4/21/24 "Don't it Make You Wanna Go Home" Luke 15:11-24 | Good morning. Thank you for joining us for worship this morning! | By Onalaska First Baptist Church | Good morning It's good to see everyone here. Let's all say Santa and sing our call to worship. He set me free. What's like a out of So, let's pray. Most gracious heavenly father, god, we thank you for bringing us here this morning. Uh we thank you for your love above all. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, who came to die for our sins that we could be saved. Now, bless us god as as we have this service for you this morning and just be with us through the preaching of the word and and just guide us the rest of the day as well. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Open the shining in as we open the open the eyes of my heart open the eyes of open the shining in the light of holy holy Let's sing that again. We hold holy holy light of your glory pour out your eyes of my heart I want to Awesome. We all stand. Our next song will be our operatory. Standing on the promises of Christ my king through just let his praises promises of god my savior Whoops, we lost one. We lost one. Come on back this way. You sit right here with the rest of the group. Okay, guys and girls. Uh today, we're going to talk about truth We're going to play a little game today called fact or fiction. Factor fiction. Do you know what a fact is? What's a fact, Gabe? There you go. A fact is something that's true. It's real, right? What about fiction? Go ahead. Something that is not true is fiction. Okay, good. Very good. Um and so fact is true and fiction is not true and so we're going to play a game. I'm going to ask you some questions or I'm going to read off some things here and I want you all to tell me as a group or as individuals, if it's true or if it's not true, okay? So, the first statement is this, it says, there is an underground cave in Missouri that is full of not the leg tides and stalactites but jeez. Is just full of cheese. Is that true or false? False. Everybody else agree? Everybody says false. Well, did you know it is true? You know, the the government stores one 4 billion pounds of cheese in some caves under Springfield, Missouri. I think mister Mike probably knows that because he used to live in Missouri. Um it cost a lot to put all that stored cheese in in coolers. So, we just stick it in underground caves way down there where it's cool and it's real cheap to store it. So, we use the K, used to store cheese in Missouri. This Okay. I'm going to I'm going to have a hard time wording this in because I asked Paula and she said, don't use the word that's here but there is an animal One that has its droppings. I'll put it that way. Um they come out in the shape of a cube, not round or elongated but like a little bale of hay. Who, is that true or false? Everybody say true? True. Okay, by the way, I'm going to pass this out. Here's the picture of the caves with all the cheese in em. That's the case. Okay, it is true. There is an animal that has its droppings that come out in little square mini hay bales, I guess you'd call it. Uh do you know what that animal is? It's called the bare-nosed wombat from Australia. What is it? A bare-nosed wombat. And here's what that wombat looks like. Cute little guy and he and here's the droppings Alright, here's another one. There are more trees on earth than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. True or false? Everybody say false? Well, what if I told you that was true? There's about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way but about three trillion trees on Earth. So, there's more trees on Earth than there is stars in the Milky Way. Now, here's a picture showing both but remember, trees went out because there's more trees. Here's one. I don't have a picture for this one but true or false, apples are actually not from the apple tree but they're from the Rose family. Apples are not from the apple family. They're from the rose family. You you agree with that? That is true. Apples are from the Rose family. Okay, you guys are getting good at this. Some people, here, here's a good one. Some people in India are actually born with wings so that they can fly out more easily and pick the coconuts from the palm trees. Yeah, that's false. That's not true. Nobody's born with rings. Um Here's one more. Some watermelons are not round or oval but they're actually square. That is true. Here's the last picture and that's a square watermelon pew. Okay, couple more and then I'll talk about what I want to talk about. Spiders have blue blood. What color do you think they have? Yeah, actually spiders don't have blue blood or red bud. Their blood, their blood is clear, has no color to it. So, if you squish them, all you're seeing is parts of the squish bug but not as blood because it's blood is clear. Uh last one, Cows have best friends. Yes. Do do cows have best friends? Yeah, they have Well, that's true. They do. Yeah. Just like children, cows like to have best friends. Study show, study show that cows their stress levels actually go way down when they're with their favorite herdmate. I also threw bats