Lost in the House

If you live a changed life in which Christ is living in you and radiating out through you, other people will be attracted to you and they'll say, what's your secret? And you'll say, I know Jesus Christ. And you have an opportunity to witness for Christ. Witness in the home. Witness in your daily work. We are not to be slothful in business, but servants in spirit, serving the Lord. Amen. Amen. Good morning. You made it on one last hour of sleep. You guys doing all right with one last hour of sleep? It's rough, man. Every year on this Sunday, I got to pray extra. Because I hate spring forward. I'm going to be honest. My wife says she loves it. I think most pastors, though, like hate spring forward. Am I right? Because they're like, people are going to be late. Pastors have all these preferences that the church doesn't know about. Like we have weather preferences. I like perfect going to church weather. It can't be too nice because then folks don't show up. It can't be too bad because then people stay home. It's got to be somewhere in between. Can't be perfect. Can't be bad. Just perfect going to church weather. We have these preferences.

So every winter, whenever it's threatening snow, I'm always praying extra hard. And then just like today, I'm like, oh, God, help us. We need some help. Holy Spirit. But you made it. You're here. I'm here. And the best part is Jesus is here. Jesus is here. It's not just written on our bridge as a cute little slogan. We testify to the reality that God is here and we are grateful for his presence. We're thankful that we're able to experience and receive the goodness of his presence in worship. But not only in worship, also in the word. Amen. So we're going to open the Bible to Luke chapter 15. I'm going to go back to where I was last week. I think I may have mentioned not preaching from Luke 15. But then I read it this week during my study time. And I was like, it's just so good. I've got to preach again from Luke 15. And this time we're going to read the story of the prodigal son. One of the reasons why I didn't want to preach from Luke 15 is because the prodigal son is such a long story. And it's verse 11 all the way to verse 32. And I'm like, that's a lot of scripture. But you know what? Here's something about legacy. We love a lot of scripture. So if you don't mind, stand to your feet for the reading of the word of God. We're going to read Luke chapter 15 verse 11 all the way through 32. Let's read.

And he said, there was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. You've got to read that in a demanding tone. Give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had. And he took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country. And he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. And no one gave him anything. Pretty rough situation for the prodigal son, the younger son. Verse 17. But when he came to himself, isn't that what it's like when you get saved? But he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough? Somebody say abundance. And I perish here with hunger. And I will arise and I will go to my father and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and he came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion. And he ran and he embraced him and he kissed him.

And the son said, Father, Have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son But the father said to his servants everybody say acceptance You see the father's house is a place of abundance and the father's house is a place of acceptance So he says to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and Shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and let us celebrate This my son was dead and is alive again He was lost and now is found and they began to celebrate Now the older son was in the field and he came and he drew near to the house And he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and he asked what these things meant And he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf Because he has received him back safe and sound But he was angry and he refused to go in His father then came out and entreated him, but he answered his father look these many years. I've served you I've never disobeyed your command Yet, you've never even given me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends But when this son of yours you got to say it like that But when this son of yours you can see the anger in his tonality Who has devoured your property with prostitutes you killed the fatted calf for him And he said to him son You are always with me and all that is mine is yours It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother was dead and is alive He was lost and now he's found Initially we'll talk about the prodigal son that is the younger brother But eventually in this message, I want to get us to the prodigal son. That is the older brother Because the prodigal son that was the younger brother was lost in the pigpen But the title of today's message is about the older brother who was lost in the house I Want to talk about what it's like to be lost in the house Let's pray Lord. We say thank you for the spirit of adoption Whereby we cry out Abba

Father you are a good father There is no one like you God, there's none beside you Jesus We thank you for jumping off the porch when we were a far off We thank you that when we were in the muck and the mire in the pigpen and in a mess God You found us you rescued us. You saved us and you sanctified us just like Frank prayed a moment ago Thank you. Holy God that you've given us the blood of your son and we have been washed pure to be holy Like you're holy Lord go to work today Go to work on us today Lord I pray in any way that we have shunned people in any way that we have overlooked people in any way that we have resisted Humility God and serving other people Lord. I pray you break our hearts for what breaks your heart in Jesus name We pray and everybody said Amen, amen. Amen. You can be seated I don't know about you, but I am grateful For all the younger brothers that come home amen, I Have been walking with Jesus now for two decades and I can testify That in certain seasons of my life. I have definitely been both brothers Season of my life. I have been the younger brother and There are seasons of my life where I have been the older brother and I'm grateful for The moment whenever I came to my senses, I'm grateful for the moment when I threw up my hands I'm grateful for the moment whenever tears were streaming down my cheeks in this drug infested apartment and I said Lord Jesus I repent of my sins and I turn from our ways and I turn towards you that the father That our father is so good and so kind and so gracious That he willingly received me back as a prodigal and this has been happening a lot recently as well Honestly, I have been really overwhelmed by the amount of testimonies that I've been hearing about prodigals coming home and I am

