Speaker 1: 0:00

Growing up, who was your favorite warrior? Who was your favorite here? Depending on your generation, it might be He-Man Come on, he was pretty cool. Or maybe it was Wonder Woman. It could be Spider-Man, batman yeah, batman's good. What about Luke Skywalker? He's a warrior, okay. What about Shaft? He was a bad mother. Shut your mouth. I was talking about Shaft. He was a bad mother. Shut your mouth. I was talking about Shaft. Maybe he was your hero. You know, okay, we all grow up. We have different heroes, different warriors that we look up to.

Speaker 1: 0:34

For me, growing up, the warrior I looked up to most was my dad. My dad was the warrior that I looked up to the most. I loved hearing stories about him. When he was younger, he played basketball and he was really good at it. He played ball. My dad worked construction and as a little kid, I thought it was so cool that he got to ride those big trucks. You know I was like, wow, my dad gets to do that thing. You know it was super cool. Even as a little kid, I loved leadership. You know, I loved leadership. I love how my dad owned his own construction company and I love that. He coached Little League football and I love that in most environments that my dad was in, he was typically the boss, the coach or the leader, and I love that my dad was a warrior.

Speaker 1: 1:18

My dad was a warrior when our family went through hard times and challenges and we had a lot of tough times he constantly pointed us to Jesus. He constantly pointed us to Jesus in prayer and led our family in devotional time. He knew that one of the best ways that he could fight for our family was through prayer. And then he also pointed me and my brothers. I have two older brothers. He pointed us together to make sure that we were a tight-knit group, that we always had each other back, which really helped me in my adult life. For sure, now I'm thankful for my dad, but here's the thing about my dad that makes me laugh the most my dad now that he's a granddad. I just remember this Growing up, when I wanted a toy, I had to wait for Christmas, I had to wait for my birthday. But now when my daughter or my nieces and nephews go up to Papa and they say, papa, can we get this? He says, get in the car. We're going to Target. I'm like where was this guy growing up? I don't remember this, but he's a great dad, but he's an even awesomer papa, okay, and so I love my dad. He's my hero. But speaking of dads, today we're going to talk about a subject that could be a little challenging. It could be a little tough. Okay, talk about a subject that could be a little challenging, it could be a little tough, okay.

Speaker 1: 2:49

As we conclude our series on Warrior, we're going to talk about the father wound. The father wound. Now you may say, jacob, what is that? What is a father wound? Well, the father wound is a concept originated by Robert Blay, but it was popularized by John Elridge in a book called Wild at Heart. I got a picture of the book right behind me.

Speaker 1: 3:04

This is a must-read book for every man, okay, any guy. You need to read this book. And here you go. And if you are a woman in here who is married to a man or raising sons, you need to read this book too. You need to read this book. It'll help you get a good understanding of the condition of a man's heart.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Now I want to read a small portion of John Elger's description of what many have called the father wound. Check this out. He says every boy in his journey to become a man, takes an arrow in the center of his heart and the place of his strength, because that wound is rarely discussed which we know, that is to be true, which everyone's rarely discussed and even more rarely healed. Every man carries a wound, and the wound is nearly always given by his father, by his father, the father wound, the wounded warrior. And that's why, as we conclude this series today, what I want to talk about is this what every warrior needs to hear, what every warrior in here needs to hear. We're going to talk about the father wound. But, to be clear, I want to be clear. This is not like a you know, dads are bad, or bashing, anything like that, nothing like that, because this concept is not limited to just a father-son or father-daughter relationship. It can also be applied to mother wounds. Here you go Children. Children can wound their parents, they can hurt them. Friends, siblings, doing life together brings those kind of wounds. Here you go. There's unlimited opportunities for us to hurt each other. It happens all the time. And here you go.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Some of you. You might have grown up in a really, really good home environment. You might have grown up in a really, really good home environment. Maybe you grew up in a Christian home. You had scheduled family dinners that regularly happened. You went on family vacations, prayer times. You had prayer times at night or prayer times during the day. Yet even though you grew up in a pretty good household, you still often found yourself unnoticed. You found yourself hurt, at times undervalued or even feeling misunderstood or insignificant. There were still wounds, things still happened. Others of you. You grew up in a home that was not so good, misunderstood or insignificant. There are still wounds, things still happen. Others, others, others, others of you. You grew up in a home that was not so good Emotionally. Your parents were absent. Physically they were absent, maybe always at work or whatever the case may be. Maybe you grew up in an abusive environment. There's a lot of pain there because of that, because, because, because of that upbringing, whatever the situation, whatever the situation, all of us have been wounded at some degree because of our childhood and adolescence, because of childhood and adolescence.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Now, here's the truth I am a very present, very present, loving and affectionate dad. Okay, I love my kids, I love playing with them and I still have moments when I recognize after I do something, I say dang, I might have just left a little wound right there. I might just hurt them a little bit. For example, I shared this story a few months ago, that when I was frustrated about something that was happening non-related to my family, but just one of those days you know what I'm talking about when just something happened and it's frustrating you. And finally, at family dinner, one of the kids said something and I can't remember what they said, and I made me get up and I knocked my plate, I threw my chair down and stormed out and all the kids are crying. My kids are crying as I'm walking away. I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that. You know, here's the truth. They left a little bit of a wound.

