[SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High Praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, I know we got a lot of, we got a lot of young, I've been one of these young people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love the Lord with my heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love the Lord with my soul.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do we have anyone that likes loving God with your mind in the room today?
[SPEAKER_01]: A subbed tougher.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do me a favor.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have your Bibles, like a physical Bible, which is rarity amongst the younger generation, which is weird that I'm even using the phrase younger generation.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you have notes on the journal, you're ready to take some notes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold them both up real quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a beautiful side.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, turn to Luke chapter 15.
[SPEAKER_01]: Turn to Luke chapter 15.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll give you a second to get there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Luke, chapter 15 for those of you that are new to church, new to Christianity, maybe you're new to the faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first four books of our new Testament are Matthew Mark, Luke and John.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were ridden by four different people for different time periods, but they're all telling the same story.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a story of the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Luke's gospel was written by someone who gathered a bunch of eyewitnesses,
[SPEAKER_01]: I witnessed accounts about Jesus' life, but it's considered one of the more great collections.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wrote his gospel because he wanted a very
[SPEAKER_01]: historically and accurate account and so I love preaching from Luke's Gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just talking right now to give you time to get to Luke chapter 15 if I'm being totally honest with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm only giving you about five more seconds and as was in the sermon that I was going to preach originally and then I had a conversation with Pastor Garrett yesterday and after our combo I was like I know exactly what we're going to talk about tonight.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to begin in verse number 11 Luke 15 verse 11.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Jesus speaking and He says this.
[SPEAKER_01]: To illustrate the point further, Jesus told him this story.
[SPEAKER_01]: A man had two sons.
[SPEAKER_01]: The younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, a few days later, the younger son packed up all of his belongings and moved to a distant limb and they're he wasted all of his money and wild living.
[SPEAKER_01]: about the time as money ran out, a great famine swept over the land and he began to starve.
[SPEAKER_01]: He then persuaded a local farmer to hire him and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.
[SPEAKER_01]: The young man then became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs look good them and no one gave him anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself,
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, at home, even the hired servants have enough food to spare.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here I am dying of hunger.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's what I'm gonna do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna go home to my dad, and I'm gonna say, Father, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.
[SPEAKER_01]: So please just take me on as a hired servant.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming, and filled with love and compassion.
[SPEAKER_01]: kissed him, and his son said to him, he went into his speech, father of sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son, and as if the dad interrupts his speech, the father said to the servants, how quick, bring the finest over in the house and put it on him, get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill that calf we've been batting, because we're going to celebrate with a feast for this son of mine was dead, and he's now returned to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: began.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now for those of you that are in fact actually taking notes and not just sitting with your note pads open, but you're interested in writing something down.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a big title guy and the title of this sermon is going to be when God decides to run.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to give you a second to write it down.
[SPEAKER_01]: When God decides to run, we're going to come back to this here in just a moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: But first, I'm really going out on a limited youth conference.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many of you can, like, even vaguely remember the events of, like, 2020, the COVID era, just by a show of hand, some of you were like three during that era, so I understand that you don't remember it well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you, maybe, the juniors and the seniors, of course, some of the parents in here, you would remember it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The challenges that we faced during that time period.
[SPEAKER_01]: Infinite, it felt like there was a new challenge to try and overcome like every single day, and I'm not going to like keep talking about this very long, because I don't want to throw anyone into depression thinking back about 2020 and how awful it was.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I will say one of the funnier challenges that we all kind of went through during that season was the challenge that was greeting people in public places.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember what happened there?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, especially in the South, when you go to a public place, which for me is Walmart.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the only public place we have in our whole region.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, not in my hometown, but in the town over, if you want to go hang out, you go to Walmart.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to go see your friends, you go to Walmart.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to sit in the parking lot,
[SPEAKER_01]: play music.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I won't talk a lot to do that in, and it's Walmart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you have other places, but if you go to Walmart, or maybe the football game, or search, and you see someone in public that you know, and that you like, what's the first thing you do when you see him?
[SPEAKER_01]: You'd go up to him, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You shake their hand, or maybe you give him a hug, or maybe you like me, and you like the double, you know, you dab them up, and give them a hug at the same time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, this is what we're used to doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in that season, it's like all that came to a crashing hole.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he did that process right there became so confusing, like overnight.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially for those of us who are huggers.
