God's Heart in Action: Lessons from the Prodigal Son

Let me give you a little backstory. We're talking last week, just a little build up. We talked Luke chapter 15. We're going to put verse one up on the screen. Luke 15 is a very popular chapter in the Bible. it talks about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodical son. If you don't know the story of the prodical son, it's probably the most inf one of the most infamous stories in the Bible. It's the story of a son who was lost, who had expended everything, who had lived careless and free, and returns home to the father, not thinking he's qualified to be a son any longer, even though we are all created as the father's sons. And again, this is a parable that Jesus is telling to make a point. We're going to touch on in a minute. It's a parable. This was not literal. It's a story to make a point. And he's making the point of a son, a creation, one of God's children who has who has lived wild and free and squandered everything. And he is so desperate. He is so hungry. He is starving to death. Not even allowed to eat the pig pods. And he decides he's going to come home not feeling he's qualified for sunship any longer. He's going to come home just saying, "Look, man, if I could just if my dad would just let me be a servant again." And this is how a lot of people return back to the Lord. Man, we've lived wild and free and squandered things and we come back to church and we come back and we just want to get a couple things in order, not thinking that we deserve any privileges or rights as sons or daughters. We just come back thinking, man, it's just I just want to get out of this pig pin. I just want a couple things to get in order. And I'm just telling you what happens in that story is we see the heart of God for the third time. The first one that he would leave the 99 and go find that lost sheep. That that he would flip the lights on and find that lost coin. And in this case, he didn't leave and go find the prodigal son. The prodical son knew his way home, but he was looking out the window. He's looking off the porch waiting for that son. And when he sees him in the distance, he runs to greet him. We see the heart of God that he would leave and go find that which is lost who doesn't know how to return home. Things that are lost don't know where they're at. I was laughing. Ryan reminded me last week or two we went to the rodeo over in Syon and my lovely wife had the idea to go out a different gate than we came in cuz the car's right over here. It was not right over there. We spent a solid 30 minutes trying to find a car. We were lost, right? Ryan's , "I think it's this way." And he's walking that way with Jackson I don't think it is. We're going this way. and and we were it was we were torn. We were lost. And when you're lost, you don't know which way to go. So the heart of the father, the heart of God, which is what we have adapted, we go and find those who are lost. And we want to show them the way home at the very least that we could be a lighthouse for people so they can find their way home. Right? But the prodical son knew where he lived. The prodical son chose to leave and the father never went looking for him. wouldn't look for the sheep, wouldn't look for the coin, but didn't go looking for the prodigal son. Why? Because the prodical son knew how to get home. He was choosing not to be there. And he had disqualified himself and thought, "I'm going to return home and just asks to be a servant. But when the father sees him, runs out to meet him, the son gives him his speech, the father turns his head, doesn't even acknowledge it, and tells the servants to get him washed up, put a robe on him, put a ring on him, put the put the put the shoes on him, and kill the fatty calf cuz my son's home." and he rejoices over him. That's the heart of God. But I want you to see why was Jesus telling that parable. And I want to build on it for just a moment. In verse one, it says, "Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach." That that sentence is fantastic to me, and I spent time with it last week. I've tried I won't belor it too much in repetition, but tax collectors were hated people. Tax collectors were people who had betrayed their own countrymen. Tax collectors were known as thieves because they're taken a little bit off the top. Tax collectors are are are people that that have left the culture, have left the family and are now hurting the family that they've left and they have submitted to the Roman government who is not the chosen people of God. And so they've abandoned everything. So they they were there was a distaste in people's mouth for tax collectors. And it says other notorious sinners, they would often come and listen to Jesus teach. Why? Why would people who have so much probably guilt and shame who are lost living? Why were they so intrigued to come listen? And why would they do it so often? Man, there was a lifegiving message in there. And this is what I'm going to tell you all day long. We can sit here and debate all night long about how the animals got on the ark. I'm not doing that. We can sit here and debate miracles all day long. I'm not doing that. Miracles will never make sense. That's why they're called miracles. So why are you trying to explain it? We can have a big argument all day long. We're talking about the God who created multiple galaxies. And you and I want to figure out how the God who created multiple galaxies got animals on an ark. I just think he's able to do that. Okay? We can argue all night long about a man in a belly of a whale or belly of a