(upbeat music) - Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you. (upbeat music) ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ - Why don't you stay standing with me for just a moment.

We're gonna go to the gospel of Luke.

We're gonna get into the word.

Go ahead and stay standing with me for just a moment.

I want us to just be mindful of, you know, there's been a lot of flooding this week.

I've, several people reached out to me asking just for prayer.

They haven't been able to leave their house.

Some of them don't have power.

And it's really affected the whole city.

I think that's why we're looking a little thinner today as well as in the Spanish service.

I think people, I'm not gonna get after y'all today for being afraid of the rain.

I'm gonna have a little bit of grace, okay?

It's the flooding, it's the flooding, we'll say that.

Even though some people don't know how to drive in the rain.

A little bit of rain scares everybody.

But I just say that, amen.

Go with me to Luke chapter 15.

We're gonna read 11 through 32.

If you are there, give me a nice amen.

Amen, are you happy to be in the house of God this morning?

Amen.

There's a thing about, you know, storms and clouds that just makes us feel gloomy.

But when you enter the house of God, you know that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And so tell that to your soul this morning.

If you're like, I don't really wanna be here, I'm ready for it to end.

Can the pastor just preach a sermon already so I can go out to eat?

Just tell your soul this morning, be glad.

Rejoice and be glad.

God gave you this day.

He put air in your lungs.

And so you can rejoice and praise his name, amen.

Amen.

Luke 15, 11 through 32.

It says, and he said, this is Jesus speaking, there was a man who had two sons.

And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me.

And he divided his property between them.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country.

And there he squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son said to his father, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand, shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate.

For this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

And he said to him, your brother has come, your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.

But he was angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, look, these years, I have served you and I've never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.

And he said to him, son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad.

For this your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found.

Amen, let's go to God in prayer.

Thank you my God for your word.

Thank you for this parable, Lord, that you told my God to teach us a lesson.

I pray that you would teach it to us today, Father God, that we would be open to receiving whatever it is that you have for us.

My God, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would be on my lips.

My God, that you would minister this word to your people as you have ministered it to me.

Father God, we come to you humbly this morning, ready to receive what your word has for us.

In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

Go ahead and be seated this morning.

I don't know who this sermon is gonna be for today.

I really don't.

The message had been on my mind all week, but I just didn't think it was the one.

I even told God, Lord, that ain't the one, but it just kept coming to me.

And finally, I just submitted it to the Lord.

I said, God, just do your thing and bless those who need to hear it.

But I personally didn't think that this was a word that too many people needed to hear.

Pastors, we kinda have the advantage of knowing our audience so we can speak into the issues that we know are present.

And from what I see and from what I know, I just didn't think that this is something that would impact the church.

But I also know, and my wife kinda mentioned it today, man looks at the outer appearance.

So I might look at the smiles.

I might look at the things that you want people to see.

I don't see the things that you don't want people to see.

I don't see the things that you don't want your pastor to see, what you want your other church members to see.

And God says, man looks at the outer appearance, but I look at the heart.

So I know more than you know, Ryan, is pretty much what he told me.

And so I just, I pray that this is something that some of us will need to hear today.

I entitled the word, this is the kingdom.

This is the kingdom.

The parable of the prodigal son, probably one of my favorite parables, one of the most beloved parables in the New Testament.

At the most fundamental level, it tells us how in the kingdom of God, we have everything that we need, amen.

We have everything, that is a key point in the sermon today.

So I want you to look at your neighbor and tell him you've got everything that you need.

I only heard like brother Larry and Heather.

Can I say it again?

Tell the person next to you, you have everything you need.

Everything.

When we are in the presence of the Father, I want you to understand, when we are in the presence of God, the resources are unlimited.

In the presence of the Father, we can withstand the great famines.

We can withstand the hardship and the trial and the tribulation.

We never lack anything, spiritually speaking, when we belong to the Father.

And so the story tells us that this young man, he asks for his inheritance and upon receiving it, he leaves his father's house and he goes and he squanders it all, right?

And he spends all that he was given and now he's left poor and has got nothing to his name.

And verse 14 says, when he spent everything, a famine arose and he began to be in need.

And so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of the country.

So he's got everything at one point in his life, everything that he could ever need.

And then he takes those blessings, he spends it all on the things of the world and then disaster hits.