and elephants and baboons and dolphins, dolphins, even name one another. Now, that's crazy, isn't it? The dolphins actually give each other names. So, there's lots of strange things that happen and it can be kind of to tell. Fact from fiction sometimes, can it? Cuz there's lots of weird stuff going on out there in that world. So, how can we know what's true? Well, god. What about the things of the world? These things we talked about. We won't find them out from looking in the Bible, will we? So, how are we going to find out about them? We're going to have to go to other people. Maybe your mom and dad could help you out or or you can read a book or an encyclopedia or as you guys do nowadays, you go online, right? You go to Google and Google helps you out, right? You know, but you know what guys, there's one thing that we can trust to always be true and I know Gabriel knows what that is. What's the one thing that we can trust that's always true? God in his Bible, right? His word. Every word of the Bible is true and so it's important to understand that. That's why we study it and we ask god to help us to understand it. We rely on his word as recorded in the Bible because it helps us to believe in him and have a close relationship with him. So, if we want to and find truth about god and his word and his people, we have to go to the Bible because the Bible is true. So, we're going to we're going to end with a prayer and I'm going to have you follow after me with each line. So, if you would, join me in this prayer and let's say, dear god. Dear dear god. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for Thank you for helping us understand Help us to trust you. Even in times of doubt and uncertainty. Thank you for your love thank you for your truth. Thank you we love you, god. We love you god. In Jesus name, amen. Alright, thank you guys. Alright, this time Oh, I just went mad. Three year olds through second grade are welcome to go to Children's Church there is coming a day glorious things that will be when my Jesus and leads me over that will be what a Well, good morning on Alaska First Baptist Church. And good morning for all of you who are watching us online. I hope we can, you can all see us just fine. I hope many of you are watching along. Uh, through the internet, But today, I'm going to talk about the story of the prodigal son. I probably need to stand over here. This thing almost blocks me out. And so I'm going to talk about the story of the prodigal son but I'm going to do it a little bit different way and now that's one of the most common parables. It's a very wonderful parable. Probably one of the best known parables that Jesus taught and I'm sure you've heard it many times. It's a parable well worth hearing. But I'm going to do it in Mark's way. Do it a little bit different than maybe some of you have heard. So, so even though you've heard the parable, I'm going to do it a little bit differently for you this morning but we're going to begin then by reading the parable in Luke chapter fifteen and I'm going to be looking at verse eleven through twenty-four. Follow along in what version you have and I'm going to in the New American Standard Version but if those who would like to, if you'd like to stand as we read and we're going to read beginning in Luke fifteen verse eleven. And he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me and he divided his wealth between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went to went on a journey into the distant country. Some versions say, a far country and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now, when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in the country and he began to be in need and he went and he attack himself to one of the citizens of the country and he sent him into the fields to feed swine and he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating and noone was giving him anything but when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread but I'm dying here with hunger. I'll get up and I'll go to my father and I'll say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. Now, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Ma as one of your hired men and he got up and he came to his father but while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and felt compassion for him and he ran and he embraced him and he kissed him and and the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, but the father said to his slaves, quick. Bring out the best robe and put on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened cap, and kill it, and let's eat, and be merry. For this son of mine was dead, and now he's come to life again. He was and has been found and they began to be merry. There's a song written by Joe South called don't it? You can, you can be seated. I'm sorry. Called Donut Make You Wanna Go Home. Written in 1968. That's fifty6 years ago already y'all. Starting to make me feel old when I think how long ago that song came out. I used to love that song. But anyway, the first verse goes, don't it make you want to go home now? Don't it make you want to go home? All of god's children get weary