WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.519 You are listening to the Gateway Franklin Church podcast. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:13.279 To learn more about Gateway Franklin Church, including our service times here in Franklin, Tennessee, visit us online at GatewayFranklin.com. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.000 And now, here is this week's message. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:25.199 Today marks Gateway's 1000th and first Sunday. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:26.399 1001. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:27.359 Isn't that great? 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:31.519 That's um that's uh U.S. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:33.520 Open Golf Applause, is what that was. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:36.159 That was that was pretty pretty weak. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:42.479 Um I would have celebrated 1000, uh, but if you were here last week, I wasn't here. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:53.439 And um one of the greatest honors a pastor can get uh bestowed on them is for another pastor, especially a pastor in their city, who was not out of town to ask them to come preach. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:55.119 And that's where I was this past week. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:04.159 I was at Southview Church with Mark Rampula, and um I didn't do the math early enough before he invited me when I said yes because it's such a privilege. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:13.040 Mark Rampula, pastor in our city, their church is probably uh 15 years, 14, 15 years old or something like that. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:16.879 Mark is uh a gift to the body in our area. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:21.280 Mark has the unique ability of gathering lead pastors together. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.560 And most lead pastors don't like one another by nature. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:27.040 I can't can't tell you why that is. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:31.680 Um but he had if Mark invites me, I go. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:39.680 If Mark invites me, I know it's going to be a place where um we're gonna get some life and be able to give some life. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:45.519 So no, I wasn't here, but I was there, and I'm grateful for him and his church. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.480 Um what a what a great man of God. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:54.400 So for Father's Day, I have always paraded out Father's Day jokes. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.439 And so here are some new ones. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.920 One one is an old one, it's a classic. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.719 Uh it always has I always have to do it when I get Father. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:04.239 We'll save that one for last, though, Father. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.280 All right here's the first one. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:09.039 I've got it um on the screen for dramatic effect, all of them. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.080 What do you call bears with no ears? 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:22.400 Bine o'clock liked that one better than you did. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.080 If you want to know how to build a boat, I know a guy. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:33.680 That that's us Jerseyans, we always know a guy. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.840 What word can you make shorter by adding two letters? 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:39.280 Short. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:40.960 Someone knew that one. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:43.919 Please, please don't yell it out ahead of time. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:49.759 It ruins it ruins it for the rest of us, Elizabeth. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.840 Well, I thought this was apropos since we're we're we're trying to develop into playgrounds and parking and all that. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.319 What why did the chicken cross the playground? 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.960 To get to the other slide. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:03.120 Are you good? 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:03.680 Yeah. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:06.960 All right, and and and this is the one I got I gotta use all the time. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:07.280 All right. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.159 So if you hear the last whoever many years I've been doing it, you'll still laugh just as loud. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:18.800 If a tree falls in the woods and a woman is not around to hear it, is the man still wrong? 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:23.280 Yeah, thank you. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:23.840 Thank you. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:24.960 Connor. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:30.719 Uh you gotta be really brave as a man to laugh really loud at that one. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:41.919 When I first saw that, I gotta tell you, I mean, my we were with my in-laws, we were at a little hamburger place in Social Circle, Georgia, and the and the place is just scrolling jokes and stuff, right? 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:51.199 So my father and I, father-in-law and I just happened to be looking at the screen at the same time and read that at the same pace and both laughed out loud at the same time. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:56.879 And of course, my mother-in-law and Gina had didn't see it, and so I was really happy to retell it. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:07.520 It was that it was that inspiring of a uh of a joke for me, and it didn't, neither one of them received it in the manner in which in which Jimmy and I received it. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:09.599 So um anyway. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:29.199 Uh each Mother's Day and Father's Day, I faced the same kind of what I call preaching dilemma, would be uh, do I pause whatever current series I'm in and kind of speak a direct words to to moms and dads, or do I, you know, just recognize that and then move on with the series? 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:33.680 And so I was really looking forward to um to Psalm 122. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.399 I mean, I even did Psalm 120, I did it for Southview. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:47.279 It just has made an impression on me, the idea that in my distress I called on the Lord and he answered, and the stress is a distress is a tight place, and that God is one that wants to move us to a spacious place. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:52.560 And so it had such grabbed me that I I did that message, I did that message for them. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.079 And then Pastor Ruth coming right behind me with Psalm 121. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:59.040 Um, I was really looking forward to 122. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.360 We'll have to wait next week because I prayed specifically. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:07.439 Lord, if there is a specific word, if you give me a specific word um around fathers, that I will preach that. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:10.800 If not, I'm not just gonna preach a generic message around Father's Day. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:12.800 And so I've that's what I believe he gave me. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:16.959 Um and it's in kind of in the same vein as I did Mother's Day. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:24.000 So it wasn't like I spoke a direct word to mothers, but I used, I used mothers in scripture to speak a word to all of us. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.759 This kind of will fall in a similar pattern this particular week. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:34.879 I'm into long titles these days, so here's the title today: A Father's Story and a Son's Prayer. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:39.920 Embracing God the Father through the eyes of God the Son. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:46.399 Um, there's overwhelming research indicating the impact of a healthy fatherly relationship. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:06:00.079 I mean, it goes as far as determining success rate in schools, in school, in careers, uh, emotional stability, and there's even studies that connect it to neurological and physiological development. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:07.199 Two interesting findings in some of my research, and this might not be new, it wasn't completely new, but I still find them interesting. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:18.399 The first is that daughters who have a healthy relationship with their fathers report higher body confidence and are less likely to engage in early and risky sexual activity. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:24.879 When sons have a healthy relationship with dad, they are more likely to respect women. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:28.079 I find those two things pretty interesting. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:34.079 You won't find a study that counteracts the critical nature of the father-child relationship. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:43.600 And yet cultural wins consistently diminish the value of all things male, and in general, father specifically. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:49.439 I think Disney wrote us out of most stuff years and years and years ago as a necessity for families. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.920 And here's the question that I posed. 00:06:52.079 --> 00:07:07.839 If God's biological design necessitated both a man and a woman to produce a child, why wouldn't his family plan necessitate both father and mother to raise a whole emotionally healthy child? 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:13.519 Now, with that said, I know that we have single moms here, or maybe a single mom raised you. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:35.199 And by all imaginations, they are tough as nails and have stepped into, stepped into, for whatever reason, whatever necessitated it, stepped into a role that required much more of her than what God had originally planned. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:43.120 And I believe then God then dispenses an extra measure of grace when a single mom takes on. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:55.839 But I always saw I've been around a lot of single moms in my years of ministry, and almost to a almost to a person I can recall their desire to have healthy male relationships in the lives of their son and daughter. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:08.000 But whenever you start wondering is a husband or a man necessary, I think you got to think about if it's both necessary to produce a child, both necessary to raise a child. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:11.839 Now it's no secret that father's a mother's parent differently. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:20.959 I read recently that a mother bonds with a child through conversation, and that a dad bonds through play or by activity. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:27.519 And um I just I remember just remember the times when Gina was away and I had Annie by myself. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:34.559 It wasn't often, but I remembered enough to know that when she was gone and Annie didn't want to go to school, I didn't make her. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:37.919 I remember don't feel good. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:39.200 Oh, you don't have to go. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:40.159 Let's go do something. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:40.480 Right? 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.759 Let's go do something. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:48.720 Um and then um Gina was always meticulous about her hair, and I couldn't fix her hair to save my life, just long blonde hair. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:57.039 I I could I could wash it, I could, I could dry it, I could brush it, but I could not get that thing in a ponytail. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:03.919 And I remember going to Toys R Us one day looking for a mom, found one and said, Can you please fix my daughter's hair? 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.519 I did that, I did that. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:12.720 Um but when when I'd come home for work, I would routinely ask Gina, what did you guys do today? 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:17.039 And when I had Annie, and I didn't have Annie by myself a lot. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:20.399 I remember when she was little, little, and I'm going to Home Depot. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.600 And by the way, dads, we have a dad's depot out there. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:29.360 So, so all that stuff on the way out, we just wanted to save you a trip today. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:37.679 So there's duct tape out there, there's super glue, there's Gatorades, there's a gentleman on the way out grabbed some seeds, some grass seeds. