Everybody, welcome to the Newberry Community Church. How are you tonight? It is great to have you here. Let's stand together. It's so good to come into God's house. And to be blessed with the fellowship that he's given us. And the brothers and sisters, thank you for being here. Let's bow our heads and hearts together and just engage our King, our Savior. Lord God, we just thank you, Lord, that you've given yourself, Lord, that we may enjoy this time stepping into your presence, Lord God, by the finished work of Jesus on the cross, Lord God. And Father, we just ask that you would show us more of how great your mercy and grace are and have been through him and his work, Lord. And Jesus, we thank you. We thank you for showing us the Father, Lord. God, we thank you that you've given us the gift of your Holy Spirit to show us more and more, to teach us, Lord, to dwell within us. to stir our hearts, search our hearts, cleanse our hearts, God. Father, we just pray for another revelation of you as we study your word tonight, as we sing these songs of praise to you, Lord. God, we just ask that you would allow the dust of the day to just fall from us, Lord, and open our eyes that we may just be fixed upon you and you alone, Lord God, that we can Gain another, another day, another moment of an eternal perspective of where we will be with you soon, Lord. And God, we just trust you, we love you, we thank you, and we ask that you would just inhabit these praises that we have for you in song, that you would anoint Rapha, Lord, as he teaches tonight, God. And Father, that your holy word would be proclaimed with boldness, Lord, and our hearts would be open and receptive to be transformed and renewed and be more like you in your name we pray. Mighty in battle, you're perfect in love Awesome in wonder, you're faithful and just Yes, you are Matchless in mercy, wisdom and strength You can be trusted in all of your ways King of glory All of heaven and earth cry out Unto your name, glory and honor Unto your name, wisdom and power Unto your name, all of the saints sing praise Mighty in battle. Mighty in battle, you're perfect in love. Awesome in wonder, you're faithful and just. Matchless in mercy, wisdom and strength. ♪ You can be trusted in all of your ways ♪ ♪ We're singing out, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You are holy, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ King of glory, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ All of heaven and earth cry out ♪ ♪ Unto your name, glory and honor ♪ ♪ Unto your name ♪ ♪ Wisdom and power, unto your name ♪ ♪ All of the saints sing praise ♪ ♪ Unto your name, glory and honor ♪ ♪ Unto your name, wisdom and power ♪ ♪ Unto your name, all of the saints sing praise ♪ Oh, let's sing that a cappella. ♪ Unto your name, glory and honor ♪ Glory and honor unto your name Wisdom and power unto your name All of the saints sing praise Praise your name, Lord. That's you. Oh, hallelujah. Your love makes me sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Your love makes me sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your love makes me sing Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging. Your love is a mountain firm beneath my feet. Your love is a mystery, how You gently lift pain. When I am surrounded, Your love carries me. Sing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Your love makes me sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your love makes me sing Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising All the joy that grows deep inside of me Every time I see you, all your goodness shines through I can feel this God's song rising up in me Sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your love makes me sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your love makes me sing. Yes, You make me sing. Lord, You make me sing, sing, sing, yeah. How You make me sing. Sing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ Your love makes me sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Your love makes me sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Your love makes me sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Your love makes me sing ♪ ♪ Your love makes me sing ♪ Oh, yes, Lord, your love. ♪ Makes me sing ♪ Makes these songs pour from our hearts. ♪ Your love makes me sing ♪ Singing praise to you and your love, Lord God. ♪ Your love makes me sing ♪ You are so good. Thank you. Let's sing hallelujah. ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your love makes me sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your love makes me sing Yes, you do, Lord. Praise your name, Father. Praise you. All glory and honor yours. In the stillness of this hour I worship You, my Lord, crying Holy is the Lord on high In the quiet of my heart I sing this song of praise, crying For all of my days, I will bow down before you, singing glory and honor to your name. For all of my life, I will worship and adore you, crying, holy is the Lord on high, singing, Holy is the Lord on high In the stillness of this hour I worship you, my Lord, crying Holy is the Lord on high In the quiet of my heart I sing this song of praise, crying Holy is the Lord on high for all of my days I will bow down before you in glory and honor to your name and for all of my life I will worship that name Bow down before you, giving glory and honor to your name. And Lord, honor my life to worship and adore you. Rhyming, holy is the Lord on high. Singing, holy is the Lord on high. right here holy is the Lord I'm right here holy is the Lord as you are Lord to me holy is the Lord I'm right here holy is the Lord ♪ We bow our hearts, we bend our knees ♪ ♪ The Spirit come make us whole ♪ ♪ We turn our eyes from evil things ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, we cast out our idols ♪ ♪ So give us clean hands ♪ Give us pure hearts Let us not lift our souls to another Give us clean hands Give us pure hearts Let us not lift of of of of Let us not lift our souls to another. Give us clean hands, Lord. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. God, let us be a generation that seeks, seeks your faith. Oh, God of Jacob. God, let us be a generation that seeks, that seeks your face. Oh, God of Jacob. Give us clean hands, Lord. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. Give us clean hands, Father. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. God, let us be. A generation that seeks, seeks your face Oh God of Jacob, God let us be A generation that seeks We bend our knees, O Spirit come make us whole. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for this day, this night. Thank you, Lord, for your grace, your love, and your mercy, which is new every day, Lord God. Lord, we ask that you give us clean, clean hands, Lord God, and pure hearts. And we lift our souls to you, Lord God. May we keep our eyes on you, eyes fixed on Jesus, Lord God. May we not lose sight of your son and his finished work on the cross, Lord God. We pray, Lord, that you just speak to us through your word today. Use me as a vessel, Lord God, and I pray that you just open our hearts and our ears. We thank you, Father, and we pray all this in your son's name, Jesus, our Lord and our Savior, amen. Amen. You may be seated. Oh, kids, you can go to Superbook. I forgot. Good evening, everyone. My name is Rafael Galares. For those that don't know me, good evening. I've been asked to preach on short notice, so I apologize for the Spanish translation. I don't know if I got it in on time. I think I did. So if you can, please turn with me to Luke 15. Today, we are gonna be going over the parable of the lost. Luke 15, we're gonna read through verses one through 32. If you wanna stand with me and reading with the word. Luke 15, verses one through 32. The word of the Lord says, then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes complained saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them saying, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, rejoice with me for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise, I say to you, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Then he said, a certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided them his livelihood and not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possession with prodigal living. But then he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and sent himself to his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself and said, How many of my father's hired servants have bred enough to spare and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it. Let us eat and be merry, for this son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his older son was in the field, and he came and drew near to the house. He heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked, what these things meant? And he said to him, your brother has come because he has received him, and safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. But he was angry and would not go in, therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, lo, these many years I have been serving you, I never transgressed your commandment at any time, and yet you never gave me a young goat. that I make Mary with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make Mary and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is now found. Amen, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. I pray, Lord God, that you speak through your word, Lord, and give each and every one of us here a word, your rhema, Lord God, and that we may take your word, assimilate it, and just digest it, Lord God, and take it in our hearts and our souls, Lord. We pray, Lord, that through this, you will be glorified, and we thank you, Lord, for all that you've given us and blessed us with. We pray, Lord, all this in your son's name, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, amen. You may be seated. Sorry for the, there's a long passage, but I promise there's a point to it. So today we're gonna be going over a parable. And so to those that don't know, a parable is a story. It's used to illustrate a moral or a spiritual lesson. And Jesus used parables to teach, you know, his disciples, the Pharisees, everybody, the sinners, all those that were seeking a word from him. He spoke in parables, he spoke with plain words, but for this parable, it's usually, you know, taken apart. Usually, you've heard, if you've been in church long enough, you've heard of the parable of the lost sheep, or the one in 99, you've heard of the parable of the lost coin, and of course, the very famous parable of the prodigal son. And as I was reading and I'm studying the word, I've come to realize that You can take all these parables, every little word, even a verse, God can use to speak through you. And there's always a word for you, and God's word, it's always new every day. You can read it over and over again, and you can read through it for the whole year, and something new will always come up, even if it's the same thing. And so instead of separating these, I've come to realize that all of these are actually all related. So I learned this style, it's called, excuse me, it's called stop. I learned this from, I don't know if you guys know Frank Turek. He's a apologist and he has a class and he teaches this in how to study the Bible. And you guys are welcome to follow this. It's helped me immensely because when you read a passage, do the stop method. So S stands for setting, which is the context, and