fish or whatever you want. Hey, I just think God's able. Okay, I think there's I think it's I think it's all right. I don't need to figure that out. I don't need to answer when God started. Here's the bottom line. The gospel is the greatest news in the world. And people are hungry for great news. When have you ever rejected great news, man? You come home and they're , "Hey, I'm making your favorite dinner." You're , "Oh, crap. Hey, we want to give you a raise at work." A poop, right? , no, gone it. Why? I don't want a raise. Have you ever rejected good news? I didn't think so. We're not going to do that. So, here's the greatest news of the world. And it's so appealing to people who are lost, dysfunctional, broken in any way. Man, I want to offer you the opportunity for healing, for restoration. That's appealing. So, they would often come and listen to him. But then verse two, here's where the religious people kick in, the teachers of the law. It says they begin to complain that he was associating with such sinful people. He was even eating with them. , oh my gosh, to think that he would meet and get a coffee with him and visit and talk. Why is he hanging out with that guy? Why is Jeremy ain't he ain't he the preacher guy? Ain't he the church guy? Why is he having coffee over there with that person? Why is he doing that? And they would complain. Watch this. They weren't complaining that the tax collectors and the sinners were coming to Jesus. They were complaining because Jesus wasn't rejecting them. So he said in verse three, he says, "So let me tell you a story." And this is the story he tells and he goes on which we've already did last week. But I want to begin to build on it because the the part in the in the parable with the prodical son is the part with the older brother where he is talking to the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law because they're complaining that Jesus is not rejecting people who aren't necessarily got their life in order but they keep coming and they're not and they're mad because he's not rejecting him. And so he tells the story of the older brother who's been out in the field and he comes home and he says, "Yo, what's going on in there?" And he's , "Man, your dad is throwing a party for your son, your your brother. , cuz your brother's been lost all this time and he's back. And so your dad's throwing a party for him. He's killed the fatted calf." And the big brother gets offended. The big brother's upset. And the dad comes out because this is the heart of the dad. We're all his sons. And here they are that this son is offended by the fact that dad is throwing a party for his brother who's been an idiot. And he and he says he says, "Son, I want you to come in and celebrate. Your brother was lost and now he's found." He says, "Dad, I've been here this whole time. I've been performing for you. I've been going to church every week. I've been behaving. I've been saving my money. I've been organized. I've been disciplined. I've been brushing my teeth every morning. I've been doing everything right. And not one time have you have you killed even a goat for me." And this is what I want you to hear. The heart of God tells the older brother, "Son, all that I have is yours. All that I have is yours." Now, think about it. Who's he talking to? He's talking to the Pharisees who are complaining, right? And he says, "All that I have is yours." If you haven't enjoyed killing a goat, my goats are your goats. Go kill a goat and have a party. You want to invite your friends over? Invite your friends over. You want to live the life of God, live the life of God. Nobody's keeping you from living the life of God but you, big bro. And instead of complaining that I'm receiving your brother back, you need to rejoice with me that your brother is back. And this was the parable. And the reason he's telling because he's talking to these religious people who are complaining. And I'm just telling you that we've got to have the same heart of mercy toward people remembering that I was that person. And I'm just telling you, you're in one of two camps here. You might be little bro. Most of us are little bro. Most of us are little bro. We've been out squandered and doing. And I'm just telling you, you get to come home and God's heart is ready to run out and meet you and greet you and welcome you and restore you to the family. Not as a servant that's better than what you had, but as a son. that ring represents the authority. You carry that ring, it's I'm I'm part of the family. That's my dad over there, right? You put that robe on, it represent that righteousness. You're in right standing with the family again. You put those shoes on, man. There's confidence restoration there. No longer barefoot running around. And I'm just telling you what God's heart is is for that. But now I want I want you to jump to Matthew chapter nine. Before we get into it, I want you to recognize too that the prodigal son had to want to come home. See, if you're the younger brother in here, the prodigal, what we would call the prodigal, your way home. And most of us, we just want to shoot a text to the Lord. Hey, thinking about you. You know, hope everything's good at home. We're just checking to see where God's at. See where dad's at about the idea of me coming back. Or we want to post our social media and ask for thoughts and prayers. I'm out here with the pigs. Some thoughts and prayers for me trying to figure out what to do next. How about this? How about you get your butt up and go home because you have a privilege and opportunity to get to go home, right? And you