Act 1

One of the great hopes, the great beacons of hope in middle school life or elementary school life, is this mythical room that is called the lost and found. If you've ever needed it, you know, right? Some of you, that room was actually like homeroom because you were so irresponsible when you were growing up. But, you know that if you need that room that that room is incredibly important. Because if you brought something and you lost it, you know how scary that is. Because the word itself to an elementary school student or to a middle school student, the word lost is reasonably scary. 
Let's say for gym that day you brought your ball glove because you were going to do a unit on softball and all of a sudden you lost your glove. Or you brought your lunch in your lunchbox, back when lunchboxes were cool. You brought your lunch in your lunchbox but somehow misplaced it now your lunchbox is lost. 
So through tears, what you end up doing is you talk to your teacher. You're kind of crying and snotting yourself and basically saying, "I lost it." Then, your teacher says, "Well, let's go down to the lost and found. And you go, "What is this magical room that you speak of where lost things can actually be found?" And it gives you this rising sense of hope inside when she explains that some things that were lost got turned in and maybe your lost item is in this place and you can grab it. So, they kind of have this feeling like, "I've got hope. Maybe, just maybe, I will get to be reunited with my David Hasselhoff Knight Rider lunchbox after all. It brings great hope because it can be really scary to hear the word lost and really hopeful to hear that it's possible for it to be found.
Well, the word lost is also scary for adults. When we talk about the word lost, I'm not talking about lost as in I lost weight. You're going, "That's a good term," right? But, I'm talking about lost in terms of relationship, lost spiritually. That for adults is also a concerning and disconcerting word. Jesus knew that full well, and he wanted us to understand some things about this idea of spiritual lostness. So, he told a story.T his story is one of the most famous stories that Jesus ever told. In fact, you'll recognize the story when you see it. We'll be there momentarily. We're going to be in Luke chapter number 15. I want us to be able to look at this story for what it is, for what Jesus wants to teach us about all sorts of things, not the least of which is this idea about lostness.
The story begins this way in Luke 15, beginning in verse number 11. It says, "Jesus continued. There was a man who had two sons." Now, this is important. Because when we read the opening verse of this story, verse number 11, it gives us some insights. I mean, Jesus tells us that there are two sons. He doesn't say that there's six sons. He doesn't say that there's four sons. He doesn't say that there's 10 sons. He tells us that there are two sons. And there's a reason for that. Sometimes when we tell stories that we just kind of make up some stuff to go along with getting to the main point of the story, but it's important why we actually say two sons here. Jesus is using that phrase very specifically. And the reason he's using that phrase is because of the audience that's listening to him.
You see, when you back up a few verses into the beginning of Luke chapter 15, here's what we notice. He says, "Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" You see, what we find out pretty quickly is that Jesus has two sets of people that are listening to him. He has tax collectors and sinners, people who everybody knows are sinful people, and their sinful acts have been documented and everybody knows them. Then, you've got Pharisees and teachers of the law, people who are righteous, but may who be righteous in their own eyes. They're not people that externally you can see are really sinful, but they have a self-righteousness that can be really detrimental. 
So, Jesus takes these two groups of people, this group of people that were sinful, and everybody knew it, and it was obvious their sins were made obvious, and then he's got this externally righteous group of people that are over here, and both of those two groups of people are listening to him, and he tells a story about two sons. You see, it's important that we understand that from the outset because this is actually how the story unfolds. The story unfolds in two acts. So in act one, Jesus is talking about the younger son whose sin is painfully obvious to everyone. Then, in act two of the story, he's talking about the older son, or the older brother, that maybe we think is righteous, but we come to learn some different things about. Today, we're going to be talking about the younger brother. We're going to be talking about the younger son. In other words, we're going to be concentrating today on act one, and then we'll work toward act two next week.
But, the reason that I bring up the first opening verse is because not only does it tell us and sets the story for the fact that there are two sons and we understand how we got to those two sons because of the two groups of people that are listening to story, but also because there's something else. You see, the very first words that the gospel writer, Luke, inserts for us there prior to Jesus telling this story, he says, "Jesus continued." That's important for us. And the reason that it's important for us is because it tells us that something else is going on here. What it tells us is this, is that Jesus continued telling some stories, in other words, the story about the two sons is the third story in a three-story set. See, that's why when we see that Jesus continued when we opened this up and recognize he's telling us a story that it's the continuation of a story.
