Antioch Fellowship Church | 26 July 2020

[Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so good morning antioch family and friends and welcome to the experience of worship live and online we are so excited that you chose to worship with us today and we're even more excited about what god is going to do through this worship experience here in a moment we invite you to share in corporate praise and worship with us so whether you're in the house or at the house stand up to your feet clap your hands and sing along as we lift up the name of our lord and savior jesus christ shortly thereafter we'll participate in a moment of corporate prayer at that time if you have any praise reports or prayer requests please submit those in the comments section on facebook or youtube and most importantly pastor chris is back with his picture this series over the course of the past couple of weeks pastor chris has led us through a series of parables taught by jesus and today shall be no different but i do want to set you up for this the lord is in the house and we want you to be ready and be expecting of him to do marvelous things so again thank you for joining us and as a general reminder you can give online via the app or by simply texting to afnbc 777 worship starts here in five four three buckle up two one [Music] [Music] fellowship [Music] [Applause] [Music] for the kingdom of god [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome [Music] good morning antioch come on good morning i don't know about you but i feel like it's the right time in the right place to give god some praise can you stand on your feet with us as we declare a mighty word of god come on are you we're going to declare this morning that we're gonna stand on the rock of our salvation we're gonna trust in the god of our salvation everybody [Music] everybody [Music] everybody [Music] his love unbreakable we build our faith for jesus your name and better love it's been our firm foundation your courage [Music] [Music] we will i know your plan is perfect i'm glad you called me friend you've been my help in crisis you are the one i have i'm standing on your promise you are the lord of love [Music] we will not be moved we will we will stand on the rocks [Music] come we've come to on this morning that god is the strong god and our god is so mighty so we're gonna forever hide in you are you really gonna trust him are you really gonna trust [Music] everybody says everybody says [Music] [Music] we will not be moved we will stand on the rock of our salvation we will not be shaken we will not be moved we will trust [Music] come on can you say that with us just simple say we [Music] we will not be shaken we will not be moved we will stand on the rock of us salvation [Music] we will not be shaken we will not be more we [Music] we will not be moved we will [Applause] [Music] we're trusting in god because he knows us do you believe that god knows you do you really believe that god knows you i know god knows me he knows my name he knew me before i was even born i have no idea what anybody has gone through this week but we've come to declare that because god is for us nobody can be against us [Music] [Music] say you know my name does anybody have that [Music] you testimony my name i don't know about you but god has done this for me [Music] me that i am your own say you know my name [Music] i love this relationship lord say [Music] he tells me [Music] [Music] and while oh talking to me i'm so glad that he talks with me [Music] [Music] [Music] can we just worship our god this morning come on keith tell him how great he is what he's done in your life god you're a healer god you're a protector god you kept me from sunday last sunday it may not have been the best week but god you covered [Music] [Music] and this is what we say right here [Music] [Applause] cause your power is within me [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] and your cause your power is within me [Music] you know [Music] you know my name is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] come say can we lift that up one more [Music] time [Music] [Applause] [Music] in your victory [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] victory [Music] can we say that together [Music] [Music] oh before we go into prayer this morning for those of you who are online if you have prayer requests we ask that you would submit those now and as a body of faith i ask that we all come together and lift those names and call on jesus on behalf of each other let's go to god heavenly father we thank you master for knowing our names father we honor you this morning for simply being god we thank you master for being i am that i am which simply means as necessity shall arise so father god we thank you for knowing our needs father god we thank you for opening our eyes this morning and breathing into our nostrils and giving us life once again we thank you for waking us with a sound mind father god lord we thank you for your presence master we come to you knowing that there is power in the name of jesus and we know father that you are the only name that can deliver us we call on jesus because there's power in the name of jesus we call on jesus because there's safety in the name of jesus we call on jesus because there's the presence of grace and mercy that abides in the name of jesus so father god we ask that you meet us where we are god we give ourselves to you this morning and we call upon you not just for us but we pray for all of those who are in the midst father god those requests that have come forward god you know the need master so we thank you right now god the fact that we are living and that we have breath is indicative that there is a purpose that you have for us all so master i asked that you would guide our hearts and that you would guide our mind and that you would navigate our focus dear god as we walk in your will master we stand in victory we call out the enemy right now this week marriages will be restored this week homes will be bended this week broken hearts will be mended this week minds will be restored dear god we pray right now in the midst of it all god we lift our hands and we give you the praise because we know that in the midst of chaos you continue to give us peace we realize master that we lack nothing in this season of uncertainty so god we ask that you continue to carry us god we thank you and we trust you even in the midst of the storms that we're facing lord we pray for those who are struggling we pray for those master who don't know where the next meal is coming from we pray for those who are unemployed god jobs will be given this week we stand firm on your word god and we thank you master for loving us we thank you master for your grace and your mercy we thank you master for thinking enough of us even though we are filthy we are undeserving god you desire grace for us and we thank you for that god we honor you and we realize master that the blood still works it continues to flow it continues to work so right now god i stand on behalf of those who are unable to utter a word this morning for themselves i stand and i trust you for healing for those who are sick i stand for those masters who need a mental breakthrough god i stand for those whose hearts are grieving at the loss of their loved ones this morning god i know you to be my safe place i know you to be everything that i require so god i thank you for what you've already done and god if you choose to do nothing else not only is it enough but the fact that you're able god is enough to carry us through we thank you for your word this morning god we stand on behalf of your preacher this morning god give him strength god continue to give us all strength for our journey god i pray that your word this morning god will go forth and that it won't return unto you foreign i pray every need that is met as we stand here today god i love you master we love you master it's in the precious powerful name of jesus that we ask that you move mighty god and we will continue to give you all the praise in jesus name amen [Music] changed you know my name [Music] so come on auntie i can put your hands together how many of you know god is worthy anybody really know god is worthy to be praised come on and bless his name this morning he's worthy put your hands together [Music] we're always [Music] and we give [Music] come on know he's worthy [Music] come on [Music] and is give you one more time you're always making away [Music] can i get a witness anybody know he's awesome [Music] [Music] and we give you [Music] just like this [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] but she [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] anybody know he's worth it come on come on clap your hands give you no heel worthy [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] so