September 10, 2025
the last few weeks been talking about we've been talking about the buy in and more specifically last week we looked at Peter's life and we looked at how Peter the way he lived his life man he was fully devoted he was committed he was skeptical excuse me he was skeptical in the beginning and he he experienced a move of God in his life right he'd been out fishing all night nothing happens Jesus gets in his boat and says hey you care if I get in your boat and talk for a little bit he's sure and he got done talking in the boat he says I want you all to go back out and throw those nets back down. He says, "We've been fishing all night, but at your word," everybody say, "At your word." See, I'm going to go ahead and camp out right here for a minute. This isn't even the message. But at your word, I'll go do it again. Man, you say, "I've been fishing all night. Nothing's happened. I've been going to church my whole life. I've been believing God my whole life, man. I' I've tried these things. I've tried that things. We didn't catch anything." Great. Go back out, drop the nets down, win at his word. See, what we got to do is we take his word and we apply his word to the situation. I've been doing all the things I can do to try to fix my stuff, but at your word, I'm going to apply it. Man, when God's moving, I'm just telling you, things happen. They go back out there, they drop those nets down, a boat sinking load of fish come in. Peter throws himself at Jesus' feet, says, "Yo, I am not worthy. I recognize who you are. I am a sinful man." And and you need to really probably just keep your distance from me. And I think that's how most of us approach Jesus, man. We come to Jesus. Jesus is , "Hell, I'm I'm in your corner. I want to I want to show you think that boat thing was cool. You think the fish thing was cool? I got all kinds of stuff. Follow me because I want to make you fishers of men. I want to do things in your life. I want to do things in your heart and I want to show you things. The real reason why you're here. You're not here to catch fish. You were not born to catch fish. Although fishing is fun for a lot of people in here, okay? You were not born, in other words, what by not born to catch fish, you were not born just to do a job. You're not born just to just to go through life. Jesus said, "Yo, follow me. I'm going to show you what life's all about. I'm going to show you what we're really going to do here. I'll make you fishers of men. And they understood fishing. So, he's making it a parallel. The same intentionality that goes into fishing for your economy, for your for your bankroll, man. You're they're cleaning the nets. They're manning the boats, man. They're rallying the teams. They had to go out when they didn't sleep good that night. They had they had to they had to deal with the frustration of not catching anything. They had to deal with all the emotions that go with running a business. They had to deal with all the emotions that go with with the economy and managing your finances. They dealt with all that stuff, right? They dealt with that. But Jesus said, "Look, I'm going to change the priority of your life. how to fish. what goes into it. But now we're going to repurpose everything." See, what happens when we can repurpose everything in our life for the gospel. Now everything has a whole new sense of purpose. Now we're building business. Why? For the gospel. Why do I want to get lose weight and get healthy? For the gospel. Why do I want to create some financial margin in my life? For the gospel. Why do I want to be intentional about my parenting? For the gospel. Why do I want to be intentional about my marriage? For the gospel. Why? Because I want everything to bring glory to God. And I want everything to become a tool that's going to allow me to get in somebody else's world and help him. Everything about my life now is fishing for men. Collectively as a church, everything that we're going to do is about fishing for men. This is what life is for now. The last thing, and I've said it this, the last thing we want to do is just attend services. That's just going fishing to go fishing. Man, I want us to build a an or a a team that is passionate about winning lost. And we're going to touch on that tonight. I want I want I want to be I want to have a team that's excited about not just getting better in our own life, but about about reaching the world and reaching those who are hurting and lost. Being moved with compassion. We talked about last week Jesus was moved with compassion for people because he saw them and they were a sheep without a shepherd. He saw people that were lost thinking, man, there's such a better life for them, but they don't have the shepherd and the leadership that they need. So they're missing out on the life that's available to them. And he was moved with compassion for them because he saw them as sheep without a shepherd and he wanted to help shepherd them. Could we be moved with the same compassion to see people not as a distraction, as a frustration, as a fence, but be moved with compassion to go, man, they're just sheep without a shepherd and be moved to want to help win them to Jesus. To be moved to want to help get them into the house, man, that they get in the house and all of a sudden they can experience what life is with no fear. They can experience what it is to be able to speak the name of Jesus. that they can understand the privilege it is to have Jesus to to speak that. Man, the Bible says in Hebrews that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. And I say this regularly, please acknowledge he's sitting on the throne of grace. There's a day that there'll be a throne of judgment. There'll be a day that we're accountable. There's a day that's coming and we're all going to be accountable. But understand, he sits on the throne of grace. That's his supernatural favor, power, and ability