How To Have A Fresh Start – Fernando Carrillo | HTB Live Stream

good morning everybody it's so wonderful to get to be with you all here today and all of you watching online today we're going to be in the book of luke so if you wouldn't mind flicking there with me to the chat to chapter 15 verses 11 to 24. and jesus is telling us a story he said there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of the property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them not many days later the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in reckless living and when he had spent everything a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need so he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the field to feed pigs and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate but no one gave him anything but when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but i perish here with hunger i will arise i will go to my father and i will say to him father i have sinned against heaven and before you i am no longer worthy to be called your son treat me as one of your higher servants and he arose and he came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father i've sinned against heaven and before you i'm no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us celebrate for the son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate the title of today's talk is how to have a fresh start i don't know if you've ever wanted a fresh start but i have i was born in miami in a prison my mom was a drug addict when i was born and i was quickly brought here to the uk when i was three to live with my grandmother and my extended family i was brought up by very strong women there's not a single marriage in my family that means they're they're my heroes but also scary but i love them so much but unfortunately when my man passed away i went down my own reckless living and at the age of 17 i found myself in prison i know i wanted a fresh start i had ruined so many friendships i had ruined so much in my life and i wonder might you want a fresh start in some area of your life maybe relationships you could have done differently maybe lies you wish you wouldn't have told maybe mistakes we could have avoided regrets we could undo shame we wish we could erase guilt we could let go of sometimes wouldn't it just be so good to have a button that just press refresh rewind undo well in today's passage we learn how jesus teaches us how we can have a fresh start and the first thing i find that jesus tells us through this story is to acknowledge a problem he tells us from verses 16 to 18 that when the son came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but i perish here with hunger i'll arise and go to my father here in this parable jesus tells spiritual truths and the son is you and i and the father is god and he's teaching us how god relates to you and i and this son he had run from his father he had asked for his inheritance early i wonder how you'd feel if your son had asked for his inheritance early that means he the son was basically saying to his father that he wanted him dead he didn't want him in his life anymore he wanted to go his own way and he went to a big city a city like london to live a reckless life and i'll let you come up with whatever you think reckless life means but that didn't last long soon the money ran out his friends left him and he was all alone he was in a pigsty and he and jesus tells us that he came to himself he acknowledged that he had a problem he said father i have sinned against heaven and before you the son notices that this this problem that he has it's it's this thing called sin and and today we spoke about that as people were being baptized and sin is basically just when we do things our way instead of god's way it's not just outward actions but it's also inward motives i know so many times in my own life when my pride has hurt the people around me when my selfishness has ruined things that i've been a part of things that i've done that i'm that i regret so much so so many of my actions that now bring me so much shame habits that i've had in my life that have hurt me and hurt the people around me and these are all a result of doing things my own way rather than god's way and they break god's heart because they destroy my life and they destroy the life of the people around me but acknowledging a problem is so difficult if you're anything like me i love to learn things the hard way i don't know why but unless i've hit rock bottom i just don't learn my lesson and i'm sure so many people looking in on me could have told me that i had a problem and but i just didn't listen i remember i was living my life running from god running from my family this was a picture of me not long after this picture was taken i had an overdose i was heavily addicted to drugs and i was a mess i was running from life i had this void in my soul i had this void in my heart so many of the people who were sharing their testimonies today spoke of this void spoke of this kind of feeling of emptiness and i was trying to fill this void with so many things it was sort of like an internal wound that i was trying to heal with external things so i i imagine that there was sort of like plasters and and i would try to to heal these sort of internal wounds with plasters let's say one of those plasters was was drugs and no matter how many drugs you take sooner or later the joy runs out the fun runs out and you're left alone then then even though i tried to use those drugs i thought oh i still feel this void how about if i use relationships maybe that will make me feel better but but maybe as you might know no matter how many relationships you can be in sooner or later that void just becomes even more real how about how about money at that age i was trying to get all the money i could think of don't don't ask me how but no matter how much money you have it doesn't quite fill the void why don't you guys help me out with it what else do we sometimes use you think to try and fill this void work yes exactly try to get all the promotions i could possibly think of just so that people could approve of me and accept me but no matter how far i go it doesn't quite fill that void what else do you think netflix very very good yeah no matter how many shows i watch it's never quite enough right it's never it doesn't quite take away the the loneliness i feel the void i feel what else do you guys think food exactly no matter how much burgers i can have it doesn't quite ever fill me up well that's actually true i don't even now um yeah food exactly what else one more what do you think sports exactly i no matter