praise the lord [Music] is [Music] yours [Music] grace [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah come on let's bless them hallelujah for being a great almighty god hallelujah [Music] jehovah's name hallelujah jehovah shalom hallelujah jehovah rapha jehovah say hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] jehovah [Music] can we just bless the name that's above every name in this house even at home wherever you're watching right now wherever you're looking for wherever you're watching from can we just exalt the name above every [Music] name is his his name knowing the strength of his name should pull some sort of response out of if you know the strength of his name you don't have to worry about what your problem looks like because you know the strength of his name when you know the strength of his name you don't have to concern yourself with what's going on around you because you know the strength of his name and i just wonder if there's anybody who knows how strong the name of jehovah is is there anybody who knows the strength of his name our mighty warrior our great defender thank you jesus this morning god we honor your name the name above every name the only name by which we can be saved the name more powerful than any disease the name stronger than covet the name stronger than cancer the name stronger than diabetes the name stronger than high blood pressure the name that is rich in provision the name that is our strong tower some trust and chariot some in horses but our hope is built on the name of the lord thank you for the strength of your name thank you that we can call out to you and because your name has power wherever your name shows up it makes us victorious thank you that there's victory in that name tell me who can stand before us when we call on that great name your name is jesus jesus how we love you this morning how we love your name and thank you that your name is jesus the name is also the word made flesh because we love your name we love your word they're synonymous they're the same thing it is impossible to love you and not love your word so thank you for your word this morning thank you for what you seek to do in us through your word now lord would you speak to us clearly in jesus name amen amen if you're joining us online this morning thank you so much for for taking the time to uh engage in worship um digitally i know you're not just sitting here watching but i know wherever you are you are engaging in worship and i pray that you feel the presence of god right where you are if you're if you're a visitor if you're not typically connected with the antioch family i want to admonish you to go to our app fill out a connection card so we can get to know you better but thank you so much for worshiping with us and to those in the house this morning give god some praise let the folk know you're here it's hard to hear them with masks on but it's all good um luke chapter 15 we're gonna we're gonna continue um a conversation we started last week um luke chapter 15. um we're going to begin at verse number 25. all right i love y'all buckle up okay i love y'all okay i just want to make that clear before we get into the i really love you i love you so much i'm going to tell you what the bible says all right luke luke chapter 15 we're going to begin reading at verse number 25. now now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house he heard music and dancing so he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant and he said to him your brother has come because he has received him safe and sound your father has killed the fatted calf but he being the older brother was angry and would not go in therefore his father came out and pleaded with him so he answered and said to his father lo these many years i have been serving you some translations say i've slaved for you i never transgressed your commandment at any time never and yet you never gave me a young goat that i may make merry with my friends but as soon as this son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots you killed the fatted calf for him and he said to him son you're always with me and all that i have is yours it was right that we should make mary and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found let's let's tag these thoughts as a continuation of last week lessons lessons from the lost and found uh part two lessons lessons from the lost and found be seated in the presence of god lessons from the lost and found jesus is the epitome of a prophetic preacher he he had um the eternal foresight sovereignly know who would be present in a crowd when he would teach these multitudes and and the supernatural insight to know what perceptions or or or ideas they carried in their minds as they showed up and so he already knew what truths they needed to hear this this is the case especially here in luke 15 because luke lets us know at the genesis of the chapter who's present that day luke luke 15 gives us the makeup of the crowd and luke makes us aware that this crowd is filled with two types of people on the opposite end of the spiritual spectrum group one is filled with um tax collectors and sinners these these sinners represented a broad group of people who live live during lives or engaged in activities contrary to the to the mosaic law that these devout jews follow they were found unfaithful to the traditions of the past and the instructions of the old testament scriptures and these tax collectors were jewish and heritage only but they work for the roman government to collect unjust taxes um and and unfair charges from their own people and and when their own people didn't pay they would go back and report to the romans so that their own people could be punished by an oppressive government they uh weren't welcome neither the tax collector or the center they weren't welcome into the uh societal construct of the jewish culture they were ostracized they were shunned um they they didn't get to be a part of the crowd but with all their faults this day in luke 15 they showed up to hear what jesus had to say now now in the other corner group two is filled with um the people we'll call the religious elites the uh the scribes and the pharisees according to the text the scribes were uh in a simple sense the legal experts of the day so they knew the law and and were called upon uh in matters of legality especially where documentation was necessary so so marriage divorce or loans or mortgages or inheritance and things of the like but because the law was rooted in religion um there was a there was a link between their job performance and their religious piety um i guess i guess simply put this is actually the foundation of describes friction with jesus that they couldn't see how how what they knew about the law merged with the methods of the one who said he came to fulfill it they they they didn't understand the connection and the pharisees were actually a faction of jews with with particular doctrinal beliefs i need you to catch this so so unlike the sadducees the sadducees were another sect and the sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead they didn't believe in the eternal existence of the human spirit or or any tradition that wasn't the written word the pharisees were different the pharisees believed in resurrection they believed that every every man has a soul or a spirit and they believed in oral tradition they believed that yes there is written word but there's history passed down uh from generation to generation so so so they believed in all those things so i need you to understand that some scribes might have been pharisees some scribes might have fallen into the doctrinal category of pharisee but every pharisee wasn't a scribe okay so so so some scribes believe what the pharisees believed others didn't believe what the pharisees believed but but you know they they had their own beliefs but the scribes were about the law the pharisees were about certain doctrine some scribes ascribed to the doctrine of the pharisees others it might have described to a totally different doctrine are y'all following me at any rate jesus has drawn out the the religious people and these religious people i need you to catch it probably ascribed to a bunch of different beliefs these these these scribes and pharisees that were there that day probably didn't agree on a whole lot from from a doctrinal standpoint so they they couldn't agree on the specifics of the nature of humanity they couldn't agree on the specifics of of what happens when we die they couldn't agree on the specifics of what truth actually is is it relative is it absolute is it oral is it written they couldn't agree on that but there was one thing that they could all agree on they could all agree that they were better than the other people there they couldn't agree