toward you. That's the generosity of God. He sits on a throne of generosity. He sits on a throne of of supernatural power available to you. He sits on on a gross a throne of favor toward you. And the Bible says that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. I believe it's chapter 4:16 in Hebrews where we can obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. Tomorrow when you wake up and you start speaking the name of Jesus, what are you doing? You're going boldly to the throne. What are you going to get when you get there? Mercy. We could use that. what I'm saying? What else you going to get there? Grace. supernatural favor, power, and ability operative in your life. When? When I need it. When are you going to need it? Tomorrow. You get to go boldly to the throne of grace every day of your life. Every moment of your life before you go to bed tonight. What a privilege it is. And so God's wanting to do that work in our hearts so that he can be we can become a vessel that he can begin to do in other people's hearts. We're not just fishing anymore, man. We're fishers of men, man. We're on the team now. Follow me. Mimic me. Learn of me. Learn to talk I talk. Learn to learn to hate what I hate. Learn to learn to learn to be moved with compassion I'm moved with compassion. Learn to see things the way I see things. This is what Jesus says. Follow me. Imitate me. Learn of me. And so that's what we want to do. So what happens is we say, man, I'm allin. And he begins to do a work in our heart. Now the priorities begin to shift in our heart. The value system begins to shift in our heart. Things begin to change. We begin to see things differently. Why? Because God is making us into fishers of men. God is God is doing a work in my heart that is opening the door for me to be moved with compassion for people. Because it's very easy right now just to be offended by people. It's very easy right now to just be bothered by people. I wore a t-shirt last night that says hope dealer. You guys have seen me wear it a few times. And I'm at the restaurant. The last thing I want to do is be friendly to people. How does that work? I was not in the mood to be friendly to people. Has anybody ever felt that way? Or is it just me? Okay. But I'm but what I'm talking to you is what I'm talking to you for me too, man. That I get the heart of God that even though I might feel a little tired, a little crabby, that I can get past myself and love people where they are and maybe bring a little hope to the situation. But if I'm going to do that, I'm going to have to get get this lens off of how you're bugging me and get a different lens on that sees you in a different light. And the only way I'm going to do that is if I get my eyes on him that's going to allow me to see you better. But in the moment when we're tired, when we're crabby, usually all I can see is how tired and crabby I am. And it affects things. But God's wanting to do a work in our heart that it keeps us number one from being affected and moved by the situations of light the same way, but number two to be able to see people in that light. So, we're going to go to the book, the book of Luke, chapter 15. We're going to go through every verse of this chapter in the next two hours. Okay? Just kidding, Katie. I'm just kidding. But we are going to go through it pretty quick. But this this is a very infamous chapter in the Bible, and you're going to recognize it and see it as we begin to go. Come on in. And don't everybody look over there. You're making it weird. okay. Luke chapter 15 starting at verse one. All right. Look what it says. You can see it on the TV. If you don't have a Bible, if you got your Bible, we're going to highlight a few things, but this this is the heart and nature of God. Look at Look at verse one of chapter 15. Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. Full stop. I told you it's going to take us two hours, Greg. Okay, that was the first verse. Look at this verse. Tax collectors were hated. Okay, we're talking about this is this is before the death and burial, resurrection of Jesus. This is this is Jesus the Messiah sent to the the nation of Israel. He's a Jew. And and people that had become tax collectors were people who had abandoned their family and their culture and they had adapted to the Roman u culture and now were taxing their own people. They had basically embraced the Roman mentality and now because they're getting paid, they got selfish. And so they've turned their back on what they grew up in and are now taxing their own people on behalf of the Romans. And so tax collectors were a hated group of people. And so that says tax collectors and other notorious sinners. Anybody in here a notorious sinner? Don't raise your hand. Okay. Anybody in here know a notorious sinner? Go ahead and raise your hand. Just kidding. Okay. Other Listen, this is crazy. Look at this line. Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. Ain't that great? They would come and listen to Jesus teach. Isn't that what we want? Don't we want tax collectors and notorious sinners to come listen to the word? So, right out of the gate, how does that verse hit you? How does that verse bother you or not? How does that verse excite you and inspire you? Cuz let me tell you something. What Jesus was doing was preaching a message that was so inviting and so authoritative and so captivating that people who felt hopeless, disconnected, broken, , at fault, guilty, whatever it is, we're going, "Man, I want to go hear that dude some more and they would come and listen." But now look at verse two. Go ahead and click the next one. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people even eating with them. Okay, stop. People were captivated by the message and they would come and listen and the religious leaders were complaining about who was coming to listen to Jesus. Is that crazy? The teachers of religious law were offended just by who was coming. And they're complaining. Number one, they don't Jesus. They don't what Jesus is about. But they're complaining that these people would come and listen to Jesus. It's not even really beef with Jesus. Even though ultimately it was. But Jesus didn't do anything. He's just doing what he does. He's just sharing the good news with people. And people that were notorious sinners and tax collectors would come and listen to him because they were did something in their heart. the hope that he was communicating, the invitation that it was for them, the idea that things could get better, that there could be a breakthrough in my life, that that there was a chance that maybe I'm not stuck with this crap I live in. Maybe it maybe it is something, man. Maybe this guy is somebody. And the religious people were bothered and complaining about who was coming to listen. Now, I don't know where you fit in verse one or verse two, but I'm going to let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does in your heart about either one of those verses. And let me tell you something. If you ever have an issue about who's coming to listen to the gospel, then you probably know where you fit in this little portion and just say, "God, I need you to work on my heart." Because let me tell you something. The same grace that captivated your heart is the same grace that's captivating their heart. And somewhere we adapt to this better than I, better than them, better than whatever it is. And all of a sudden it's , well, they're not doing this right, so they can't hang with us. And people start to complain about who's coming. And people have opinions about who's coming to that church or opinions about who's coming. I've made it pretty clear that the mission and objective of this church is to try to attract people that are fitting into the first verse. Here's the deal. When they're in the in the room, of course, they're going to have to behave and cooperate. But to say that they can't come listen. Are you crazy? All I want to do is make it attraction to them. All the religious leaders, they got their thing. Go wherever you to go and listen to it. Go put on your funny hats and do your little kumbaya stuff and hang out. But I'm going to stay right here and provide the hope to the people that are looking for it. Right? So because of this verse two, look how verse three starts. Because these religious leaders are complaining, Jesus told them this story. So who's he talking to? He's talking to the Pharisees. He's talking to religious leaders. He's talking to church folks. 2025 lingo. He's talking to church folks. He's talking to church leadership. All right, here we go. He told him the story. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Will he not leave the 99 other sheep 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, "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep." In the same way, okay, we get lost in the parable. Jesus is telling a story and we want to start breaking all down. And let me tell you something. Here's what's cool about the gospel. It's living and active. And we can break down about every s every aspect of this whole chapter. We can talk about the sheep and how helpless and and they are and how how there that that sheep stands no chance on his own out there. Let me help you something. You stand no chance isolated on your own out there. We can start breaking everything. But here's what I want you to see. I want you to see the principles in the same way. There is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and turns to God. What does it mean to repent, man? It's not to feel guilty. It's not to live in shame. It's not to beat yourself up. It's not to say, "Well, I've done all this and all that." Yeah, look around the room. We've all done all this and all that. To repent is to say, "Man, I thought one way about God. I thought one way about about following God. I thought one way about my life. I thought one and I'm going to repent and turn and think differently." We talked about godliness a couple weeks ago. An attitude toward God that results in activities that are ple or or results that are pleasing to him. Actions and results that are pleasing to him. Why? because I have an attitude toward God. I had an attitude toward God and I'm going to repent of the way I used to think about God and I'm going to open my heart and I'm going to surrender and I'm going to submit. I'm going to say, "God, I see you. I see the goodness of God and I'm going to trust you. So, I'm repenting of how I thought and I'm going to think differently and returns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and have it strayed away." So, if you're in the 99 kudos, good job. Stay stay with the pack. Stay planted. Stay plugged in. But here's what I want you to recognize. There's Well, I'm gonna get to that point. They went and found the sheep. See the heart of the master to say, " what? You guys are good. You got each other. Hang tight. I'm going to go find this one cuz he doesn't stand a chance if I don't go get him." Let's keep reading. Verse eight. Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and her neighbors and say, "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin." In the same way, everybody say, "Same way." In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. Repents, changes how they think, changes their attitude toward life, changes how they see it, was full of arrogance and pride and now is is humble and submitted to the lordship of Jesus. When they turn their heart and say, "Got them open." Watch. It doesn't say when they're cleaned up and everything's better. It doesn't say when they smell better. It doesn't say when they've when they've quit cussing and got it figured out. It doesn't say when they've got all the disciplines right. What it says is when they've repented and turned from how they used to think and embraced the nature and character of God and said, "I'm with him now." God does the cleaning up process. God does the work in our life. When one says, "Yo, I'm in. I put my faith in Jesus." This is when we go, "Hoody." This is when we go, "Yeah, come on with it." We don't come in and go, "Well, when you get everything figured out, we'll get you can come to church with us." The ice cream right now is only for those who are cleaned up, right? , that'd be it'd be foolish, right? It's no, come on in, man. Come and learn with me cuz I'm learning, too. Come and grow with me cuz I'm growing, too. Come and work out your salvation cuz I'm working it out, too. That does not mean working out I'm trying to get saved. Means work it out what is this thing I got? I'm learning to live in this wonderful life I have now, him, what he saved me to. So we have the same way there is more joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. This is a random question but I was just thinking about when I read it. Who's in heaven? When it says all of heaven rejoices now we as as the family of God, we can make that personal adapt and say yes. We high five. Come on in. We want fill this room up. Man, you were you were laying in a ditch last night. Come on in. Have a cup of coffee. We're glad you're here. Right. But who's rejoicing over the one who repents all of the presence of God and his angels? Heaven rejoices over over the the turning of one person to say, "I'm open to the things of God." And heaven goes bonkers because heaven knows because heaven understands what's available. They're , "Yes, we can now come into his life and freak him out. We now get to come in with everything that God is and show you the goodness of God in your life. We're rejoicing because now you're going to be with us forever in eternity. Now we're we're in the right standing." But look at these first two and we're going to jump to the last portion of this chapter. But I want you to look at the parallels with what's being taught here. They they in both stories, the man and the woman, they were seeking what was lost. If something is lost, has you ever been lost in the woods or lost? You ever been you ever been lost or felt lost? You don't know which way to go. , should we take this exit or come back? Now, it's not that big a deal. You just punch in your navigation. You guys, you've forgotten what it's to be lost. No, , you get in the woods, you take the wrong trail, you're , "Oh man, was it that oak tree or that oak tree? I don't remember." Right? I don't know where I'm at. But that feeling of being lost. I don't know the way home. I don't know how to get back. I don't know what's available to me. I have accepted the fact that I live out here. I'm lost. I don't know how to get home. I don't In most cases, we can say I didn't know there was a home anymore. This is where I've lived for so long. This has become home for me. But they were lost. But then there's the pursuit. the pursuit of them. Man, we went out. We're We're relentlessly pursuing this sheep until we find it. We're relentlessly pursuing. We're going to turn the light on, sweep the floor until we find that coin. Do you see the the commitment, the resolve, the energy that God has for you? We're lost, but he pursued you. He's flipped the light on. He's sweeping the floor. He leaves everybody else to come find you. He has been pursuing you, chasing you down. That's the heart and character and nature of God to come after you and pursue you. the persistence to keep looking until it finds you, the love for you, the joy for you. Both of them, both of these parables are celebrating the joy and the love, the joy of finding them, the joy of the repentance. And then look at this, the fellowship. What do they do when they get back or when they find the corner, find the seat, what do they do? They call their friends, rejoice with me. So what God says, "Yo, rejoice with me." He's been out chasing folks down, chasing you down, pursuing you. And man, you've answered the call. And what do we do? Come on in, get some ice cream, get some coffee. We celebrate with you. We are in fellowship with God. And so he calls us, goes, "Yo, celebrate with me." Cuz because Richard was lost and he's now he's found. And I'm just telling you, we've got to find the lens of God because I I'm going to use you for a minute, bro. I don't want to look at Richard , "Well, that's Richard. Because everybody's got this idea of Richard. Well, I I had this encounter with Richard once. Well, Richard, I've known Richard. He's I've known him since high school, and I remember him in high Shut up. Richard's here tonight. Hand clap for Richard, everybody. He's here. Go ahead. Give him a little nod. No, I'm just kidding. Why? He's here. He's in the house. So, let's guess what? We get to build a relationship with him from today forward. So, I'm not going to keep sizing him up for yesterday. Okay. Verse 11. To illustrate the point further, I this about Jesus. I feel he made the point already, but to illustrate the point further since I got these big-headed Pharisees in front of me. 