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Transcript

It's Worth the Wait - Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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  Speaker 1: I invite you to the book of the ages. The
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  Speaker 1: best book of wisdom I have ever read. The best
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  Speaker 1: entrepreneurial guide I have ever read. the best plan of
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  Speaker 1: salvation that we have ever discovered in the.
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  Speaker 2: Gospel of St. Luke.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter number 15. I will use a very, very extremely
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  Speaker 1: familiar scripture and only excerpt a portion of it because
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  Speaker 1: it is so familiar that 90% of the people of
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  Speaker 1: the room would almost be able to quote it by heart.
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  Speaker 1: And yet, indulge me, if you will, in the luxury
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  Speaker 1: of extrapolating from this text an additional thought for the
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  Speaker 1: benefit of the hearer as we discuss the prodigal son.
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  Speaker 1: Not every man is a father, but all of us
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  Speaker 1: are sons.
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  Speaker 3: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: And if we become fathers, we do not forfeit our
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  Speaker 1: sonship for fatherhood. That duality of roles is of paramount
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  Speaker 1: importance because in the oldest man in the room, there
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  Speaker 1: is still a child. For that matter, in the oldest
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  Speaker 1: woman in the room, there is still a little girl.
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  Speaker 1: And at different moments and times, you are dealing with
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  Speaker 1: both of them. And this text is what I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to use to talk to all of the many different
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  Speaker 1: versions of you. I told them yesterday, I said, there's
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  Speaker 1: so many people sitting in your chair.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: There's so many versions of you, the happy you. the
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  Speaker 1: sad you, the restless you, the stable you, the impulsive you,
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  Speaker 1: the overlooked you, the curious you, the repentant you, the
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  Speaker 1: you that is given to mischief and the you that
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  Speaker 1: is given to wisdom. All of them are wearing your
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  Speaker 1: clothes this morning. Midway's the story we start in the
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  Speaker 1: 15th verse of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of St.
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  Speaker 2: John.
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  Speaker 1: And it reads this wise out of the King James Version.
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  Speaker 1: And he went and joined himself to a citizen of
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  Speaker 1: that country. Talking about the prodigal son. Left his father's
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  Speaker 1: house and went and joined a citizen of of this
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  Speaker 1: far country who were not covenant-keeping people. And when you
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  Speaker 1: join yourself to a different kind of person, they send
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  Speaker 1: you to do things you said you would never do.
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  Speaker 1: And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
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  Speaker 2: So the prince... has been sent.
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  Speaker 1: Into a field to feed swine. And it looked good
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  Speaker 1: to him. He would fain have filled his belly with
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  Speaker 1: the husk that the swine did eat. And maybe he's
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  Speaker 1: hungry because no man gave.
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  Speaker 2: Unto him.
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  Speaker 1: When no man gives unto you, it creates a natural appetite.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot pour out what has not been poured in.
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  Speaker 1: And when he came to himself, I don't know what
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  Speaker 1: age that is. They told me it was 18.
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  Speaker 2: But it's not. At 66, I am still coming to myself.
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  Speaker 1: Divesting myself of all the accoutrements that other people placed
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  Speaker 1: on me. And finding out who I am outside of
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  Speaker 1: what you want me to be is a process.
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  Speaker 2: When he came to himself, he said, how many.
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  Speaker 1: Hard servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare?
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  Speaker 2: And I, I, I, I perish with hunger. Anybody hungry?
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  Speaker 2: Anybody hungry?
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  Speaker 1: I will arise and go to my father and will
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  Speaker 1: say unto him, father, I have sinned. Nobody talks about
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  Speaker 1: sin anymore. Father, I have sinned. Everybody has their own opinion.
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  Speaker 1: But he said, father, I have sinned. His admission of
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  Speaker 1: his sin.
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  Speaker 2: Is what gives him access back to the father.
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  Speaker 1: If you confess your sin, he is faithful and just
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  Speaker 1: to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Father, I have sinned.
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  Speaker 1: I have sinned against heaven and before thee. And I,
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  Speaker 1: I am no more worthy to be called thy son.
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  Speaker 1: I don't even deserve to be your son. Boy, you
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  Speaker 1: don't hear that much. Make me as one of the
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  Speaker 1: hired servants. And he arose and came to his father.
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  Speaker 2: But when he was yet a great.
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  Speaker 1: Way off, listen to this father. His father saw him.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see your son? I mean, really see him?
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  Speaker 1: When he was a great way off, not when he's
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  Speaker 1: doing what you want him to do, but when he's
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  Speaker 1: a great way off, there are a lot of young
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  Speaker 1: men who don't feel seen. His father saw him and
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  Speaker 1: had compassion, not rules, not mouth.
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  Speaker 2: Not criticism.
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  Speaker 1: There has to come a time that you shut up
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  Speaker 1: and have compassion. And ran and fell on his neck, yes,
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  Speaker 1: and he kissed his son. Because there is nothing wrong
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  Speaker 1: with being affectionate with your son. And the son said
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  Speaker 1: unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in
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  Speaker 1: thy sight, and I am no more worthy.
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  Speaker 2: To be called. I said, see, when you don't feel worthy,
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  Speaker 2: even when you.
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  Speaker 1: Have an opportunity, you don't always activate because of guilt
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  Speaker 1: and shame. This cataclysmic moment was something the father waited
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  Speaker 1: a long time to see happen. Anybody waited a long
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  Speaker 1: time to see something happen? The Lord told me to
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  Speaker 1: tell you this, and this is my subject.