when they roam. Don't it make you want to go home? I think you've all heard that song. Well, anyway, that's the title to this morning's message for this Sunday morning. Don't it make you want to go home? We're going to talk about going home. Luke 1511 to twenty-four is called the parable of the prodigal son but the word prodigal literally means wasteful. One who spends foolishly and carelessly. That word prodigal does not actually appear in the scripture but it very well defines the situation of this younger son who was completely wasteful with his life and his inheritance. And so the boy wasted his money but even more tragically, he wasted his life or at least he he he tried to. He lived for himself and he ignored the desires of his father. He he began to sell off eternity for a little bit of temporal sense satisfaction. And you know, if we're one of those who who does that as well, then I'd have to say shame on us. We must never give in to that temptation So, I didn't title this message, the prodigal son this morning. I didn't choose that because the truth is much deeper than simply a wasteful son. We're going to talk about that deeper truth today. The parable doesn't focus on his wastefulness. It doesn't focus on his rebellion even though he was indeed rebellious. It doesn't focus on his tragedy or his folly or his misery. Neither does it focus on the father's hardheartedness or or or the father's sleepless nights, Doesn't even focus on the Sun's hard and harder than us or his his self-centeredness. And and again, I think I used the wrong word but it doesn't focus on his father's heartache the older brother's hardheartedness which we didn't actually read about because we didn't read all of that but back when we lived in Selby, South Dakota, That's a long time ago already. We lived in a town in North Central South Dakota called Selby and I knew a man who had been elected to the South Dakota State Legislator. Uh his wife was Secretary of State and she'd actually run for governor of state of South Dakota but she didn't get elected but she did become the Secretary of State and he was a state representative and I worked at the time for Walworth County and Walworth County and the Campbell County areas were their homes and they often stopped by the courthouse when they were back town and that's where I met a man and they spend their entire work week down at the South Dakota Capitol and Pier and on weekends they come back to the Walworth and and Campbell County area they were two side by side counties and he was from Walworth and she actually had grown up in Campbell County and Well, each week then, he had an article that he printed in the official Walworth County newspaper and he entitled that article, The Prodigal Son. But I don't think that he realized what that word actually meant He didn't use that title for his article because he was a wasteful man because he was in politics and and when you're in politics, you don't want to tell the people that you're a wasteful person. At least back then, you didn't. I don't know about politics today. I don't think they care no more. But anyway, he used that title because the story of the prodigal son is actually a story of a homecoming. Week, he'd go down the pier but each weekend, he would come home to his people there in Walworth County and in that, he saw himself as their prodigal son. And so the story that we see here in Luke fifteen a parable told by Jesus himself is the story of a homecoming. Now, spiritually, it's a story of a young man who was lost but now he's found. A boy who was dead but now he lives or a soul that was destined for hell but finally found the gates of heaven. Physically, it's a story of a person who was separated or actually separated himself from his father and his family and then he finally came to his senses and he came home. And on an even deeper level Oh, pastor. Preacher, don't go too deep. We don't like it when you go deep but on a deeper level, it's a story of mankind. Who by sin is separated from his heavenly father and by way of Jesus Christ has found a way to come home. Amen It's the story of a father's unconditional love. The story of a father's mercy, the story of a father's grace, the story of a father's desire to have fellowship with his children. A father who wants his children home. And it's the story of my life It's a story of your life because it's a story of all human life. You see, there was this child, this young man and that's us and there was this father who wanted him home and that's god. I hope you all see where we're going. Excuse my texting. That's just how I am now. When I say y'all. But I hope you all see where we're going with this because something very important is starting to come into light in this parable. Pay close attention now because we're about to talk about this fantastic homecoming People have always been fascinated with homecomings. High schools have homecomings. They vote on homecoming kings and queens and many churches especially in the Bible Belt South. They have homecomings. Trying to bring old members back. Kinda like family reunions. Sometimes they try to get them back in church even through the