Going Back Home | John Lefebvre

We do this every Sunday. This is the ceremony on Earth Day. We ask that you feel free to clap your hands. Sing out loud. Just one word. You call the storm that surrounds me. Just one word. The darkness has to be true. Oh, just one touch. I feel the presence of heaven. Oh, just one touch. My eyes are open to you. My heart's getting up again. There's nothing that I got there. It's not a mountain that all you know is. Raise the name. It makes a way. There's nothing that I got here to hold. Just one word. You hear what's broken inside. Oh, just a word. And you realize that we dream. Oh, just one touch. I feel the power of heaven. And just one touch. My eyes are open to you. My heart's getting up again. There's nothing that I can't do. There's not a mountain that he can't move. Raise the name. It makes a way. There's nothing that I can't do. Oh, I know it's nothing that I can't do. There's not a present wall he can't break through. It brings the name. It makes a way. There's nothing that I can't do. Oh, yeah. Come on, y'all. Now we should believe for greater things. There's no power like that. Oh, yeah. It makes a way. There's all a dream. There's no power like that. You better believe that. I will, but for greater things there's no power like that. I will. You got it. It makes a way. Hold it all at me. There's no power like the power of Jesus. Oh, I will believe for greater things. There's no power like the power of Jesus. Let things arise. Hold it all at me. There's no power like this. There's nothing that I can't do. There's not a mountain that he can't move. Oh, praise the name. It makes a way. There's nothing. There's nothing that Jesus can't hold. There's nothing that I can't do. There's not a present wall he can't break through. Oh, praise the name. It makes a way. There's nothing that I can't do. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, and I will believe, believe in this world. Oh, we tell the truth of the Lord.

Oh, and I will believe in greater things. Oh, I praise the name. It makes a way. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Red Dog. It's not big this morning this evening. My God is the way maker, promised keeper, and the light and the darkness they've been. ♪ You are here, moving in our ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, you're working in this place ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are, we make, you're a cool worker ♪ ♪ Promise key, light in the darkness ♪ ♪ My God, that is who you are ♪ ♪ You are, we make, you're a cool worker ♪ ♪ Promise key, light in the darkness ♪ ♪ My God, that is who you are ♪ ♪ You are here, it's such an heavy heart ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, you better hear it every night ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are, we make, you're a cool worker ♪ ♪ Promise key, light in the darkness ♪ ♪ My God, that is who you are ♪ ♪ You are, we make, you're a cool worker ♪ ♪ Promise key, light in the darkness ♪ ♪ My God, that is who you are ♪ ♪ That is who you are, that is who you are ♪ ♪ That is who you are, that is who you are ♪ ♪ That is who you are, that is who you are ♪ ♪ That is who you are, that is who you are ♪ ♪ That is who you are ♪ ♪ And when I don't see it you're working ♪

♪ And when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ You never stop, you never stop working ♪ ♪ You never stop, you never stop working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't see it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ You never stop, you never stop working ♪ ♪ You never stop, you never stop working ♪ ♪ You never stop, you never stop working ♪ ♪ You never stop, you never stop working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪

♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ Even when I don't feel it you're working ♪ ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ For your mercy never fails me ♪ ♪ In all my days ♪

♪ I've been living early ♪ ♪ From the moment that I wake up ♪ ♪ Oh, I will see ♪ ♪ Of the good it is now ♪ ♪ In all my life you have made you ♪ ♪ In all my life you have made you ♪ ♪ In all my life you have made you ♪ ♪ In all my life you have made you ♪ ♪ So good ♪ ♪ Oh, I will see what the goodness is about ♪ ♪ I love your bones ♪ ♪ You will let me through the fire ♪ ♪ In darkest days ♪ ♪ You walk close like no other ♪ ♪ I know you as a father ♪ ♪ I've known you as a friend ♪ ♪ And I have lived in the goodness of God, yeah ♪ ♪ There's no more life you haven't paid ♪ ♪ Oh, in all my life you haven't sold ♪ ♪ So good with every bread that I can make ♪ ♪ You will see what the goodness is about ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ It's running out tonight ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ It's running out tonight ♪ ♪ No light plays out ♪ ♪ You're ready to know ♪ ♪ I give you every night ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ It's running out tonight ♪

♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ It's running out for me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ It's running out tonight ♪ ♪ And my light will play down ♪ ♪ It's running out now ♪ ♪ I give you every night ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ It's running out of the rain ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my life you have been made ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And every breath that I have been made ♪ ♪ You are the same ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ I'm gonna sing ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so strong ♪ Riverpoint Church. Good morning. I hope you guys are having an incredible time of worship so far. Most city, West End, everyone watching online,

and of course, you awesome men at God Behind Bars. Thank you for being here today with us. We're about to have a guest speaker, and I'm super excited about it. But before we do that, I just have one quick announcement for you guys. Next weekend, we're starting a new series, and we're super excited. We're super expectant that God's gonna move our church forward, that we're all gonna be better because of this series. So I just wanna challenge you, put it on your calendars. Do everything you can to not miss a week of this series. I promise you won't regret it, okay? All right, now, guys, I need your help. We've got a guest preacher. He's backed by popular demand. He's spoken our high school summer camps a couple months ago, and the students were absolutely ranting and raving about this guy. And so we said, you know what? Hey, let's bring him back. Let's let him speak into the life of our whole church. And he took time away from his family and friends. And so, come on, River Point. as he comes up on stage today. This is Pastor John the Faith. (audience applauding) - Well, come on, River Point Church. Come on, but if you're thankful for Jesus one time, can you give him some praise that he's worthy of? If you're thankful for what God has done for you, if he's done anything in your life, can you give him a shout of praise this morning? Amen.

(audience applauding) River Point Church, it is so good to be with you this morning. It is an absolute honor, just as you heard Pastor Chad say, my name is John Lefebvre, and I come from the great country of Miami, Florida. If you've ever been to Miami, you know Miami's built different and it's different than all of the other cities and states, but I'm also grateful to be in the great country of Texas. Can I get a name in? Come on. (audience applauding) I want to take a moment to just honor your senior pastor, Pastor Chad Rubin. Come on, if you love your senior pastor, can you just make some noise for a moment? (audience applauding) Just as you heard him say in that video, I had the honor of speaking to the high school students of River Point Church, and one of my favorite moments was when I was speaking to this young one guy, this one young guy, and he was telling me about how amazing his father is and how amazing his dad is and someone turns to me and says, do you know who his father is? I'm like, I honestly have no idea. He said his father's Pastor Chad, the senior pastor of this church. And to me, it made such an impact because I have a young son and my prayer and my desire isn't so much that my son would say

how great of a preacher or a pastor I am, but how great of a father I am. And he was just talking about how great his father is, not just on a platform, which I'm grateful. He's incredible on this platform, but off the platform even better, and I'm grateful for every conversation I've had with him. And I was telling him that every staff member, every pastor, every team member, every person I've met that's a part of this church has just been so kind and so generous. And to me, it's just a reflection of the senior pastor. And so come on, if you love your senior pastor, Pastor Chad Bruggman, can you just make some noise one time and just show some love to Pastor Chad Bruggman? It's an honor to be here. I'm gonna get straight into it because my time is ticking and that clock is demonic. Anybody have a Bible on them? Luke chapter 15 is where I'm gonna be at today. I hope it's okay, I'm gonna read about 20 verses. Anybody like to read their Bible in church? Luke chapter 15 is where I'm gonna be at. Anybody got physical copybibles on them? If you have it, can you just put it up in the air real quick? Any physical copybibles? All right, we got a few of them, I love it. Any glow in the dark Bibles? We got a few of those as well, love it. If not, it will be up on this giant screen behind me,

but I'm gonna read 20 verses and it starts off like this. I'm reading it starting at verse 11, Luke chapter 15. It says, Jesus continued as he's telling a story. There was a man who had two sons, can someone say 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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed 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 hear I am starving to death? "I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, "Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. "I'm 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, the father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, through his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, "Father, I've sinned against heaven