Rejoicing in the fact that so many people are being saved in this hour, on Friday night, I don't know if you guys know this or not, but we have this event called First Friday Prayer. It's the first Friday night of every single month. And let me tell you, if you didn't come on Friday, which I know a lot of you didn't, because increasingly there are people from other churches that will show up. Like our own church is missing out on it, all right? I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just saying, this past Friday night was probably one of my favorite first Friday prayers that we've ever had. It was deep. It was amazing. And so when we have those, I would encourage you guys to come out. But this Friday night, at First Friday Prayer, there was a cool testimony that came out of it. And so I wanna invite my brother, Ronnie, to come up and testify about this. So, Ronnie is my friend and my spiritual brother, but not my blood brother, but we are brothers. It's so funny, because everybody thinks that we are actual brothers, like we're related. That's true, that's true. And actually, the blood that matters. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Listen, I know it's gonna be very difficult

for you not to preach. But just take, yeah, it's all right, you can preach a little bit. Yeah, it's all right, you can preach a little bit. Just, there's a timer back there, I need some of it. Two minutes. I need some of it to get to this word. Praise God. But tell the story. Yes. And testify. So amazing, so amazing. So what took place, because I only got 45 seconds at the grace of Pastor here, is that, so we have youth as well on First Friday. And of course, you know, we wanna bless the youth. Can we give it up for the youth really quick? God is so good. But like I said, I got 47 seconds. So we ordered crumbled cookies. The favor of the Lord is upon us, in the back, amen? And so we got crumbled cookies delivered. And so as the guy who shows up, he's delivering the crumbled cookies, we go out there to greet him. You know, it's a little bit behind, you know, we're like, man, we really need these now. Probably about five minutes. You know, we're like, man, we really need these now. Probably about 15 to 45 minutes behind, I don't know.

But we go out there and we greet him and we say, hey, you know, thank you for coming. Thank you for bringing the crumbled cookies. And he begins to testify, and talk about how he's going through something. And how, you know, even at this point in his life, it seems like everything is crumbling. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! See, what he didn't know, is that he was delivering crumbled cookies, but we know that God was gonna make a deliverance to him. He begins to testify, and talk about the things that he's going through. While we're talking, while we're sharing, get this. Two people call him on FaceTime. They don't hang up. They hear the conversation. They're listening in on what we have going on. And I ask him, I say, hey, you know, we got First Friday prayer tonight. Me and Luis and some others was testifying to him.

We said, we got First Friday prayer tonight. And I said, bro, what I'm hearing, is that it seems like you got one foot in and one foot out. And I said, God, you know, wants you to put both feet on him and trust him that he's the best. And so the thing that happened was, I said, hey, would you like to give your life to Christ tonight? And this is the thing. Not only did he say yes, but the two people on FaceTime said yes. We led all three of them to Christ. See, I'm here to tell you that we serve a God that is divine. We serve a God that is on time. We serve a God that wants to welcome the prodigal home. See, God seen what was on his shoulders. God seen the pain that he was carrying. And God said, enough is enough. My son, my daughter, welcome home. Can we give praise to God? Let's go. Come on, Lord. That was good, Ronnie. He'll come get you when your life is crumbling. Boy. I'm so grateful that our father is in the business of rescuing the prodigal. I don't know if I have any former prodigals in the room,

or maybe you're here today and you're like, yo, that's me. I am a prodigal. But I know what that's like. My parents are here, you know, they were pastors for decades. And even though I was in the house, I left very early on as a prodigal. And when I look at this passage of Scripture, I see some of the same characteristics in the younger son that I saw in myself when I left. And let me give you some of those. Number one, the prodigal son, the younger son, is impatient and he's short-sighted. And this is what causes us to drift, impatience and short-sightedness. Rather than be patient and wait on the Father's blessing in the Father's time, the prodigal son was entitled. So he said, I want you to give me what I'm owed now. And then he recklessly goes and spends it as though it's gonna last forever. And that's why we call him a prodigal. Not only is he entitled, but he's also independent and isolated. You gotta see this when you read the story. The prodigal son, he is not interested in any real relationship with the Father. What he's interested in is what the Father can do for him. He's not interested in the Father's heart, but he's interested in what's in the Father's hands.