[SPEAKER_01]: have any huggers in the room.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know Garrett just said you're not supposed to do the front hugs, side huggers, and I'm a hugger, OK?
[SPEAKER_01]: I would break that rule immediately.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not because I dislike my youth pastor.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's because the first time I'm each in, maybe give you handshake, second time I'm each in, we're going in for the full frontal embrace.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've always been a hugger.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that time period, it was weird for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It got really awkward for me and all the other huggers,
[SPEAKER_01]: I think sometimes we make the love of God a lot like given a hug in 2020.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I mean.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes when it comes to embracing the love of God, we're so quick to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a goal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything I've ever wanted, thank you God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then other moments, we make it so much tougher and so much more tension-filled, and so much more awkward than it actually is.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is especially true for the group of people that Jesus is originally telling this pair of it to, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, when he gives this story, we're assuming it's for the first time, so you know, one of the first times, obviously we haven't in the book of Luke.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't necessarily give the story on the top of the mountain with the hundreds and thousands of people around.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most people believe that when he gave the story that we called a store of the prodigal son.
[SPEAKER_01]: When he gave this parable for the first time, he was speaking to Pharisees.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for those of you that, again, that are new to church, new to Christianity, young in the faith, maybe you've never been taught this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pharisees in the Jewish culture, they were like the religious leaders of their time period, and they had absolutely no issue reminding bad people about all the bad things that they did, and how God was going to come back and judge them for all that bad stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And no issue doing that, but they really struggled reminding those same people about God's mercy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God's love
[SPEAKER_01]: outwardly, wholly, than everyone else in their circle.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Pharisees, the people who knew the Bible better than everyone else.
[SPEAKER_01]: The people who pray more eloquently than anyone else in their circle, the people who serve the most and who gave the most and who were by far the most impressive church people of their time period.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Pharisees, they liked this idea that in order for you to experience God's love,
[SPEAKER_01]: You had to start acting right first you had to like get your act together first you had to start living right And you had to you know for us and you had to stop smoking you got to stop cousin you got to stop drinking You got to throw your vape down at the altar you got to break it with that person that you're not supposed to be with You have to get off a snapchat for the rest of your life going six fast and then and only then if you do all of that if you really put in the work
[SPEAKER_01]: then maybe God will tolerate you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then maybe He'll take you, then maybe He'll love you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure that none of you have ever dealt with thoughts like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thoughts that sound like, you know, I, I'm going to sit out this Wednesday night.
[SPEAKER_01]: because as, like, it wouldn't even make sense for me to go to church, I just feel like hypocrite the whole time because of my weak.
[SPEAKER_01]: And no one else knows about you, but you know about your weak.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for you, it'd be easier to just not go to church rather than to go through the worship service, raise your hands and close your eyes and do the thing you know that you're supposed to do, even though you've had one of those like really embarrassing weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or, again, I'm sure none of you've had thoughts like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've had thoughts like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I should probably get a few days in my belt of living right, doing good before I talk to God, because I mean, I'm having, I've been prayed for two weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been, I've been read my Bible in an entire month.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just supposed to like pick up where I left off is that really how this thing works.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, last time I prayed, I told God, I was never gonna talk to that guy again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, what happened last night?
[SPEAKER_01]: Last time I prayed, I told God I was never going to look at porn again, and I'm never going to curse again.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm never going to lie to my parents, I'm never going to seek out of the house, I'm never going to snap chair that girl, and I'm going to read my Bible every day God, I'm going to pray every single day, and I'm going to live holy, and I'm going to see five of my classmates safe when I go back to school, and then none of that happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did the exact opposite, and everything I told God I was going to do, I mean, I just just feels embarrassing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm pathetic, and I don't know, like, I don't even know if I should talk to God right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just not really know if I even deserved to talk to God right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, again, I'm sure an end of you have ever felt that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've definitely felt that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for those of you who might be open and honest and vulnerable and say you've been there, and you've had those thoughts, those weird late night thoughts that keep in your mind to try and get you to, like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep from connecting with the Lord, the reason Jesus, like when Jesus tells us this story, there's a lot of things happening when Jesus is telling this story, you go to the school ministry, you're going to learn about how this story is actually less about your personal walk with God and it's more about Jesus and finding the Gentiles and the kingdom of God, but I also like to remind people that when you read the scripture, have you ever seen Shrek?
