Why You Might Be Miserable | Michael El-Takrori

well hey church family welcome to church lv online we're so glad that you invited us into your home today do us a favor like this video subscribe to our channel and leave us a comment if you're new to church lv i have an easy way for you to get connected with us today take out your phone text the word church fam all one word to the number 94 000. we'd love to meet you and help you get connected into community well hey i know today is going to bless you here at church lv we're all about leading people to encounter new life in jesus i want to encourage you open up your hearts lean in and get ready for what god wants to do in your life today god bless i want to welcome you to church lv my name is michael i'm the youth director i got the great honor of bringing the word this weekend and uh we are excited to be here if you're new with us welcome to the craziest church come on the tapatio church of all america and all the world we're grateful you're here we're in a series called think like jesus we've been discovering and exploring how jesus thought it's a little deeper than the notion of what would jesus do remember that movement you had the bracelet what would jesus do i wore it back in sixth grade and uh every every moment you know what would jesus do in this situation here's what we're exploring in this series not just what jesus did but how did jesus think come on somebody how did jesus think h g d j t it doesn't have a good ring to him because listen how jesus thought determine how he lived and if we can renew our minds the bible says in romans 12 let god transform us by changing the way we think not our circumstances may not change the country may not change the world may not change but we can allow god by the power of the holy spirit to allow him to change the way we think amen and so if you've missed any of these messages go on youtube catch up but today for part three of our series think like jesus we're gonna get into luke chapter 15 so all across our church community want you to stand up to your feet as we read luke chapter 15 and in the front row i want to honor my mother and my father who's sitting in the front row you raise the good man no just like who says that you know i love you mom love you dad thanks for coming taking off work i know you didn't want to work today and you used me as an excuse it's okay i love you and i honor you and i'm grateful for you we're going to read luke chapter 15. if you've been in church you know this story um and and there's really no other passage that has reoriented my life back to where it needs to be more than this story right here it's one of my favorites in all of the bible and if you grew up in church you know this story if you're new with us you might hear it for the first time look how powerful this is in luke 15 verse 1 it says this now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear jesus but the pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered this man welcomes sinners and eats with them then jesus told them this parable he goes on to tell him tell them three parables really one about allah sheep that leaves the 99 and and the shepherd uh goes after the one finds the one and throws a party because what was lost is now found and then there was another parable of the 10 coins a woman loses one she flips over her furniture she finds the coin throws the party because what was lost is now found and then we get to the parable of the prodigal son and it reads like this and i believe verse 11 it says this verse 11 the prodigal son jesus continued there was a man who had two sons the younger son said to the father father give me my share of the estate so he divided his property between them and not long after that the younger son got together all he had set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living and after he had spent everything there was there was a severe famine in the whole country and he began to be in need so he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to the fields to feed the pigs and he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything and when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare and here i am starving to death i will set out and go back to my father and say to him father i have sinned against heaven and against you and i am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants so he got up and he went to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him he ran to his son threw his arms around him and kissed them and the son said to him father i have sinned against heaven and against you i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to the servants quick bring the best robe put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet bring the fatted calf come on texas dave brazil and kill it let's have a feast and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and now he's found and they began to celebrate why don't you give god a 10 second praise break for his word that's a good bible let me pray in this atmosphere lord we thank you for your word speak to us in a mighty way today in jesus name amen amen go ahead and take your seat all across our uh church family take a seat if you're titling today's message i want to encourage you to take notes the title today's message is why you might be miserable why you might be miserable come on pick one neighbor next to you social distance and ask them are you miserable come on come on don't be shy don't be shy in the church we do this pretty much every weekend you can pick your second choice come on second choice look at your other neighbor and ask them you look a little or tell them you look a little miserable i don't do that all right it's church stuff you look miserable have you ever met a miserable christian come on show of hands all across our