WEBVTT 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.679 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.879 you can have an encounter with Jesus that will 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.379 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:27.899 message from our preaching team. For those who 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:30.800 don't know me, my name is Tex, and I am one of 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:34.039 the pastors here at Encounter Henley. Now, Tex 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:37.039 is a nickname that I picked up living in, you 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.240 guessed it, Texas. So I picked that up while 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.500 I was living in Dallas, Texas. However, I carry 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:44.679 an Australian passport, which is accompanied 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:46.520 with an accent that would not be out of place 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:49.820 in an episode of Kath and Kim, which is a timely 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:54.520 reference. I was born in England, however. So 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:57.770 I am an Australian citizen. with an American 00:00:57.770 --> 00:01:02.270 name and English blood. So as a result, you might 00:01:02.270 --> 00:01:05.010 not be surprised to find that for me the concept 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:08.049 of where home is or what home looks or feels 00:01:08.049 --> 00:01:11.450 like can feel a little bit convoluted at times. 00:01:12.020 --> 00:01:15.040 Now I haven't lived in England for literal decades 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.599 because I am not a young man. And most of my 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.680 family though still reside, I was going to say 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:21.400 it before somebody else yelled it out. So most 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:23.879 of my family that live in the UK actually still 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:26.459 reside in the same little fishing village called 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:29.000 Kingsbridge. This beautiful picturesque rolling 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.280 hills roll into the sand. Gorgeous kind of place, 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.540 right? And I got to tell you, whenever I do go 00:01:33.540 --> 00:01:36.180 back, it's that first lung full of air. As soon 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:37.540 as you get out of the city and I kind of get 00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:39.760 back there and I'm sitting at this little estuary, 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:41.980 like that first lung full of air. just kind of 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:45.140 tells me that I'm home. And then there's that, 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:46.959 that always kind of gives way to the great British 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.540 pastime of going to the local pub. And that first 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:52.719 pint of beer, the first pint of London Pride 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:54.799 while I'm there with my family, my cousins, my 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.219 aunties, my uncles, it just lets me know like 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:02.189 you're home, it's okay. But the truth is whenever 00:02:02.189 --> 00:02:04.290 I do go back, whenever I get that opportunity, 00:02:04.609 --> 00:02:07.049 it's also those feelings, those moments, those 00:02:07.049 --> 00:02:08.870 beers at the pub, those sitting around the table 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:11.530 together, they're always tinged with just this 00:02:11.530 --> 00:02:13.430 little bit of sadness and this little bit of 00:02:13.430 --> 00:02:16.110 grief as well because they serve as reminders 00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:20.110 of who I am right now, but also who I just haven't 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:22.710 been able to be as part of that family unit, 00:02:22.830 --> 00:02:26.000 as part of that. area that I call home. There 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:27.919 was weddings that I couldn't attend. There's 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:30.020 been birthdays that I've missed more than I can 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:32.439 count. Grandparents who I didn't get to visit 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:35.080 and have cups of tea with certainly didn't get 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:37.740 to sit at their bedside while machines beeped 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:40.759 as they came to the end of their life. All these 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:43.000 kind of milestones, all these things that I think 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.819 we associate with what it means to be available 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:47.740 to people, what it means to be around, what it 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:49.580 means to be part of a family, and what it means 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:53.120 to be at home. And the older that I get, the 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:56.139 greater the gaps become, both physically and 00:02:56.139 --> 00:02:59.819 metaphorically, because as I think about it, 00:02:59.819 --> 00:03:02.139 I'm constantly forced to re -evaluate, like, 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.539 is that actually home anymore? I'm really distant 00:03:06.539 --> 00:03:10.819 from those people now. If I showed up again tomorrow, 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:16.180 would it be the same? Would it feel like home? 