God has promised that if we draw near to Him,
He'll draw near to us.
The Bible tells the story of a father longing to be reunited
with his wayward son
and of the father's joy when his son finally returns home.
This touching illustration reveals God's desire to have us
come close to Him.
Let's draw near to God
and He will draw near to us.
Good evening, friends.
Thank you for joining us this evening,
at this revival, Drawing Near.
I would like to welcome each of you.
Those joining us here in Fort Worth.
Thank you for coming out this evening.
And those watching via satellite around the world and across the
country, a very warm welcome to you.
We have about 1000 sites that are joining us.
And so wherever you might be, in your home or maybe you are at
church maybe in an auditorium maybe even watching online
and whatever the case might be thank you.
I know that God has a rich blessing in store for you
as He does for us here.
My name is Jean Ross, I'm the director of the Amazing Facts
Center of Evangelism.
And this whole week we' re gonna be looking at God's grace
His mercy.
We are gonna be asking for revival.
The focus is drawing near.
And we get that from James 4:8
Where we read the promise where God says if we draw near to Him
He will draw near to us.
Of the next 8 evenings, pastor Doug is going to open the Word
and lead us into the presence of God
for revival and reformation.
Again thank you for joining us.
We have a theme song that we'll be singing each evening
"Revive us, o Lord. "
I'm gonna ask if pastor John Lomacang will come out and
lead us in that song.
Let's stand together as we sing this song that is actually
a prayer - "Revive us, o, Lord. "
Are you ready?
together
Amen.
And tonight our prayer will be given to us by pastor Holly.
Remain standing as I kneel.
Our gracious God, what a marvelous God you are.
We thank you for your love toward us.
And the grace you offer us so freely in Jesus.
We pray tonight for the outpouring of Your Holy Spirit
because in that way alone we can be revived.
And we pray also that you will bless pastor Doug Batchelor
tonight, as he opens Your Word and shares it with us.
Open our hearts.
Fill us with a joy to serve You.
We thank you for hearing us.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
You all may be seated.
Thank you very much, pastor Holly, Jean and John and Kelly
and thank you everybody for coming here in Texas,
Fort Worth.
Wanna welcome our friends who are watching.
And our audience here.
I hope you will indulge me for just a moment.
I'd like to welcome my wife and boys who wish they could be here
The boys are in school right now
and my church in Sacramento.
We know they are participating.
It is very exciting to be able to come together again
with a special focus
for Christians to seek after God
And some thing we are going to continue that we did with our
revival series in last year.
We want to give you an opportunity to ask questions
that might be more specifically focused on
How do we get closer to the Lord?
How do we draw near to God?
How can Christians find their first love again?
Amen?
Amen.
Anyone here wants to be closer to God?
Sort of a simple question.
Would you like to renew that first love
and to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
That's the theme of this series of meetings.
And if you have some questions related to the Christian life
or revival or the Holy Spirit and the baptism and the Spirit
then we'd invite you to send them in.
There's a website and it's very simply
05revive. org
And there will be a place here at the website and a number of
resources you can take advantage of.
05Revive.org
Now, brother Danny and I are going to begin with a few
questions tonight that have come in the past from other
broadcasts and programs.
We get a lot of questions at Amazing Facts and 3ABN.
And so we took some we thought would be relevant.
And you might say I guess we're priming the pump tonight.
But we're counting on you both locally and you who are watching
to e-mail us some questions for future programs.
These are live broadcasts
and we want to do our best to maximize the potential
to get a new fresh love, a new heart with the Lord.
Amen? Amen.
Do you have some samples here?
Well, I do.
Pastor Doug.
One of the things people write to 3ABN about
and I'm sure they write you
is they say
Why do you do so many of these revivals?
We started back 3ABN and Amazing Facts about 1997.
Doug Batchelor, you remember back in the little auditorium
we had back at 3ABN.
And we've done a number of them since and last year
and now this year.
So the question is that people have been writing and saying
Don't you think our church is doing a lot?
Look around the world, look at the growth of the church.
Why do you keep talking about revival and reformation?
That's a good question.
Um, I'm gonna ask our director to turn the camera towards our
Fort Worth audience.
We're gathered here at the Will Rogers auditorium.
And by show of hands
How many of you sense in your hearts and lives
a need for revival?
Let me see your hands.
Well, that's why.
And let me explain what that dynamic is.
Something about the human heart.
I think Joe words it this way
As the sparks fly upward, it's natural
and as gravity pulls downward
we have something in our natures that without constant renewal
we start to drift away from the Word.
That's why they call it backsliding.
You noticed it doesn't call it back hopping
skipping or jumping?
It's subtle.
You slide.
So unless there's an effort made to resist that...
When we were at the General Conference session
I guess it was 2000
after the meeting finished
you remember there are big escalators there in Toronto
and everybody gathered to go up the escalators for the meal.
Well, I was hungry, I hadn't had breakfast
and I noticed that nobody was coming down the escalator.
So I kind of elbowed Karen and I said
"Nobody is using the one going down. "
And I get up there a lot faster than this long line
that was going up.
And so I said
"Well, dear, I'm heading up with the down escalator. "
I have here a quiz for you.
I'm not the only one that does that.
Okay? Good.
But if you stand still on the down escalator
what direction do you go?
Down.
If you walk up the down escalator
what direction do you go?
Probably nowhere. You'll be stationary, right?
If you want to go up the down escalator
what do you have to do?
You gotta put extra effort in.
And you could hear the giggles 'cuz Karen and I ran up
the down escalator.
And I felt sorry for her, she had high heels on.
But we made it, without injury.
Life is sort of like that.
There is this power that pulls us down.
And unless we make these efforts to seek out on a daily basis
and periodically have these times of renewal.
Even the children of Israel had feasts and the purpose of those
was to remind them, to renew them.
And that's the purpose for the revival.
OK, another question is
then, if we need revival, why does the church plan revivals,
why does 3ABN or pastor Doug Batchelor?
Isn't it God's business?
And in His timing to have a revival?
When He wants to revive His people?
Another good question, Danny.
Well, you know, I brought a quote that I'd like to share
with you that I think is very relevant to that.
Some might think
"Doug, what makes you and Danny think that Amazing Facts
and 3ABN can schedule a revival?"
"Can you schedule the Holy Spirit?"
Heaven forbid that we would be so arrogant just to think that
we can tell the Lord when He's supposed to revive us.
But do we have a part to play?
Let me read a quote to you.
And this is from First Selected Messages, page 121.
"A revival of true godliness among us
is the greatest and most urgent of all of our needs. "
Would you agree with that?
"To seek this should be our first work.
There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord.
Not because God is not willing to bestow His blessings upon us
but because we're unprepared to receive it. "
So the effort is to prepare our hearts to receive
the Holy Spirit.
"Our heavenly Father is more willing to give His Holy Spirit
to them that ask, than our earthly parents to give good
gifts to their children.
But it is our work, by confession, humiliation,
repentance, and earnest prayer to fulfill the conditions upon
which God has promised to grant His blessing.
A revival need be expected only in the answer to prayer."
So, we can't bring revival but we can seek it.
Amen? Amen.
And that's what we're doing.
Doug, one of the things that concerns so many of us
why when our young children, we raise them in church, we send
them to our academies, we send them to our colleges, but as
they become young adults and after college we're losing
a large number of our young people.
