It’s time to come back home

Synopsis of Sermon 8/13/17

Delivered by Dr Bishop Walker III

Luke 15:17-22 (NKJV)

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring^[a] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

You look at your life and it’s painful. You look on your life and say, “I am where I am in life, because of decisions I’ve made”. Ephesians 5, says his anger endures but for a moment. God would rather love you than leave you. He would rather pick you up, then see you fall down.

It is decision time. You can no longer stay where you are which is disconnected from God. You have to come back home.

In the scripture mentioned above, the father has two sons. One of his sons took his inheritance too soon and started to live reckless with it. There is harm that will come from leaving the house of structure (the house you grew up in), too soon.

You can’t live out the pleasures of the world without the source. Acts 17:28 (NKJV) says  ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ – Being God’s offspring, we can’t afford to be disconnected from the father. Being disconnected from the Father, disconnects us from our destiny.

In the story, the son is asking his father for his inheritance, but note it is not the proper time for him to have it. For us to get all we are supposed to get out of this story, we must examine this problem of being in a rush.

1. The danger of being in a rush

We live in a day when people want you to take the elevator rather than stairs. Grandmother, used to say, you can’t hurry God.

This young boy found out something by being in a hurry.

1. You will leave what’s stable running after what’s in the street. – Luke 15:11-13 (NKJV) 11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.- Notice it wasn’t the Father that moved. It was the son.
   1. The son found out that there is nothing better than being under the covering of the father. Psalm 91:1 (NKJV) 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. – Stay under your covering. It will shield you. It will protect you. There are things that are trying to kill you. There is a reason for God connecting you to Him. It is tied to your development, like a child being connected to his Mom’s umbilical cord. You must stay connected to God so that He can release you at the right time.
2. Immaturity will turn a blessing into a burden. – There was a boy that left home as a prince, but he ended up in a pig pen. Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV) says 22 The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it. – Whatever God gives you, will not run you blood pressure You shouldn’t want nothing that God doesn’t want you to have!
   1. Get your blessing too early, you spend a life time regretting it. Think about it. The Father didn’t give the inheritance to the son early in the first place, because he was aware of the problems that this could cause.
   2. Reasons you might want your blessing early.
      1. Affirmation from people.
      2. Appetite for popularity.

• To adapt to perception – God doesn’t want to deal with this void. Everyone attached to this son is attached to him, because of what he has, not who he is. The more cheese you have, the more rats you will attract.

3. While in the pig pen, you have to:

1. The decision to make things right.

No relationship will be right, until you get right with God!

1. Some of the best lessons are learned when you are at the bottom. Lessons we learn are so valuable, they don’t pay past the pig pen.
   1. There is a cost to the pigpen. What was supposed to sustain the son for a lifetime, was depleted in a short amount of time, because he got it too early. It doesn’t take long to squander a blessing, when you are not in the will of God.
   2. The price of rebellion is costly. The son lost all that he had and ended up in the pigpen. When we ran up the debt ceiling of sin, God sent his son. We thank God when we hit rock-bottom, we had sense enough to know that God was the rock-at-the-bottom. He was in the pigpen, but he was still alive.
2. Don’t allow pride to keep you from your promise. – The young son turned from the pigpen and returned back to his father. He was willing to go back as a hired servant. For many people, they want to come back home, but they want to come back with a title and not to serve.
   1. Many of us think the grass is greener on the other side of fence. It may look greener, but remember, it may be greener, because of the manure. Some of you need to get out of these hobo-sexual relationships. Expel those things that are attached to you, because of what you got. The madness ends today!
3. The Bible stays and he came to himself. Which sets up the next point.

• Your destiny is about to be reinstated.

Something that you thought wasn’t going to happen for you is about to happen. When God gives you a problem, he doesn’t turn his back on you.

1. When you move toward the father, he will move toward you. – Sometimes children will make decisions that are ill advised. The bible says, when this son got up, he came to himself.
   1. The pigpen is a mess. Everything about a pigpen is a mess. A mess is full of everything nobody else wants. James 4:8 (NKJV) 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – God is waiting for you to disconnect from the pigpen. The Father never moved, until the son moved. When the father saw the son, notice that he ran to meet him. In other words, his father closed the gap. If you walk towards God, he will run towards you.
2. The son left the house of greatness and ended up into poverty. When the young son come home, his Father gave him a robe. That means the father covered him.
3. The young son’s Father put a ring on his finger. He was still the Father’s child, regardless to what he had done. God loves us this same way. Despite what we have done, God still loves us, because we are his child.
4. They threw a party for the lost son. Imagine, he was Jewish and ended up in the pigpen with the swine. Tell your neighbor that God is about to change your diet.
5. When they threw the party and all the Elders came. The other son wanted to know why they were putting up all this fuss, when the young son had done wrong. Know that everyone is not going to be happy because you came home. Don’t let the party-poopers stop the celebration. This was a home coming party! Though you have been lost, know that God will welcome you back home!