[SPEAKER_01]: Never seen Shrek?
[SPEAKER_01]: Shrek?
[SPEAKER_01]: Shrek's as Ogr's are like.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have layers, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Ogr's are like, you know, the Bible's kind of like an Ogr.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, the Bible has layers.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you're reading the Bible, it's layer upon, layer precept upon, precept meaning upon meaning.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, one of the things though that Jesus is confronting, when He says this story, is He's confronting those thoughts on the inside of your head about how many you have really haven't done enough to earn the right to worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did He haven't done enough to go to church today?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like He's confronting those thoughts.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how this thing works.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how God feels about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not how God feels about this situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's looking, those thoughts, right in the eye, and he's confronting them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, let me pause here and say, yeah, God hates sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, no one's up here trying to say, God doesn't hate sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know God hates sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why does God hate sin so much because sin destroys you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Sin destroys your community, it destroys your family, it destroys the world, of course, God hates sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: But even with that said, the love of God is available for every person in every situation, every single time, in this story, the story of this kid, this son, he is supposed to be a shining example of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me explain.
[SPEAKER_01]: At this time, God, for child, who look at their father,
[SPEAKER_01]: and say, I want my inheritance right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be equal for that kid to look at his dad and say, man, I wish you'd just go ahead and die.
[SPEAKER_01]: because I want your money more than I want you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which is a pretty despicable thing to say to your dad in any generation.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in this generation, I mean, it would have been really bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you go read the book of Leviticus and you find out real quick, to say something that disrespectful to your father in that generation could get you legally killed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that was,
[SPEAKER_01]: repulsive for someone to say it, for someone to hear, and not only does this kid say it to the dad, but then the dad without disciplining the kid, without killing his son, he gives the son the money, and then what happens?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm thinking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Surely he's not going to do it and then the kid goes and he doesn't invest it in a portfolio He doesn't invest in his Roth IRA.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't go buy a house.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't go buy a car He doesn't use the money responsibly.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says he then goes and blows that money and wild living And surely if there is one thing that I do not have to teach kids from Panama City Beach It is what wild living
[SPEAKER_01]: Looks like all you got to do is go to front beach and it is right there 24-7 all summer long I mean wild living Casual hookups Smoking so much that you can't even see straight Ben's drinking doom scrolling
[SPEAKER_01]: Those pictures that you sent, you can never get back, indulging all pornography, those decisions that feel like you are getting further and further away from God that then leave you shoured and regret after you make those decisions.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm talking about, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, like, wild living for this guy thousands of years ago, it looked different than what it's gonna look like for us now, but it wasn't as different as you would potentially guess.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was not your run of the mill bad day.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was a minor mistake.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy drug his entire family's name through the mud in a public way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in doing so, justice says,
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy deserves to pay the price for his decisions.
[SPEAKER_01]: He deserves to be in trouble.
[SPEAKER_01]: He deserves some retribution.
[SPEAKER_01]: The consequences need to be leveled down.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, the world, I would even say in general, it's like, yeah, justice needs to be served.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you write down anything, just write down.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's idea of justice is a bit different than our idea of justice.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you start seeing it when you continue reading this story, when you continue reading the Scriptures, because when you continue reading whether it be the story or the Scriptures, you start discovering why Jesus is a little brother James and James 213.
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes out of his way to remind us that God's mercy triumphs over God's judgment.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, if you continue reading, of course, the Bible, you'll also figure out why John in John 316 goes out of his way to remind us long before you did anything right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Long before you started coming to church, long before you started trying to clean up your life, long before you started trying to learn the Bible or long before you get up on stage and pray and bring the house down John 316 yard.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, God doesn't just love you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's so loves you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: what we are quick to remind other people of.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is exactly what we refuse oftentimes to believe about ourselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you are like, man, I believe the God loves me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm there with you talking about, yeah, you believe the God loves you because you're two days into a youth camp right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course you believe that God loves you.
[SPEAKER_01]: All you've been doing is worshiping and praying and hanging out with the church friends and being in these cool prophetic moments and being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not trying to say that this is going to happen, but just for a moment, let's imagine that maybe a couple of weeks or months from now, you have a few bad days.