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  Speaker 2: It's worth the wait.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to look at somebody and tell them
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  Speaker 1: it's worth the wait. Father God in the name of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus as we approach thy throne we do it humbly
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  Speaker 1: and submissively before you because thou art God and beside
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  Speaker 1: you there is no other release the kind of anointing
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  Speaker 1: that impacts people in definite ways that changes them eternally
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  Speaker 1: that heals wounds that looses the bound that sets the
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  Speaker 1: captive free I thank you in advance for what you're
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  Speaker 1: going to do have your way great God that you
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  Speaker 1: are I trust you for things I can't even discuss.
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  Speaker 1: Manifest yourself in the midst of your people today. In
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  Speaker 1: Jesus' name, amen. Rest easy, the work's on me. This
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  Speaker 1: is a very interesting text. It is one of the
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  Speaker 1: few stories, parables, as it were, mentioned in the scriptures
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  Speaker 1: that that is void of the presence of any woman
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  Speaker 1: at all. There is no female character in this text
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  Speaker 1: at all. If this text were taught today, it would
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  Speaker 1: be greatly criticized because now people quickly scan your page
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  Speaker 1: to see if they are represented properly in the text.
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  Speaker 2: You ain't you are not in the text at all
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  Speaker 2: this is a man's story.
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  Speaker 1: It is a story of three different men at three
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  Speaker 1: different ages and stages.
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  Speaker 2: In their life.
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  Speaker 1: All coalesce together to develop a truth about a God
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  Speaker 1: who is explaining his love through a story about men. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this is not misogynistic by any stretch of the imagination.
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  Speaker 1: Let us be clear, because the Bible is full of
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  Speaker 1: women From Eve forward, the Bible is full of women.
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  Speaker 1: From Eve to Bathsheba to Ruth, the Bible is full
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  Speaker 1: of women. From Jael to Naomi, the Bible is full
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  Speaker 1: of women. To the woman with the issue of blood,
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  Speaker 1: to the woman at the well, to Mary, the mother
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, The Bible.
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  Speaker 2: Is full.
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  Speaker 1: Of stories, powerful, life-changing stories about women. It's interesting to
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  Speaker 1: note in this particular case, this father has sons that
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  Speaker 1: he could not have by himself, and yet the woman
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  Speaker 1: is not mentioned in the text at all. I must
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  Speaker 1: admit that the Bible is written in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: of misogynistic times where women were not always valued. Consequently,
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  Speaker 1: many of the women who premiere in the text are
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  Speaker 1: often not even given names in the text. They are
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  Speaker 1: just referred to as the woman at the well, the
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  Speaker 1: woman with the issue. There is no discussion about what
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  Speaker 1: their names were. Oftentimes men's names were mentioned more readily
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  Speaker 1: than women because in the times of the scriptures, the
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  Speaker 1: birth of a man child was considered to be more
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  Speaker 1: weighty than a woman.
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  Speaker 2: Don't stone me. I'm just teaching. I'm just teaching.
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  Speaker 1: I am not saying that men are more valuable than women.
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying that was the attitude of the times. And
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  Speaker 1: so we must put the text in context to understand
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  Speaker 1: the complexity of the text itself. The interesting thing also
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  Speaker 1: to note is that one of the things that I
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  Speaker 1: love about scripture, this particular verse starts out saying a
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  Speaker 1: certain man had two sons. That is not accidental. We
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  Speaker 1: will see that all throughout the scriptures. A certain man
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  Speaker 1: had two sons. A certain man like Adam had two sons,
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  Speaker 1: Cain and Abel. And when Abel was slaughtered, Seth was born.
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  Speaker 1: And still a certain man had two sons. There's Pharez
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  Speaker 1: and Zerah. There's Hophni and Phinehas. A certain man had
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  Speaker 1: two sons. There's Jacob and Esau. a certain man had
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  Speaker 1: two sons.
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  Speaker 2: There's God who has the.
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  Speaker 1: First man, Adam, and the last man, Adam, a certain
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  Speaker 1: man had two sons. What I love about the word
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  Speaker 1: of God, it does not show us just the grandiose
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  Speaker 1: ideologies of successful families that have no turbulence, but from
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  Speaker 1: the very first family, he warns us that families will
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  Speaker 1: be complicated, conflicted, dysfunctional. If the first family was dysfunctional,
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  Speaker 1: The apple couldn't fall too far from the tree. As
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  Speaker 1: soon as God put the man in the garden and
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  Speaker 1: pulled out of him the woman and they started the
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  Speaker 1: first family, murder hit the first family. Is a clue
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  Speaker 1: that there is going to be turbulence the rest of.
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  Speaker 2: The book with families.
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  Speaker 1: Yes. The law of first mention, the first family that's
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  Speaker 1: mentioned is dysfunctional. And all the way throughout the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the book, we see turbulence. We see rape. We
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  Speaker 1: see molestation. We see drunken fathers. We see ungrateful sons.
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  Speaker 1: We see the impediments of people who dress themselves up
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  Speaker 1: like prostitutes.
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  Speaker 2: And slept with.
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  Speaker 1: Their father-in-law to get pregnant to produce children. If the
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  Speaker 1: Bible were to be cinematic, it would at least be
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  Speaker 1: rated R. At least rated R because God is honest
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  Speaker 1: and vivid about the fact that life is messy.
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  Speaker 2: It's complicated. It's complicated.
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  Speaker 1: That's why you ought not to covet your neighbor. Because
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  Speaker 1: you're standing on the outside and on the outside every
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  Speaker 1: family looks good and stable and solid and sane. And
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  Speaker 1: part of your pain comes from your comparison. Because you
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  Speaker 1: wish that your family were more like them, but if
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  Speaker 1: you went inside the house, you would find out that
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  Speaker 1: they are not everything that you thought that they were.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe you better deal with the devil you know
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  Speaker 1: than the devil you don't. Family is tough. I would
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  Speaker 1: rather build a church any day than build a family.