got to want to go home. And there's a repentance to that. It's not just, oh, my sins are forgiven, but there's a repentance from that. See, a lot of us can be this, too. We can be in this place where it's , hey, my sins are forgiven. That's that's one million% true. That's one million% true. But what about the repentance that says, "I don't want to think and act and talk that anymore." See, it's one thing to go just know that your sins are forgiven. And that's where it gets real sloppy. If I'm going to come home, I'm coming home back to the way things are at home. I did it my way. I squandered it. And I can say, well, , I'm forgiven. Sure. The love of God never changed for his son. I've said this before. Write it down if you haven't. The love of God is unconditional. When that boy was out in the pig pins, his dad never stopped loving him. But for him to enjoy the life of God, it was conditional. He had to return home. He had to repent from the way he was living and say, "Man, I'm going to be in on God's way of doing things." There had to be a repentance. There had to be a turn. There had to be a change. There had to be a resolve. There had to be a condition for me to live at home and live in the sunship that God has for me. So, it's one thing to know your sins are forgiven. It's another thing to repent from keep doing the same thing over and over. I know we're not perfect. Nobody here I'm not here throwing throwing stones. I'm just simply saying let's turn from how we were to enjoy the promise and the benefit of it. Matthew chapter 9 in verse 9 it says as Jesus was walking along he saw a man named Matthew who is one of the 12 disciples and it says he was sitting at his tax collector's booth. So, in other words, Jesus comes to a man who is very well hated while he's in his world of what he does. Jesus came to him where he was and he sees Matthew and he says, "Follow me and be my disciple." We've been talking about this for a long time. He looks at Matthew in his booth, in his place, in his place of betrayal, in his in his place of offense, and he says, "Hey, you're invited, too. Hey, why don't you come with me? Hey, come follow me. Come learn of me. Come learn to imitate me. Come come come and and be my disciple. Means practice the discipline. Come come join me. Come out of your booth. Come out of your arena. Come out of this place and come with me. And the Bible says that that Matthew got up and he followed him. Matthew probably been watching him for a little while. Matthew probably heard about him. He thought, "Yeah, I'm intrigued with this. He's inviting me to come, too. I thought I was disqualified." But Jesus invites him. Hey, come on. In your filth, in your stuff, in your shame, in your guilt, in your brokenness. Hey, come on. You come with us. You're invited, too. And then in verse 10, look at this. It starts with later. Everybody say later. Later. How much later? I don't know. Later in the day, later that week, later in the year, I don't know. But watch what it says. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and the other disciples to his home as dinner guests along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Sounds very similar, doesn't it? Matthew, the tax collector, has received the invitation to follow Jesus. Sometime later, I'm going to go ahead and say Matthew's getting inspired. Matthew's intrigued by what's happening. He's learning of Jesus and there's something stirred in his heart and he says, "Jesus, will you and your and the other disciples, will you come to my house?" And he invited who? A bunch of other tax collectors and and and notorious disreputable sinners. And Jesus was there with them. And it says this, look at look at this verse 11. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with such scum? Who wants to be friends with that? Who in the world would be attracted to that?" These teachers of religious law are offended that Jesus would accept an invitation to bring life to people who are lost. And he said, "Why would you eat with such scum?" Verse 12, "When Jesus heard this, he said, now listen, healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do." And then he added this verse. Now go and learn the meaning of this scripture. Okay, let me go ahead and and pay it forward. I'm telling you to go and learn the meaning of this scripture. If Jesus is telling us to go and learn the meaning of scripture, I feel or telling them, I feel we have a responsibility to go and learn the meaning of scripture. We see a verse, we need to meditate on it and and see the revelation in it. He says, "Go and learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. Now, let's pause. Let's think about it for a minute. He says, I want you to show mercy. I want you to show mercy and not offer sacrifices. In other words, I'm not looking for all the stuff on the outside. I'm not looking for the posh presentation of you. I'm not looking for you to perform perfectly. I'm not looking for perfect attendance. I'm not looking for anything externally. I'm looking for a heart that is extending mercy in the same way that you've received mercy. We just sang about it. So, how in the world can we not show mercy in the same way? And he says, look, he's talking to the religious leaders who are are are recognizing and and have disassociated themselves with people who are not perfect and saying, why would you associate it with them? And then Jesus says to meditate on this scripture to go and learn the meaning of it. But he says, I have come not to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. Man, I'm gonna tell you right now, here's