[SPEAKER_01]: You make a few bad decisions, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when I want to talk to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see how you're feeling in that moment, because I know for me, I've had that moment probably more than I've had impressive moments as a Christian.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when that moment comes around, after a few sketchy days, after one really, really bad decision, I might not thank God, hey, to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I might believe that God at least tolerates my existence, but I'm most certainly find myself slipping back into those same habits and those same train of thoughts where I'm trying to convince myself that if I want to get back in God's good graces, then I just need a few days of consistency.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need a few days where I'm doing everything right, where I'm reading my Bible, and I'm living holy, and I'm going to church, and I'm serving on the team, and I'm not cussing, and I'm not drinking, I'm not snapchatting that person, and then, if I can do that, God will light me with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I could just do that, God will take me back again.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is exactly how this kid was thinking.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have your Bibles, look at verses 18 and 19.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is being looped 15, 18, 19.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I'll go home to my father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll say, Dad, I've sinned against both heaven and you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please just take me on as a hired servant.
[SPEAKER_01]: So here's what's happening, all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's thinking, I'm going to go home, and I'm going to show Dad just how serious I am.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to show him how much I've changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he had someone on his four-hour journey or while he's like, on his Uber, whatever he's doing as he's heading for the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's writing out his apology.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's writing his script.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is he just going to say?
[SPEAKER_01]: Dad, I'm doing a phone.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't have a phone back then, just I don't want to confuse any of you, but you would not be writing anything down right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'd be on your phone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dead mom.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just a piece of garbage.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not worthy to be called your son.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm an embarrassment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell Big Bro, I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused him as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Such a mess up.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just really want to come back home and I'll do whatever it takes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, if you just see how good I am right now, you just see how consistent I've been.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you'd be willing to let me come home.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I watch the dishes every day.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take the dog out.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't even have to ask me why I'll do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't sneak out anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll lay the vape down this time for real.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll stop cussing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll read my Bible like I told you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to last year that movement conference when I said I was going to read my Bible every day and I was going to fast three times a year and I put the vape down on the stage for the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will live it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do whatever you need to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you just take me home.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see what you ever been there?
[SPEAKER_01]: You ever had to, you ever tried to strike a deal?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where the God, no, I've tried this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I've tried to strike a deal with God more than I've understood God's grace and mercy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so easy, it's logical and yet this isn't how God works.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's now the kingdom of God works.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse number 20, it says,
[SPEAKER_01]: So he returned on to his father, and while he was still in this, if you're underlining this in your Bible, I want you to underline these three words, while he was still a long way off.
[SPEAKER_00]: While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, this is what I'm doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was filled with love and compassion.
[SPEAKER_01]: The father, before he ever heard the apology note, the father, he loved his kid.
[SPEAKER_01]: He already loved his kid, specifically though.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loved his kid when he was still a long way off.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what I hope you understand is that on your own, that's exactly where we all stand in regards to our relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You ain't even close.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're a long way off.
[SPEAKER_01]: No matter how consistent you get, how much time you spend in the world, how much worship music you listen to, we all stand a long way off.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all on the same boat, whether you're an addict, a business owner, a teenager, or a pastor, we all find ourselves at the same destination when it comes to trying to impress God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you want to know what that destination is?
[SPEAKER_01]: A long way off, not even close.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the good news.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's keep reading verse number 20.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the good news?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's right here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he returned to his father, and while he was still a long way off,
[SPEAKER_01]: His father's song coming, and filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now when Jesus said this, the crowd that was listening,
[SPEAKER_01]: would have been deeply confused.
[SPEAKER_01]: They might have even made some ruckus and thought that that was running.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you hear it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that the dad ran?
[SPEAKER_01]: They would have been confused.
[SPEAKER_01]: They would have been looking at each other and say, have you ever seen your dad run?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, have you ever seen your dad run?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, no, never seen my dad.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know why none of them would have ever seen their dad's run?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, because obviously we're talking about people who live thousands of years ago, they didn't wear lead eyes and we're shorts.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were tunics and in order to run and a tunic and not trip over it, you have to hike it up and tie it around your waist.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a problem with that in Jewish culture.
[SPEAKER_01]: to show your bare legs was considered shameful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And humiliating.
