Amen. Good evening. Please stand. We're going to sing number 150, He Lives. I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him, He's always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian! Lift up your voice and sing Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, the King! The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find None other is so loving, so good and kind. He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. Amen. Good to see you tonight. I'm going to read the few things that's on my phone so I can shut it off. Most of you know that Suzanne had her surgery today. Father, we love you. Thank you for your goodness. Bless now the time we have together. Bless those downtown. Bless those who are sick. Especially take care of Suzanne. And Lord, I pray that you just meet with us tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Number 65, near the cross. Jesus, keep me near the cross There's a precious fountain Free to all a healing stream Flows from Calvary's mountain In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day With its shadows o'er me In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever. Till I reach that golden strand Just beyond the river In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. This week is Fiesta up till today. I mean, I don't know what the county is today. I talked to someone down there already, but I haven't. I don't have a count today, but up to today we had 266 saved again. Now I've been going down late in the evening when some of the folks come back. So I mean, I missed Thursday. I didn't go last Thursday. I had I had someone in here so I didn't go Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. and didn't last night because I was working on sermons. But again, if you can go down to someone, that would be great. They pass out tracts. They witness to folks. Almost everybody just went down there. How many of you went down there? Some of you that went down there have got to lead some of the Lord, keep your hand up. So again, most everybody that's got down there has got to lead some folks to the Lord. Sometimes, the crowd is, I'm hoping it picks up during the week, because always Monday and Tuesday was slim, but this year apparently the boss man came around the other day and said that the crowd is 65 to 70% lower than it's ever been through all the years of history. There was times that you could look that way down the carnival and that way down the carnival and hardly see an individual other than the carny workers, and that's not the normal thing down there. It always picks up toward the weekend, but again, it was usually a lot busier than it is now. Our sowing account is still almost normal from what it was last year. And I know one day we even had more saved on that day than we did the same day last year. So the sowing account hasn't hurt as much, but again, lower crowds. And then Friday, 8 o'clock, we'll be leaving here to go to the Parade of Flowers. We passed out a lot of tracts last year. We'll do the same thing this year. So that is having to do with Fiesta. And again, you don't have to sign up, but again, it starts during the week, Monday through Friday. It starts at 5 o'clock and ends at 10 o'clock. And when I say 10 o'clock, we usually, if they start folding up, unless we have people sitting down, they start folding up at 9.30. They usually leave by 10 or a little bit before. So usually you get back here, if you parked here, you'll get back here at 10.15 or 10.30. Again, Monday through Friday, that is the time. And then Saturday, it is noon to 10. And then Sunday, it is after church till 10. And then Sunday will be the end of it. So the good news, it's a good tide when you've been going down there every night and getting home late. It does change your eating habits, so it doesn't necessarily help your figure, because when I get home I'm hungry, and I have this problem when I'm hungry, I eat. So, but again, do pray for all the folks that's down there. Not only pray for the folks that got saved, but if other folks are like me, I have folks that went all the way through the plan of salvation, and then they decided not to get saved right then, and that's always I mean, it's always tough because you just want them to get saved, but pray that there'll be folks that, again, they always take a track with them when they leave. Pray that they'll make a decision afterwards. Also, before I came tonight, I preached a funeral for one of Brother Mike Delgado's family members, so pray that it started at 6, and so over on the south side, over by I don't remember all the streets over there, but southeast military area. So I passed out a lot of tracts afterwards. So there were a lot of folks that were saved. I don't think I've ever seen this many. He had like 16 grandkids, 15 great grandkids, and one great, great grandkid. So I mean a big, big family. Some of the folks go to Faith Baptist Church, and they sang for us. So we did have a couple of specials. But pray that the message will touch hearts and we'll still have some decisions made. A lot of folks took, I gave the chick tracts out afterwards because I told them that they could use those to get saved. I didn't have time to stay there and witnessed a bunch of folks, but pray there'll be folks saved from that. Also, this coming up next Tuesday is the missions game. There's still a sign-up sheet on the back. I have 30 tickets, and if I find out ahead of time I need more tickets, I can go down and try to get tickets in the same area. But if you wait until the day of the game, and I end up with extra people, you'll just have to go, we'll have to go to the window and buy $2 tickets, and then you may be sitting, you know, all the way in another section or two. So if I know ahead of time that you're bringing folks or you need extra tickets, if you'll see me, I don't mind going and picking up some more tickets if we need to. But we only sit down the first baseline. I don't know why we've always just done that. I always like sitting down the first baseline. There's a lot more activity on the first baseline than there is on the third baseline. Not very many people make it to third. Lots of folks either try to make it to first or make it to first, so I guess that's why. But besides, it's closest, and so we're lazy, so I always like sitting there because it's close. They're $2 tickets, and that night also