church you ever meet a miserable christian if you haven't you probably might be one just like no i haven't it might be you nothing's worse than getting cut off on the freeway by somebody just going road rage and you look at their bumper and their bumper has three stickers on it one that says blessed and highly favored one that says anointed and another that has a fish with jesus on it and you're like boy i'll tell you what i'm gonna get you you ain't no jesus follower miserable christians they're everywhere and quite frankly we have experienced that in our life at moments come on we got jesus we got faith we have everything we need but it seems like sometimes in our life we're a little bit miserable we're a little bit frustrated we're a little bit mad have you ever met a constipated christian what'd you learn in church today constipated christians they're out there they got the face like they're changing a diaper for the first time just like just like you are you good bro like you are you happy and i think it's so crazy because you meet these people right sometimes we are these people and it begs the question where is the joy in christianity i think sometimes we present a faith that really isn't what the bible intended for it to be we're walking around mad we're walking around frustrated we're walking around like constipated christians because we're just holding so much in and just like some people are like what is wrong with where is the joy where is the joy in your christianity the bible says the joy of the lord is our strength the bible says that the fruit of the spirit the holy spirit he gives us come on joy he gives us love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness jesus was filled with joy he was overflowed with joy you see what i'm not talking about today is happiness because happiness is dictated by happenings i'm not always hap i'm not happy about everything in the world but there is a divine spiritual supernatural joy that god gives to his children in the middle of whatever circumstance they're in come on i'm talking about a joy that you can have in the middle of a prison hello paul paul was in a prison and he writes the epistle of joy over 15 times in the book of philippians he's like i rejoice i rejoice i am glad i i i have joy bro you in jail i know because my joy is not anchored in my circumstance it's anchored in jesus he does not change church over you got to help me preach today where's the joy at i think a lot of times the reason we're not experiencing joy it's not because everything around us is going crazy it's because maybe just maybe we have the wrong perspective i believe it's a it's a thinking issue it's a perspective issue it's an outlook and that's what we're exploring today i want you to write this principle down if you're taking notes how you view something will determine how you experience something write that down we're going to launch off this principle today how how you view something will determine how you experience something you view your job like a job you'll experience a paycheck but if you view your job like a mission field you will experience purpose every single day you go to work if you view your weakness like an excuse not to step out you won't step out but if you see your weakness like jesus sees it as a platform for his strength to be made perfect in your weakness then you will step out if you see church like a thing to check off your box you'll experience a checked off box but if you view church like an opportunity for god to meet us in a mighty way you might we might leave with a breakthrough how you view something will determine how you experience something a preacher came into our church a couple years ago dr darius daniels and and he said something profound he said if you view jesus like a carpenter you can get your house fixed but if you view jesus like the christ you can get your life fixed it was way more hype when a black preacher said it not the saudi arabian preacher up here but it makes for a good point you get your life fixed here's the question today how do you view god how do you view god today better yet when you think about god thinking about you what comes to your mind the great a.w tozer said what you think of when you think about god is the most important thing about you because how you view god will determine how you experience god i would go a step further how do you view the father i think many people who grew up in church even catholic church like me we have a good view of jesus come on we saw the statues he always had a cupped hand in the statue all the statues have his hand out like this with his fingers like this like he's shushing people like he's gentle he carries lambs he's kind but then we have a view of god the father that is it's almost like jesus is trying to chill him out like like like god the father hey i know you wanna i know you wanna strike but i'm gonna stand i'm gonna i'm so and we and we pit the father against the son but the father and the son are one how do you view the father i i got a confession to make like there's parts of my christianity i'm miserable not because i don't have god but because i have the wrong view of god and maybe somebody brought you to church and maybe you're new to this environment maybe you're online watching because somebody sent you a link and you have asked yourself why are some christians miserable i'll tell you why it's because of this stuff right here we are we have god but many of us we have the wrong view of god because of our own failures our own experience our own past and we project unto god our experience instead of allowing god to reveal himself as he really is we're frustrated you might be miserable because you have god but you might have the wrong view of god a new york times article displayed the top three views that americans have of god the