Speaker 1: 6:38

That dad can be inconsistent at times, that dad can guess that, yeah, did I go and apologize? Of course, but still that happens. So even if you're in a great home life, a great home environment, wounds still happen, hurts still happen. So here you go, my you know, aaron and I we always joke about this. We always say that we need to have a college fund ready for our kids and a counseling fund ready for our kids, because they're going to need both of them. They may need both of them growing up. Now. My hope for you today is that you will step into a place of healing today. Some of you your father wounds, or your mother wounds, man. They are way too deep to be resolved in a 32-minute message, just to be honest with you guys. But healing can begin to start today and that's my hope. That's my hope, okay.

Speaker 1: 7:23

So I'm going to show us two different stories from the Bible today. One of them has a very sad ending, kind of like when you watched the Titanic for the first time, you knew it was going to be bad. You knew it was going to be sad at the end of it. Remember when it came out on tape, the VHSs had two VHSs attached to it because it was that long of a movie. You know, you knew it was going to be sad, even though I got to say something about the Titanic In retrospect, watching that movie again. There was plenty of room on that piece of furniture for him to get on it, so he could have scoot over a little bit. Leo didn't have to drown like that. Selfish, I'm not bitter. Okay, there you go. So the first story I'm going to share today is this it's sad, kind of like Titanic. The second story a little bit more heartwarming.

Speaker 1: 8:09

Okay, the first story, but both stories are about warriors, fathers and sons. All right, the first one involves King David. David was the kind of guy who was brave in battle. You know, picture this. I love this. I love this story of King David. He comes home from war and all the women are lined up in the streets and they're singing. They're singing. King Saul killed thousands, but David killed tens of thousands. Imagine being David walking home that day like, yeah, boy, yeah, sing my song girl. You know he's into it. Okay, king David, he was a great warrior, but David found himself in a battle that he didn't want to fight. He found it wasn't a battle against nation versus nation or kingdom against kingdom. It was a battle of father against son, father against son.

Speaker 1: 8:59

King David had a son named Absalom and this guy was handsome GQ cover handsome, all right, yeah, just a handsome dude. And he had long flowing hair. You know they say in the scriptures that when he got his haircut it was like a national holiday, like, oh my gosh, absalom's getting his haircut today. You know, it was like a big deal. That's how this dude was handsome. Okay, that's a good looking brother, all right, and so here you go.

Speaker 1: 9:25

But he also had a half brother. He also had a half brother named Amon and a sister named Tamar. And then, tragically, tragically, amon did something horrible to his sister Tamar, and it was the kind of thing that makes that breaks your heart, kind of thing that shreds your heart to a million pieces. That breaks your heart. Kind of things that shred your heart to a million pieces. And David was furious when he found out. But I want you to get this but he did nothing about it. He did nothing about it, did nothing about the crime that happened against his own daughter. And when Absalom heard what his brother did, what his half-brother did to his sister, and then when he saw that his dad did nothing about it, that his dad stayed quiet, that his dad tried to act like this didn't happen, he was furious and a wound grew in his heart. He found himself filled with anger towards his brother, but even more so towards his dad, and that wound didn't heal.

