U-Turn 2024 | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from at church. We hope this message

will light up your day. I'm going to be sharing well, I call

it auton message, because we are right at the beginning off youton twenty one

days pray and fast. And you know when I was preparing for this message,

you know that the twenty one days why we do twenty one days here

in acts. Of course, the scripture reference is from Daniel, and I

think it's Daniel chapter ten. You'll be able to see know where he actually

took three weeks to set himself apart for the Lord so that he could humble

himself and draw near to God. And it was in the midst of those

three weeks that he downloaded a lot of prophetic revelation from the Lord. And

so before we are even able to draw near to God, we must first

be able to embrace humility, true repentance. That is essentially what you turn

is about. It's eutn It's about making the right choices. So if we

have gone down the path of doing things our way, right now we are

saying God, I want to do it your way. I want to turn

around and do it your way. And so we must embrace humility, true

repentance, and approach God in faith. And so this is how our salvation

Jenney begins for all of us. The salvation journey begins true repentance first through

saying God, I am sorry for the things that I've done. And the

main ingredient to repentance is actually humility. Humility is the main ingredient to repentance.

It's very hard to repent when we are not able to come before God

and take a stance of humility, which means we must first be humiliated within

us to be able to say God, actually you're right and I'm wrong,

and right now I want to turn around and face you. And so when

I'm thinking of this, uh and what to prepare and what to share,

somehow I was thinking of the parable of the prodigal son, parable of the

prodigal son. Okay, who hasn't heard about the parable of the prodigal son?

Can No one leaves their hands good or Bible believing, church going,

mother, loving father loving Christians? Very good, very good? Actually,

you know, the remarkable thing is that this parable is so well known.

Just just a few weeks ago or last week, I can't remember. I

was I was actually ministering in the juvenile detention center and uh, you know,

it's a correctional facility somewhere in Alam. I think I think that's the

place. I think that's what it's called. Uh. And there were a

lot of pre believers, a lot of non Christians. So they actually have

this class called Class Christian. Basically all the dad line line you go for

Class Christian, uh is like fixed in a week when they will whether they

like it or not, as long as they are not from the majority faith,

most of them will be sent to Class Christians. And so we I

have this whole room of uh. Yeah, all sorts, all sorts of

charges. Actually, actually you identify them not so much by name. What

what are you charged for? Uh? And that's how you talk to them.

Are you here on rimand or are you here waiting for sentencing? H

Are you done with your sentencing? Are you going to be released soon?

And that's how you actually tell the difference the juveniles there. The different color

not wardrobe. I'm sure there's a better word for it, you need from.

Yeah, different colors tell you different things, whether they are on remand

whether they are serving their sentence, or whether they are about to be released.

But okay, the point is even they knew a lot of pre believers,

they know parable of the loss and the prodigals, and they are like

and so you know, we actually shared about the prodigal son the story,

and today that's what I want to do. But I wonder how many of

us identify more with the older brother than the younger brother. Think about it,

think about it, and I will go deep into this parable. So

if you're bear with me, okay, give me the next thirty five to

forty minutes, and I hope I'll be able to help see this parable from

a slightly different perspective. So what is a parable? What's a parable?

Anyone want to shout out? What's a parable? Story? That's right?

Basically, I've heard one commentator say it's a story with a sting in its

still. That means that whoever who listens to it originally, when you're sitting

down there, you realize, here the story sounds like funs sounds so nice.

Then suddenly wha. So the first question we have to ask, if

you are to take any when you're reading any parable of Jesus, is this

who did he tell it? Two? Okay, the first question, and

then the next question you have to ask is why did he tell it to

them at that time, in that place and in that particular situation. You

must ask those two questions to the parable. Okay, everyone's hearing me.

So let us grasp this parable by looking at the first two verses of chapter

fifteen of Luke. Okay, the Gospel of Luke. We're going to be

reading the entire chapter today because the whole chapter fifteen talks about this parable.