first one is the authoritarian god he's up in heaven mad he's up in heaven mean and harsh and angry do you view god that way you see when you view god as harsh you feel like you're never enough when you feel like god is hate that means the hate you feel is a feeling from god no what about the distant god do you view god as distant come on he's a real he's alive but why would he be involved in the details of my life when you view god as distant your experience is insignificant you feel like you're just a clump of cells on this earth to pass time and you don't have a purpose but there is a creator god that created us and he's not distant he wants to know our name he knows our story he wants to have relationship he wants to be involved now god is focused on other things no god is focused on you he's omnipresent omni-powerful come on somebody how do you view god is it the distant god is it is it the critical god he has his finger pointed at you i view god like this a lot a lot of years of my life he's just pointing his finger critical and when you view god as critical you you can never you can never be enough you pray it's never enough you read the bible come on church it's never enough you come to church but it you can't appease your conscience because you feel like you got to earn god's approval instead of his approval being a gift that god gives to us he accepts us because of the finished work of jesus he's not critical how do you view god today you know for many of us our experience with authority figures maybe a father maybe an uncle maybe a friend maybe a former pastor maybe they thwarted your view of god and the devil knew what he was doing when he put that person in your life if he could just get you to view them the wrong way maybe just maybe you'll project that unto the god in heaven here's what i love about the bible we allow god through the bible to reveal himself to us we let god set the standard of how we should relate to him and how we should view him he's far better than we give him credit for he's far gooder bad english than we give him credit for how do you view god so what we're exploring today is how did jesus view the father hey church if we're going to listen to anybody about how the father is we should probably listen to jesus it's jesus you know what i'm saying like it's jesus if there's any person to go hey how's the father like let's talk to jesus here in luke 15 we see jesus portray the father it's it's radical it's audacious it's so good and the context in luke 15 is religious leaders and pharisees they're watching jesus hang out with tax collectors and sinners and these religious leaders who grew up in the temple who knew the old testament they were frustrated they were miserable when they saw jesus because jesus was representing a god they thought they knew but he was eating with bad people tax collectors in those days they were not like the tax collector in 2021. i know we don't like tax collectors today and we don't like the irs we don't think but but it was far worse in the in in ancient jewish times in the first century a tax collector was a man from the jewish nation that was working for the oppressive roman government and the roman empire were they were savages they would steal they would lie they will cheat they would kill so here these are traitors of the trade these are traitors of the nation and jesus is sitting with them oh it might offend some of us today that jesus doesn't cancel people he has conversations with people got quiet in the church today he gives people a chance because everybody has a story the bible says that jesus shares this parable to display how the father is the story goes like this there was a man who had two sons and the younger son asked for his share of the estate if you've been in church if you've studied this out you know this maybe you're new to this but but this is radical if you were listening to this when jesus was sitting at this table the pharisees and the tax collectors they would have been running around what is this man saying this this story had all factored to it it was like a rap battle when you hit the punch line and everybody freaks out every single sentence of this parable is making everybody freak out because to ask for your estate before the father is dead is like wishing the father dead what the younger son was saying is father i want what you give to me i don't want you i want freedom i don't want friendship and what does he do he the father gives him the estate oh that's so different than what a father would do in the first century the listener would have been hearing that and go the father gave him the estate they would have expected nothing less than what a filipino mom a hispanic mom or a black mom would do if their son asked for the estate prematurely he would take off his chant glass or chanelas and he would drive she would drive out i said she he did she my mom was in the front she would drive out you don't talk to me like that but you don't see this response from the father do you because the father in heaven is is patient do you view god as patient our father in heaven gives us a choice he gives us free will and one of the ways grace is expressed in scripture is god allowing us to do what we want to do oh it is for somebody today why is there evil in this world well because people want to do what they want to do it's called sin and without free choice there is no room for love because if you force somebody to love you that's not love that's control so we have to choose to follow god we have to choose to love god back by our free will and that's reciprocated love that's true love why is there evil in this world because people have a free will he takes the money and the bible says he goes to a distant land he's trying to find himself come on we're reaching a culture today everyone's trying to find