they have, I think, $2 tea from Bill Miller's, $2 sausages, and something else. So they have $2, a couple other things. So it's actually cheaper to eat that night than any other night, because trust me, normally the sausages and the tea are not $2. There's sign-up sheets back there. May the 6th, that is the Tuesday after Fiesta, so next week from yesterday. August the 16th, and again, we've been announcing this for quite some time. August the 16th is a Valentine's banquet. I Love My Church. Brother Ross will be here. It is a Saturday the 16th. He'll be with us on that Saturday, and then be with us all day Sunday morning. Sunday morning for Sunday school, Sunday morning for church, and Sunday evening for the evening service. And then also coming up is Brother Coral. He'll be with us on the 19th through the 22nd, that is a Friday, I'm sorry, a Sunday all day, and then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are 7.30, as we normally would have our Wednesday night service, so that's in October. Again, don't forget to pray for all the folks on the prayer list, especially Suzanne, if you get a chance. I don't know if they'll send her home tomorrow. I didn't get to, since I was doing all the stuff, the funeral stuff, I didn't get to call. I text back and forth to Prayer of the Prairie a couple times, I don't know if she'll go home tomorrow or not. So again, if I find out, I'll try to put it on the prayer chain and let Anna know. But again, you can always go through Brother and Mrs. Perry. Suzanne was in a lot of, again, from what I understand, in excruciating pain. So keep her in prayer. Amen. Please stand. Number 542, tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know the saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him more and more. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee, precious Jesus. Savior, friend, and I know that Thou art with me, will be with me till the end. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, Don't forget to pray for Brother Lowry as well. I tried to call him last week and didn't get an answer and called again this week and haven't had an answer so keep him in prayer as well. Well, as always, I want to thank you for all the blessings that you have given us and for this opportunity we have to be in church and hear your word preached. I ask you to bless this offering. It will be sufficient to meet the needs here at the church. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Number 41, there is a fountain. so There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunge beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains And sinners plunge beneath the flood Lose all their guilty stains E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream, Thy flowing wounds applied. Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die Then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save When this poor, lisping, stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave. When this boar-lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave, Looks like a trio tonight. Oh, a quartet? Quintet? Where's number five? She didn't show up. Oh. We're doing a million years of glory. I'll march to the great divide, and reach heaven's open door. I'll be there with my mother, and save her evermore. I've been there a million years, how wonderful to know. I'll have a million years of glory, when a million more to go. a million years a million where the tree of life is blooming, clouds of hope always shine. No death will ever enter, no trouble spares, oh, a billion years in glory with a million more to come. yeah yeah If you did not get verses or would like to have verses, Josiah said he would love to bring them over to you. So if you missed the verses, if you'd hold your hand up for a second, he'll get you some. Well, apparently the only one we got. All right, Levi, can you run back and help? Give some to Levi and he'll help as well. Levi, you're gonna go this direction. Jose, you're gonna go that direction. Levi, Levi, gotta get more than one paper. Levi, Levi, there you go. Levi, Brother Prado, see the hand? Brother Prado wants to get saved, help him. You can go in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15, we'll start there. I may have to hire some better help next time, I'm not sure. The old saying is, when you don't pay much, you don't get much. Of course, I didn't pay him at all, so. Your sister needed one, did you get sis? All right. Luke chapter 15, now again, it's a well-known verse. And I'm going to look at it a little bit. I preached this like 11 years ago, but since some of you don't remember what I preached last Wednesday night, I figured you wouldn't remember what I preached 11 years ago. I saw this and I used it the other day, some with the teens, and I wanted to cover some stuff because I think it'll be helpful. So Luke chapter 15, we're going to read quickly the story because I want to get into the message, and again, then we'll get right into it. Notice it says in verse 11, and he said, a certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, there wasted his substance with riotous living. When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. No man gave unto him. When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare? And I perished with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. I am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto his father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it. Let us eat, and be merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive, and he was lost, and is found, and they began to be merry. Then you know the story about the older brother. Skip on down, verse 28. And he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answered and said to his father, this was the oldest boy's response to his dad, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, which was true, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandments, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this, thy son was come, which has devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead, and is live again, and was lost, and is found. Let's pray. Father, I ask for your help as we look at these verses and these thoughts, that they might be a help to somebody tonight. And Lord, we give you the glory for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, when you think of the