homecomings. One of the longest running movies of all times is the story of a homecoming. As Dorothy In the Wizard of Oz, she taps her ruby slippers together and discovers that there's no place like home. There's no place. Like The greatest episode of The Waltons was when John Walton miraculously made it home right at Christmas time. And in one of the greatest episodes of Lassie was when Lassie was lost and she had to cross the whole Western USA but she finally made it home. Back in 1978 Paul and myself and our first two children, the third man wasn't born yet. We moved out of the state of Nebraska for the first time since we've been married. We moved to Kingman, Arizona. A full 1, 300 miles from my home state and you know, at that time, it felt good to get away. Nebraska no longer seemed to have anything to offer for us or to us At least that's how I felt at the time. Same old people, same little towns, same old nothing. Day after day. And it was great to get away. I was looking for something different, something better, something more exciting and so we sought out for something better. Arizona, a warmer climate better wages, prettier scenery, and like the prodigal son, I already had a good life but I wanted something better placed where the grass was greener. but you know, picking Arizona for a place where the grass was greener. I found out it was not too smart. They don't have much green grass on the desert. Our yard was rock. Most of the houses didn't even have grass. So, they had rocks for yards. But I wanted something greener. Finally, I got tired of lawns without grass and and just rocks for yarns and hot windy days and no trees and no rain and and when I think about it, Kingland wasn't really that bad. It it had a Kingland was a wonderful town. It had all kinds of great things and good opportunities. I had a good job. It was beautiful. Had the Wallapine Mountains and the Golden Valley and the Colorado River and and team members of Turquoise Town. In fact, there's a type of turquoise named Kingman Turquoise. It's a beautiful turquoise. Um mine there in Kingman, Arizona. Uh they have Lake Habitat Sioux City where they tore down the London Bridge and brought it all the way to Arizona and rebuild it and have a Sioux City and Bullhead City where go to and cross the on the bridge or take the ferry across and go to Laughlin, Nevada and they had a little mini Las Vegas of casinos there you could go to and Oakman where they had wild west town where they had shootouts every weekend and they had burls running around and going in the stores and and they had one of the strangest things when you cross the the Golden Valley out of Cameron and going towards Bullhead City and they had what's called Finger Rock. Big old in the shape of a fist and you could see it from miles around but that fist had his middle finger up like that and you could see it coming from miles and everybody said, finger rock. Don't just tell us what they think of us. You know, finger rock out there. I work for the city of Kingland, Arizona Parks and Recreation Department. It was a good job but I got tired of it. One time my mom and dad came to visit, they'd never been to Arizona either and I I took dad around and I showed him some of the beauty of Arizona and then I finally asked him and said, dad, what do you think? I mean, we got mountains, we got trees, we got this desert with cactuses all over. So, what do you think, dad? Dad says, I hate it. He says, you couldn't grow corn anywhere out here. Well, I began to really miss Nebraska especially my family back there and it was it was like being in a distant land of what our scripture calls the far country and my heart begin to burn and yearn for home. Well, after one year, I was able to take a vacation and we bought tickets on a Greyhound bus We were heading for home and it was a long, hard trip especially with the two little children but it didn't matter because we were going home. We left the dry, dusty desert. We traveled east across the mountains and soon again, we were in the plains, the grasslands, just to see the hillsides covered with green grass was wonderful. You don't notice how good grass is or how green grass is until you live in a grassless barren desert but you got rocks where you are. And the smell of a spring thunder shower can be so sweet. Once you spent some serious time in a land where rain hardly ever falls. You see, I didn't know how good I had it until I left it and then I begin to long for it and as children of god, we don't know how good we have it until we turn from it and then, we start to long for it. You see, deep in the heart of god's children is a desire to come home, come home to our father's place. The Bible says that this world is not our home. Our home is in heaven. Amen We have a father who's in heaven Mankind was created to spend eternity with our father in his home in heaven but you see mankind became lost and separated from god by sin. But planted in our hearts and thank god it is, is the desire to come home. Back to our father. See, he gave us a conscience to remind us that he's still there watching and waiting for us to turn back to him. That's his hope. That's