Gateway Church's Podcast
Portrait of the Father
A Gateway Sermon
If you have your Bible open it up to Luke chapter 15, we're going to read some very familiar verses but from a different slant. Do you ever notice how we as Christians try to explain God out of our limited knowledge and experience we try to give an explanation of what God will do, what God won't do, and what God may do? And if we can't come up, if you have more questions than we have answers then we just say he's sovereign. And you're going to need to remember that because people are going to ask you questions about God and you're going to say, well I think he acts this way, he does this way, then you're going to have to say, you know, he's just sovereign. And he is. I'm not making fun of that. I'm trying to explain to you that sometimes we use that because we don't know how to explain God. We try with all of our limited knowledge and experience the best we can to tell people what God's like. Even children do this. We have any grandmothers in the crowd? I'll bet you you have some stories about grandchildren telling these and stuff, don't you? Listen to this grandmother's story about her grandson. My grandson was visiting one day and he asked grandma, do you know how you and God are alike? Grandma said she mentally started polishing her halo a little bit and said, no, how are we alike? The grandson replied, you're both old. I don't know. Is God old? I'll be honest with you. I've never seen him. I don't know what he looks like. I have ideas told to me by others what God looks like. I've never seen him. Another child's story is a kindergarten teacher reported this and she was observing her classroom one day while they were drawing. She encouraged them all to be artists and she would occasionally walk around to see each of the child's artwork. As she got to one little girl, she's working so diligently. She said, and she asked her, what are you drawing? She said, I'm drawing God. The teacher paused and said to her, but honey, no one knows what God looks like. Said, without missing a beat or looking up from a girl replied, they will in a minute. (Laughter) I love teaching kids. I have four of my own. I've never wondered what God looks like. Jimmy Evans was here about three weeks ago and Pastor Jimmy was talking about one of the scriptures that he shared three weeks ago was at an Exodus 24. He shared a scripture in the Old Testament that I'd never seen. It was one about Moses and Aaron's two sons. They won't call their names because they're goofy. And 70 elders. They saw God. Now, you can't do it in this service, but if you sit more than one service then I give you the liberty because I was sitting on my third service and he said that something went off in me. And I said to myself, I wonder how many people really have seen God. And so I went down this mental track and I checked out on Jimmy. You can't do that this morning. But I checked out on Jimmy because he was my third service and I just started running down the path. Who has seen God? I said, Adam and Eve? Yep. Yep. They saw God. Maybe Cain and Abel? Yep. Yep. They probably saw God. These 70 elders, Moses, Aaron, I mean, it's right there in the scripture. They said, they saw God. Maybe Enoch? And then it just hit me. Jesus said, I lived with him. I know him from top to bottom. Yeah, he's big. I know him intimately. So why don't you let me tell you what I've already seen? And I said, I love that. So I titled this message this morning, a portrait of the Father through the eyes of Jesus. Wouldn't you like to know what your heavenly Father looks like? Well, the scriptures that I'm going to read to you this morning are only in red in my Bible, which means they've only been spoken by Jesus. So I want you to catch a portrait of the Father this morning through the eyes of Jesus. You wonder if God ever been misrepresented by us. Everyone to that? I've misrepresented him. I own several occasions. Look at the words of Jesus. Be up on the screen for you. You don't have to turn here. Luke chapter 2 verse 49. This is a story. Remember when Jesus' parents took him to Jerusalem and they left him accidentally. Okay, how many of you have accidentally left your children somewhere? Go ahead and raise your hand. Get him high. I got CPS standing in the back. They're looking, taking names. I've got my hand raised. We left our son at a place. I mean, he was madder than Dickens at us. Took about two and a half years for him to forgive us, but he's over it now. Jesus was left and his mom and dad came back and they were probably a little frantic, right? Oh, you think they could talk calmly. Jesus, come on now son. How come you're not just going with us? His father said, "Jesus, where have you been? What did you do this?" And Jesus so calmly turned around and said to her and Luke 2.49 said, "Why is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?" These were the actually first very recorded words that Jesus ever spoke in Scripture. What's on his mind? Daddy. I read a story a couple of years ago about a little boy. He's three years old. His name's Brian. Brian had a terrible accident one day. He was pinned under the garage door before they had the censors, before they made that law. And the door pinned him and began to crush his chest. Till he had no more breath. He called for mom and mom wouldn't come. And it snuffed out his life. By the time mom got