The Comeback Week 1: Come Back Home

We are starting  a brand new series called (THE COMEBACK)

We are going to be looking at four different comeback stories over the next four weeks, leading up to the Easter weekend.

Today’s story is one of the most important stories Jesus told throughout the scriptures.

Luke 15:11–20 NKJV

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

Scholars look at this parable of the lost son or the parable of the prodigal son as one of the most formative and revolutionary of Jesus’ life.

Look one more time at verse 17

Luke 15:17 NKJV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Why am I living like this when I don’t have to be?

Today could be the most important Sunday of someone’s life. I titled today’s message:

Title: Time to come Home

Lets Pray

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Traveling down memory lane

A few months ago we traveled to Missouri to visit family for Christmas.

Our route to Missouri takes us right by the house I grew up in.

Seeing our family in Neosho is being in the city where Kayla and I fell in love.

I showed the kids my old house

We’ve taken them to the swing set where I asked her to be my girlfriend

They’ve seen the park where we had our first picture taken.

There is something powerful about the nostalgia or going back to where you were raised.

But the house you grew up in seemed a lot bigger when you were growing up in it.

There is nothing like the idea of home.

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Nostalgia check

Trips like this get you nostalgic…let’s get a feel of the decades in the room.

Who grew up in the 60’s

Who grew up in the 70’s

Who grew up in the 80’s

Who grew up in the 90’s

If it’s later than that you are still growing up.

For those of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s we don’t have to wonder if there is a God who is protecting us because we lived through this.

Mcdonalds Play Place (show picture)

There was no idea of safety back then.

You had better had your tetus shot ready.

It wasn’t just Mcdonalds…

Playground  (Show slide photo)

How many people remember risking your life going down one of these?

If you didn’t die from falling off the 15 foot ladder, then your legs would burn from the metal on the slide that was just baked in the sun.

The only way we survived was by staying up on our wellness..

(Show pics of flinstone vitamins)

Pure sugar, a little bit of vitamin.

I ate 2 of those a day, that is how I made it.

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Transition to Content: Time to Come Home. {LUKE 15 Context}

Jesus tells us a story of a man who left his home to do his own thing,

let me give you some context because Luke 15 is one of the most famous passages in the Bible.

Its actually 3 stories, or what the Bible calls, Parables, which are just stories with meaning, in the same chapter.

One is a lost sheep,

one is a lost coin, and then

our story of a lost son.

The audience is important because you need to know who the story is for, and the beginning of the chapter tells us:

Luke 15:1 NKJV

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.

Wouldn’t it be rough if your profession was wrapped up into the group that is combined with the sinners?

The tax collectors and the sinners.

What would that be today? (IRS)

The tax collectors were the ones that would rip you off, steal your money, and then give it to the roman government that was occupying your land. Everyone hated these guys.

Jesus surrounded himself with the worst, and promised them the best.

So don’t disqualify yourself from hearing what god wants to say to you through this passage.

Lets break down this story verse by verse

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1 .We think we can do better

The son wanted his stuff

Luke 15:12 NKJV

And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.

Let’s get our types right..

We are represented as the younger son,

God is represented as the father.

The son wants his STUFF.

Luke 15:13 NKJV

And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

I have a tremendous fear, that my life would end up being wasted.

This is what the son did, he went after the stuff, but didn’t want the father,

he left, wasting his life.

A wasted life is one that pursues the resources from God without the relationship with God.

We want the…

resources without the relationship.

stuff, without the savior.

fortune, but not the father.

I want what you can do for me, instead of what I can do with you.

Understand the fullness of what the son is actually saying…

I actually wish you were dead, because then that is when I would get my stuff. I want it early, and I want it now.

Can you imagine the pain of the father?

The father’s entire goal, is relationship,

but people don’t want his heart, they want his hand.

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He received the stuff and sold it

He moved to a distant land. How is that possible? This is a farming community.

So what he ended up doing, was selling his portion, in front of his dad.

Imagine the hurt.

We do the same thing:

We want the goods, but we don’t really want God

What that Looks like:

Give me that marriage, but I don’t want you

Give me that money, but I don’t want you

Give me that healing, but I don’t want you

Give me that blessing, but I don’t want you

God becomes a means to an end.

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It wasn’t greed…it was an unwillingness to submit

This young man wasn’t greedy, he already had all the possessions, he was born with the silver spoon in his mouth. It wasn’t a greed problem, it was a control problem.

Sin= doing life our way instead of God’s way

I know you created me, you formed me, you know me, but I am going to take matters in my own hands.

He wanted to do it his way.

So the son moves. Probably to Decapolis. The big city, that was full of sin, crazyiness.

It is the las vegas, the ybor city of their time.

Luke 15:14–16 NKJV

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

This is not what he had planned.

Dreamed of the high life,

big money,

girls,

fame,

a short time later, he is working at a local farm starving and under the table he is stealing food from the pigs because he cant feed himself.