I don't really wanna have intimacy. I don't really wanna have a real vibrant, restorative relationship where I share my heart with you vulnerably and I receive from your heart, Father. I'm just interested in what's in your bank account. I'm just interested in the blessing. I'm just interested in my inheritance. So he's entitled, but he's also independent and isolated. He's not in real relationship and he's also reckless. These are some of the characteristics of the younger brother. The younger brother, as we know, is lost, but the difference in him and the older brother is that his lostness is extremely loud. Everybody knows he's lost. Everybody knows he's wandering. Everybody knows he's sinning. Everybody knows that he's using and he's living in such a way that he was not raised to live. I know what it's like to be the younger brother. I'm sure there's some people in the room today, you'd say, I know what it's like to be the younger brother, but not only do I know what it's like to be the younger brother, y'all, I also know what it's like to be the older brother. I do, and if you've been walking with Jesus for any amount of time, I can guarantee you this, you will be tempted to take on the heart posture of the older brother. I can remember a moment when I was in prayer

and God spoke to me verbatim. He said this to me. He said, you are the older brother in the prodigal son story. Literally told me that exact line. You are the older brother in the prodigal son story. Can I tell you the story of how that happened? I'm gonna try this side. Can I tell y'all the story of how that happened? So it's kind of funny, but like it's not funny at all because to get in the place where the Lord would rebuke you with that line is really not fun. So in 2012, before we planted our church, we planted in 2016. We're coming up on 10 years, y'all. Planted in 2016. In 2012 was around the time I moved here. We had aspirations of planting a church, but we were a missions base and we were having services every weekend and then every week we'd go out and do outreaches and just feed the homeless and that's how we got our start here in Nashville. So as we were preparing to plant, the ambition in my heart was that I wanted to be the coolest church in Nashville, Tennessee. You know, of course, I mean, obviously we're gonna preach the Bible. Obviously we're gonna worship. Obviously we're gonna prophesy

and the Holy Spirit's gonna move, but I wanna be the cool church. I wanna be the church that everybody wants to go to and so when we opened up, my expectation was that we were gonna be packed out every time we gathered. Everybody was gonna want to be a part of our church because we were so anointed, you know, and I was preaching real good and we were praying. We were on fire for God and what we found whenever we started our church is that the back door of our church was bigger than the front door of our church. So as quickly as people would come in, they would leave faster. Now, this was very confusing for me and to be honest with you, it was very painful for me because every time I would see people out in public who went to our church for a couple of months, I'd say, hey, what's up? How you doing? I haven't seen you in a minute. Are you doing all right? And they would say, yeah, man, we're doing great. Hey, you know, sorry I didn't let you know, but we're, Moved on, man, we going to another church now. And if you've never planted a church or pastored, you don't know how that feels. But every time you hear that, it's like,

just, oh, why? You don't like us? You know, it's like, we're not cool. And so after some time, you know, Allison and I, we got married and we're preparing to plant and it's kind of, I think it's about 2014, 2015 at this point. And, you know, I'm a little bit bummed that we're not the cool church and people are coming, stopping by, but they're not staying. And I'm like, man, you know, I thought we were going to be the cool church. Well, then one week we get a big break and I'm thinking, now's the time. God has finally smiled down upon me and he's about to shower us with favor because I received a report that an A-list celebrity was about to show up at our service that weekend. And I thought, that's gonna change everything. We are now gonna be the cool church. As soon as this A-list celebrity shows up, everybody's gonna know. Legacy is the place to be. Well, the service came and went and the A-list celebrity did not show up. But they almost showed up. And that was enough for me to celebrate. We were driving home, me and Allison, we're like, yeah, can you believe it?