But let's start off with verses one and two, and he says this,

Okay, I'm reading from the NLT text. Collectors and other notorious sinners often

came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the pharisees and teachers of religious

law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even with them.

So when you look at this two verses, you find that there were how

many groups of people? How many groups? Hey? Answer? Two groups

of people are very good. Uh. And then you also notice that there

are two brothers in the story, right protgal Son. So that gives you

sort of an idea right from the get go. So the two groups of

people here were the friends of Jesus and the enemies of Jesus. If you

don't realize that Jesus made friends and enemies, you haven't really understood the Lord.

Okay, but that's the truth of it. Because wherever Jesus went,

he seemed to split the people down the middle one. They just couldn't be

neutral towards him. Very few neutrals towards Jesus. They either were for him

or they were against him. Some people loved Jesus, some people absolutely hated

him. Some became his friends, and some became his enemies. So it

is in this setting that the parable was told, where there were enemies of

Jesus grumbling about the type of friends he was making. That's what the story

is about. And of course a man may be told by the friends he

associates himself with. The kind of friends a man makes will tell you a

great deal about his character, his personality, his outlook. And you know,

this is a free choice. This is one of the free choices we

have to choose our friends. You know, we can't choose our family.

You can't say I choose my mom, My mom chose me. No,

come, that's it. But when it comes to friends, we can make

a choice. And so it is quite mind boggling to see what kind of

people became the friends of Jesus and what kind of people became his enemies.

It's interesting. The people who were the friends of Jesus included text collectors for

the Romans. Wow. Basically, they were Jewish people who volunteered for the

job, and Jesus hung out with them. Jesus partied with them at their

homes. Actually even called one of them to become his disciples. And they

called Jesus the friend of text collectors. Now can you imagine a person who

made friends with people like that? Jesus was sitting having a great party with

text collectors. And then this was the one group of people that nobody else

wants to associate with. Nobody else wants to hang out with a person who

takes a portion of your pay every month. That's for us, like huh.

But yet that was Jesus. But there was also another group who were

friendly with Jesus. Who were they called They were called sinners. Correct,

They were the ones who had long since given up on religion on the whole.

Ex collectors, who were most likely rich, sinners were most likely poorer

and They included hard working people who have long since given up trying to keep

the Ten Commandments, and they stopped pretending to be religious. This was mainly

who the sinners were. And so one of the greatest insults that was given

to our Lord Jesus Christ, which I personally believe is probably one of the

greatest compliments actually, is that they called him the friend of sinners, Amen,

because he made friends with that kind of person, He made enemies with

every other kind of people. And therefore, for everyone zach chays, for

everyone met you or Levi, that Jesus worn over, he lost an entire

crowd. But he chose to do that. He chose to do that.

The enemies were made up of who they were, made up of respectable and

religious people, those who at least were trying to be good and trying to

keep the Ten Commandments and trying to live a decent life. Why did they

become Jesus's enemies? I'm sure we will ask them. Why did they choose

to become Jesus' enemies? Well, simply because he became the friend of people

whom they have had no room for. They just couldn't bring themselves to have

enough space for the people that Jesus chose to be friends with. And it

was in this very tense atmosphere that Jesus told the parable. And do you

begin to see the sting that is coming. So there is this situation.

Jesus is sitting down and joining a party in a text collector's house with sinners

all around him, and then there were people looking in from outside, all

respectable religious people, they would have thought at least, and then here we

are. We are living good lives. You're trying to be good. We

have not done evil as compared to all those outright sinners in there. So

what were they doing? They were actually murmuring, They were complaining. They

were like why why? So Jesus took these two groups and then he began

to talk to them in a very subtle, roundabout way by telling his story.

But I guess before he got to the end of the parable, they

sort of got the message loud and clear. And so now we have two

little parables that helps us to understand the main parable. Okay, two little

stories lack the lost ship and the loss coin. Okay, two lost things,

take not away. Two lost things, one of which was lost far

away. The other loss at home. Let's read it parable of the lost

ship, it says, I'm reading from verse three. So Jesus told them

this story. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets

lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety nine others in

the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds

it, And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home

on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and

neighbors, saying, rejoys with me, because I have found my lost ship.