here's the separation in that statement. And the best word I know for it is this arrogance or pride. See, if I if I think I've got it together and I think I'm righteous, then there's no room for God to come into my heart. There's no room for God to come in and begin to shift and change things because I'm already think I've got it together. I already got a good job. I already got a little money in the bank, man. I'm healthy. I can run fast. I can jump high, man. I'm I'm I'm I'm I got good friends. I don't really have any enemies. Everything's good in my life. I'm a good dude. I'm I got it. I'm good. But everything's good in my life. So I'm a I'm a righteous person. Somehow I'm qualified because, , I I give back and I'm doing something and I think that I'm righteous. The Bible says that my righteousness is as filthy rags. He didn't come to reach people who think that they're righteous. See, these Pharisees and these teach religious law thought they had all together. That's why they were in public. They would pray this. God, I thank you that I'm not these. I can't imagine why anybody wanted to be friends with these people. Can you imagine talking to them and their arrogance? And so he said, and so here here it is saying, "Man, I'm glad I'm not these. They think that they're righteous and everybody else is second or are subverted to them." And so he says, "Look, I didn't come to help those who think they already got it together. I came to help those who know they don't have it together. I came to help those who know that they're sinners, who know that they're broken, who know that I can't get enough things right. I know that I can't qualify. I know that I'll never be enough. And see, here's the deal. And here's what I want you to grab. Because you've heard me say things this. You're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You get to be confident that you're in right standing with God. You're the righteous of God. You get to say that and think that and believe that. Why? Not because of your righteousness, because of his righteousness. See, you're no longer you that live, but it's Christ that lives in you. It's his blood that covers you. It's his mercy. It's his righteousness. It's his blood that covers you that qualifies you now. And so, our joy is in him, not in us. But the moment we think that we're somebody because we're doing something, because we're accomplishing things, that we're doing something great, our achievements are filthy rags to his righteousness and his standard. His standard is so perfect that we cannot attain it. And we don't deserve it. and we deserve to be cast away. But because of his mercy, he extends his mercy, he covers it. And he's the one that makes us qualified or righteous. So when I say that we've got to elevate and get our mind on the truth of who he is, I'm saying we got to elevate and get our mind on the truth of he is. Everybody in here is going through adversities and difficulties and hardships and challenges. And man, everybody in here wanted to do something this week and you didn't do it. and everybody else and everybody else in here didn't want to do something and you did it anyway. We all felt that. So I I I I'm not going to be able to do enough things to get it right. I need a savior. I need somebody to come in and go, "Wow, you love me. You qualify me. You heal me." And then here's what's great. Not only is he going to have mercy on me, cover me, make righteous, but now because I'm in right state with God, I get to walk with him just we sang. I I God have mercy on me. And now I don't want to go on this road alone. I'm not going without you. That's the privilege we get to have. So now here's the thing. I I'm the righteous God because he has made me righteous. Now look, let's jump to Matthew chapter 12. I'll start wrapping it up with this part. In verse one, it says, "About that time, Jesus was walking through some grain fields on the Sabbath." Now, you have to remember this is a ceremonial law. There's three kinds of law that we read about in the Bible. And if you're new to the Bible, and you get the Old Testament, you go, "Well, I thought this was illegal, and I thought this was illegal." Three kinds of law. There's ceremonial law. There's civil law, which is what we deal with here. We have civil laws. And then there was moral laws. Okay? The moral law being the Ten Commandments, the heart issue. Civil law being, , you can only drive 35 through town. Ceremonial law, you can't work on the Sabbath. ceremonial law is you had to cover your head or whatever it was. It was ceremonial. So here they are on the Sabbath day where they're not supposed to be working and his disciples were hungry. So they began breaking off some bread, some heads of grain and eating them. Verse two, but some Pharisees saw them do it and protested. Said, "Look at your disciples are breaking the ceremonial law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath." Okay. So, here's these guys again coming around and now they're they're trying to pick a fight and they're trying to condemn and trying to accuse and trying to be whatever. You're not doing enough things right. You're not doing good enough. G, of course, they're messing with Jesus. They're annoyed with Jesus and they're trying to aggravate the whole time. Verse three, Jesus said to them, "Haven't you read in the scriptures what David did when he and his comp companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests were allowed to eat. And haven't you heard or haven't you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the temple may work on the Sabbath? So what