Speaker 1: 10:23

A couple of years goes by. At a party, amon got drunk. Asilon ordered his men to kill his brother for what he did to his sister, and it was like a script from House of the Dragons. Honestly, that's what it feels like, but not that I watched that show. I'm a Christian. Okay, it's like a script from a bad movie, but it was real life. It was real life.

Speaker 1: 10:48

Three years passed and finally Absalom was allowed back into the community where his dad was. Now here you go. I wish I could tell you that Absalom and David apologized to each other. They worked it out, went to family counseling together, talked it through forgave, moved forward with the power of God on their side. But that didn't happen.

Speaker 1: 11:09

2 Samuel says this Absalom may go to his own house, but he must never come into my presence. That's what King David says. So Absalom did not see the king and even the word in there was David referred to himself as Absalom's king, not his father. So there's a break of intimacy there. There's no trust there. The relationship has gone south.

Speaker 1: 11:33

So Absalom didn't see the king, and maybe this hits home for some of you guys today. Maybe for some of you you live in the same town, but no intimacy with your parents or loved ones, no trust. You got complicated holidays, lots of pain and brokenness and hopefully for you there wasn't something as horrendous that happened in King David's family no-transcript. Or maybe perhaps it was your mom. No matter how hard you tried and you tried so hard she only criticized and never approved and never said good job. Maybe you felt invisible, that they weren't at your games. You felt alone and a wound never went away. And David in Absalom's story. This is heartbreaking. But David actually did love his son. He did love his son, but because of the wound they never made up. They never made up and again it was like watching the Titanic. You know this thing was going to sink and it was going to be sad and you can't stop it. Here you go.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Absalom got bitter and tried to overthrow his father's kingdom. David, preparing for battle, told his men go easy on my son, be gentle with him for my sake. But his men didn't follow his orders. As Aslan rode through the forest, his long, luscious hair got stuck in a tree. While he was riding and hanging there, joab, david's hand of the king, took three spears and killed him.

Speaker 1: 13:05

This is in the Bible. It's pretty intense. And what is David's reaction? King David was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. He went and cried oh my son Absalom. Oh, my son, my son, absalom. If only I had died instead of you. Absalom, my son, my son. No happy ending, no restoration, no reconciliation.

Speaker 1: 13:30

And you're like Jacob, why did you bring me to church to be this sad today? Am I supposed to be encouraged? This is a sad, sad story, and I got to say a wound that never healed and a family completely torn apart. It doesn't have to be that way for many of you. It doesn't have to be that way for you and your family and the generations coming up. See, sometimes the greatest battle that a warrior fights are not those seen on the outside, but it is the battles of healing fought on the inside of a brave warrior willing to forgive or admit when he or she was wrong and move in that place. Okay, are you ready for a happier story? No, okay, here's the one that's a little bit happier.

Speaker 1: 14:23

The second story is also between a warrior and a son, but this warrior is our heavenly father, who is a rock, he's a shield, he's a hiding place, he's our shelter. And the Bible also says that God is a warrior. His son, jesus, was loving and kind, gentle and meek, yet he was full of mercy and he was the greatest warrior who ever lived. At Jesus' baptism. We see this beautiful connection of God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit, the Trinity and perfect unity. And check this out. It says this Matthew 3,. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was open and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him, and a voice from heaven I want you to get this and a voice from heaven said this is my son, whom I love. With him, I am well pleased. This is my son. I love him. I'm so pleased with him.

Speaker 1: 15:22

Three things that every warrior needs to hear. Whether or not you come from a household that was broken and there's hurt and there's pain, whether or not you came from a household that seemed good on the outside, but you know, you had your family issues too. For everyone who needs to hear this word, and for every parent in here who has the opportunity to say these words to your kids, I want to say this what every warrior needs to hear is this I believe in you, I'm proud of you. No matter what, I'll always love you. I believe in you, I'm proud of you, no matter what, I'll always love you.