You see, the first story that you read there in Luke chapter 15 is the story of about a lost sheep. Then, right after that, there's a story about a lost coin. Then, right after that, there's a story about a lost son. You see, these stories actually begin to build on one another in intensity because here's what you'll notice. In the very first story, 1 out of 100 sheep is lost. In the second story, 1 out of 10 coins is lost. And in the third story, what?
Nope. Two out of two sons are lost. I set you up. You see, these build in intensity, and it's imperative that we understand that because the first two stories set the table for the third story that Jesus is now going to tell. How does the story begin to unfold after he says this father had two sons? Well, here's how it goes forward in verse number 12. It says, "The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate," so he divided his property." Notice that word. "He divided his property between them." 
Now, I don't know if you and I really feel the full weight of what's going on here. But in the ancient world of the Middle East, they would have heard this and would have shrieked at the level of disrespect that the younger son had actually shown to his father. You see, the truth is, is that just like today, you don't get an inheritance until the father actually dies. So as a son, you don't actually get the inheritance until your father is done. That means that, ultimately, the father would have to die so that you could get your share of the land.
Now, Deuteronomy actually tells us that those shares are marked out by who the oldest son is and who the younger son is, or who the sons are. In here, we have two sons. So, the older son would be promised two thirds of the property in terms of his inheritance, and the younger son would get one third of the property for his inheritance.
Now, you noticed a moment ago that I read this that I highlighted the word property, and there's a reason for that. Because the word property in the Greek language translates with this word. Listen to it. Bios. That sound familiar? Like biosphere, biology, life. That's what it means. So when you saw that he actually sold his property, the actual word there in the Greek language is life. Do you know why? Because in the ancient Middle East land was life. They were a part of the land, and the land was a part of them. It was basically what gave you status in the community, and it's what provided for your very life.
Now, for the son to ask his father for his inheritance now was the equivalent, listen to this, was the equivalent of the son saying to the father I wish you were dead. And when that was told in this story, I imagine that all of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, when they heard Jesus telling this story, had to gasp when they heard the younger son say to the father, "Give me my share of the estate." They had to gasp. And I'm imagining that maybe even those that were the tax collectors and sinners, because they realized how disrespectful this was, they may have also gasped at what they heard when Jesus began to tell this story.
But, do you know what? All of them, the tax collectors, and sinners, and the Pharisees, and teachers of the law would have gasped at how the father responded to that disrespectful request. Because what did he do? He sold the property, and he gave them the money. That is exactly the opposite of what they would have understood for a father to do because a father in the ancient Middle East was very revered. Remember, we're talking about an honor and a shame culture in this context. And for a father to be disrespected in that way for a son ... And it was the younger son even. It wasn't even the older son. It was the younger son who disrespects the father in such a significant way, basically saying, "Give me my share of the estate. I wish you were dead." Do you know how an ancient Middle Eastern father would have dealt with that? He would've beat his son with blows all the way off his property and announce to him on his way out that he is no longer a son, that he has been disinherited. That's how that would've gone.
So now, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law, and the tax collectors, and sinners are all going, "What kind of father is this?" And Jesus, as a master storyteller ... And do you know why Jesus is a master storyteller? Because he's the master. That's why. As a master storyteller, he is helping them to see that this father that he is demonstrating here is different than anything that they could ever imagine. But, just imagine what this father did. He sold the land. He sold the property. That took some time. It would've been a disgrace in the community because he would've had to answer questions as to why. He owns this. The land is his life, and the life is land, and now he's getting rid of it because he's giving this to his son who's disrespected him in such a way and wants to check out and leave. He's paying a financial price. He's paying an emotional price. For the very thing that's going on here, I can't imagine how difficult that was for the father.
The story continues in verse number 13. It says, "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So, he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything."