himself i'm preaching to a generation i'm trying to find myself i'm trying to find myself i'm trying to find who i am i'm trying to find why i'm here and what we do is we we go to a distant land to try to find ourselves but we will never find ourselves in a distant land we will find ourselves in the father's house self-discovery will always lead to self-destruction he's trying to find himself he's trying to learn by experience he's trying [Music] to have fun you know my wife is sitting in the front row right after high school she was in a really empty space she had a relationship ended bad and and she she she was empty in this season of her life and and to and so to find herself um she goes to portland oregon don't go to portland oregon to find yourself come on church come back more empty with a voodoo doughnut you know what i'm talking look here here's what's so beautiful she comes back to the city she ran away from and in that city she found the love of jesus and got saved in this local church and i met her in this church don't look at your neighbor [Applause] because you can't find yourself in the distant land i know it promises something but you can't find yourself out there you can't know yourself and relate to yourself properly when you're running from the one who created yourself for himself oh he created us and it's a word for somebody because maybe you're watching a day and you are waiting for a future season or you're saying things like when i go to college far away or when i move far away then my life will change but we're so stubborn as humans we can go into a new place in a new season with an old mindset and recreate an old season in a new season and experience what we call deja vu come on israel oh my goodness it's better with the father the bible says that he squanders his money in wild living i'm going to say something preachers don't always say sin is fun don't say amen you're like can i say amen to that i saw the hesitation there's a person in the back oh no i don't think i'm righteous hey let's talk about it sin is fun people don't come to vegas to not have fun it's not called sin city because this is people coming like let me not have a good time no i want to have a good time um i'm preaching to our youth and i'm honest with him yeah it's fun come on it's sin like come on it's fun hey hear me it's fun spending the money it's not fun when the money runs out it's fun going to the party it's not fun when you walk out the party it's fun flying into vegas it's not fun when you fly out and bring vegas to where you ran from it's fun to squander your money it's not fun when the money runs out and that's the algorithm of the enemy he over promises and under delivers he promises freedom and then gives bondage and what i'm not saying today is following jesus is not fun matter of fact i'm having the most fun in my life because freedom is fun but what i'm telling you is that sometimes god will put you through a process that's difficult to get you to eventual freedom but what the enemy promises is initial freedom and eventual bondage jesus promises real life and contrary to popular belief jesus did not come to take life from you he came to give real life to you he's the way he's the truth he's the life if you want to experience life in 2021 get with jesus he knows a lot about it hey [Applause] spends all his money and this is what the enemy does he wants us to feel far from god distant land he wants us to spend everything he spend everything he wants us to give up our identity the bible says he sold himself to a citizen of the country he lost his identity and he's eating with the pigs the enemy he knows what he's doing the enemy will use our worst moments to kill us but god is so good god will use our worst moments to call us and if you're on the floor today and if you feel far from god and if you feel like you've out-sinned the grace of god and you find yourself like the younger son in a distant land spent and feeling like you've lost your identity i got good news for you god is not done with you god sees you he wants to call you by name and what happened to the younger son i pray it happens to you because the bible says he comes to his senses i pray that today in church all across every campus people would come to their senses he thought about home oh they're they're connected because home and your true self they they collide one translation said he found himself he came to himself he awoke and he realized my goodness it's better with the father it's better in his house it's better in his presence i've been gone for a long time but but i want to go home now and i believe in every human being even though you cannot articulate it there's a nostalgic song within you that is crying out and it is god calling you home maybe you feel far you're not too far from god today is the day of salvation today could be your moment today everything can change and the bible says he writes a letter that's kind of what it says comes up with a speech i'm no longer worthy to be called your son okay that's what i'll tell my dad you sin too much i gotta read what should i and we do this in our life in our christianity we write letters to god we try to articulate our sin we try to get every word down and dotted because we think the eloquence of our letter solidifies our repentance but god has covered far more sins than we can even articulate or even we even know of i got a good word for somebody today stop writing your letter you might be miserable because you're too busy writing letters instead of coming home god is waiting for you throw your letter away oh i feel that in the house throw that letter away and what's about to happen in the text is radical about this part of the parable people would have been going bananas the pharisees would have been tearing their hair and tearing their clothes because of what