how many hours i can go to the gym no matter how many sports i play no matter how many times i win it's never quite enough and and and and what about dates on tinder no matter how many there oh that that was a funny laugh from people here you guys might know what i'm talking about no matter how many of these plasters i used they could never quite feel the void that was in my heart i wonder if you feel that there's a void in your heart because i know that this void just came from me running from god we all have a god-shaped hole on the inside of us that we're trying to constantly fill with all these external things but they can never quite do the job but just like this son all he had to do was acknowledge that he had a problem that's the first step you see christianity is completely different to every other world view every other world view tells you that you have to be perfect in order to be accepted every other worldview tells you that you have to present your best self even the latest religion of social media tells you to present the best self in order for you to be approved and liked but christianity is completely the opposite of that it's actually in our worst state that we're accepted when we're in the middle of the pigsty just like the sun that god accepts us so all the sun had to do was acknowledge that he had a problem and then he took a step verses 20 to 24 jesus continues to tell us and he arose and came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father i've sinned against heaven and before you i'm no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to him bring quickly the best rope and put it on him put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead but is alive he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate the son here realized that he had to go back to his father he realized that he had a void in his heart in his soul in his life that only his father could feel like we have a void and a and a hole in our hearts and i realized that only god could fill it and all it took was for this son to take one step because the father was waiting i can imagine the father waiting outside of the house looking out at the horizon and one when the sun was just a dot on the horizon still so far away that he couldn't even see the father just began to run towards him and men at that time wealthy men at that time didn't usually run but the father didn't care what people thought he just wanted his son to come back home and just as the son was preparing the speech as the son was preparing to tell him father i'm sorry and as the son was preparing to earn his way back the father just jumped on him kissed him and embraced him and said you're not going to earn your way back i'm going to bring you back and this is what what jesus does for you and for me before we can do anything to earn our way back to the father that jesus jesus already died for us 2 000 years ago the apostle paul wrote to the romans he's and he says this why were we yet sinners christ died for us while i was in the middle of the overdose god looked at me and jesus said i will die for you fernando when this son was in that picture jesus died for the son and whatever regret you have whatever sense of guilt or condemnation or shame you may be carrying in your worst state is when jesus came to die for you so that all it would take would be a step for the father to come running to you and i remember when i first had to take a step i hadn't been to church for so long and after i showed you that picture and after that overdose i went to a drug rehabilitation center for four months and then i came back to london and and i thought i tried to go to church and i went to my mum's church it was this amazing latin american pentecostal church the services went on for five hours there was choreographed dance routines at the front i have told nikki about that but he hasn't we haven't quite got that yet but we will do soon we just mentioned some things and i remember i was just at the service and and and and somebody was talk and the pastor was talking about taking a step to start a new life to start fresh with with jesus and i remember i was so afraid because i just felt like the sun in this story i was full of plasters full of regrets full of shame and if i'm honest with you i didn't know how i was gonna change all of that i didn't know how i was gonna stop all those things but what i realized that it wasn't me that had to to fix all these things it was the father himself who would run towards me and heal me from the inside out and as the pastor was speaking he said who's that whoever is going to take a step today for a new life for a fresh start with jesus at the center he and he was asking us to stand and i was just so nervous my heart was beating i was afraid i didn't know what a new life would look like i didn't know what a fresh start would even feel like and as people started to stand up across the whole room i just said lord are you sure can't this just be a private thing between you and me can't we just you know i want to start and it was like the pastor knew what i was thinking because he said no he actually said this has to be a public stand because there's something powerful about taking a public stand before people and saying you know what i step out of the pigsty i step out of my past and i step today towards you god and i just thought okay fine you've got me and then as i stood i could feel the father literally just just pulling these plasters off of me i could feel almost like the desire to do all these things begin to fade i could feel like the hold that that drugs had on me begin to fade the the the need to to go to relationships begin to fade the need to even eat an exorbitant amount of burgers begin to fade all these things i felt i just as i stood i felt the father just begin to heal me from the inside out and this is what the father does to the son when he runs to embrace him i can imagine the father just sees the son and he says what have you got with all this stuff you don't need all this stuff you're back home now and the story goes that he gave he gave him a new robe and i've got a new rope here and i could just feel like the father dressing me again where i came in with so much shame where i came in with so much guilt he dressed me again in his robe and made me new i thought that for so long god would judge me according to the things that i had done but that day that i acknowledged and i took a step he changed my life from the inside out and now good god wouldn't judge me according to what i had done but as to who i was that day and in that moment i became a son and my life changed forever i had a fresh