The famine hits the land and now this man who at one point had everything now has nothing.

And not only does he have nothing, he also has no solution to fix the problem.

That's a very key point.

Because see, even in the famine, when you are in the presence of the Father, because you are a child of God, you're still gonna be okay.

Even in the storm, you know that the Father is going to take care of you.

The Bible says if the birds don't even have a care because they don't worry about what they're gonna eat, how much you who belong to me shall have no worry, no need because I've got you.

And every season, even when you are hungry, God will provide for you.

Because that's what a Father does.

That's what a Father does.

I say this all the time.

It's not like Christians don't go through hard times.

We're reunited with those who died in the faith.

But some people, they leave God, they leave the church, and then they go through those hard times, but they're ashamed to come back.

And so the prodigal son was ashamed to go back home because man, what are people gonna say about me?

What is my brother gonna say about me?

Will my Father even receive me back?

And so in his head, he tries to solve the problems that were created in the world with the world.

He doesn't turn back to his Father's house just yet.

He tries to fix the poverty with other sources.

And then when he begins to have these cravings of what the pigs were being fed, he began to realize, man, something's not right.

I don't have to live this way.

I don't have to be this empty.

He says, even the servants of my Father's have it better than I do out here.

And so thinking that he's lost all hope at being called a son of his Father, he goes back and he says, well, maybe I'll just hire myself out to my Father and I'll become one of his servants.

And then when his dad sees him returning from afar, he embraces his long lost son.

He throws him a party.

He puts a robe on him.

He puts a ring on his finger, puts brand new shoes on, and he welcomes his son back.

I love that picture.

I love it.

And can I tell you that so many times I've been up here, well, many times I've been back here.

It's happened a lot of times when I was on the keyboard and seeing people come in.

And sometimes I would see a prodigal return and sit right there in the back, not wanting to be seen by anybody.

Sometimes it would go up there on the top because they don't want anybody seeing them.

You know how sometimes you don't wanna go back to church because you don't wanna be asked all these questions of where you've been and what's going on and how can I help?

Sometimes people just, they don't want you in their business.

And we mean well.

Come on, church, we mean well.

I know we do.

But sometimes we can be a little much.

Where you been?

Are you doing drugs right now?

Like we go to the extreme, you know?

Like what's going on in your life?

Are you okay?

And so sometimes these people come in and I see them on the corner.

And it's happened so many times where I would just shed a tear thanking God that they're back in their father's house.

My first thought isn't like where has he been?

Who has she been with?

My first thought is God, thank you that you brought back the prodigal.

And that should always be our response to anybody who comes back to the Lord.

So that's why I love this parable.

And the application to the parable is this.

There is nothing in the world that can satisfy you more than what you have in the presence of God.

Not only, God not only has all the blessings that we will ever need, he has all the resources that you need to go through every season of famine or depression or sickness or guilt or anger or pride or resentment or whatever spiritual bondage you're going through.

The father has got everything you need.

I want you to realize that this morning because some of you are here today still kind of dabbling with the world, trying to do it your own way, trying to live by your own strength.

There is nothing out there that God doesn't have it in here and it's far superior than everything that is out there.

I didn't get enough claps.

I mean, Jesus didn't get enough claps for that one.

I don't know how many of y'all believe it. (audience applauding) There is nothing out in the world that can satisfy you more than when you are a child of God.

It doesn't exempt you from the trials of life, but you walk a little bit differently.

You walk with joy.

You walk with peace and some hope that one day whatever you're going through is gonna be for a reason that is only meant to make you stronger.

And the one who allowed you to go through it was the one that we call God.

Amen.

You don't have that in the world.

You don't have it.

And if you're here today and you're not in communion with the Father and you have been trying it your way, I wanna invite you to just return back, man.

Return back to the Father who will welcome you.

I promise He will welcome you with a warm embrace as a child of God that you are.

That's not my sermon.

I'm not even talking about the prodigal son today.

We're gonna call that an intro. (congregation laughing) I wanna talk about the other brother.

The whole chapter of Luke 15, it deals with the kingdom of God, specifically those who are brought into the kingdom of God through repentance and the mercies of God.

And in this parable, Jesus, in this chapter, I'm sorry, Jesus tells three parables.

He tells the one of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the prodigal son.

And He's speaking all these things to a group of Pharisees.