on much but they could agree that they were better than the tax collectors and the sinners and they could also agree that if jesus ever wanted to be welcomed into religious circles he had no business allowing those people into his space jesus knew that that's what they thought he knew that and and and and because he knew what they thought he started to tell a series of stories he started to preach to the ideas in the room this is what he says verse four through seven he says uh there's a sheep who who is who is a part of a herd of a hundred and the shepherd who heard the hundred realizes that one is missing and he goes after the one who's missing leaving the 99 and and when he finds the one that was lost he throws an entire party for for that one that was lost and is now found suggesting that jesus knew that the 99 would be okay so he left the 99 to go after the one when he gets the one he celebrates throws a party calls people to that party now the important revelation of the first parable is found in verse number seven when jesus says i say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents watch this then over 99. just persons who need no repentance jesus highlights an interesting idea for the people in the crowd that day heaven delights over people who understand their need for forgiveness far more than the one who thinks they have it all together the parable of the lost coin highlights the same principle but to explain this idea further jesus tells the story that it's the focus of our text and perhaps the most famous parable is the story of the prodigal or the lost son you know the story i'm not trying to insult your intelligence but let's just walk through it quickly a man has two sons the man's younger son requested that his father give him the portion of inheritance that was his so that he could go out into the world and live the life that he wants to live the father knowing that the son doesn't want to do the right thing say it the bible says that the father knows that that son doesn't don't do the right thing but what he does is he calls both sons together and the text says he divides his wealth among both of the sons both of the sons get their portion of the inheritance a few days later the younger son who's finally come into some money gathers his stuff sells off positions to get more cash value and dips out he goes into the world and the bible says what he goes into the world to do was live a riotous wasteful lifestyle y'all know the story we talked about it last week he he quickly learned that that fund was wasteful and short-lived and all he had was gone he goes to a farmer in the country gets a job with the pigs um he's eating he's getting ready to eat the very slop that he feeds the pigs and the bible says before he goes too deep he comes to himself he has a realization he has a revelation that causes him to want to go repent to his father to realize how flawed he's been to realize the mistakes that he's made he decides to go home to return and repent and when he gets there he goes with the intention of asking for a job not not to ask for a place as a son but when the father sees him he runs to him from afar off he hugs him he kisses him he tells them go tell their servants go get the robe put the robe on them go get a ring put a ring on them go get some shoes put the shoes on them we're gonna throw a party tonight we're gonna kill the fatted calf we gonna celebrate because my son who was lost is now found my son who was dead is now alive yes he made a bunch of mistakes but not only did he return and repent but because he returned and because he repented i'm going to restore him right so so the bible says the bible says that there's a party going on the father has thrown a party now then the text that we get into today tells the second part of the story while they're partying in the house the older son is out there working in the field he's out there serving he's out there doing his job he got money too but he didn't leave his post he got new he got new opportunities too but he never left this post he kept on doing what he what he knew to do he was doing this the routines that he always do to do new money didn't change his routine new opportunities didn't change his habits he did what he had always done because what he had always done was all he knew to do he didn't leave he stayed right where he was because he grew up in that house he didn't want to leave that house that was the house he grew up in he didn't want to leave that job that was the only job he knew he didn't want to leave that place that was the only thing he knew how to do and so he leaves the job that day he leaves the field and he comes to the house and he hears a party going on he asked one of the servants oh what's what's going on in there when i left to go to work everybody was doing a job i came home and it's a cookout it's a party what what what's the occasion y'all playing frankie beverly and maze y'all people doing the electric slide i'm trying to figure out what doesn't happen who birthday is it did i miss the servant said oh yeah you missed something your brother who has been gone came home and because he came home your father was so happy he killed the fatted calf he didn't throw the party now you would think that the older brother's reaction would be like shoe let's go somebody fix me a plate let me get out my work clothes and we gonna party the bible says he got so mad he wouldn't go in the house he was he was so he was so irritated he was so frustrated that that he didn't want to go in the house so so when the response of the older son reaches the father the father goes out to the older son the father leaves the party to go go deal with his pouting son he left he left the party to deal with the powder by now i hope you see that in this text the three main characters represent three very specific people the father represents god the younger son represents the lost those of us who who have gone out to live life the way we want to live it and realize ain't nothing out there for us and so we've come on home and we've been restored by the father and you know praise the lord these the people that shout all the time every time somebody says when i think of the goodness of jesus that's that's this crowd right this this crowd see some of y'all already showing what crowd you in i'm not being pity i'm just i'm just serious some you know these are the people who it don't take much for they they don't need much because they understand the depth of their sin they understand that they have wild out the older son in the story represents the other group of people who were in the crowd that day the other son in the story the older son represents the religious elite those who are who have been in proximity to the father serving faithfully but struggle with the presence of the tax collectors and the sinners all right to be more direct the younger son represents those who understand the state of their own sinfulness and with humility have come to god with the knowledge of their failures and the knowledge that those failures make them unworthy you remember you remember what the younger son said in his head i'm going to tell i'm going to tell my father i am no longer worthy to be called a son i am only worthy to be a servant a slave at best and i really don't deserve that please please please give me a job i know i don't deserve it those are the people who understand that the depth of the depths of their mistakes make them unworthy to have any type of relationship with the father that that's who the younger son represents but to be direct the older brother represents those who have been in proximity to god for so long they don't know their own sinful state and they've started to develop a type of pride rooted in self-perceived religious superiority well the unflattering term colloquially used for these type of people is church folk these are the people who have deceived themselves into thinking that their labor and longevity make them higher on the totem pole than the new member or the one who hadn't served as hard these are the type of people who convince themselves that their knowledge of scripture makes them more valued by god than the baby believer who has a conversion experience but can't articulate it with the right scripture and verse these type people who think that a title in ministry or perfect church attendance gives them the right to belittle others or carry carries the type of attitude that makes them big eyes and everybody else who doesn't have the same badge a little you just as just as both groups were present that day both groups are present in churches every week before y'all start calling me judgmental and rude and mean and before y'all start saying i'm talking about you here's the good news of the text no matter what group you fall into both sons