start and i'll never look back [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and i believe god wants to give some of us a fresh start today for some of us the step you take today you might today decide father i want to come home you may never have acknowledged the problem you may never have taken a step towards god and today might be the day that you take your first step towards god you won't regret it there's nothing to be afraid of the father has his arms open and he's waiting for you to come home he's just waiting to run towards you and pull his love on you to heal you from the inside out so that we won't need these plasters anymore he gives us our completely new life but some of us who are here today we might take a first step and sign up to alpha this wednesday and begin a journey of discovering what this relationship with jesus looks like and for some of us who are here today you may have just come back to church for a very long time and you might feel like the sun in that story you might feel like at one point you had a relationship with god but you've you've ran from him and and today you might be taking a step to come back home and the father's got his arms open ready for you can we stand father thank you so much that you love us and that you're here today thank you so much father that you're waiting patiently for us and waiting for us to to turn back to you i just had a sense just as i was speaking that as those testimonies were being spoken and throughout the message that the holy spirit was just resting on some of you today and and he's been giving you peace today the holy spirit has just been resting on you and giving you peace and and today we're all going to be the the ministry team because we're all covered secure and we're just going to extend our hands towards people today and and begin to bless them i just sense the lord's going to going to be speaking to a few of us today so if that's you if you're here and throughout the talk if you've just sent the holy spirit rest on you if you sense the holy spirit just been giving you peace would you would you be brave enough just to raise your hand just great yeah thank you so much yeah a few of us great other as a prime minister team could we could we just extend our hands towards these people who have their hands raised and just begin to continue to pray for god to bless them and feel them and pour more of his spirit upon them i think just as i was praying can let's continue to pray i felt like as i was praying i felt like i was reminded of those plasters and maybe one of those plasters just resonated with somebody that's in this room and and you just feel like this one is too hard for me to let go of or it's too hard to take off but i just felt so strongly that today the spirit of god himself was going to dig deep in and help you pull that plaster off that might just be one person if that's you would you would you mind just raising a hand and taking a step i really believe god's going to do a miracle in that situation brilliant thank you so much we just extend our hands to to them and if you see people close to you who who have their hands raised just at the back there's somebody there too at the top let's just begin to pray with all one family and we believe the holy spirit is gonna heal and restore and give supernatural strength today bring healing and restoration just begin to just pray and share words with them and and release what you sense the lord is saying to that person yeah thank you lord for all you're doing thank you lord for the lives your your healing and restoring and the plasters you're pulling off right now we just pray for more and also online if any of these words are for you just just just send it on the chat and we'll have a team praying for you too i i really had a strong sense that today maybe there was somebody who was in this room who who you you've had you had a relationship with god growing up well lately um it hasn't been as close as maybe you'd like it to be and you're here today and you just think i want to go back to my father i want my relationship with my father in heaven to be restored if that's you would you be really brave and raise your hand and the rest of us could pray for you great lord great guys could we continue just extend our hands towards these guys and and pray a blessing on them we're all a family let's just keep our eyes open at the top there's people people all over the place coming back to their father in heaven and the father's just wrapping his arms around you loving you loving you he's not there's no guilt there's no condemnation there's no shame he's just happy that you're home and he's starting a fresh start today since the the father just embracing you saying you're back home and as he's hugging you right now i just just see him just just healing you from the inside out giving you a peace a joy again he's so happy that you're back [Music] and i wonder as well if there might might be one or two people who are here today and who you you might have never had a relationship with god and or maybe you've been running too but but you've never actually had a relationship with god and and today you you want to make a decision and you want to say today i take a step towards you god today i choose to to let go of the life i've been living let go of the pigsty and today i choose to come to you for the very first time [Music] if that's you even if it's just one or two people would you be really brave to raise your hand [Music] create those people just at the top there could we just extend our hands towards them bless them thank you lord for your sons who have come home thank you lord for the fresh start that you're giving all of us today thank you lord that you're able to heal our wounds heal our past heal our regrets heal our shame and make us new thank you father that you have your arms wide open for each and every one of us and you just want to pour your love out on us and i pray that for every person that's in this room father that we would have a fresh encounter with your love that we would feel your embrace that we would feel your your warmth that we would feel your word that that tells us that you just want to celebrate with us because we're here [Music] and i pray father for everybody that's in this room lord that we would have today a renewed confidence in our identity as sons and daughters in jesus name amen

Channel: HTB Church

Views: 90

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Church online, HTB, Faith, Prayer, Hope, Positivity, Good News, Preaching, Bible, Worship

Id: 1j4SY4t0PdE

Length: 27min 6sec (1626 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021