what's going on. T is the type. Is it poetry? Is it history? Is it a psalm? Is it a parable? O is an object, object of the passage. So it could be, is it talking about Israel? Is it talking about Gentiles? Is it talking about disciples, the sinners, the Pharisees? And then P is prescriptive or descriptive. describing God's will. Is it his prescriptive will, or is it showing his descriptive will? Meaning, prescriptive is what he prescribes. Moral law, 10 commandments, love your neighbor. That's his prescriptive will. That's what he wants you to do. Descriptive is more of what he allowed. David's adultery, right? Jacob and his wives. It was always meant to be just man and woman. One man, one woman. But then we ask, how come these people in the Bible have multiple wives? That's part of God's descriptive will. And he allowed David to have certain things happen to him, but it doesn't mean that we use that as an excuse and say, oh, this happened to David, so that means it's okay for me. David was a great king, how much more me? Like, I'm not even close, no. It's just a description of God's will and what happened. So you never take the Bible out of context if you follow those things, or you should not try not to. All right, so I use this method to put into the passage that we just read. So all of this is encompassed in the first three verses. So let's read the first three verses, it says, Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, this man received sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them. So if we go back to the stop method, the situation is in its context, there's people around Jesus seeking him, the tax collectors and the sinners, and there's also the Pharisees and the scribes around, that's the situation. and they're complaining, saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. So then he spoke a parable. So the type of passage this is is a parable. O, the object of the passage is gonna be the tax collectors, the sinners, and the Pharisees and the scribes. And if you really think about it, it's the sinners and the self-righteous. And then, Is it prescriptive or descriptive? It's a description of God's will. So the first parable, right, Jesus, so just keep in mind the context. Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees and the scribes regarding tax collectors and sinners, and he told these three in succession. Oftentimes, you know, you'll hear preachers preach on just one of the three, you know, two or the three. But I wanna encompass it all together. I want you guys to really see the whole thing and the point of this parable. So the first one, he talks about the parable of the lost sheep in verses four to seven. And he goes, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulder rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep, which was lost. And I say to you that likewise, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. And you notice the theme here. There's a theme that's gonna repeat regarding rejoicing something that is lost, and then something that is found. And there's a sinner who repents, right? And in this parable, it's one sheep out of 100, which was lost, and that the shepherd goes to the wilderness and finds that one sheep. And it says there's more joy in heaven, in heaven, over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons. If you really think about that, He's comparing the one in 100, that's 1%, and there's rejoicing. That's because that's their livelihood, the shepherds, right? You lost your sheep, that's money back in those days. But it says there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. If you think about our population, what's our population? Yeah, billions, right? One out of eight billion, There's more joy in heaven when a sinner repents over those 99 just persons who need no repentance. And he says that, so he leaves the 99, and if you think about it, the one sheep is defenseless, right? That's why you go after that one sheep, because that's when the enemy is ready to attack. If you ever look at the Discovery Channel and you watch lions or tigers going after a herd of zebras, they don't go for the whole herd. They wait until the little weakling goes out or the little baby goes out and then that's when they attack. So that's what happens. But then again, keep in mind the situation, Pharisees, sinners, okay. Next we have the parable of the lost coin. And so Jesus says, or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents. Again, we went from one in 100, that's 1%, now we're one in 10. The value keeps going up. That's 10% in value. And there's that repeating theme again, rejoice, lost, found, there's joy, there's repentance, right? Now, when I first read this, I was just talking to Lenny earlier, Never really understood what the big deal was with the coins, and some of you may already know, but in those days, back in that time, the 10 silver coins was part of the woman's dowry. They were very, very valuable to her. And if you guys don't know, a dowry is something in those days that protects the woman, actually, from the husband. Let's say the husband decides to leave her, or abuses her, or does something, that, Those coins will help her out. Back in those days, the woman really didn't work, right? They were widows. That's why we're supposed to take care of the widows in that day. So that's why it's so important. It was so important to her. Lights a lamp. And this reminds me of my wife. who lost her wedding ring. She's like, I can't find it. I'm like, don't worry about it. We'll get another one, don't worry. No, she just kept going. She turned the whole house upside down until she found it. I think it was a day after, but she couldn't sleep, couldn't really function. And we rejoiced. Just think