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  Speaker 1: I would rather build a business any day than build
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  Speaker 1: a family. I would rather lay block than build a family.
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  Speaker 1: Because block don't have an opinion. Block don't talk back.
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  Speaker 1: It stays where you put it.
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  Speaker 2: Come on, somebody.
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  Speaker 1: But raising a family, see, every block got a mouth.
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  Speaker 1: And every mouth has an opinion. And every opinion has
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  Speaker 1: to be expressed. And it is your job to hold
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  Speaker 1: together all of these different opinions and personalities and attitudes
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  Speaker 1: and dispositions and mood swings and midlife crisis and menopause
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  Speaker 1: and adolescence. You got to hold it together for a
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  Speaker 1: long time. Amen. There is no retiring from your family.
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  Speaker 1: There is no resigning from your family. You will always
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  Speaker 1: be attached to them. Don't believe your divorce papers. Just
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  Speaker 1: because you signed a release doesn't mean you're out of jail.
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  Speaker 1: Because the first time trouble rises, the first time they
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  Speaker 1: have a car wreck, the first time they get sick,
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  Speaker 1: the first time they get in trouble, they're going to
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  Speaker 1: call you.
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  Speaker 2: And it's going to affect you.
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  Speaker 1: I know you said you don't care and it don't
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  Speaker 1: bother you, but you're going to have flashbacks because you
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  Speaker 1: got to be careful. a brain and you are having,
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  Speaker 1: where are the real people at? Are y'all sitting in
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  Speaker 1: the section over here?
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  Speaker 2: Flashback. Have you ever had a flashback?
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  Speaker 1: You broke up but you still got a flashback and
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  Speaker 1: you're a little worried but you can't call and you
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  Speaker 1: tell yourself you don't care but you do and you're
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  Speaker 1: walking around in the middle of the night with that
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  Speaker 1: little sick feeling in the bottom of your stomach because
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  Speaker 1: your stomach won't listen at your head and disconnect from
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  Speaker 1: the fact that you are still connected though you are
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  Speaker 1: free on paper. You are still bound by experience and
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  Speaker 1: family's Our messy business. We live in a time now
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  Speaker 1: that everybody wants everything quick. Quick love. Immediate gratification. I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna talk about some stuff you don't know about, because
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  Speaker 1: you grew up on instant grits. But I remember when
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  Speaker 1: grits weren't instant. So what you call good grits, I
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  Speaker 1: just call gritty. Because real grits are slow cooked.
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  Speaker 2: Come on, talk to me, somebody.
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  Speaker 1: Real grits are slow cooked, take a long time to
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  Speaker 1: get the grits right. But that stuff y'all throwing in
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  Speaker 1: the microwave that you call grits is not really grits.
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  Speaker 1: Because if you want something to have real flavor, you
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  Speaker 1: got to slow cook it. You got to put it
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  Speaker 1: on a smoker. You got to give it some time.
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  Speaker 1: You can't cook collard greens in 15 minutes. It takes
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  Speaker 1: time to cook greens. You got to put the meat
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  Speaker 1: in and let it boil down and let it thicken
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  Speaker 1: up and let it get a little flavor in it.
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  Speaker 1: Come on, somebody. You got to cut your greens and
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  Speaker 1: wash your greens and add them in at the right
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  Speaker 1: time and then cover them up and let it cook down.
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  Speaker 1: Let all the juices cook down till you can't tell
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  Speaker 1: the greens from the broth.
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  Speaker 2: And see, we don't have time for that.
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  Speaker 1: We want instant sons and instant fathers and instant marriages. Listen,
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  Speaker 1: it takes 30 minutes to have a wedding. But it
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  Speaker 1: may take 30 years to have a marriage. And most
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  Speaker 1: of us, if we don't get what we need when
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  Speaker 1: we need it, like we need it in the style
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  Speaker 1: that we need it in our love language, we're out
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  Speaker 1: of there. And all of these love languages sound like
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  Speaker 1: the United Nations to me. How am I supposed to
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  Speaker 1: know what your love language is? I'm still trying to
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  Speaker 1: figure out what my love language is. And when your
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  Speaker 1: love language and my love language and then the kids'
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  Speaker 1: love language gets in there, it sounds like the day
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  Speaker 1: of Pentecost. Touch me. No, give me space. Acknowledge me. No,
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  Speaker 1: don't make me stand up in front of people.
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  Speaker 3: Shut up!
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  Speaker 1: The family started before the church. God knew he had
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  Speaker 1: to slow cook it because it was going to take.
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  Speaker 2: A long time to get that right.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't even bring up the church to the New Testament,
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  Speaker 1: but he started the family way back in the book
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  Speaker 1: of Genesis because he said, this is slow grits. We
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  Speaker 1: got to cook it real slow. Because the brothers are
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  Speaker 1: going to get jealous. And brothers do get jealous. They're
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  Speaker 1: going to murder. And they're going to kill. And they're
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  Speaker 1: going to be envious, some vocally, some silently. But it
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  Speaker 1: takes a long time to have a family. And we're
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  Speaker 1: in trouble. Our communities are in trouble. Our nation is
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  Speaker 1: in trouble.
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  Speaker 2: Our world is in trouble.
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  Speaker 1: But all of it is only because our families are
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  Speaker 1: in trouble. How can you have a strong community and
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  Speaker 1: a weak family? You must understand that the community is
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  Speaker 1: made up of families. Yes. It is in your family
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  Speaker 1: that you learn authority, that you learn order, that you
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  Speaker 1: have protocol, that you have used to.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm sorry. I'm old folk. Used to have discipline.
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  Speaker 1: That's where you learn your art, your skill, your talent,
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  Speaker 1: your rules, your regulation. What time to go to bed?