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:19.699 Would I be welcomed? I mean, I hope so. But I 00:03:19.699 --> 00:03:23.099 can't be sure, we can never be sure. Do they 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:27.719 look at me still as part of that family? Is home 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:32.280 still home? And all those questions lead me to 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:34.919 this realization that the idea of returning home 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:38.840 feels really, really hard. Now maybe your version 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:42.120 of home isn't quite as far away as England. Maybe 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:44.699 it's not as physically distant as that. But I 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:47.110 can't help but wonder if maybe... I start there 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:48.689 and then I kind of work my way through to other 00:03:48.689 --> 00:03:50.930 things and I wonder if for you this brings up 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:53.530 memories or visions of other areas in your life 00:03:53.530 --> 00:03:56.569 where the idea of returning home feels hard. 00:03:56.909 --> 00:03:58.849 Now maybe it's a physical place you've called 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:01.650 home, it could also be a relationship or a person 00:04:01.650 --> 00:04:04.810 that has felt like home and the way back feels 00:04:04.810 --> 00:04:06.830 really uncertain and as a result feels really, 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:09.650 really hard. Maybe you moved out of your childhood 00:04:09.650 --> 00:04:12.629 home. You got married or you just got roommates. 00:04:12.669 --> 00:04:15.430 You just moved out. And then you just kind of, 00:04:15.469 --> 00:04:17.310 you know, you used to stop in at home every couple 00:04:17.310 --> 00:04:18.850 of weeks and then that kind of eased up. And 00:04:18.850 --> 00:04:20.370 then you'd call home every week because that's 00:04:20.370 --> 00:04:21.829 a bit easier, right? And then calls gave way 00:04:21.829 --> 00:04:23.329 to text messages and all of a sudden you go, 00:04:23.550 --> 00:04:26.269 I don't actually remember the last time I spoke 00:04:26.269 --> 00:04:29.790 with mum or dad. And then you're like, well, 00:04:29.790 --> 00:04:31.410 I'll just call them. And there's a few times 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:32.990 you've brought the number up in the phone, but 00:04:32.990 --> 00:04:35.209 hitting that little green dial button just feels 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:39.769 really, really tough. It can be really simple. 00:04:40.389 --> 00:04:43.050 bring it much closer to home, maybe that person 00:04:43.050 --> 00:04:45.629 that feels like home, that distance that feels 00:04:45.629 --> 00:04:47.490 far is literally just on the other side of the 00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:50.889 couch. It's a partner or it's a spouse that... 00:04:50.910 --> 00:04:53.550 You know, you've wrapped all this energy and 00:04:53.550 --> 00:04:56.089 time and love up into, and all those feelings 00:04:56.089 --> 00:04:58.689 of love and closeness and emotional connection 00:04:58.689 --> 00:05:00.889 have been replaced by sending each other Instagram 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:03.670 reels occasionally and asking, do you need anything 00:05:03.670 --> 00:05:05.750 when you get up from the couch? There's nothing 00:05:05.750 --> 00:05:08.089 wrong with that, but it's not a replacement for 00:05:08.089 --> 00:05:10.149 real relationship. It's not a replacement for 00:05:10.149 --> 00:05:14.009 that real feeling of home. And the further away 00:05:14.009 --> 00:05:17.529 we get from where we were, the harder it feels 00:05:17.529 --> 00:05:21.089 like to begin that path. back home like how do 00:05:21.089 --> 00:05:24.089 you do it how do you go from where you were to 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:26.449 where you're here and back again it feels hard 00:05:26.449 --> 00:05:32.230 and today's teaching and today's story is really 00:05:32.230 --> 00:05:36.490 just a reaffirmation of that truth and how hard 00:05:36.490 --> 00:05:39.370 coming home can be now Jesus is telling this 00:05:39.370 --> 00:05:41.889 story and of the prodigal son to a room full 00:05:41.889 --> 00:05:44.810 of we'll call it mixed company everything from 00:05:44.810 --> 00:05:47.269 tax collectors and prostitutes to Pharisees who 00:05:47.269 --> 00:05:49.269 were kind of, Pharisees get like this really 00:05:49.269 --> 00:05:51.029 bad rap but really at the time they were biblical 00:05:51.029 --> 00:05:53.170 scholars, they were respected teachers a lot 00:05:53.170 --> 00:05:56.370 of them and then so Jesus and he loved to teach 00:05:56.370 --> 00:05:58.610 via stories which is helpful for me because I 00:05:58.610 --> 00:06:00.610 love to tell stories and I love to talk about 00:06:00.610 --> 00:06:04.009 stories as well. We refer to as parables and 00:06:04.009 --> 00:06:07.129 this specific parable begins with a son who is 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:09.350 effectively, round or bow, give or take a little 00:06:09.350 --> 00:06:11.889 bit, kind of wishing his dad, you know, dead. 00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:16.060 So he's Because he says, Father, I want my inheritance 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:20.600 now. Now, normally, how do you get your inheritance? 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.360 You know, you can spell that one out. And he 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:26.939 wants it now. And then you think about it, you're 00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:30.300 like, I wonder what he wants it for. And it's 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:33.959 really, it's just, he just wants the money. Maybe 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.860 he wants like a flawed sense of self identity, 00:06:37.379 --> 00:06:42.970 maybe a misplaced concept of freedom. It's all 00:06:42.970 --> 00:06:45.170 kind of a bit of a, it's all a bit backwards. 00:06:45.329 --> 00:06:47.370 It's all a bit about face. And what's even more 00:06:47.370 --> 00:06:50.089 kind of weird than the shocking request is that 00:06:50.089 --> 00:06:52.470 the shock of the fact that the father acquiesces 00:06:52.470 --> 00:06:55.990 to that request. He goes, okay, and he agrees. 00:06:57.490 --> 00:07:01.680 And then. When the Sun just he leaves he gathers 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:04.439 his possessions and he leaves now before this 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:06.560 stage at this stage This is what I love about 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.459 this story is all these little touch points at 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:11.699 this stage He could have probably undone a lot 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:15.379 of the hurt from the initial request If he just 00:07:15.379 --> 00:07:18.980 kind of stopped and went hey, you know what whoops 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:22.300 my bad. That wasn't very cool, but he doesn't 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:25.779 He leaves and then he travels far We're told 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:28.000 he travels to a distant country, which means 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.620 he's not one town over, which means there's no 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:32.560 chance of his curmudgeonly older brother kind 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:35.360 of stumbling into him at the pub while he's doing 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:38.779 whatever it is that he's doing, right? He's put 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:41.660 in great effort to ensure that there is great 00:07:41.660 --> 00:07:43.959 distance. Now there is physical distance between 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.319 him and his family, between himself and home. 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:49.629 And then he proceeds and he squanders the money. 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:51.990 Now again, I like to just kind of point out a 00:07:51.990 --> 00:07:54.310 few things as we go. This is money that he has 00:07:54.310 --> 00:07:57.670 squandered that he did not earn. This isn't actually 00:07:57.670 --> 00:07:59.930 his money. This is half of his family's fortune. 00:07:59.990 --> 00:08:02.470 This is half of his father's money. And you'd 00:08:02.470 --> 00:08:04.790 think at some point, maybe it would cross his 00:08:04.790 --> 00:08:07.769 mind after the second or third or fourth wild 00:08:07.769 --> 00:08:12.389 night, like, maybe that'll do. Maybe that's enough. 00:08:13.389 --> 00:08:17.040 But he doesn't. Maybe... Maybe the damage is 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:20.480 done Just just enough that I can kind of go back 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:23.379 with half the bag full of money and go I'd like 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:25.560 to try again if that's okay, but he doesn't do 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:31.430 that So what he's done now is he's got this physical 00:08:31.430 --> 00:08:33.870 distance that he's created, with every day that 00:08:33.870 --> 00:08:35.549 he stays gone, with every poor decision that 00:08:35.549 --> 00:08:38.110 he makes, he's creating a greater emotional distance 00:08:38.110 --> 00:08:40.070 from his family away and it just gets compounded 00:08:40.070 --> 00:08:42.029 with time away. Sort of like me talking about 00:08:42.029 --> 00:08:44.269 earlier with my family, the further I stay away, 00:08:44.549 --> 00:08:46.529 the longer I send without sending that message, 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:48.250 without that