he's doing is Jesus saying, "Hey, you're coming to me and attacking me, but don't that David did how come you're giving David a pass? You've read that in the history books. that's happened." And then he says he says and and and and the second example he says haven't you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the temple may work on the Sabbath. So in other words he's saying their disobedience is justified. It's justified. It's okay. But watch what Jesus says in verse six. But I tell you this there is one here who is even greater than the temple. So you're saying that's justified. I'm here to tell you it's a new day. You're looking at the law, the ceremonial law, and you're just accusing everybody that doesn't get it perfect. And I'm here to tell you, I'm bigger than that. Listen, the life and God that we have is bigger than your church attendance. The life and God that we have is bigger than your perfect performance today. The life and God that we have is bigger than your past and your failures. The life and God we have is bigger than your righteousness. It's all it's all based in him and on him. And he says this verse 7, "But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples." Watch. If you knew the meaning of this scripture, huh? Wonder which scripture he's going to use. It happens to be the same one. I want you to show mercy and not offer sacrifices. For the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath. In other words, listen, I'm bigger than all the ceremonies. You've heard me talk about it a lot. We put a lot of stock as church folks in ceremony. And listen, I understand there's some power in ceremony. And what ceremony is is it reminds us of things. There's things that that that they they reflect certain things. They remind us of certain principles. There's there's power in ceremony. There there's moments where we acknowledge things and it's it's good. It's not I'm not saying ceremony's wrong, but our hope is not in the ceremony. It's so much bigger than that. That's why it's , does it matter if we meet in a building with a steeple or if we meet in a building with an espresso machine? Does it matter? It doesn't matter because that's ceremonial. Now, is there beautiful steeples and beautiful cathedrals? Yes. Can you feel the reverence of God when you go there? Yes. But it's not about that. My hope's not in the steeple. My hope's not in the building. My hope's not in the ceremony, man. My hope is in him. He's bigger than those things. And if you knew the meaning of this scripture that I want to show mercy, not offer sacrifices, man, I want you to I just want you there's a there's a theme to the night of just meditating on God's mercy. I guess that's all I can help you take away tonight is that you see the mercy of God in your life and that we be those people that extend and show mercy. And let me let me help you with something. I was having a conversation beforehand. Let me tell you something. There's some scrappers in here. There's there's some people that a little conflict. And let me help you something. Some of that is wired that way. And it's okay. We got to learn how to use it. One of the biggest revelations, breakthroughs I ever heard was is talked about us being dangerous. And it's dangerous because if we're going to be dangerous, now I have the opportunity to be gentle. Now I have the opportunity to be merciful. Now I So there's nothing wrong with being dangerous. But because I'm dangerous, I'm not going out looking to be dangerous or a threat to other people. My friend Jedi is here tonight and we had a funny encounter at the beginning of the summer and Jedi's got a little bit of that dog in him and I appreciate it because I don't know if I got enough in me and I'm the preacher guy. I can't just go around looking for stuff. what ? And we had this guy that was on the building at the landing early in the summer. He was not supposed to be on the building and we were all over there together. I said, "Man, what are you doing?" I didn't say it that, but I'm go over. I'm , "Hey." I said, "What's going on, party? You need some help?" And I don't remember what he said to me, but he was rude. And I'm thinking, "Dude, you're on our building. I don't know who you are." And he cussed at me and he said, "I don't have to tell you anything." And he walked away from me. Well, several guys over at the shop heard it. I'm thinking, "Let me get my dad because maybe there's something going on I don't know about. So, I'm going to go find out what's going on." I go, I'm trying to call dad. He's not answering. Of all the times he's not answering. So, I'm thinking, "Well, maybe this dude's supposed to be on there." In the meantime, I come back and all the dogs have circled the building and they're waiting for this guy to come off the roof. I appreciate that. Okay, but I'm thinking, hey, we don't have to go there. We're going to try to deescalate, right? Going to try to extend some mercy. And so I said, we don't have to go there. I'm trying to talk to him. I'm trying to talk to the lady. I'm going to say his wife. All that stuff. Long story, a little bit shorter. This man jumps off the roof and verbally, violently is abusive with his language. Okay? attacking us, calling us, everything you attack, and I mean coming at us. I keep trying to deescalate, deescalate, de I'm , "Yeah, yo, listen. I just want I'm trying to I'm trying to get there. I believe that I can talk this out, right? Give me a minute. Give me a minute." And and to his credit and some other people's credit, they are following my lead and they are allowing it to deescalate