And why is it?
Well, that is a hard wrenching question.
There's a lot of reasons.
Um, I don't want to over generalize and say
this is the reason and press a button.
Um, a lot of dynamics play into that.
Um, I think frankly the young people have the most potential
for spreading the message around the world.
And I think things are actually changing now.
Um, we've seen some wonderful things happen
with large groups of young people connected with our
colleges.
We have a large group here from South Western.
And we're thrilled with that.
South Western are you here?
They're here, yes, alright.
Young people.
And I think one of the keys is
the more that they become involved, they have a tendency
to stay, they become rooted in the church.
And the other thing is
as they see consistency, you know, often people leave
because they see hypocrisy.
As the young people see consistency, in their parents,
in the schools, in the leadership, in the church,
it inspires them that this is the real thing.
They become discouraged by hypocrisy.
And so, I think in some respects we are all culpable.
But that's why we're having these meetings.
Amen? Amen.
And that's why networks like 3ABN.
Because the media has made great inroads into everybody's lives
it has affected all of us.
And so why not as Seventh Day Adventists Christians, why not
be the heads instead of the tails?
And why not get into media?
And use that media for the good, for our young people also?
Amen. Amen.
OK, what's the best way to reach the loved ones
that we have that are out of the arc of safety,
or if we can use the term "lost"?
Well, that's one of our central themes for this series:
it's drawing near.
Claiming the promise: if we draw near to God,
James 4:7, "if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. "
And what can we do to reach our loved ones?
Again, I'll ask you the question:
How many of us have loved ones, family, siblings, children
that are strained from the Lord?
And in your hearts you pray for them?
There are really 3 things you could do.
And I'm going to save the best for last.
Be a good example.
Share information if they're open.
You cannot force feed somebody and often one of the last people
one of the last groups you can talk to is your own family.
It's very difficult sometimes to listen to them.
And, I've talked to people all over the world,
but my immediate family, they didn't want to hear me
'cuz they knew the life I came from.
But if they're open, give them books, tapes, information
that will encourage them.
And then the third thing is the most powerful.
Pray.
Sometimes we say
"Well, I guess all I can do is pray. "
And it's like, it's this very water down final last resort.
Like that fire extinguisher.
In case of emergency "Break glass!"
You know, the last thing to do is to pray.
But prayer is powerful.
Amen.
And let me add something to that.
I've got a dear friend and we often, actually we play
racket ball and pray together at the end.
It's just something we always did.
And pray for each others kids.
And one time he says
"You know, I've been praying for our son and
I don't know what to do.
We're struggling. "
And I said
"Have you tried fasting and praying?"
He said
"Well, I can't say that I have."
And I told him the story in the Bible where
a father brought his son to Jesus
and Jesus said to the apostles later
"This kind does not come forth except by prayer and fasting. "
And he came back a few days later and he says
"You know, we've been fasting and praying and our son has been
coming to church. "
Amen.
And so, pray and put your heart and soul into it.
OK, speaking of fasting
How do we do it?
I mean, fasting we know does it mean total, no food?
Does it mean, I hear people say " Well I just do juices. "
Or "I do it once a week. "
Or "I do it once a month. "
How do we fast?
Another good question.
There are a lot of ways.
In the Bible you'll find examples of well, a severe fast.
Would be where like Paul and Esther they did not eat or drink
for three days.
That's a life and death fast.
And I don't recommend that.
Well, if the Lord tells you to do that, you go ahead.
But if you go three days without water...
then you have...
and you know Jesus, of course, He fasted 40 days.
There's three in the Bible who fasted 40 days:
Jesus, Moses, Elijah
They all appeared on the mountain.
You remember, the mountain of transfiguration.
And I think that's also pretty extreme.
Most of the time when you're fasting and praying
it might simply be abstaining from food.
And you might want to, you know, depending on your health,
consult your doctor.
As Daniel got older, he did a simple fast
where it says there that he did not eat anything but simple food
Before the meeting tonight, I guess you could say
I'm fasting.
I had breakfast this morning and then I just had some grapes.
I needed something.
And one cookie.
It's OK, it was a little Debbie
If it's a little Debbie, it's OK.
The rest of the time is not OK.
I can't remember what it was. But just one cookie.
I needed something to soak up all the grape juice
after I ate all the grapes.
So it keeps your mind a little clear.
And so you might be on a fast, when you need, you know,
especially if you're doing some kind of work, you need to keep
your energy level up a little bit,
you might just eat fruit, or like I said juice
something simple.
But I'd like to invite you
to spend some time.
Would you like to see God pour out His Spirit?
Here in Texas and around the world?
Spend some time during these series.
You have an opportunity to mean business with God.
Pray and however God lays it upon your heart
you might join us in fasting and praying
that God would pour out His Spirit.
The promise is
"If we draw near to God,"
What's the rest of that?
"He will draw near to us. "
Do you believe that?
Amen. Does God keep His word?
We're doing this now.
We are drawing near to God
by coming, by tuning in.
He says He will draw near to us.
Jesus says that if we gather in His name
What's the rest?
"I will be among them. "
Are we gathered in His name?
Are we drawing near?
Then, praise God. He's promised to be here.
Amen? Amen.
He's promised to draw near to us
Are they telling us we're about out of time for questions?
Alright, praise the Lord.
We're going to have an offering in just a minute.
Before we do, we have something we want to give you.
And this is especially for those who are watching every night
3ABN and Amazing Facts.
We're going to be giving you a gift to help encourage you
and feed your soul beside
these programs and the tapes you might watch or listen to.
We want to give you something to read.
And tonight's offer is a beautiful new edition
of the book "Steps to Christ"
and it's called "Road to Redemption".
It's free.
All you got to do is call the number that you see
on your screen.
And that number is 1866905 REVIVE.
Or 18667384.
We also have friends who are listening.
I think this might be on 3ABN radio as well.
Yes.
So, they can't see the number that's why I have to say it.
And we'll send it to you.
Does that sound fair?
Now, there are also some expenses connected with
these meetings.
And for our group here we're going to be receiving
an offering.
I think you might have an offering envelope.
And I want to tell you up front that these offerings
I thought I had an envelope
Oh, I do.
These offerings are going to help with the production expense
3ABN is donating the production for this series.
Amazing Facts is paying for a whole lot of the advertising.
We have a very wonderful reciprocal arrangement.
The Lord's been blessing the cooperation of these ministries.
If you'd like to help with the expense.
Those who are watching, you can go to the 05 website.
Your local group may be taking up an offering for your local
expenses.
And we encourage that.
But, we appreciate anything you can do.
This has all been done by stepping out in faith.
And we want to be able to continue doing revivals
like this.
Amen? Amen.
And, so, again, if you want to fill out your envelopes.
The ushers, are going to be coming forward.
And, for special music tonight, we have a treat.
Danny and Tommy Shelton are going to be ministering to us
as the offerings receive.
I have found a deep peace that I never had known
And a joy this world could not afford
Since I've heeled it control of my body and soul
To my wonderful, wonderful Lord
My wonderful Lord, My wonderful Lord
By angels and seraphs in heaven adored
I bow at Thy shrine O, Savior divine
My wonderful, wonderful Lord
All the talents I have I have laid at Thy feet
Thy approval shall be my reward
Be my store great or small I surrender it all
To my wonderful, wonderful Lord
If you know it you can sing it with me
My wonderful Lord, wonderful Lord
By angels and seraphs in heaven adored
I bow at Thy shrine O, Savior divine
My wonderful Lord, wonderful Lord
Amen.