the younger one and the older one had the same loving father and here's the evidence of it all right here's the evidence of it the only reason i'm wearing this headset mic is so i don't get too happy and start hollering all day listen okay here's the evidence that both sons have the same loving father here it is in the text i'ma prove it to you you remember when the younger son started coming home the bible says that the father saw him a long way off and he took off running to him here's the same father that when the older brother is throwing a temper tantrum missing a party he leaves the party to go out to him this is the point no matter what group you fall into no matter how you feel no matter what's going on in your life god loves you so much that he'll come to you in your sin where you are no matter the posture and state of your heart just to redeem you and put you back on track aren't you glad that god loves the sinful son just like he loves the spiritual son and no matter how many mistakes you made and no matter what you've done god is so loving the father's character is so consistent that he'll come to you right where you are some of us can testify that that he came to us when we were coming home for the first time and then some of us can also testify you remember when he got you there but there was a time when you were throwing a temper tantrum because you lost your title you lost your position the young people were coming up in the church you didn't know how you were gonna handle this new young pastor and all this new stuff and the lord met you where you were i'm sorry i ain't even mean to say that out loud i didn't even mean to say that out loud i was thinking that when i was writing it i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm not sorry the same father will show up right where you are a couple couple things in the text i want to show you about the conversation between between the older son and the father and i'm done the older the older son is sitting outside the party the text says that the father shows up and says come in he pleads with him he he begs him he implores him to come be a part of the party check out what the older son says i got a problem pop here's my problem my problem is i have never broken your commandments i've never done anything wrong i've been serving you and slaving for you i have never done anything wrong now now what would make this man think that he was the one exception to the fact that all have sinned what would make this son think that that everybody can make a mistake but him what would make him think that he was so good that he could declare he had never done anything wrong i want to suggest it's because of the righteousness compared here's what i mean he decided to compare his righteousness to the righteousness of his little brother so what he decided to do was say um i've never he wasn't he said i'm perfect he knew he wasn't perfect he had to have known that i would hope so but compared to his little brother he was a good kid that one over there acts up that one doesn't cause you grief i've seen you praying and crying and walking the floor for that one i've seen you worried and wondering about that one i never caused you that type of pain you asked me to do one thing i did it you asked me to do something i didn't give you no back talk even if i didn't want to do it i did it i served you i slayed for you that other one left you so how you gonna throw a party for him when you won't even cook for me like what i'm trying to figure out is how it is that you see this this messed up son of yours and you know i'm the good son and you ain't never done anything for me the problem was he compared his righteousness to his brother but not his righteousness to his father because the text makes it very clear that if he would compare himself to the father he would realize he still had more work to do but instead of comparing himself to his father he picked the low-hanging fruit he picked the easy target he picked the one he could say he was better than and perhaps the church would be a lot better if we stopped comparing righteousness to each other and started comparing our righteousness to the righteousness of god you may not have made the same mistake somebody else made but my bible tells me that compared to his my righteousness is that of filthy rags that's the problem the problem is we pick people we're better than to put ourselves on a pedestal so we go down the list of sin and say i ain't never done that i ain't never done that and i know what they do i ain't never had that issue and look at them i ain't never struggled with that proclivity and you know what they do and the text says that the problem he made was trying to make himself better than his brother because of what the brother did that he didn't do he he made the mistake of comparing righteousness if you stop comparing your righteousness to the people around you you might actually see yourself grow but most of us don't want to grow we just want to make ourselves feel like we're better i knew it was going to be quiet in here today i already knew he he he he um he he he uh he he compared his righteousness to his brother but you know what's interesting about that is he had more in common with his brother than he thought i mean let me let me show it to you because the brother decides to leave the father's house based on um the lust of the flesh there were some things his flesh desire that um he wanted to go do but the bible the bible teaches us that that sin really off is one thing that falls in three categories says there there's there's the lust of the eye you see things that um that you want and it causes you to go after the wrong things or be jealous or envious there's the lust of the flesh that makes you want to be satisfied with the wrong things that you crave and there's the pride of life the thing that makes you feel better or good enough to to to think you are um deserving of certain things you do know that within this text the older son and the younger son all fall victim to all three lord have mercy the older son sees the party lust of the eye and wonders why he doesn't have one for himself he sees his father pouring out affection the thing that all of us crave lust of the flesh and the pride of life that says i deserve that more than he does the older brother fell victim to the exact same thing that the younger brother did it just looked different but comparing your righteousness to the wrong person will make you think because your sin looks different is not as bad y'all don't want to talk to me and hit it this morning the the issue is that you'll say well mine wasn't that bad at least i didn't i mean they they did that i mean sure i was a little prideful but it was just like this you did it anyway sin never mind we'll get into that in a second he compared his righteousness he compared his righteousness to his little brother so then he said so here's my here's my problem he did all this and you dad have seen me doing this but not once have you ever said good job son you know what that proves these comments here reflected they they show us something really interesting what they show us is the older brother's problem was not with his little brother when he starts to talk out out of the out out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks the more he talked the more we started to see where his issue really lie his issue didn't really lie with his little brother his issue really lied with his father here it is that's what i'm trying to tell you the way you treat your brother and sister is evidence of how you feel about god so he treated his little brother like an outcast but the more he talked the more we realized his issue really wasn't with his brother his brother never sinned against him his issue was with his father why did god not do for me what he did for them so i'm mad at them for what they got but i'm really mad that god didn't give it to me you got to be careful how you treat people because i can tell how you feel about god based on how you treat other people after all jesus said himself they'll know you're my disciples by the way you love one another so if you can't love one another it suggests that the discipleship link is broken and you don't love me the way you think you do so the older brothers love for the father hear me well church please hear me the older brother's love for the father was not seen in the field y'all do you see okay y'all not seeing this and i'm trying to keep myself composed y'all don't see it okay okay so the older brother was working he was serving he was laboring but had a problem for the person he was laboring for his love for the father was not seen in his service it was seen and how he was supposed to love his brother and because he couldn't love his brother well it shows us his heart