Speaker 1: 16:02

See, this is beautiful, and God, the Father, publicly declares this over his son. He says if anyone's wondering, that's my boy, that's my boy, he's my son and I'm pleased with him. He's saying Jesus, you're crushing it. You've been obedient, you've been faithful, I'm with you, I'm cheering you on, I'm in your corner. You have what it takes. I believe in you, I'm proud of you and I'll always love you, no matter what. This is a visible, heartfelt affection and affirmation from the Father to the Son.

Speaker 1: 16:36

Here you go, listen up, friends. This comes from a heart of a dad and it's super important. It's super important because moms and dads well, we have irreplaceable roles, but they're different. But they're different. They bring different things to the tables. See, both are incredibly important, but we have to admit they both have different things. Take moms, for example.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Moms have this amazing ability to be nurturing, which is such a beautiful gift. When a kid falls and gets a boo-boo, who does the kid typically run to Mom? Typically Not all the time, but typically, chances are, they're going to pick between you and dad. They're going to go to mom. Mom scoops up a kid and says oh, it's okay, little sweetie. I don't know any mom who talks like that, but maybe you do, let me take care of you Gets kisses and cuddles and all that stuff. Typically, when one of my kids fall down, I say All right, you're good, just dust it off, keep walking. But oftentimes what a kid wants is what that nurturing. They want that and it's a good thing to want that. And, dads, we got to make sure we're doing a good job at that too. Now, you know, but moms and dads were different. They both have different responses.

Speaker 1: 17:51

My mom her role in my life was very important to me. My mom was so playful and that's where I think I kind of get a lot of my playful mentality from. My mom was super playful. Even the other day we went down and saw my mom at the oceanfront and my daughter and her went out into the water and my mom and she's at a golden beautiful age I won't say how old she is because that's not nice, but she did handstands in the water. I'm like, mom, you're crazy, what are you doing? But she's so playful, that's who she is, that's what she does. You know so, but growing up she was so engaged with crafts and I was the baby of the family. So I always had to hang out with my mom when my brothers were at school.

Speaker 1: 18:33

She and my mom would tell me in the most motherly way that, jacob, you are special. And my mom is a hugger. I don't know if you ever met my mom. She loves to hug, she's such a hugger. I love getting hugs from my mom, you know. But it was rich, it was meaningful, and she would tell me constantly that God created you to do something special with your life. And I think I'm here today because of my mom's words over me.

Speaker 1: 18:56

But here's the thing there's something about receiving that nurturing voice from a woman that's so powerful. But as young children and sometimes and I'm going to specifically talk to little boys here but as young children and sometimes and I'm going to specifically talk to little boys here they just don't need to be nurtured, they need affirmation. They need affirmation especially when it can come from a male voice, when it can come from a voice of a trusted man. You know, because there's something different from hearing something from a trusted man and from a trusted father. You know, some single moms and dads may say well, what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do. I may not have these things. This may you know what's the hope for my kids and I got to say something about that.

Speaker 1: 19:36

That is one of the reasons why church is so important. One of the reasons why church is so important and praying for our church community is so important and praying for our church to be healthy and our church to grow. And the reason why it's so important is because, as the body of Christ but us being a body of Christ there are godly men and women who can speak into the lives of children that come in. There's people that can mentor. For example, every single week in our local kids, in our local youth environments, your kids are being spoken to with love and encouragement and affirmation and affection, being spoken about the things, about who they can become. We always tell our kids workers speak to who they can become, not just what they're doing. And it's so important. And I got to call out the men, for example, for a moment. I want to call out the men to prayfully consider serving in our local kids, predominantly in our third to fifth grade man. We got so many preschoolers going up to kindergarten and kindergarten going up to first grade, but we have this wonderful group of third to fifth graders and, man, I am praying that there would be someone who would say, man, I want to mentor that group, I want to be a part of that group and see those kids come to know Jesus, and also for our youth. You know, that's one of the things we want to do as a youth pastor.