Thank you, Danny and Tommy.
You know, I've just got some good news.
As I was backstage, the engineers were telling me that
this series of meetings, they have the close-captioning
is working.
I think most satellite companies have the capacities,
some may not.
But for you who are watching at home,
sometimes you've got to make a little adjustment on your TV
to activate the close captioning
But for those who have some hearing difficulty,
that's a real blessing.
We've been working to get that activated.
And not to mention that it's also in Spanish
and I think beginning tomorrow night, 'cuz there's a one day
delay for the Portuguese, it will be in Portuguese.
This is going all over the world right now.
So we just want to thank the Lord.
And we want to just give God the glory.
As we open the Word of God together right now,
I would like to lift one more prayer.
And I hope that you'll pray both with me and for me.
I just will confess to you that at a time like this,
when so many people have been working together
and it's a wonder to be whole, all of the volunteers
and the crew and the efforts that go into a series like this.
It terrifies me when this moment comes.
And if it wasn't for the knowledge that God
would both sustain me and the Holy Spirit
prayerfully bring things to my mind,
I feel something like a hood ornament.
That is sort of out on the front visible and shiny,
but the motor is really under the hood.
And so if you would just say a prayer for the hood ornament
with me, as I...
Let's do that now.
Loving Lord, we are here not to see men, but to see Jesus.
Lord, we don't want to hear the words of men,
but we want to hear the Gospel.
I pray that Christ and Him crucified
will be lifted up before the people.
And most important, we ask as a result of our time together
lives will be changed, hearts will be touched.
And a difference will be measured in eternity,
because of this series.
Lord, we are drawing near to Thee,
please draw near to us.
We ask in Christ's name, amen.
Amen.
Now, sometimes at the end of a sermon,
pastor, the evangelist will have an appeal.
I'm gonna tell you right here at the beginning,
this message is an appeal.
And I'm gonna ask you to respond
The sermon is dealing with the story or the parable
of the prodigal son.
And someone might wonder,
Was it a true story?
Well, I'm sure it is.
It's probably been repeated a million times over.
The story of the prodigal son is found in the Gospel of Luke.
If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me.
The Gospel of Luke, chapter 15.
And it comes at the conclusion of three different stories
Already is the third.
You have a lost coin.
It's lost, it has not idea it's lost.
You've got a lost sheep.
Sheep's lost.
It knows it's lost, but it doesn't know how to get back.
And then you have a lost son.
And of course, the value of a sheep is worth more than a coin,
and the value of a man,
and Jesus said that we're worth more than sheep.
Amen.
We're made in God's image.
And then He puts the most emphasis into this third story.
And I'd like to take a fresh look at that with you again.
The story of the prodigal son.
And I think all of us will find that we fit into this story
somewhere.
Now, I'd like to begin with a verse, in Romans chapter 8:38.
That really encompasses this parable.
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth
nor any other created thing
is able to separate us from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus, our Lord. "
Let me tell you right now whom I'm appealing to.
I'm appealing to people who once knew the Lord,
that have wandered away.
I'm appealing to people who may be in the church,
but in your heart you know you're very far from God.
And I'm appealing to people who have maybe heard the Lord
knocking on their hearts' door,
but have never responded.
They've held off, they've postponed,
they've procrastinated.
And I'd venture to surmise that that really covers
about everybody.
So this message is for you.
James, I'm sorry Luke, 15:11.
A certain man had two sons.
You know, at the very beginning
of this parable,
it takes me back to the beginning of the Bible.
Adam and Eve had two sons.
They both claimed to worship the same God.
One really did,
and one didn't though he made a pretense.
Jesus tells another story about a father that had two sons.
And he said, "Please go work on my field. "
And the first one said, "I'm not going. "
"You're a slave driver, I'm not going. "
But he later repented and he went.
And the other one said, "I'm on my way, dad. "
But he did not go.
And then Jesus asks this question:
"Which of the two did the will of his father?"
So the Lord wants sons who would not only give Him
lip service, but they really will work in His field.
Two sons.
Book of Revelation talks about two roads, two women,
two seals, one has the mark of the beast,
and the other the seal of God.
There are only two ways you can choose.
Sometimes I like to think of it this way:
there is really one road and two directions.
You're on the road.
It's not like there's a war and you're gonna say
"I'm going to Switzerland. "
I'm neutral.
There's no neutrality in life.
Jesus said you're either with Him or against Him.
And so you're here somewhere in this story.
"A father had two sons
and the younger of them says to his father
Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. "
Now, you might think that's shocking.
And it probably was very inappropriate then
as it would be today for a child to say to their parents.
"You, know, I've been waiting around for you to die,
but you seem to be in good health.
And I don't think I could wait much longer.
What do you plan on giving me as my inheritance?
Can I start now?
And I guess there are times when parents distribute
some of their estate while they're still alive.
You see the first born, according to the law
automatically gets a double portion
of the father's inheritance.
And that was because they had big families then,
the first born was sort of to be something of surrogate father,
when the father died.
And usually they say older children are sometimes
more responsible in the family.
And the younger ones are a little more spoiled.
Karen and I are both the younger ones,
so you pray for us.
And he doesn't want to wait for his father.
Maybe he thinks that living with a dad is too restrictive.
As father, you know, sometimes
especially as children grow through the teen years
they begin to lose appreciation for the rules
that they might have in the family.
And God has wired us where as young people are growing up
they are growing into independence and they start to
chafe at the restrictions and the rules.
And they want to be free.
And when that desire is not sanctified
by honor, your father and mother it leads to rebellion.
And this young man was chafing under what he felt were the
restrictions of being in the father's house.
And he said look, "I can't wait to get out of here
but I can't go empty handed.
So father, why don't you just give me now whatever it is
you're going to give me. "
And strangely enough, the father does it.
Don't miss this point.
The father represents our Heavenly Father.
The son asks, the father gives.
The Father gives us so much that we ask for.
Please don't miss the point that sometimes the Father gives
even if we're asking for the wrong thing.
Sometimes the Father gives and we're asking impatiently.
Which was the case here.
Sometimes He gives because He knows what He's giving us
is not gonna give us what we're thinking.
Have you ever had your children pester you?
I remember one time.
This just came to me, it's not in my notes.
My dad came to pick up my brother and I
to take us to the movies.
My parents divorced when I was three so we did that thing.
And I remember driving by the drive-in theater.
Any of you remember the drive-in theater?
Do they exist anymore?
My grandparents had taken me to the drive-in theater and it was
I don't know, some Disney cartoon.
And so my dad picked us up to take us to a movie
and my brother and I said "Take us over there!"
Well, my dad read the sign and it said "Perry Mason".
Something really boring like that.
And he said, "You don't want to go there. "
And we said, "Yeah, yeah, we want to go there
we want to go there. "
- "You don't want to go there. " - "Oh, we want to go there. "
So my dad with his mean sense of humor
said, "OK, you said you wanted to go there. "
He took us and we fell asleep we didn't even finish it.
But it was some really boring adult movie.
He gave us what we were begging for.