prodigal son, I'm going to cover it a little bit differently than most folks. Again, it's one of those great stories in the Bible. It's one of the saddest stories in the Bible. It's also one of the greatest stories in the Bible because of the fact that he came back. But we want to look at some lessons learned in the far country. Lessons learned tonight in the far country. The first thing I want you to notice is this, who he hurt while he was in the far country. Now notice Proverbs in your notes, Proverbs 28 verse 7 says, Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son, but he that is a companion of righteous men, shameth his father. Notice Luke chapter 15 verse 12, And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that follow to me. And he divided unto them his living. And he arose and came to his father. When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Tonight, if you want to know who he hurt while he was in the far country, he hurt his father. His father, and again, understand every father, while we love our daughters, our son is the one that carries on the family name. So back then, the big deal was a wife always tried to give her husband a son. Now daughters are great, and I can tell you from after having a daughter, daughters are a lot better, they treat dad a lot better than sons treat dad, typically. Daughters spoil dad. Jose, grab some of the verses and give to these young folks that just came in. not Brother Reese, he's not a young folk, but his wife already has one, but the young folks, good to have you guys tonight. And Brother Moss, if you can get them a visitor's card, get them a visitor's card, and then they can just give that back to you afterwards since we already have the offering. But now we're in Luke chapter 15. Notice again, I said, who did he hurt while he was in the far country? He hurt his father. Say, how did he hurt his father? Everybody looked down. Again, every day he looked down the road. You know what that was saying? I'm hurting. My son's gone. Now, I'm not going to ask her tonight how many of you have ever had a son or daughter that moved out before they were supposed to. Now, every kid sooner or later is supposed to move out of the house. Typically, there's a right time to move out what I mean by that is college or marriage or something but there's a there's a time to move out where You're I mean you the kids ready to go and mom and dad's ready for them to go But in this case the kid was ready to go but mom dad was not ready for them to go now I do not know if there was a mother in the picture at this time I'd almost guarantee you there wasn't one when he came back. If there was a mom early on, there wasn't a mom, because I think she'd have been, trust me, a mom would have been looking down the road for a son as well. But in this, if you've ever had a child, and I've said this before, it's been a while, but some of you know that when I have three sons and a daughter, my son Joshua, there was a time that, I'd said at the time, I'd teach my other kids. You don't like the rules around here? You can always go someplace else. Joshua did. He packed up and he headed out. You say, where'd he go? To the far country? Yeah, Kelly Martinez's. So it wasn't real far away. They lived over here at that time in Adams Hill or Rainbow Hills, whatever it's called. Rainbow Hills, I guess it would be. But the fact is, as soon as he packed up and left, I mean, I about lost it. I mean, moments after he left, I wanted to go back. I wanted to call him up and go pick him up, apologize for being so mean, apologize for having rules. I mean, I wanted him back. Thankfully, my wife had enough sense to say, no, you can't do that. You do that, and he's not gonna learn the lesson. I mean, the fact is, it's gonna be worse if you go and do that. But I wanted him back. I mean, I thought, I've lost my son. Now, understand, I don't remember how many days he was gone. It was only two or three. And I know how much I hurt during those two or three days with my son gone. I can't imagine this father. I mean, I guarantee you, when birthday came around, he missed his son. When holidays came around, he missed his son. When other special days came around, he missed his son. I mean, when he went fishing, and usually his son was fishing with him, he missed his son. When he went hunting, and normally his son would be sitting there with him hunting, he missed his son. I said, who did he hurt when he went in the far country? He hurt his father. By the way, also, he heard about the famine, and that made him even worry more about his son. I know his son left with some money. But he heard about a famine. And by the way, in a famine, that means everything costs a lot more than it normally would. Some of you read in the Bible where, I mean, that time when the enemy had surrounded the Jews, I mean, you couldn't, they were buying chicken poop. I mean, they were even considering eating babies and eating dead bodies and other stuff. I mean, so again, most of us have never been in a famine. If we have big bellies, we're not like those African kids or the Indian kids they used to put on commercials. Our belly's not big because of malnutrition. Our belly's big because too much nutrition. But the truth is, Dad heard about the famine, which made him worry about his son that much more. Who did he hurt in the far country? He hurt his father. Who did he hurt in the far country? He hurt his brother. Now, I told the teens, I understand the older brother more than most people. I was not the older brother at my house, but I do understand the situation, and I'll explain what I meant by that in just a minute. Notice in your notes, verse 29 and verse 30, And he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I any time thy commandment, yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. Now notice when I said he hurt his brother, the reason he hurt his brother was his brother had to see his dad hurt every day. Then it also made him jealous because think about it. Every day he saw his dad look out down the lane because again back then most places had long lanes. You didn't build your house on the edge of your property. You built your house inside your property a ways and you had long lanes to get to the house. Every time the oldest son saw his dad look down the lane, he knew who he was looking for. He wasn't looking for him who had stayed. He