jesus is about to say and what he's about to reveal about the father the bible says that the son makes his journey home and it says that from afar off from afar off from a far distance the father sees the son i used to think the parable was the sun makes it to the lawn you know that's the picture i had right he's like he gets to the lawn and the dad is on the porch because he's older so he can't really see so he's like is that is okay oh son hear you and he runs to the front porch that's not what the text reveals in the original language that word far off is similar it's almost identical to the word in the beginning of the parable that said the sun went to a distant land how far is too far for god to reach you i don't know how far can you run how how far oh you can't run too far from god somebody hey and what the actual scene it's not the father seeing him on the porch this is the father looking out into the horizon and seeing the silhouette of his son and what the father does right here is radical he does what no jewish father would do he calls his servants he picks up his robe and he makes a beeline towards the sun who's a far way off he's pushing through the meadows he's looking undignified because he sees his son in the silhouette and he's saying he i cannot wait any longer i want to meet him right where he's at and the bible says the father embraces the son kisses the son this is radical we think when the father sees our return he sees sin first but the father sees son first he sees daughter first that's my son that's my daughter i'm just happy you're home i'm just happy you're coming back you don't got to be away any longer you don't got to tell me your speech i'll ignore it the father ignores the letter the bible says quick grab the best road what was the best road the father's robe let me cover you let me cover your sin let me cover the stench let me cup you don't got to take a shower you don't got to go in take a shower get your act together then we're going to party no i'm going to cover you i'm going to put a ring on your finger i'm going to put authority back on your life i'm going to put some shoes on your feet i'm going to put some dignity back in your life i know you walked away i know you did some shameful things but i'm happy that you're home hey he's so much better than we give him credit for he says our father this is our god and by this time the parable would be enough but jesus doesn't end the parable here i want us to read this together because look what happens in the parable because we cannot miss this in case you thought this message wasn't for you look what it says in verse 25. the bible says meanwhile the older brother the older son he was in the field when he came near the house he heard music and dancing stop how loud do you have to be dancing for the brother to hear dancing they were getting what this generation would call turnt they're just like what is happening here's dancing i just thought that was funny anyways where's the joy anyway and look what the bible says he called one of the servants the older brother and he asked what's going on he's like what's happening your brother has come he replied and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has him back safe and sound the older brother came became angry he refused to go in look what his father does so his father went out because the father always goes out to meet us and he pleaded with him he answered his father look all these years i've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders yet you never gave me even a goat to celebrate so i can celebrate with my friends but when the son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you've killed a fattened calf for him my son the father said you are always with me and everything i have is yours but we had to celebrate we had to be glad because the brother of yours was dead and is alive again he was lost and now is found [Applause] as the piano comes up the parable just ends there it's a cliffhanger i hate cliffhangers i paid money to see this movie now i got to come back what jesus was doing is he was having an interactive parable because it begs the question did the brother go into to celebrate see the purpose of this parable wasn't for you to hear it and go that was for my neighbor the purpose of the parable was for us to stop and consider and ask the question am i the younger son or am i the older son am i the younger or the older some commentators they misquote this parable they call it the prodigal son but we just read jesus showcased it very clearly it's the prodigal sons because both sons were lost and as as i was studying this god showed me something and i very rarely do i say that but i really feel that he revealed something to me that made me look at the whole patch of passage differently i used to think the three parables was like a trilogy like star wars but really what jesus was doing here he was he was presenting one long movie with a couple of foreshadowing moments for this main parable he was quentin tarantino in us you know what i'm talking about if you read the parables you would see that there was a sheep that left the hundred and went off the bible says the shepherd goes out in the open country to find the one and celebrates when he found him the second parable is about a coin that a mom or a woman loses in a house and she loses it and she flips over the furniture to find the coin she finds it and finds it and celebrates i need you to catch this the first parable the lost sheep lost in the field that's the younger son the second parable coin lost in the house that's the older son because you could be lost in the field or you could be lost in the house [Applause] lust in the house are you lost in the house i know there's seasons in my life where i'm in the house but i'm still lost i'm in the father's house but