and walking away. And I I did this motion. I said I said, "Sir, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you." I said, "I just talked to this lady right here." And I put my hand on her that and he jumped the fence and accused me of attacking his wife and don't you put your hands on my wife or whatever it is and came and shoved me. Now we've been trying to deescalate for a long time, had we, Jed? We've been going for a long time. I'm talking 354 minutes. I've been, , I'm , "Hey, stop. Stop yelling. You stop yelling. Everybody stop. Let me just talk to everybody for a minute." Right? I'm trying to listen. We can all go home peacefully. But when he jumped that rail and put his hands on me, my heart elevates, my heart rate, and I'm thinking, "Hey," and I did this. Here comes my man Jedi. Bam. And took him out. You got to have a little bit of dog in you. If you don't have it, you got to have some guys that got dog in them. Okay, but let me tell you something. How many times did I try to deescalate, bro? At least four times. And at some point, a bloody nose is good for the soul. Okay. Thank you. Write that down for her. Okay. Here's all I'm telling you. Some people Some people require a little bit of force to understand. I'm not telling you, listen to me. I'm not telling you that your willingness to want to confront somebody is wrong. I'm actually telling you it's great. And I'm going to tell you something. I want to brag on him. He was very disciplined for the most part leading up to it and following my lead. But when this gentleman kept coming and kept coming, at some point it requires it. So here's my point. I'm not trying to tell you go attack people. Here's what I'm telling you. What I'm trying to tell you is, man, we're going to we're going to air on the side of mercy every time, man. I don't know what that guy's going through, man. He might be dealing with a demonic spirit. I don't know, man. He might have had the worst news ever that morning. He might have been going I don't know what he went through. And here's what I know. I tried to make peace. I tried to be a peacemaker. And at some point whenever it's not going to stop, man, you do what you got to do to stop it. Okay? Let me tell you. If something if anybody here starts attacking my kids, I'm not going to go, "Well, hold on. Let me pray for them." Okay? There's a time and a place. But here's what I'm going to tell you. I'm going to air on the side of mercy. See, we can have justice and mercy at the same time. There can be justice for you as a man and still mercy for your soul. I can still want mercy for that guy who attacked me. Listen to me. I can still pray for my enemy. Is that crazy? Now, I can't tell you that Jed and I have got together and prayed for that guy yet. Okay? But I can want mercy for his soul even though he needed a good tackling that day. Right? And here's all I want you to get tonight, man. We're going to be people that are mercy. Why? Because God's been merciful to us. Man, I I've shared this verse. Colossians 3:13. I already made allowance for other people's faults and I'm quick to forgive them. Remembering, everybody say remembering. Remembering that God in Christ has forgiven me. How would I not extend mercy to somebody else when I remember that God's extended his mercy to me? Man, we're going to be those people. We're not going to be the people. Listen, let let's be the church that people want to come and listen to this message because it's so good, because they feel comfortable. Because they feel welcome here. Let's be the people that say, "Man, come on in. Man, we got the greatest news in the world." Let people hear it and watch, watch. Let the word work through life just it did in Matthew's life. Matthew's going, "Hey," a little bit later, he's , "Hey, can you come to my house? I got some friends I want to meet you." Can we be those people that , "Hey, can you I got some friends I need you to meet. Can you come talk to my friends? Can you come hang out? I want to be that." And so, here's where I'm going to tell you, and I'll leave you with this verse. It's in verse 35 of the same chapter. Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area teaching the message. He was verbalizing. He was sharing the gospel in the synagogues and announcing the good news. Everybody say good news about the kingdom. And he healed every disease and illness. He was making impact everywhere he went. The message of God was making impact. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless sheep without a shepherd. And he said to his disciples, "The harvest is great." Everybody say, "The harvest is great." The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his fields. Man, I want us to be the people say, "God, send me. God, here am I. Send me, man. Let's be a workforce that goes in because the harvest is great. The world is hurting. People are helpless and confused. They're sheep without a shepherd. Man, they're hungry to hear good news. Let's be a workforce. Let's be a unit. Let's be a team that says, "Man, we're going to be moved with compassion for those who are hurting. Man, come on in here. You're welcome here." We're the people that are looking for people who are returning home, saying, "Man, come on in. We've been waiting for you." We're the people that are looking for those lost lambs and lost coins doing whatever we got to do to try to get their attention. Man, if you follow the social, you might have seen a post. I think I got the picture. If you can find it, it says logos. We got so many great initiatives coming up in this church and through this church. And