Well, I just want to start by appreciating the clicker police.
I've had. I grabbed it and put it on my chair, and I had about
eight people come and say, do you have got your clicker? Have you got your
clicker? And I do have the clicker today, so I will be
clicking right along. We're glad that you're here this morning.
A couple of announcements before we get started. First of all, right after this
gathering at 12:30, we've got a luncheon for our upcoming Fall
Fest this week. And so if you are planning to attend that, what
we're gonna ask you to do is exit right out there to your left,
go through the doors. They're gonna help you package the lunch together. And then you're
gonna turn around and come right back in this room. So, yes, you're gonna bring
your food back into this room. So you'll go right out there and bring it
in this way. And then also, if there's one thing that we know that kids
love, it is candy. And we need lots of it.
And so if you have the ability to help participate
by bringing candy for this thing, that would be fabulous.
You could bring that and drop it off by the church office. You can bring
it the night of if you want to. But there's never enough
candy, right, D.J. never enough candy. Right. Okay.
Next Sunday we also have a newcomer's luncheon. So if you are new to
Springhouse. Newer to Springhouse, and you want to meet
our staff and you'd like to learn about the
church, then you're welcome to participate in the newcomers launch.
And that will be next Sunday. So I encourage you to sign
up and be a part of that. We're gonna continue the greatest stories
ever told today. And you know, I realized every week I say, this is
one of the more famous stories. But this is one of the famous stories. And
that's why we're going over the greatest stories. We're gonna talk about the prodigal
son. And so if you'll stand with me this morning, we're gonna do something just
a little different as we read today what I'm gonna ask.
I want you to read everything in yellow. And I will read what's in
white. So everybody say, I'm yellow. I'm yellow.
Kevin is white.
There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his
father, father, give me my share of the
estate. So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together. All he had set
off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild
living. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of
that country who sent him to the fields to feed the
pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the
pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to
his senses, he said, how many of my father's
hired servants have food to spare? And here I
am starving to death. I will set out and
go back to my father and say to him, father,
I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Make me like one of your hired servants. So he
got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long
way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion
for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him
and kissed him. The son said to him, father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you. I am no
longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said
to his servants, quick, bring the best robe and put
it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it.
Have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine
was dead and is alive again. He was lost
and is found. So they began to celebrate.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near
to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one
of his servants and asked him what was going on. Your
brother has come, he replied, and your father has
killed the fattened calf because he has him back
safe and sound. The older brother became angry and
refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded
with him. But he answered his father, look, all
these years I have been slaving for you and never
disobeyed your orders. Yet you never give me
even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property
with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened
calf for him. My son, the father said, you
are always with me, and everything I have is
yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad,
because this brother of yours was dead and is alive
again. He was lost and is found. Father, I
thank you for your word that it renders truth. I pray, Lord, that its truth
would pierce our hearts today. In Jesus name, amen. You may be
seated.
You ever notice how before you have kids you judge
everybody else's parenting?
You're in the store and you're thinking, my kids will never act like
that. Then you have kids, and all of a sudden,
out comes a cell phone, gummies, candy. You lose your dignity and your
sanity in the store while everyone else is making fun of you.
When you're dating, you think their little quirks are
adorable. She's so organized,
he's so chill. Then you get married and now
she's controlling and he's lazy.
When somebody cuts you off in traffic, they are a
terrible driver. But when you cut someone
off, it's because I didn't see them right.
Perspective changes everything. Perspective
changes everything. I brought this stool here today because I believe it
represents how most of us live our life. We tend to see life
from our level where emotions, frustrations and
assumptions live. We see what's
happening to us, but we're not what God may
be doing through us. We see the problem, but not the
purpose. But when I change levels
on this stool, when I
step up to a higher level,
my perspective changes. Same room,
same people, but I'm looking at everything
from a different vantage point. I believe that's
what God wants for us. Ephesians 2.
6 says that we have been seated in high
places with Christ, in heavenly places with Christ. The Word also tells us that
we've been given the mind of Christ. And so in that
in our lives, we have been given the ability and the
opportunity to look at situations and circumstances
from a perspective that is far superior than our
own. And so we look here and
down there. In my perspective, I see pain. But from
God's perspective, He sees purpose. From my
perspective, I see a mess. But from God's perspective,
He sees the opportunity for a miracle.