The A-list celebrity came to our church. You know, you're rolling down the windows, yeah. We're the cool church, that's right. And we were texting our friends out of town and we were so excited about the fact, not that an A-list celebrity came to the church, that an A-list celebrity almost came to the church, that an A-list celebrity thought about coming to the church. Right, so then we get home and she's texting her friends and I'm texting my friend, can you believe this? And I'm like, well, let me just check Twitter one time before, this is back when it was Twitter and fun and stuff. And I was like, you know, let me just check Twitter one time before we lay down and go to bed. I opened up Twitter and sure enough, the A-list celebrity that was supposed to come to our church did go to church, but not to our church. And my elation and celebration about being the coolest church all of a sudden became shame and pain and hurt and anger. And I wasn't just mad at myself and feeling shame and embarrassed by what we have been unable to build as pastors and I wasn't just embarrassed by how God had not blessed us yet, but I was now angry and not at myself, but I got angry at God. I don't know if you've ever been here, not a lot of people are willing to admit it publicly. But I heard a preacher say one time, a man is most like himself when he's shaking his fist at God.

Whenever you're like, God, I'm mad at you. And so I told my wife, like, I'm struggling with this. And she was like, it's okay. She's way more emotionally healthy than I am. She's like, it's okay, it's all good. Like, God loves you, you know. It's like all the stuff that you say. And I'm like, yeah, amen. You know, I'm trying to act spiritual. But on the inside, I'm like, no. So we go to bed and I let her fall asleep. She prays for me. Lord, touch my husband. I'm like, amen, amen. She goes to sleep and I am not lying to y'all. Okay, is it okay if I'm real vulnerable? You sure? You can probably look at me different. You sure? Yo, my fists are so tight in the bed. She's sleeping next to me. And I'm in physical pain at this point. Like, I am this angry. Like, I'm kicking my feet in the sheets. And I start cussing God out. See, I told you, you couldn't handle it. I tell you, everybody's like, yeah, we weren't gonna, we weren't gonna think any different of you, Pastor. And then all of a sudden, everybody's like, well, now that you said that,

we're gonna have to find another place to fellowship. I'm just trying to give you evidence. This is how mad I was, man. And I know everybody's gonna be religious on a Sunday and be like, how dare you do that? Like, you ain't done it. Bro, I was just so mad. I was so mad. And I was so mad because I was like, God, why? You know, your grace has irritated me. I'm actually irritated by your grace. In fact, I am actively resenting restoration. Rather than celebrate the fact. That this person who is looking for you showed up at any church I'm so angry at you because it's you God that has overlooked me. See I became a victim of The father's negligence whom I confessed and preached every single Sunday as God is good All time amen But then here I am in my bed as a pastor kicking the sheets off Writhing in physical pain cussing at God like you said you ain't good In fact, I'm a victim of your negligence I am a victim of your short-sightedness I'm not gonna celebrate you blessing somebody else. Why don't you bless me? You ain't giving me such as a goat Too real Uh-uh, don't don't act like it don't irritate you to no end sometimes whenever God blesses the last person that you Think he should oh I know what it's like, you know, you show up at church and somebody else is testifying and they're like praise God we just got a new house and Then under your breath you're like I don't care You Bro go celebrate somewhere else cuz my wife and I are looking for a new house and we ain't found one yet You can take that on somewhere else

But we don't say that out loud out loud we say Oh praise the Lord Amen Hallelujah, listen, I think that God will strategically put you around people who receive the breakthrough that you're contending for Just to see how you respond When they get blessed to reveal to you your own heart posture To see whether or not you're actually ready to hold the blessing you're crying out for God will bless somebody else With the thing that you're asking him for Just to see how prepared you actually are to receive the promise you're contending for Because if you can't celebrate it when he does it for somebody else you ain't ready to carry it for yourself I know you just blessed that woman and she's been doing whatever she wants. I know what's going on in her life I watch her Facebook feed, but me I've been praying. I've been working. I've been fasting. I signed up for VBS today And I see how she's living why are you gonna bless her So you're not gonna bless me father That's what you're gonna. You're not gonna bless me and then we get mad and here's the thing Here's what we do on the inside. We disconnect from the father's heart Right, but as we're good moral Christians, we continue to stay connected to the father's house and This essentially is the behavior of the older brother They're in the father's house, but they are completely disconnected from the father's heart They're serving they're tithing they're showing up every Sunday you ask them how they're doing old man. I'm blessed But deep down on the inside they have a disdain For anybody being blessed, but them in fact if you put them in a room with other people testifying they can't get out quick enough Because They have they have anger on the inside they have Resentment on the inside other people get restored and they start getting resentful And then they withhold their heart and they get distant. Did you notice how whenever the father comes to say? Hey your brother's inside He says nothing about that being his brother. He says your son He doesn't say my brother. He says your son