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  Speaker 1: It's 9 o'clock. Go to bed. Go to bed. Clean
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  Speaker 1: your room. Wash your drawers. Clean yourself up in case you.
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  Speaker 2: Have a wreck.
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  Speaker 1: I never did understand what a wreck had to do
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  Speaker 1: with clean drawers.
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  Speaker 2: He dead, but he has.
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  Speaker 1: Mama, I died, but my drawers was clean. They cut
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  Speaker 1: both my legs off, but my drawers was sparkling white.
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  Speaker 2: This is messy.
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  Speaker 1: This is complicated. This is difficult. This is tough. It
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  Speaker 1: is tough because the star of the story is seemingly
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  Speaker 1: the son. The biggest fool in the text has the
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  Speaker 1: lead role. Yes. The most selfish, self-aggrandized, aloof individual in
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  Speaker 1: the whole story has the lead role. The father is
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  Speaker 1: the supporting cast. And that's what it means to be
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  Speaker 1: a father. To be the supporting.
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  Speaker 2: Cast.
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  Speaker 1: It's your job to support. And nobody preaches about the Father.
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  Speaker 1: They always preach about the Son. They sing songs about
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  Speaker 1: the Son. They do sermons and poetry on the Son.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody says anything about the Father. And the Father is
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  Speaker 1: the one who held everything together.
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  Speaker 2: But it hurt.
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  Speaker 3: It hurt.
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  Speaker 1: And just because a man doesn't cry does not mean
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  Speaker 1: that he doesn't hurt. This is how I look when
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  Speaker 1: I'm happy. this is how I look when I'm getting
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  Speaker 1: ready to knock your head off this is how I
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  Speaker 1: look when I'm scared And some of our homes are
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  Speaker 1: busting up because you expect my face to radiate my
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  Speaker 1: emotions like yours does when in reality I can feel
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  Speaker 1: everything you feel and go. When they bring me bad news,
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  Speaker 1: I take it like this. When they bring me good news,
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  Speaker 1: I take it like this. And just because the father
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  Speaker 1: didn't cry didn't mean he didn't hurt. And unfortunately we
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  Speaker 1: live in a society that gives empathy and compassion to
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  Speaker 1: that that is visible.
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  Speaker 2: So the more invisible.
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  Speaker 1: You become with how you feel, the less compassion you receive.
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  Speaker 1: Because they start saying, that's just how he is. You
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  Speaker 1: built for this. You can do it. You can handle it.
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  Speaker 1: Because I took it like this. Inside I wanted to die.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to throw up. And I took it like this.
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  Speaker 1: The father doesn't get the lead role because he's not
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  Speaker 1: given enough drama now. He probably did when he was younger.
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  Speaker 1: But drama dries up with age. Amen.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: It's like a ward.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: It just dries up and shrinks down and calms down.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: The younger son said to his father, give me the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: portion of goods that falleth unto me. Who says anything
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: falls to you? What entitlement that you think just because
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: you're my son that something is supposed to fall to you,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: that I owe you something.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: I had you. I did that. I had you. You here.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: That's your inheritance. You breathe.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: My son said, thank you for it.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: He comes to his father with a spirit of entitlement,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: expecting his father to To give him his inheritance.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Inheritance is what you get when I die. So you
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: mean you're in such a hurry to get what I
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: got that you can't wait on me to die? You
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: want me to get out the way because you would
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: rather have the gift than the giver? You'd rather have
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the seed than the sower? You'd rather have the healing
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: than the healer. That's what you mean every time you
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: pray in the emergency room to a God that you
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: don't serve. You want him to heal you. But you
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: don't want to have a relationship with the healer. Don't
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: act like you don't understand the prodigal son because there's
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: a whole lot of prodigal sons and daughters in this
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: room who only come to God when they get in trouble.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: And as soon as the trouble is over, we don't
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: see you no more because you pray prayers like, Lord,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: if you just get me out of Can I go deeper?
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Give me the portion of goods that falleth unto me.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: And then it says something that is the most telling.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: He divided unto them, both of them, his living.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: His living.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: How much is that? His living, his life. See, whatever
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: he had accumulated, he had spent his life.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: To get it.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: So when he gave it to his sons, it wasn't
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: that he was giving him money. He was giving them
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: his life. He divided unto them his living. I have
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: given you my life. While you pick through it and
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: tell me what's wrong with the gift. How it should
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: have been wrapped and how it should have been handled
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: and what should have been done with it.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: It was my life.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: I could have had it without you. I could have
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: had it without you. I could have went to Paris
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: and I could have went to France, but I sent
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: you to school. I could have went to Venice. I
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: could have been in Italy. I could have been in Rome.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I could have went to Afghanistan. I could have taken
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: trips to Dubai, but I paid your tuition with my life.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: That hat on your head is my life. That ring
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: on your finger is my life. And he divided unto
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: them his living.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: And that's okay.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Because if you're really a father, you should love your
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: seed enough to invest your life.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Stay with me. I'm going somewhere else.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Because if I'm going to give my life to anybody,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: I should give it to my seed. If I were
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: going to die right now and I had to pick
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: out who I was going to give my.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: Life to, I would give it to my seed first.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: The problem is he divided unto them his living, not
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: their living, his living. And the prodigal son took his
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: living and went a whoring.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: He's spending it on sluts and tramps and parties and
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: fake friends. He's spending it in strip clubs and hookah
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: bars and having parties and dropping it like it's hot
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: and making it rain up in here. He made it rain.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: He made it rain. You don't get it. He made
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: it rain with his father's life. I gave you my
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: life and you bought weaves to impress men who gave
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: you nothing. It's Father's Day. It's Father's Day. And I
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: had to sit here and watch you waste my living
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: knowing I would not get another one. Knowing this is
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: my last run. Knowing that I'm running out of time.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Knowing that I won't get a do-over again and I
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: had to watch you blow it and listen that you
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: tell me.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: What I should have done.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Because even though you haven't done it, you seem to
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: know how to do it. If another childless person tells
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: me how to be a father, I'll scream. I know
