jesus that right now that you

would touch our hearts with that agape

love right now God

and they would be an overflow.

It would be drenched by your love father

Jesus name. Amen.