And you know, the reason that sometimes parents do that
is that they are trying to teach the kids to ask
for the right thing and then trust the answer.
Trust your parents.
They know what is going to make you really happy.
They know what is going to give you lasting satisfaction.
And so often we think we know what is going to make us happy
and we don't.
You know, I began here pastoring in Texas.
And I think I see Cyril Miller.
My eyes are failing.
Cyril is that you?
I wanna thank elder Miller.
Of course, you know elder Miller was instrumental in
the formation of Amazing Facts.
Forty years ago.
And he gave me my first call from being a lay evangelist,
to being a conference worker.
And I thank him for his trust.
I remember when I was working in Texas, as a pastor,
one of my members told about hearing a gunshot in her house
She went running to the closet
through her closet, open to find out that her two pre-schoolers
had found dad's gun.
Which of course, every home in Texas has, right?
And she reached down to take it away from them
and they began to cry.
Not from the report of the gun that it scared them,
but they were having fun.
Now, a loving parent wants to take from the children that
which is going to hurt them.
And sometimes we cry when God takes away what is bad for us.
Well, this young man said, "Father, give. "
And the father gave it to him.
And not many days after, the younger son gathered
all together.
He either auctioned off or collected all of his stuff.
And he went into a far country.
Faaar country.
The far country begins in the heart.
You noticed that the boy wanted his father's inheritance,
but he didn't want his father?
And I'd venture to say that you want the blessings of God
but do you want God?
A lot of people want every good and perfect gift
that God bestows but they don't want God because He's going to
tell them how to use it.
And this young man wanted his father's wealth
but he didn't want his father to tell him how to use the wealth.
So, without his father looking over his shoulder,
he'd have to get into an environment where
he didn't even need to worry about the caravan traffic
carrying news of how he was living.
Wanted to get away as far as he could.
You know, the last time I ran away from home,
I was 15 years old.
No, I'm sorry last time I was 16
Let's be precise.
I was 16 years old.
First time I was 13.
And my father had brought me home from a school in Europe
where I was living on a boat.
A special school.
And it had rules and it was a little strict.
And I thought I knew how to live my life.
And he took us all snow skiing in Canada.
And I thought I'll wait for this vacation to end,
but I knew I was not going back to school
and I knew I wasn't staying in my father's house
because he would insist I go to school
and I didn't need to go to school
because I already knew everything.
I was 16.
That's when you reach the pinnacle of your knowledge.
Then, as you get older, the longer you live
the more you know you don't know, right?
And I remember.
I took everything I had, which wasn't much.
And whatever I couldn't sell to my brother
to try to convert into money
and he was always anxious to capitalize on my desperation
and make a good deal.
Um, I got my stuff together.
I took a bus part way from Florida
but I ended up in California.
I wanted to get as far away as I could.
From the restrictions and I wanted to be free.
And you know you learn a lot of hard lessons when you go
into the world thinking you know everything.
And it's safe to say that I was living very much like
the prodigal son.
Riotous living.
As a matter of fact, some of you know I lived in a cave
for a year and a half.
The reason I found the cave is because we were hitchhiking
around a buddy and I.
And we were asking for a good place to party.
They said a lot of hippies go up into Tahquitz Canyon
and party there.
So, I believe a lot when I read the story.
"And there he wasted his possessions
with prodigal, riotous,"
some translations say "living".
And as long as he had some resources,
he had friends.
Fair weather friends.
As long as he was buying the drinks
as long as he was sharing his credit card with his buddies
as long as he had the fancy, red Lamborghini chariot
he had girls that were willing to ride around with him.
And it seemed like he was having a good time.
This is where a lot of people get into trouble.
Sometimes pastors will say, "Sin will never bring you
any satisfaction. "
That's not all together true.
You might experience some temporary satisfaction.
Even the Bible tells, in Hebrews chapter 11
"Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people
of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season. "
You might enjoy the pleasures of sin for a little while.
But don't miss that: for a season.
It doesn't last.
You might enjoy the party while you still got
the alcohol in your veins.
But when you got nausea the next morning,
you're not having fun anymore.
And that's the way it typically is with sin.
You know, I quickly learnt
that the things that God offers
require self-control and patience
but the pleasure lasts.
The pleasure that the Devil offers
you might get a immediate gratification
but the hangover lasts a lot longer.
And that's just the way the two kingdoms operate.
You noticed, this boy wanted instant gratification.
And if I could put my finger on one of the sins of our age
that would be it.
You know, one reason that we are a nation in debt
it used to be that if you wanted to buy something
you had to save until you had enough money
and then you paid for it.
Or, any one remember the word "layaway"?
That way you said, "Please set it aside,
I'll make a deposit
and when I get all the money
I'll come and I'll pay you for it.
But people don't know about that now,
they just run their credit cards up.
They say, "I must still have money
there's still checks in the book. "
Right?
Why?
Because we want it now.
I saw a young lady walking around with a T-shirt
that had a slogan on it that said,
"I'm not spoiled. I just know what I want.
And I want it now. "
And that's really the attitude of a whole culture.
The idea of waiting.
You know why there are so many lost in the world?
Because they want it now.
And so they're willing to sell eternal life and pleasures
at his right hand forevermore,
rather than they'd rather have the world now.
And transitory pleasures.
And you know what?
I'll submit to you that I still think the Kingdom of God brings
more lasting pleasure now, in this life
Amen.
than following the Devil.
His pleasures are always just for a season.
And that's of course what happened to this young man.
He goes on to tell us,
"He wasted his possessions with prodigal living. "
You know, God has given every one of us talents.
He's given us gifts.
He's given us wisdom.
And vitality and life.
And I would appeal in a special way to the young people
right now.
I wish I could go back in time
and do some things differently
Even though I came to the Lord when I was about 17 years old
I still look back and I regret all the time
and the opportunities that I wasted.
That I could've been serving God.
And you know it grieves me.
Sometimes I meet young people and they say,
"Well you know, I've been raised in the church and I plan on
giving my heart to the Lord, but hey, I'm young now,
I mean, everybody needs to have a little fun.
And I'll come back later. "
It's not always that easy.
A lot of people go out, planning on coming back.
And finally, if they do come back
let me stop right there and just
park on that thought for a minute.
Every day that you delay to give your heart to the Lord
is one less day to repent in
and it's one more day to repent of.
Isn't that right?
And some people when they plan on giving their hearts
to the Lord in the eleventh hour,
and my experience has been that those who plan on that
it never works out that way.
If they do come back to the Lord later
why would you want to give someone a rose
after all the petals drop off?
And you know what, if you come to the Lord and your rose
is shriveled, He'll take you still.
Amen? Amen.
But give Him your vitality.
Give Him your youth.
Give Him your best.
It says this young man wasted.
He wasn't just wasting his father's inheritance,
he was wasting his life and wasting his time.
And I'll tell you that it is a sad thing to hear.
People talk about the regrets of all that they wasted
"I've wasted many precious years Lord, I'm coming home. "
You know the line in the song.
"And he wasted his possessions with prodigal living. "
"But when he had spent all"
Bankrupt.
It's all gone.
It won't last.
You know, I'm reading a good book right now.
By Randy Allcorne.
It's called "The Treasure Principle".
And Jesus said, "Where your treasure is,
that's where your heart will be"
If your treasure is in this world,
and the pleasures of the passing temporary pleasures of this life
this is your treasure
then every day that goes by you're losing your treasure
It's depleting.
