EASTER 2024: COME HOME

INTRODUCTION

Good morning Life church and friends.

Today, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The day that God through Jesus swallowed up death.

The day Jesus accomplished all that was needed for humanity to COME HOME TO THE FATHER.

THE DAY RECONCILIATION WITH THE STAR BREATHING GOD WAS MADE A REALITY.

THE FIRST DAY TOWARDS THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH!

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS WAS THE COSMIC CALL OF GOD THROUGH ALL CREATION, CALLING OUT, COME HOME!

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TODAY I AM NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE HOW.

INSTEAD I REALLY WANT TO FOCUS ON WHY JESUS CAME, LIVED, DIED A SINNERS DEATH, AND RESURRECTED.

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THERE IS NOT A BETTER WAY I CAN THINK OF THAN THROUGH A STORY JESUS HIMSELF GAVE!

Luke 15:1–2 NET

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus tells three parables after this -

Lost sheep

Lost coins

And the lost son and the compassionate father.

It is that last parable I want us to look at today!

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Luke 15:11–32 NET

Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them.After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle. Then after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.He was longing to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! I will get up and go 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; treat me like one of your hired workers.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him. Then his 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 slaves, ‘Hurry! 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! Let us eat and celebrate, because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again—he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field. As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening. The slave replied, ‘Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he got his son back safe and sound.’ But the older son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and appealed to him, but he answered his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends! But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours. It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.’ ”

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No matter how far you are from God the Father, Jesus has paved the way for you to come home!

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THREE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY.

Wayward son

Forgiving and Redeeming Father.

Jealous brother -Who refuses to celebrate the return of his lost brother.

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BECAUSE OF JESUS OUR STORY HAS A NEW CHARACTER A WAY BETTER ENDING.

Wayward son - you and I

Forgiving and Redeeming Father.

Jesus, the brother who paved the way for us to return home.

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INSTEAD OF A JEALOUS BROTHER WE HAVE A BROTHER WHO CAME TO RESCUE US FOR THE FATHER.

Hebrews 2:8–11 NLT

You gave them authority over all things.” Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority. What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

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THE GOSPEL OF OUR LOVING FATHER.

Jesus has come to call us home! To call us to be reconciled to our heavenly Father. (JOHN 3:16)

Jesus comes to us in the midst of the mud and filth of our lives.

He reaches out His hand and says come home.

The Father is looking for you, come home. The Father loves you, come home.

JESUS LEADS US TO THE FACE OF THE FATHER.

The father kisses our dirty face and embraces us even as we are covered in our dirty sin.

THE FATHER THEN CLOTHES US IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NET

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

Jesus takes our filth, takes our sin against the father, against him, and buries it.

He then clothes us in His perfection.

This is the very symbol of baptism.

Romans 6:3–4 NASB95

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

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THIS IS NOT A STORY ABOUT MORALITY BUT A STORY ABOUT COMING HOME.

Jesus did not do this just so, we will live a moral life.

No, the point of Jesus, the point of His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension is, he is coming back.

HE IS COMING BACK TO SET ALL THINGS TO RIGHT.

We are rescued not for morality.

We are rescued to be fit for the new Heaven and Earth.

We are rescued by Jesus and reconciled to the Father so we may share in the Physical resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus is calling you Home - He is calling you to a new Physical Home!

1 Corinthians 15:20–26 NET

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be eliminated is death.

Revelation 21:1–5 NET

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then he said to me, “Write it down, because these words are reliable and true.”

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COME HOME! NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU THINK YOU ARE FROM GOD, JESUS HAS PAVED THE WAY.

How Do I Come Home.

Like the wayward son in the story - Come before the Lord and repent.

Have faith that Jesus has done all the work and receive God’s forgiveness.

Be Baptized as a sign of your confession that Jesus is Lord, and as a sign that your sins have been buried.

Each day get up and follow the way of Jesus.

When you fall, get up, repent, and follow the way of Jesus.

JESUS HAS ACCOMPLISHED IT ALL FOR YOU! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS BELIEVE AND RECEIVE, AND FOLLOW!

COME HOME -

IF YOU FEEL JESUS CALLING YOU TODAY TO COME HOME - THEN THE ALTARS ARE OPEN FOR YOU.