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: this is going to get me on TikTok for sure,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: but here I go.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: If another woman tells.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Me how to be a father, I will open my
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: mouth and flat out scream. You can no more tell
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: me how to be a father than I can tell
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: you how to birth a baby. I don't know nothing
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: about birthing a baby. I don't know nothing about nursing
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: a child. You have to know what you don't know.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Shut up being the teacher and just be the wife.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: How do you know how to be a father? Not
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: only are you not a father, most of you didn't
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: even have a father and yet you're an expert on how.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: To be a father. But that's all right. I'm not
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: going to bother you because you're not in the text.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: That's all right. I'm sorry.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I got off the text. Let me get back to
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: the text. I'm not going to bother you today and
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: all your ideas and all the stuff you read in
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: essence and woman's today and all the things you heard
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: at the beauty shop about what a man ought to be.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to bother it today because you're an
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: expert on something you.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: Have never done. I'm going to leave you alone.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to try to argue with you because
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: you talk faster than me.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Go ahead. But just because you out.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: Taught me doesn't mean you changed my mind. That's why
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: I look at you like this when you're talking. And
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: there you are. I want you to feel what the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: father felt when the son walked out the door with
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: his life.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: And blew it.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: It's not like he went up there and increased it
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: and invested it and grew from it and multiplied it
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: and did something with it. He took everything I told
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: him and everything I taught him and everything I gave
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: him and everything I put inside of him and gave
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: it to sluts that never appear again in the text.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Riotous living. And to all of that, the father said nothing.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: He said absolutely nothing because.
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: He had to. He had to wait. He had to wait.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: He had to wait.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: When it looked like it wasn't going to pay off.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: I know that's right.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: He had to wait when it looked like he was
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: a failure. He had to wait when it looked like
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: it didn't work. He had to wait when it looked
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: like it didn't matter. He had to wait while they
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: went on without him. He had to sit there and wait.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: He had to wait while he was running out of time.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: He's running out of time. The boy has more time
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: than the father. It is not the oldest son. It
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: is the youngest son. He has the most time and
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: the least sense and the old man with the least
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: time and the most sense.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Has to sit back.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Help, help.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: And just wait.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Waiting is so hard that the Bible said they that
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That means
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: you expend energy just waiting.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: I'm just waiting. I'm just waiting.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: I'm tired from waiting. I'm weak from waiting. I need
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: revival just to wait.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: And so he waited. Because good grits. He waited while
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: he spent his money at payday loans.
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: He waited.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: He waited.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: While he made dumb decisions, he waited. While he got
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: tied up with people that never meant him no good,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: he waited. While the young man valued his friends more
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: than his father, he waited. While his fake friends who
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: were only with him for the money and the opportunity
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: that he got because he had a father who helped
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: him to be who he was, he had to wait.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: While the son picked his friends over his father's He
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: had to wait.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: And he didn't say a.
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: Word.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Brothers, shut up. They can't see it till they see it.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: They can't know it till they know it. They can't
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: be it till they be it. They can't see it
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: just like you couldn't see it when you were their age.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: They can't see it either. And you have to, the
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Bible says, in patience you possess your soul. You possess
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: your mind. You keep yourself from a nervous breakdown. When
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: you develop patience, you have to know that you shall
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: bring forth fruit in your own season. And your leaf
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: shall not wither and whatsoever you do shall prosper. But
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: it's not the boy's season. You got to wait on
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: that girl to grow up. Yes, she's going to act
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: a fool. Yes, she's going to do stupid things. Yes,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: she might come home pregnant. Yes, she might get on drugs. Yes,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: your heart is broken. Yes, you feel like you're a disappointment. Yes,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: you feel like a failure. At your most vulnerable age,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: you feel like, I failed. I put everything I had
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: in you and looked at you, but you got to wait.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know who I'm preaching to, but I feel
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: like I'm preaching to somebody today. See, we have lost
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: our ability to wait. If the marriage don't work out
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: in the first three years, we're out of there. If
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: we're not happy in the first five years, we're out
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: of there. You don't understand how long it takes for
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: two different people from two different worlds and two different
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: family backgrounds to mesh together and figure out how to
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: make this work. Amen. You ain't going to be happy
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: every day. I can't make you happy. I'm trying to
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: make me happy. I don't even know what I want.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: How do you expect me to know what you want?
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know what you want and I can't make
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: you happy.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: And so, so the old man waited.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: This Jewish boy has gotten tied up with some Gentile people.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute. you couldn't stay with me and I
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: loved you.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: And now you have attached yourself to a citizen of
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: that country. And I had to wait while you gave
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: them honor. You couldn't be attached to me. But you
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: attach yourself to the Gentiles who sent you out there
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: to feed what I would never feed you.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: For a Jew to eat swine was a curse.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: And the moment they got his attention, they sent him
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: to the hog pen. not to eat the swine, to
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: feed the swine. And the boy is so low in
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: his vision and his self-esteem that now he's craving stuff
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: that he's never been exposed to at home. And it's
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: not that he was about to have a ham sandwich
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: or some barbecued ribs. He was lusting after corn husk
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: Y'all are city people, you don't know nothing about a
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: hog pen. A hog pen stinks. It's full of slop
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: and feces and mud. And this son at his lowest estate,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: you can tell he's at his lowest estate because when
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: you get down to your lowest, stuff that never looked
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: good to you starts looking good to you. Stuff that
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: you weren't attracted to, you start being attracted to. Things
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: you said you'd never do, now you start doing them.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: And now he would fain have filled his belly with
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: that which the swine did eat.