phone call, without knocking on 00:08:48.250 --> 00:08:51.649 that door, it compounds. It just makes it harder 00:08:51.649 --> 00:08:53.830 and harder and harder to go back and knock on 00:08:53.830 --> 00:08:58.179 that door. So we're told again that through this 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:01.740 wild spending and reckless living that he just 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:05.620 he empties the coin purse It's gone every penny 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:10.620 You think okay, so maybe now Maybe now we can 00:09:10.620 --> 00:09:12.220 have another little think about what we're doing 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:14.000 here and what we've done and we can just reset 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.419 the ledger a little bit or Instead we can stay 00:09:17.419 --> 00:09:20.840 gone and he chooses that one and then a famine 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:23.220 takes over the land And he takes the only job 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:26.480 that he can find, which is working in squalid, 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.240 offensive and shameful conditions. He's feeding 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.539 pigs. This is a huge no -no in Jewish culture. 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:34.360 Like, pigs are kind of the lowest and the dirtiest 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:36.639 of the dirty. And this is what he's done. So 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:39.580 now he's hungry. He's living on scraps. He's 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:43.019 ashamed. He's broke. And in his eyes, there's 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:46.240 no doubt that he is just a wasteful drunk. He's 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.840 squandered half of his family's fortune. He is... 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:51.929 destitute, he's working in the lowest of conditions, 00:09:52.250 --> 00:09:55.129 he's brought great shame upon himself, upon his 00:09:55.129 --> 00:09:58.250 father, the list keeps on going, right? And it's 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:02.330 at this moment we need to realise that he didn't 00:10:02.330 --> 00:10:05.450 start there. The reason I've gone through this 00:10:05.450 --> 00:10:08.490 in such kind of detail is so that we can understand 00:10:08.490 --> 00:10:10.590 that he doesn't start at the other end of this 00:10:10.590 --> 00:10:15.559 great chasm. He gets there with a series of repeated 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.440 and continual misjudgment and mistakes and each 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.940 one is taking him a little bit further from home 00:10:20.940 --> 00:10:23.179 and making it just that little bit harder to 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:28.179 go back again. Now there's no way to hide the 00:10:28.179 --> 00:10:32.940 fact that he's behaved terribly. He's made a 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:38.759 lot of bad decisions here. But that's on him. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.100 And he kind of half has a realization and it 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:45.860 hits that he's like, this is not me, but my father, 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:49.039 despite all that I've done, it doesn't actually 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:51.799 change the fact that his father is a good man. 00:10:53.340 --> 00:10:55.279 And he's finally worked out that he needs to 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:57.779 head home, but he has no intent of returning 00:10:57.779 --> 00:11:00.220 home to his place as a son of a loving father. 00:11:00.539 --> 00:11:04.379 His hope is that he can return of a slave of 00:11:04.379 --> 00:11:08.299 a good master. There's a big difference in that. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:11.179 He does that because he's afraid that the damage 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:13.299 that he's done is too great to come back from. 00:11:14.940 --> 00:11:17.860 That he may crave home, or aversion of home, 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:23.080 but it may never feel like home again. He may 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:26.320 never feel welcome there again. Will he be welcomed? 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:31.600 He has no way of knowing. But it's this reality 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.720 of that going home is going to be hard, but not 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:39.149 going home is going to be even harder. So he 00:11:39.149 --> 00:11:42.769 goes. There's just no way to imagine just on 00:11:42.769 --> 00:11:45.190 that slow and long walk home. Remember, he's 00:11:45.190 --> 00:11:47.710 gone to a very distant country. He has got quite 00:11:47.710 --> 00:11:50.870 the walk home. there's no doubt that on that 00:11:50.870 --> 00:11:52.769 he's just got this this thought that running 00:11:52.769 --> 00:11:54.409 through their head we've all played this game 00:11:54.409 --> 00:11:56.029 every time we have to do something difficult 00:11:56.029 --> 00:11:57.710 right every time we have to do something