Recorded October 20, 2024, with Rhonda Harrison.

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast

with Rhonda Harrison on 1017 Bay FM Good morning

and welcome to Champions in Christ. Thank you

so much for joining us today This is the day

the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be

glad in it We have so much to be thankful for

with God the greatest would be one of the greatest

would be his mercy and his grace without that

none of us would be alive today but thank God

for his mercy and his grace and we're going to

talk about his mercy today so we're going to

go to the scriptures and we're going to look

in Luke chapter 15 and we're going to talk about

Luke 15 · chapter mention

a story Jesus tells And it starts in verse 11,

and he says, had there he wrote there arose a

mighty famine in the land and he began to want

so let's review here so you've got a man of great

wealth and he has two sons and the younger of

them which of course doesn't have the wisdom

yet that his father has and yet he wants his

inheritance he wants it now and he takes it and

he he runs with it and he spoils it on riotous

living you know he's just having parties living

it up buying everything he wants thinking that

it'll never run out you know many times we don't

realize how short life is and how we never know

what tomorrow will bring and so this young man

did not either and so after he spent all that

he had then something he wasn't expecting happened

and there was a famine in the land and he began

to want he had nothing and it was a severe famine

and so he went and joined himself to a citizen

of that country and that citizen sent him into

the fields to feed the swine so he went from

living first of all in a very wealthy place with

his father and his brother and he was anxious

and excited to just get his wealth and run to

the world and then he lost it all and now he's

with someone who's sending him to the pigs to

feed the pigs. You know there are times when

we're in the mountain and there's times when

we're in the valley but the consistent thing

about it all is God is always there. you know

the bible says his mercies are new every morning

hallelujah his mercies are new every morning

so whether you're living on a mountaintop right

now or you're in a valley going through something

his mercy is there for you just like his mercy

was there for this young man it says that and

he Let's see, and when he could not fill his

belly with the husk that the swine ate, and no

man gave it unto him, and he went... and he shook

himself he came to himself and said how many

hired servants of my father's has bread enough

to spare and yet i am dying with hunger you know

he remembered his father's house he remembered

that even the servants in his father's house

was were well taken care of and here he is in

the pit you know thank god he remembered who

he was Thank God he remembered. You know, just

like in the body of Christ, there are times when

life throws us that curveball and you can get

hit with a tragedy, a very tragic event. You

know, murder can happen, a kidnapping, a rape,

many other things, you know, bankruptcy, a divorce,

a loss of a loved one unexpectedly. And thank

God this young man, you know, those curveballs

can cause people to think God is against them

or God is to blame and the Bible says that it's

the devil. who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

But it's God who comes to give life, Jesus who

comes to give life and life abundantly. You know,

recognize who your enemy is. It's not a human

being. It's the Satan himself and all his cohorts.

And his goal is to take you and I to hell. And

the way he does that is to try and deceive us

about who God really is. Just like this young

man did not realize who he had and his dad and

what his dad had for him at this point in his

life when he burst out into life with this wealth

and then when he lost it all sometimes you have

to hit rock bottom before you look up and he

decided to look up and he remembered gosh even

the servants in my dad's house have way more

than I do and they're not starving. and so he

humbled himself and he said you know I will arise

this is verse 18 and go to my dad and I will

say unto him father I have sinned against heaven

and before you you know he recognized he didn't

just sin against his dad he sinned against heaven

you know when we follow the ways of the world

when we yield to sin and we all know what sin

is because God's given us a conscience to know

the difference between right and wrong. You know

the the wonderful thing is God's mercy is always

there and this this young man remembered his

dad and remembered and Remembered what his dad

was like and so he said though. I'm not worthy

verse 19 to be called his son make me as one

of his hired servants. That's what he was thinking.

I'll just go and be one of my dad's hired servants.

I'm not worthy to be his son anymore. He felt

really bad about his sin, you know, he began

to repent and so he ran to his father. He said

and he arose and came to his father and when

he was yet a great way off his father saw him

and had compassion and ran fell upon him and

kissed his neck and the son said father I have

sinned against heaven and in your sight and I'm

no more worthy to be called your son but the

father said to his servants The father didn't

say anything yet to him he turned to his servants

and said bring forth the best robe and put it

on him the best ring on his hand and shoes on

his feet and bring here the fatted calf and kill

it and let us eat and be merry for this is my

son that was dead and is alive again. Hallelujah.

He was lost and is found and they began to be

merry. You know when we humble ourselves and

we repent before God and we say you know Lord

I'm sorry I repent I turn away from what I've

done and we realize that we are nothing without

him but with him we are everything and we have

everything. God is your Heavenly Father. if you

cry out to him he is right there and just like

this father was a far off and ran towards him

that's the way God is he is a whisper away if

you just call on the name of Jesus he will cleanse

you he will forgive you he will wash you clean

he will make right and put you back into the

rear restored position back into the family of

God the way God had intended originally that's

what he did for Adam way back Adam is the one

who made who sinned Adam and Eve and when they

did when he did that caused that bloodline to

be tainted with sin and so the Bible says we

all fall short of the glory of God but guess

what he has made a plan Jesus came died rose

again and there is a a wealth of love and joy

and peace and mercy Waiting on you and waiting

on me if we fall away waiting on us if we've

never received him Just as this father was waiting

and he came back and God blessed him You know

the the the father blessed him the same way God

blesses us God will always bless you when you

come to him his mercies never run out, you know

in Jeremiah 3 14 15 and 16 it talks about how

God is married to the backslider. You know, if

you were once with God, whether you just came

to know Him and really didn't know Him very well

or whether you've been with Him a long time and

you turned away, He's married to you. He loves

you. He wants you back. You know, in Hebrews

4 .16, it said, let us have confidence and draw

near to the throne of grace that we may receive

mercy. grace and help in the time of need. God

is always ready to help us in our time of need.

