Dr.Charles Stanley

0:00Hey, this is Strawberry, how y'all feeling out there today? I hope everybody is doing well, if you're not doing well, let's find a way to get well, look well, and be well. Right now we're going to start our life out with the praise from Dr. Charles Stanley. The sun can sit down at this awesome meal, physically, but emotionally, it was the poison of unforgiveness in his heart, because he may have been at home, but there was no oneness between him and his father. He may have done everything his father told him to do. But what about what he felt? What did he feel? Anger, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, rejection, unpagiveness, disrespectful accusation, self-righteous, costly, bitter, piercing, attitude.

1:07So the path of freedom from the whole pen of life is paved with what? Repentance and surrender to the will of the father? Admit it, acknowledge it, confess it, and come home to the father? And what Jesus was saying is, look, you may be in the synagogue every week. You may be able to quote the law, you know the tin commandments, but what about your attitude to a lot of people? Your true attitude toward God? What about that? And so I'll look at that passage, remember what Jesus said, come in the way all of you that live under heavenly, and I'll give you rest. Come in the way all of you. None of us are perfect. We'll never be perfect. In this passage of Scripture is so descriptive of those who stand on the outside of the criticizes,

2:14brown mistakes and failures, those who try out life and just mess it up badly, have to come home and shreds emotionally. And those who apply us full of jealousy, anger, criticism, prejudice, you name it, and what? Which of the two is in worse condition? Probably if you ask Jesus, which one do you think he would have said? I think he would have said the boy who stayed at home and looked good, was in a whole lot worse condition than the boy who messed it up bad, and was genuinely repentant and said, I'm going home, I'm going to make this right, I'm going home as a servant to my father. I don't even deserve forgiveness, I don't deserve acceptance, but I'll just go home and be a servant to my father the rest of my life.

3:15And I may ask you a question. Is there anybody that comes to your mind and your life that fits that person that you may have rejected? Jesus wanted the Pharisees and the Sadducees to see. It's not our status, our position, our wealth, our acceptance, our titles. It's the condition of our heart. You can live in a dumb, be a saint. You can live in a castle and not be fit to live with. It's not all that output stuff. It's who we are, what we are in the presence of Lord Jesus Christ. It's who we are and what we are and we are alone. We are thinking our thoughts privately. Speaking and feeling what we are feeling, you can be in a hog pen, be the best dressed person around.

4:15In a hog pen drive the best automobile. Then a hog pen live in the biggest house. Live in a hog pen and have the highest position in your occupation. It's not just how you think about God. It's how you think about other people. When we talk about loving God, what is any clue? Loving my fellow Christians and loving my friends who are good to me or do I just love people because they are people? All of us at some point in our life in some way whatever it may have been. All of us have sinned against God. And you may be seated here today thinking, I don't know why I showed up this morning. I don't feel like I'm worthy to be sitting among a bunch of holy people. You should never feel like that you are so sinful. You can't come to church. You should never feel like things are so bad for you

5:17that you wouldn't be accepted if you told us what you've done. That's not the issue. Jesus never turned away a sincere repentant sinner. And he was sitting in these Pharisees and Sadducees. You look good but look at your heart. This boy blew it all in a hog pen. And you all blow it all and go to church. Listen, every single one of us can find ourselves somewhere in this story. We talked about the product of Son coming home. And here's the product of Son that stayed at home. And you may be thinking, but you don't want to have bad I am. I think God knows. And I'm listening to this verse of Scripture. The God's soul of the world, everybody. And He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him

6:19would not perish but have everlasting life. And He did not say except if but He says, come home and I'll forgive you. And I want to invite you to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin. I don't care how far down you think here are you. You think you're helpless and hopeless. As long as God is and He'll always be, you're not hopeless. You ask Him to forgive you. You'll forgive you. Not only that, He sends His Holy Spirit into your life to enable you and He courage you, cover you, shadow you, energize you to provide everything you need to live a clean, godly life, whatever habits you may have. Whatever course of action you've taken is heading in the wrong direction. Today you can turn around by asking for His forgiveness, surrendering your life to Him,

7:24and asking Him to guide you to friends to the right church, to listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ and begin to grow in your Christian life. You don't have to stay in the heart then. You don't have to stay there. Father, we contest that we would all be in a big band. We're not your grace. Amazing grace that has reached down into our lives, dealt with our sin, by the blood of Jesus, our sins forgiven, and named written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And we have you as our life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, I pray that you speak to every single one of us today,

8:25and that we be honest enough to answer the question. Am I in a whole pin out of your will, and it's very evident that I'm out of your will, or am I in a whole pin, so to head in the way, and nobody knows what I'm going through. I pray that you'll speak to the hearts, Father. I pray for somebody here today, and somebody who has been listening or watching, knowing in their hearts where they are spiritually and emotionally, be willing to confess their centralness to you, and recognize that you have provided grace through the cross to forgive us of anything, everything, and all things forever. You said if we confess our sins, which means that we agree with you about them,

9:29you are faithful and just, that is, you can always be counted on to do it. To forgive us of our sins, and not only that, clean us up, cleanse us from all unrighteousness, all sin, and give us a fresh beginning. No one may know where we are in the whole pins, but God you know. And as you love both of these boys the same, we pray that wherever we are in whatever hope we're in, today we choose to turn around and come home. And thank you for a new beginning in Jesus' name. Amen.