From my perspective, I see failure.
But from his perspective, he sees a God who is able
to be faithful. From my perspective
down there, I see what's gone wrong.
But from his perspective, he sees everything that he has gotten involved with
and made right. Perspective
changes everything. It changes everything.
This story begins with a young man
standing before his father, determined, divided
and restless. And we aren't told
what created the situation that caused him to go to his
father, expecting his inheritance immediately. We
don't get the backstory, but something had to have
happened. Because people do not naturally just walk
out on something that's good. Maybe
it was frustration that built up over time.
Maybe it was small disappointments or quiet resentments.
Maybe it was a longing to be somewhere else or to be
someone else. Anybody ever felt that way.
Maybe he felt overlooked or misunderstood
or tired of living in his Father's shadow. Whatever it
was, it didn't happen. I believe in a moment it happened In a
series of moments that led to this moment. And now
he is here looking at his father in the eye, and he's saying,
give me my share of the
inheritance. This is my daughter Ruby.
Now, I want to just let you in. I'm a little bit of the OG
school when it comes to discipline. So
my daughter Ruby was in our early learning center when she was 2. And
we continued to get phone calls from the directors because Ruby had
this problem of biting children. She would go to class
and she would bite someone. She would go to class the next day and
she would bite someone. She'd go to class the next day and she would
bite someone, and I would have to go and pick her up. Well, one
day I got her in the car and I took her home and I said,
ruby, what did you do? She said, I bit someone. So I
took her arm and I bit her.
She did not bite one other person. Nay, one more
time after that time of me biting her. And I want to tell
you that if one of my children were to come to me
and say, I hate you, and I want to leave home and run away,
I might just go right upstairs and grab their bag and start packing it for
them. Set it right there on that porch. Because here's the thing.
I know that as soon as they get as far as the mailbox,
the realization will set in that what they've got is good.
What they've got at home is really. Is really good.
Here's the thing. He's saying, give me my
inheritance. It was deeply hurtful and offensive
to the father because it was as if the son was saying, you are
better off to me dead than alive. You're better
off to me dead than alive. Now, a man's
property back in this culture wasn't just his wealth.
It was his identity, and it was his legacy. The
land told the story of his name, his family,
his history, and his hope for the generation to come after
him. So when the son demanded his share, he wasn't
just walking away from home. He was walking away
from his identity, from his legacy. He was walking
away from whom he was meant to be. And still
the father. Excuse me. The father didn't stop him.
The father did not stop him. He didn't
argue. He didn't beg. He
simply let him go. The word tells us this. He divided
the property between them.
Real love has the capability
of letting go
even when it breaks your heart. Because the moment love starts
being controlling, it's no longer love.
So the father stands there watching his son disappear. Down the road, knowing full
and well the road he's chosen. And the road the son has
chosen is a road that's going to hurt him. It's going to lead to
destruction. It's going to lead to disaster. And I believe that the Father's
heart was breaking, but in that break, he was hoping that whatever
choices this son was setting out to make, that maybe, just
maybe, those choices and those consequences of those choices would
bring him back home. Would bring him back home.
Sometimes we have to walk through a consequence in order to learn a
lesson. So the son liquidates everything
associated with his Father and begins to live, the Word tells us, a
wild lifestyle, engaging in everything and
anything that would bring him temporary
pleasure, every sin possible. And
it leads him, as sin does, to a place of complete brokenness
and destruction. Jesus is wanting us,
I believe, to grab something in this portion of the story because
it's easy to look at this young man and see that sin,
his sin, is the main issue. But the issue really
wasn't sin. It was separation.
And if you're actively living in the place, if you're here this morning under the
sound of my voice and you're actively living in a place of
sin, I want you to know that sin isn't your biggest
problem. Separation is separation
from the Father, from the God who breathes stars. Isaiah says this. Your
iniquities. Excuse me, your iniquities have separated you from.
It is our sin that separates us from our God.