about something valuable to you. And this is all talking about earthly, worldly values. They're not bad and necessarily bad, right? It's only if we make that more valuable than God. And in here it says, even that, it's not even worth, it's not even the same as one sinner who repents. Remember, one in eight billion, right? And then lastly, we're gonna go over the parable of the lost son. And a lot of people, I've seen a lot of sermons that go over parable. I've heard parable of the lost, the prodigal son. I've heard the parable of the prodigal father. I've heard all kinds of things, but I always feel like we miss out on the actual point of this parable towards the end. Excuse me. So remember, one in 100, one in 10, and now we're one in two. That's 50%. So verses 11 through 13, Jesus says, then he said, a certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided them his livelihood. That essentially says drop dead because you don't get your inheritance until that person dies, right? And that was divided between two sons and the younger, it was the younger of them, so he got a smaller portion. Usually the older son had a bigger portion. I believe it's the older son gets 2 3rds and the younger son gets 1 3rd. So to put that into context, let's say it's a million dollars. The son would get $333,000, something like that. And so he tells his father, drop dead. I'm not gonna wait for you. Give me what belongs to me. So verse 13, he says, and not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. What sticks out to me there, it says, to a far country. If you look at the history of Israel, anytime, it's always, always about the land of promise, always, right? The promised land. Every time they go to a faraway land, it was always a sign of God's judgment. Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, God's judgment. Even if you remember when Joseph asked his family to come to Egypt to live with them, Jacob was hesitant. He wasn't sure, should I go here to ask God? And God said, it's okay, you can go. It was all about the promised land. And he, this prodigal son went to a far country and he wasted his possessions with prodigal living. In verse 14. "'But when he had spent all, "'there arose a severe famine in the land.'" Again, famine, another sign of God's judgment, right? Famine, pestilence. "'And he began to be in want. "'Then he went and joined himself "'to a citizen of that country, "'and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. "'And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods The swine ate and no one gave him anything. So the guy's in, he's basically rock bottom. He's at the worst point of his life right now. He spent everything, he's got nothing, he has no friends, and he's thinking about eating what the pigs ate. And I really thought about putting a picture of what the pigs ate here, but I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do that. You guys can look that up yourself. You can Google it. It's terrible. And he was ready to eat that. That's how bad things got, right? That's really bad. I don't know if you guys ever got to that point where you just wanna eat basically garbage. It's terrible. It's a terrible position that he's in. But again, that's a sign of God's judgment. And what else is also a sign of God's judgment is when he just gives you over to a debased mind, as we've read in Romans. He just gives you what you want. If you remember King Saul, the people wanted a king. They didn't want God to be their king. They wanted a physical person. So God said, here you go. You want a king? Here's your king. So verse 17, he goes, But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So here he's so down on himself. He's looking to go back to his father. He's thinking, man, my, My father's hired servants, they're eating better than me. I'm here looking at pig swine, right? He's ready, he's preparing his speech. And if you look at verse 18, that looks like repentance, right? He realized he sinned against heaven and it's always heaven first. You always sin first against God and then whoever else, that person, all sin is against God. So he's preparing himself. Over here, if you remember, again, the context, Jesus is talking to the sinners, right? He's talking to the sinners, the tax collectors, the Pharisees, and the scribes. And this is a Jewish male, right? This is a Jewish family. What this prodigal son is doing is actually If you read through it, it's worse than those sinners, those tax collectors. What he's done, disrespected his father, spent all of his money, told his father to drop dead, ate with the pigs, they're not supposed to be around pigs, right? That's bad. That's really bad. So he arose and came to his father. But when he was a still great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son. Again, it shows the compassion of the father here. The father was waiting for his son. He was looking for his son out into the open, waiting for his son to come back. And it says his son had compassion. The father wasn't mad. Well, I'm sure he was mad, but he chose compassion over anger. And his son, seeing what he rehearsed, asked for forgiveness. He repented. So then he says, but the father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this was my son, for this my son was dead and is alive again. And he was lost and is found and they began to be merry." Again, into context, there's that theme again of lost and found, repentance and rejoicing. They're being merry here I don't know about you, but if you've ever messed up really bad to someone that you love, it's hard to ask for forgiveness. And you know that you're the one that messed up. It's hard. And it takes humility, and you have to deny yourself, and you expect the worst. I'm pretty sure this son was not expecting what his father did, which was he brought the best robe, put it on him, covered his son. I'm sure his son was ragged, dirty, probably close to naked. It says put sandals on his feet, so he was barefoot, right? Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let us eat and be merry. Why? Because this son was lost. Now he's found. He started with 1%. 10% and now 50%. It doesn't end there. And he goes, now his older brother was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. Saying, what's going on here? And he said to him, your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. So his brother was in the field, was wondering what's going on, what's with all the music? Is everybody happy and dancing? And someone tells him, your brother came back and now your father has killed the fatted calf. So his brother rejoiced, right? No, no. So here's where I want you guys to focus. This is actually the whole point of the parable of these three parables in succession. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost brother. This whole parable, the whole point of this is the response of the older brother. Remember, Jesus was talking To Pharisees, he addressed them in a parable, these three parables. He was with sinners and tax collectors. Pharisees, scribes, the self-righteous. So he says, but he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years I have been serving you. I never transgressed your commandment at any time. And yet you never gave me a young goat that I may make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed a fatted calf for him. He was angry. There was no rejoicing. There was no happiness in his heart. He was angry. It says, he wanted, he said that, you never gave me a goat that I make merry with my friends. It wasn't, he didn't even say that, I'll make merry with you, father. He said with my friends, right? You see, the older brother was self-righteous. The whole point of this parable, the older brother, Represents the Pharisees they were self-righteous. They were keeping the rules It says here. I never transgressed your commandment at any time. I Kept the rules. It's all about keeping the rules. It's about who keeps the rules We are Pharisees. We keep God's commands these sinners They don't do any of that Why are you with them, Jesus? You should be with us. Why do you even eat with the sinners? No. And oftentimes when we read these parables, when we read the Bible, and I've done it, so I'm guilty of it, we always see ourselves as the hero, right? Anyone else? No? We see ourselves as the prodigal. Oh, that was me, I was the sinner. Now I'm saved, I'm found, rejoice. Or maybe we're the father, yeah. Compassion, right? How many here would identify with the older brother? The self-righteous? Yeah, right? So let's do a test. Let's do a test. to see if we're, you know, we have this, it's called the older brother syndrome. How about this? You say, Lord, I train my kids in the word. We do family devotions, I catechize my kids, I take them to VBS, and they still turn away? It's not fair. Lord, I studied hard, never cheated. Now in my third choice for college, but that person over there cheated his way through school, got to the top college. It's not fair. How about this? Lord, I'm a good husband or wife. I follow your commands and I die to myself daily. I love my wife, but she doesn't see it. Not one bit. It's been years. It's not fair. How about this? Lord, I'm a good husband. I'm a good wife. I go to Bible study. I read your word daily. I serve the church. But my spouse cheated on me. Well, that person over there sleeps through every service and doesn't serve. And they have the most faithful spouse. It's not fair. How about this? Last one. Lord, I want a baby so badly. I pray to you every hour of my day, and I read my devotionals, serve you faithfully, but nothing. While my friend or family member over there gets knocked up, instantly becomes pregnant, and is now thinking of getting an abortion. It's not fair. It's not. Anyone else? Should I keep going? No. So, you know what? I agree, it's not fair. And I usually have conversations with John. John's teaching right now, and we talked about this parable, and it's like, it's not fair. The older brother followed everything and was the good kid. It's not fair, but you know what? It's true, it's not. You know what else is not fair? It's not fair that Jesus, perfect in every way, showed compassion to those who needed compassion, had to die for my sins, our sins. It's not fair that Jesus who healed the blind, the leper, the lame, healed the sick, had to go to the cross so that we may be right with God once more. And it's not fair that the eternal Father, I mean, Jesus, who is eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He became a sin who knew no sin and had to experience separation for the first time on that cross. It's not fair. And it's not fair that his blood became our covering of righteousness so that we may be washed white and clean as a snow in the eyes of the Father. It's not fair. We did nothing, nothing to earn salvation. Jesus paid it in full. He paid a debt. that we could not pay, that's not fair. So let's continue. And he says, and he said to him, son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found. You see, he was always with the father, the older brother. Everything that he had, he said, all I have is yours. Remember, he separated the inheritance. So he had two thirds. He had 600 something thousand dollars, right? Everything that the father had was his, he says. But the older brother didn't realize his heart was just as rotten on the inside as the younger brother. And you know, I'm a father of three. To all the parents out there, I'm sure there's new parents that I see in the church. Let me