He's not telling this to the disciples.

He's telling to the Pharisees.

The Bible says, it's Luke 15 opens up saying, "Now the tax collectors and sinners "were drawing near to Him, "and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying, "'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'"

And so He told them these parables.

So I think that the prodigal son, this is my thought.

I think that the prodigal son might have worried about this group of people.

The one that Jesus is talking to.

I think that because I've talked to a lot of people who have either been hurt by the church or they left the church for whatever reason, they talk about these types of people.

The ones who grumble, the ones who judge, the ones who look at others with disgust.

Some people, some of these people, they stay away from the father because they know how their brother is going to react.

It's like the devil doesn't even have to work to keep these people away from the church.

The church is doing it just fine all by themselves.

And for many of us, I've said it many times, I know that that's not a good enough excuse.

We know that nothing or no one should keep you from communing with God.

No matter how ugly the church can be, God is always good, right?

And if you're a Christian, if you've been a Christian for a long time and you go through something like this where maybe you are hurt by your brother, your sister in the church, it causes you to leave, I think you do deserve a little bit of tough love because you know better.

I've told people in the past who left the church because of a fallout with a member of the church and they didn't go to another church.

See, sometimes you have some disagreements with people in the church and you go and you find another church.

Okay, fine.

Some people, they just leave the church completely because they don't like the church.

Because the church hurt them, they don't like church folk.

And I remember telling a friend of mine once, I said, man, don't go to hell because someone at church hurts your feelings.

Like that's truth, that's real talk with people who know better.

Don't go to hell because your brother didn't show up to your birthday party and you got all offended.

No, I'm not being specific.

That sounded personal. (congregation laughing) No human relationship should ever keep us from the Father.

Right?

But I also think that we need to have grace with people who are not that mature in the way that they think about the kingdom.

That pharisaic mindset keeps a lot of people away from God.

I know for a fact that many of you who have grown up in the church, at one point you left the church for a while because you were tired of people saying everything that you were doing was wrong.

And that you needed to change everything about yourself and how because you went to the movies, we need to cover you in the blood of Jesus and cover you with oil and you shouldn't be wearing jeans to church, in fact, you need to throw out those jeans and you stop wearing makeup.

And it's led a lot of people away from God.

It's hard to be in a place where you always feel like you're the problem.

Most people, I think, would probably not want to be in a relationship with somebody if their family didn't like them.

When I first met my wife's family, if they would have hated me, it would have been really hard for me to continue a relationship with my wife, but they loved me.

Their favorite.

Amen.

That's just the truth.

You probably don't wanna work at a place where all the employees hate you, but your boss likes you.

And so we can't be surprised that some people have reservations about going to a church where they don't feel welcomed by the church.

And this is where I'm like, God, this is why I don't think that we need to talk about this.

We are, I think, I mean, I've been at this church all my life, but I think we are a very welcoming church.

We love people.

We love them.

We bring them to the altars.

It doesn't matter how they look.

There was a couple guys that came into service today, some of them, one of them was saying, I don't like the way that I'm dressed and I feel bad going into this place.

And he was like, man, I smell.

And I was like, man, that doesn't matter, man.

What matters is the condition of your heart.

And God wants you to come as you are so that he can work on who you are.

And that's what we believe.

But that's why I'm like, God, okay, I'm just gonna preach it and we'll see what happens.

But I'm not even talking about just coming to church on Sunday.

Sometimes people want to avoid Christians because they can't stand the way Christians make them feel.

It's not even about coming to church.

It might be them not wanting to be around you because they don't like the way that you're always judging them.

If you're a parent to a child who's not walking with God and you're constantly telling your kids how messed up they are and how they need to change their life and just everything about them, you might be pushing them further away from God before they even get a chance to experience God.

Understand that.

Understand how important and impactful your words are in your attempt to bring people to Jesus.

You're actually pushing them further away from Jesus because of the way that you're handling it.

If you're married to a husband and you're always telling your husband how do you need to be more like the guys in the church and there's so many guys in the church and they're always doing this and they're always doing that and why can't you just be more like them?

He's never gonna come to church.

And listen, I'm not saying that correction isn't in order, but let people see, let people see the love of Christ in you before they see the judgment of a Pharisee in you.

Because that's how many people think of the church.

They don't think Christ loves.

They think the Pharisaic judgment.