"and against you. "I'm 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 fat and calf and kill it. "Let's 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. While he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him, "What was going on? "Your brother has come," he replied, "and your father has killed the fat and 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 and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends, but when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes come home, you kill the fat and calf for him? My son," the father said, "you're always with me and everything I have is yours, but we have had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found." Out of these 20 verses, I want to preach a message that I've titled, "Going Back Home." Can you turn to the person next to you and say, "I'm going back home?" Can you turn to the person that you just ignored and can you say, "I'm going back home." I believe the Spirit of God is in this room and I just want you to know I've prayed for you guys a lot in the last few weeks and I could not shake Luke chapter 15 and so we're going to get into it.

I believe that God's going to speak to us this morning, Lord, we thank you. God, thank you for your goodness and your grace and your mercy. Lord, we ask that you continue to speak to us. Thank you that you are present. Thank you that you are holy. Thank you that you are faithful, Lord. We need you this morning. We cannot go this day without you. We cannot go another moment without you, Lord. We are in desperation for your presence and I pray that this morning we could just fall more in love with you as a church. God of things that will come and go. People will come and go, but there's one thing that remains constant and it's you, Lord, you're faithful. So Lord, I ask that you speak to us this morning and we continue to pray for the Houston Texans that they could have a great season and everybody says, "Come on. Everybody says, 'If you're grateful for Jesus, can you make some noise one time?'" So in February of 2020, I got engaged and it was amazing, but how many of you guys know what would happen a month later? The world would shut down and everything would close and I'm grateful that we live in states like Texas and Florida, that things began to open up just a little bit sooner than everybody else. It was a time period where everything was closed down and everything was shut down. Now there was this really cool time period where things started to open back up and it seemed like we're going back to normalcy for just a moment and so there was a time where the mall that is near my in-laws house, near my wife's parents' house, had opened up and so we just wanted some normalcy. So let's go to the mall. Let's go do some shopping and get some things that we need for the wedding and all that fun stuff and we go to the mall and everything's great and when we come back, we're in the

car and we're about halfway through the ride and I look at my wife and it seems like she's searching for something. I'm like, "Hey, is everything okay? Did you drop something?" She goes, "No, everything's fine." I said, "Okay." Didn't think much of it. We get to her parents' house, to my in-laws' house and my wife does something she's never done before. She sprinted and ran. I've never seen my wife sprint or run before ever. She sprinted to the door where her family's at and she just runs inside. I'm like, "That was a little weird." I've never seen her do anything like that. She runs inside and she comes back out even before I've gotten my stuff and when she goes, I see her searching through the car and she's looking for something and I said, "Hey, did you lose something?" She goes, "No, no. It's fine. Everything's okay." I'm like, "What are you looking for? What's wrong?" She goes, "No, no. Everything's good." I look at her finger and I notice that there's something missing on her finger and it's an engagement ring and I said, "Andrea, did you lose your engagement ring?" She's like, "No, no. It's here somewhere. I know it's here. It's around here somewhere."