In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost

sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety nine others who are righteous

and heaven straight away. Then verse eight says this, Or suppose a woman

has ten silver coins and loses one, wouldn't she light a lamb and sweep

the entire house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she finds

it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, rejoice with

me, because I have found my lost coin. In the same way,

there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents.

Do you see a clue that is there that is preparing us for the main

story? Two sons, One was lost far away and the other was actually

lost right at home. It is not the parable of the prodigal son.

It's actually the parable of two lost sons. Essentially, One like the sheep,

had strayed away into the far country, and the other, like the

coin, was within the house and still loss. You see, Jesus was

an amazing storyteller, and his team was that losing something brings sadness, but

finding it brings great joy. He's already trying to explain why he is happy

with these text collectors. Why is he enjoying a meal with this sinners,

Why there is such a lovely atmosphere in this household, and why there is

such a miserable atmosphere with those who are outside looking. In his teaching that

loss means unhappiness and found means joy. There is another thing. No loss

puts someone on their own, finding makes them want to share it with people

in this Have you ever noticed in those two little stories that when the ship

was lost, the shepherd went out all on his own to find it,

but when he found it he called his friends and neighbors, and the thing

was shared together with everybody. Likewise, when the woman lost the coin,

she went on her own around the house to find it. But when she

found it, there was a time for getting together. There was a celebration.

So these two stories have a lot in them that actually prepares us for

the main story. And there is only one parable in this chapter, not

three. A lot of times we say it's three parables, lost ship,

lost coin, and the prodigal's son, but Jesus actually started off by saying,

Jesus told them this parable. It's actually two little stories that prepares you

for the big one. But they are all to be looked as one story

on the whole. So now our minds have got a certain idea, and

their teams there ready the sorrow of losing, the joy of finding, the

loneliness of being lost and of seeking the loss, and the togededness of being

found and celebrating. So Jesus is essentially preparing his audience. They are now

with him, and they are listening, and they are listening carefully. But

another thing that I want to highlight that we must take note off with regards

to these two little stories is this, and it's a big one. I

feel things that happen here on earth affect the feelings of Heaven. It does.

You'll catch the last lines in both the Story of the Lordship and the

Lost Coin that this is actually a very important point to grasp. The angels

celebrate when just one person on Earth comes to the saving knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ. One person repents of his sin, makes a fresh start in

the Lord, all heaven rejoices. We say it sometimes on stage and you'll

probably be wondering, why will all heaven reach joys just because of one?

Well, it's from here, it's from this story essentially. Amen. Okay,

now you're ready to study a bit more on the parable of the prodigal

Son. Okay, let's do this. I'm going to read the whole scripture.

Okay, it's good to read scripture verse eleven of from the NLT to

illustrate the point further. Jesus told them this story. A man had two

sons. The younger son told his father, I want my share of your

estate now before you die. So his father agreed to divide his wealth between

his sons. A few days later, this younger son pecked all his belongings

and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in

while living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept

over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer

to hire him, and the men sent him into his fields to feed the

pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pots he was feeding

the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything. He

finally came to his senses. He said to himself at home, even the

hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger.

I will go home to my father and say, father, I have

sin against both heaven and you, and i'm no longer worthy of being called

your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. So he returned

home to his father, and while he was still a long way off,

his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to

his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him,

father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no

longer worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants,

quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him.

Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill

the colf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for

this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was

lost, but now he is found, so the party began. Meanwhile,

the old your son was in the fields working. When he returned home,

he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the

servants, what was going on. Your brother is back, he was told,

and your father has killed the Phatton calf. We are celebrating because of

his safe return. The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His

father came out and begged him, but he net. But he replied,

all these years I've slaved for you and never once refused to do a single

thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me

even one young god for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son

of yours comes back, after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by

killing the Phaeton calf. His father said to him, Look, dear son,

you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.