But if you treasure is in heaven every day it's increasing.
If your treasure is on earth and you think that
the pleasures of this world is what is gonna ultimately
bring you happiness,
every day you are getting further from your treasure.
But if your treasure is in heaven,
as your life goes on, every day you're getting closer
to your treasure.
Isn't that right?
Amen.
If your treasure is in this world
you're going to be sadder and sadder every day
because it's slipping through your fingers.
Specially when you reach middle age
you really notice it accelerates
as you start going down that hill.
It gets steeper.
and if your treasure's in this world
you're constantly surrounded with reminders that
it's slipping through your fingers,
you're losing it.
But if your treasure is in heaven
you're happier because you're getting closer
to your treasure all the time.
It's all a question of
Where is your home?
Where is your treasure?
Is it this world or is it heaven?
And that's the goal
of this series.
To encourage you to have your priorities right.
To seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness.
That's where real lasting happiness comes from.
"But when he had spent all
there arose a severe famine. "
You know, there's irony in this story.
At the same time that he runs out
the resources of the far country run out.
That far country represents the lost condition.
You know, the Bible tells us that Adam and Eve ran from God.
He didn't run from us.
I'm reminding you, if we draw near to God,
He'll draw near to us.
In the Garden of Eden, God first comes looking for men.
You probably heard me say before.
I think it is a simple yet profound truth.
That the first question in the Bible
is God's saying "Where are you?"
That's the Old Testament.
First question in the New Testament is
the wise men come looking for Jesus, they say
"Where is He?"
Our sins have separated us from God.
It's our sins that have put us in this far country.
Now, keep in mind
what's going on back at home while that young man
is living a riotous life with prodigal living.
He's wasting everything in a far country.
What's the father going through?
How does he feel?
Did they have telephones back then?
When Jesus told this story?
The very fact He says a far country means
that father doesn't know what's happening to his boy.
And the roads back then were littered with bandits.
It wasn't safe especially if you were traveling
showing off your Lamborghini chariot.
And your Calvin Klein robes
He was a real target.
As a matter of fact, that's why he
had a lot of friends for a little while.
It was an illusion.
What was that father thinking?
I remember getting a phone call from
a member of a church I pastored
"Pastor, please pray."
"My granddaughter is missing."
And this child had disappeared.
Desperation.
So often, you know, the police are overwhelmed
with calls for missing children.
Most of them are often teenagers who run away
and you know, they don't even look for them all
because so often they're running away.
And that was the case in this story.
Praise God she came home.
A couple of weeks ago, in our neighborhood,
our son Nathan who's the youngest
I hope he is sitting up and paying attention right now
he was playing with another friend of his
in our neighborhood
and they were in the back room doing something that
created noise,
which is normal and healthy for 9 year olds
Mom and Steven were in the backyard
The doorbell battery, I've got one of those wireless doorbells,
was dead.
This little boy had not told his mother where he was
she didn't even know he'd left
So she began to look him in all the regular haunts of her son
in the neighborhood and he wasn't there.
She came to our door and knocked
rang the doorbell, didn't hear anything
knocked
the boys didn't hear, Karen didn't hear.
She checked all of the probable places and pretty soon
she became frantic.
I think it's safe to say she was hysterical.
You know why.
Any of you ever lost a child?
In a supermarket? Or a mall?
You turn around and they're gone?
Especially when they're young and vulnerable?
Anyone?
You don't want to admit it. Come on. Face up.
And if you have those energetic children that don't ask
if they can run down the aisles and pick a left turn.
I think I've lost all of mine at some point in public places.
And I know that feeling.
And the longer it takes to locate them,
the more frantic you become.
And the Devil is a master at just putting the very worst
scenarios in your mind
of what could've happened.
Pretty soon you see their pictures on milk cartons
in your head.
And it's scary.
But what if that goes on day after day?
Doesn't your heart break sometime for these parents
their children disappeared?
Young children and they never find out what happened?
That father had no word.
No internet, no phone call, no mail.
Young son who he loves desperately is just gone.
I never realized how much I hurt my father
when I ran away from home
until I became a parent.
But I ran away, there was no phone in the cave.
I certainly had no e-mail.
And I would go months and never even check in.
Every now and then he would get word from my grandparents
that lived few towns away.
"Yeah, we've heard from Doug. He's in jail.
But he's OK."
And I remember years later, my father was still hurt and angry
about how much it had pained him that he didn't know what
it happened.
So, all the time that this son is living his prodigal life
and whooping it up with his friends and having a good time
he seems to be insensitive and oblivious to how his father's
heart is being torn out day after day,
yearning over his son.
Who does that father represent?
How does God feel about us when we're not home?
His heart is breaking.
He knows about the danger out there better than you.
He can see the Devil and what he's up to.
He knows that eternity is at stake.
He knows whether or not you're with Him forever in His house
or separated forever,
depends on whether you make a decision to turn your steps
homeward.
And can God pray?
Who does He pray to?
Jesus prayed, didn't He?
You know, Jesus prayed not only for the apostles,
He prayed, He says, "Lord", John 17
"not only do I pray for them, but I'm praying for those
who hear through their word."
That would be me.
Jesus prayed for you.
Amen.
That's good news.
Amen.
That's probably safe to say that the Lord is praying.
You ever talked to yourself?
I suppose that's how God prays.
He's praying that you'll come home.
His heart is breaking.
And, you know, if you don't get anything else
out of this message, please do not lose the important truth
how much God loves you
and even though you may not be thinking about Him,
He's thinking about you.
Amen.
And He is constantly yearning and pining for you to come home
until you turn your steps homeward.
Amen
Don't miss the fact that some of us can be in church
and still not home.
Some of us draw near with our lips,
but our hearts are far away,
our hearts are in that far country.
Amen? Amen.
God in his mercy sent a famine
to get this young man's attention.
A famine came in that land.
You notice, there is no famine in the father's house,
in the father's land.
It's where he was, in the far country.
And there's going to be a famine in this world.
You know, the Bible talks about a famine
just before Jesus comes back.
What is it for?
For the Word of God.
Amos tells us, "The days are coming,"
I believe it is Amos chapter 8.
The days are coming in which there is going to be a famine.
Not a famine for bread or thirst for water,
but for hearing the Word of the Lord.
And people will wander from East to West, to North to South
looking for the Word of God and they will not find it.
Could there be a famine today?
I always like to remind people.
It is possible to have famine for the Word of God
in a country where we have more Bibles than anywhere else.
Because familiarity has bred contempt.
And we are so distracted with other things.
"And there was a famine in that land and he began to be in want"
And I can just picture it.
Gradually he started reaching into his bag of gold
and pretty soon it wasn't gold it was only silver
and then it went from silver to copper coins
and he realized he was getting down there
and he started to elbow some of his friends from his days
of prosperity and say,
"Hey, can I make a little loan?"
And he said, "You're kidding?"
"You're the bank, not me. "
"I don't have anything today. "
And you notice it goes on to say "He began to be in want
and no man gave him anything. "
What you need the far country can't give you.
And what you need, the world can't give you.
No man can give you what you need.
What's going to really satisfy your soul,
no man can give you.
Only God can satisfy you.
Amen.
It's only going to be found in the father's house.