hard 00:11:57.710 --> 00:12:00.490 there's that fear there's the guilt there's the 00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:03.570 shame every step every plotting step i bet you 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:07.110 some of those steps felt real slow and real short 00:12:07.110 --> 00:12:09.929 in between right i wonder on that journey how 00:12:09.929 --> 00:12:13.570 many times did he think about just stopping now 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:15.809 this will do Close enough. Close enough is good 00:12:15.809 --> 00:12:17.889 enough. Maybe you thought about turning back. 00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:20.470 Maybe at that point, maybe the shame of living 00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:23.690 in the pig pen and the hunger felt maybe a little 00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:26.830 bit more appealing than the shame and the difficulty 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:32.750 of going home. And with all of this, no doubt 00:12:32.750 --> 00:12:35.210 still running through his head, we are told that 00:12:35.210 --> 00:12:37.809 the Father sees him from a great distance away 00:12:37.809 --> 00:12:40.669 and is filled with great compassion for him. 00:12:42.529 --> 00:12:44.789 I love this. What does the Father do? What does 00:12:44.789 --> 00:12:50.889 the Father do? He runs away. He sprints towards 00:12:50.889 --> 00:12:54.649 His Son. He is so desperate to wrap His arms 00:12:54.649 --> 00:12:56.970 around Him, to kiss Him, to feel His touch, just 00:12:56.970 --> 00:12:59.470 to know that He's there. Is that really Him? 00:12:59.470 --> 00:13:01.690 That's all He's interested in. And He's yelling 00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:03.570 to His servants, bring the finest robe, bring 00:13:03.570 --> 00:13:06.250 a ring for His finger, sandals for His feet, 00:13:06.490 --> 00:13:08.470 each and every item, each and every request of 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:12.759 those around Him. just reinforces this idea that 00:13:12.759 --> 00:13:16.340 I don't want to just simply meet my son's basic 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:19.500 needs. I want him to know that he is loved and 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:23.740 back home where he belongs. Now this sound sounds 00:13:23.740 --> 00:13:27.279 like joyful chaos to me. I love it. Because you've 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.799 got this son who's like trudging in the door 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:33.100 like Eeyore and you've got this father just absolutely 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:37.440 effusive with love and praise and... The son 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:39.600 does manage though to blurt out some of what 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.340 it is that he's intending to say. He manages 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:44.460 to get a father, I have sinned against heaven 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:47.399 and before you and I am no longer worthy to be 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:50.299 called your son. Now this is such a, it's one 00:13:50.299 --> 00:13:52.620 sentence really, it's so simple on its face, 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:55.539 but it's in this beautiful exposition that we 00:13:55.539 --> 00:13:58.659 see the son's deep change. It's in this we see 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:01.799 him recognising that he needs to be home. It 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:03.659 doesn't actually matter at that point how he 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:06.330 got there, he got there. And it's through that 00:14:06.330 --> 00:14:09.070 that the rest of the story is able to take shape. 00:14:11.750 --> 00:14:13.769 But think about this, the father's like yelling, 00:14:14.110 --> 00:14:15.509 he's ranting, he's like, get this, get this, 00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:16.750 get this, get that, get the fattened calf, we're 00:14:16.750 --> 00:14:18.250 gonna celebrate, we're gonna have a party. The 00:14:18.250 --> 00:14:21.549 father's not listening. In truth, he's not really. 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:25.009 This isn't his focus. He's too busy preparing 00:14:25.009 --> 00:14:28.259 the party. He's too excited that his son comes 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:32.019 home. When he sprinted towards his boy, he did 00:14:32.019 --> 00:14:35.559 not know that an apology or recognition of what 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:41.279 he had done was coming. He had no idea. It didn't 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:47.159 matter. It didn't matter. The sons coming home, 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:50.299 these fears that I share, and I wonder if maybe 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:52.080 they're potentially the ones that you share about 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:55.340 coming home, is like whenever I'm looking at 00:14:55.340 --> 00:14:58.320 trying to fill that gap that I've created with 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.240 my actions. That's what I'm worried about. What 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:04.200 have I done? What haven't I done? Who am I now? 