We had to celebrate this happy day, for your brother was dad and has

come back to life. He was lost, but now is found. The

Lord bless the reading of his word. So there are two sons here,

and we have to look at both of them. There is a happy ending

to the story of the first one, but not very happy towards the end

of the entire parable. So let's look at the first one first, and

let me paint you this picture. Here is a young man who started out

life with these words in his mouth, give me, give me. He

thought life begins by getting hold of things, by seizing opportunity, sometimes knowing

we like you, say, seize it all. Today he had to learn

the hardest way that essentially life begins with the words forgive me, not give

me, but forgive me. You see, the Jewish law was that if

a man who died had two sons, his property would be divided into thirds.

The eldest will get two thirds of the estate. And why is this

so well, usually the oldest also has got the responsibility to take care of

the rest of the family, and so an extra portion is given to the

oldest son. So that he will be able to take care of the rest

of the family on top of his portion. So two sons, older son

gets two thirds, youngest one gets wanted. That was the law, but

he could also a father could also buy law or give the money to his

sons before he died or before he retires. That's his choice. And so

this was what the younger son was asking for. No that I wanted now.

And here again is the second wrong attitude to have. That essentially was

what wrecked this young man's life's to one things now rather than later, and

that is the essence of sin. It is actually what ruin he saws chances

of ever inheriting his father's blessing, because one day he saw was hungry and

he wanted some nice soup now, and he wasn't prepared to wait. And

that is how this young man talked. He was not just saying give me,

but he was actually saying, give it to me now. And the

most wonderful thing to me in this story is that the father actually gave it

to him. He must have known what his son was like, and he

must have known what he would do with the money, and it was perfectly

within the father's right to actually say no, son, when i'm date,

you can have all of it, and what you do with it then is

your business, none of my business. And that is what probably most fathers

will say. Uh. In fact, I will be super offended if my

kid comes and asks me for the inheritance, now, wouldn't you be?

And I don't do that? Okay, okay, actually I have nothing much

as all about anyway. But that is what most fathers will actually say.

But his father said, all right, son, here it is. It

actually takes quite a big father to let son ruin himself. Son, here

is the sum of money. You don't want to stay, go, but

come back when you want to be part of the family again. That took

a lot of courage, and I believe it took a good father to do

that. You know, parents have we sometimes have the courage. Do we

actually have the courage to let our children wreck their lives? Know, and

then welcome them home again? Don't There comes a stage in our family life

when we have got to do this with our own children at some point.

I mean, they've got to learn how to ride a bike, hands racking

the bike. They probably have to learn how to drive a car. Hands,

one of my fears in life. They come back with a rag car.

But more importantly, they will be making bigger and more important decisions for

them. Uh, and we can't be deciding for them. So it is

similar to what God the Father did for each of us. Actually you think

about it. He gave every one of us life and health. He gave

every one of us a chance, He gave us gifts, he gave us

abilities, and he gave us opportunities. He said, basically, this is

there you are. I've divided to you my substance. That means what is

off me now I give to you. That is what Father God has done

for each and every one of us. And then look what we have done

with it. But it still took a bold father God to give us a

chance to sin. Think about it, take it a step further. So

this youngest son haded off to a gentle city. That's what he did.

He's like, all right, that, adios, I'm off. It's probably

a place where all the young men in Galilee used to go and hang out

if they want to rebel against their parents, know, those who went through

some strict Jewish upbringing. It's like, all right, that I'm off to

this gentle city, and that's where he went. He went there because he

wanted life. He had it, and he enjoyed it for quite some time.

The far country can be enjoyable for a time. And he really parted

hard. He was a no good person. He was wasting his life away.

He was wasting his dad's money away. He forgot about his dad,

but his dad never forgot about him. And that is the first and there's

the situation that we're in. No but what happened, well, real life

happened after that. There was a famine and he began to be in one,

and he began to be in need and the money was now running out.