I remembered in this moment exactly what happened. Everybody remember in 2020 when everybody was wearing ripped jeans. Anybody wore ripped jeans in 2020, maybe you're wearing ripped jeans today. It's still in fashion if you're wearing it. That's okay. My wife in 2020, she has some ripped jeans on and I remember vividly. She takes off the ring to put some lotion on her hands and she puts it in the rip of her jeans and she never puts it back on her finger. Now, remember, we go to a mall and it's not just any mall. This is probably one of the most crowded malls in all of Miami and so we get there and I start to realize this ring can be anywhere in the entire city of Miami and so I'm furious at this point. We're driving back to the mall. My wife is calling every store that we've been to and of course nobody's going to return something like this. We get to there and we're trying to remember exactly where we parked and it's just like, "Let's start searching this parking lot." And after minutes of searching in this parking lot with tears in her eyes, my wife grabs the ring and she goes, "I found it." She found it. She found it. I was like, "You better have." But I'll tell a story because it-- that there's such a beauty to finding something that is so valuable to you. Some finding something, there's no feeling like it. We really care when there is something that is lost that is valuable to us. If you've ever lost something that you love, it is a panicking experience.

It's something that you will do whatever you can to find this lost item. But even more than an item, have you ever seen a mom that has lost her child like in a mall or in a shopping center? And you could just see that this mother is frantic and she's panicked and there's anxiety and there's just a desire that I will do whatever I can to find my child because the condition of being lost is one that breaks barriers. It's one that's worth tearing down walls for. That's why I want to stress for just a few moments, not about a lost item, but the state of where we might find our souls today because the reality is you are either lost or you are found, but there is no in between. Just the way that the ring was lost, I either knew where it was or I didn't know where it was. Something even if it's misplaced, it's still temporary loss, you are either lost or you are found. And it's when you're lost that it just seems like we have no direction for our life and you don't know where life is going. I seem to be moving, but I'm just going aimless. It's when you're lost that you will search every single place that you can find for something that's gonna satisfy the soul, but no matter how much you keep searching, nothing is fulfilling, nothing is ever enough. It's when you're lost that no matter how much you try to do things on your own strength, you just feel like you're failing over and over and over again. It's when you're lost or maybe you once loved the church

and you must love the people of the church but someone hurts you, someone abandons you, and now all it is are just memories that you used to carry. It's when you're lost that there's no more conviction for sin or the desire to turn away. Sin doesn't grieve you the way that it used to. It's when you're lost that you will isolate from everyone or you can be in a crowded room and yet still feel so alone. It's when you're lost that you have no clear purpose for your life, you don't know why you're here, you're living, but life just feels like it's empty all the time. It's when you're lost that you are in constant fear of death or the unknown in the future just scares you. It's when you're lost that on the outside, everything seems like you're in control, but on the inside there's chaos because you can be busy, you can be successful, you can be surrounded by people but yet still be lost. Loss. What does it matter if I'm lost? Pastor John from Miami who's not taller than my kids. What does it matter if you're telling me all this? My life seems to be just far in the way that it is. What does it matter if I'm lost or if I'm found? I like the way I'm living. I like the way I'm choosing to live and I gotta tell you because more than my wife losing her ring and the value of that, more than even a mother losing her child, I need you to know this, you are valuable to the father

and valuable things matter when they are lost. And I maybe came to remind somebody today that maybe you don't feel like it. Maybe you don't feel like you're valuable. Maybe you don't feel like you're good enough. I came to remind somebody today that you are valuable not because of your accomplishments, not because of the things that you can do, not because of your status, not because of your money, not because of the things that your achievements have looked like, you are valuable because of a God that says I have made you and designed you in my image. You are valuable because you have a God in heaven that nits you before you in your mother's womb. You have a God who tells you your valuable is worth more than silver and gold. You have a God who tells you that you are a masterpiece, there is value over your life, there's value. As a matter of fact, you value too much to stay in the condition that you are. Jesus would actually tell us what his mission is, just a few chapters later. He says this in Luke chapter 19. He says, "For the Son of Man came to seek "and to save the loss." Jesus didn't come just because lost people are worthless. He came because lost people are worth finding every single time. You may feel lost or you may not feel lost. You may be loving life or you might hate the light