here's what I'm going to tell you. They're ours, man. We have an opportunity with with our academy. We're launching sports program. We're going to do some flag football this fall. We got our youth church and kids church. It's ministry. And here's what's cool about this. This is all predominantly younger people in the next generation that we have the opportunity to impact. But let me tell you something. It impacts their parents. It impacts their families. And not everybody can help with all four of these. But let me tell you something. There's communications and creative ideas. There's the hospitality team. There's so many ways for you to be involved and to serve to set up and tear down. so many great initiatives to be a part of. And here's the deal. We take ownership of that and together with our resource, with our invitation, with who we are and our resources, man, we champion these ideas, man. We're looking at starting a a a I'm going to call it an internship. We're looking at at at at creating programs that develop people in such a way. The world is shifting and changing right before our eyes. You guys can see it. And I'm not that guy that's going to get up on my soap box and talk about artificial intelligence and the Apple phones and everything else. Listen, it's part of our life and you're not stopping it. So, what we're going to do is we're going to get out in front of it and we're going to be prepared with it happening anyway. It's going to happen. We're going to be ready for a society that's lost and hurting, that's looking for something that's real, that's true. We're going to be those people. And that's what I want to tell you. We're going to be moved with compassion for them. Romans 10 in the last verse, verse 13. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Can I get a hoodie who for that? If you're in here tonight and you call on the name of the Lord, guess what? You will be saved. It doesn't say how you do it. It doesn't say how many. It says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Verse 14, but how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they've never heard about him? And how can they hear about him if someone doesn't tell them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news." So here, let me help you. You're being sent. Go tell people the great news. Go be the compelling figure that people want to listen to. Don't be the one who's rejecting people. Be the one that says, "Man, there is so much opportunity for you." And you don't have to settle for just being a servant. You get to be a son again. You get to be a daughter again. You get to come into the You get to come into the fold again. You get to come into the family again. Watch this. You get to be seated in heavenly places. Man, that's where we live. We live up here. It's not just heaven on earth where we're at. The heaven on earth. Watch. When I go there, I have the privilege to access heaven that heals my heart. that now that's where heaven on earth comes because now I I'm represented it my heart has shifted my words have shifted I see differently I think differently I talk differently why because I have the privilege to now access to be seen in heavenly places to think higher to to think bigger to set my sights on the things above Colossians 3:2 to fix my eyes on Jesus I have the opportunity to open my heart to the creator of all things who is perfectly good who is just and merciful and he comes in and he heals my heart and it changes my heart and out of my heart flows the issues of life everywhere on Man, we get to bring heaven. Watch. We get to bring heaven on earth, which is how we were told to pray, God, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How's this will going to be done? Through you. Through me, man. Let's be those people. Let's be the people say, "Man, we're going to bring Is this what we're doing?" Okay, let's do it. What do I need to do? Bring some lawn chairs. Turn the music up. Cook some viddles and bring them. All right, that's how we start winning. And then when people come in, you champion the fire out of them. You love them. Why? Because they're God's son. They're God's daughter. Welcome back to the family. Let's get you washed up. Get you a coat on. Get you a ring. Get you some sandals. And let's kill that fatted calf. This is where the party begins, right, Ry? Covenant Church, where the party starts. We're looking for the right tagline there. That's from last week. You had to watch last week. Hey, I appreciate John shooting videos and stuff. Have you guys seen those on social media? And we're going to shoot videos of people that aren't me, too. So, y'all get ready. Okay, let's pray. Father, we love you and we thank you for the privilege it is to know you, the opportunity it is to serve you. And God, once again, we just say thank you. Everybody say this with me. Say, God, thank you for your mercy. God, with all my heart, thank you for your mercy that I don't get what I deserve, but I receive your mercy and the gift of your grace, your favor, your power, your ability in my life. I'm a new creation. Old things have passed away. Everything is new by your mercy. I hear your voice. I'm led by your spirit. You lead me in truth and where your truth is, there's liberty and there's freedom. God, thank you for grafting me in to your family. I'm your child. You're my father. Help me to know your heart and reflect your heart to the world around me. Heal me. Change me. Renew my mind. Touch my tongue. Here am I, Lord. Send me. Here am I Lord. Send me. Hey God, I want to be used by you for your glory in Jesus name. Amen.