So basically he wasted it all. He had nothing, his father's heart

and property, money, everything gone. And I don't know, know you

think about it how the Jew view picks, which is non closure for them,

because if you realize how a Jews, how a Jew actually feels about

pigs is an unclean animal in Hebrew law. And this is a young man

sitting with pigs. Now what does that tell me? It tells me that

all his self respect is God. He basically got to the point where he

no longer looks up to himself, and when a man does, that is

the end of it. It's almost finished. No, if you can't even

look up to yourself. But yet when a man gets to the end of

the road, he might just be the beginning as well. Isn't it strange

in human nature that we have to get to the bottom before we look up

and we call on God when all other things have failed, we are prepared

to try him. It is said that we go to him last. But

on the other hand, even if he is the last resort, he is

a wonderful person to turn to. That's who God is. God doesn't even

turn anybody down who has put him as the last option in the line.

He doesn't. Sometimes we have to get to rock bottom and go through some

catastrophe or go through some disaster and take a look in the mirror and say,

oh, man, this is why I'm really like, I'm so foolish.

And do you know that you can't come to God until you have come

to yourself first. That is why many people can't get through to God because

they have never even been to themselves. They can't even face themselves. This

man came to himself and knew he realized that he was an absolute food.

That's what he realized. What that was, that reflection that was going through

in his mind. What am I doing here? No, I'm hanging out

in a big style for a Jewish person. And then the food of the

pigs looks like a five cause meal to me. Something is wrong. So

there was that realization. And so now for the first time in his life,

he was prepared to say, I have sin in the sight of God,

and he had. He realized that good thoughts never save anybody. This

man's realization, this son's realization of his true condition and true foolishness and true

sin, would not have done anything for him unless he turned the thoughts into

actions. And that is exactly what it is. That is exactly what you

turn is all about. You see the word repent the Greek is meta nowhere

or I don't know how you pronounce that. It just means literally changing one's

mind. It means to think again, particularly with reference to past behavior.

To repair means to think about things from God's point of view, to agree

with God's analysis of all matters, and to accept his teachings and his verdict.

It is to come to a knowledge of the truth about God and about

one's self. So on the one hand, a person will become deeply aware

that God is much better than he is generally thought to be. You realize

that one God, you are so great. That's why we sing of how

great he is and how we can never fathom God's greatness. But on the

other hand, a person will become painfully aware that he himself, me is

much worse than we initially thought we were. That's repentance. You may have

certain thoughts now, but if it remains just as thoughts, it will do

nothing for you unless you do something about them. And so what did the

youngest son do? He says, I'm going to go back, eton,

I'm going to go back. I'm gonna turn around. But his thoughts and

his motives were still pretty mixed. It was still a bit messed up.

On the one hand, he wanted to go back, which was good.

On the other hand, he thought he could still bargain with his own father.

He thought, now, I don't think I can be a son anymore,

right after all this folly that I've committed. And so he's like,

I think I'm not worthy of that. But surely he could hire me as

a laborer. Maybe he'll give me maybe a bit of wage, maybe he'll

give me some bread to eat. Basically, he never thought about the father's

feelings at all. What would the father feel with his own son in the

kitchen, So he still wasn't thinking about his father. But anyway, however

mixed his motives were, he got up and he went. He probably went

because of a hungry stamagla. Maybe not, maybe definitely. And I tell

you it does not matter how mixed your motives may be. But if you

will get up and go back to God, he will have you. He

has a way of strengthening out our motives. He has a way of aligning

our motives. He doesn't mind why a person comes, as long as they

come. And this is what happened. As soon as the father saw the

son, he ran and he kissed him. And that's God's love. There

was no rebuilt for the past, no advice for the present, no demands

for the future, not at that moment. Okay, other parts of scripture

got a lot of those things, but not at that moment. Then the

father said, bring the rope, bring the ring, bring the shoes.