that you live, but even if you are lost or you are not, Jesus still came looking for you because you are too valuable to stay where you are. You are too valuable to stay lost. (congregation applauding) And if you don't believe me, Jesus would share three stories in Luke chapter 15 to emphasize how much it means that a lost person would come back. And it would tell us in Luke chapter 15 that the shepherd loses one of the sheep and it says that he leaves the 99 to go after the one and when he finds the one, he puts this sheep on his back, comes back home and says we're throwing a party, I found my sheep. And so many of us could be like, why would he leave the 99 that he has to search after that one? It's because the sheep has value just the way that you and I have value to the Father. Then the second story Jesus tells us about a woman who has 10 coins and she loses one of the coins in her house. And when she loses one of these coins, she goes frantic searching for this coin and she's tearing apart sofas and mattresses and pillowcases and she says I gotta find this coin. And when she finds this coin, she says that she calls all of her friends and she throws a party. I love it. But then we get now this third story. But the crazy thing about this third story is that Jesus would tell two stories to set up this third story. The third story is the one that's gonna attack the heart of the people that are in the audience as he's telling the stories. You gotta understand what's happening in Luke chapter 15. There is a group of men who see Jesus and they see who he's hanging out with. And they're like, who is this man that he would hang out with sinners? Who is this man that he would hang out with the people that we've ridden off already? Who is this man that he would hang out with the broken people and not the people like us that have all of our life together? And Jesus in his wisdom and in his grace, he's like, let me tell three stories. The sheep, the coin, and then he tells this third story. This third story though, we've heard often, you've heard about the prodigal son, but I don't want to even so much emphasize on this prodigal son so much. I want to talk about two lost sons actually for just a moment. And so the story starts off with a father, and I want to talk about the father first. The father, the passage would tell us that he's wealthy. The passage would tell us he's a man of status. He's a man that has everything together. You gotta think this father, being in the capability that he has, he would have been able to provide for his kids like nothing else.

Everything that his kids could have probably ever wanted, he's probably said, sure, it's yours, go ahead. Now we get introduced to the sons. Someone say the younger son. So we get first introduced to the younger son, and the younger son goes to the father and says, father, I want my inheritance now. I want to spend it the way that I want, and I want to live life the way that I want to live. Now why is this significant? An inheritance is given once a father is passed away. So in other words, what this younger son is saying is that I could care less about your life. I just want what you can give me, I don't want to wait for it, give it to me now so I could just spend it on all that I want. So the younger son, gets the inheritance, goes to downtown Houston, spends it at every club, at every strip club, at every bar, at every place, and just wastes away all of his money until the Bible tells us that there's a famine, and this son is left with nothing left. He gets to the point where he ends up having to find a work, and what he's doing in this job is he's in a place where he's in a feeding trough, which is where pigs would eat their food. And it literally tells us that he's looking at what the pigs are eating, he's like, I wish I could have that food. He's at a point where he had everything, and now he's eating worse than pigs. I started to think about it, and how often times this is our life. We're out of a search for a temporary satisfaction, we will search out of the chase for something temporary, we will neglect, we will give away, we will get rid of something that God wants to do, we will get rid of the blessing, we'll get rid of something that has some eternal significance, all because we just wanted something temporary. If I could just get this high right now, this high will give me the peace and the satisfaction I'm searching for. Oh, if I could just get, and I could date with that coworker, even though I'm a married man or a married woman, I know that it'll fulfill that craving that I'm searching for. If I could just get to one more website, that one more website will give me this longing of this loneliness that I continue to carry. If I could just blackout, drunk one more time, it'll be the escape that I need, and we just chase after temporary and temporary and temporary, not understanding and realizing that sometimes it has some eternal consequences. And sometimes we could find ourselves in a room like this, because we've gotten to a place where we've hit rockers. Leave me searching. Left me chasing with no substance to my life anymore. Maybe you're in this room and you just feel like you're at rock bottom. I'm going to let you know that there's more to this story. As this younger son, he realizes where he's at. He starts to go,