i'm far from the father's heart and that's where the older son is listen the younger son was was off with god the younger son he he he he he was off with the father he was far from the father he was lost for doing bad the older son he was lost for doing good he was hiding behind his good works and he was missing out on the intention of real relationship with the father oh i know what we love to do in life we love to point you're lost and this side over here no you're lost the self-discovery people look at the self-righteous people and they go you're lost the self-righteous people look at the self-discovery people and go you're lost the father comes in between and goes you're all lost all y'all y'all all of you need me all of you are far from me apart from me come on church we need the father today are you lost in the house or are you lost in the field because they either are it's miserable it's miserable being in the house but loss if you want to write this down you might be miserable because you're following jesus with the right motions but the wrong motives oh wow look what the text says all these years i've been slaving for you what older son what slaving when did serving in your father's house turn into slaving in your father's house when did that happen oh but this is us isn't it when i was 16 years old i i came to church i just double dipped triple dip i was serving every experience i was so in love with jesus friends were asking what are you spending all that time in the house for and i'm like i don't know jesus is really good they say you're serving all that time are they paying you and i was like no i'm i'm paying them called the time and then you start to serve and then you start to serve and then you forgot you forget the reason why you're serving and you forget your why behind your what you forget the why behind your what and you start to serve god and give and put a smile but you forget the reason the motivation and you start to lose the excitement you start to lose the innocence you start to lose that childlike faith that kept you in the house and you were so filled with joy and now it's a burden and now it's oh my goodness and now man the church is asking too much for me and now what happened oh you might be following jesus with the right motions but the wrong motives you see obedience is not just doing the right thing it's doing it for the right reason [Music] this ain't behavior modification god is not just trying to change your actions he's trying to change your heart because when he changes your heart it goes from half two to one two we're leading people to encounter new life with jesus so that when jesus grabs a hold of their life their have to turns into want to i wanna give i wanna serve i wanna love i wanna reach i want to why god's good oh my goodness god is good i know you serve why are you serving i know you're given why i know pastor benny likes any kind of giver but god likes a cheerful giver i know you want to be great why do you want to be great last week [Music] i know you're smiling why are you smiling i know you're there for people why are you there for people are you trying to control somebody are you trying to control god because we do this we use obedience as a way to control god and move his arm because we want what's in the father's hand not what's in the father's heart oh man lord help us i was thinking about a passage in the bible in the old testament in first samuel king saul is asked by god to take out a whole nation god says obey me just obey me i know what i'm talking about and in the old testament king saul gets to the nation they take out the whole nation but king saul keeps the king alive and he keeps the livestock alive the prophet samuel comes to saul the next day he says saul what have you done saul you can read it for yourself in first samuel he goes what i'm obeying god it looks spiritual i came i kept the best animals to sacrifice to god it sounds spiritual on the here's what's crazy about motivation here's the crazy thing about obedience nobody around you knows the why behind your what only you and god [Music] you can fake it all you want you can lie to people you can trick people we can trick people but god knows and we know so saul is like what i kept the best but what saul was doing is he was trying to do it his way he wanted honor he wanted his name it would look better to keep the king alive it would look better i'm a great king i know what god said but but i know better than him let me sacrifice some sheep to god [Music] god doesn't want sacrifice he wants obedience i require obedience i desire obedience more than sacrifice essentially what god was saying to saul was saul i don't want your sheep bro i want you i want your heart i want your life i want your adoration i want your affections i want all of you i don't need your exterior i don't i don't need that sacrifice i want you to obey me from the inside out i don't want you to play a game and the older brother he's frustrated he's miserable he's in the house but far from the father's heart you might be miserable today number two because you're working for something you already have look what the text says the dad goes he goes son all that i have is yours you've always been with me and in a frustrating place to be in the house and you're working you're working for approval you already got approval you're working for acceptance from god god's like i already accepted you you're working for forgiveness god's sake i already forget it was a gift not a transaction it was a gift and ain't it frustrating when you're working for something you already have his friend's miserable pastor but he said it last week the disciples can i sit at your right hand the new testament will teach us we're seated with christ in heavenly places you're asking for something you already have i want to prove