posture for god some folks serve out of religious routine and habit and don't love god here's my proof of it in the text he said all these years i've been slaving for you now now now how is it slavery when the opening part of the story teaches us that the father already gave him do you not see it in the text the text says that when the younger son came and said give me my portion of what's mine the father gave it to the younger and the older so the older knew he had more than the younger because of the ancient near east the older son got the bulk of the inheritance he knew he had more than his brother the problem was he viewed it as slavery and not service listen this is how i know your heart for god ain't right you view services obligation not opportunity can i tell y'all something about me i don't have to preach i get to preach i don't have to pastor i get to pastor every morning i wake up and say lord i cannot believe you would allow me to do this and the moment you get to the point that your service feels like obligation and not opportunity it's really saying something about how you feel about god he the more he talks the more we realize his problem ain't with his brother is with the fact that his brother has what he covets and his problem is that god gave it to him his problem his problem is that god gave his brother something that he felt like he deserved you need to take that up with the father it shows that he got an issue with the father's sovereign grace to bless us how he sees fear are y'all walking with me y'all tracking with me he makes these comments that that reflect the state of his heart then he says something okay that blows my mind y'all this messes me up this is the one thing in the text that really messes me up so he says he says now now i've been slaving for you i've been working for you i ain't never left you and you ain't done nothing for me but that oh that other son of yours that other boy been out there spending all your money on prostitutes he records the carnality of his brother's spending now here's my problem here's the question i had to ask in the text how did the older brother know what the younger brother had been spending his money on how did he know it would suggest one of two things it would suggest for us that either somebody saw his brother in them streets and started talking about it and the rumor got back to the house or it would suggest that one day while he was working he saw his brother on the corner are y'all hearing what i'm saying to you so one of two things is true either the older brother bought into the rumors oh i wish i had time either the older brother listened to what everybody else had to say and was guilty of spreading the rumors even if the rumor was true or he saw his brother struggling and refused to help him can i be honest with y'all this morning i believe that both things exist in the church oh y'all don't want to talk y'all don't want me to be honest this morning the church is full of people buying into the rumor meal oh i'm here today we're here now so we gonna talk about it y'all we spend so much time talking about what we heard about somebody else and never go to them to check on them and see how they really are oh y'all don't want to be honest this morning y'all don't want to be real cause i know i know i know how it works because i know our people i know church people i know the older sons what the older sons do is talk about stuff and judge people but they never take time to go out and see how the person actually is here's another biblical example so i don't start pulling out real world real life antioch examples here's another biblical example here's the biblical example the bible says that jesus is teaching one day and and as he's teaching these religious elites these older brothers these these spiritual leaders bring to jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and when they bring him this woman who had been caught in the act of adultery they bring them to and say now we caught this woman in the act of adultery and it means that she deserves to be stoned now here's what you got to know about mosaic law a death penalty could not be issued if the act that caused the death penalty was not witnessed by other witnesses so what it suggests to us is that the person she was sleeping with was probably one of the pharisees in the crowd but what the pharisees did in order to trip jesus up was set a woman up start a whole rumor meal start talking amongst themselves to see how they can take jesus down and what they did was create a true rumor just to mess with the church god almighty here's what i'm trying to tell you what an older brother will do is set stuff up to talk about stuff just to try to trip jesus up you do know you do know you do know when you buy into the rumor mill when you start acting like an older brother it's actually not just a sin against each other what it really is is something that's meant to damage and destroy the church to damage and destroy the testimony of jesus himself you you can start and buy into the rumors this woman did this or you can see somebody struggling watch them struggle just to go back and carry a negative perception about them in your mind oh i saw such and such doing such and such i knew they wasn't about nothing and i know they're not going to try to serve in my ministry living like that i know she don't think i'ma let pastor put them up the same when i know what type of life they live in if they think they don't get my ministry position after living that type of life i'm a snitch i'ma tell it because i know what they used to do it's interesting that we can record the carnality of other people and seem to forget our own we can we can record the issues we got with other people but for some reason we forget the the log in our own eye we can talk about the issues with other people all right y'all sick of me already he he records the carnality of his brother that that that boy yours was out there spending your money spending your money on on all that stuff and you threw him a party here's the root cause the root cause of the problem is he had been in proximity to the father but never developed the passion of the father he had been he had been close but never developed the character i'm talking better than y'all talking to me so he showed up to church every week he served faithfully in ministry he did the right things but never developed the right heart he was close to the father but never became anything like him i think the greatest problem that exists in the local church is we got people that think you can do the right things but not be the right person i knew it was going to be tight in here today i already knew what today was going to be that's why i dressed down i already knew i already knew we we we have a problem with with service but not transformation we think that this is all about religion y'all do know that religion is simply a fancy word for routine we just do it all the time and we've confused um routine with transformed hearts i'm about to prove it to you you do know that muslims pray more than you they do the right things god almighty lord have mercy every faith teaches routine you know the difference between our faith and every other faith yes there is routine but we can offer what nobody else can offer that's actual living breathing relationship with the one we serve muhammad's dead buddha's dead confucius is dead everybody all of them are dead so you can do for somebody you'll never get a chance to meet they're doing for somebody they'll never get a chance to meet we're doing for a god who wants intimate relationship with us with the purpose of conforming us to his image this is called sanctification you are justified by faith he has already made you righteous he has given you his righteousness not so that you can boast because you didn't do it he has justified you but now that you're justified you have an opportunity to walk into in relationship with him so that you can be sanctified so you can become more like him you are not sanctified because of you and what you do you're sanctified not by works but only through relationship and it's a lot of folk talking about i'm saved sanctified and filled with the holy ghost we need to change some of that you're saved justified and filled with the holy ghost but don't tell me you sanctified and you got a bad heart don't tell me you sanctified and you rude don't tell me you sanctified and you can't love don't tell me you're sanctified and you're evil to people all right i told y'all buckle up this morning i'm almost through the issue the issue was the issue was that he had he had the wrong he had the wrong heart the root cause is wrong check out what the father says in response are y'all ready the father says son you've always been with me you've always been with me and because