You see, what he did is he ended up going off to a distant country, a far country. That would've meant it would've been a gentile country. Or maybe the Jews would've called it a pagan land. Because they were situated, they're in Israel, everything outside of that would have been constituting the Roman empire, virtually. So wherever they went, they would've been in some kind of pagan or gentile country. So, what this is is the son not only disrespecting the father but now leaving the land of his father, and the land of his people, and the god of his people. He's adding indignity to insult already.
He takes all of the money that the father gave him, which would've been a small fortune for this young son, and he basically uses it on wild living. Now, when you see that, it sounds a bit understated. But when you begin to understand what wild living meant, it meant the exercise of all of your desires in all of the manners that you wanted to, whether that was sexually, or experientially, or otherwise. Prostitutes, strong drink, everything that he could surround himself with and do, he did. And the Bible says that he squandered his wealth.
Now, that word squandered is an important one. It's where we get our word in English prodigal. You see, that's the idea behind what prodigality actually is. Prodigality is the equivalent of wasteful spending, or extravagant spending, or spending to the point of having no more. That is the idea behind prodigal. So this young man, this young son, spent everything that he had, a small fortune, on wild living, sewed his oats, but now a famine came. And when you've got a famine in a land, that's a difficult place to be, particularly if you're broke. It's one thing to be broke but have some food. At least you've got something to eat. Or on the other hand, maybe it's a good thing to be not broke but without food because you can fix that. You can buy it. But when you're broke and starving, you're in a bad spot. And that's exactly where he found himself.
So what he did is he hired himself out to a gentile. And where does this young Jewish boy, young Jewish man, where does he find himself working now, with pigs, the poster animal of uncleanness for Jews. Not only is he in a pagan country, not only has he rejected the god of his fathers, not only has he rejected his family, but now he finds himself working in a pigsty with pigs, which were considered unclean to the Jewish people. Here he is with the poster animal for uncleanness.
And now he looks at the pigs, and he's jealous because they've got more to eat than he does. He longs for even the pods that they're eating, but he doesn't get anything. So, he's still starving and in his hunger, in his starvation, he actually gets down now to the realest part of himself. In his great starvation, something about his very being becomes more clear to him. And what becomes more clear to him is that his being is tied up in his father's being.
Listen to what happens in the next verse. "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?'" That phrase came to his senses actually means he came to himself. In other words, through his starvation, he got in touch with a deep part of himself that recognized that his very being was tied up in his father's being, and he comes to his senses. He comes to himself and begins to think of his father's house and begins to think of what he had with his father in that relationship and in that house. That's where his mind goes. 
So what happens through his starvation is that he has a change of mind that begins to lead to what he is going to call a change of course or a change of action. There's another word for that, repent. That's exactly what it means. Now, if you think, "Jerry, it seems that maybe you're kind of reaching for that in this text," no, I'm not. And that's the reason that I told you that this is the third story in a three-story set.
You see, the other ones, the other stories set the table for this story so that we could understand this story more implicitly now. Because in the first story, the story about the lost sheep, it really wasn't a story about sheep. Jesus' primary concern was not about sheep, it was about people. Because when you come to the end of that story, notice how the story concludes. In verse number seven of Luke 15, Jesus says, "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent." Jesus wasn't talking about sheep. He was talking about people. 
And in the second story, Jesus wasn't just talking about coins. Jesus was talking about people. And we know that because of how that story ends. Here's what it says in verse number 10 of Luke 15. "In the same way, I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 
You see, this story of the lost son that we're looking at now is the third story in a three-story set. And now as he begins to come to himself, a change of mind that leads to a change of direction, we've already been set up in knowing that repentance by someone who is involved in sin and who is in the bondage of sin is something that is a beautiful thing in the sight of God.
Notice how the story continues in verse number 18. "The younger son said, 'I will set out and go back to my father. And I'll say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'' So, he got up and he went to his father." Check out what he did. He had a lot of time to think about this, as you can imagine, right? When you've lost all your money, when you're broke and starving, and when you're having to work with the pigs, and you're probably in there not just thinking about the pigs but you're thinking about what the pigs are eating, and then your mind goes somewhere else and you think about your father's house, and you think about your relationship with your father, and you think about how you're being is actually tied up in your father's being, and he's thinking about all of these things. Then, he realized, "I can go back. I'm going to try and go back."
