He said he came to himself and he said how many of even my father’s hired servants have enough food, and here I’m dying of hunger. I’M going to get up and go to my father and I will say to him father. I have sinned against heaven and, in your sight, I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.
Make me like one of your hired servants. I love this. He started out saying give me give me give me give me now all of a sudden he’s over here saying make me whatever you want to make me make me whatever you see fit, I don’t care if it’s a servant in your house whatever it is, your Will be done immature baby Christians give me give me give me, give me spiritually, mature sons and daughters.
Make me what you want me to be. You know you, you have to think about this boy. What did he spend that money on excessive drinking immoral women? Perhaps gambling the best of everything the world had to offer his lodgings were probably the best he probably bought all of his friends drinks.
So he looked like a big shot. He ate the best food. He thought he was living the good life living High, but nothing could satisfy his hunger there’s a spiritual message here. You may think you’ve got the World by the tail that you better stop long enough to ask yourself what you feel like inside, and what do you feel like when the Music Stops in your home at night, you’re laying in your bed by yourself and there’s nobody There, but you in the silence he ended up in the pig pen of Life.
Can I tell you that sin always has its consequences, always be sure your sin will find you out. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Psalm 38 3 says there’s David said: there’s no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation.
Neither is any health or Rest In My Bones because of my sin. He was just talking about how miserable he was until he repented thoroughly of his sin and came back to his father. The young man’s consequences of sin came crashing in on him: no money, no home, no good employment, no food, no joy, no peace, full of guilt, full of regret, but he made a decision.
He made a decision to go home. There’S people in here tonight. You need to make a decision to come home. Your father is waiting for. You he’s been looking for you, many watching by television. You need to make a decision.
You need to ask Jesus into your heart. You need to repent of your sins and find out what it’s like to have a real life, not just that. Phony plastic pretend life that the world is offering. You amen, [ Applause ], but how’s how’s, my father, going to feel after what I’ve done.
Well, they take me back, you know people sometimes say well. I want to. I want to have a relationship with Jesus after I get myself cleaned up. Well, see, that’s that’s just like that’s pointless, because you can’t fix yourself.
You can’t clean yourself up when you go to Jesus, it’s a come as you are party and he takes you just the way you are and then he helps you become what you want to be, but the father, oh my gosh, the father, so he got up And he came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and was moved with pity and compassion and he ran and embraced him and kissed him fervently.
Now, here’s the thing that when you, when you really get down to studying this, I mean the father didn’t know why the boy was coming back. He could have been coming back asking for more money, but he didn’t you know so often we think about we get so suspicious and we think about all the what-ifs and is somebody going to try to take advantage of us.
But his father was rejoicing over the one thing that he could find positive. He laid eyes on his son he’s coming in my direction. Let’S look at this in a positive way and believe that something good is going to happen now.
His father ran to him and in that culture it was totally undignified for an elderly man to run you just didn’t do it and he got very emotional. That was another thing that elderly men did not do. They never displayed their emotions, but can I tell you something: God gets so excited about you that he will act downright undignified if he needs to [ Applause.
] come on and you know if you’re in one of the Frozen chosen churches, where nobody moves and nobody [ Applause ], I mean you’ve had more fun in here in 30 minutes than you’ve had probably in the last 30 years, some places, because in some Churches You don’t laugh, you don’t move you don’t clap.
I remember we used to tell our kids that they would even make a noise, be quiet, you’re in the house of God. It’S no wonder. Kids grow up petrified of God and don’t want anything to do with him, and so then man, if this is the first time you’ve ever been to something like this.
Maybe you’ve been watching me on television. You thought I was real. Nice calm. You didn’t know about this: jumping up and down worship thing we had going on in these strobe lights and all that stuff.
I don’t know we have the fog machine going tonight. I never have figured that out why we need that, but they say we do so. We have it and you know people can come in and see us and say: wow, that’s just a bunch of emotion! Well, you know what, if I’m going to act, undignified and get emotional about anything? Why wouldn’t it be about what God has done in my life? I mean why would I want to go to a football game and make a total fool out of myself but it? But when I’m around God, I think so.
Yeah, there’s decency and an order and we don’t need to interrupt services. And you know, I understand all that, but Church doesn’t have to be a solemn assembly all the time I mean, I believe that God has got a sense of humor.
He’D have to have to call all of us, and this and the son said to the father. Now this is good father, I’ve sinned against Heaven and Earth and in your sight, and I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.
I no longer deserve to be recognized. As a son of yours, I mean he had his speech all prepared. If you ever done that, when you need to apologize to somebody you go over and over, and I mean you pick out all your best, I’m sorry words and you know here’s the thing that was interesting before the kid ever even got it all out of his Mouth first of all, the father had already forgiven him before he even repented.
Now he received that forgiveness to owning up to his sin, but the father was so glad to have him back. I mean he started with the ring on his finger, the sandals on his feet, the best robe, the fatted calf, and then he planned a party and each one of those things like the ring.
That ring was a Signet ring and it was a sign of authority. So what was he saying to his son you’re not going to come back to my house as a servant? You’Re coming back as my son amen. So let me tell you something: when you have been lost and you have missed God terribly and you have backslidden and you even as a Believer have done some of the worst things you could possibly imagine, and you come back to God.
That doesn’t mean that you have to take a back seat all right now. There may be some periods of restitution, and there may be things like that, but as far as you and God are concerned, you’re still his son, you have that Authority as a child of God, the best robe.
It was the father’s robe. It was his special robe that was only worn for special occasions: the fatted calf. You only killed the fatted calf when it was a very special occasion that was going on, but the thing that I loved was the Father’s Heart toward this boy, who had gotten himself lost in sin, even though he wasted his father’s Fortune.
He said I wish you were dead in all Essence, I wish you were dead. I don’t want anything to do with you. He’D been rude to him. The Father’s Heart was still I’ve been waiting for you to come home. I’Ll.
Give you a natural example of this. I just thought about this today: Pastor Mike, who helps here in the meetings and many of you you’ve met him because he comes to the meetings early and he goes around talks to everybody and and maybe he’s even called you if you’re a partner he’s prayed with You or something, and so I’ve known him for over 30 years – and I know his heart – I mean he’s the greatest guy.
Well, I got an email text message from him last week and it was pretty lengthy and it started out. It was like this heartfelt humble apology for a mistake that he had made in that he was supposed to do something that I asked him to do last December and lo and behold he now just found out that he forgot to do it, and I mean he Was just he was heartbroken? Well not, and I hope you don’t take this wrong, but I read the first couple of lines and I already saw where this was going and so I skimmed the rest.
I didn’t even need to read it because I already forgave him before. I ever even knew what he did come on now. That’S what relationship does I had no need to punish him. I had no need to make him feel bad.
I didn’t need to reprimand him. I didn’t didn’t need to say well now, can I trust you in the future? You know why, because his heart was so much more important to me than the mistake that he made come on.
God wants to talk to you tonight. Your heart toward God is so much more important than a mistake that you make you know. I said I would tell you why I thought the the father gave the prodigal The Inheritance, even though he already knew he’s going to go waste it because sometimes to get the prodigal back, you have to let him go and there’s some parents that need to hear That and here’s what I wrote down the boy’s wrong attitude would never have been fixed in the comfort of his father’s care.
He had to experience some harsh realities of life in order to wake up and realize what he had at home before he left amen.