And he became so desperate
that he - if you're a Jew and you're listening to this
and you know I come from a Jewish background
so I understand this -
It says, "He became so hungry
he joined himself"
Meaning he hired himself out to a citizen of that country
who sent him into his field to feed swine.
You know, the story began, he didn't want to work
in his father's field anymore, harvesting good grain.
So instead he ends up in a far country,
and he's feeding pigs.
That citizen is the Devil
who had him feeding his pigs.
And for a Jew listening to this story,
the very violest, most unclean thing
that you could resort to is to be a swineherd.
Shepherds take care of sheep, piggers take care of pigs.
"Swiner" I guess it's what they call them.
Feeding pigs.
Now, I'm not proud to tell you that I've fed pigs.
Never owned any, but I had some neighbors.
And I tried to be a good neighbor
and they said, "We've got to go.
Can you milk the cows and feed the pigs?"
I didn't mind milking the cows so much,
but slopping their pigs...
And I had to do that for a while
and I always try to search for new ways to tell you
that pigs are pigs.
But there's really no word that you can find to describe pigs
better than to say, "You know, they're pigs. "
Their name became the exhibit A of that which is
filthy and gros.
And you know they'll eat anything.
Including each other.
And to be out there with the pigs.
And you know pigs stink...
And it's understandable if you see what they eat.
And it's just filthy.
And there he is walking around throughing these husks
seed pots to the pigs
And every time he picks up his foot
you know pigs have to wallow in mud to keep their
skins moisten.
So there's mire.
Talking about the pigs to wallow in the mire.
So you're walking around.
And he feels his feet suck up every time he takes a step
to throw the pigs their food.
And after a few days, hasn't got paid yet.
He's joined himself to the citizen
'cuz he promised to pay him, but he hasn't got paid
and he's so hungry.
He's beginning to yearn after the pig food.
The pig food is starting to look good to him.
You know I think that's a fitting description
for what's happened to the church.
A lot of people who have the name of Jesus
are yearning after the husks that the pigs eat.
What am I talking about?
If I could put my finger and I think I touched on this
last revival and things have not changed...
If I could put my finger on
probably the single most dangerous thing
that is eroding the vitality in the church
it would be the media.
Now, that might seem like a paradox
because here we're capitalizing on the power of the media
to preach the truth.
But I'm not talking about the good things that can be done
with the television and radio.
I mean, the media in itself is sort of a neutral medium.
It's like a book.
You can have a good book and a bad book.
Paper is not good or bad.
Audio tapes are not good or bad.
You can have good tapes and bad tapes, isn't that right?
A television, it can be a boat anchor, a paper weight,
TV is inanimate.
But it's what you watch.
And little by little,
the devil I think
has corrupted this spiritual appetite of the church.
So we've gotten to the place where pig food looks good.
And we've become accustomed to garbage.
Please permit me to return to my prodigal experience.
I grew up living in a normal house.
I mean, I did go between parents
But my grandparents, we ate at the table.
And they made me eat things I didn't want to eat.
But they said, "It's good for you. "
Any of you ever tried to hide your peas?
In your pocket?
But eventually they do laundry and your sins find you out.
And I ate at a table with real silver ware
and you know, the setting.
Whether I was with my mom in New York City,
or my dad in Miami,
it was semi-civilized.
But when I was living up in the mountains in a cave
and I went down the streets of Palm Springs
I used to hang out with the street people
And I was out of resources.
I used to panhandle
I went to the store today to do a little last minute shopping.
And a lady came up to me and began to give me this story
about how she needed money.
And I looked at her and I had doubts about
the story she was telling me.
But I didn't know.
And I told her that.
I said, "You know, I don't know you
and I hope you're gonna use it this way.
But I remember when I was in your shoes
and I had to panhandle,"
So I gave her a few dollars.
And I said, "Lord, I hope that it's gonna be used, right?
She won't do anything self-destructive.
But then, beyond that panhandling,
I started noticing my friends got some of their food
out of the garbage can.
When I first saw that
I thought it was absolutely revolting.
They were climbing over the... oh, well.
We had names that we lived on the street back then.
We had names like: the little Richie and crazy Dan,
and Pack Red, all these street people names.
I don't even know what their real names were.
And probably in the witness protection program or something.
But I remember I had this one friend name little Richie
and he would climb into the goodwill box
and sleep at night because he didn't have a house
and there are a lot of clothes, people donate clothes.
And he was small, he could fit through the opening
and get back out in the morning.
And one morning someone made a donation before he woke up
and it was pots and pans.
But that doesn't really have anything to do with my story.
Another couple...
I remember the first time, they said, you know,
"Let's go do some dumpster- diving. "
And I sort of was able to figure out what they meant by that
but we went behind the market
and they climbed over this absolutely filthy slimy dumpster
and they were digging around in the refuse of the supermarket
and it stunk, I could smell it from 20 feet away.
And they were looking for food.
And I thought, "That is the most disgusting
thing I think I've ever seen. "
I saw a picture in National Geographic of a little girl
down in Central America somewhere that was
this great, big, acres and acres of refuse being pushed up
by this heavy equipment.
All the kids were out there looking for food.
Breaks your heart.
But I know how that happens.
And the first time I saw my friends
digging in the dumpster
I thought, "That is revolting. "
But they were my friends so I hung around them
and I became accustomed to watching them.
And then, you know, I became impatient
and curiosity got the best of me.
So when they were dumpster- diving,
sometimes they'd come up with something
and think, "Hey, that's not so bad. "
They'd pull out a can that was dented
but it's obviously still had the vacuum seal
and you could rinse it off.
And it was technically sterile.
Nothing wrong with that.
So, they say, "Hey, look man, if we're gonna
get this stuff, you're gonna need to help us. "
And so I started to get a little closer
and I operated as a manager.
And I'd say, "That looks like those bananas
still have the peel on them, right there, a little further. "
And then I went from pointing
to reaching over, trying not to touch it, you know.
But sometimes, if you get there
and it's a fresh patch on the bottom, you can't reach it.
And you gotta get in.
And I won't go into all the things that we found in there
but you find occasionally something good.
Like television.
Occasionally there's something good.
And so we get in the dumpster.
Isn't that right?
True.
I don't go to the movies unless there's something good.
And I would never go to the movies
but it will be out on a video soon.
I know it's outrated in the theater,
but somehow it gets baptized
when you get it from the video store.
And then you're allowed to watch the adultery and the murder
and the profanity and all that
because I would never go to the theater.
Now, I'm hoping that... I don't go to the theater.
I do have the television.
So I can watch 3ABN.
But let's face it.
Not all of us have self-control.
And sometimes we find that we're spending a lot more time
becoming defiled by the dumpster than getting anything good.
And little by little, you can get used to
that which is disgusting.
So pretty soon, you're finding what the pigs eat
actually looks appetizing.
He began to crave the pig food.
Makes me think of a passage in Isaiah, chapter 55.
"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Coming to the waters;
And then verse 2.
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread
and your wages for that which does not satisfy?
Listen to me and eat what is good
and let your soul delight itself in abundance. "
God has good bread for you, friends.
While he was out there
walking around in the muck
of the pigpen.
finally the Holy Spirit got through to him.
The memories from his youth, the father's table.
The Bible says that his father had servants.
He was obviously a wealthy man.
Had a big table.