Then, he prepares a three-point speech, and his three-point speech is this. I've sinned against heaven and against you. I've sinned against the god of my fathers, the god of my people, and I've sinned against you, father. That's point number one. Point number two. I am not worthy any longer to be called your son. Point number three. Make me like one of your servants. Implied in that is so that I can work, make money, and pay you back. That's the idea. Make me like one of your servants. I'll have something to eat, and I'll be able to work toward ultimately paying you back.
So, he's got his three-point message ready, this three-point speech ready that he's going to make his way to his father and he's going to deliver this three-point speech to his father, and notice what happens in verse 20. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. And he ran to his son. He threw his arms around him, and he kissed him."
Now, when the people that are hearing this story are hearing this story, in the ancient Middle East, they already know that this father is unlike fathers that they know of. This father should have, when this son disrespected him, beat him with blows all the way off the property and then disinherited him and said, "Get out of here. You're dead to me." But, he didn't do that. He sold property and gave it to his son, the money. And the son went and spent it all in wild living. 
Now, as the son is making his way back to the father, the father sees him from a long way off. And the expectation of those who are listening to this would have been that the father would've stood there with his arms crossed making sure that if this son stepped foot on his property that every single step along the way was going to feel the full weight of his guilt and the full weight of his shame. And he would make him walk, and walk, and walk. And the father might even back up further to make him take more steps to feel every single pain of guilt and shame, and that's not what this father did. This father did something undignified for the patriarch in a Middle Eastern context. He hiked up his robe, and he took off. Filled with compassion, he ran to him, not away from him. 
Notice what happens in the following verse. It says, "The son said to him ..." Remember, he has a plan. He's got a speech ready. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you." Point number one. "I am no longer worthy to be called your son." Point number two. But, he's not done with his speech. But, the father's not having it. The father said to his servants, "Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." So, they began to celebrate.
Isn't it incredible that the son shows up and he gets through point one and point two, but he gets tackled before point three? His father tackles him, gives him a kiss, loves him, and doesn't even give him the opportunity to get the words out make me like one of your hired servants, but instead tells his hired servants to bring out the best robe. Do you know what the best robe was in the family? The father's robe. He brings out the father's own robe and clothes him with his own clothes. This is the second time that I preach this, and it is all about up in my business. 
He puts the father's robe on him. Then, he puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, which is a show of the dignified special honored guest. He goes from a pigsty to being the honored guest in a celebration. Then, he sends for the fattened calf. The fattened calf, man, there's a reason that it was a fattened calf. It wasn't just something that you ... This wasn't a snack. This was something that was saved for the biggest of celebrations. In fact, such a big celebration that entire community would have been invited. This was a massive deal that they were going to slay the fattened calf, be able to celebrate that with the entirety of the community because this was a massive celebration. Why? Because here's what the father knew. My son was dead, and now he's alive. My son was lost, and now he's found. Let's celebrate.
What a story in act one. It is an absolutely mind-bending beautiful story. And this story, here in act one, is not just relevant for the time that Jesus was telling it, telling it to the audience that was listening there of tax collectors and sinners who were listening really closely to this first part, and Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus is telling a story about two sons, and he spends the first portion in act one talking about the younger son whose sin is obvious and clear and everybody knows it. 
But, do you know, in that day and age, the reason that this story took everybody by surprise, the reason it caused people to gasp when they heard all of the actions of the disrespect of the son was because this just didn't happen very often. This wasn't a culture where this happened all the time. It was frowned upon. It wasn't looked well upon in the context of the ancient world of Israel. But, it was relevant for them. And my imagination tells me that it is as relevant or more to our context.
What do I mean? Well, instead of being frowned upon in this day and age, we encourage going and finding yourself. We encourage self-actualization. We encourage dreaming our own dreams concocted by our own minds and going after them with all the gusto that we can because this is really about us. This is really about our desires and fulfilling our desires. It's the language that we hear in our culture, whether we even know it or not. Every commercial that comes on tells you that this is what ... Listen. This is what you deserve. Not just, hey, here's a product. Figure out if you need it. No, no, no. You deserve this. Because this should be something that is your desire. You should fulfill all of your desires your own way. You see, our culture, this is real. 