And as I read this verse, I said to myself, I hope, because sometimes I tread on this line, I hope I never become like a Pharisee.

I think, I'll say even all of us sometimes tread that line of casting judgment in an unhealthy way.

And the Pharisees, the thing is, the Pharisees weren't just judging the sinners, they were judging a righteous man who was loving the sinners.

I pray I never become the judgmental Christian who judges righteous people out of context when I see them doing something that seems to me a little controversial.

I hope that I can have grace to at the very least ask questions before I make up my mind about somebody because that's not, we don't grant grace to a lot of people.

I see how y'all post on, not y'all, but I'm just speaking in general.

I see how Christians post and how they tear down each other.

We tear down our own when we don't have all the facts, when we haven't asked all the questions.

It is important.

Jesus doesn't tell us not to judge, or yeah, he doesn't tell us not to judge.

He says don't judge incorrectly.

There's a way to judge.

He says when you do judge, make sure that you do it with clear vision.

Take out the speck in your eye because you can't really see what you're judging with the whole speck in your eye.

Make sure you have the facts, ask the right questions before you go on a rant on social media.

Make sure that you have the context before you cast a judgment.

I'm preaching another sermon.

But if I have made it, listen, if I've made it my habit to sit down and eat with sinners, you might make certain conclusions about me.

That's what they were doing with Jesus.

If I was always bailing on my Christian friends to go out and eat with a bunch of drunks and prostitutes, my wife would definitely have a problem with that.

But so would the entire church.

Why?

Probably because you've made certain assumptions about the decisions.

The Pharisees were asking how does this holy man who claims to be the son of God, how does he eat with sinners?

And see for Jesus, it wasn't about the habit, it was about the mission.

Jesus sat down at the sinner's table to love them and to transform them.

And I hope that we never forget that at one point in our lives, we were all sitting at the sinner's table, all of us.

And Jesus came down and he sat with us and he said it's gonna be okay.

I can make you well, I can make you better, I have hope for you.

Amen.

And so for me, I think for many of us, this is why these parables are so beautiful.

When we think of Jesus leaving the 99 to pursue the one, I mean that's beautiful to me, man.

It brings me joy.

We love these parables because in many cases, we know what it's like to be the prodigal.

We know what it's like to be the one who left the church for a while, while still being pursued by the love of Christ.

Or if we don't know what it's like, we know somebody who lived their life like this.

And so that's why we love these parables, because we've either lived them or we know someone who has.

And this has always been church.

Are you still with me?

I gotta do check ins.

This has always been the mission of the church, is to bring people into communion with Jesus.

The church is a place to welcome the lost and the broken and the sick and the desolate and the hopeless without judgment, just love.

Love 'em, love 'em first, then correct later.

And so, but listen, sometimes what that means for the church is that we have to make room for those who need Jesus more immediately.

This is where I'm getting to.

We have to be ready and willing to give up the really good seat that we chose to sit at and we got here early for.

We have to be ready and willing to go and pick somebody up if they need a ride to church, even if it means, I'm gonna run a little bit late.

It's okay to be a little bit late to church if you're picking somebody up.

It's okay, I give you permission.

We need to be ready and willing to give Bibles to somebody who needs the word, man, I was thinking about this yesterday 'cause I just gave my last Bible away yesterday to a brother who came knocking on the door and I gave him a Bible.

I buy expensive Bibles 'cause I like nice things and so I buy expensive Bibles and now I'm giving 'em away.

So just food for thought, maybe get cheaper Bibles. (congregation laughing) This is a Spanish Bible.

Anyways.

Listen, living in the kingdom of God means that those of us in the kingdom of God become ushers.

We're ushers to God's presence.

That's what we are.

If you are a believer, if you are walking in the Lord, you have the good news, you carry the good news of the gospel, the powerful gospel, the life-changing gospel in your heart, you carry it with you.

You're called to be an usher into God's presence.

We have to continuously be rooting for people and cheering for people.

When they stumble, we say it's okay, keep going.

Get up, keep going.

A lot of us when we're watching like a basketball game or something, the team that we're going for, they make a bad play, we get mad, we're like, what was that, what an idiot.

We can't do that with people in the church. (congregation laughing) But that's how we respond sometimes.

What an idiot, what are we thinking?

Sometimes people understand that they made mistakes.