When he comes home...
has a banquet for the son.
I'm not there yet but I'm just trying to bear the point.
This is an influent father.
And all of a sudden he realizes
"I have gone from a virtual mansion to a pigpen. "
Believe me, I can relate.
Dad lived in a mansion, butler and a maid,
our silverware was real silver.
And all of a sudden you come to your senses one day
and you see yourself in the dumpster and you think
"I wasn't raised this way. "
"How did I get here?"
Isn't it interesting that you've gotta come to your senses
to say, "How did I get from there to here?"
"What madness possessed me?"
He came to himself as though
Maybe because he woke up from his insanity.
And it's like the Holy Spirit has to illuminate our minds.
To help us see where we are.
Sometimes you just have to pray that the Holy Spirit
will help you to see through God's perspective where you are.
The devil knows how to boil a fog little by little.
And as you leave the Father's house
everything looks fine
and you'll enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season
and gradually, little by little, what do we call it?
Backsliding.
You'll find yourself further and further away from God
and then one day you open the Bible and you look at Jesus
and you say, "I'm not a Christian.
I'm nothing like Christ.
How did I get so far from my Father's house?
It's like a wakening from insanity.
Or sobering up from some drug or alcohol.
And you come to your senses and say,
"How did I get here?"
When you think about it, sin really is insane.
It reminds me of before Moses died
he preached the children of Israel.
He said, "I set before you this day two choices. "
On one hand, you've got life and good and blessing.
On the other hand, you have death and evil and cursing.
What do you want?
Who would choose death and evil and cursing instead of
life and good and blessing?
But admit it, what has most of the world chosen?
Is it sane?
You know what I think the problem is?
The word "sin" can be substituted with the word
"selfishness" in almost every case.
Selfishness is a form of insanity.
And until we have the new heart
that God gives us, Jesus is love
and the antithesis of that is the devil.
He is selfishness.
And as we're leaving the Father's house
we're becoming more and more selfish.
And that's why the son doesn't care
about the agony of his father.
He doesn't care what he's doing to the name of his father.
Let me talk about that for a minute.
When you say you're a Christian
you're taking the name of Christ
If you take the name of Christ and you live and act like
the world, you're taking His name in vain.
If a woman gets married and she takes her spouse's name
It always makes me chuckle, my wife got married and became
a Batchelor / bachelor.
But if a woman gets married and she takes her spouse's name
but she's hanging around with someone with a different name
she's taken the husband's name in vain.
If we're gonna take the name Christian
then God help us live like Christ.
Amen.
And He's Holy and He's just and He's good.
Amen.
And the only way we can do that is if we have new hearts.
Two choices: you can have a selfish heart or a loving heart.
You can have the sinful heart or the heart of Christ.
That's why we need to pray
"Create within us a new heart, oh God. "
We can't do it.
We've got to ask Him to create that heart.
But is there something we can do?
Yes.
When that son came to his senses he did something.
You can do something to co-operate with God's agencies
to have a new heart.
Amen.
You can have a new life.
God is yearning for you to come home
but He won't force you.
You've got a choice.
I guess you can tell I'm not a Calvinist.
Back to Luke.
Our story.
"But when he came to himself, he said,
How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough
and to spare?"
There's a surplus.
I like it that every time in the Bible Jesus multiplied the bread
and everybody was fed, there were leftovers.
Amen? Amen.
God has a surplus.
You'll never go hungry in the Father's house.
My father's servants eat better.
I'd rather be a gatekeeper in the house of God
then to have a prominent position in the courts
of iniquity with the devil.
"My father's hired servants"
I'm a son made in his image
"His hired servants have plenty of bread to spare
and here I am perishing.
God so loved the world He gave His Son
Jesus is the bread of life that came down from heaven
that we might not perish.
And the world is perishing with hunger for what?
For the bread of life. Amen?
Amen.
"And I perish with hunger. "
I will arise.
I am going to do something and I'm going to do it now.
He made a decision to get up.
And to start heading home.
You draw near to God
and He will draw near to you.
Amen.
There's something you can do.
And by the way, was he in the next zip code?
Was he living in the next area code
or he had made up his mind to go to a far country?
So when he made up his mind to come home
did it take a little while?
Don't be discouraged.
That's why when we do these revivals
we do it in about a week, ten meetings.
Because He can't really preach one meeting
sometimes it's a process to reach people's hearts.
We've spent so much time learning how to do wrong
Isaiah say in chapter 1, "You need to learn to do good. "
And it takes some time to learn how to come home.
Even when Mary and Joseph lost track of Jesus
they spent three days sorrowing searching for Him again.
Some of us have lost sight of Jesus.
Don't become discouraged
if it doesn't happen just like that.
But the promise is, "You'll search for Me
and you'll find Me
when you search Me... " How?
With all of your heart.
Doesn't that seem to imply that it might involve a little time?
You might need to begin a journey back to God.
Don't misunderstand.
You can say a prayer right this moment at the end of our meeting
and you can begin that journey back to God
but don't get discouraged if everything doesn't change
over night.
People who've run from the Lord they've become
mired in the pigpen.
And they're struggling with habits and drinking
and they've got the wrong friends and the wrong job
and the wrong lifestyle and everything about their lives
is wrong, but they can make a decision to go home.
But it might take some practical changes and a little time
to get back.
Where you've got that new love. Amen?
Amen.
So don't become discouraged.
And I'm taking time not to discourage you
but I think that a lot of people have been misinformed
thinking that all you've got to do is
out of this 30 second prayer and everything is going to go away.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.
What a man sows, he's gonna reap.
And repentance means
you're heading in the wrong way
you come to your senses, you turn around
and you come back.
The difference is you've got joy now 'cuz you're
heading home.
It's something like when the children of Israel
came out of Egypt.
They did not go instantly from Egypt to the Promised Land.
I wish we could all say a prayer and be in Heaven. Amen?
Amen.
But we're in the wilderness.
And there's a little wandering
that takes place in the wilderness.
There's a journey.
And if we keep God before us
we'll make it to the Promised Land. Amen?
Amen.
"I will arise and go to my father. "
I hope that's your decision tonight wherever you are.
"And I'll say to him: Father, I've sinned. "
You notice, he not only repents, he confesses.
Don't hear much about that these days,
but John the Baptist began preaching
repent and it says they were baptized confessing their sins.
There's both components, friends
Were to call upon the Lord
there might be some confession involved.
Of course, we should confess our sins to God.
You don't remember every sin you've committed
but at least the categories:
the lying and maybe stealing or impurity.
And there might be some people you need to confess to.
Rights and wrongs.
But that's when the Holy Spirit gets poured out.
When we humble ourselves.
You noticed, I kept this quote up here because I want to
re-emphasize something.
It goes on to tell us,
and this is again First Selected Messages 121:
"But it is our work by confession, humiliation,
repentance, earnest prayer to fulfill the conditions. "
The old revival preachers and the great reformations
they always told people, "We need to humble ourselves
before the Lord and He'll lift you up. "
But we must humble ourselves, repent
be sorry for our sins.
Amen? Amen.
And God promises to lift us up
as you repent and you come home.
He runs out to meet us.
"I'll go to my father and say, Father, I am no longer worthy"
And that's true, none of us are worthy, are we?
I don't want what I deserve, do you?