I was reading here recently a book review of a book. I haven't read the book, but I read large excerpts of the book in this book review of a woman who is a New York Times bestseller. She formerly was Christian mom blogger who ended up getting a divorce from her unfaithful husband and marrying a woman. What she has done now is she's writing still, again, New York Times bestsellers. And I was reading this kind of book, reading the book review of this book, and was reading large swaths of what she had to say. 
Now, mind you that in virtually every book we can find some pieces of truth, and some things that properly are good advice, and some things that are probably practical and helpful. And I haven't read the entirety of the book, so I'm not just saying that there's nothing in there that could be true or helpful, okay? But the part that I read, really unhelpful because what it did is it fostered the same philosophy that I'm talking to you about right now. It was about, particularly aimed at women, about uncaging yourself, ladies. You need to actually think about all those desires that you never met and you need to go after all of them. Because in doing so, that's where you really find yourself, every desire. If that's what you want, then go for it.
And in fact, in talking about that philosophy, she actually took some of her Christian background and she took it upside down by taking the narrative of creation and inverting it. This is a direct quote. She said, "Maybe Eve was never meant to be our warning. Maybe she was meant to be our model. Own your wanting. Eat the apple." That's dangerous. And do you know why? Because what this does, what she's saying is she's saying, listen to this, that your problem is not sin. Your problem is not getting everything you desire. Just like the younger son. Just like him.
You see, when we embrace that kind of thinking and we decide that everything has to go to get out of the way of us fulfilling every desire and every longing that we've ever had and it doesn't matter if it's family, it doesn't matter if it's our god, we have to push it all aside so that we can go find our true and authentic self, we will end up in exactly the same place the younger son did, broke and starving. That's what will happen to us. Maybe not immediately, by the way. It never happens immediately. You're too busy being drunk on distraction. You're too busy enjoying the things that you think are going to fill you up but recognizing that you're emptier afterwards than you were when you started. Then, we end up spending everything we can to be able to fill that void. 
We think we can only ... Listen to this. We think we can only find ourselves outside the father's house. That's what we think. We think we can only find ourselves outside of the father's house. But you know what we end up? Lost. That's where we end up. We end up lost. What we thought was freedom is actually exile. 
Now, ladies and gentleman, brothers and sisters, friends, those watching maybe for the very first time, this isn't ... Listen, this isn't just a story for those who've lived wild. It's a story for you for sure. Make no mistake. If you've lived wild, go ahead and check in. Story's for you. But, this story's for all of us. Act one is for all of us. We have to realize that. But, we also have to realize the hope in it. 
I mean, the prodigal story ... You can write this down. The prodigal story is the human story. It's a story of hope that the lost can be found. I'll say it again. That's what this is. The prodigal story is the human story. It's a story of hope that the lost can be found. 
You see, the reason that it's the human story is because the human story begins in a garden. It begins with a god who makes image bearers. What does it mean to be an image bearer of God? It means that we have the capacity for relationship with God, and that we have the ability to represent God among many other things, creativity, rationality, all of those things. We're created in the image of God. And as image bearers, what we figure out is this, is that our lives are meant to be lived in the father's presence or in the father's house. He created this life for our forebearers in humanity, and he allowed for them to dwell in his very presence in a place he designed for them in his house with him. That's what we were made for. 
But like the younger son, we didn't want the authority of the father. We didn't want his intrusion into our world so we rebelled. We decided that we wanted life without his intervention. We decided that we wanted life lived for ourselves and that we wanted to be controlled by ourselves. And what we thought was freedom ended up being exile. So what we did is we took our inheritance of being image bearers. We took our inheritance of being in relationship, having the capacity for relationship with God and the opportunity to represent God, and we squandered it. We squandered it by not just representing ourselves and cutting ourself off from relationship with God. And we soon realized that we were broke, we were starving, and we were exiled, and we've been spiritual exiles ever since.
Adam and Eve, out of the garden. Cain after killing his brother Abel, in exile. Jacob lies to his father, in exile. Israel as a nation in Egypt for 400 years in exile. Later one, Babylon. Later on Assyria. Later on, Rome. The story of the human condition is a story of spiritual exile. And ladies and gentleman, it's hard to get home. Do you know why it's hard to get home? Because of what's in us and what's around us. 