And it isn't what the Son did that ruined him. It
was how far he ran from the Father. Might I
suggest this morning that distance will drain you faster than sin will
stain you. Distance will drain you
faster than sin will stain you. Our
perspective down here, our perspective down here
is that if I will just stop doing that,
if they will just stop doing that,
everything will change. If I stop losing my temper, everything
will be okay. If I stop lusting, everything will be
fine. If I stop drinking, everything will go away.
If I stop looking at that, everything will be just fine. But here's the
truth. See, sin is just the symptom of a deeper issue. And that issue
is lack of relationship. Lack of
relationship with God. Listen, you can cut off the
branch, but if the roots are still there, nothing's going to change.
You'll just find another way for sin to manifest itself.
You can fix the behavior, but if your heart isn't healed,
you'll find another outlet. That's why
Jesus didn't come to modify our
behavior. He came to heal. And
when our Heart is healed, then the behavior follows, the
behavior changes. See, we tend to want to fix our sin
and try to fix other people's sin from our perspective
and not from his higher perspective. Here's the thing. Your sin in
this room this morning might be greed,
but your real issue is fear.
Your sin might be anger in this room this morning,
but the real issue is unforgiveness or pain.
Your sin might be gossip, but the real issue
is insecurity. Your
sin might be sexual immorality, but the real sin. The real
issue. Sorry. The real issue is rejection.
Your sin might be pride, but the real issue is shame.
Your sin might be addiction, but the real issue is emptiness,
because you're filling a void that only the Father's love can
satisfy. Guys, sin
is not random. It's a signal.
It's pointing to something beneath the surface that needs
to be addressed. A wound, a lie, or a longing
to be healed. And the Father's not
standing over you saying, fix that. He's
saying, come home. Let me heal you. Let
me heal you. Because once the
relationship is restored, the symptom loses its power.
When you walk away from the Father, I believe that your life begins
to leak away from you. When we walk away from God, our life just
begins to dissipate. You may look alive on the outside, but your
soul begins to starve. And we look to feed it with things that don't bring
life. Many years ago, Margaret was sitting in our office, and her
daughter Valerie was there. And Valerie had accidentally tripped and knocked a
cup of water over a laptop that she had sitting there. And she was
in the middle of really needing to be on a laptop working. And so Margaret
stood up and they cleaned up the water and the laptop wasn't working. Well, they
go over next door, and Barbie's there, and there's a laptop sitting there on the
floor. Well, Margaret says, barbie, do you have a laptop that we could use that
Valerie could use? And she said, well, there's one there on the floor, but it
has its own problems. Here's the thing.
Sometimes we go and we will make. We will take on more problems
instead of addressing the one at hand. Sometimes we're
content with going into a situation where we'll take on more problems
than actually addressing the root cause of the issue. Let me
get rid of this symptom with another symptom. Let
me get rid of this visible symptom and utilize an invisible
symptom and just live from there.
But God wants to get to the root and he wants to get to the
heart. And so, in his great love for you and me, in his
great love for you and me, God will allow
painful circumstances to take place in our lives
painful circumstances to take place in our lives so that we would wake up
and be willing to see ourselves and our situation
from his perspective and finally
come to our senses. The Word tells us when he came to his senses, he
said, I will arise and I will go back to my father. The
turning point in this story isn't when he runs out of money.
It isn't when he's in the pig pen. It's when he comes
to his senses, when his eyes are open
to a higher perspective. And this, my
friends, is where repentance begins.
Repentance is not an emotion. It's not just a sorrowful
plea to the situation or what we've done wrong. It's not
an emotional response with tears. It can be part of it, but
that's not what repentance really is. Repentance, I
believe, has three components, and we often neglect the last
one. The first part of repentance is changing the way that
you think you can change your behavior all day long.
But until you change the way you think about it, the root of changing
behavior is not going to go anywhere. So the first part of
repentance is changing the way you think. The second part
flows right naturally. After changing the way you think, it's changing the behavior.