Speaker 1: 20:56

As a youth pastor for a long time, one of my favorite things to do was to mentor youth. That was one of my favorite things to do, and what I would do is I would take some guys out, we'll get a slice of pizza, we'll go to Dave and Buster. Being a youth pastor was a lot of fun, you know. You got to play and I would get to know them. They would tell me their stories and I was speaking to their lives. He'd go. I love going to sporting games. I would go and cheer them on, go to baseball or, you know, football, whatever they did, and I would go to their games and a lot of times, guys, I would be the only parental figure there for their kids. Their parents wouldn't show up and that was my job, that was a part of what I was doing to do that for them. Here you go.

Speaker 1: 21:35

We have a family in our church right now who is invested in a kid in their neighborhood and there's times when this kid he oversleeps, he misses the bus for school. And he goes to this family that goes to our church. He goes to them and says, hey, can you please take me to school? His parents won't take him. He said, oh, tough break. And they go and they take him to school. They saw that he needed something more in his life than just being on screens and stuff. So they signed him up to be on the swim team and they got him the gear he needed, got him the stuff and here you go. His parents have never seen him swim yet. He's been on the swim team for over a year. He did it last season and this season. His parents have never seen him swim. But the family in our church. They stand front row of the pool cheering for him, yelling, screaming him on, cheering him on, because it's that important to love the next generation, it's that important to deposit in them something good. It's so important to invest in the lives of the next generation because you want to know what young people need more than just being told what to do. They need to know that they are loved, valued and protected, that they're loved, valued and protected.

Speaker 1: 22:53

Let me share a story about my dad that was borderline crazy and awesome all at the same time. Okay, so I was around 16 years old and at the time I'd just gotten into running. I love to run, you know. It's a super fun thing to do. I mostly ran around a neighborhood near my neighborhood because there was this cute girl from church and I was hoping that she would peek out of her window and see me running and say, oh my gosh, jacob's calf muscles are so big. It never happened. It never happened, but anyway. So I was running and I had my classic iPod. Come on, the big white one Thing was awesome like a brick, like a little brick, and I was super skinny. I was 140 pounds. You know, I was a skinny dude.

Speaker 1: 23:37

And one day I was running in a rougher part of the neighborhood and I was listening to this worship song called Run, baby, run by Jason Upton, and the song is a beautiful kind of poetic song about how God runs to us and how we run to God in this beautiful exchange of us running together. And as I'm running and I'm listening to this song. I'm in the zone I'm worshiping. You know, I'm doing my thing. All of a sudden four other dudes run up beside me and these guys are a little bit bigger than me, definitely older than me, and I'm running thinking to myself oh no, what's about to happen? One of the guys, he kind of bumps into me. Another guy, he pulls my my, my earphone out and they're kind of shoveling me around and then the song Run, baby Run became literal to me. I need to get myself up out of here because I'm about to get jumped and so luckily, luckily, I was right by my house and so I ran into my house. You know, I'm breathing all heavy, I'm scared.

Speaker 1: 24:34

My dad sees me running to the house, he gets up. He's like what happened? What happened? And I tell him I say these four guys, they were running behind me, they were pushing me around. I think they're about to jump me. And my dad said for real. I said yeah, my dad can't make this up. My dad grabs his bat, goes to the door. He says which four? Those four right there? I said, yeah, those four right there. My dad, power, walks to these four dudes and I'm telling you they're some big dudes, they weren't some little guys. He power walks to them with his bat in his hand and I was like, oh snap, it's about to go down up in here, you know. And so I'm watching my dad do this and he's talking to them and then he comes back and he says they won't mess with you again. And I was like, for real, he's like yeah, I got you, I got you.

Speaker 1: 25:17

And I tell that story because this, because this, in that moment, my dad was a warrior. He was a warrior, but why was he a warrior in that moment? Because he wanted to, wanted to mess with some neighborhood bullies. No, he was a warrior because he had someone to protect. He had an assignment to fulfill, a king, he had a, he had a to win and he had a boy to protect and he had to protect me. And in that moment, in that moment, what my dad taught me in that moment was that he would stand up for me no matter what, even if it was risky for him.