I know where I have to go. And he starts to prepare this speech because where he's going to go, he's going to go back to his father's house. And he says, "All right, I have to think about what I'm going to tell my father. I have to think about all of these things I'm going to say to him." And he's preparing this speech, "Okay, I'm going to tell him I know I'm not even worthy to be your son anymore. I'm going to tell him, "Hey, I'll get everything. If I could just maybe get some food, if I could just maybe just sit in your house, I'll literally just be like one of your hired servants." And he's preparing this way. And the Bible tells us that he would get to where his father's house is. And when he's still far away, it says that the father sees him. Just side no, maybe you feel like you haven't been seen by God. He sees you every time. And it says that the father sees him when he was still far off at a distance. And it tells us that the father did not just stay sitting in his chair, but the father ran after the son because the father will always run after you no matter how far you've gone. And it says that the father, he runs towards the son with his arms open wide. And your son, he already starts to say, "All right, son, Dad, I'm not worthy to be your son." Which is how so many of us come into a room like this, "God, I'm not worthy to be your son or daughter anymore. I'm not worthy to be in your presence anymore because I messed up too much. I did too much wrong." And the father, he pretty much says, "Shut up." And it says, "Hey, bring him a robe." And he puts a robe on his back. And he says, "Bring a ring. Put a ring on his finger. Get some shoes and put some shoes on his feet." And all of these are so significant, which I'm running out of time for. And I can't explain. But they're so significant and they would just signify that there's a full restoration that is being brought to the son. There's restoration for authority. There's restoration to be a son once again. And he's in this presence. And the father's restored him. And it's like, "Wow, this is amazing." He says, "We're not done. Kill the best calf, the best cow that we got. We're going to throw a party because my son is back home." He's throwing a party. There's music playing. And this is where we now get introduced to the second son, the older son. Someone say older son. And so now we get to the older son. And the older son, Jesus will tell us, is out working in the fields. And he hears some music. And he's like, "Oh, it sounds like there's a party that's so weird. I don't remember it being on my calendar." And so he gets to where the party's at. And he's like, "Hey, so what's going on here?" And one of the hired servants was like, "You haven't heard? Your brother. He's back. Can you believe it?

He made it back home. He's back home. You should be ecstatic." But the Bible doesn't tell us that the older son is ecstatic. The Bible doesn't tell us that the older son is excited. As a matter of fact, the older son is furious. Now, why would this older son be furious if the brothers made it back home? Why would the older son be furious? If he's at this place, so it says that as he's angry and he's outside of this party, the father comes now to the older son. Why? Because it doesn't matter where you are. The father will still come to you. And so the father comes now to this older son and he says he begins to play with him. "Hey, come into the house. Come into the party. You belong here just as much as he is." And he says, "I'm not going into that party. Why would I go into that party? Because there's something deeper that's happening here. The older son. He would receive not just an inheritance, but because he's the older son, he receives a double portion of what the younger son would get. But what is happening? He's realizing if my father instates my younger brother as a son again, I have to now give up more of my inheritance than I actually had to give from the beginning. Why? Why would I have to pay for that? I didn't do any of that. I wasn't the one that just wandered away. I wasn't the one that wasted all my money. I wasn't the one that squandered everything that I have. And what's happening right here is Jesus is giving us a picture that it wasn't just one brother that was lost. It's another brother that's lost too, just in a different way that we might expect. And this is what happens. Luke chapter 15, 28 and 29, it says, "The older brother became angry and and refused to go in so his father went out and "Look, that look is almost like him saying look you." Notice he doesn't say, "Look father." He says, "Look you, you have no value to me. "Look you, all these years I've been slaving for you "and never disobeyed your orders. "Yeah, you never gave me a young goat "so I could celebrate with my friends. "Look you, look you." See, equivalent of saying, "I don't care about you "and something is starting to happen." There's a younger son that didn't care about the father