They're coming broken and sometimes they don't need the judgment right away.

First they need an embrace to let them know you are still a part of the kingdom of God.

Jesus still has love for you.

That's powerful.

We are ushers to the presence of God.

At a typical church service, we have ushers.

Ushers are there to greet people with a smile.

They're there to be on the lookout for extra seating that's available to show people the exits, the restrooms.

You know what they do, they give up.

Shout out to Brother Larry and Heather because they give up their seat.

They give up a moment of receiving the word because they're out there ushering.

The worship team ushers people into the presence of God.

That's what they do.

That means that they have to give up a night out of the week.

They come on a Thursday night, they gotta be prepared.

They gotta minister to people.

They have to sing sometimes through the sore throats and the cough.

They have to give something up to help usher people into the presence of God and sometimes, listen, all of this serving in the kingdom of God, it makes people feel undervalued and underappreciated.

And I wanna encourage you today with the word, but I also need to tell you the truth.

That's what it means to be the 99.

That's what it means.

Being a part of the 99 means sometimes you get left and not left in the sense that you're abandoned.

We know that the Lord never leaves us or forsakes us and we obviously matter to God, but listen, the idea of Jesus leaving the 99, we often miss in the story because we're thinking about the beauty of Jesus going after the one, but if I'm the 99 and the good shepherd just left me and his attention is on the one who didn't even wanna be at church, that has the potential of creating a negative and angry and bitter spirit within some of us who have become entitled to certain things in the kingdom of God.

We have a spirit sometimes of entitlement that Jesus needs to give me all his attention all the time.

When there's people out there with more pressing needs and it's not like God can't handle everything all at once, but sometimes we have to be prepared to put our needs second because somebody else needs Jesus.

They need the good, they are in critical condition.

And you're trying to work on the luxuries in the kingdom of God.

You're trying to decorate your mansion that's already in heaven and there's somebody who's trying to get into the gates.

That's what it means to be the 99.

This morning I met with our prayer team, our prayer team that meets every Sunday at 10.15 and they pray for the entire church, everybody.

I mean, I joined them every Sunday for usually like the last 10 minutes, but they lift up everybody.

They lift up the worship team, just in case you didn't know, I want you to know, they lift up the worship team, they lift up the worship leaders, they lift up every leader, every pastor, the pastor's family, they pray for every member, every visitor that's gonna walk in, all the ushers, everybody who's doing kids ministry, everybody who's doing a media, everybody, they pray for everybody, they pray for miracles, they pray for healing, salvation, I love that team.

I love 'em.

And so I told Pastor Brandon about a month ago, man, I wanna set up a short meeting just to let 'em know that I appreciate them and make them feel valued and encouraged because so many times, being the 99, it takes a toll on us.

It takes a toll.

Many times the leaders are the last to receive prayer.

The leaders are the last to eat.

Many times the leaders are the last to be asked, are you okay?

The last to be checked in on, that's what it means to be the 99, you are here for the greater good of the kingdom.

You are there for your brother and for your sister.

Don't allow a spirit of entitlement.

Keep us from enjoying the party when your brother and sister in Christ is celebrated.

At the end of the day, I would rather be the 99 than the one.

It's a beautiful story.

And the spotlight is on the one, you know, Jesus.

And you've seen those like graphics that they make, you see Jesus like carrying back, he looks like hardcore that he's coming back from war, and he's carrying the sheep that got away, it's beautiful.

Everybody's highlighting the one, but I would rather be the 99.

Because if I'm the one, I'm exposing myself to danger.

And these days, the sheep would wander off and the likelihood of it being devoured by a predator was very, very high.

If I'm in the company of 98 others who know how to fight for me and pray for me when I need it and believe with me and have the faith with me and stand with me, I'm in good company.

That's the party that I wanna be at.

Because I have everything that I need when I'm already in the kingdom.

And that's what the father was telling the older brother, all that I have is yours.

Why are you complaining?

The text says in verse 28 about the older son, this is after the father welcomes back the prodigal.

This is a verse I think we probably missed in the story.

It says, but he was angry and refused to go in.

Listen to that.

He was angry and he refused to go in.

I want you to notice that.

Now the tables have turned.

Now the brother who has always been in the company of the father, always obedient, always upholding the laws, always going to church and being a good Christian and dressing right for Sunday morning and knew all the songs and knew all the Sunday school lessons and all the Bible stories.