Speaker 1: 25:53

And, guys, I want you to know something today, warriors, that your Father in heaven will stand up for you, even if it's risky. Actually, I got to put it this way your Father in heaven loves you so much that he did risk His life for you, that he did go to a cross for you, and while because of our sins and our wounds and our mistakes, he said I'm going to go to the cross for you because I will protect my boy, my girl, I got you, see, warriors, we need to know today that God believes in you, that he's proud of you and, no matter what, he'll always love you. The weird thing is this, though the weird thing is this Sometimes we're not good at showing affection, especially men, right, a lot of times men aren't good at showing affection or showing how we care or being verbal, but our sons and our daughters, they need to hear those words from their fathers or their mentors and people looking to them. See, one thing I love about LVC is this, though Our church, the men in our church, we know how to do a pretty good job at being bros.

Speaker 1: 27:01

To be honest, we got a good bro culture going on around here. You know our men's group, man people in our group, they're not afraid to say man, I love you. Man, thanks for praying for me, man, you know, it's a healthy sign, it's a healthy thing going on. But I got to say this to the men in the church your role is so important in the lives of young people. It's so important to look at a youth and say you matter, you matter. I'll shoot it straight to you If you're living just to please yourself or for you to get higher, or you to get greater, and you're not pouring into the next generation, you will always come up a little bit empty.

Speaker 1: 27:39

Scripture tells us we're refreshed when we drink a nice cold glass of lemonade. No, that's good. No, we're refreshed when we refresh others. When we refresh others. Here you go. I'll share this story, last story, with you.

Speaker 1: 27:54

Last week my mom and dad did come up for service. Like I said, they live down in Norfolk now and they're going to move up here soon. Pressure them next time you see them. And then they got home. My dad sent me this text. He said hey, buddy, we're back home and relaxing after a wonderful day with you all. The Spirit spoke to us through your message this morning and the goodness of God brought us home safely. We love you. And here I am, all these years later, as a grown man with three kids of my own, moved deeply by the affirmation and the affection of a man in my life. It matters that much.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Some of you may be like yeah, jacob, well, that's good that you and your dad are tight, glad to hear it for you, buddy, because my dad, my dad's a jerk, my dad, I got to say something. I got to speak to that. Okay, I got to speak to that. My dad and I are really close today and I got to say the relationship I have with my dad today I never thought I would have. We're super, super close today. But we had our season where we didn't talk as much. We had our season when there was hurt. We had our season when things happened along the way. But here's what I want you to know, warriors, we're close today, but we weren't close because we didn't hurt each other. We're close today because we forgave each other and because the wounds got healed and what I know.

Speaker 1: 29:30

Every family's got some weird in it. Every family's got some weird in it. You're like my family doesn't have any weird in it. Then you're the weird one, just to let you know. But every family does. Every family's got some hurt and I came to talk to some, you know. But every family does. Every family's got some hurt and I came to talk to some warriors today, the warriors in this house, empowered by the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead.

Speaker 1: 29:52

As warriors, I hope you understand that you have someone to protect, you have a kingdom to advance and a battle to win. And I want to be so real, I want to be so honest with you guys with this statement right here. I want you to take in everything I'm about to say, because sometimes the greatest battles you fight aren't the battles everyone sees on the outside. They're the battles that need to be healed on the inside. And we can pose and we can act like we're all tough on the outside, we can act like nothing bothers us and we got it and we're hard and we're good, all while the inside, our heart is breaking and crushed and hurting and looking for someone to affirm, looking for someone to say, hey, man, you weren't a mess up, that you do matter. And I, right now, I just want to speak, holy Spirit, speak that to people today, that they matter, that, god, you see them, that you love them, that you're proud of them and no matter what, you always love them Because the words of our Heavenly Father are so important and, again, I don't know everyone's story in here today and I don't know your wounds, I don't know the depths of them.

Speaker 1: 31:05

I know some people. We got some hard stories. I know that. I know that and I don't want to dismiss that at all. But here's the thing.