So we turn away from the behavior. I change the way I think, I. I
turn away from the behavior. And that's a lot of times where we put the
period and we just move on. But guys, I don't believe that the first two
can even happen without the third one being involved. We change the
way we think, the behavior changes, and then we
run to a merciful God. We run
to a merciful God. We run to a God who has the
supernatural power to help us get out of the situation
and the pain and the destructive path that we're in. All three of
those ingredients are part of the repentance process. And for the life
of the believer, repentance is a part
of our journey. Guys, I was
struggling with two issues over the last three weeks. Two, they're not
connected, but man, two issues and boy laden in there in that sin world.
One was pride. Anybody ever dealt with pride?
I'm not alone. I was in situations in the last three weeks, I
thought, I've got the answer. I got the monopoly on the answer to
this. I was looking from my
perspective in another situation. I'm walking through
Fighting. And I'm wrestling with bitterness against how I've been
treated. And sometimes that bitterness that you walk in can lead
you to places where you just are in the pig pen. Because I see
it my way, I don't see it his way.
And until I change the way I think, coupled with the behavior and
the actions with it, and run to a merciful God, nothing's going to change in
my life. And maybe you are here and you're contending and
wrestling with something in your life that you need to turn
from. Repentance gives us the
ability to stop thinking like a slave and to remember that we are
sons and daughters of the most high God. Romans 2:4
says, God's kindness leads us to repentance. And we have been
placed in positions to be the hands and feet of Christ in that.
Several years ago, Allen was serving communion. I don't remember what section it was, but
he was on the steps and Allen tripped and he fell.
I didn't see this, but he told the story later. And you know, when he
fell, so many people got up and they ran over to help
him. Could you imagine if he fell and everybody just looked
at him and scoffed and laughed and then kicked him while he was down and
said, look, you fell, Allen, you're hurt.
Just want to make sure, you know, you fell. Did everybody see that? Can we
pan the camera there,
guys? None of us plan the fall. None of us
plan the fall. But when the fall happens, I pray that I have
loving people in my life who will run to me and help me get
up from the fall.
God's kindness leads us to repentance. How does he manifest
his kindness? Through believers who have been through some things and say,
hey, I need to render kindness in this situation because you've
fallen and you need to change.
And so we've been placed in a position to be the hands and feet of
Christ. The young son didn't wake up because he feared
the fathers. He woke up because he
remembered the Father's goodness.
And it changed everything. He
didn't have to fix himself before returning. He didn't need a
plan. He needed a person. And that's the
turning point of the story. The son didn't stop at a well to wash
his face. The word didn't tell us that he goes to a clothing store to
make sure he looks the part. It didn't say that he went back and earned
all of the money back so that he could pay back what he squandered.
He showed up like he was
grace doesn't wait for you to get cleaned up. It meets you where
you messed up. And then in the story,
something really scandalous happens. Jesus says,
but while he was still a long way off, the Father
saw him and was filled with compassion.
And he ran. Son,
now I want to tell you something.
Mideastern, Middle Eastern men did not run.
It was undignified. They would have to lift their robes and
expose their scrawny legs in order to run. They
didn't run. Running
was just something that. This is something that they didn't
do. But this father didn't care about his dignity. He didn't care
about what the neighbors thought. He didn't care about how bad his boy
smelt or how foolish that he might look. He cared that his
son was coming home. And so
he takes off running. Because love doesn't mind looking foolish when
restoration is on the line. Love does not mind
looking foolish when restoration is on the line.
So before the Son. Before the Son can finish his apology,
the Father throws his arms around him. Before
the confession, there's compassion. Before the explanation,
there's restoration. And that's the gospel over. In 2
Corinthians, it says this. All this is from God
who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation. That God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's
sins against them. Might I
suggest to us this morning that we understand that you don't
fix your sin to find God. You find God and he fixes your sin.
You find a relationship with God and he begins to fix your
sin. The young man who got baptized. Right up here, Cody, I'm going to tell
on you, okay? He said to Scotty, he said, I sometimes
cuss. Can I get baptized? Absolutely,
brother. You can get baptized. You don't fix your sin
to find God. You find God, and then he fixes your
sin.
This is what grace looks like. A father who runs toward
you when everyone else runs away.