You see, it's not just that we have sinned. We have done some things that are called sins. It's because we are sinful by our very nature. It's not just about what we've done but about who we are that works inside of us. We are broken internally. And we have a world around us that has experienced the ravages of sin and the ravages of the fall. And as a result of that, the broken world is shouting broken words to our broken souls that are now working in concert together to keep us as far away from home as possible. It is hard for us to get home. We find ourselves in a pigsty in this world, spiritually exiled, broke, and starving.
But, we have a father who is gracious, a father who is compassionate, a father who is loving, and a father who wants us back. And when we couldn't get home, home came to us. Home ran to us. We're reminded of it, right? That when we hear the story of Jesus, we remember in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of God. This is Jesus, God with skin on. And what is it that he came to do? Well, 1 Peter 3 tells us this. It says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous." To do what? to bring you to God. 
This was the point. Jesus came to bring us to God. He came to bring us home. Listen carefully to me. Pay very close attention. Jesus in his earthly ministry didn't even have a home, and he's the only one that can bring us home. Even though we were the ones who were exiles, Jesus became exiled in our place, taking our sin upon himself such that the father turns away his face from the son and that he becomes exiles so that he could rescue the exiles. That by his death satisfying the justice of a holy god, he dies in our place and for our sins such that we could never do anyway. And upon our faith in him and what he's done through his shed blood on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, we now can be welcomed into the father's house not as servants but as sons and daughters. He's not having us talk about servants as if somehow we could work to pay off what he's done. No. He tackles us. He loves us and says, "Let me cover this in my extraordinary, prodigal, extravagant grace." 
This is what he has done. He puts his robe on us of righteousness, his signet ring that we are his. And he decides that he wants to throw us an incredible celebration, an amazing feast. Why? Because he's celebrating our return. He's not only rejoicing now in the presence of the angels but he's also preparing a feast like we have never seen in our lives where we are honored guests because of what Jesus has done. This is great news for tax collectors and sinners who are listening to Jesus tell this story. And it's great news for you, too.
You don't have to be defined by your past. You don't have to be defined by your shameful mistakes. Because once you come to your senses and realize that your identity and your being is tied up in your father's, what you'll know is this, is that you don't have a father whose arms are crossed waiting for you to make the walk of shame. He's come to. And he'll tackle you before you can get all of your justifications out of your mouth, and he'll say, "Let my grace do this, because I've loved you from the beginning. I've always loved you." You can come to the father. His arms and his house are open to you if you want to come. They're going to share something with us to that degree and in that regard, and I'll be back in a moment to tie us up. Listen to what they say.
That's the story we've been trying to tell. That's the story that Jesus told us, right? You don't have to be defined by your past. You don't have to be defined by your shame. You don't have to be defined by your worst decisions, that you can bring those. You can never pay them back, but you can bring those to a place of grace because the father has demonstrated such grace through the son of God who loved you and died for you and who receives you with open arms. He runs to you.
If you've never before entrusted your life to him, what are we waiting on? What are we waiting on? This is the story Jesus told to help us understand the nature of the Father, and it's extraordinary. If you've never before turned from your sin and put your faith in Jesus, then I hope you'll do that today. Maybe you're watching us online. Maybe you're one of our other campuses. Maybe you're here. If you're at any of our physical campuses, feel free to check in with campus pastor or one of our folks outside. They'd love to talk to you about what it means to follow Jesus. Or maybe you can go on to thechapel.com/knowingjesus, and we'd love to be able to follow up with you that way. Or if you want to call, you can speak to someone. (716) 631-2636. But, don't put it off. It's the most important decision you'll ever make in your life, and that's surrendering yourself, coming back into what you were made to be, and that is living in the presence of a father because of what Jesus has done.
Father, I pray that you would speak this truth deep into our hearts. And I pray, God, that you would call those home that have wandered, those that have tried everything in their world to fulfill all of their desires and have come up broke, and starving, and empty. May you work deeply in their hearts. And may they hear the voice of love that's calling them back to the father's heart and the father's house because of what you, Lord Jesus, have done. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.