you've always been with me everything i have is yours okay i need y'all to see it in context of of the whole story so you remember i told you at the very opening of the story the father divides his wealth between his two sons he gives both sons everything he has so for the father to say he had more to give means between the opening of the story and the closing of the story he's acquired more if he gave both of his sons everything but by the end of the story he has more to give it suggests that his wealth has grown since the younger son has been gone and everything that he has been given or everything that he's gained all belongs to the faithful son he says he says there is a certain capital amount of capital you're going to receive for being faithful faithfulness is rewarded every time you gotta stop being mad because you didn't get what you wanted in the moment and you gotta trust that the lord is a righteous judge who's keeping count in heaven and is gonna bless you for your service you cannot out serve god's gifts you can't serve more than he's willing to bless and so the more you serve the more you give the more you labor you got to trust that god has more to give you here's my problem with the older son the older son still had more in the bank than the younger son ever had so why did god have to promise him more to get him to act right it would suggest that the older son was serving and ungrateful for what he had you may not have mine y'all gonna call me carnal if i start quoting just be grateful for what you got that's what the songwriter said everything you have everything you have you got a reason to be grateful for and a lot of us have been guilty of trying to count what's in somebody else's bank not realizing that the lord has given you more here's the proof of it while the son the younger son was out doing what he was doing the older son was able to live under the shadow of the father while the younger son was trying to figure out where he was going to lay his head the older son had a home to go to and you mad because god blessed somebody who had less than you you got an attitude because god did something for somebody else when you already got more than enough you mad because god decided to elevate somebody and you've been living in a position of privilege you you mad because god decided to help somebody up and you've been living at the top of the food chain how dare us all right i'm almost done check out check out check out what happens the text says that as the older brother is talking he says so so so that son of yours that that son of yours is out there doing all that when the father starts speaking he doesn't refer to him as his son but as your brother there's a relational connection that's still your brother i love i love the way jesus paints this picture here jesus paints this picture by saying i'm the god of all and that means since i'm your father i'm his father too that makes y'all brothers so whether or not you like what he's been doing with his life that's still your brother that's that's still your brother you don't get to break relational covenant with him because you don't like what he's been doing you don't get to distance yourself from your brother because you don't like what he's been doing guess what that's still your brother and i need i need y'all to hear me good in here the younger brothers in the church the ones who got issues the ones who have made mistakes the ones who got a checkered past and a history i don't care if you're a deacon a preacher a board member or whatever or whoever you think you are that's still your brother and how can you love god whom you've never seen and hate your brother that you see every sunday that you talk about on social media that you've been laughing at them privately that you've been talking about in group text that they not in oh how can you love god over here and talk bad about your brother and your sister and they never talk to them oh my god that's still your brother and because that's your brother when i bless your brother when i restore your brother when i welcome your brother you have a responsibility to celebrate celebration is required you have to be glad when you see somebody brought back to life now now i'm gonna say this and then i think i'm gonna stop getting on y'all nerves i'ma say this and then i'm through with it i think the reason we struggle to celebrate is because somewhere in our minds people being brought from death to life and being brought into our house makes us feel like our presence is diminished for some reason we think that when god welcomes another son it diminishes our place in his heart can i be honest that's really the issue a lot of people are carrying in our church right now i think i think the issue that we're seeing in our church if you're not antioch family i'm about to air a little bit of our dirty laundry i'm sorry i love you but that's the way i feel about it if this really the biggest problem we got we don't got that many problems all right so just hear me out that's just for my my psa for the visitors listen i think the biggest problem we have in our in our church in this season is that the more new people we see it makes us feel threatened the more the more new faces we see being brought into fellowship and into relationship and giving status and given opportunity there is something in our hearts that says well what about me at the root of the brothers issue i believe was an insecure heart here's what you got to know about god his house is big enough for the both of you there's enough for everybody to do in fact jesus said it this way the harvest is plentiful the laborers are few the more laborers we get the more grateful you are to be because that means there's more we can go after the more of us it is the more work we get to do your work is not diminished because you got some more workers with you maybe the issue was that and i think the text makes it pretty clear the older brother didn't have a problem with servants he had a problem with sonship so so when the older brother comes into the field he had no problem talking to a servant but wait wait wait wait wait wait wait my little brother is home and there's a party and he got on a ring and a robe so he's a son again i don't mind him coming in as long as i'm better than him i don't mind him being apart as long as he sits just underneath me here's the lesson from the lost and found there's no big eyes and little used in the kingdom here's my challenge i'll invite the praise team to come here's my challenge if you want to be a good big brother if you want to be a good big brother here's what i've learned from the scriptures and honestly some of my own life experience if you want to be a good big brother one be mindful of how you view yourself you do know that you're not righteous because you work you're not righteous of your own accord be careful how you view yourself because if you're not careful you'll view yourself as righteous because of what you've done that's what the older brother in the text says the older brother in the text says i've been doing all this work that should give me some sort of status no your work doesn't give you status that doesn't give you status you know what righteousness you have you have imputed righteousness that means jesus put his righteousness on you because your righteousness of its own accord isn't valid to get you anything your righteousness doesn't buy you anything in the kingdom bank if you want to be a good big brother antioch if we want to be a healthy church we got to be careful how we view ourselves if you want to be a good big brother you got to be careful how you view others we aren't better or worse because of our redemption stories i want you to see something beautiful in the text the father extended the same love to both brothers he didn't love the younger brother any worse because he left he didn't love the older brother anymore because he stayed we got to be careful of how we view each other if we want to be good good big brothers we want to be a healthy church we got to be careful how we view ourselves we got to be careful how we view others and thirdly we can't afford to miss the party we can't be guilty of missing the party god has been so good and hear me out and i need y'all to hear me i need you to hear me whenever we talk about the goodness of god we typically celebrate it by talking about all the stuff god's done for us he healed my body he opened the door he gave me a new job but do you know the truest evidence of god's goodness his redemptive power you are listen the truest evidence of god's goodness is his ability to clean the younger brother and keep the older brother god almighty if we want to be good big brothers we can't afford to miss opportunities to celebrate what god has done in the lives of our brothers and sisters