We don't deserve this type of love. Psalms says this. He does not treat
us as our sins, deserve or repay us according to our
iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far as he has
removed our transgressions from us guys,
God cares more about getting you back than getting you
right. And if you are wandering away
from this king of the universe, this star breathing God, this
morning he wants you back. And I don't think
it's happenstance that you're sitting here this morning because
the God of the universe has his arms Wide open for you.
The father didn't demand an explanation. He didn't stand there with
a litany of questions. Where were you?
What did you do with my money?
He didn't need to talk about the past because love was already building a future.
And so the father says, bring the best robe
because your shame is covered. Put a ring on his finger
because his authority has been established. Put sandals on
his feet because you are no longer a servant. You are a child of this
house. And not only that, you are my son.
This father says, do you notice something here?
The father neglected to bring up the sin. Our perspective
would say, we need to address this sin. We need to talk about this sin.
We need to pay penance for this sin. We need to make sure that this
sin doesn't happen again. But what we're not understanding it is that symptom of a
root issue. If you get to the root issue, the sin is going to dissipate
and go away because of relationship.
Man at a funeral I was at yesterday named Austin, he was sharing a
story. He goes hunting and he had killed a buck for
the first time. And he pulled it in. But I guess with hunting season,
there's a time where your license expires or whatnot. And so you go through
this process. And he didn't have his license up to date or portion of it.
And so. So he has to go to court for the very first time. Never
been there before. And he's talking about that the deceased was his father in law,
but at that time it was his future father in law because he was just
a boyfriend to the girl at this time. So he goes to court, he doesn't
know what he's doing, doesn't really know what to wear. He's never been to court.
He's been somebody who's done all of the right things, but he just was a
lapse of judgment here. And so he goes in there and
explains to the judge what happened. Well, the father
in law shows up that morning to court with him, to stand and be with
him. And so he gives this case. And the judge says, okay, that will be
a $10 fine. Now let me tell you something. Have you ever been in
court? $10.
$10. So he goes around to the
clerk's window to pay the $10 fee. And the clerk says, that would be
$460 because you have the payment
for the guilty sentence, but you also have these things called court fees.
So he pays this $460 and he leaves rejected, with his head
down. Come Next Sunday, this future father in law
comes up to him and hands him an envelope. And inside the envelope is a
check for $450. Now, why did I share
this story? This future father, this
was a boyfriend. This future father in law had
no reason to pay this bill, had no reason to take
on the penalty. But because of love and because of relationship,
he comes in and pays the bill. And guys, that's exactly what our God
does. It's exactly what our God does.
The motivation to pay the debt was love and relationship. And when you come home,
the father does not rub your failures in your face. He wraps
his arm around you and whispers, you were never meant to live
without me.
So now the father has his son back and he
can't help but celebrate. And guys, anytime a
relationship is reconciled, it is cause for
celebration. It is cause for celebration.
But while everyone was inside celebrating, there's another story that's
unfolding outside in the field. You see, out in the field, the older
brother hears the sound of celebration and stops in his
tracks. He's been working hard, doing everything that he's supposed to
do. Faithful, disciplined, responsible.
And now, after all of these years of consistency,
he hears laughter that isn't his. He smells food that's not
belonging to him. And he sees a robe and a ring given to him
to the one who wasted everything.
And resentment starts to rise.
He calls a servant over and he says, what's going on?
And the servant replies, your father has killed the fattened calf because
his younger son has come home.
But instead of joy in this older brother, there's anger
instead of relief, there's bitterness. And in that
moment from the older son, we see a different type of
distance from the father. Not the distance of rebellion,
but the distance of resentment. You see, the older
son has a perspective too.
All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
That's what he says to his father. Here's the tragedy. And this
is what I want us to grab. You can stay in the
father's house and still live like a hired
hand. You can take room in the
father's house and still operate like a hired hand. The
older brother never left home, but he still missed the father's heart.
Listen, rules can guide you, but only relationship can change you.