wasn't looking for him who had been loyal and faithful. He wasn't looking to him. He was looking for his youngest son that had left. He was looking for the bad boy, not the good boy. Now I told the teen Sunday, I understood how this young man felt to a degree, because when my brother Cliff, now again, Cliff and I have a great relationship now, but there was a time we had a strained relationship. The reason we had a strained relationship was my brother was hurting my mom. Now I don't mean physically, because my dad would have put a lump on his head or put him in the grave if he was ever hurt my mom physically. But my mom had a rule. Nobody, she didn't go to bed until all of her kids were back safe in the house. So we were both at the age of dating. He was older than me by two or three years, so he was dating, dating the young lady that later he married, and I was dating Mrs. Block. My parents did not set a curfew for us, so we didn't have a time. We had to be back home. Now, I'd set a curfew for myself. My curfew was 10 o'clock. The only time I was ever late for that was if the church had an activity and we was using the activity as our date. We stayed until the church activity was over, then I would take her home, then I'd go home. The only other time was there was one time with the time change. Again, I realize the time doesn't actually change until 2 a.m. When you're on the farm, the time changes when you go to bed, because we would set the clock ahead. So that night, because I was over at her house with her family, and I realized, oh, no, tonight's time changed. In my mind, it's 10, which meant it's actually 11, because we set the clock ahead. But again, I set a rule, and I was faithful coming home. I would come home, and guess what? Dad's in bed. My other two brothers are in bed. Cliff is still out on his date. Cliff didn't come home at 10 o'clock. He didn't come home at 10.15. He didn't come home at 10.30. And Mom's sitting there. And again, I enjoyed the time visiting with Mom. But understand, Mom was always the first one up and the last one in bed. So Mom's going to get up early tomorrow morning to get breakfast and to do the stuff. And if it was school days, to pack the lunches. So 10.30 would come, and my brother wasn't back. 10.45 would come, and my brother wasn't back. 11 o'clock would come, and my brother wasn't back. Most of the time, my brother didn't come back till right around, he said, his curfew for midnight. So when he would come in, the first few times he came in late, I was mad. And mom usually didn't say anything. Mom would just get up. She already had a robe on and she was sitting there usually reading the Bible. She would get up and once Cliff was in, she'd get up, didn't even say much to him. She'd just get up, lock the door, and go to bed. So I was mad at him because he was hurting mom. He kept her up two hours. Now, I would say, why don't you get back up? They don't give me a curfew. And I said, they didn't give you a curfew, but you know mom's not going to get it. She don't have to stay up for me. She can go to bed if she wants to. I said, mom's not going to go to bed until you get your butt back home, until you're safe in the house. She doesn't want to lock the door and go to bed until she knows all of her kids are safe back home. So see, I understand a little bit what the older boy recognized, because every day he saw it. Now, if mom was alive, I think she died after the son left. If mom was alive during this time, it doesn't tell us. We don't have any idea. But I can tell you, the older boy saw every day the hurt that his dad experienced. And so if you're wondering why he kind of got mad at his brother, first off, he got mad at his brother because he left. He left to have a good time and left him working. If you're ever working, there's someone that you see that's not working. You wish they'd get away from you. You just don't want to see him. You don't even think about him But I mean again understand he's being every day. He sees his dad looking down the road probably several times a day He probably there was probably some nights that he would see his dad look through the pictures or look through something that remind him of his youngest son that was gone and he would see the tears come down his father's cheeks and he'd be reminded of how that stupid brother of mine is sure breaking dad's heart and So again, I said he hurt his father. He hurt his brother. By the way, because his brother was gone, he had to do more work. I mean, normally they would have been, again, you said they had servants. I'm sure they did. But the family was usually the ones in charge. They were the supervisors. They did work as well, but they were the supervisors. So the oldest son, you say, well, it was all going to be his someday. Yes, it was. But the fact is, it would have been both of theirs if the youngest son had stayed, but he hadn't. Not only did he hurt his father, not only did he hurt his brother, by the way, he hurt the family name. Notice in your notes, Proverbs 22 verse 1, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. Now, today, people don't worry as much about names as they did back then. Back then, even your name itself meant something. Some of you have seen the key chains. I mean, you know what your name means or what it stands for. But what I mean by your name meaning something, back then, the last name, the family name meant something. I've told you before, I had four brothers, three brothers, four of us all together. Many times they didn't remember which one I was, but they knew I was one of Cecil Block's sons. By the way, my dad had a very good reputation. And by the way, he expected us to carry on the family name and have a good reputation, which is why there was many times when something would come up and we'd want to do something and dad would say, no, and we would say, everybody is doing it. He'd say, no, they're not because you're not doing it. Then I'd say, why? And he'd say, because you're a block and blocks don't do that. By the way, there's also times he would remind us that blocks, the reason we had to do something was because we were blocks and that was something that blocks did. So understand he not only heard his father, he heard his brother, he heard his family name. Guarantee you there's times that dad and bigger brother went to town to the feed store went other places and folks would