WE THINK WE CAN DO BETTER…BUT WE FIND OUT WE CAN’T

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2. We find out we can’t

Sin always over promises on fun, but it always under delivers on fulfillment.

Whenever you separate yourself from being at home with your heavenly father, you think you can do life better, but the reality is no one can fulfill you like God, and you are realizing this, what you thought would fulfill, didn’t.

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

So why do we do it?

Here is why, I want to teach you guys a word that I think can transform your life.

Acharit- אַחֲרִית- the end result, the consequence

(Proverbs 5:4, Proverbs 5:11)

Proverbs 14:12 NKJV

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

We see it as 3 words, but it is actually only 1 hebrew word: Acharit.

The consequence, the result, that which comes after, is death.

(Not in notes), but on screen

Proverbs 5:1–4 NKJV

My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

It looks good now. But in the end, it will be sharp, destructive. Its not going to end well.

Sin comes dressed as a bargain, but ends up being bondage.

Sin comes with short term gain and Long term pain

Sin shows you the bait but Never shows you the hook

Proverbs 5:11 NKJV

And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,

Your enemy’s primary strategy to destroying your life is to deceive you from the Acharit (the consequence) of your decisions.

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If I would have known…

The boys playing with the floating ball in the construction area..

Taco Bell

Chalupas

Crunchwrap Supremes

Cheesy Gordita Crunch

If we could remember the pain, we would never go down the path.

This is the key to us avoiding sin in our life.

Remember the Aharit.

If you let that fantasy go to the ultimate degree, what are the consequences?

What are your kids going to think?

What is your family going to say about you?

What will we say about you at your funeral?

Often we  give up what we want most, for what we want now.

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All time low doesn’t have to stay in place for all time

This son  never thinks that he could end up eating the food that was fed to pigs.

He was at his all time low.

But I have good news for someone today.

You might be in a dip, but you arent done.

You might have failed, but your life isnt a failure.

God specializes in helping people come back home.

You havent gone too far to make up your mind to come back home.

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One big decision

Luke 15:17 NKJV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Now this is huge. Because he had a decision to make.

He had to make up his mind. I cant live this way any longer.

Some one needs to let the devil know today,

I have changed my mind, im not living this way any longer.

What sin has promised, has only caused pain. And im doing something different.

You are one decision away from your destiny being different. And he changes his mind and says, im gonna go home. Write it down:

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3. We have to repent

If you want to get help, you have to come back home.

There is a large portion of humility that is needed, to say,

I messed up,

I strayed,

I got myself into a mess,

but im going to allow God to get me out of it.

So this son thought, I can go home, and im sure my father will take me back as a hired servant.

There were actually 3 different types of employees, servants in that culture, so this is important.

Bondsmen, or bondsservants- They were like the management. Had access to the home. Worked for the family, but were also treated as family.

Servants- they were on the outside. Reported to the bondsmen. They have the protection of the family. You were an employee.

Hired Servant- a 1099, independent contractor. Not part of family.

But that isnt what God is interested in when it comes to us coming home…

Galatians 4:7 NKJV

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The family of God, easy to get into, hard to get out of.

God doesn’t save us to be His employee, but to be His family.

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I’m not an employee

Your returning home is about coming back as a partner, not as a worker.

We get this wrong:

Tithing, serving, attending. Its all work, unless its yours. Unless its your family. Unless its your home.

I don’t work for God, I work with him. Its our home

I don’t give to God, I give with God. Its our church.

I don’t serve for God, I serve with God. Its our family.

But the son didn’t know this,

he didn’t know how extravagant the grace of his father would be.

So he returns, ready to WORK to get himself back into the house.

But he didn’t realize that its not work but the fathers Grace that gives entry back home.

Luke 15:20 NKJV

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

God has not canceled you; He has compassion and runs towards you.

Everything is canceled today.

You don’t like me, I cancel you

Dr Seuss- you cancelled

Starbucks- your are cancelled

People have cancelled me.

God hasn’t cancelled you. God has compassion on you.

He meets you on your pursuit towards him.

No matter how far gone you are,

When you take a step towards God, God runs toward you.

Its time to come home.

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Luke 15:21–24 NKJV

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

This is God’s way of revealing his nature.

Who would own the finest robe?

Who would have the nicest ring?

Who has the best shoes?

The father!

This guy was dirty, just in the mess with some pigs, but he didn’t need to clean up to run to God.

Come as you are.  You arent too dirty to be loved by God.

He isnt angry at you.

He isn't mad at you.

He isn't ready to punish you.

He is ready to throw a party.

This doesn’t make sense, but it is the grace of God.

How long did it take for the father to embrace him, did he have them partying? A few min? An hour?

If it was me, I would have told that kid, im throwing a party, because I got a new worker, and I was right, you couldn’t do it without me. And when we are dancing, you sit over there and you just watch.

But not the father. He threw a party, his son returned.