[SPEAKER_01]: So most of them had never seen their dad run because it would have required their dad taking on a little bit of shame upon himself, and a little bit of humiliation upon himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when this dad takes off running after his kid, he's not just communicating his scandalous,
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what anyone thinks of me love that I have for my kid.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's saying the shame and the humiliation that you deserve because of your sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to take it upon myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your shame belongs to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your humiliation belongs to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, if you know the story of Jesus, this is Christ on the cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus goes on the cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he takes on our shame and our humiliation for the sins that we committed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He dies the death that we deserve and in doing so, he's communicating his illogical, unreasonable, I don't care what anyone thinks of me love that he has for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the story of the cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: God was willing to take on the shame and the humiliation that your sins caused.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's even more to this run.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you go back and you start studying a little bit of Jewish culture, at this time period.
[SPEAKER_01]: If a Jewish son, like the kid in this story, were to receive an inheritance and then waste it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And a really public way and bring all the shame and embarrassment upon his family.
[SPEAKER_01]: If that were to happen, and then he wanted to go back home and be a part of that community again, let's say, come do a census and he went, wow, I made a horrible decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to go back home.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to live with my friends and my family, go back to the community.
[SPEAKER_01]: What he would have to do is he would have to ask permission
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the reason why.
[SPEAKER_01]: Typically, the only person in the family that could allow a son to come back is a dad.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in the case of a missing inheritance, there is no dad.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because inheritance are given out when a father dies.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so because of that, the son would have to go to the elders of the city.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't take much Bible reading to figure out that older Jewish people at this time, at least, they weren't known for all of her grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: for all of their patients, and so what would typically happen is the sun would approach the gates of the city, and the elders would meet in there, and they would perform an ancient ritual called a gazelle.
[SPEAKER_01]: They would grab piece of pottery, and they would break it at the sun's feet, signifying that he has now been broken off from his family and his friends, and that some would leave having no community to reconnect to.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the catch 22 with the son in this story is that his dad wasn't dead and not only was his dad not dead, his dad wasn't even mad at him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is why you got to really appreciate the dad in this story because in an effort to make sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: that everybody in that village, including his own son knew that his kids are always welcome home, despite their mistakes, despite how much they mess up, despite their shortcomings, this dad was willing to throw away everybody else's opinion, to throw all of that to the side and take off running after his kid.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the same way, in the same way, please hear me, regardless of how pathetic you feel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Regardless of how weak and embarrassing you may feel, regardless of how far gone you may feel, God doesn't just love you, God is chasing you down like a houndob chases his prey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, he loves you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loves you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not mad at you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not just a big guy in this guy that controls the weather and sits people to hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's so much more than that I've heard it said like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has slowed anger.
[SPEAKER_01]: His judgment walks, but it's mercy runs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, think about it, the God who created everything and needs nothing is chasing you down right now, ready to shower you with love and mercy and grace and compassionate life because his mercy always triumphs over judgment.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the story of the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: You run away from God and he chases you down.
[SPEAKER_01]: The whole time, every part of your life, man, he's chasing after you even when you're only chasing after followers.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's chasing after you when you're chasing after lights.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's chasing after you and you're chasing after another toxic relationship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Someone.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's chasing after you, and you're chasing after cloud.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's chasing after you, and you're chasing after fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's chasing after you, and you're chasing after a spot on that sports team that you know is never going to take you anywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, he's chasing after you, and you're chasing after the big grams.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Southern people still like big grams.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that just a tourist thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen a lot of big grams.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's chasing after you and you're chasing after friends, identity, money, whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the whole time he's chasing after you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's pursuing you on the days and if you don't want anything to do with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: God hasn't written you off.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've written you off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have your parents have written you off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Grandparents, you pastor, if your ex wrote you off, probably should have.
[SPEAKER_01]: You might have deserved to be written off by your ex.
[SPEAKER_01]: God hasn't written you all.
[SPEAKER_01]: God hasn't walked away from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's not done with you yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: He.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because God's love for you isn't based on your pursuit, after him.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's based on his pursuit, after you, and it always has been.
[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't love you because you're awesome sweetheart.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loves you because he's awesome.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the story of the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it reminds me, there are two people I haven't honoured in here tonight, I'll honour a real quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: First, my wife is in the room.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for being here tonight.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess she was here the last two years I was here.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was here first.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was pregnant.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the first time we publicly announced that she was pregnant with our son.
[SPEAKER_01]: People from our church heard it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before we even announced it there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then last year, of course, she brought Roman.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for her to be here on vacation, requires a lot more work from her that she was probably ready to put in.
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then the second person I want to honor is my dad.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dad, raise your hand and recruit this.