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. Verse 13. A few days later, this younger son packed all of his belongings and he moved to a distant land. Now, if we're going to apply this parable, Jesus is talking to who? He's talking to the Jewish people. He's talking to people that were they understood their culture. They understood their land, , Jews and Gentiles. This was before the Gentiles on the resurrection. So this was their people. This was their culture. They they were the promised people that the Messiah was going to come through. So he's talking to him. So this man, the symbolism here is he left what he knew. He went to a distant country. He didn't just go next door either. He went to a distant country. In other words, that dude was lost. He was gone. He went away. He left He left home. I I've been in church a long time in my life. I've watched a lot of people come in and go out. I've watched a lot of people that grew up in it that left it. I've watched a lot of people that said, " what? I just soon go." And they and they and they move to a distant land. They go to another place in their heart and their mind, man. They're done with the things of God, whatever it might be, right? And it says, "And at that distant land, there he wasted all of the money in wild living." Now again, this is a parable that he's telling a story and it's connecting with people. Verse 14, about the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land. Watch this. And he began to starve. Just make a note of that for fun season. We come back to it. He spent all of his money. He made a bunch of dumb choices. And then life threw a curveball that he wasn't prepared for. As if he wasn't already going to make his bed and have the lie in it, so to speak. Now, here comes a little insult to injury. Here comes a little salt on the wound, whatever you want to call it. A great famine that he couldn't have predicted now sweeps in. So, now it's compounded and he is in a world of hurt and a world of pain. He is not at home in the father. He has no protective covering. He has spent what he had. He was he was foolish in his behavior and mentality. And then life got really hard and took a turn on him and now there's a famine. And it says in that moment he began to starve. Verse 15, he persuaded a local farmer in this distant land to hire him and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. Now again, Jesus is making a huge point with this story. Pigs were considered unclean animals, right? They did not eat pork. They did not eat bacon. They were considered unclean. And so here this man is, he has abandoned the faith, we would call it. He has turned his back on God. He has went the other direction and swed his wild oats and pursued other realms of enlightenment. And he has chosen a behavior that is antirist, if we can say it that for you, right? That is against God. He has turned his hardened his heart and turned his back and he has done a bunch of wild things. And here comes this famine. And now he has been hired. He is now working for a a a business owner in this distant land. So now he's at the mercy of them. and he to to to add a little more salt to the wound is now feeding pigs. So he's worst of the worst of the worst of a situation in this parable. Okay. And what this parable represents verse 16, the young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked really good to him, but no one gave him anything. That's an indication of the slave mentality that he was operative in. They wouldn't give him anything. Listen, slaves are disposable. Slaves are not sons. There's a whole message here that we could spend time. You're no longer a slave, but a son. Jesus says, "Okay, this man is a slave. The if he if he dies out in the fields feeding the pigs, whatever, he's just a slave. We'll get another one to go feed the pigs. It's not a big deal. Nobody's giving him anything. Nobody appreciates him. Nobody's valuing him. He's just a slave. You go out and feed the pods of the pigs and nobody would even give him. They wouldn't share anything with him. They don't care about him. There's no appreciation for him, no value of him. Verse 17, this is my favorite line. When he finally came to his senses, everybody say this together with me. Duh. He had this moment this is stupid. This is miserable. This this I don't want to continue on this. I don't living this. When he finally came to his senses, when he finally had a duh aha moment, it says he said to himself, "At home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare. And here I am dying of hunger." In other words, listen to listen to this verbage. I know who I am. I was a son once and I know what's going on in my dad's house. And I know that even the servants there are living better than I'm living. Even them. But he has disqualified himself to the point that I'm less than a servant. So he's recognizing that even the servants are better than that. And he says, "I'm going to go home and just ask if I can at least be a servant." Verse 18, I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both you and heaven. And I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me in as a hired servant." Now, you have to understand this message. And I know most of the story and you already know how it ends and all the things. I get all that. But can we can we just identify for a moment of feeling not worthy? Can we just can we can you just Lord, could you just accept me as a servant, man? Could you just have enough mercy? I know I've sinned against you and against God. I know I've been an idiot. I know I squandered what you gave me. I know that I've been foolish for the last few years. I know I haven't been a good steward. I know I haven't been to church. I know I haven't been trying to listen and obey. I know all that. So, I know that I'm not worthy anymore. I'm not qualified, but is there any way that you could possibly scrape it together in your heart, God, to just allow me the opportunity to just be a servant again? I'm not even asking to be a son. And that's how most of us start coming back to church. And let me tell you something. That's how a lot of people who've been in church a while still operate and think , I don't have the privilege to say it that. What do you mean this authority to to receive healing, the restority to receive a blessing, the authority to declare this over my life? That I could just speak the name of Jesus over situation? Yes. because there's an authority that you have as a son that you don't have as a servant. But we just I'm just glad to be a servant. And that's great. That's great that you have that position of gratitude that you have that position of humility. But let me tell you something. There's a sunship that