there and raised the garage door and called the paramedics, Brian was long gone. The paramedics were able to come. They gave him mouth, mouth resuscitation revived him, but they didn't know how long he had been gone. Before the paramedics got there, his mom leaned down to him and said, "Brian, please don't go. Please stay if you can." The dad was on a flight from L.A. all the way across to the East Coast and they caught him in Denver and he turned around and flew back. The test seemed to show that the brainways weren't working. They were really very, very concerned. And all of a sudden, a presence filled the room that changed everything. Doctors and nurses couldn't explain it. Within a week, Brian was home. Perfectly healthy, perfectly whole, perfectly normal. What they weren't expecting is what this three-year-old would tell them a month later. He called his mom in one day, said, "Mom, sit down and have things to tell you." That's what she thought. He said, "Do you remember the day the birdies came?" A three-year-old was trying to explain what he saw in the heavenlies. "Do you remember the day the birdies came?" She said, "No, Brian, what do you mean?" He said, "Mom, they're beautiful. They're wingspan. They carry big..." As a matter of fact, one of the birdies came and got you and told you to come out and help me. And she began to weep. He said, "Do you remember when you leaned over the little boy and you whispered, "Stay if you can?" Knowing exactly what he was talking about, knowing he wasn't fabricating and making it up. He began to tell about the bright light and the warm love and the voice that he heard out of that light. And he stumbled over his words, trying to describe to her what he has seen. And she could see the expression on his face that it was something awesome. My question to you this morning is, "You think that boy will ever forget that day? Why in the world do you think Jesus has ever forgotten what his daddy looks like?" I want you to see something this morning through the words of Jesus. He's trying to help you because he knows the Father intimately. And I want you to read this story this morning differently than you ever read it before. A look at the Father through the eyes of Jesus. Turn with me to Luke chapter 15 if you're not there. We're going to start in verse 11. This is the story of the prodigal. If you're taking notes and you have a pen, I want you to do something different today. Every time you see the word "Father," I want you to underline it in your Bible. Matter of fact, if you would do a word study on Father, you would see that this word "Father" is in the New Testament 422 times. About 300 times Jesus or his disciples speak about it. He has something to say about the Father. If you don't catch anything I say for the rest of the time, catch this. Take this home, deposit it in your bank, and take dividends off of it the rest of your life. It's this, Jesus was born of a virgin, came live, he was crucified, buried, went to hell, raised from the dead, and presented himself to the Father so that you and I could know him. That's it. He wants you to have a relationship with his Father because he's seen him. He came to earth because he's seen him. He wants you to know him because he's awesome. This is the story of the prodigal. It ought to be called the story of the Father's response because there's eleven times in this particular scripture Jesus addresses what the Father did. The Father did. What was his response? What was his reaction? Look with me, verse 11. A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his Father, "Be underlining there's the first one. Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me." So he divided to them. Have you ever seen that word them there? I've never seen. I've read this story. I don't know how many times. I've never seen this word them. He divided to them his livelihood, meaning he gave to the older and the younger. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with the prodigal living. Can I tell you the first thing about the Father that Jesus wants you to know? You have the freedom to choose. He's not looking for a robot. He's going to give you the freedom to choose whether he'll be a part of your life or not. He gives you the freedom to choose whether who will be on your throne today. You made a choice this morning. You'll make a choice this afternoon. Let me tell you what the prodigal said to him. You'll no longer be a part of my belief system. My value system. You won't be a part of it. Stay back. You won't be a part of my financial decision. Stay back. You won't tell me how to spend my money or how not to spend my money. You will no longer be a part of my relationships. You will never tell me who to marry. You'll never tell me. You'll never give me an influence on who I have a relationship with, who I live with, who if I choose to have sex inside or outside of marriage, you'll never be a part of that. You're out of my life. I'm choosing my own way. And the Father says you have the freedom to choose. This Father didn't walk him down the long driveway and say to his son, you're going to make mistakes. You're going to waste everything. This is going to be not manipulating within his words or his emotions or his actions. The Father says to you today through the eyes of Jesus. You have the freedom to choose your choice. I have a question for you. Did God force Jesus to die on the cross? I have a scripture for you. Luke 22, 42. You don't have to turn there. Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Does that sound to you like God forced him to die or gave him a choice? If God didn't force his own son to have a relationship and force him to do, why would you think he had forced us? Because I'm not forcing you to have a relationship with him. I have four children. I tell my four children, listen, you don't have to serve God. You don't have to serve God. Now, if I don't make it palatable and enticing to them, shame on me. I want it to be so enticing. So I want them to know that this is the most exciting life that they can't. There's nothing else out there that even compares to it. Then if I can't make that so enticing and so palatable to them, shame on me. But I don't force him. I'll never force him. I wouldn't force him. I had a wonderful decision and I made it. It was the best decision I ever made. But I wasn't forced. Now, I want you to understand, these two young men that they're talking about were of the age that they had the freedom to choose. Now, I tell my kids, listen, if you don't like what you have at home, Hot Rod hit the road. Do you think there's better out there and you think someone else will provide for you better and love you better? Hammer down. While you're in my household, while you're not of age that you can legally move out, there are some barriers. There are some boundaries. This young man was of illegal age that he could move out. I mean, the father says you have freedom to choose. Didn't manipulate him. Didn't call rehearsing. Said you had the freedom to choose. Let me tell you the second choice that he had to make. When he had spent all, everybody say all. Now, who made that choice to spend all? He did. Then watch what happened. There arose a severe famine in that land. In that amazing timing of the famine, why didn't the famine happen prior to him getting there? Can I ask you a question? Who's in charge of famines? Daddy? In the interesting timing of this famine. You remember the story of Job? Whether God creates or whether God allows. See, we're here trying to explain God. He's sovereign. That's all I can tell you. Whether he creates or whether he allows. There's a circumstance in this young man's life that he had no control over. He can't create the famine and he can't make the famine go away, can he? But he has had the freedom to choose how he responds to the famine. And some of you this morning have been myself. I've been caught in circumstances I didn't create, nor could I make go away. But I had to respond. What's this young man's response to the famine? Verse 14, "He began to be in want after the famine came." Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into the field's defeat swine. Can I tell you something? If you're a Jewish boy, this is a bad day. I mean, it's gone from a severe famine to worse. You're now having to feed swine. That's a bad day for a Jewish boy. He would have gladly had filled his stomach. Verse 16, "With the pods at the swine ate, but no one gave him anything." Listen, I didn't live through the depression in the 20s. I've heard stories of people who tell me. But I understand when you get into these severe famines and desperate times, whatever you have, you're not just doling it out. You're hoarding it. And you're taking care of your own. And this young boy had nothing. And now he's a slave. And now he's feeding swine. It's a bad day. Not exactly what he thought when he had all his dad's livelihood when he was leaving what he was going to. But he had the freedom to choose. And these are the choices that he made. And in those moments when that pressure was on, he did something very, very right. And I want you to see it. Verse 17, "But when he came to himself, things are starting to look up." He said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger?" And I want you to know something, folks. I counsel with people all the time that tell me, "Jeff, I can't hear God like you hear God." And I say, "Yes, you can." I say, "No, I can't." I say, "Yes, you can." I say, "No, I can't." I say, "Yes, you can." Because I used to say the same thing. I used to tell people who were spiritual authority, "I can't hear God like you hear God." And I say something really magical about it, something really difficult. I'm going to show you the simplest form to hear the voice of God that you've ever seen in your life, and I just read it to you. Go back to the verse. Look at verse 17, "But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger?" Can I tell you something and what happened at this moment? His thoughts, when the famine came on, he joined himself, he's feeding swine, he's got plenty of time to be thinking. His thoughts ran home to daddy. Can I tell you in that precise moment, God interjected the thought? Where did this thought come from? Back in my father's house, they have plenty of bread. I mean, they're feeding the dogs off the table. Where did that thought come from? It came from God. He does the same thing with you. Some of you just not recognize it. Can I tell you this? When I counsel with people, most people never tell me, "I'm really having a hard time hearing the devil, I'd like to hear him some more." I never get that in counseling. People don't have a problem in the world hearing the devil. Can I tell you, when this young boy was back