[SPEAKER_01]: My dad, Tommy Gallo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I think about this sermon, I was thinking about my dad just a little bit of backstory.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like 13 years old.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I've got a church picnic with Medam, real defining moment of my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was riding a four-wheeler and I should have never happened here's one.
[SPEAKER_01]: First time I drove a go-kart, flipped it, tore out the transmission.
[SPEAKER_01]: First time I drove a go-kart, flipped it, threw someone else out of the go-kart.
[SPEAKER_01]: First time I drove a lawnmower, I drove it up, my chain length fence and knocked it over.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first time I backed my mom's van out of our driveway, I backed it into my stepdad's car and wrecked both of them and still, for whatever reason, about a church picnic and someone thought it was a good idea to let Alex have a four wheeler.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm driving the four wheeler.
[SPEAKER_01]: My little brother Ethan, who's a full grown man.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, at the time,
[SPEAKER_01]: He was not.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a very small child who not only could not swim.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was terrified of water.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't want to get in water.
[SPEAKER_01]: He hated it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's sitting on the full wheeler with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know what I'm thinking, but I was like, let's drive the pooler around the pond.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're, of course, we're driving the full wheeler around the pond.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing's going wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing could go wrong, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And suddenly, this kid catches a fish.
[SPEAKER_01]: What did you do?
[SPEAKER_01]: I was just watching.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he can't blame me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm 13.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm just watching.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I look up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And suddenly I see a whole out of pond in front of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: But also, I'm on two tires.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have now slid into that part of the pond where it's like the embankment and I'm on two tires and in that moment I knew I have two options, either I allow the full wheeler to turn over on top of both of us and then go into the water or I turn into the, you know, where it's going to fall and I just drive it into the water so I'm thinking, that's got to be the better of the two options.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I turned it, drove it straight into the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: What I did not know is this was a dump pod, which means there's a bunch of metal shards all in the pond.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's not like, there are some fish in the pond.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not necessarily one that you'd want to get in, and it's an immediate tin foot drop off, right at the end of the pond.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not my four-wheeler mind you, drive the four-wheeler straight into the drop-off and so immediately start sinking and I'm left with my little brother who hates water, can I swim, I'm fully closed and really chubby if I can just be really vulnerable with you and I'm over here like I've got to save his life now, so I'm holding him up.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's kicking me in the face, he's screaming, and even amongst the screams.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't know all the rest of the rest of the stories have to be told to me from other people, but what I do remember is one unnamed individual of screaming the loudest cussword at a church picnic that you've ever heard anyone scream at a church picnic.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from there, I'm underwater.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's how the rest of the story goes.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, man, why do you, like, tell me, tell him good stories about me, not my cousin's story.
[SPEAKER_01]: From what I've been told, as soon as he shouted that demonic obscenity, he stood up, he takes off running, and fully close, jumps into the pond, and he grabs me and he grabs my brother, and he swims us up to the edge of the pond, and we were covered, and they said
[SPEAKER_01]: and I am assuming.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is because I'm comparing my dad's reaction to intense circumstances to maybe other family members that will go unnamed concerning maybe what I thought was going to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm expecting to get a lashing, you know, nothing else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why would you do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't our four wheeler, your brother can't swim, you're going to be more responsible than this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like what's you're in middle school, like you're in middle school, like, you know, he grew up driving stuff all the time and, you know, that didn't happen for a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gets me up out of the pond, gets us on the side, covered in ponds gone and mud, and he's literally just hugging us and kissing us and saying, I'm so glad you're okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so glad you're okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember in that moment being a little bit confused, thankful.
[SPEAKER_01]: But a little bit confused.
[SPEAKER_01]: His dad would have been totally justified, meeting him at the gates of the city, and saying, you're not welcome here anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: You made your bed, now you're gonna sleep in.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are going to suffer the consequences of your decision making.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I am going to this, I'm going to punish you for what you've done.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that what have been totally justified in doing that?
[SPEAKER_01]: The kid deserved to be punished.
[SPEAKER_01]: He deserved to have to face up with the consequences of, it's justice, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not what happened at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's read verses 20 through 24 again.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, in van, you can make a way up onto the stage.
[SPEAKER_01]: He does it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, so he returned home to his father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while he was still a long way off, not even close, his father saw him come and filled with love and compassion, the father ran to the sun and embraced him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And kiss him.