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: Because he was hungry. I'm not blaming him. He was hungry.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: But while he was hungry, there was food at his
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: father's house. Amen.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: If a man gets hungry enough, you'll eat anything. You'll
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: do anything.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: I understand that. I know what it is to be desperate.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: I want to talk to some desperate young men in
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: this place right now. When you get desperate, stop telling
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: people what you won't do. Stop telling people where you
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: won't go. Stop telling people what you won't smoke. Stop
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: telling people what you won't drink. Stop telling people who
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: you won't sleep with. That's because you're not hungry. If
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: you get hungry enough... Oh, you got to sit there
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: and act like you don't know what I'm talking about.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: You got to sit there with your church face on
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: and act like you haven't done anything that you thought
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: you would never do. You got to sit there and
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: look at me on this Father's Day and act like
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: you ain't got no mess, no secrets, no stuff you
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: don't want nobody to know about, like you have never
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: been to the hog pen. You such a phony. That's
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: why I'm full with church folk. I want to talk
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: to some real people. who have done some nasty stuff,
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: some stinking stuff, some wretched stuff, some stuff you had
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: to blindfold yourself to do.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: I want to talk to some people.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: That looked at corn husks and thought it was sexy.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: And all the while.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: This boy has broken his own values and his own
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: rules and his own integrity and everything I put in
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: him and everything I put on him.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: And now he's down in the hog pen.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Where my parenting is tested. My parenting is not tested
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: when you're in my house. My parenting is tested when
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: you leave. My parenting is not tested at 9 o'clock
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: in the evening. My parenting is tested at 3 o'clock
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: in the morning. My parenting is not tested when I'm driving.
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: You to the prom.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: My parenting is tested when you got your own car
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: and you're over somebody else's house you shouldn't be over.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: My parenting is tested when.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: You fell in love with that married man. My parenting
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: is tested when that boy got ready to kill you
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: over a girl who was just using you for your money.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be a father to understand this
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: pain because there's a whole lot of women in this
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: room who have been raising children and you know what
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: it is to walk the floor at three o'clock in
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: the morning and you can't fix it and you can't
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: stop it and they won't talk to you and they
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: won't take your calls and they won't listen to you
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: and all you can do is wait. You tried fussing
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: and it didn't work. You tried cussing and it didn't work.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: You tried praying and it didn't work. You spoke in
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: tongues and it got worse. They went to jail. They
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: got in trouble. And even on this day, some of
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: you are hurting because the people you love are locked up.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: And he would fain have filled his belly with that
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: which the swine did eat. And all while he was
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: about to eat slop. Have you ever waited on somebody
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: you love? Have you ever waited on them to call you?
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Have you ever picked up your phone and kept looking
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: for a text? Have you ever waited on somebody to
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: miss you? He looked out the window. He waited. Not
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: knowing if he would ever see him alive again. not
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: knowing if the ambulance had just passed by, was carrying
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: my son, my child, my wife, my future, whatever it
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: is you're waiting on. I'm wondering if it's going to
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: get back. Is it ever going to get back? Is
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: it ever going to come home? It's not just waiting,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: it's worrying. It's worrying and waiting and worrying and waiting. See,
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: the worry is the torment that the devil leaves with
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: the waiter so that you can't get comfortable in the waiting.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: That's why you have to wait on the Lord and
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: have your strength renewed so you can fight off the worry.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: All the images that come to your mind, all the coulda, woulda, shoulda.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: All the this might happen, that might happen, this might die,
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: that might die, this might happen.
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: And there he is where his.
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: Father can't help him, where his father can't reach him,
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: where his father can't touch him. And he's already spent
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: everything that his father put in him. And now he's
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: down to nothing. And that's when we find out what
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: you're really made of. When you're down to nothing. When
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: all hell has broken loose in your life. And it
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: looks like you'll never get back up again. that's when
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: we find out, are you a man? I don't know
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: you're a man while you got money. I know you're
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: a man when you're broke. I know you're a man
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: when you're backed in a quarter and you're shoved to
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: the wall. And if you don't fight your way out,
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: you won't get out. That's when I find out what
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: you're really made of.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: And I don't know what the father did wrong. Every
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: father does something wrong, something stupid, something crazy. And all
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: while you're waiting, you have nothing to think about. But
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: maybe if I'd have spent more time, maybe if I'd
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: have took him to the movies, maybe if I'd have
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: been at the football game, maybe if I'd have been
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: at the dance, maybe he wouldn't be in the hall
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: of fame. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe it's, I'm talking
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: about guilt. I'm talking about guilt. I'm talking to the men,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: but I'm really talking to everybody because this is genderless.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: These feelings are genderless. They don't have nothing really to
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: do with gender. I'm talking about guilt. Maybe I should
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: have said something. Maybe if I'd have fixed the sandwich
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: before they died. Maybe if I'd have went to the
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: hospital that night. Maybe if I'd have went and got
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: them out of jail. Maybe, maybe, maybe if I'd have
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: drove down to the crack house. Maybe, maybe if I'd
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: have fought a little harder. Maybe if I'd have argued
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: one more time. Maybe if I'd have pleaded. Maybe if
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: I'd have started crying.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: Maybe if I'd have sat down in the floor. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: These are the thoughts of the waiter while you wait.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: Maybe if I'd have been a better wife, he wouldn't
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: have left me. Maybe if I'd have been a better husband,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: she wouldn't have cheated on me. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: it's the thoughts that run through the mind of the
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: people who are waiting. And maybe the waiting isn't worth it.