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:39.600 So there's there's a plethora of stuff. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.440 Um, I encourage you to peruse it. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.799 But however, my wife told me that she saw most of the women picking it out for the man. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.639 So I don't, I don't know what I don't know if that I don't know if that ruins anything. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:53.919 So um I was on the way to home and she said, Um, well, why don't you take Annie with you? 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.240 And I went, Why would I do that? 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:59.679 I mean, she couldn't talk, she couldn't push the buggy, she couldn't carry anything. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:00.159 Right. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:04.639 So um what we do, men do, women talk. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:06.399 So she'd say, What did you guys talk about? 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:07.200 And I said, Talk. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:08.159 What do you mean, talk? 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:09.360 I mean, here's what we did. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:10.320 Here's what we did. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:16.480 So there's this balance that fathers and mothers bring into this um relationship. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:22.639 Um, my relationship with my father was then built around doing. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.039 Um, my dad and I did things. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.919 Well, we really didn't do things, we did his thing. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:28.559 All right. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:30.960 So you've heard me talk a lot about the service station. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:32.080 I remember one particular day. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:35.840 So my role at the service station mainly was pumping gas. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:42.480 So in the summer, Monday through Friday, my hours were 6:30 to 5 and any night shift that came open. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:48.399 And um, and I learned to be good with people literally by pumping gas in a small town. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:50.639 But on Saturday is what I longed for. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:52.320 Saturday I worked 8 to 2. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.480 Saturday, my main role wasn't pumping gas. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:56.399 It was in one of the bays of our station. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:57.679 So we had two bays. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:59.840 I would be in one bay, and dad would be in another bay. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:01.919 So I would do the stuff that was quick turnaround. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:07.279 So I would fix tires, sell tires, replace tires, batteries, I would change oil. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:12.000 I would can replace most any part if you didn't have to take a part off to get to that part. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:15.039 Because that's that then it's mechanic work. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.200 Dad, dad did the stuff that made money. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:24.240 So dad did the tune-ups, dad did the brake jobs, dad did the mufflers, he would do um uh replacing the parts that I couldn't get to. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:29.360 On occasion, I would ask dad for help, and he would come over with such I mean, he was so helpful. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.960 He'd come over, he'd teach me, and then sometimes he'd ask me for help. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:39.039 My help generally was my hands were smaller to meet reach the back part of engines to get the plugs that his arms couldn't reach to. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:44.080 And I remember on this particular Saturday, I felt his joy. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:49.679 I mean, he we didn't sit down from eight to two, and he was just beaming. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.759 Now, one, our our labor sheet was really long. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:53.519 I mean, so we made we made good money that day. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:54.159 I remember that. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:55.840 And that always made my dad happy. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:02.000 Um and but I remember that he just loved being there with me. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.919 I'm reminded, Eric, and and so that's a that's a that's a human story. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:16.480 So on a spiritual note, um, Eric Little was a Scot on the Great Britain's Olympic team, 1924. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.559 You can go watch the movie later on today. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.919 It's an old movie from 1981 called Chariots of Fire. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:23.919 Eric was a believer. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:30.960 Um and he was going to do mission work in China right after graduation from Cambridge. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:41.600 His sister did not like the fact that Eric was considering running in the Olympics and delaying his move to China. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:49.360 She felt like he was putting God, he was putting God behind running behind God and his calling. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:59.279 And in a really, really um emotional piece of the movie, he turns to his sister and he says, When I run, I feel God's joy. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:11.519 It's really an amazing statement of a relationship between a father and a son, and the son operating and how his dad created him. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.840 Turns out his specialty was the 200. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:15.600 They were running the 200 on a Sunday. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:16.960 He refused to run. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.559 He didn't run. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:29.120 He ran the next day, he ran the 400, which is a completely different kind of race, and that's why he ran it like he was running a 200 and smashes records and comes home with the gold. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:34.559 There, there is there is a it's a lot, again, the first line of Josh Baldwin's son song. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:37.840 I know who I am because I know who you are. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:49.120 So my contention today is the more we know, the more we know of God the Father, the more truth we know of God the Father, the more we can embrace God as Father. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.120 All right, and that's where we want, that's where I want to, that's where I want to take you today. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:58.480 We all, most of us deal with something that's been labeled the father wound. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:01.840 And um, and I don't, I don't, look, I'm a dad. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.360 I I know where I've caused my daughter pain. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:06.639 I know that. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:19.360 But when you but you when but the enemy wants to leverage every opportunity he can to drive wedges between sons and daughters and fathers. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:28.399 And so whether or not it was neglect of a father or a misunderstanding of a father, or in my case, my my dad was emotionally distant. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:34.159 My dad could not have a my dad could not have a serious intimate conversation with me at all. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:41.039 And it was years and years where I realized that he never had any relationship with his father and mother. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:42.080 None. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:45.840 And so because of that, he just wasn't, he wasn't equipped to do that. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:47.919 Now, I I'm not excusing any of us for that. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:55.519 What I'm saying is then the enemy can take that and he can cause wounds inside of us because here's what happens. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:02.159 When we carry a wound like that, it impacts our next, the next generation. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:04.080 It will have an impact. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:08.559 Um, it impacts how we engage with God the Father. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.240 And so those those things have a ripple effect. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:21.440 That's why the enemy wants to, he wants to subvert those ultimately until we get to the place where you know it impacts um when it impacts our worship. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:24.320 Um identity is everything. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:35.200 And so because the word identity can be somewhat of an elusive concept, I defined it this way: identity is what we believe about ourselves. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:40.159 Your identity is what you believe about yourselves. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:47.039 So, in that case, that makes be that makes my identity a learned behavior. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.440 And if I can learn a behavior, what else can I do? 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:54.320 I can unlearn a behavior. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:16:10.240 Okay, so if my identity is a learned behavior, and your identity has been impacted negatively, you can unlearn that, and you can unlearn that as you learn more about your heavenly father. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:18.399 Now, we've all been impacted by this, so let me but so let me give you some good news. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:21.919 You aren't alone in living with a broken identity. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.480 See, the the enemy wants to isolate you. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:32.720 And let me say something to the men real quickly, um, just because this is my experience, okay? 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.720 So I talk a lot about my relationship with dad. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:40.159 When I before, years and years ago, I didn't say a word about it. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:47.039 But the more I would talk about it in circles with men, the more I learned how common it was. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:54.320 And when I learned how common it was, I learned the healing that was available when I shared that with other men. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:01.519 See, what from the very beginning, what the enemy wanted to do is isolate us out of our sin. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:04.480 When Adam and Eve sin, they hide. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:08.559 The beauty of God, right? 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:10.000 He comes after us. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:12.799 Demonstrated there in the garden. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:24.160 So, so if the enemy can isolate you, then he most likely can end up, if he's not defeating you, you will you know what I'm saying about feeling defeated. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.720 So you're not alone in that broken identity. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:31.359 Second is sin, ours and others, is the source of all broken identities. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.559 It's always going to be the source, my sin or their sin. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:38.400 But since sin is the source, sin has an answer. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.519 And God is our identity redeemer. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:46.160 I love pegging it to sin for that reason, because sin has an answer. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.720 Lies keep broken identities broken, truth sets us free. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:54.720 This is to me one of the strong points when Jesus says that he's the way. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:59.839 The way I wrote it today was Jesus is the way maker, truth teller, and life giver. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:08.319 And identity wounds are the real and they're painful, but their scars tell a great story. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:12.640 Because the scars point us to God as our identity healer. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.079 So here's my statement today. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:25.839 The more truth we have about God our Father, the more we move towards Him, the more we embrace Him, the more we're shaped by His character, and the more whole we become. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.000 Now, said all that to get to this place. 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:36.640 Jesus is our best source of Father information. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:45.519 So four times in the book of John, John 5, John 8, John 12, and John 14, Jesus says the equivalent of this. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:49.039 The words I speak to you are initiated by my father. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:51.200 They're authorized by my father. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:54.400 I don't think I put this up there, so don't you won't see it. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:19:02.079 The words I speak are initiate from my father, they're authorized by my father, they're a description of what I see my father doing. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.079 They've been taught to me by the father. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:06.559 When you've seen me, you've seen the father. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:09.279 All right, so John 5, you can write those down. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.960 5, 8, 12, 14, you'll read all of what I just said. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:20.319 So that being the case, then, our best information about God the Father is going to come from God the Son. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:22.559 All right, good logic there, right? 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.799 All right, so there's two things. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:33.519 Um there's a story that we know as the prodigal son story, and I contend in light of this message that's not titled real well. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.559 I think it's better a father's story. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:44.640 Although the prodigal son, and I'll read it, but although the prodigal son plays obviously a prominent, a prominent role, he doesn't pay the lead, he's not the lead character. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:54.960 The second is when Jesus is asked to the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.240 We know that is the Lord's prayer. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:00.640 I'm calling it a son's prayer. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.079 We generally read it to how am I supposed to pray? 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.319 I don't think that that's wrong. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:08.400 I think there's another ring to it. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:11.279 I think Jesus is telling us who we're praying to. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:13.839 Not just what to pray. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:16.640 I think he's telling us who to pray to. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:30.559 So um, so we're gonna do both stories, and if you're new with us, since I didn't preach last week, I always get extra time the week I'm back, um, especially at the 11 o'clock service. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:31.839 All right, Luke 15. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.759 So this is a story, and I want um Jesus continued. 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:37.200 There was a man, so continued. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:41.039 So there's three stories that start Luke 15, all about lost things. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:46.000 Starts with a lost sheep, moves to a lost coin, and it goes a lost son. 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:48.720 All right, that's why it says Jesus continued. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.200 There was a man who had taught who had two sons. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:55.519 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.559 So he divided his property between them. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:06.880 Not long after that the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:12.640 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country, and he began to be in need. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:19.119 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:24.640 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:32.640 When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:38.640 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:41.279 I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:43.440 Make me like one of your hired servants. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:47.359 So he worked out his speech before he left. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.200 So he got up and went to his father. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:56.319 That is that is the rising action of the story. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:57.920 It's not quite the apex. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:03.680 But while he was still A long way off, his father saw him, and he was filled with compassion for him. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:06.640 He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:08.880 There's the climax of the story. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:14.480 The son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:22.960 But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, bring the fattened calf and kill it. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:24.880 Let's have a feast and celebrate. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:28.160 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:30.000 He was lost and is found. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:32.160 So they began to celebrate. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:41.200 Now that's a jaw-dropping story for us, but it would have been people would have fallen over in the first century, as Jesus tells the story. 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:42.640 They would have fallen over. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:50.000 The very thought of a son going to his father ahead of time and saying, Give me what you owe me. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:55.839 Give me what you owe me was counting the father as dead. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.839 Even more so that the father complies. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:09.119 We don't hear about the father being angry. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:23.440 And when it says it took a time before him to get his stuff together and leave, how long did it take for the father to come up with enough cash to give his son half of his estate? 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:39.200 But the dad knows in the story that having a son is different than holding on to a son. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:43.440 In order to have the son, he let go of the son. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:56.160 So the part of the story most people would recognize and know is the son spent everything he had antithetical to his father's character and his upbringing. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:57.440 Everything. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:01.839 We don't know how long it takes, but we do know he's empty. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:06.960 And he ends up taking a job that no respecting Jewish man would have taken. 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:14.079 So he goes from a person that was an heir to a farm to a person feeding the pigs at somebody else's farm. 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:20.400 And then it occurs to him, when he's hungry, that his dad was generous and kind. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:26.400 He thinks that, hey, even my dad's servants are living better than I'm living right now. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:40.400 And the apex of the story here, the the climax, well, apex, it's just underneath it, is it says when he got up, when Jesus tells the story, the words he uses there is a reflection of repentance. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:42.880 It was repentance. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:47.200 It wasn't like the guy did a financial calculation and realized he was better off at home. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:53.279 He did an overarching assessment and said, I had it better off as a son than I do now. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:58.640 And even though he won't take me as a son anymore, he'll I can at least go back as a servant. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:03.839 The climax of the story is that the father sees the son far off. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.359 So here's what this tells me. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:09.680 There wasn't a day that the dad wasn't looking for his son. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:12.640 It wasn't an arbitrary passing. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.839 It wasn't running his ranch, just glancing out down the lane. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:20.160 He would have looked intently every opportunity he had. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:24.720 And the scripture says that when he sees his son afar off, he has compassion on him. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:26.640 This is kind of an amazing thing, right? 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:30.000 Because that far off, I don't think he smells his son. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:41.839 And I would have thought that there's no indication that the kid went home, packed stuff because he didn't have stuff to pack, got cleaned up, took a shower, got you know, and headed on a journey. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:42.799 Maybe. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.319 I mean that it's a story. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.759 It's open-ended, right? 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:54.640 So before the father could see that he was hadn't eaten in a while, before the father could uh smell him, he's filled with compassion. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:55.119 Why? 00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:01.039 Because he knows what the son left and there wasn't going to be anything that can match what he left. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:06.319 Because there wasn't any other opportunity to have a dad like that dad. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:10.160 And then the restorative action, we find him kissing him. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:13.680 This was a relational restorative action, very intimate. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:15.680 It's always very intimate a kiss, right? 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:19.920 Think about a kiss between a father and a son, which is pretty staggering. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:21.839 So here's a kiss. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.400 And then the kiss was personal. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:28.960 The robe and the ring and the sandals, the celebration, that was public. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:32.160 He doesn't have a vote. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:38.000 He doesn't get the the ranch hands and the other brother around and saying, Hey, what do you think, guys? 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.160 Shouldn't should we bring him back? 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:41.680 There's no vote. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:43.680 No one gets a vote. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:45.119 No comparison here. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.160 The son make the father makes a unilateral decision. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:49.519 That's my son. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:51.200 And I want him back. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:55.759 And I'm gonna let all of you know he's in back in the same spot he was when he left. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:03.759 He's wearing the same ring, he's wearing the robe, he's wearing the sandals, and we're gonna celebrate the fact that he didn't leave and in and stick it to all of us. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.440 He is now alive. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:07.119 He is now alive. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:16.640 So I call it a father story because Jesus is telling the story to give us this indication of who is this person that's our father. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:23.200 The person that we have as a father in God is one filled with compassion. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:32.079 One, you can say that his great love was he received him back, and I'd say, yeah, but an equal amount of love was letting his son go. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:40.160 How hard is that for a loving father to say, I know you're gonna run your cart in a ditch. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:46.799 But if it's gonna take you going in a ditch to get back to me, then I'll let you go in a ditch. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:53.200 We have a compassionate father. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:03.599 He could have woven into the story how mad the father was, how that made the father look in the eyes of everyone else in town, not included in the story. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:08.559 The compassion, the restorative nature of the father. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:32.480 The more you know about truly who God the Father is and how the lies that the enemy weaves and the stories that you may have heard, the more that story, a son's story about a father, the more you get that woven into your spirit, the more humble you are towards the father, the more grateful you are towards the father. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:45.119 The more you say, Yeah, I know he loves me, but when you're forgiven all of that, it's not I know my father loves me, it's I feel my father loves me. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:47.119 Okay, that's a father story. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.680 Let's get to the son's prayer. 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:56.799 So, like I said, we teach it, we learn it in a manner that says this is how we should pray. 00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:04.960 But we know that the intent here, what Jesus wasn't teaching them to repeat a prayer, he was teaching them how to approach the Father. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:09.200 But I think he's also teaching us who the Father is that we approach. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:14.559 All right, so it's it's in Luke 11, it's also in Matthew 6. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:17.119 Uh I'm gonna do mainly Luke 11. 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:18.799 I'm gonna weave in a little Matthew 6. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:25.200 Luke 11, he it's a little, it's a little short winded. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.920 So let me tell you why, let me tell you the connection piece here. 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:33.359 When you know who you are, you walk taller where you are. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:34.319 Okay? 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:42.799 When you are relationally secure with the Heavenly Father, what you face on a daily basis, you face in a different manner. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:43.839 Right? 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:54.880 If you're insecure about it, if you feel like he's distant, disengaged, without the means, then you live life differently. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:55.440 Okay? 00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:08.000 So when we when we're when we're in relationship with the Father and we understand his whole, compassionate, forgiving, loving, restorative nature, then I can lead, I can live life differently. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:13.279 And I think Jesus is telling us how do we engage with God regularly in this prayer. 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:13.759 Okay? 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:19.599 So he begins, our Father, okay, again, a reminder of who he is, hallowed be your name. 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:23.680 I think he's teaching us that God the Father is revereworthy. 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:29.839 Revere worthy, that the character of God our Father is more immense than we can measure. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:37.440 Again, you've heard me say, I don't want to worship someone that's not aship someone that's not smarter than I am. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.759 And it generally raises some eyebrows when I say that. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:51.839 But one of the things the enemy wants us to do is to remove the polish off of God, to diminish who he is in our sight. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:31:06.480 That's the only way false worship works, is if we don't believe that God our Father is revere-worthy, that he is at the top, there's no one, nothing above him. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:20.400 And so the beginning prayer is a reminder that the person we're calling Father, there is no one above him and no one else that remotely measures up to you worshiping him. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:25.039 He is someone worthy of worship. 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:33.279 The second thing I think he teaches us about God is that God the Father is trustworthy with our present and our future. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:41.759 When he says, your kingdom come, and then Matthew adds, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.519 Now, what does it take to pray that prayer? 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:52.640 Any any people that enjoy controlling your world in here? 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:53.440 Any? 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:54.640 Any at all? 00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:56.960 The hands go up slowly. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:01.680 The longer I wait, the more I see them above the back of the seats, right? 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:04.480 So we all fall into this category. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:08.400 Um, I remember in college, I would go into my advisor. 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:12.559 The advisor was supposed to help you map out your journey to finish in four years. 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:16.160 I remember going into my advisor with it mapped out. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:20.640 Because my mom and dad made something very, very, very, very clear. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:23.279 You get eight semesters. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:27.279 You don't, that's it. 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:28.480 You get eight. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:34.559 And so I didn't want to leave my fate in somebody else's hands that was seeing 50 more people behind me. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:35.519 You know what I'm saying? 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:45.119 So, what does it take for us to actually surrender our future to somebody and mean it? 00:32:46.559 --> 00:33:06.319 So Jesus is teaching us that God, God is sufficient for us to place what we want behind what He wants, because what He wants is always going to be better for us than what we want. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:17.039 That our plans for ourselves, what while they may be great plans, they are short-sighted. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:22.000 Because we can only see what we see now. 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:25.279 But God our Father sees it all. 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:29.839 And so going to the Father with our will is not a problem. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:31.920