his desire. And he's done everything possible for us to get back to him. He wants us to have that proper relationship with him. So, in Luke 15 Jesus tells us a parable with vivid detail to help us understand the situation we're in. We have here one of the greatest parables that Jesus ever told. We have the story of a son and the son goes away but then he comes home and so we see the sweetest story of a homecoming there ever was and so here we go. Let's talk about it. The lord prays for us by way of a parable, a beautiful word picture. Picture has different sayings that we have to be aware of and it one. He paints for us the picture of a very lovely home. A home that offers all the comforts, all the joys, all the love that ever went into a home. It was a wonderful home. It offered everything in the world. The heart of man could ever need or could ever want. And so we have this lovely home and out in front of this home stands a father and his two sons. Now watch as the Lord paints even more detail into the picture we're talking about. We have this lovely home that has everything that in the world a person could ever need the home full of love and joy and fellowship and comfort a home that had people who really care and in the midst of all of this, that younger boy does a strange thing He says, I'm tired of it I just don't like it anymore. It's not what I want. It's not what I need. It's not for me. Surely, the grass is greener somewhere else. Uh huh. I already learned my lesson about that from Arizona. And he convinces himself that he must leave his home. He falls out of fellowship with his father, he squabbles with his brother. He becomes dead sad. I'm walking away. His mind is made up. There's no stopping him. No stopping him. And so this loving, generous father fills the boy's pockets with money. He gives him his inheritance and with all his love and concern, he bids his son farewell. Know he may never see him again. We all know that that father's eyes were running with tears. His heart was broken at that time It seems as though a father has lost his son maybe forever. So, this is as sad as the story can get and so the boy leaves. He just walks away from his family and father and the Bible says, he sets out for a distant land, what we call the far country. Now, preacher, where is that? Where is the far country? Well, in his case, it was anywhere away from his father. In our case, it maybe anywhere away from our god. Then maybe some of you here today that are in the far country and you don't even know it but you're distant from god. You're not close like you ought to be. So, scene one comes to an end and scene two begins. So, the focus no longer on the loving home. The focus is now on the far country. Some translations again called the distant land or a far away place but before we begin, let me say this, our far country is vary. They vary as to where they are. They vary as to what they are. The lord lets us fill in the details about the far country because for each of us, the details are different. Satan will set in front of us any foreign country that will work to get us to draw away from our heavenly father. Right. That's what Satan wants to get us to have distance between us and the father. But there in the our country, the boy has what the world calls a good time. Yes, Syria, a good time a downright good time. Don't look shocked, guys. Some of us have had that same good time. I know we have. We've had that good time before. He made all the night clubs. Part of the cafe society. Coffee at Starbucks every day, probably twice a day. Partying and drinking and drugs and whatever else and you know what I mean. Girls He became popular He had lots of friends. He had lots of power because he had lots of money. Lots of it. If he were living in our day, he'd be living in a five-star hotel probably driving a Lamborghini, drinking champagne, snatching on caviar, and popping on his Cuban cigar. He was living it up. He was having a time of his life. It was great. It was exciting. The world was treating him AOK. He had it all. He fully enjoyed the pleasures of sin. And you know, sin can be fun. It can. His new buddy, Satan, whom he probably wasn't even aware of, had handed him life on a silver plate, a fun, exciting life there in the far country. But you know, the Bible says that in all things, there is a season. There's a time for everything. Everything has its season. There's a time for love, a time for hate, a time to dance, a time to mourn. There's a season to build up. There's a season to tear down. There's a season to laugh but there's also a to cry Things have their time. Things have their season. Well, sin also has its season. And as they always have and as they always will, seasons change. Spring, the summer, summer, the fall, fall, the winter, and they just keep changing and for the prodigal son, the season changed The day came when the young man finished living it up. It was over. He reached into his pocket And the money was gone. Just like that, the money was gone and just like that, the friends were gone. His high society life came to an end. The luxuries were gone. Even the basic necessities in this case