you're invited to. There's a sunship that you get to operate and live in or a daughtership. There there is a position that you get to carry in life that you have to identify. But you have lost that identity because I have been so stupid and so foolish that I'm just trying to embrace the identity if I could just be a servant again. But let's see how God responds to him. Of course, please take me in as a higher servant. Verse 20. So he returned home to his father. Pause. He returned home. He made the acts of the action and decisive decision to go, what? I've come to my senses. I'm gonna I'm I'm He's at least coming home now. His identity is broken. I just talked about that. But he's coming home. But he left the pods and he's on his way home. But he's he's returning home. So he left and he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Now look, can we put an emphasis on God for a moment? What did he do with the sheep? He knew it was gone and he went looking for it because that sheep was lost. He knew that sheep wasn't going to be able to find his way home and he left and he went look for it. What did he do with the coin when the coin was lost? The coin's not going to find itself. He turned the lights on. He did everything he could to go find that coin. And what did he do? This was the prodigal son. And there's a difference between lost and prodigal. The lost don't know how to get the way home. The prodigal knew where home was. Man, there are people in our life as a church and as a church community who are lost who do not know that there's a life available to them. They do not know how to find it. They have a stigma and a and a mentality of what church is or they have never heard the gospel and that's hard for us to believe in America. But let's get outside of America for a minute because the world's bigger than America and God's not an American. There are a lot of people in the world who still have not heard the gospel. They are lost. And could we by chance get the same heart of God to say, "Man, I'll be your hands and feet. I want to help." As a church, we support world compassion. They take the gospel to hostile nations Iran and and they did Russia back in the day and they had China and they have Bible schools where in countries that are hostile to the gospel where in Iran you can go to jail just because you own a Bible where if they find out that you're having underground church they can arrest you and take you to jail. You and I can't relate to that. But that's present day and it's hard for us to think that there's people in America that haven't heard the gospel. We just assume everybody in America is prodigal. If that's true, guess what? When they return home, guess what we're going to do? We're going to have the heart of God and go, "Come on in. I've been waiting for you. Matter of fact, I'm looking for you. I'm waiting for that door to open again. I'm looking for that door to open again. I'm looking for people to invite to come in that door again. All I know is what I want." Most of my frustration is because I interact with people who have not come through that door yet. For me, it's frustrating. For me, it's aggravating because I know what's available to you. But here's the deal. You got to come home. You've got to You've got to come in. You've got to embrace it. You've got to come with a humble heart because you were arrogant in the beginning. He said, "Give me what's mine. I know what I'm doing. I'm good." And now I can't get enough to eat. I don't even want I can't even eat the pig pods. And so now there's this choice where I humble myself because we to say God humbled us. No, no, no. This dude found himself in the lowest of lows because of his stupidity. and he humbled himself and said, "I'm gonna go home and at least ask to be a servant." See, when we come to God, when we humble ourselves, guess what? Guess what? We get flooded with with humility, God's grace. What's God sitting on? A throne of grace. You want to experience God's grace? Guess what you do? You humble yourself and you say, "I'm coming home." But look at the heart of God. I'm going to go find that sheep. I'm going to go find that coin. And when he saw his son far off in the distance, what'd he do? He ran out to meet him. Can you see God's heart? Can you see God's heart in this situation? It says when he saw him, he he while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming filled with love and compassion. Are you filled with love and compassion? He was filled with love and compassion and he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. This dude has not said a word. This dude has not apologized for anything. And I'm going to go ahead and say he didn't smell good. He was weak. He was famished. He hadn't eaten and he'd been laying with the pigs. He looked a homeless bum. And when the father saw him, what did he do? He ran at him. He hugged him. He embraced him. And he kissed him. And his son started his speech. Hey dad, I've sinned against you in heaven. And I'm no longer worthy of being called your son. And look at verse 22. His father said to the servants, "What?" He didn't even say anything to the son. The son says, "Dad, I've been preparing this speech for a while and I'd to visit with you for a little bit and I know that I've done some things and ," and Jesus is , "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Servants, come here. Get this man showered up. Get him a new robe. Get him a ring. Let's keep reading." He turns to the servants and he says, , verse 22, but his father said to the servants, "Quick, pronto and that's for my mother-in-law. 