at the farm and his daddy just gave him his livelihood, guess what thoughts he was receiving then? Hey man, there's a party over here. I mean, that is how it's boring. It's all get up. Over here though, man, this is where it's happened. I mean, you get rid of all the rules and you get all the freedom and you get none of that, you get all of this and what do you think that was coming from? You think he was dreaming that up himself? No, enemies there are just penetrating his mind with thoughts. See, we know how to recognize those. I'm going to tell you something. God is throwing thoughts in your mind and you don't even know it. If you recognize his thoughts, you'll get what he's promised. The reason I can say to you, if you give your life to the Lord, the reason I can promise you the best things and the benefits of the end result is because I've experienced, because I've responded to this voice. So he made a plan. Verse 18, he said, "This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to my father. You're in the lining, father. We will say to him and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired servants." This is his plan. This is what he's done. He's had a thought. It's come to his mind. Hey, if I go home, at least I can be a servant there and I won't starve to death and they have plenty of food and I'll be able to live. I'll be a servant here. I'm a slave. I've already blown. I'm going to go home and I'm going to tell my daddy. I've blown it. I'm not worthy of these. It's a good plan. He obeyed it. Do you think the enemy at that point said anything to him? I think he filled his thoughts with, "Man, you've blown it too bad." I mean, look at you, buddy. You've got pigs lop all over you. You don't got a dime to your name. You lost your shoes. You barely got clothes. I mean, this is not so bad. It's all right. You can't go back there. See, this is what the enemy does. He wants you to reach for the care. And as soon as he does, he beats your brain out for reaching for the care. He got him to go and now he's beating you out for doing it. That's his plan. That's what he wants to do to you. Get you to reach for something and slap the snot out of you. Isn't that a good term to say in church? My wife will reprimand me later for that. But that's the way the devil plays. Not the way your father plays. Because if you obey the voice of your father, Jesus wants you today to see the response. I choose to listen to this voice. If I choose to listen to this thought that comes to my head to obey it. How do I approach the father? Well, let's pick up the story. I'm going to go back to verse 18. I want you to see this. He said, this is my plan. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, I've sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer to be worthy. I'm no longer worthy. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. It made me like one of your heart servers. Can I tell you what this boy was saying? He didn't sugarcoat it. He said, Daddy, I blew it. I made every decision wrong. I'm sorry. I'm no longer worthy to be son. It made me a servant. He didn't hide it. He didn't sugarcoat it. He didn't try to wash and clean it up. He just said, this is what I am. This is who I am. Dad, I'm filled with lust. I'm filled with anger. I'm filled with depression. I'm not hiding from you. This is who I am. These are the decisions I've made. Will you receive me? Why don't you see Daddy's response? Verse 20, he arose and he came to his father. And 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. Now, I'm going to ask you something. This boy's think like pigs. How's his daddy responding? You see the love and compassion of your father? Jesus is singing. He's trying to tell you something. The boy could have said to him, hey, hey, hey, hey. No, dad, don't stop kissing me. Stop kissing me. Stop. I don't want the ring. I don't want the robe. Don't want any of this stuff. I just want to be a servant. I'm going to go to the servant's quarters. I'm not going to receive your love. No. No. I'm too bad. I've done too many wrong things. Stop it. Jenny and I had our first child, Jessica. She was two or three, four months old. She was teaching a piano lesson one day and I had Jessica in the back bedroom. I was holding her and she was cooing at me and she was drooling all over me. I thought it was great. I've never been a father. This was one of the most exciting days of my life. I was rocking her. I was laying on the bed and I'd shake her and she'd throw up my mouth. We had all kinds of fun stuff. I didn't mind. It didn't bother me a bit. This is my baby. This is one of those moments. All of a sudden, this thought is clear as I'm speaking to you penetrating my mind. I'd like to hold you like that. I said, "Father, I've been stiff-arming you." My whole life happened. I said, "Yeah, you have." You have the freedom to choose to receive his love. You can't make his love grow. You can't make his love decrease. Your goodness, your righteousness won't make it increase and your sin and wrong choices won't make it decrease. But you are going to make a choice today whether you receive it. I said to him that day, "I laid Jessica down on the bed and I said I received it." I had one of the most incredible experiences in that bedroom that day. I felt the love of God wrap around me for the very first time. I was 25 years old. One of the most incredible things