ask you, how many of you, I do, but how many of you guys pray, Lord, please don't make my child a prodigal? Keep them away from that harsh life, from those mistakes, right? If you have experienced such a thing and you came from that background, you would think, Lord, please don't let that happen to my kid. But how many of you actually pray that, Lord, don't make my kid the older brother, the self-righteous one? Because the prodigal son got saved. He repented. And as we read, rejoicing in heaven for a repented sinner. It doesn't say that the older brother repented or got saved. This is the end of the passage. He doesn't get it. He missed the gospel. And again, if you really think about it, there's only two ways to take this. If you, were part of, if you had a little hint of older brother syndrome, little self-righteousness, you can say, Lord, I repent. Repent from your sins. Ask for forgiveness. Lord, I'm sorry because I now see that I have been self-righteous. And I have sinned against heaven and against you. Or the other part of it is, You can be like the older brother, which represents the Pharisees, and what did they do? They got angry. How dare you, right? And they ended up killing Jesus. How dare this guy say those things? Let's kill him. And if you really think about it, if you look at this parable, if the Pharisees represent the older son, The older son actually, you could say he killed his father out of his self-righteousness. And that's what happens when we think that God owes us. Before I was saved, I was a self-righteous person. I remember my wife's older sister asked me, she was in my class, nursing school, and asked me, if you were to die today, they were Christians already. So she asked me, I wasn't a Christian, I was in the Catholic church. She asked me, if you were to die today, how sure are you that you're gonna go to heaven? And I said, you know, maybe 75%, maybe 70. He's like, why? Oh, you know, I'm a good person. I didn't do all those bad things. I'm not as bad as like Hitler or, you know, I didn't kill anyone. And, you know, that always, always stuck with me. It wasn't, I didn't become a Christian right then and there, but that was always stuck in my heart, you know? Our own self-righteousness. The Pharisee's self-righteousness is what kept them away from the gospel, from Jesus. And I pray that we don't harden our hearts today. The Bible says if you hear his word today, do not harden your heart. If my message spoke to you, please don't harden your heart. Tomorrow is not promised. We don't know. We don't know when we'll die. Anybody know here when they'll die? No. I've been, I'm a nurse by profession. I've seen death. People would say, you know, I was told I had this many times, or this amount of time to live, and now I'm here, like dying. We don't know. So I ask of you, if you have not accepted Jesus in your heart, make him as Lord and Savior. Don't harden your heart. Accept it today. Today's the day. Plead with God to break your heart and repent. Ask God for repentance and salvation and fix your eyes on Jesus and his finished work on the cross. We can't do anything. We can't earn salvation. It's Jesus who did everything in his finished work, right? It says, by grace we have been saved through faith, that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. God's grace, not from us. It's not of works that we may boast. That's what the Bible says, Ephesians 2, eight and nine. So I'm gonna ask the worship team to come up. If you guys need prayer, altars will be open. And just remember, don't, Don't harden your hearts, don't be that older brother, okay? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for your word, and I pray that your word just cuts through our hearts, our own self-righteousness. If we may have any hardness of heart, Lord God, if we may have spiritual blinders, may you Just show us, show us, Lord God, where we are wrong, where we stand with you, Lord God. We wanna be right with you, Lord. And we pray that you just soften our hearts, Lord, and open our eyes, that we may fix our eyes on Jesus, the only way to salvation, Lord. There's no other way but in the name of Jesus. We pray, Lord God, all this in your Son's name. our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen. God bless you. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Yes. Thank you, Rafa, for sharing his word. Let's stand together as we close in song before we go into a time of prayer. The altars are open if you'd like to pray here first. There's no place that I'd rather be than in the arms of my Father. There is a place that I know That I need more often to go A place of amazing comfort and rest Your smile is never rare Your love is free as the air I lie for nothing when I can see the love in your eyes. Know that it's all for me. I fear nothing at all when I'm safe in the arms of my Father. If ever I fall, I take comfort in knowing that you are there There is a place There is a place that I know Where I need more often to go Place of amazing comfort and rest. A smile is never rare. Your love is free as the air. I like for nothing when I can see the love in your eyes. for me I fear nothing at all when I'm safe in the arms of my Father and if ever I fall I take comfort knowing that You are I'm safe in the arms of my father. And if ever I fall, I take comfort in knowing that you Father God, thank you for your Holy Word, Lord. Thank you for this time together of fellowship and sweet community with you, Lord God. Thank you for allowing us to search your scriptures and see the eternal truths there, Lord. We just pray for true transformation, Lord God, in our hearts, that we may grow nearer and nearer to you and more like you in every day and every way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.