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 calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast. For the son of mine was dead, has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he's found." Now look what it says. What's it say right there? So, the party began. Maybe my new favorite line in scripture. The party began. I've been telling people in the different meetings, I don't know the biblical word for fun, but I think it's this line. The party began. What did we say earlier? When he got to the pigs, he began to what? Starve. Let me tell you something. When you come home and you return, guess what starts to begin in your life? There's this new joy, this new excitement, this new party. There's this new wonderful transition in our life now, right? Where it's , dude, I have an experience this. This is a conversation I was just having with two men before church started tonight. There's this new excitement. This this new thrill, this new party in their life that's begun. Why? Because they showed up. Because they humbled themselves enough to come and they heard the message. And because God's doing a work and bringing them back into this place of sunship, putting this robe of righteousness back on them, putting this ring of authority back on this ring signified that they were a son, put some sandals back on their feet, gave him some security and some confidence, killed the fatted calf, said, "Let's eat." Begin to prosper him and bless him. Let him enjoy the benefits of being home again. That's what God wants to do in our life. That's what starts happening. The party begins. Verse 25, and I'm wrapping up. I don't know what time it is, but hang in there with me, okay? Verse 25. This was for the Pharisees. Okay, we've seen the heart of God. We've seen how God will go after the lost. We've seen the joy. We've seen the love. We've seen the compassion. We've seen the celebration. We've seen the fellowship. The party's begun. But now he's going to make a point because who's he talking to? We started at the beginning. He's talking to the Pharisees. So these tax collectors, these notorious sinners are coming to listen to Jesus. That's great. The Pharisees are complaining. So he tells them these stories. Now he's going to make a point and this really drives it home for these Pharisees. Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house. He heard a party. Well, I don't know why. I don't know why the music's so loud in their church. Cuz it's a darn party. You ever been to a party where the music's quiet? It's a lame party, right? Why y'all got to have food or everything? You ever been to a party with no food? It's not a fun party. Turn the music up and get some snacks. Okay, we're going to have some fun. This is what we're going to do. All right. The older brother was a Let's see. He heard music and dancing in the house. We're working on dancing. Some of y'all, , Ryan, would you to you want to show him what you're working with, buddy? A lot of a lot of us are scared to break through in the dancing part, . But if Ryan gets there, I'm expecting everybody else to get there. Okay, that's what I'm going to say. All right. But dancing, who cares how you sound when you sing? Who cares what you look when you dance? My God, let the joy of the Lord just fill this house. Let the joy of the Lord fill your heart, man. Let the joy of the Lord is a turn party. All right. 26. And he asked one of the servants what was going on. Your brother is back, he was told. And your father has killed the fatted calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return. Just so , he's referring to the tax collectors and notorious sinners. But the older brother is the Pharisees. See, we're all the family of God. We're brothers and sisters. And why would we be upset when somebody comes walking through that door and embraces this message? But the older brother was angry it wouldn't go in. His father came out and he begged him. He replied, "All these years," this is the older brother. All the and again this is a parable, but it's likened to the Pharisees behavior. All these years I have I wait a minute, where'd I go? His father came out and begged him. But he replied, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me." I think it's interesting that he used this shirt this the verbiage slave for you. And see that's what religious I have been performing for you. I have been doing my duty for you. I have been wearing this robe and this hat and I have I and he prayed publicly. The Pharisees would pray publicly and say, "God, I thank you that I'm not these folks." And they would complain when these sinners would come and listen to Jesus. They were this pompous, arrogant, foolish, religious person. And he said, "All these years, Dad, I've been slaving for you." Let me tell you something. If it's slaving to follow Jesus and not a party, you might be the wrong brother. Somebody write that down. I'm going to want to put that on a social post somewhere. Okay? Some something. If it doesn't feel a party for you, if this life following God, let me tell you something. There's suffering, there's sacrifice, there's commitment, there's there's a there's a car carry your cross moment that's to your flesh. But the joy, the party, the hope, the heaven, the goodness, the the the the the life of God, yes, it's on the other side. There's no resurrection without a death, man. If I'm not willing to sacrifice to the flesh, then I can't experience a life. So if we haven't experienced in the party, then we may not have let go of something in the flesh. Maybe our arrogance is in our religion. Maybe our arrogance is in our performance. And this is what the older brother's saying. He's , "For years I've been slaving for you. Never once refused to do a single thing you told me to do. And in all that time, you never gave me one young goat for a feast, my friends." Verse 30. Yet when his son of when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fatted calf. See, that's the Pharisees. They're complaining because tax collectors and notorious sinners are listening to Jesus. And so this older brother's this this little brother of mine, this he he says it this son of yours, this other son of yours has been out