when you have it i want acceptance you have it i want forgiveness you have it how about this god i want a party you threw a party for my younger brother why not me listen the bible says that in the beginning of the parable the dad gives the estate to both sons to both sons you can't miss it the younger son would have got one-third of the estate the older son would have got two-thirds of the estate he got more and was still miserable because when you're fixated on getting stuff from god instead of having the heart of god his blessings will never be enough religious people obey god to get stuff gospel people obey god to get god or better yet because they already got god everything i have is yours you might be miserable because you haven't danced in a long time who am i talking to you haven't dan you could have got the dj the last three months we could have put on your favorite dance and we could have went nuts for you it's yours you chose not to dance you chose not to party some of you in here you haven't danced in a long time and the joy of the lord will invigorate your life once you start moving a little bit and saying god i'm thankful for what you've done for me you can't be miserable when you're dancing you can't be stuck when you're dancing come on you're on the wall at the at the wedding just god's saying get up in the party once you give god a joyful shout why don't you give god a joyful dance why don't you spin why don't you twirl why don't you look on digna come on you can't be we got to bring dancing back in the church just hey what what what era are you from we'll do the dance [Music] what do you need he's given us everything wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] i need somebody in the house of god to give god a 10 second praise break if he's forgiven you if he's transformed your life if he's gone after you if he hasn't given up on you i need you to give god a radical worship come on i know we're in a crazy world but we serve a good god he's a good good father it's who he is [Music] as i end uh i can't end the message without telling you something radical when it comes to our joy you might be miserable because you've forgotten your responsibility you see the older son was supposed to have a responsibility he was supposed to go after the younger son hear me it was his job in the family to grab anybody estranged from the father but when he talks to the father you see it in his language he says something like this he says this son of yours did you catch it this son of yours not my younger brother this son of yours because when you forget what you're supposed to do you you give up responsibility it sounds eerily familiar to something else in the bible hey god this woman you gave to me [Music] hello adam the sheriff's response and look what the bible says he squandered his money on prostitutes what who told you about prostitutes it never said that it said wild living why do you know the detail of your brother's sin maybe just maybe the older brother one day went off to get his younger brother but he saw him living with the prostitutes and he was so disgusted and he was so mad that instead of grabbing his brother he said it's enough for me in the father's house let him have his i'm gonna have mine what have we forgotten our responsibility as the body of christ have we forgotten that we are messengers with a message of reconciliation have we forgotten that the church isn't supposed to be a monument for the righteous but a hospital for the sick there's a sick world out there we need we got the cure and we're the first responders have we forgotten that we got a message his name is jesus he's come to save and to serve that who is lost we got a message telling you there is a joy that will come when you stop just coming to church and when you start being the church there's a joy that will come to your life when you stop being a constipated christian holding everything in for yourself but not letting god speak through your life hey you become frustrated there is a joy that you get with the father and there is an almost similar joy when god uses you as a vessel as a as a vessel of reconciliation as somebody who helps to grab the loss and bring them close we don't say to save people jesus does but he wants to use you and i come on church lv he wants to use us there's a broken city out there there's a broken world there's a broken neighborhood we got the message have you forgotten have we forgotten our responsibility [Music] i want to give you some applications some homework and then we're going to pray maybe you that resonates with you you're in the father's house house but you're far from the father's heart and you find yourself frustrated miserable in the house in the house let me give some application how about along with your other resolutions like losing weight and eating keto and being miserable how about we add this to our resolution our goals enjoy the father what would 2021 look like if you just made this the decision and i made the decision god this world's crazy i ain't going to enjoy the world but i can't enjoy you i don't want to spend my christianity fighting against you acting like you don't love me acting like i'm not chosen acting like you haven't called me acting like you haven't named me i want to enjoy our relationship when's the last time you enjoyed your relationship with god god here i am you love me you're enough for me i know i mess up i know i fail i know i fall short of the glory of god but you came after me somebody needs to hear this i feel this for this experience because you're in christ jesus god is proud of you you don't got to earn his approval you have it in christ jesus somebody needs to hear this god actually enjoys you he enjoys your presence he enjoys the relationship he's a good father like any father would enjoy their child coming to