and ran away, and there's an older son that doesn't care about the father and just wants what he has and his method is, I'm just gonna work for it. Two sons, two sons who are both extremely lost. What's crazy to me is that this son says, "I've slaved away from you. "It's crazy that you could be in the father's house "and yet you could still live your life "as if you have to earn your relationship with him." (audience applauds) The crazy thing is also is that Jesus is redefining what it means to be lost as this older brother is just as lost as the younger brother but this one might be scarier because this one right here shows us that it's possible to be lost and not even know it. It's possible to be so far lost that you're unaware of the distance that you've created. It's possible to be in this place where you are so far lost, yet you are still in the house. Jesus, he would tell two stories. Once again, the sheep and the coin. Notice the second story. The coin was lost in the house because you can be in this house. You could have the best church attendance ever. You could have grown up at RPC. You could have been in church. You could have been born at church.

And you could still be so lost. You're lost in the house when you still feel like you have to earn God's love by your works. You're lost in the house when church is a routine but there's no intimacy with the father outside of this building. You're lost in the house when you go through the motions of faith but there's no transformed heart. You're lost in the house when you serve with the intention of just trying to climb a ladder. You're lost in the house when someone else's restoration or blessing bothers you. You're lost in the house when you can't celebrate someone around you. You're lost in the house when you're in proximity to God's people but yet you're so distant from God himself. This kind of loss is one that could be tough because you're so unaware of the distance. Are you lost in the world today? Are you lost in the house? RPC, I think that there's a few things that we need to do in this room and the first thing is this. You gotta recognize where you are. Riverpoint church, recognize where you are. You see, because a lot of us, I believe, are one of these two sons. The biggest difference between them is that the younger brother knew that he was far from the father but the older brother did not.

The younger brother came to his senses, he recognized his condition and he realized I'm not where I'm supposed to be and it was that realization is what started his journey back home. And so there's a moment that I think all of us have to stop and we have to ask ourselves, where am I? Am I running from God? Or have I just been running to try to impress God? Have I been living in rebellion? Or has my life maybe just been religion? Because either way, you can be close in distance but yet be so far in heart. And here's the thing, you can't return to a place that you never even realized that you left. It reminds me of Jesus speaking in Revelation chapter two to a church in Ephesus. And in Revelation chapter two, he's telling this church in Ephesus, man, you've done so many good things. Your works, my goodness, incredible. You don't fall for the teachings of all these people. You guys have done so many things well but he says this in verses four and five. He says this, but you gotta hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. Have you maybe lost your first love? He says, consider how far you've fallen. In other words, consider how lost you have become. He says, repent and do the things you did at first because if you do not repent, I will come to you

and remove your lampstand from its place. Consider how far you've fallen or PC. Have you fallen far away? Lost in the home? Lost in the world? Consider because it's only when you can recognize where you are that number two, you can recognize where you need to go. [Music] The younger son, after recognizing that he was far away, knew that there was only one place he can go, and that one place was his father's house. Back to the father's house. The older son where he needed to go is where he's belonged and been the whole time. I love this response that the father gives to the older son. Catch this. Luke 1531, he says, "My son," the father said, "You are always with me. And everything that I have is yours, everything, River Point Church, everything that you've been striving for, everything that you've been chasing after, everything that you feel like you keep having to search for on your own, everything that you feel like is so good on the other side, promise you the real thing that you're searching for, you will not be able to find anywhere else, and just like this father's telling his son, believe that our father in heaven is reminding you, everything that you have, it's already yours. Everything that you've ever needed is found in the presence of the father. Have you been searching for peace? It's found in the father. Have you been searching for love? Start and find in the father. Have you been searching for joy? Have you been searching for something that's going to satisfy the soul? You will not find it anywhere else except in the presence of the father.