being an idiot and he comes home and you're going to kill the calf for him. I've been here wearing this big goofy hat and performing for you all these days as a religious leader doing all the performance and never once. And look what God says to him in verse 31. His father said to him, "Look son, dear son, did he love the Pharisees?" Yeah. Did he love that he loved these religious? Yes. He loved them the same way. And he said, "You have always stayed by me and everything I have is yours." In other words, the life of God has always been yours. So, there's people in church that are missing the life of God because we've got it messed up that it's my service. It's my attendance instead of my desire to want to be here. We've got it messed up that I I'm I'm doing enough things right. We're never doing enough things right. We mature in it. We get better. We get stronger. We become more mature believers, man. Things that were once dictating dominate how we thought, how we behaved gets broken off of our life, man. We get free. We walk in new realms of freedom that come with the salvation. That's working out that salvation. But you can never do enough things right to qualify. So, we are all in this journey together. And he says, "Look, man. Everything I have is yours." This is true for you right now sitting in this room. Everything that God has, it's yours. Everything I have is yours. Everything I am is available to you. Who I am, when I come into your life, you get all of this with it. If I will open my heart to the things of God, all the things of God come with it. If I will surrender to God's way of doing things, I will benefit from God's way of doing things. All that I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day for your brother who was once dead and was lost and has come back to life. He was lost but now he is found. The whole purpose and the whole objective for me to share that last part is to go back to verse one and verse two. Dog on it. We got the greatest news in the world. And I want everybody to want to come listen. And we've got to be intentional when we talk about building the church. We're going into a new season. We're going into back to school, which is back to church, which is back into the fall season, which is pretty soon. And people settle back into routines. And let me tell you something, it's New Year's for a lot of people. We got new opportunities for people, man. We're launching a sports league. We're going to do some flag football this year. We got our academy. We got plans for the the youth church and what we're going to accomplish. We got all kinds of great opportunities. Listen, we got babies and kids and toddlers in here. We're going to have to have ministry for babies and kids and toddlers in here. We have kids ministry going on. There is opportunity for all of us to share the gospel with people collectively as a church so that we can invite people in to say, "Come and listen. Come and listen to this. Come and listen and be changed by this message in your life." But if we're going to be able to get them in the room, we're going to have to be ready to receive them. We're going to be ready to host them. We're going to be ready to serve them. We're going to have to put our hand to something and say, " what? I want to be a fisher of men. I want to be a fisherman. I want to serve the kids because I want to get their attention, but I also want to make it possible for their parents to sit in church. I want to be a part of teenagers because, man, they're in a generation of of craziness. I want to be a vessel that I can help bring light to them. Man, I want to I want to I sports. I want to help get to families and find another door into this to get to the message. Man, I want to help in whatever way I can help. Let me tell you something. There are so many ideas and initiatives that are on the horizon. It it drives me crazy sometimes because it's all right there. And I'm going to tell you what God's doing. Can I just please be patient with me? God's right now is still building the team. He's building leaders. He's building a culture because when when when the floodgates open, somebody's going to have to manage it. Somebody's going to have to own it. Somebody's going to have to run with it. So, what he's doing is he's doing a work in your heart. He's doing a work. He's building leadership. He's building structure. He's building teams. We've got to keep building teams. Keep bringing people in. He's building teams because when people come from all over the country, we've got to be ready to receive them. We can't be talking different languages. We can't be running different plays. We got to be on the same team mine and be ready to receive them. So that's what God's doing. So man, we got to keep learning. Keep keep sitting in the house. Keep showing up for church. Keep keep growing and keep going because God's doing something great. And and listen, you say, "Well, why? Why does it matter?" Because ready? We're fishers of men. This is why we're here. And let me tell you something else. When you become part of something bigger than you, you become part of a kingdom work. Guess what starts to go away out of your life? All your insecurities and fears and problems. Why? Because you got your eyes off of you and you got your eyes big on a bigger project. You got your eyes on the compassion of moving other people. You now became part of something that's now about serving and reaching other people instead of just trying to fix all your issues. Let me tell you something. When you when you join the team and you get part of something bigger than you and you start learning and growing and going, God's going to wash and do things in your life. Why? Because you're moving. Quit waiting to get it all right. Just let the Lord disciple you. Let the Lord wash you. Let the word get in your heart. Let keep showing up. Keep growing. Keep building relationships.