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'll never see him again. Maybe my son is dead.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: All of this Jesus teaches to tell you what God
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: goes through. See, see, you think I'm talking about Father's Day,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: but I'm not. All of this Jesus is teaching is
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: to illustrate to you what God goes through with you.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: While you spend everything he gave you in riotous living
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: and being irresponsible and going in your own way, what
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: you don't realize is that God is waiting on you.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: He's looking at the watch. He's watching. I gave you
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: a chance. I gave you another chance. I gave you
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: another chance. I gave you another chance. I'm waiting on you.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: I'm waiting on you to come back home. I still
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: love you. I still want you. I'll take you back
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: even though your friends have dropped you, your girlfriends have
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: dropped you, the harlots have dropped you, the money is gone.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: I'll take you broke. I'll take you stinking. I'll take
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: you dirty. I'll take you smelling like feces. I'll take
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: you any kind of way I can get you back.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: I so love you that I'm willing to do whatever
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: I got to do to get you back. This is
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: not just about the love of a father. Everybody doesn't
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: have a father who loves them like that. This is
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: the love of our father, our God, who so loved
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: the world that he gave his only begotten son, his
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: living son, that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: but have everlasting life and you are making him.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: And so the Bible.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Says that there was this moment there was this moment
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: in his life Oh my God.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: Lord have mercy.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: There was this moment in his life, this epiphany, this
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: divine awakening, this illumination, this apocalyptic. unveiling of truth that
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: he came to himself. And he wasn't in church and
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: he wasn't in prayer meeting and he wasn't in Bible class.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be in a special place to
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: come to yourself. Sometimes you can wake up in your
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: own bed. Sometimes you can come to yourself in a nightclub.
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you can come to yourself in the street. Sometimes
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: you can be half drunk and have an epiphany and say,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, I'm better than this. I know better
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: than this. I come from better stuff than this. I'm
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: meant for more than this. Surely my destiny doesn't end here.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: Surely my life doesn't end here. Surely I was made
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: for better than this. Surely, surely, surely. No choir, no
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: praise team, no preachers, no singers, no dancers.
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: He came to himself.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if there's anybody in here that's having
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: a moment.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 3: Where you come.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: To yourself.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: I came to myself. Wait, that's a strange statement. I
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: came to church this morning. I came to the potter's house.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: That's travel. That's distance. That's time. That's motion. That's movement.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: That's logistics. I came to myself. You mean I have
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: to travel to get to me? You mean I have
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: to get on the road and start the car to
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: find who I really am? Yes, it takes a long
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: time to come to yourself, to come to yourself.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: Where you really know who you are.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: He came to himself without moving his body. He's still
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: in the hall pen. They're still snorting. They're still stinking.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: It's still dirty. It's still a mess. But nothing that
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: hell sends against you can stop you from coming to yourself.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: I don't care what you're surrounded by. I don't care
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: who's around you. I don't care what it looks like.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: I don't care what you did and who you did
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: it with. When you get ready to come to yourself,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: you can come to yourself.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: I wish I had a witness.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody in here that ever came to yourself, holler.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: At your boy.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: Watch the order, he came to himself and said to himself,
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: How you talk to yourself determines where you go. He
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: talked himself into trouble. Now he has to talk himself out.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: He says, I will arise and go to my father's house.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: Glory to God. But he knows who he is now.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: This is me, daddy. I'm dirty, but it's me. I'm stinking,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: but it's me. I'm broke, but it's me. I'm messed up,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: but it's me. I'm hurting, but it's me. I'm hungry,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: but it's me. I've been a fool, but it's me.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: I finally figured out who I am. I spent all
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: your money. I messed up all your stuff. I spent
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: your time and your life and your energy, but I
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: came to myself. And listen, watch this young man listen good.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: He is so afraid of being rejected that he is rehearsing.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: I will say to my father, he ain't even there yet,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: isn't he? But he's practicing. This is how I'm going
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: to say it. I'm going to say, I'm no more
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: worthy to be called that son. Make me one of
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: your hired servants. And he's driving down the road trying
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: to get his speech together because.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: He don't even know his father love him.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: He don't even know that his father's been waiting on him.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: He is preparing to convince his father to take him back.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: And his father is sitting at home Sometimes your fear
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: is lying to you. Your fear is telling you that
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: I'm mad about the money. That I'm mad about the
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: time I wasted. That I'm mad about how you spent
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: my stuff. And your fear and your guilt makes you
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: think you got to rehearse. It ain't what you gonna
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: say to me. It's what I'm gonna say to you.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: And he's rehearsing. I will say to my father, I'm
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: no more worthy to be called my son. And I'm
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: not even going to ask him to get my bedroom
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: back or anything like that. And I'm not going to
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: ask him for a robe or a ring or anything
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: like that because I know I messed up and I'm
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: not worthy to be his son. But if he just
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: make me a hired servant, I'm going to tell him,
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to come all the way down.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: I'm going to humble down.
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: And when I talk to him, I'm.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: Just going to say, I'm not expecting you to give
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: me back the privileges that I blew. I'm not expecting
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: you to love me like you loved me before I
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: messed up. I'm not expecting you to take me back
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: the way you took me before, but if I could
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: just work in the house, if I could clean the floor,
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: if I could mop the floor, if I could cut
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: the grass, if I could do something in the yard,
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: just make me one of your hired servants. This is
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: what he's practicing to go back and what he's saying
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: to himself contradicts what the father is waiting on. Y'all
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: don't hear what I'm saying. Because he's saying stuff that
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: the father's not feeling. The father doesn't feel like you're
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: no more worthy to be my son. I disown you.