were gone. You see, the Bible says, there was a famine in the land. The whole far country was in a bad way. The lost green grass of the far country had all dried up It had looked so good but now it's gone. It was like vanity A word means like vapor, a vanity, strike before his eyes. He thought he really had something but in reality, he had nothing of value. You can read about it in the book of Ecclesiastes if you would like. Solomon experienced the same thing. He'll tell you about it. Vanity of vanity says the preacher. It's all vanity. It's like steam. It looks like you got something but when you grab for it, you got a handful of nothing. Not there. It's vanity The world leaves us with vanity. Satan wants us to have vanity, nothing. Again, the lord paints more details into the scene of the far country. It goes from bad to even worse. The food supply in the whole country runs out. Everybody's hungry. No jobs anywhere. Topping off, the boy starts to get homesick. He starts to long now for his father and his father's home and his family. He wants to go back. See, the far country wasn't what he expected it. Wasn't what he expected it to be. The far country had deceived him. But of course it did. Because Satan is a deceiver. He's a liar. He's the father of lies. You need to understand that Satan is a liar. Evil had lured him, lured him in and now evil wanted to destroy him. You see, Satan has an agenda. He had an agenda for the prodigal son. He has an agenda for each one of us here. He would like to see us useless in god's kingdom. He would like to see each of us destroyed as well. That's his agenda. That's what he wants. It's what he wanted for the prodigal son. And all how he longed for his father's land, for his father's love, and for fellowship with the family. He wanted to go home. Like our song says, all of god's children get weary when they roam. Don't it make you want to go home? He was so lonely and so hungry and he was perishing. For remember, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. And in this sinful condition without food, he was dying. Oh, what should he do? Oh, but wait a minute. He has friends and their father country, remember? He took care of them. Maybe now they'll help him. Hey, remember me guys? Remember me, all the dinners I gave, the parties I threw, the girls I paid for, Remember the good times we had together? Well, you know, now, I'm kind of in a bad way. Uh but because you guys are my friends, I wonder if you can maybe just help me out just a little bit. And they all began to laugh and they shut in the door and he goes from place to place and each time it's the same thing and he's time in need the far country friends all day. He's just like poof. Just like steam. Nothing there. They're gone. And now he's absolutely desperate. He's starving. His body's shrinking away and he comes across this farmer who raises pigs of all things, pigs. He asked the farmer for a job. Farmer says, no. I'm having hard times too. I can't afford to hire you or anybody else. But okay, I won't ask you to pay me then. It's I'll work for food. How about that? I'll just simply work for food. Farmer says, okay. I'll help you out. Here's the deal. You work for me all day long and at the end of the day, if you have enough energy left, enough energy left to beat the pigs to the trough, then you can eat this swamp. That's where the far country took the boy That's what the foreign country had to offer. Down on his belly's second slop with the hogs and there in scene two. With the best that the far country has to offer. It brings us to the same place every time people. We also in the far country end up in the pig town of life Living life disgusting to god, Separated from our heavenly father, out of fellowship with our Christian family. Sin just eating us up in the far country. Sin wanting us physically and spiritually dead. And the world saying, well, it always does, doing what it always does. Says, come, Join me. Leave your father. Leave your family. I'll show you greener grass. I'll give you new friends. Indulge yourself in my places. It'll be fun. I'll make you a somebody. Just forget about your father. Forget about your home and come to me and we'll have a good time. But god says, remember all things have a season. Sin has a season and seasons change and now scene 3 opens with a new setting and don't get worried. This is our final scene. What time we got? Yeah. I'll go through this fast and we might be able to beat the Methodist to the restaurant yet. We see in the background a big, beautiful house The house has a large pitcher window and there's a father looking out that window and he's been looking out that window every day since that boy left. Every day hoping that the son would come home longing with all his heart to once again have fellowship with his son just watching and waiting and wishing that once again, the family might be made complete and you know, while the father waited. Something had happened over in the far country. The Bible says that the prodigal son came to his senses Now, rest assured folks, he didn't come to his senses on his own. The Holy Spirit of god was there calling him back to his