The one thing that God asked us to do when we come to him,

is this leave behind that self will, self indulgent, self centered life that

we thought was the right way of living. Basically, he's saying, you've

got to leave that behind and just come home. You can't come home and

stay in the far away country. At the same time, if you leave

that, the sonship is yours. And that's why they started to sing and

dance, because really life is to be had in Christ. You can drop

everything else and lose everything else, and if you have Christ, you have

found real life. And I believe that was what the youngest son went through.

He realized that motives may have been messed up, but somehow how the

father accepted him back. You see, the happiest person that they was not

the boy, but the dad, because he was the one that said,

my son was dead, my son was lost, but now it's found.

And do you know you can be lost even though you know where you are,

and you can be dated even though you feel like you're alive and kicking.

But there is a message of this chapter. If you don't know Christ,

now you are dead and you are lost, ready you know it or

not. And when you find Christ, you are alive. And you have

been found. Amen. Let's now ask the question that we sometimes ask our

children, in ex kids, who was said to see the prodigal son come

home? And sometimes the children will answered the fatted cough, okay, it's

not it's not okay, Well would he be nice? If the parable actually

ended there then then But it didn't end with a happy ending. And the

truth was that this was not a happy situation because there was another brother,

the brother that we always choose to ignore sometimes like, let's not talking about

me like that. We're all the sinners and the text collectors who were lost,

right. But if you think about it, almost every scene in scripture

can be seen in the brother pride because he's know what's going on. You

could almost hear it from the tone of his voice. No, hawk,

I wasn't told about this. Pride is there? Anger is there too.

He was angry and he wouldn't go in. He refused to go in.

There was resentment that you never gave me a party, not even a small

goal. There was Mellie's your wayward son has wasted his money on prostitutes.

And see you think about it, there was no mention of prostitutes at the

start, So basically he was making an assumption and an accusation which may or

may not be true. But there definitely was Malie's. There was pride,

there was anger, there was resentment. But you know, the real problem

with this boy was one of the things that is wrong with a lot of

us. Sometimes all of us have come to this place. No, especially

if we have grown up in church for a very long time. No,

we have lived this respectable life. No, but we haven't really have had

real life. Yet. We have been sons, and yet we have been

slaves. You know. The prodigal became a slave when he sold himself to

the pig owner. But the elder brother was a slave too, and he

actually showed it by the things that he's saying. The things he had done

on in his father's farm was basically a duty. It wasn't a delight.

He had been loyal, He had done everything his dad ever wanted him to

do. He had been faithful, he had kept on going. He had

lived as his father wanted him to live. But there had been no joy,

no love there on his side. And there are two things that the

older brother didn't like. Number one, that the younger brother was getting things

so easy. He didn't like that. And number two that he was enjoying

it so much. He got it easy and he's enjoying it. And this

is the resentment that we can have if we have been brought up that you

must go to church and you have to be loyal, and you have to

keep trying to be good to be of worth. But we are good because

we put our faith in God, not because of our own effort, something

that we need to always bear in mind. But when we think that we

are good because of our own effort, that's when it messes our mind.

And that is why when somebody gets it all so easy and it is just

handed to them on a plate, we resent it. And it has been

for us a long struggle. Here is this person that gets everything handed to

them, and we resent that it is so easy. But one of the

important tests of our relationship to our father in heaven is this, are you

trull when a person gets easy and enjoys it? Or are you angry and

reasonful? As a church, we must ask them, what do you feel

about that? Will we be excited that a cold heartless murderer repents and comes

to the Lord. Would we celebrate. God knows even better what they had

done, but God accepted them. They are your brothers, and they are

going to be in heaven with you, and you're going to be celebrating with

them. You know. I was reading ah, but this, this is

an excerpt that I read somewhere about I think it was a priest or,

a pastor. But basically he was given an option to the opportunity to minister

to the war criminals from World War two, na zer war criminals who were

on trial and were about to be sentenced to death. Uh. And of

course he had to minister to them, but because part of him is like,

do I even want a minister to these people who are guilty now of

massacrering millions and millions of people so cruelly, you know, Do I want

to give them this chance even to be safe right before they meet the gas

chamber? It was real, No, I mean he was. He was

very open and honest in his feelings. But you see how we ourselves can

react like the older brother. I hope we don't. I hope we will

say that instead not that I'm so chilled they came home because those men were

no worse than me and I'm no better than them, and they need your

grace as much as I needed your grace. Your heart will have told you

whether you have got the father's love in your heart or the eldest brother's reaction,