That ain't my brother I don't care nothing about him at all He starts to build a case and then ultimately what does he do? He reveals that he is not actually on the father's mission at all Because the father's mission was to rescue and rescue he did But the father's rescue was an offense to the older brother Is a rescue to dad it was an offense to the son I Can't believe you would do that for him and you haven't done this for me now I know we always paint a picture of the older brother in Scripture as being very bad but really on the surface if you were to observe his life and Compare his life to the younger brothers you would see the older brother as the good one and This is the thing church you don't have to be bad to be the older brother you You could be a good, moral, Christian, church-going, conservative, Bible-thumping Uh-oh, threw that word in there, now we in, we, we, I'm in, I'ma get in, I'ma get canceled today That's, that's, that's, I'm a good, I'm a good guy Well, you don't have to be bad to be the older brother You can be in the house You can be coming to church And you're still the older brother Because you don't have to be bad to be the older brother You just have to be disconnected from the father's heart And then your heart then begins to grow cold towards other people Your heart begins to grow cold towards the lost Because you, deep down, are jealous of them They get to do whatever they want to do And God don't punish them Why you do me like this, God? I feel so convicted every time I sin You, you just let them do whatever they want to do And your heart starts to grow cold And not only does it grow cold towards the prodigals Then it starts growing cold towards your own brothers and sisters Here's what the older brother teaches us The older brother teaches us

That it's absolutely possible for you to remain consistent in your calling But be disconnected from the heart of the one who called you What the older brother teaches us is that it's absolutely possible for you to be consistent in your calling But be disconnected from the people that he's called you to serve And we have to remember that's the whole purpose of your calling If you perform your calling And you are the only person that got blessed You didn't do the calling that God has put on your life You did what you wanted to do Because anytime we fulfill our God calling in this life The blessing touches everybody who we're connected to And it's possible, man It's possible to be in the house And be the older brother It's possible to be serving And to be completely self-focused But you know what the older brother does whenever he's confronted? Holds up his resume What are you talking about, God? How dare you call me out? What do you mean that I don't have the right heart posture? What do you mean that I don't have the correct attitude? Obviously you have forgotten about everything that I've done for you You've obviously forgotten about how many years I've been going to church And calling myself a Christian You've obviously forgotten about all of the money that I put in the offering during the big give last year You obviously forgot how I never cancel on Planning Center Not going to get a whole lot of amens on that I know, I've been talking to the teams We got too many cancellations happening week up on Planning Center Dang, not going to get no amens, it's all right You forgot God, I've done all this stuff I have done all this stuff for you Why in the world would you bless him? I've never left I've stayed in the house And yet the father looks at him right in the heart and says But you're lost in the house It's not just the younger brother that was

lost It was also the older brother He stayed, but he lost the spirit of his father It's absolutely possible, church And I know we all know this But it's absolutely possible for us to lose our compassion over time As we become disappointed in what God doesn't do for us Well, God didn't bless me So I no longer have any compassion on anybody else that he blesses Then we spiritualize our disappointment And we refer to it as discernment Well, I'm not going to celebrate I'm going to wait, I'm going to watch And I'm going to let this thing play out and see what happens No, what has happened is you've lost all tenderness in your heart for people But you're referring to it as wisdom Or maybe somebody wanders away A prodigal leaves the community And you don't even have the energy, won't put forth the time to chase them You just shrug it off and say, oh, they made their choice It's what they get, should have stayed in the house Should have kept serving, should have kept giving I'm not saying we hate prodigals, church What I'm saying is that it's absolutely possible that our hearts become numb to prodigals And unfortunately, for far too many of us, our hearts have become numb to people And even though we are in the house We have grown distant from the father's heart But I want you to know that the father's heart is not numb for people The father's heart is open for everybody and And he's ready to save just like he did on Friday night. He's ready to save on Sunday morning The same he is on Wednesday evening. He's ready to save because the father's house is a place of abundance and it's also a place of Acceptance and the reason why Jesus gives us the teaching of the prodigal son is to not only point out like who he can save But to also point out what our God is like He's revealing to us the nature of our good God. He's revealing to us the character of Our God he's showing us what God is like and as we learn what God is like