senses. So, the boy finally put his pride behind him and he started for home and so while the father watches out the picture window, he sees a figure appearing at the end of the drive. And that figure gets closer, closer, closer and the tears run down the father's face because he knows who it is for he had a son who was lost. But now he's found. He had a boy who went away. But at last he's come home. Amen but wait a minute this is the prodigal son Same boy who wasted all that money, the same person who acted like a fool. The one who embarrassed the whole family and deserved to be shamed and punished. He was wasteful and prideful and indifferent and careless and self centered and absolute full. Just like we all once were. For the scripture says, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god. Amen the father could have gone out. He could've cut off a hickory stick and he could've gave that boy the beating of a lifetime. He deserved it. He had it coming According to Mosaic Law, the father would have been within his rights. He would have been justified. This boy had done wrong. He was a great sinner. The father knew it. The family knew it. The boy knew it. Everybody knew it. Instead, he does something amazing. Ama sin. Here's this boy coming home in the rags. Nothing but skin and bones through starvation. He still smells like pig. He still has pig odor on him but the father runs to him and the father's not carrying a stick. He just runs to him and he puts his arms around him and he says, welcome home, son. And he greets him with a great, big kiss. Tears in his eyes, tears in the sun's eyes, and they hug and they kiss. Another boy had a speech, all planned. He probably practiced it all the way home. He said, I ascend against thee. Father, I'm not worthy to be called your son. Just treat me like a servant, not as part of the family and he started to use that speech but he didn't get very far. The father interrupted him. The father shut him off and the father says, bring the best robe. Put the family ring on his hand. Give him sandals for his feet. Kill the fattest calf. For it's time to celebrate. Because my son was dead but now he lives. But father, I have sinned but my son, you are lost and now you're found. but father, I walked away but my son, you've come home At last, you've come home. You see, a father rejoices when his children come home but did you know the father in heaven also rejoices when his children come home and as we said, this world is not our home. Our home is in heaven with our father but because of sin, we too are in a foreign country. Sin has separated us from our father but our father desperately wants us to come home. Did you know that the angels of heaven celebrate when even one of god's children come home. Amen. God loves his children so much that he made a way for his children to come home. He knows that his children get weary when they roam. He knows they need to come home and so he made a way, a way that cost him terribly. He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to come and pay the penalty needed for our sins. He was crucified for us. He died the death that we deserved so that we could go home to the father. And all we have to do is accept this precious gift through faith. Through faith in Jesus Christ. Even if you die, yet shall you live, in fact, through faith, in Jesus Christ, you will never die, you will never die, but you can go home. To be with the forever Oh, don't it make you want to go? Are you ready people? To trust Jesus as your lord and savior? We're in the world. We're in the far country but god wants us home and we can do it. Yes, we can. We can all go home. If we'll but trust Jesus Christ through faith. That's all he ask. That's all our loving father asks is trust me with your faith and you can come home. But the question is, are we willing to do that? Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for the reminder to the parable of the prodigal son. That there is a way home. Through Jesus Christ. As we follow him with our lives, put our living faith in him. We don't have to be separated forever through sin but we can come and live forever in our real home in heaven. God, if there's anyone this morning that that needs to come and and and make that profession they don't really know you in that personal way and I pray god you dug em to you. I pray this in Jesus name. In a moment, we're going to have our final hymn of invitation and Nikki and our praise team is going to lead us but this is your time to come. Uh if you don't know Jesus Christ, what better time than to come and ask him now to be your lord and savior. Maybe there's other decisions you need to make. Maybe you're the one who is looking for a church home and what better time to come and make this your church home and any other decisions you have. As we sing, if god has laid on your heart, won't you come? Wondered for away from god now I'm coming home It's time to come home lord based on your heart. You need to come to him and make it right once you do that. Brother James, would you close this in prayer? Heavenly father, we thank you for the and pray that that you have touched our hearts