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: I don't want you. I don't love you. I don't
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: need you. The father wants his son to come home.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: Not a servant.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: He wants his son to come home. He wants his
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: son to come back before he dies. He wants his
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: son to come back while he can see him. So
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: the man you're getting ready to talk to is not.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: The man that's waiting. It's the man you imagine.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: You came to yourself. You know who you are, but
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: you don't know who I am. You don't know how
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: fast I would run. Jesus. Oh, I can't look at
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: you and do this. Let me go somewhere else. You
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: don't know how fast I would run.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: To get you.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: You don't know that I would break my back to
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: get you back. And the Bible says, while he was
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: yet a great ways off, It wasn't after he got
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: in the choir and joined the deacon board and cleaned
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: up his act and stopped smoking, stopped drinking, stopped smelling
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: like dope.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: While he was yet a great ways off. While he
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: was still smelling like a pot factory. While he was still,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: eyes were glazed over. While he was still snorting cocaine.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: While he was yet a great ways off.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: The father saw him.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus is teaching us about God the Father so that
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: we can get some indication about how to be a father.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: The father don't run down there. You mean you spent
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: all my money. You wasted everything. And you've been out
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: there with them tramps and them sluts. And now we're
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: down to nothing. And here you come back here. And
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: you think you're going to move back in your house
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: and come back in here. The devil is alive. You
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: must be out there now. The Bible says that the
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: father was moved with compassion. Men, stop being so hard
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: that you lose compassion.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 2: So what he was wrong? So what he was thinking?
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: So what he was with the swine? He's still your child.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: Some of you act like you love your rules more
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: than you love your son. This old man has no rules.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: This old man, this old man. When you get my age,
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: you don't run over everything. It has to be something
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: really serious for you to run over it.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: I might walk over, I might take a scooter over,
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: but if I come running, you either need to open
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: your arms or duck. What would make an old man run?
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: To see a son that's a great ways off. God said,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: if you're not even close to right, and I see
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: you coming. If I see you trying to be clean,
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: if I see you trying to get yourself together, if
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: I see you trying to stand up, if I see
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: you trying to be.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 2: Responsible, I will run out to meet you.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: You ain't even got to come all the way back.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: I don't need your speech. I just need to see
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: you coming. If I see you coming, I'll run out
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: there to get you.
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 2: Catch seven people and tell them God is on the run.
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 2: God is on the run. He's on the run. He's
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 2: on the run. He's on the run this morning. He's
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: on the run. He's on the run this morning. He's
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: on the run. He's on the run. He's on the run.
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 2: I don't know who he's after this morning, but he's
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: on the run. He's on the run. He's on the run.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 2: God is on the run. God is on the run.
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 2: God is on the run this morning. God is on
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 2: the run. God is on the run.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: He's chasing you. He's longing for you. He's looking for you.
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: He's turning over stuff, trying to find you. God wants
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: you back. I don't care what you did. I don't
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: care who you did it with.
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 2: God is on the run.
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: God is chasing you down. God wants you back. What
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: made the father run is that the boy was worth
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: the wait. Watch this, you still don't get it. The
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: one who's coming back saying, I'm not worth it. I'm
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: not worth it. It's the one that the father thinks
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: he's worth the wait. And he's worth the run. I
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: don't care if you're 70 or 17. This word is
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: for you. I don't care if you're a woman in
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: the balcony or a little boy in the back. I
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: don't care who you've attached yourself to and made a
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: fake family out of them and you're more loyal to
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: them than you are those who put the most in you.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: And I know you made some dumb decisions. And you
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: blew my living. But you're worth it. And I may
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: be the only one in the whole story who still
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: believes you're worth it. You don't get it. You don't
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: even believe it. when I see you coming I think you're.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: Worth it.
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: And in that moment while the son is talking out
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: of his shame you know what the father's talking about
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: bring me the robe kill the fatted calf bring the
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: ring and put it on his finger This my son
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: who was dead is alive again. I'm going to throw
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: a party for a failure and a reject.
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 2: Because I so love you.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: It's not just that I love you. I can't even
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: help it. I can't stop it. I loved you when
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: you took the money. I loved you when you spent
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: the money. I loved you when you didn't come home.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: I loved you when you ignored me and acted like
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: them other people were more valuable than me. I loved
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: you then. I so love you. I'll take you back muddy.
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: I'll take you back with your flies and your gnats
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: all around you. I'll take you back stinky. I'll put
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: my robe over your dirtiest secret. And I will cover
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: you up. Because I sow. You ain't live till you
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: love like that. You ain't live till you love like that.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: If only people you love is nice, neat, cool people
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: who got it together and they fine and they educated
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: and they smell good and they look good, you don't
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: know nothing about love.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 2: Get out of here.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: Love will make you turn somebody over and clean them up.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: And I don't know, I don't know if I have done...
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: well enough at this to accomplish what God wanted me
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: to accomplish. But the Lord said to me that you
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: are worth the wait. And if you would just try
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: to come If you just start to do better. The
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: old man run out.
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 2: To meet you. He miss you.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: He miss you. He miss you. You're looking for love
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: in all them other places. He thinks you're worth it.
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, God.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 2: He thought I was worth saving.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 3: No!
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: He thought I was.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 2: He thought I was.
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: he thought I was worth dying for he thought I
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: was worth shedding his blood to get back and even
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: when I thought I was a bad deal I told
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: him myself I told him I said Lord why would
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: you want me you ain't getting nothing I said this
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: is a bad deal I said I can't do this
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: We started arguing when I was 17. I started preaching
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: when I was 19. And I can't believe I'm 66
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: and still doing it. He thought stuff about me that
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't think about myself.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 2: And I had evidence.
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: Not to think highly of myself. But his evidence was
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: stronger than mine. His evidence was a cross.