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:07.720 Who was I then? What's gonna happen? And every 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:10.600 time I go home, do you know what happens? My 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:14.179 family's just so excited to see me. That's it. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.980 They're just so happy I'm there. The son had 00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:24.159 only been able to see what he had done. But the 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.299 father was only ever interested in seeing him 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:31.860 for who he was. He's not interested in what had 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:33.139 happened. He's interested in what's happening 00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:38.059 now and who the son is and that's it. A parent 00:15:38.059 --> 00:15:41.279 you feel distant from? What do you reckon is 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:42.820 going to happen if you go knock on the door or 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:46.700 if you make that phone call? I'm telling you 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:48.100 now, it's going to drip away. It's not going 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:50.220 to matter. All the other stuff that might matter 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:52.620 right now, in that moment, it disappears. It 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:57.379 melts away. Why? Because it's you. Your spouse 00:15:57.379 --> 00:15:58.779 on the other end of the couch, what do you think 00:15:58.779 --> 00:16:00.600 is going to happen when you go, hey, I need to 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.059 talk to you for two seconds. I need to remind 00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:07.460 you of who I am and who you are, that you are 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:09.580 the one that I have chosen and that I am the 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:15.980 one that you have chosen. In that moment, They 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:17.740 don't think the cup of tea going cool in the 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:19.580 kitchen is going to be the first priority on 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:28.019 their lips We can't Can't ignore the truth that 00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:30.179 these homecoming though in these moments of clarity 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:36.940 they do not erase our past The choices and mistakes 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:39.419 that we've made to get us to where we got to 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:42.539 don't simply vanish they don't the bad decisions 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:46.840 remain But when the son does come home, this 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.440 is a son that the father at one point had feared 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.860 may even be dead, the mistakes are simply not 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:59.259 as important as your presence. The difficulty 00:16:59.259 --> 00:17:05.059 of homecoming all but erases that with that one 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:08.480 simple truth. The simple truth being is that 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.880 home was never really a place at all. Home was 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:14.359 always just where the Father was. That's His 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:17.440 home and that's His place within it. It was found 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:20.859 and promised and secured in that simple truth. 00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:27.599 We may find it hard coming home to God for the 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:31.140 same reason that I find it hard coming home sometimes 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:33.720 and for the same reason that the Son found it 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:38.220 hard coming home to His Father. But it doesn't 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:41.970 matter how poor we think or maybe our behaviour 00:17:41.970 --> 00:17:44.769 has actually been. It doesn't matter how far 00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:48.390 from home we feel, how far from God love we feel 00:17:48.390 --> 00:17:51.250 like we are is because God's love will continue 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:55.410 to strip away any other title we may choose to 00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:58.250 give ourselves for the only title that's ever 00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:01.049 mattered to Him and that is that of a beloved 00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:05.049 child of God. That is the only title that matters. 