[SPEAKER_01]: In a sunset, he mistrusted to recite the speech, father, I've sinned against heaven and you, and I wrote the speech and I'm no longer worthy of being called just some, but the bad interrupts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says to the servant now, don't listen to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He'd ring for his finger and get sandals for his feet.
[SPEAKER_01]: He'll that calf we've been fattening because we're going to throw feasts tonight.
[SPEAKER_01]: For this son of mine was dead, and now he's returned to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was lost, but now he's spent.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the party began.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like my dad, the father in this story wasn't worried about retribution.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was worried about restoration.
[SPEAKER_01]: His whole everything that he was doing, every move that he made, every word that came out of his mouth, it was all geared toward restoration.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was immediately prepared to give us some back, everything that he walked away from.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He immediately puts a ring on his finger to reestablish his place and the family.
[SPEAKER_01]: He puts a robe on him to reestablish his dignity.
[SPEAKER_01]: He puts sandals on his feet.
[SPEAKER_01]: to reinforce the fact that he is a human being of worth and of value and I just bring this up to say the contrary to some of the garbage that many of you have been forced fed throughout your entire Christian lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our God is not obsessed with vengeance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our God is not obsessed with retribution.
[SPEAKER_01]: God is not obsessed with giving people what they deserve.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know why
[SPEAKER_01]: because God sent Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: If God wanted to punish you, He would have never sent Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: What Jesus has titled?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a manual.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's God with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not God who wants to destroy us, God who wants to judge us, God who gorees and sending us to hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's God with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's God obsessed with retribution.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is, though, obsessed with restoration.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, God, his goal is not... Let me make sure to scare these teenagers into living for me by hitting the terrified of hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: As if that's ever worked anyways.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what God wants for you?
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to heal you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, God wants for humanity.
[SPEAKER_01]: wants to sever the vision and the breaks that we've created.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is on just a micro level in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: On a micro level, you know, the whole story of Pentecost is the Pentecostal church.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you start reading the prophecy from Pentecost,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about restoring the divisions between men and women.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about restoring the divisions between people of different races.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about restoring divisions between the poor and those maybe have more money.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about restoring divisions between the young and the old everything that God did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every move of Jesus live.
[SPEAKER_01]: He showed to heal you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't want to send you to hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't want to kid you back.
[SPEAKER_01]: For all the bad things you've done.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not my vision of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Used to be a gold guy with a staff who, at every waking moment, was almost salivated at the idea of getting to just pop Alex over the head, every time he messed up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Could be further from the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: God just wants to set you free from that addiction that you still haven't told anybody about.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to set you free from living a life where you feel like all your worth and your value comes for sleeping with people you're not married to.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to set you free from the shame that you're still dealing with because of those decisions.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he wants you to know what it's like to be healed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be full of purpose.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have so much more in mind for you than you probably have.
[SPEAKER_01]: Once to set you, you know the shame that keeps you from raising your hands.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're like, I really haven't lived it out this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to sit.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to set you free from that.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shame that keeps you from singing or going to church, because you're so afraid of what people are going to think about you and they see you for the first time in five weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I, he wants to set you free from that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in case no one tells you this, you're allowed as many fresh starts as you will ever need.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do realize the scripture say,
[SPEAKER_01]: His mercies are new.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every morning, it's not every Sunday morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not every year at the youth conference.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every single, you want to know why his mercies are new every morning?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you go need him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every single morning, and anyone that tells you they don't need it, a fresh, every morning, don't, they're lying.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not aware enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, his mercies are new every morning and it's good because we're gonna need it every single morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a grace, it's not watered down theology.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know what we call this?
[SPEAKER_01]: The Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: The fact that God doesn't love you because you're awesome.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loves you because he's awesome.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Gospel of Jesus that you've done nothing to deserve God's love.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will never do anything to make God like you more than He does right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, leave, I'm not telling you to do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you left tonight, you got drunk.
[SPEAKER_01]: You made the worst decisions of your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get up tomorrow morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: God still loves you, just as much as he does right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll be honest, all I want to do is give you the opportunity to experience that tonight.
[SPEAKER_01]: So do me a favor, stand upon you.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Psalm 236, Psalm 236, surely your goodness and your unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life and let's recap that surely your goodness and unfailing love.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not your anger and your perpetual frustration with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Surely your goodness in your unfailing love will pursue me.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll run after me.