We're actively learning what God wants us to be like and as Jesus talks about both brothers The lesson here is this don't be the younger brother if you are you can be set free and saved today But also don't be the older brother Don't be the older brother because both brothers are lost and neither Brother actually wants the father all they really want is the father's stuff They Want the hand they want the blessing they don't want the heart and they don't want the real relationship But you know what the father wants from both brothers the whole time Just wants them He just wants both brothers home and It isn't that the heart of a father He just wants both brothers in the house, but more than in the house He wants both brothers connected to his heart in real fellowship with himself which is why he sits on the porch and he waits and he does this with Insane patience that no human being could ever manufacture This is our God if you're a prodigal in here today, and you've been wandering or where around even if you're like I'm coming to church, but like I'm Not really like following God like you would say like I'm living how I want to live and on the inside of my soul I could say today man. I've been feasting in the pigpen to be honest Can I tell you today that the father is not waiting on the porch with the lecture? Can I tell you that can I tell you that the father is not waiting on the porch like he's got his belt just You won't get whipped when you come back here, man. Let me tell you you I'm gonna let you back in the house I'm gonna let you back at the dinner table, but not before Not before you know, I give you I'm gonna tell you right me I'm punch you man Don't we need to know that Because some of us have said to ourself and I would turn back to God But I don't think I can endure the discipline I don't think that I can go through what I'm gonna have to go through in order to come home Can I tell you that the father is not waiting with a punishment? He is not waiting with a lecture. He's actually waiting with patience And not only is he waiting with patience, but he's also

pursuing with Graciousness as well because even whenever the son said I think I'm gonna go home now The father didn't even wait for him to make it to the porch He looked and he saw him from afar off and before he could even get back the father said I'm gonna go get him back It doesn't take as much as you think it takes I know for so many people they say to themselves I would get right with God, but I just don't think that I can afford all of the work Can I tell you this it ain't gonna take what you think? It's gonna take but and yet as a Christian, it's gonna take more than you think But when you do it with God God does it with you? And that makes it a blessing no matter the season so he jumps off of the porch and he does something so Antitraditional he runs in the direction of the prodigal and he picks him up and he brings him back and he restores his identity And he puts a robe on him and a signet ring and he kills the fatted calf and he celebrates and he has a party And this is what Paul was talking about Romans 2 4 don't you see how wonderfully kind and tolerant and patient God is with you Does this not mean anything to you he says can't can't you see that his kindness is Intended to turn you from your sin That is kindness Now what's amazing about this whole story is that the father doesn't just pursue the younger brother Who's the prodigal but the father also jumps off the porch for the other brother as well? Read the story. He actually gets off the porch. The celebration is happening. They've killed the fatted calf They're celebrating the fact that the son has been saved and yet the father is saying hold on wait The son has been saved, but where's the? Where's my other son? Where's his older brother at? So he goes back out to the same porch and he said, oh, don't wait. What are you doing over there? He jumps off and he goes and gets the other brother The father doesn't just chase rebels The father also chases the self-righteous Your heart is far from me, I'm coming for you too. I'm not just coming for the worst of the worst I'm coming for those that postulate as the best of the best. I'm not just coming for those who are drug addicted I'm coming for those who are have a shame induced fragile identity that show up every single Sunday