I ever felt in my life. I'll never be the same. Have you received his love? He'll lavish it upon you. So the father killed the fatty calf and threw a big party. Older brother was out in the field doing what he always did, obeyed. You remember he got all his stuff right? And he obeyed all those years. And when he came in, he called a servant and said, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, what's happening? What's happening in the house? I mean, there's music. Is Daddy throwing me a party?" He said, "No. Matter of fact, your brother come home and Daddy's killed the fatty calf and they're all excited and they want you to come in. Oh, come on!" We pick up the story in verse 28, what's this? And he was so happy he couldn't wait to go inside. Not what your Bible says. He was angry. He would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, and he's going to tell you why he's angry. "Lo, these many years I've been serving you, I've never transgressed your commandment." Don't your children talk to you this way? My kids love to talk to me like this. I've never transgressed your commandment at any time yet you never gave me a young goat that I make make merry with my friends. But as soon, now watch his language here, but as soon as this son of yours, not this brother of mine, as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots. Question, how do you know that? I have my own theories. You'll have to create your own. You killed the fatted calf for him. Now I want you to see something that's very, very important. The father responded in verse 31, and he said to him, "Son, you're always with me. All that I have is yours." Now I just told you God's love is not attached to anything. It's unconditional. But I want you to understand something today. His blessing is very much conditional. If you want the blessing of God on your life, you are going to have to obey. This son has obeyed from the time that he received his livelihood till now, and the father says to him, "Everything that I have is yours. It's no longer your younger brothers. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours because you've obeyed. Blessings are extremely attached to obedience, but don't confuse his love. His love's not attached to any condition. You can be in the worst condition. You could dream of today, and his love still pours out for you. I'm going to prove it to you in the next verse. But he says to this son, "After he says all that I have is yours," verse 32, "it was right that we should make Mary and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again was lost and is found." Let me tell you what the older brother was saying to the father. Why didn't you meet him down at the end of the driveway and just chew him out? I mean, look what he's done. He's used your entire livelihood. He's wasted it all, and he's made every wrong decision to him, and he's been with harlins. You should have been down there. You should have reamed him out. I'm telling you, you should put him in the servants' court. You should have put him outside the servants' court. You should make him, you should make him dig the outhouse. I mean, he's giving him the what, too. The father says, "Speaking just softly to him, son. All I have is yours. You've obeyed me from day one. You're right. But I want you to know something. You've never caught my heart. You've never caught my heart, and it's time that you catch my heart for your brother. For everybody around you, for my heart beats for them." Several years ago, I was a long time now. I was a junior in high school. In my high school, we had a closed-campus policy, meaning we couldn't leave campus to go to lunch. We had to do lunch in the cafeteria, it was a terrible thing. I don't know who made that decision, but it was terrible. We would eat lunch in the cafeteria, and then we'd go out and sit in the front lawn of our high school grounds and sit around the trees. My junior friends would gather around the tree. We'd solve all the world's problems because we were the smartest people on earth. My mom and dad could prove that to you. We solved a lot of problems underneath that tree. This one particular April Day, a friend of mine named Stephen Bostakey, he played on my football team. I knew of him. I had a relationship, nothing to know his name. He said hello. He made a decision that he was going to run around and any boy that stood up, he would tackle him. Now, Stephen was a little crazy. I mean, by sophomore year or my junior year and his sophomore year, he played nose tackle, and he'd always shoot a gap, trying to knock the quarterback out. That was his number one. I want to knock him out. He was also on the kickoff team, and we would receive kickoff. We would receive kickoff. He'd be in the front lawn. He's one of the blockers of it. He was a little wiry kid, but he's just tenacious, and on the kickoff, his number one goal was to knock the kicker out. And I mean, as soon as he kicked the ball, three steps later, his helmet was planted inside his helmet, and one time he knocked this kicker totally in cold, knocked him out. And the coach and the other team was so livid at him. On the next kickoff, he had the two biggest players on his team beside the kicker, and their number one goal wasn't to tackle the runner, kill that kid. That's Stephen Bostick. Stephen this day on April on the lawn, he's running around tackling people, and