00:18:09.299 --> 00:18:12.259 Much like that homecoming that God offers us. 00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:15.579 Our identity isn't linked to that series of decisions, 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.079 good, bad or otherwise. Our identity is just 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.559 that, beloved child of God. And our home isn't 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:23.160 a place. Our home is found in our relationship 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:30.420 with that very same loving God. Why think back? 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.180 The son comes home not because of who he is. 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:35.740 The son comes back because of the truths about 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:40.190 who his father is. God's faithfulness is not 00:18:40.190 --> 00:18:43.230 dependent on our faithfulness. God's character 00:18:43.230 --> 00:18:45.890 and love is not defined by our character and 00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:51.329 love. We are not servants of a good master. We 00:18:51.329 --> 00:18:56.109 are sons and daughters of a loving father. When 00:18:56.109 --> 00:18:58.690 we recognize that fact, when we come home to 00:18:58.690 --> 00:19:02.529 that truth, there is nothing left to do but celebrate. 00:19:03.889 --> 00:19:05.990 When we make the choice to turn back to our loving 00:19:05.990 --> 00:19:10.150 Father, we will always find that God is already 00:19:10.150 --> 00:19:18.089 sprinting back down the road towards us. Now, 00:19:18.210 --> 00:19:20.349 those hard journeys home, you know, I'm banned 00:19:20.349 --> 00:19:22.049 if you can come back up, that'd be lovely, thank 00:19:22.049 --> 00:19:25.750 you. Those hard journeys home, those prodigal 00:19:25.750 --> 00:19:28.960 son moments. It's funny. I always thought about 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:30.940 it in this one thing. Yeah, the protocols returned 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.160 and we think about it as like a one -time thing 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:40.779 But it's not even once we recognize that our 00:19:40.779 --> 00:19:43.740 home is in God the Father we do tend to wander 00:19:43.740 --> 00:19:47.539 off a little bit sometimes Sometimes it's a short 00:19:47.539 --> 00:19:51.720 distance and Sometimes we repeat old mistake. 00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:54.119 So we create distance again and we repeat the 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.299 narrative to ourselves of this time I've gone 00:19:57.299 --> 00:20:01.460 too far, this time I've made one too many bad 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:04.220 decisions, this time I've strayed, this time 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.579 the hurt's a little too much, I have strayed 00:20:06.579 --> 00:20:09.359 that little bit too far from my loving Father 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:16.180 and this time I cannot go home. I need you to 00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:23.119 hear me. You cannot ever out -send, out -distance 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:29.039 or out -run God's love. for you. You are never 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:33.460 ever too far from a home found in him and when 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:35.900 you get there the loving arms of your father 00:20:35.900 --> 00:20:39.619 are ready to draw you in closer again and again 00:20:39.619 --> 00:20:46.019 and again. Now these homecomings and the celebrations 00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:48.880 that we talk about that happen as a result I 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.099 gotta tell you they are exactly why encounter 00:20:51.099 --> 00:20:55.710 Henley exists. We exist, as Ash said before, 00:20:56.009 --> 00:20:58.750 so that every person has an opportunity to have 00:20:58.750 --> 00:21:03.049 their own homecoming. Now homecoming is built 00:21:03.049 --> 00:21:06.730 and formed in an encounter with Jesus. For some 00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:08.650 people it may be for the first time and for some 00:21:08.650 --> 00:21:12.930 people it may be for the hundredth time. But 00:21:12.930 --> 00:21:15.289 each one is formed out of the truth that it is 00:21:15.289 --> 00:21:18.230 not about what you've done, it is about who you 00:21:18.230 --> 00:21:25.920 are. Because that's who our God is. and how God 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:30.460 only cares about is His identity as a Father 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:35.619 and ours as His sons and daughters. Ours is a 00:21:35.619 --> 00:21:39.420 God that was willing to walk the hard path. Ours 00:21:39.420 --> 00:21:41.539 is a God that was willing to sacrifice His one 00:21:41.539 --> 00:21:47.480 and only Son solely out of His love for us. Not 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:49.480 just for us, He did it for every saint that had 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:51.680 a past and He did it for every sinner that has 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:57.710 a future. His love, compassion and faithfulness 00:21:57.710 --> 00:22:01.130 are a guarantee that we never need to fear coming 00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:25.829 home again. Thanks again for listening. God bless 00:22:25.829 --> 00:22:26.089 you.