because we have that in all of us, and this is something that

we need to be my full of. This is the meaning of the parable

and the sting is in the tale. I want to tell you the tale

as in the end of it. That's where the thing comes. When you're

reading the start of it, you're like, oh, okay, that's nice,

nice story. Oh happy, happy, But at the end of it,

we feel it because the truth of the matter is actually a lot more

of earth have more things in common with the older brother than the younger brother.

Me included. We have all gone through this before. We may have

stayed at home and lived a religious, respectable life in our minds. But

I want to finish by telling you this. The father in the story was

as loving towards the elder brother as he was to the younger. He came

out to the elder as he had run to the younger, and he dealt

so tenderly with the older brother. He says, son, this is your

brother you have nothing to lose by welcoming him. All that I have is

yours, and you could have had your body any time, anytime you wanted.

And that is a tragedy that those of us who are so caught up

in our own thinking but lacking in knowing God, we could have had it

all along. It was always there. The elder brother could have received a

fatthered calf just by asking. It was actually his already. In fact,

the Father had already a portion everything to his children right from the very stunt.

And it is therefore right to celebrate his right to praise the Lord and

to be excited that more and more people are coming to the Lord. It's

important for us to take note of that. Let us ask the Father to

give us his love, and let us stop being slaves to duty and delight

in gri race. That's something that's important. If not our entire Christian work

will be workspace, we will just think that I need to do this to

deserve that. But there has nothing to do with grace. Grace is something

that we don't deserve. None of us deserve God's grace. There's nothing you

can do to deserve God's grace. But the two things that the older brother

couldn't stand was grace and gratitude. Didn't He just didn't have that within him,

and because of that, there is no happy ending in that sense.

I know, I didn't want to end solemn. I am truly almost done.

Wow, not bad for my standards, And I think we can just

reflect a little bit upon this message, because do you know what really happened?

Those people who murmured at Jesus being friends with sinners, they're the ones

that actually correspond to the elder brother in this story, and they are the

ones who eventually wrote the ending of the gospel history. I know it ended

with Jesus resurrecting, but before that happened, there was a trial, probably

the probably the worst trial to witness, a miscarriage of justice, because on

the cross was someone who was completely innocent, completely innocent, but yet he

was put to the cross to die the most humiliating death anyone could ever face.

An innocent man. I mean, even the thief who was hanging next

to him realized that. Well, at least one of them realized that the

other didn't. But if you think about it, why why did this miscarriage

of justice took place, but we put him there is imagining as though when

the father was having a conversation with the older brother now and the older brother

at the end of it turn around and say, I'm going to kill you.

I'm going to kill you for what you have done or what he perceived

the Father has done to him. And that is what they did know.

For the father in this story is Jesus. The elder brother was the Pharisees

and the scribes and the religious people who got Jesus onto the cross and killed

him because of who he is. And so I asked you at the end

of this parable, what ending have you written to the story? Right?

Your own end to the story, because Jesus invites each and every one of

us to do that. You know, this discovery that God finds self righteousness

as offensive as sin comes to a great shock to our human pride, but

it shows why true repentance is really needed. We don't like it, know

when when we are asked firstly to repent of your wrongdoings, maybe I shouldn't

be doing that, But you know, Scripture also asks us to repent of

our right doings because when our righteousness is compared to God's righteousness. It's incomparable.

It's two separate things. That's why it says it's like filthy rags our

righteousness, our right living, our right way, the way we think it

should be done. Even though we think it's right, it's not right in

God's eyes. And that's why repentance is needed. You see, Jesus came

to save us from our sins, and it's important to know what those sins

are from which we need to be saved, and we must confess it to

the Lord unto repentance, because that's where it all starts. Remember, I

start off by saying that salvation begins with repentance, and it ends in heaven.