I'm looking and thinking, "That's Stephen, what a crazy guy." The bell rings. I stand up, and when I stand up to face the bill, all of a sudden this head plants right here in my chest. My feet come off the ground, and I'm landing flat on my back. Stephen Bostick has hammered me. I come up with a right hook right across his mouth. I'm livid how dare him. A fight is on. His brother comes over. I said, "I got plenty for you. I have four older brothers, I've been trained well." I hear the word principles coming. We break up. I'm going class. I've been saved two years. I'm walking down the hall. The man that led me to the Lord saw my countenance and said to me, "What's happened to you?" I said, "I just made the stupidest decision I've ever made." I got caught up in circumstances that I didn't create, but I didn't respond well. He said, "You know what you got to do, don't you?" I said, "Yeah, I do. I don't want to do it." I've already had that thought. I'd already spoken. I've already heard it. He said, "Well, here's a hall pass. Go do what you need to do." I said, "Okay." I'm walking down the hall. By the time the second bell is already rung, there are no kids anywhere. Everybody's in the classroom. I'm walking down the hall with my hall pass so any teacher comes out, "I got my hall pass." All of a sudden, I don't know where Stephen is. All of a sudden, out of a classroom, Stephen boston steps into the same hallway I'm in and people try to tell me there's not a God. I look in him. He looks at me immediately. He repels. He goes to the opposite side of the wall. I was like, "Two maggots, woof!" I said, "No, no, no, and stay." I ran right straight to him and said, "Stephen, Stephen, stop. Please." Man, what I did out there was wrong. The way I responded, "You didn't mean it maliciously. I know your heart. I'm sorry. I am sorry. Will you please forgive me?" He looked at me lying like the deer in the headlight. Like, "Okay." Defused. Finished my junior year, went on to my senior year. We were having two-day football practices. The next year, Stephen calls me one day and said, "Hey, Jeff, I need to write a football practice. Would you mind coming to get me?" And I said, "Not at all." I haven't thought one time about that incident. We get in the car and I'm driving into football practice. He says to me, "Jeff, what do you have that I don't have?" He said, "I understand your anger. I know about anger." Let me tell you about Stephen boston. He's one of three boys. He's the middle boy. He's an older and younger brother. He's been an angry boy his whole life, and it started one day when he and his brother were playing checkers. He got mad at his brother and he picked up a checker to throw at his older brother and his older brother ducked and he hit his younger brother right in the eye and put his eye out. And his younger brother being wearing a glass saw, his whole life. Stephen been carrying this for years. He said to me, "I understand your anger. I know that part. What I don't understand is how you got the peace that came after the anger. Please tell me what you have that I don't have." And I began to share in the best of my ability what I knew and what God had done, the prayer that I prayed and just the simplicity of it. If he had prayed that prayer, if he would make the same choice, God would do something in his life. God would make a decision. If he'd make a decision for God, God would act on his behalf and I pleaded with him. And he said, "You know, Jeff, I want to think about it. I really appreciate you sharing, but I really want to think about it." And I said, "Take as long as you want. If you have more questions, I'll answer them anytime." I graduated high school. Stephen Bostock never asked me another question. I don't know if he ever did anything with the information, it just kind of went out of my mind. I went on to college and three years later, I came home to visit my parents. My mom, as I walked in the door, said, "Hey, have you heard the news?" And I said, "What news?" She said, "Stephen Bostock was killed today." It flashed back through my mind, "What if I never obeyed that voice that day? What if I would have said to my father?" No part, back away, he had never had the opportunity to know a loving father and ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes. Would you obey that still false, small voice today? I don't know. You may have been beat up by an older brother and called it God. Been a lot of that going on lately. You may find yourself here today and you may be the older brother. Would you catch the father's heart? If you've been beat up by an older brother or sister and they called it God, would you forgive him today? Would you release him? Would you let him go? Don't let him hold you captive any longer. A real question today is, would you respond to the love of God, where you see, he sent his son into the world not to condemn you. This John 3 17, I encourage you to read, is John 3 7, he didn't send his son to condemn you. He sent his son to love you. He sent his son so that he could make a way that you could have relationship with the father. He didn't send him to condemn you. He sent love. He gave. Would you receive that today? Father, I thank you for a clear description of who you are through the eyes of Jesus. And today, we receive you, just like you are, we'll no longer stiff arm you, we want you. In Jesus' name, amen.