him our heavenly father enjoys when we come to him he actually delights in covering our sin have you heard that before he's covering us with a smile because he knows he's the only one that can cover us so he enjoys it when we come to him broken enjoy the father this year let's stand up to our feet i want to pray for us we're almost done i sense god in this place just hold steady for a moment maybe you're in here maybe you're watching at the seven hills or online and you resonate with the younger son you feel spent you feel far you feel like you've lost yourself and maybe you hear the the nostalgic song of your father calling you home today we don't want to end this experience without giving you an opportunity to come on home and maybe that's not you that's okay that means we are home but for some of you you need to come home you've been away maybe you grew up in church and you've walked away for a long time god's calling you home today today is the day of salvation you don't got to write a letter you don't got to wash come to jesus as you are come home as you are if that's you in this place i don't want to embarrass you but we celebrate people who come into the family of god it's a big moment it's the greatest decision you'll ever make i made this decision at 16 years old today is your day whether you're online or at seven hills or here at green valley i'm gonna count to three and if that's you you're saying god is calling me home would you with all the boldness you have just shoot your hand in the sky as a sign of surrender and what we're gonna do is we're gonna give a big hand clap a church lv hand clap and we're gonna do what the bible says heaven is doing when one person gets right it says all heaven rejoices they throw a party they throw a party who's god's speaking to today one you know who you are this is your moment don't wait another day god is calling you home two today is the day of salvation with all the boldness you have come on three all across the auditorium online at seven hills shoot your hand up in the sky come on with baldness i see you come on we see you we see you come on we see you in the back i see you come on all over here i see you i see you all across come on shoot your hand come on we see you come on we see you online churchill we want to give god a shout of praise and let's welcome our family home hey i need you to pray this with all the boldness you have everybody come on everybody say today jesus i'm coming home i believe you died for me i believe you rose again holy spirit come on in make me a new person change me from the inside out i'll never be the same in jesus name i pray amen amen amen wow wow welcome home it's a gift it's a gift it's a gift if you made that decision why don't you let us know in the chat online and on your way out maybe you want to connect with us we want to help you in your journey with jesus you could take out your phone and text the word church fam to the number four thousand we're not gonna send you nothing crazy we're just gonna celebrate you even more and we're gonna help you find your fit and find your place here at church lv let me let me pray for some people here just hold steady for a moment which is a holy moment right now maybe you're standing here and you're already home but you feel far from the father's heart in other words maybe you're saying michael i need i need the joy of the lord i need the joy that's my salvation it's what david prayed restore to me the joy of your salvation god hey do you need that today i know i do if that's you you could put your hand just right on your heart i'm going to pray for us all across our church family god you see every hand on every heart [Music] we want to enjoy you this year god remind us of why you called us remind us of all that we have in your house god turn our half dudes into wantos change our motivation god for anybody who feels burnt out on religion jesus i thank you that you're the one that says come to me all who are weary and weighed down by heavy burdens because you'll give us rest god i thank you that rest is flowing through our lives right now remind us remind us remind us give us childlike faith again what a prayer [Music] what a prayer god thank you for the joy that's our strength i thank you god that you come out to us even when we're stubborn you love us and you're restoring our hearts today god i sense that in the house today i feel like for somebody you are you're gonna walk into the most fruitful season of christianity you've ever had this is gonna be your best year of walking with jesus crazy world really good god thank you god in the mighty name of jesus i pray everybody say amen amen amen why don't we give god a big hand clap won't we thank him for all that he spoke today thank you for joining us at church today i have a few ways to help you stay connected with us the first way is if you would like prayer go to churchlv.com forward slash prayer we have an amazing team that would love to agree with you in prayer today the second way you can stay connected is by joining a group go to churchlv.com forward slash groups and get into community today the last way you can stay connected with us is by following us on instagram at the church lv where we post content throughout the week that will help you stay connected let me declare some truths over you today before we end god you are in control you are fighting our battles may the peace that passes all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in christ jesus may the lord bless you may the lord keep you and may he make his face shine upon you god bless

Channel: ChurchLV

Views: 723

Rating: 4.8518519 out of 5

Keywords: christian, church, Las Vegas, Benny Perez, Wendy Perez, christian church, Holy Spirit

Id: E9xjS9jVNxM

Length: 55min 37sec (3337 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 19 2021