some of you may i mean if you're newer to the antioch family of faith you may not know this but i have two younger brothers um this is the first time both of my brothers are going to make it in one of my sermons the spirit of kerry wesley is on me today i'm talking about my family okay so listen [Laughter] miss judy okay so check it check it out check it out so both of my brothers and i are are we are very different all three of us were very different um you might know carl carl is the one with the camera he's present he's he's always moving but he's behind the scenes now my baby brother you might not know because he stayed all the way out the way like he let me tell you what what charles would do before a covey what charles would do charles never misses church but y'all don't know it cause you've never seen him he intentionally tips in around 10 25 sits way at the top and as soon as the sermon's over he tips out so he don't have to talk to y'all you know what i'm saying we are all extraordinarily different and here's the other thing you got to know about us um our our redemption stories and journeys are totally different right i'm i'm i'm the one that's always been the church boy it's interesting because in a lot of contexts i'm the older brother in the text i'm the one y'all always seen here right you you don't you you don't know that there have been moments in my relationships with my brothers that that i've been totally different but what i learned in seasons of difficulty for my brothers is that i had a responsibility to be a good big brother even if i didn't agree with what they were doing and just because they had difficult moments didn't give me the opportunity to push him away and the reason we're so close is because in difficult moments i didn't push them away so my younger brother sent me a text my baby brother sent me a text a few weeks ago my baby brother sent me a text a few weeks ago after a serving and this is what he said to me he said big bro i love you i hear every word you say but more importantly i've seen how you loved us now now this is this is this is what i've learned hear me well the greatest doctrinal lessons we teach the greatest way people learn about the character of god is watching the character of people who say they're close to god and how they love people who seem distant from god that's it that's the main idea of the message if we want to be a good representation of god those of us who come to church every week those of us who share and brag y'all come join in my service online the ones who are hosting watch parties the ones who are bragging about their church i thank god for you please keep sharing but more important than sharing i need you to love why because people have an expectation of your proximity meaning that they can trust your character god we want to be faithful big brothers we want to love well because the way we love is a direct reflection of your character god forgive us for having this prideful sense of religious superiority for being close in proximity but not necessarily sharing your heart we want to be faithful we want to learn lessons from the lost and found and one of the greatest lessons we learned from the lost and found is that you can be lost in a far country and you can be lost in the house but thank you god that you will come to us just like you went to both sons you invite us into the party thank you that you gave an invitation to the older son and the younger son to the party thank you that the younger sons distance still got him invited to the party and the older son's pride didn't stop him from getting invited to the party just like you saw the younger son far off and went to him and invited him to the party you saw the older son having an attitude outside the party and invited him to the party lord you invite us all whosoever will let the evidence of our trust in you be the way we love each other in jesus name in jesus name amen listen i want to invite you now to place your faith your trust your hope in jesus this is why we preach this is this is why we gather because the reality is the the father is inviting both sons to trust him so to commit their very lives to him and ultimately commit their ways and their walk and their works to him and if you're watching today if you're in the building no matter where you are no matter what you've done no matter if you've been far away or if you've been in church all your life there is still an invitation for you to put your trust in him today the truest evidence of their trust in him is a transformed heart today the spirit is inviting you into a relationship that will change your heart that will change your life and this is an opportunity for you to respond in the building decision team members are here to safely walk you through a decision online if you would just say oh i want a relationship with jesus you can send us a direct message you can write a comment or you can uh email us at membership afnbc.org if you want to come home if you want to come to this party at antioch if the lord has called you to unite with this place you can be a part of our family of faith just email us at membership afnbc.org or download our app and say yo i want to be a part of this family of faith or if you say i need prayer my heart has been all kinds of jacked up and i really want to be the person that god is calling me to be i love god i have a relationship with god but i find my heart not being right i've been carrying some things and i just need somebody to pray for me we're ready to pray with you online and we're ready to pray with you in the house but as they sing this song would you respond now this is your opportunity [Music] [Music] i will be trust me i'll never leave [Music] you [Music] thank you [Music] oh [Music] [Music] uh i am i will live put your trust [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] bless your name [Music] trust me [Music] trust me me if you will love me [Music] trust me trust me [Music] um yes sir [Music] this is this is one of those moments i feel do i feel the holy spirit really imploring somebody to trust him i i don't have anything other than this there's somebody who has been putting off a deeper relationship with god he is inviting you he is calling you to himself now but i don't know if you're in the building or if you're online but you know the holy spirit is speaking to you and he's drawing you to yourself and you need to respond you you feel them tugging at your heart so this is your opportunity you got a few more seconds right now the holy spirit is saying come on come on don't wait till later don't send that email later don't write that comment later do it now he's not saying wait till next week he's saying right now right now is your moment to respond right now right now you can respond to him i'm gonna give you a little a little bit more time y'all go ahead just just a little bit more and i'm gonna give i'm gonna give you time to respond but this is your moment he's inviting you to trust him with your life come on don't put it off [Music] me [Music] trust me me trust me [Music] father we reaffirm our commitment to trust you thank you so much that you invite us into relationship with you some from out of the slop some from out in the field but you invite us all into intimate relationship with you we trust you commit our lives to you and the evidence that we've committed our lives to you will be in the way we love one another in jesus name amen now i don't i don't have i don't have um a phone or device on me to look and see if anybody responded online um where's tiff i don't know if anybody sent in any emails i i don't see tiffany but i do know some people responded in the building y'all didn't get to see that and i ain't gonna lie i'm disappointed because the bible says that when one now we just talked about this we just talked about this when one responds when one who is lost is now found a party breaks out in heaven now i stopped counting what was it four four people if if one person causes a party in heaven what does four people do in heaven five five people committed their lives to jesus show me heaven's response now if i start talking about shout for your new car or your new house y'all be running around [Music] if i said praise god for your blessing y'all be running around but i said give the lord praise [Music] because somebody came home [Music] we have a responsibility to join heaven's party so let's thank god like you never thank god before for what he just did in somebody else's life and the reason you really ought to be able to thank god is because you remember when he did it in your life you remember that day when he picked you up when he turned you around when he changed your name when he gave you his righteousness [Music] all right lord have mercy lord have mercy now y'all know it don't take