"I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "
"Make me as one of your hired servants. "
"And he arose and he came to his father. "
And he probably had that prayer going over and over in his mind.
And the son said to him. He came to his father, I'm sorry,
verse 20
"But when he was still a great way off
his father saw him. "
How is it that his father could see him when he was still
a great way off?
He was looking for him.
He sat staring down the road yearning,
praying for his son to come home.
And as soon as he saw the silhouette of his son
and he recognized him
he ran to meet him.
You draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
And as that boy began to sob out his repentance
"Father, I've sinned against Heaven. "
And ultimately all sin is against Heaven.
I've sinned against Heaven and your sight, am no longer worthy
to be called your son.
The father would hear none of it
He was so thankful
He loved the son so much.
He could see his heart had changed.
He could probably smell where he'd been.
And in spite of his condition, he accepted him and
embraced him just like he was.
He ran to meet him.
You draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Is He calling you to come home?
Amen.
I know the story goes on to talk about that other brother
that wasn't very happy.
Someone asked a young boy one time
"In the story of the prodigal son someone wasn't very happy.
Now, who was it?"
And the boy said, "The fatten calf. "
It's almost discouraging to get to that part of the story
and I don't know if I'm gonna have time tonight.
The main thing I want you to know is not about the resentful
brother, it's about the father.
As soon as he came, he covered him with his own best robe.
That's justification.
He came to him just like he was.
And you can come just like you are.
Amen.
Do you hear the Lord calling you?
Some of us may be in church, but we're still in a far country.
Some of us maybe have wandered from the Lord.
Maybe we were raised Christians.
Some of us maybe have never said that we want to give Jesus
our hearts.
Now is the time that you can come to your Father.
He wants you to come.
We need to come to our senses
and leave the pigpen, friends.
Amen? Amen.
I'd like you to listen to this.
John sings and Kelly plays.
a familiar song that really encapsulates this message.
And I want to pray in your heart about what you might do
to begin that journey back to the Father.
The promise is:
"If you draw near to Him, He'll draw near to you. "
I've wandered far away from God
But now I'm coming home The path of sin
Too long I�ve trod Lord, I'm coming home
Coming home, coming home Nevermore to roam
Open wide Thine arms of love For Lord I'm coming home
In collecting amazing facts, I read
an almost unbelievable story.
Back in 1927, a young Russian girl who had immigrated from
Russia in New York City,
found that she just couldn't live in that big city.
She was a country girl.
And she began to pine for home so desperately.
She didn't have enough money for the passage
and knew she'd never earn it.
And she made up her mind to walk to Russia.
Can't go across the Atlantic, she figured she'd go across
the Bering Strait.
She walked, very timid, wouldn't accept a ride from anybody.
Little nap sack, pipe for protection.
She walked from New York City, Chicago, across Canada.
Lillian Alling was her name.
25 years old.
Took her 2 years.
Got to Vancouver.
People worried about her.
They'd heard the story.
It was almost unbelievable.
Had this hand sketched maps about how far she had gone.
And they actually arrested her in Vancouver
'cuz she was so gXXX, they thought she'd die if she kept
going and winter was approaching.
Kept her in jail to fatten her up for 3 months.
Wouldn't let anybody discourage her from her journey.
She just wanted to get home and she knew it was the only way.
She walked.
Let her out in the spring she walked to Nome.
Last they saw her, she had somehow secured a rowboat
and was rowing across the Bering Strait.
There is one positive report that a policeman on the coast
there in Siberia had said he had heard an unbelievable story
and met a young girl who said she had walked from N.Y. City.
We don't know if she made it home.
That's the last history has of Lillian Alling.
How badly do you want to get home?
There's bread in your Father's house.
You'll never be satisfied in that far country, friends.
You're here tonight, you're watching
because Jesus is calling you.
Do you want to come home?
I want to have a prayer for you.
in just a moment.
John, sing another verse for us.
I'm tired of sin and straying Lord
So now I'm coming home I trust Your love
And I believe Your Word So now I'm coming home
Coming home, I'm coming home Nevermore to roam
Open wide Thy arms of love Lord, I'm coming home.
Friends, tonight perhaps the Holy Spirit has spoken to you
I pray it has, there's power in the Word.
And you sensed that the Lord is calling you to come home.
He wants you in His house through eternity.
So many of us, we need to come to our senses.
We're in a far country.
We find ourselves yearning after the husks the pigs eat.
And there's bread, the servants eat better in you Father's house
He's yearning for you to come home.
Do you wanna come to Him?
You can make a decision to draw near to God
and He will draw near to you.
When that father saw that young man coming
he ran to meet him.
You can begin to come to Him right now
and have a new love for the Lord.
That first love, a revival a fresh experience.
To have a spiritual life.
Is that your desire, friends?
Would you like to pray for that?
Those who are watching, is that your prayer?
I'd like to pray for you.
Loving Father in Heaven,
we're so thankful for this story in the Gospel
that tell us about Your love for Your children
made in Your image.
Your patient love in spite of the abuse sometimes
the way we abuse the gifts and the life you've given us.
We squander all of the benefits with a riotous living.
And Lord we pray that You will now draw near to us
as we make that decision to draw near to you.
I know there are people here who have felt that
that far country, that distance, that separation that sin causes.
But that's why Jesus came to build a bridge back to Him.
I pray that your Spirit will meet in our hearts and lives.
Lord, pour out your Spirit on this series
and everybody who is watching.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Listening friends, before you leave and for our friends who
are watching at home, this is the beginning.
We've taken a step to God tonight. Amen?
Amen.
You draw near to Me, I'll draw near to you.
I believe His promise
and I believe He's gonna answer this prayer.
How many of you who are watching and those who are here
will you covenent to spend time in prayer about this series?
We still have room here in our hall in Fort Worth.
I pray our friends locally.
Bring your friends tomorrow night.
Bring your enemies. Amen?
Amen.
And we are gonna come together and hear the Word of God.
Tomorrow we're gonna talk about the touch of faith.
I also want to remind our friends that are watching
that we have a special music program tomorrow night
that starts at 6 p. m.
For those who are here in the hall, there's gonna be a concert
and we invite you to come early.
And I believe that we'll also be broadcast
for our friends who are watching.
So an hour before our regular broadcast time.
I got a note that tells us we're having a technical problem with
the resource number, don't give up.
You can still go to the 05revive. com website
to send in your questions
and there may be a place there at the website
to request the free offer we want to put this in your hands.
I encourage you during this series
read that book "Steps to Christ"
How many of you have read this before, "Steps to Christ"?
"Road to redemption" is a new edition.
I've read it frequently, it will change your heart.
And you can request that.
If we are praying together.
If we are reading and studying and seeking after God
you will experience revival.
Amen? Amen.
I believe that God is going to pour out His Spirit on us.
And for our groups who are watching
we also want to pray and encourage you to come again
tomorrow evening, be praying now
and ask for the outpouring of God's Spirit.
You can have a new life.
You can be closer to your friends.
Please send in any questions you have about revival
and how to get a new beginning.
05revive. com
God bless you, friends.
And we'll see you tomorrow evening.
Amen.
If you'd like today's free offer "Road to Redemption"
simply call 1-866-905-REVIVE and ask for offer #199.
once again, that's 1-866-905-REVIVE
and ask for offer #199
Offer good for US and Canadian residents only.