You can follow all of the rules, but if you don't have relationship,
you've missed the heart of God. Listen, I've been married
to Shari for over 15 years and I
obey the rules of marriage not because
I'm married. But because I love Shari,
my fuel to obey the rules of marriage isn't because I'm under some
institution or some rule or anything. The reason I obey the rules of
marriage is because I love her. Relationship
fuels my obedience. Relationship
is key. I believe relationship is the currency
of the kingdom to which we live. Justin was talking
about in the pool. He was talking about baptism. And he talked
about him to Scotty, to Scotty, to Cody. What he's talking about is
being in relationship. Not fake relationship, real
relationship, authentic relationship.
Relationship is key. And the greatest victory
in the kingdom is when relationships are restored.
Have you ever seen someone forgive the unforgivable?
Have you ever seen someone be so wrong that they
deserve to do something to the person, but they love them above the hurt?
Have you ever seen. It's remarkable. It's supernatural,
because in our flesh, we want to take people out.
The greatest defeat of the enemy is when he tries to place a
wedge between people. And then love from the father
supernaturally gets involved and those two people come back together.
And so our heart check is this. You can live in the father's house and
still miss the father's heart.
In other words, you can be absolutely right in the
way you feel, but you can respond in a way
that misses the father's heart simply because you
were operating from your perspective and not
his. I
believe that forgiveness in the world is a 5050
proposition. I will meet you halfway. Here's
my forgiveness with strings attached. Forgiveness in the
kingdom is not a 5050 proposition. Forgiveness in the kingdom
is 100%. I have washed that away
as far as the east is from the west. We can walk forward
in pure relationship.
Forgiveness in the kingdom allows us beyond our
hurts, beyond our pain, beyond our struggles to take the next step forward,
first and foremost with our God, but also
with one another. Proximity does
not equate to intimacy. You can serve God faithfully
and still not enjoy him fully. Do you know that God desires to be
enjoyed? You can be in his house
and be so worried about whether you're doing everything right and crossing every
T and dotting every I and miss him altogether.
This isn't just the story of one prodigal son. It's the story of
every heart that has ever wandered or ever
been hardened. And the father stands
in the same place for both, watching the
road, waiting for relationship.
So you may be in the pig pen this morning.
There may be something that you need to repent for this morning.
You may be distant from this glorious God who's waiting on the road
with his arms wide open, saying, here I am. Come,
let us reason together.
You have a father who's saying, come home. This
story is about two sons. The younger son
thought freedom meant distance. He believed he could just get away from his father
and that he would find happiness. But he was wrong.
The older son thought faithfulness meant favoritism.
He believed it just if he just worked harder and he did all the right
things, that the father would finally notice him.
But he had access to the father all along.
Both were seeing this from ground level, from
their perspective, from their
own understanding. Neither of them was seeing it from the
father's vantage point. The father's
perspective is always higher. It's always
better. Would you stand with me this morning?
If you're going to minister to people, if you'll come forward.
You know what makes that pig pen so nasty?
I believe what makes that pig pen so that that feed the trough
so nasty? It's not that the pigs are eating. I don't know what they feed
pigs, but that slop, that's not what makes it
nasty. What makes the trough nasty is that
all of our saliva is in it together.
That's what makes it nasty. But here's the deal.
You don't have to stay there eating my saliva or your
neighbor's saliva in the pig pen.
Everything can change. Today
you say, I don't know how to fix this behavior in my life.
Stop trying to fix it. Come and get the relationship straight with your
father. Maybe you're looking at some situation
from an earthly low perspective and you need God to change it.
Lord, change my perspective about this. I need your eyes, God. I need to
see your perspective in this situation. Come.
He knows how to give you a pair of his eyes to see it the
way he sees it. Maybe
you're sitting there and you're like, I have checked off all the list. I have
done so many things right and I don't understand why that person
gets to get away with X, Y and Z. I don't know why that
person gets to have the blessing. I don't understand why that is.
Here's the thing. Can I tell you. God doesn't just want to get you to
a place where you accept that for other people. He wants to get you to
a place where you rejoice with them when they do
so. There's a lot of opportunity to meet the God who breathes stars and
knew you were going to be here today. You can do like that song
said that they sang this morning. I've decided I'm not going to leave this
place the same way I came. The only way to do
that is to encounter the God of the universe. Let's
worship.