[SPEAKER_01]: What chase me down?
[SPEAKER_01]: Not walk away from me and give up on me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Surely your goodness in unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: was easy to believe that it will pursue me on the good days of my life and on the impressive days of my life and on the consistent days of my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what the word says to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, it's goodness, and as I've been loving, it's going to pursue me all the days of my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every single day, the bad days, the unempressive days, the embarrassing days, the days that you wish you could take back and do over is goodness and his unfailing love is still pursuing you all the days of your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're ready to experience that tonight, look, I will say.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do gotta make a move.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do have to make a move.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't just bypass first 20.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's the main idea of the passage, but you can't overlook it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says that the sun returned home to his father.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't get to stay where he was.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't have to make a move.
[SPEAKER_01]: And tonight, some of you are going to have to make a move as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: In any case, you're organic, case, or new.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you don't know some of these words.
[SPEAKER_01]: We call our repentance in the Christian circle.
[SPEAKER_01]: And repentance isn't you being embarrassed about yourself and beating yourself up and hating yourself for all the bad things you've done in self.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what repentance is?
[SPEAKER_01]: It is you recognizing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Clearly, my ways in my truths, in my lifestyle, and they couldn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Clearly, this is not working in my favor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Clearly, this is doing nothing for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's you acknowledging that you are simple and that you need help to deal with that sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it's you, hurting from that sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And say, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I surrender every part of me, every dream, every ambition, every niche aspect of what makes me me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I give it to you, it's all yours now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done living out my way, I'm done living by my truths, I'm done living my life, I'm ready to live your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, forgive me.
[SPEAKER_01]: receive your love.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it is not harder than that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you do have to make a move.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to give some of you the opportunity to make a move tonight.
[SPEAKER_01]: For some, the move is you have been working your tail off to try and make sure that God stays impressive.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have not been reading your Bible in praying, going to church because it's just your natural response and you couldn't think of anything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've been doing that because you're afraid if you don't, God's gonna be dumb with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God's gonna stop answering your prayers.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's gonna stop hanging out with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And tonight is some of someone in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tonight is your opportunity to make a move where you say, I know that's not the dog that I serve anyways.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm ready to just sink into the fact that God loves me and has nothing to do with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing to do with anything I've ever done or not done.
[SPEAKER_01]: He just loves me and that's going to be cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then of course, there's some others of you in the room that you probably identify with the sun and the story a little bit more that you want other people to know.
[SPEAKER_01]: You feel like maybe you've tasted it, seeing God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably identify with someone who's not living in the house, or maybe you've run, or maybe you're engaging in some activities, they're seeing pretty like, not like what would, you know, dad would like.
[SPEAKER_01]: And tonight, your move is just saying, Lord, it's acknowledging I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry for offending you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry for doing this thing that I know, obviously, you know, like and for hurting myself and for hurting others in the process.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm ready just to live for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I need you to forgive me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need you to set me free.
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of you are like, he's not going to set me free because some of this stuff I'm dealing with is my fault.
[SPEAKER_01]: At what point is the scripture say, the just because some of you are dealing with is your fault.
[SPEAKER_01]: Move in, it's so such a fruit moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you talking about?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and then he wants to.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's the call.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here in a moment, we're going to have a good old-fashioned old-school.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, I don't even do this much at my own church.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do this because I want to give you a chance to make an actual move down front.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is one of those moments where you just need to know what in this room is judging you because you want to have a fresh encounter with the love of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't want that, why are you at a youth conference?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you doing here?
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like a waste of time if that's not what you're after.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, man, one of the great dreams of any pastor of any leader that you have a moment like this and everybody in the room just response to it because we all recognize, no, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need a fresh encounter.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need his mercies that are new every day.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I want it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care anyone thanks about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So give me a very closure of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Close your eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to give you 30 seconds.
[SPEAKER_01]: to silently, without saying a word, contemplate.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the asking for from you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he asking you to lay something down?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he asking you to receive something?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he asking you to relax?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he asking you to repent?
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, our ears are open.
[SPEAKER_01]: Speak to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take 30 seconds and listen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll move on, just a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: We trust that this message has blessed
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a message here from High Braise.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, you can follow us on social media, on Facebook and on Instagram, and don't forget to go subscribe to our YouTube channel.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message.
[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.