make a comment Oh, isn't that the guy that oh, yeah, his kids off. I mean man his kids. He is wild I mean he's out there because again, he was running around prostitutes and doing all kinds of wicked stuff. It hurt the family name the fourth Person the fourth group that got hurt in the in the when he went to the far country was his future family and Now he didn't think about the time because he was just living in the moment. But think about it, when he got married in the future, his wife had to put up with the fact that everybody knew that was the son that went off and did riotous living. Had been with a bunch of other women. Had been a drunk and all kinds of other stuff. That was her husband now. That was what the kids would have to, I mean. Now, I'm sure he probably started living up to the family name when he got right and came back. That still didn't change the fact that it's kind of like getting a tattoo. It's not like, you know, when you change some, that's why you knucklehead kids especially are not getting a tattoo of a boyfriend or girlfriend because if you break up with that boyfriend or girlfriend, it's kind of hard to cover that up when you finally get married and your wife wants to know who Alicia is or who Fred is or whatever the case might be. So, again, he not only heard his father, he heard his brother, he heard the family name, and he heard his future family. Number two, what he missed while he was in the far country. what he missed while he was in the far country. Notice Hebrews chapter 11 verse 25 talking about Moses in this case and here's what it said, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. The prodigal son did just the opposite. Rather than do right like Moses decided to do, he decided to go ahead and do. fun stuff. Notice right along with it Luke 15, 13 says, and not many days after the youngest son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. I said what he missed while he was in the far country. Let me tell you what he missed. He missed Christmases with the family. He missed birthday parties that would have been thrown for him. He missed the church services that the family probably went to because most farmers and most folks back then went to church on Sunday or if they was a Jew went to church on Saturday. He missed that. Again, what did he miss? He missed the family get-togethers. He missed the holidays. Now, I don't know about you. I grew up in a time where, I mean, Christmas and Thanksgiving was a big deal. Now, my kids are scattered all over the country, so it's a lot harder. But back where I grew up, my dad had nine brothers and sisters. All of them, but one, lived within 20 miles of the home place. My mom had six brothers and sisters. All of my aunts and uncles on her side all lived within 20 miles of the home place. So I had 14 aunts and uncles and all their kids, which was all my cousins, and every Christmas and Thanksgiving, we all got together. I mean, and we got to hear stories about our parents that we like to hear because we found out they did a bunch of crazy stuff when they was kids. And then we look at them and go, you spanked me the other day for what I did? I mean, because the brothers and sisters would sit around and tell on each other and laugh about the stuff that they, you remember that? I mean, we love to get together. Besides, we just love the food. It's kind of like a church get together. I mean, there's some folks here that can cook. And my family was like that too. I mean, we'd get together and we'd have big meals. And man, those meals were good. Now understand, What he missed while he was in the foreign country, he missed family and the family get-togethers. He missed his true friends. Now again, he had some friends there before he left. Now he did get some friends while he was there, but if you know your story very well, you realize they were not true friends. They were called fun friends or money friends, and when the fun and the money ceased, they were no longer his friends. By the way, that's not how a true friend acts. If you have a friend that's only your friend while you're doing stuff for them, they're not really your friend. We call that using you. And there are folks around that do that. They use people. They're not really your friend. By the way, true friends also will tell you when you're doing something stupid. The folks in the far country, they never told this guy he's doing something stupid. They egged him on. Spend some more. Let's do this. I mean, it's late. No, man, come on. Let's go hit the other bar. It stays open later than this one. True friends would have said, you know what, I think you're getting a little drunk. We ought to go, I mean, you're spending a lot of, true friends would have tried to keep him from doing stupid stuff. And by the way, if you're really a true friend, it doesn't mean you always agree with what your friend does. It also means that sometimes you may take a chance of making your friend mad at you because you tell them the truth. because you really are their friend. I said, what did he miss while he was in the foreign country? He missed the family and the family get-togethers. He missed true friends. By the way, he missed home cooking. Notice what he was eating, Luke chapter 15, verse 16. Oh, he had the good stuff. He would faint and fill his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. No man gave unto him. Now again, you have to understand, today we feed pigs pellets. We feed, I mean, again, farmers feed them whole corn. Back then, what you fed them, we called it slopping the hogs for a reason. because it was slop. Now you might feed them some other feed, but typically what you do is everything from the house, the spoiled milk went in there, the tops of the turnips went in there, any old fruit or vegetables or stuff would go in there. When the stuff would go bad, you'd put it in there, and then you might add some water in there, and then you stir it all up, and you go out there, and the reason they call it slopping the hogs is because you'd slop it in there, and it'd slop over the sides, and by the way, it smelled. If you got it on you, I mean, it wasn't something you just, you know, wipe it off. I mean, it stunk. Now, you say, what did he miss? He missed home cooking. Now, it's hard to beat home cooking. Now, some of you that don't do home cooking, but I mean good home cooking, ladies, if you're a