And that's the reality of it. And so we turn away from the

old life and turn to the new life that Christ gives. There is no

halfway in the process. It actually involves the willingness to get rid of every

evil thing, however dear it is to us. Sometimes even neutral things.

No, Sometimes certain relationships, certain hobbies, certain pursuits which, while they

are harmless in themselves, but they have somehow got in between us and God.

Is there something in my life that I cannot keep? Well? One

thing to completely turn towards God. You see, repentance is simply this,

the willingness to turn without condition. That is what you turn is about.

That is why we pray and be fast, because if we are doing this

in and through our own strength, it's impossible. But when we are saying,

God, we are completely dependent on you and we can't do this.

Train us, teach us, teach us your ways, and His ways is

as such that we put our faith, our hope, and our trust in

Him first. That's when he says that you are therefore right in my eyes

when you believe in me, and when you believe in me, I will

then therefore place my righteousness on you. And so he's saying, there's nothing

you can do to deserve salvation but to put your hope and your trust in

me. That's the first step. And you can't begin your journey of knowing

God unless you are willing to say, Lord, i am sorry, Lord,

forgive me for all the wrong things that I've done. So before we

even say Lord, give me something, we have to say Lord, forgive

me, because that is the first and foremost the thing that He has given

to all of us. That's why he went to the cross for and so

I pray that this time of twenty one days that we will continue to pray

too fast and to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, perfect place and will

for each and every one of us. I pray that we will learn to

rejoice, rejoice in a safe life, because honestly, that is you and

me. We are saved, and we are safe for a purpose. We

are safe so that we can worship God. We are safe so that we

can continue to rejoice, and we are safe so that we can share.

We can share what we know with those who have yet to know Him,

and therefore we are safe to serve Him. It's a privilege to be able

to serve God, and I pray this is how we will continue to live

our lives. And even at all there is anything that is hindering us,

anything that's holding us back, then I pray that you will go to God

and tell him that God, I need I need you, because you see,

a lot of times we may know in our heart that something is not

right, and sometimes we only know in our hate that is not right.

But for us to actually to have the will to do something, we've got

to know both in our hate and our heart. You need to have the

hate knowledge of scriptures to tell you this is not right. And you need

to also know in your heart as the Lord speaks to you and convict you.

And that's what the Holy Spirit does for us. The Holy Spirit convicts

us in our hearts. Our conscience speaks to us. And when your heart

and your hate knows that that is the right thing to do, that is

when your will moves. You can't make a promise to do anything until and

unless your hate and your heart is aligned. And so I can be up

here sharing all the scriptures I know, but that may not be enough because

ultimately it has to also come to your heart, the conviction, and I

pray with that you'll be able to move in will and intention. God,

I want to turn around. I want to turn around. It's so difficult.

It's so difficult for me to give this up. It's so difficult for

me to say no to this, just like it's so difficult for us to

fast. You know, I was joking with the ADM service today. Whenever

we start, you turn and when I look up to the congregation size,

I just see food everywhere, like everyone's food. But that's the reality of

it, right it's difficult. Why do we fast? It's one of the

reasons is because it trains us to focus, and that is what we really

need. And so I want to encourage all of us. I didn't mean

to end with the said ending, but it's not a sad ending because we

know that while Jesus was crucified, three days later he arose, and because

he roles, he has now effectively told us that I have not only overcome

the penalty of sin, which is death, I have also overcome the power

of sin that is working in our lives, which also means I have overcome

death. And then he also says I will ultimately overcome the pollution of sin

in our life. That's where we will experience the glory of God. He

is working, He was working back then, he's working now in our lives,

and he's working to make sure that our finality of it all is we

will be with him one day. He is perfecting each and every one of

us. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on

our church, please visit as Church Org. We are also active on Facebook

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I hate for you. God bless