This person is now refusing to go in because his brother who he believes doesn't belong there is inside.

The Bible talks about a great banquet that Jesus is gonna hold for all of the church.

I plan on being there, I hope you do.

It's a banquet for all those in the kingdom and I wonder how many people will allow their own pride and their bitterness and their unforgiving spirit keep them from partaking in what could have been theirs, what was already theirs for such a long time.

This father throws a huge welcome party for his son who went out, it sounds crazy.

It's like, what are we celebrating exactly?

That's the mentality of the son.

My brother went out and he spent all the money you gave him on prostitutes and on alcohol and on drugs and maybe gambling.

I mean, he just, he completely squandered your inheritance, disrespected you and now you're gonna throw him a party.

Now you're gonna throw him a party.

Listen church man, there are too many Christians, too many Christians angry with the world.

And there's not enough Christians who are saddened by the world.

I want you to understand that.

There's more anger in the church than there is sadness in the church.

When Jesus looked at the lost sheep of Israel, he didn't feel anger, he felt compassion.

He was sad for them because they were a sheep, they were a flock without a shepherd.

We don't share that same emotion with Jesus sometimes.

We have more anger than we have compassion.

When you become angry with the world, you become like Jonah.

And all you want for them is justice and punishment.

And so when they finally turn from their wicked ways and they come back to the Lord, that anger doesn't allow you to receive them because you never had the love and the grace that the father had.

To the older brother, the actions of his younger brother didn't warrant a party, it warranted a punishment.

And now all of a sudden he's entitled, well where's my party?

That's not fair.

That's not, how you gonna throw him apart?

I've never been treated this way.

Do you not love me?

Where's my appreciation?

Where's my meet and greet with the pastor?

Where's my celebratory breakfast?

Where's mine?

I deserve it because I've been working really hard in the church, I've been serving all the leaders and all the pastors and all the kings, where is mine?

So he refused in his anger to go inside and partake of the celebration.

Don't let your anger, church, don't let your emotions, don't let your resentment, your bitterness keep you from the blessings that already belong to you.

Because you feel like you are owed more than the cross that Jesus died on for.

You are not owed more than that, he has already given you his entire self and when he bought you with a price, he also welcomed you into his kingdom.

That is universal, that has all the resources, that has all the hope and all the strength and all the joy.

You already have it.

In this parable, the older son represents the Pharisees.

That's who Jesus is talking to, I'm gonna ask the worship team to come.

He's talking to the Pharisees, these are men who already knew the law, they did their best to keep the law, they honored Yahweh as God, but now they're refusing to partake in the kingdom, why?

Because Jesus, the son of God is eating with people they don't believe belong in their community.

That's what Jesus is saying and the point that he's trying to make is that in their bitterness, despite knowing and obeying the commandments, despite never leaving their religion, they were missing the point of the kingdom.

Jesus is saying, this is the kingdom, it's for all people, it's for every tribe and every tongue and every nation, no matter what your past is, no matter if you don't agree with some of the way that people do church, no matter if you don't like the culture, no matter if you differ on some of the non-serious issues of theology, no matter if you don't like how the pastor preaches, no matter if somebody in the church has hurt you, this is the kingdom.

The kingdom is gonna be filled with people that you might not like.

Your ex-boyfriend who broke your heart, if he's got Jesus, he's gonna be there.

We have to learn to celebrate those who are in the kingdom with us.

Jesus was always in the business of saving people.

He taught his disciples to go out and proclaim the gospel to all those who needed to be saved.

Today, that's still our mission, still our mission.

It's been extended to the church, meaning that we're still in the business of seeing people come to Jesus saved.

The most important thing is that people would have Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The Bible says in the same chapter, verse seven, "I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven "over one sinner who repents "than over the 99 righteous who need no repentance."

Let that sink in for a second.

That means that every Sunday when we join, when the saints gather, and we celebrate Jesus and we sing and we raise our hands and we raise our voices and we worship God with everything that we have and we see healing happen and we see restoration happen and we see miracles happen, the church rejoices over that.

But even if one sinner at the end of the service, heaven is going wild.

They're going wild.

I will never understand how the church can get so excited with churchy things, and then when one person says yes to Jesus, there's like one or two claps.

I don't understand it.

You're not aligning with heaven.