good cook, and by the way, if you're not, learn to be a good cook. You'll find when your husband steps in the door and he goes, when he smells you, Your good smell, hopefully that is true, and your smell is a good cooking smell. Hopefully it's not the burnt smell and the thing's not going beep, beep, beep. I mean, hopefully that's not what's happening. If your husband has to ask you what it is, maybe you should not cook that anymore, or cook it a few times when he's not around until it gets where he can tell what it is. Sometimes in the public school, they would call it mystery meat. I'm not joking, they called it a mystery. They put it on the menu. Say, what was it? It's still a mystery. I have no idea. If they didn't know and the other ones had cooked it, how was we supposed to know what it was? Say, what did it taste like? A lot of stuff. Most of it wasn't good. That's why I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But again, I understand, he missed family get-togethers. He missed true friends and friendships. He missed home cooking. He missed a warm bed. You know where he was sleeping? Notice verse 14, Luke 15, 14 says, and when he had spent all the arose mighty family land, he began to be in want. Guarantee he wasn't staying in a hotel. He probably was sleeping underneath a bridge or curled up next to a hog. I mean, I guarantee he, I mean, and his clothes wasn't, I mean, he didn't have all the warm clothes. He didn't have the nice jackets and stuff. Stuff he had was dirty and smelly and had holes in it. He missed a lot while he was in the far country. Third thing I want you to see tonight is what he brought back from the far country. What he brought back from the far country. Notice Proverbs chapter 23 verse 35. They've stricken me, shalt thou say. I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. When shall I awake? What will happen? I will seek it yet again. You know that's what happens when you get addicted to stuff. Several years ago, now again I've never taken drugs in my life. and haven't even taken any harsh medication that the doctors have prescribed. As I said to them, I don't know what a high feels like because I've never had one. Then after I said that to them, someone came and said, you know what? Doctor gave me some good stuff one time. I can tell you what. And I said, I don't really want to hear that, because if it was really that good, I've missed out all this time. Next time, I mean, it makes me want to go out and get hurt so I can get some good medicine. Not really. But one time we was driving, I was coming. I just got off the highway, coming along the access road to Highway 410 there. And I saw a guy laying on the ground. I thought he was dead. So I pulled into the driveway, the next driveway, ran back there to him. He wasn't dead. He was passed out. I said, why was he passed out? He was passed out because he was on a bunch of medication. When I say medication, he was taking illegal drugs. Which one is it that makes all your teeth fall out and all the rest of it? Meth? He was, now, maybe I shouldn't have asked. You guys ignore that, okay? Jury, please do not, I mean, strike that from the record. Sorry all you guys know all those answers, but I'm glad I don't. I'm just joking. But the fact is, I helped him up. took him to the hotel, opened up the door, and you've been, nursing homes used to smell like this, opened up the door and it was the smell of urine and poop and I mean all, I mean just smacked you right in the face. His wife or girlfriend, she was just as messed up as he was. The place was, I mean, a total wreck because they both apparently were addicted to meth or whatever it was, cocaine. Called the ambulance and called them and they came. And by the way, basically there wasn't too much they could do for him because they had already wrecked their body so much. So what did he bring back from the far country? Probably brought back some addictions. Because by the way, those addictions just don't go away when you leave one town and go to another town. If you're an alcoholic in one town, probably moving to another town doesn't change the fact that you're an alcoholic. If you're drug addicted in one town and you move to another town, it doesn't mean the drug addiction goes away. Now, by the way, sometimes you have to, it's good to move because you got away from those friends that were helping you with your addiction and encouraging you in your addiction. And every time you quit, they encourage you to, you know, have fun again. So sometimes you do have to make a change. But in this case, he brought back some addictions. You probably brought back some diseases. And again, I talked about the wife earlier. Back then they didn't have a lot of cures for those diseases. Now we got a lot of medications and stuff. I mean, back then they didn't always have cures for that stuff. Brought back some addictions. You brought back some diseases. Notice Proverbs 5.3 and 5.11. For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. And thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed." He's talking about all the diseases you get. It destroys your body. He said, you know what? She was smooth talking. And by the way, there were smooth talking guys as well. This isn't just a girl thing. There were smooth talking guys out there, smooth talking girls, there were smooth talking girls, smooth talking guys. By the way, all you young folks need to be very aware of smooth talkers. I always told the girls when we was talking about dating, good boys move slow. They do, good boys move slow, good girls move slow. I mean, I used to joke, we had a guy, he would go and new girls show up and he'd go and talk to her a little bit and ask for her phone number. If she said no, he was not discouraged at all. He left her and went over to the next pretty girl and hit her up and ask her for the phone number. She didn't give it, oh, he didn't stop. You say, what happened? He only stopped when he ran out of girls. There was no more girls that he could hit up that week. There's some smooth-talking girls or guys out there. Beware of them. I said he brought back home from the far country some addictions, some diseases, probably some scars. Sometimes we'll stand around and compare scars. I got this, and we compare scars. He got some scars. By the way, not all of them were on the outside. Sometimes you get scars on the inside. By