Speaker 1: 31:12

I started this message with two stories about a father and his son, one with a tragic ending and the other one with the words of life. What story do you want to tell? What story do you want to have? And as far as you can control because you can't control other people, but as far as you can control what story, what legacy do you want to leave for every wounded warrior, from one wounded warrior to the other? I want to tell you the wounds that you have. God desires intimacy with you to heal them and, like a nurturing mom or a nurturing dad who picks up a child when they fall and they give a kiss to the spot that's hurt and even though a kiss from a mom and dad can't heal that cut, somehow in that child's heart the wound is gone Because mom and dad mom and dad are bigger than my pain and friends. Your heavenly father is bigger than your pain and he scooped you up and he kisses you. He says I see you. He says I love you, I'm proud of you, you're doing good. Last thing I'll say is this Jesus.

Speaker 1: 32:51

Jesus in his wisdom, gives us one other story of a father and a son, and most of us are familiar with it. The son he runs away. He asks for his father's inheritance. He runs away. He starts partying all night, doing the stinky leg and all that kind of stuff Wastes his money. And while living all that good stuff, then a famine comes. And when the son is poor and eating the food of pigs, jesus says that the kid comes to his senses. Three things to highlight the son was financially poor, meaning he couldn't provide for himself. He's working with pigs. Pigs were considered unclean in his faith, meaning he doesn't even have a faith to lean on. He's hungry, meaning he's empty, so he can't provide. He has no faith and he's empty. But when the son couldn't provide for himself, when he was spiritually dead, when his life felt empty, he came to his senses. And what did he remember? He remembered that his father loved him, that his father loved him, that his heavenly father.

Speaker 1: 33:59

And Jesus tells a story to illustrate the perfect love of our heavenly father to us, because when our earthly fathers, they fail and they do, and here you go. I love my kids the best I can, but I'm going to fail them at times. I'm not going to be perfect for them, and neither are you. But even though we fail our heavenly father, his love for us. It says this. He got up and went to his father, and the biggest thing I've learned since being a father is that I hope I have a relationship with my kids that will make them always want to come back to me when they mess up. And what I learned is I can always get up and come back to my father, because what he desires is intimacy. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, filled with compassion for him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Speaker 1: 34:53

Friends, what do we learn about our heavenly father from this story that Jesus so masterfully told is that our Father in heaven is affectionate, that he's compassionate and that he will speak the words of life over you and where you have been wounded, our Heavenly Father says bring it to me, I'll kiss it, it, I'll hold you, and I might not be able to fix everything right now I can't go back in time and change that thing. That happened right here and right now. I'm with you. Right now I'm with you and I love you and I'm proud of you and, no matter what, I'll always, always love you. So, father Jesus, Holy Spirit, we come to you right now and we say thank you for your love, thank you for your goodness, thank you for your goodness, thank you for your power, thank you for your intimacy.

Speaker 1: 36:10

Lord man, I just feel like the Holy Spirit telling someone right now that your heavenly Father is not a distant God sitting on a cloud pointing judgment at you. He's a loving Father that scoops you up when you fall off your bike. He's a loving Father in the stands cheering you on in your big game, with the biggest sign face painted, cheering you on. You make Him proud, you make them proud, you make them proud. And I want to combat the enemy's words right now. The enemy's trying to speak to someone and say no, you messed up too much. Your father, he's not talking about you because your mistakes no, no, no, no, no. Your sins are as far as from the east is to the west, and His mercies for you are new every day. So we come back to the Father. We come back. We come our senses open, saying God, even when I tried things in the world, your love is faithful. Come, holy Spirit, begin to bring healing to some wounds right now. And, father, I pray that our words over our children will point them to you.

Speaker 1: 37:59

And if you're in here today, you're like Jacob, that sounds good, but I don't know this Jesus. You're in here today. You like jacob, that sounds good, but I don't know this jesus you're talking about. Or maybe you have you kind of walked away. I just want to pray with you, right where you are, not going to call you out. Have you come up front? Nothing like that, just right where you are. If you want to make a decision to trust jesus, what you like, just pray this simple prayer with me. Just pray this simple prayer with me. Just say, jesus, forgive me for my mistakes, make me new. Today I follow you. Today I run back to you. Today I come home to you In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.