much for me y'all know it don't take a whole lot for me but we ought to be excited [Music] not not not just that religious pity pat oh praise god you know oh yay now this ought to be the thing that excites the church more than anything else i remember i remember and some of y'all remember it some of y'all remember the days when one person would walk the aisle and it would spark a whole thing in here you see somebody walk a aisle and somebody would take a lap god get us back to the days where redemption of somebody else matters to us all right if you made a decision for jesus today i hope you see how excited i am i hope you see how excited we are we are so grateful we're so excited for what god has done in your life today we are celebrating with heaven and this party pales in comparison to what the angels are doing right now this party is nothing like the celebration in heaven because one who is lost is now found we are so excited for what god is about to do in your life for the restoration for the new status we thank god for you man all right this time has been well spent listen up it's time now to give it's time for you uh for us now to to continue in worship as we uh receive the lord's tithe in your offering um if you're not in the building there are a few ways to give you can go to the app you can go to www.afnbc.org you can text afnbc to 77977 or you can uh come by on thursday for drive-thru thursday this thursday is the last thursday you can pick up the lord's supper before we partake of it together next sunday but church i cannot wait to share with you how faithful god has been to us as a body of believers during this season um and this is what we know at the more we give the more he gives to us and not just from an individual standpoint this is what i want you to know that we believe as a body of faith we are not asking you to give individually we're also giving as an institution does that make sense so so what what that means is when when you give we are we are saying that we're going to follow god's principles and give god's way but then as a church we've been able to walk in faith in the way we've given to others and because of that god has blessed us y'all let me tell you something and it's going to blow your minds when i tell you we have been giving like we've never given before as a church but i want you to see it our bottom line has been rising as we've been giving it don't make no sense but what i'm telling you is from an institutional level we've seen god's promises that's why we can encourage you to give on an individual level because we've seen god do it for our family of faith and if he'll do it for our family of faith he'll do it for your family too do you believe it let's let's thank god that we have to give let's thank god for giving god we thank you so much for what you've given to us thank you that you invite us to take part in your kingdom by giving what's yours back to you and so lord i pray now that you will bless what we have to give thank you that you are multiplying it for it to be used in your kingdom in the world to go into the nations to be a blessing to be an extension of your hands and your heart to the world and not only are you multiplying it for kingdom use you're sending a return of that investment back into our homes you're going to continue to bless us to be a blessing we can't out give you and so lord we thank you that as we give you're giving back to us we've seen you do it time and time again lord i thank you that you will rebuke the devourer for our sake i thank you that you will open the windows of heaven and pour our blessing we don't have room to receive in jesus name amen y'all pay attention to these announcements good morning and thank you for joining us for this week at antioch for those who are worshiping in-house we are so excited for those who are worshiping at home we are grateful you're here and we pray all is well with you to our visitors and special guests please feel free to download our app click and fill out our connect card so that we can remain connected to you and we hope to see you next week for those who wish to give you can do so by using our app going online or by texting a to 779 777 so here's what's happening this week at the church on tuesday we have shop that's sweet hour of prayer at 8pm on wednesday we have bible study streaming at both noon and 7 pm on thursday come by and pick up all of your communion needs from 11 to 1 or from 5 to 7. and don't forget the checkpoint at 7 pm hi antioch family this is ambry walker the director of children ministries last week we told you guys we had some content coming your way well guess what it's here so moms dads grab your little ones head on over to afnbc.org click the children ministries banner and kids i hope you enjoy someone do me a favor give a girl in that last video my number but anyway i told you last week that crave was coming back well guess what i didn't lie to you i wouldn't steal you wrong crave is in fact coming back august 3rd through the 5th it's coming back virtually as a matter of fact let me quit talking about it catch this [Music] clip [Music] again thank you for choosing antioch my name is mikayla mcdade stick around and have a phenomenal week so um parents that that video you know was supposed to play earlier in the service so there is a children's ministry um worship experience or video that you can go on the website now so we got church for the babies online so you can give them your tablet and let them watch along in their service so um thank you ambry for that and your team that's been creative and planning and putting that together um yeah it's so exciting that we're we're getting ready to start releasing weekly digital content for all generations so that we'll we'll um make sure that everyone is getting what they need during this season so crave our our student conference will start we'll be digital and then we're transitioning to some cool digital stuff for them as well as our men's and women's ministries we're so excited about um the discipleship that is getting ready to take place here digitally now we can't gather for for all the classes and the teaching but we're doing it online so we can continue to grow um so thank you all for being here listen thank you for joining with us in today's worship experience i pray that it was a blessing to you if you had a birthday this past week including today uh let us know online in the house uh any birthday celebrants this past week including today i know there was one but i don't see where he went my brother turned 30 carl turned 30 on friday where yeah there he is happy birthday little brother um any other birthdays this past week including today happy birthday any wedding anniversaries this past week including today uh in the building or online happy anniversary um if you got a job a job a job promotion um congratulations let us know we're so excited we want to celebrate with you somebody got a job god praised the god of the bible so so i think i saw you say it too you were promoted and pandemic don't you don't you start with me congratulations josh and to each and every uh each and every one of you um congratulations if you got a chance to retire praise the lord for you the rest of us will be at work tomorrow if we can um so congratulations to you let's continue to pray for our military let's continue to pray for those who are in public service and safety uh we we want um to continue to cover them in prayer thank you so much for joining us again i pray you will bless y'all stay tuned for more announcements this week um hopefully i get a chance to see you thursday or drive through thursday but until then may the lord bless you and keep you may cause his face to shine on you may the lord give you grace and peace may the lord establish you may he give you unusual favor this week may he open up windows of heaven and pour our blessing you never expected and don't have room enough to receive so that you can bless other people i pray that the lord gives you abundant love this week so that you can show love to everybody you come in contact with and ultimately i pray that you are a representation of god's hands and his heart this week in jesus name hey man y'all stay seated here in the building love y'all on behalf of our senior pastor pastor chris wesley and the entire antioch family thank you for tuning in we hope that you were blessed by today's worship experience and it is our prayer that you would take the word that was offered today and apply it in your life this week god be with you until we meet again have a blessed week [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Antioch Fellowship Church

Views: 2,419

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Id: rxhSs9UmocY

Length: 134min 55sec (8095 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020