You know James 2 13 says, judgment without mercy

to anyone who has not been merciful. You know

we have to have mercy towards others so that

we can receive mercy. You know 1 Peter 1 3 says,

blessed be God the Father and our Lord Jesus

Christ according to his great mercy. He has caused

us to be born again to a living hope through

the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah Hallelujah,

you know Psalms 86 five says so the Lord so you

Lord are forgiving and good abounding in love

to all who call upon you that's all it requires

is for us to call upon him you know and this

man in this scripture in verse 24 goes on to

say for this my son was dead and he's alive again

he was lost and now he's found and they began

to be merry you know we are lost and undone without

God but when we come to him we are alive again

he gives us that we he creates a nuts a new creation

old things are passed away everything becomes

new your past is over you don't have to worry

about it when the enemy reminds you you say no

i've been born again i'm a new creature in christ

hallelujah and then he called and then in verse

25 now his elder son was in the field and when

he came close to the house and he heard music

and dancing he called one of his servants and

said what does this mean and the servant said

your brother has come and your father has killed

the fatted calf and has received him safe and

sound the older brother was angry and would not

go in therefore his father came out to him You

know, sometimes people get mad when mercy is

shown to someone who they don't think deserves

it to be shown, but guess what? We all need his

mercy. I don't care if you've been in the Lord

30, 40 years and been faithful to church and

faithful to God. We've got to watch attitudes

because we don't ever want to not be merciful

to someone that's been away and they come back

to God. Just as this one was mad, he was mad

because his son was home and his dad's throwing

him his party. And this is what he says to him.

He says, father, all these many years I served

you, neither did I transgress at any time your

commandment. And yet you never gave me a fatted

calf. Excuse me. and made me marry with my friends.

But as soon as this son was come, who had devoured

all his living with harlots and you killed for

him the fatted calf. And he said to him, son,

you are forever with me and all that I have is

already yours. It was right and fitting that

we should make Miriam be glad for your brother

who was dead is alive again, who was lost is

found. You know, the son lost sight. of what

mercy and grace is all about what the goodness

of God in this instance what the goodness of

his father was all about you know when you're

restored with God the Bible says you're seated

in heavenly places it's it's all his kingdom

and we are blessed on every side and if you seek

him you'll find him when you seek him with your

whole heart you'll be blessed coming in and blessed

going out and blessed in the field blessed in

the city blessed in your storehouse blessed in

the fruit of your body glory to god he's provided

so much if we just look into the word of god

and find the treasure from heaven You know God's

goodness and his mercy never run out. They follow

us all the days of our life and we will dwell

in the house of the Lord forever. That's Psalms

23 6 and that's a promise for you and me. But

Matthew 5 7 says blessed are the merciful for

they shall receive mercy and this brother needed

to show mercy towards his brother so he himself

can receive mercy because he already had everything

that the son had. He could have already done

so much more with what God gave him if he only

realized what he had had. But God's mercy is

there for you. God loves you today. No matter

where you're at, no matter what you're doing,

he loves you and he wants to pour out his mercy

on you. Just call upon his name. We're going

to go to a couple songs and I'll be right back

at you in just a bit. If you knew me You'd believe

me now He turned my whole life upside down Took

the old and He made it new That's just what the

mercy of God His blood I'm so glad that my freedom

wasn't based on what I've done Goodness and mercy

and the power of the blood Six feet beneath the

earth For all the things I've done The things

I've said The choices made Wasn't big You know,

I'm so thankful that God does not give up on

us. Hallelujah. What a beautiful song of humility

just saying to the Lord, don't give up on me.

Because as mercy endures, the blood of Jesus

Christ was shed for you and for me. So if you

need that mercy today, just pray this prayer.

Father God, I just come before you. And Lord

Jesus, I ask you to be my savior. I'm running

back to you. I ask you to forgive me and cleanse

me and wash me. Thank you for your mercy. Thank

you for your grace. I receive it. Thank you that

I am a new creature in Christ. Thank you, Lord.

I repent of my sin. I do away with the things

of the world, and I let go of it because there's

so much more in my father's house. There's so

much more in his goodness. In Jesus' name, I

pray. Thank you, Lord. I receive it. If you prayed

that prayer today, glory to God, we rejoice with

you. And we'll be happy to send you a new Bible

you can get in touch with us at championsincrists3atgmail

.com. That's championsincrists3atgmail .com.

We want you to go out and make it a great day

today because God loves you, he's forgiven you,

he's merciful towards you. Believe him, believe

what he has for you. And Father, we just thank

you again in Jesus' name. We love you, God loves

you, and you are a champion in Christ.