Pretending like everything is all good, but deep down on the inside. They know that they need to experience coming home To the father's heart and receiving identity without shame or embarrassment But knowing the same freedom that these other guys do that have been gone for so long You might be the older brother if there's a little bit of jealousy in your heart when you see somebody come to the altar and You say I wish I could do that. I Wish I could go up there, but people know me here. I Wish I could go up and get a blessing but people know man. They think I teach Sunday school, man Man, I wish I could testify from the front, but man I cuss that God. I'm supposed to be a pastor You see what I'm saying? Like at what point do we break this down and recognize that we're all sons and daughters of His as believers as the church we we don't have to have any shame or embarrassment of coming back home and coming to the father And so let me give you a couple of points as we're closing because my goal in sharing this entire Sermon collection is this is that I don't just want us to share in the father's burden for the lost I want us to share in the father's joy for people Because it's one thing to say break my heart for what breaks your heart, and that's a blessing But it's another thing to say God. I want to share in your joy. I want to share in your love for people I want to share in your celebration for people Yes, I do want to have a burden for the lost, but I also want to have a passion for the church I Want to whenever whenever Jenna Lee comes up and talks about VBS Even if you can't serve you still not your hearts not calloused You like man forget them kids Man we need some help man. I don't care. That's not why I come to church. That's an older brother mentality That's an older brother mentality he's in the house. He's working, but it ain't for nobody but his own rewards I'm just doing this so that I got evidence when the father doesn't bless me. I can hold it up to him and say bro Look at you owe me God doesn't owe us anything. He's already given us everything through the cross So Let me just ask you to take home a couple of things number one don't hesitate to celebrate Can I encourage you don't hesitate to celebrate what we celebrate?

It reveals our values and what we refuse to celebrate could reveal where our heart has become cold. I Ain't celebrating somebody else's blessing. I ain't celebrating somebody else's business popping off I ain't celebrating somebody else's church growing I ain't celebrating somebody else in my field getting to do the thing that I've been dreaming it. No, I'm gonna Intentionally, I'm not even gonna hesitate. I'm gonna celebrate. I'm gonna pray for that person I'm gonna say thank you father because I know the word says what you've done for one you'll do for another I Don't have to get mad when he's blessed my neighbor I can celebrate because I can acknowledge God's in the neighborhood I Don't want to disqualify myself from being blessed because I'm competing with the kids that he's blessed So number two is this trade work performance for abiding presence This is what the older brother does He's so focused on work performance that he treats the father like his employer And let me tell you if you see God as your employer, here's what's gonna happen You're gonna work really hard from for him to prove that you're worthy of a promotion and then other people are always gonna feel like interruptions Not time to mess with these people I don't have time I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do this I'm not I'm above that I'm what I'm not serving in the parking lot. I'm not serving in cafe. I'm not you know Listen, I've been in church 20 years So I know what it's like whenever we develop these mindsets and what happens is that intimacy when we Prioritize our relationship with our father our heavenly father not our employer Then intimacy restores compassion The closer you get to God the more you start to think like God the closer you get to God the more you start to love like God and Then you no longer see people as interruptions as you're traveling down the path of purpose get out of my way, bro I'm on my way to do my calling The whole purpose of your calling is to bless people you as a former missionary, you know Often I heard people say I'm called to the nations and I would say no, you're not you're called to the people who live in those nations You think God's really that romantic about the dirt there yeah, I mean it's nice it's beautiful

He created it But ultimately the reason why he loves any place is because he's absolutely obsessed with the people who live in that place Which leads me to the last point which is just join the father's mission That's what I'm gonna encourage everybody to do today. It's just join the father's mission. And here's the father's mission go after your brother, man. I Don't know who you're mad at right now. I don't know who you used to go to church with right now I don't know who you used to walk this life with I don't know who you know is far from God right now But I want to encourage you to join the father's mission. You notice the older brother never asked the father Have you heard from my brother? Do you know how he's doing He didn't care and I think for so many of us in the church today, we just don't care We'll talk to God about our blessings, but we don't talk to God about our brothers Lord bless me. Bless me. Bless me. What about me? How's my brother doing man? I ain't seen him in a minute, man Is he doing all right? How about petition intercession, I'm gonna pray for my sister that I haven't seen in a minute I'm gonna go after them And so what I would encourage you to do today is like put a name on the prodigal You probably got a prodigal in your life that you know of and write it down and pray over them father. Bring them home and father give me your heart for them and Then when you leave here, I would encourage you whoever that is send him a message not a lecture Let me tell you where you need to be don't do that Just send him a message it could be it's Simple as like just thinking about you man. I love you. I hope you're doing great Doesn't initially have to be about coming to church either You know sometimes before you win people to God you need to win them to yourself So Lord we want to say thank you today for your love