the way, those scars are actually the hardest to heal. Sometimes those outside scars heal up much quicker than those inside scars do. You've got to be wise about being in the far country because it'll give you some addictions, it'll give you some diseases, it'll give you some scars. I don't know how long he was gone, but however long it was, whether it was weeks or months or years, it was years lost. Notice Proverbs chapter 5 verse 9. Proverbs 5 verse 9 says, lest thou give thine honor unto others and thy years unto the cruel. brother Vineyard got saved his philosophy was I live for the devil all this number of years that means I've got to work hard to make it I mean he wanted to make up for the time he had lost living for the devil by the way good philosophy to have but this young man how many he lost some time he can never get back by the way there there's so much more you can do in your youth when you're young I mean, us old folks, we still, from here on up, we still think fairly young, but from here on down, if you notice, we don't get around as quick, we don't move as well, and we can't lift as much, and we can't, I mean, we can't accomplish as much. We might, I mean, our brain might still work, but sometimes the rest of the body does not. Now, we're not in a coma, I mean, we're not in a wheelchair, but I mean, sometimes there's a problem, our body gets old. And the devil wants you to destroy, and he wants you to lose your youth. He wants you to lose those days, not only because of the fact that you accomplished nothing for the Lord or nothing right during those times, but also you'll pay for it down the road, because all those addictions and all those scars and all those things you got into, you'll pay for it when you get older. You say, Brother Block, why are you limping? Because I messed up an E in Bible college. That was a long time ago. I was 18 or 19 years old. I turned 64 a day or two ago. I mean, that's a long time ago, but that knee is still a problem. And then that knee became a problem for my hip, because when the knee, when you overcompensate for the bad knee, then you have a hip issue. So the fact is, I said it cost him in addictions, it cost him in disease, it cost him in scars, it cost him in years lost. Guess what he also came back with? He came back with empty pockets. Notice Proverbs 5, verse 10. Let strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labors be the house of a stranger. Oh, somebody made out like a, I mean, they did well. The bartender did well. The lady over the prostitutes did well. The guy selling the drugs, man, he made some money. But you know what he came back with? Empty pockets. You don't have to be real smart, read the story. Trust me, he wouldn't be out eating with the pigs and slopping the pigs and doing all that if he had any money. He was there because he didn't have any money. Now he left with a pile of money. Now I have no idea, doesn't tell us if this guy was a rich man or not. If you're like me though, I've always assumed this was a guy that had some wealth, had some property. Because he had servants, so again, it's not like he just, it was him and small farm. To have servants means you had some other folks working for you. And he got one third of what all that was worth. And he went out and wasted it all. Means in the future when his brother gets married and has the big house, because he already spent all of his inheritance, he doesn't have near as big a house. He doesn't have all the nice things. Now he could have. Problem was he spent that all on riotous living in the foreign country. So he came back with empty pockets. Not only did he come back with empty pockets, he came back with a bad reputation. When he walked around people went, I mean, they knew who he was. He'd been gone for a while. By the way, they could have told when he came back, because when you've been in the far country, folks can tell. Shows on your face, shows in the way you dress, shows, I mean, you can tell when someone's been in the far country. Years ago, someone asked me about someone here at the church, and my heart was broken because they said, how old are they? And I told them, and they said, they look 20 years older than they are. And I said, sin will do that to you. By the way, that person would have also told you that. If you'd asked him, man, why you got all this? But they just said, because I didn't listen. I messed up when I was younger. Sin takes a toll on your body. Takes a toll on your mind. By the way, it takes a toll on your family. I said he came back with a bad reputation. By the way, reputation's important. If folks don't trust you, if folks don't believe in you. Back then, we didn't have all the papers and stuff. Back then, it was a handshake. Back then, it was whether you had a good name or not. I guarantee you, the older brother wanted something, he had a good name. Younger brother, not so much. Could you imagine being a 25 or 30-year-old man and still having to have dad sign for you because you don't have enough credit to be able to get your own house or your own car or something? That's the position he was in. Where his brother who'd stayed and worked his butt off and had stayed and did what he was supposed to do, I mean, he had a good reputation and he had probably, I mean, folks knew who he was. He was somebody. What else did he bring back from the far country? Notice Luke chapter 15, verse 18 and 19. He brought back some guilt. Notice what Luke 15 18 19 says how the rise go to my father was saying to him father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and no one no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants, you know He came back with guilt. You know, he had to come back and say dad. I really messed up Man, I I wrote my life. I mean, I I destroyed your reputation. I wasted all the money I mean all everything you'd work for everything your mom had worked for so you could give to me and and my brother I Lost it all Guilt, and I can tell you guilt, guilt can hurt you. Guilt can make it hard to sleep at night. Guilt can make it hard to be confident. Guilt can make it hard to accomplish things because you don't feel like you deserve it. Guilt. I said, first off, I said who he hurt while he was in the far country. Second, I said what did he miss while he was in the far country. Third, what he brought back from the far country. I'm going to stop in just