First church, we got to recognize where we are, then we need to recognize where to go. But the only reason that we can actually go to the father is because of this third point, recognize who made the way to come back home. We need to recognize who made the way to come back home. You see the story, when we cut to the end, Jesus leaves us on a cliffhanger. I personally hate cliffhangers. It's cliffhangers that leave my wife and I staying up way too late on Netflix sometimes, because you just have to watch the next one. I hate cliffhangers. Why can't I just know already? But Jesus leaves us on a cliffhanger. What decision is the older son going to make? Is he going to go to the party? Jesus, I want to know. Can you tell me? He doesn't. And I think that there's significance to this cliffhanger because once again, this older son, this older brother, if you think about what he'd have to do, essentially he's in this crossroad in this conflict. He has to decide, am I going to give up of myself, am I going to give up of something that belongs to me in order to restore for something that I have not done myself? My younger brother has given up everything. He's wasted his life away. He's racked up this bill way too high. And now I have to pay for it. And I think that Jesus doesn't tell us the rest of this story because ultimately he would paint us an even better picture, that there's a true son, that when you and I have racked up a bill that we could not pay on our own, when you and I have gone off on the world and we've sinned too far and the price of sin has weighed to it, the Bible will tell us in the book of Romans that the wage or the price of sin is death.

When the price has gone too high, that we could not pay on our own, that what you and I deserve to pay is this penalty of death. There's a true son that would not just give up of an inheritance. There's a true son that would open up his arms up on a cross and it is because of this son that would go up on a cross that you and I could go to a father that had arms wide open ready for you and for me with the same invitation you could come back home son. You can come home daughter because Jesus already paid the price that you could not pay on your own. And the more that I look at these two sons, the more I start to realize I've been both of them. When I was 18 years old, I was at a party one night where I drank too much at this party and I'm in the backseat of one of my best friend's cars and I literally hear God tell me you are lost and you need to come back to me. Fast forward, God would change my life in that moment. I was lost, came back. Years later, I'm serving in church, I'm building church, I'm loving on God's people. I'm doing all the right things and there comes a time period where I start to find myself envious of the people around me that start to succeed in areas that I wish I could have succeeded in. I start to find myself asking God, God, I don't understand why I'm dealing with this. If I serve you, if I love you, if I pray, if I read my Bible and I just felt almost God slapped me one day and say, son, you're lost. [MUSIC PLAYING] But I'm grateful that the invitation remained the same. Come back home son, come back home son, come back home son, come back home son. This is a word for somebody in this room, come back home son, come back to home daughter. You don't need to strive anymore. You don't need to chase anymore. You don't keep having to go after the things of this world. You don't have to keep chasing or striving anymore.

You can come back home, everything that you need. The peace, the love, the joy, the patience, the faith when it's all found in Jesus and Jesus alone today, wherever you may find yourself, the invitation is the same. Come back home with all eyes closed and all heads bowed. Lord I thank You, Jesus. Lord, I thank You for everybody that's in this room. Lord, I thank You because there are people in this room that are lost in the world and have just been chasing and searching for the things that are going to meet their pleasures and their desires and their satisfactions. But today those sons and those daughters are coming back home, Lord. God, I pray for the one that's been lost in the house that feels like they just have to serve their way to You, that they have to give their way to You, that feel like just because they've had the great church attendance, that they're in right standing with You, but it's only been found in Your grace and Your mercy and Your love, and I pray for those as well that they can come back home, Lord. They can come back home. They can come back into intimacy with You. They can come back into Your grace, Lord. They can come back and just fall back in love with You just the way You told the church and Ephesus. You have this one thing against You. You've lost Your first love. I pray that You bring that love right back, Lord, or anybody who just even feels today, like they loved You more in another season, Lord, I pray that You bring revival into their hearts today as they come back to You. Holy Spirit changes from the inside out that we may love like You and look like You, but I believe in for a River Point Church to be a church that is passionate about You, but may their zeal and their passion never be the thing that drives them, but may it be what You did on that cross for us, Lord. Over 2,000 years ago that today we could stand free just and righteous before You, Lord.

We ask that You have Your way, and it's in Jesus' name. Everybody says, Amen.