You're not celebrating with the angels in heaven.

I don't know why, I don't know if you're mad, I don't know if you're sad, I don't know what it is.

But that's what Jesus cares about.

That's what Jesus cares about.

I love that.

It's not biblical, but somebody said it and it sounded as good as I'm gonna say it.

It says that when the apostle Paul entered the gates of heaven, you probably heard it, when the apostle Paul entered the gates of heaven, he was welcomed with cheers by all the Christians that he persecuted.

That's the kingdom.

That's the kingdom.

We have to rejoice when the one comes back.

You know, I get it, and I think I've been here, I've been there before, you know, I think sometimes the church, we're so cynical.

We wonder if the person who raised their hand is really gonna stay saved.

We wonder if they're really gonna come back next Sunday.

So instead of celebrating, we're analyzing.

We wonder if that outreach or that interaction with the unbeliever will really affect their souls.

We wonder if that homeless man that came in one time and received a touch from the Lord, we wonder if we're ever even gonna see him again.

We wonder if he's just gonna go back and do what he was doing before.

We need to learn how to celebrate.

Celebrate, that is what it is to be in the kingdom.

Jesus is saying everyone matters, everyone matters.

Everyone, and if only the 99 who already have the blessings, listen church, let me remind you, you already have the hope.

You already have the salvation, you already have the Holy Spirit, and he's already teaching you, and he's leading you.

If only the 99 would be resilient enough to put their needs second to those who need Jesus, we could have a kingdom filled with people who might otherwise not have come to Jesus because they believed the 99 was going to judge them, hate them, look at them funny, not wanna sit with them because they smelled, not wanna get to know them.

Make room today for the one because Jesus made room for you.

Make room for the one because he made room for you.

I want you to stand this morning.

What a shame.

Jesus was saying, and by telling this parable, he was always so harsh with the Pharisees, man, always rebuking them, but this parable is one of the few parables that we see Jesus kind of showing compassion to the Pharisees because again, in the story, the older son represents the Pharisees, and so he tells the story, and he says, "Son, all that I have is yours."

He's telling this to the Pharisees.

"All that I have is yours.

"It could be yours, the kingdom is for you as well, "but in your anger, in your bitterness, in your emotion, "you have put yourself outside."

One thing that we miss in the story that we don't realize is that the Bible says that the father, he was inside celebrating, and then the son that refused to go in, the father goes back out because he will always go after the one.

Now he's going back out.

The kingdom is for everyone, for everyone.

Even that judgmental person who just needs to heal, that person who is so angry, the person who hasn't let go, the person who hasn't forgiven, the kingdom is for you as well.

You just gotta heal.

You just have to heal.

Everybody matters to God.

This is the kingdom.

I thank you, Jesus.

Right now, I just wanna pray over you, church.

My God, I pray that you bring healing to angry spirits, my God.

I pray that you bring healing right now to people who have been hurt, my Lord.

I pray, my God, that you have grace, my God, for those that have been on the fence, my God, they haven't given their whole selves to you, my God, because they have reservations about how their brother is going to react, my Lord.

I pray in Jesus' name right now, Father God, that you would welcome them.

Welcome them to your kingdom, my God.

Tell them that I love you, that the Lord loves you, and he embraces you in your need, in your weakness, the way that you are today.

He wants you to come as you are.

And maybe you have been in the church for a long, long time, and you know the stories, and you know the scripture, and you know theology, and you know the worship songs, but you have something in your spirit that needs to be healed, and Jesus is calling you to come back and embracing you.

That pride that you've lived in for so many years, that anger, that unforgiving spirit, that bitterness that you've lived in for such a long time.

Jesus is welcoming you back to return.

You don't have to live in it anymore.

There is grace in the kingdom.

There is love, there is compassion in the kingdom, and if you're here this morning and you want to respond to this word, and you want to come back to Jesus, or give something to Jesus and let it go at the altar, I want you to come forward.

This is a specific altar call.

If that's you this morning, with no shame, come forward this morning.

And if you're in need of prayer, I'm gonna have the prayer team just help me out.

But I want you to take a step this morning and surrender to God, and don't question if He'll take you back, and don't question if you're not good enough, and don't question if you're damaged goods, He will give you an embrace. - Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

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Thanks again and God bless. (soft music) (soft music) [MUSIC]