a moment, but I want you to understand this truth, and I may finish this next week. It just depends if I have enough to do it. But I want you to understand this. The devil wants every one of us, regardless of whether we're 8 years or 80 years old, the devil wants us in the far country. Now I can tell you the far country for an 80-year-old is not the same place that the far country is for an 8-year-old or 18-year-old. But what he always wants is he wants us to get away from where we're supposed to be someplace that we're not supposed to be. He wants to get us away from the people that we're supposed to be with and around and out with some folks that we're not supposed to be with and around. Because if he can do that, he can make us do stuff or get us to do stuff or talk us into stuff that we wouldn't have normally done. We always told him when we taught on dating, Brother Taylor and I for years, we teach on dating, we always told him, stay in the light. Most bad stuff happens in the dark, around the corner. under the bleachers in a room where no one's around. He can tell you for youth activities, and there was times when we were on youth activities, we had 20, 30, 40 people. To keep up with all of them, it was a big job. Now, most of them just had a fun time. Others, we was always chasing them. Because they were always wanting to wander off. And the amazing thing was, they were always wandering off as a pair, where one would go because they thought they were smarter than us. But again, we weren't 12 years old at the time. And so we understood when one said, I need to go to the bathroom, a few minutes later, the boy or the girl said, I need to go to the bathroom too. Be like, no problem. Let me show you where it's at. Now, they did not really need us to show where it's at. But what we meant was, I'll go along with you. You know why? Because they were going to meet. and who know what they're gonna do when they meet. Sometimes it's innocent, many times it's not. So we always tell them, stay in the light, stay in the crowd, stay in a group. Get home early. Most bad stuff, whether it's robberies or rape or murder, most bad stuff happens in the dark and happens, I mean, at odd hours, not normal hours of the day, not in the daylight. So whether you're eight tonight or 18 or 58 or 88, the devil wants you to go to the far country. He wants you to leave where you're supposed to be. By the way, because if you stay here, you're going to have some inheritance someday. You stay here, you're going to have a good name. You stay here, I mean, you're going to be somebody. But he wants you to go someplace, by the way, and he's going to make it out like it's a great place to go. And we didn't get to it tonight, but understand the far country looks a whole lot better than it really is. You know, that's why they say for the cow, the grass seems greener on the other side. There can be grass on this side of the fence, but they always stick their head through the fence. My cows, I have a cow tank right there not too far from my house. Fill it up every day. You know which cow tank my cows drink out of? Oh, I water the neighbor's cows, too, because his ponds are empty. So I run water about 150 feet, 150 yards across the field. Got like seven or eight hoses hooked up. My cows just stick their head through the barbed wire fence and drink out of the neighbor's cow tank. Almost every day. Mine hardly loses any water. They drink out of the neighbor's cow tank. Is it any better? It's the same water coming from the same, I mean, different hoses, but I mean, it's the same water. But to them, it is, I mean, it is, man, that water over there is good. You know why? Because they're not supposed to stick their heads through the fence. That's why we have a fence. I could take your piece of my property and the fence posts were like this years ago, now they're like this. You know why? Because they've stuck their head through their so long a purse, they've got the fence post bent over. Why? Because they're eating the grass that's on the other side of the fence. And the devil will always try to get you, young man, young woman, mom or dad, grandpa or grandma, try to get you to look. I mean, he'll try to get you to look at someone else in your marriage. He'll try to get you to look at some other job or some other, I mean, some place that offers more. He's always going to try to get you to want something that you don't have. He's going to make it out like it's such a big deal and you're going to hunger and long after it because he wants you to go to the far country. Because when you're in the far country, you're going to lose your reputation and you're going to lose your good name and you're going to hurt some folks that love you back home. Be wise, young folks. Be wise, moms and dads and grandpas and grandmas. It'd be better for us to learn lessons from someone else that went to the far country and messed up than it would be for us to be the one that people learn lessons from watching us in the far country. Now, if you're here tonight and you're not saved, now the good news is this young man was saved and the whole time his father was looking for him to come back home. You know why? Because he was born into that family and that was his son. As a child of God, there's some times I've veered away from God. Everyone in this room that's been saved, there's times we haven't always served God, we haven't always made Him happy, but guess what? We always were. If we were ever saved, we still were saved because salvation's eternal. But if you're here tonight and you've not been saved, you've not been born again, I encourage you tonight, in the moment when we stand and give the invitation, I encourage you tonight to come. We'll take the word of God. We're not going to show you how to become a Baptist, because being a Baptist isn't going to get you to heaven, but we're going to show you how to become a child of God. We'll take the word of God tonight and show you how the word of God, what to do to get saved, then you could become a child of God tonight. By the way, that's the greatest relationship any person can ever have. Lord, we love you. Thank you for your goodness. I pray, Lord, you'd help us to realize there's some lessons we can learn from the far country. Well, not that we want to be the one that goes to the far country, but we can look at those who have been there and be wired.