Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / IT'S WORTH THE WAIT, By Bishop TD JAKES

Transcript

IT'S WORTH THE WAIT, By Bishop TD JAKES · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I invite you to the book of the ages. The
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: best book of wisdom I have ever read. The best
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: entrepreneurial guide I have ever read. the best plan of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: salvation that we have ever discovered in.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: The gospel of St.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Luke. Chapter number 15. I will use a very, very
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: extremely familiar scripture and only excerpt a portion of it
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: because it is so familiar that 90% of the people
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: of the room would almost be able to quote it
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: by heart. And yet, indulge me, if you will, in
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the luxury of extrapolating from this text an additional thought
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: for the benefit of the hearer as we discuss the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: prodigal son. Not every man is a father, but all
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of us are sons. And if we become fathers, we
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: do not forfeit our sonship for fatherhood. That duality of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: roles is of paramount importance because in the oldest man
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in the room, there is still a child. For that matter,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: in the oldest woman in the room, there is still
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: a little girl. And at different moments and times, you
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: are dealing with both of them. And this text is
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: what I'm going to use to talk to all of
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the many different versions of you. I told them yesterday,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I said, there's so many people sitting in your chair. Yeah.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: There's so many versions of you, the happy you, the
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: sad you, the restless you, the stable you, the impulsive you,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the overlooked you, the curious you, the repentant you, the
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: you that is given to mischief and the you that
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: is given to wisdom All of them are wearing your
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: clothes this morning. Midway's the story we start in the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: 15th verse of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of St. John.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: And it reads this wise out of the King James Version.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And he went and joined himself to a citizen of
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: that country, talking about the prodigal son, left his father's
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: house and went and joined a citizen of this far
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: country who were not covenant keeping people. And when you
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: join yourself to a different kind of person, they send
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: you to do things you said you would never do.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: So the prince has been sent into a field to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: feed swine. And it looked good to him. He would
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: fain have filled his belly with the husk that the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: swine did eat. And maybe he's hungry because no man
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: gave unto him. When no man gives unto you, it
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: creates unnatural appetite. You cannot pour out what has not
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: been poured in.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And when he came to himself, I.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Don't know what age that is. They told me it
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: was 18. But it's not. At 66, I am still
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: coming to myself. Divesting myself of all the accoutrements that
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: other people placed on me. And finding out who I
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: am outside of what you want me to be is
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: a process.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: When he came to himself, he said, how many.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare?
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: And I, I, I, I perish with hunger. Anybody hungry?
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I will arise and go to my Father and will
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: say unto him, Father, I have sinned. Nobody talks about
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: sin anymore. Father, I have sinned. Everybody has their own opinion.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: But he said, Father, I have sinned. His admission of
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: his sin is what gives him access back to the Father.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: If you confess your sin, he is faithful and just
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Father, I have sinned.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I have sinned against heaven and before thee. And I,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I am no more worthy to be called thy son.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I don't even deserve to be your son. Boy, you
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: don't hear that much. Make me as one of the
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: hired servants. And he arose and came to his father.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: But when he was yet a great way off, listen
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: to his father. His father saw him.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Do you see your son? I mean, really see him?
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: When he was a great way off, not when he's
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: doing what you want him to do, but when he's
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a great way off, there are a lot of young
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: men who don't feel seen. His father saw him and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: had compassion, not rules, not mouth. Not criticism. There has
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: to come a time that you shut up and have compassion.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: And ran and fell on his neck, yes, and he
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: kissed his son. Because there is nothing wrong with being
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: affectionate with your son. And the son said unto him, Father,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I am no more worthy to be called. I said, see,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: when you don't feel worthy, even when you have an opportunity,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: you don't always activate because of guilt and shame. This
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: cataclysmic moment was something the father waited a long time
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to see happen. Anybody waited a long time to see
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: something happen? The Lord told me to tell you this,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and this is my subject. It's worth the wait. I
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: want you to look at somebody and tell them it's
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: worth the wait. Father God, in the name of Jesus,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: as we approach thy throne, we do it humbly and
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: submissively before you because thou art God and beside you
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: there is no other. Release the kind of anointing that
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: impacts people in definite ways, that changes them eternally, that
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: heals wounds, that loosens the bound that sets the captive free.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I thank you in advance. for what you're going to do.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Have your way, great God, that you are. I trust
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you for things I can't even discuss. Manifest yourself in
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the midst of your people today. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Rest easy. The work's on me. This is a very
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: interesting text. It is one of the few stories, parables,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: as it were, mentioned in the scriptures today. that is
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: void of the presence of any woman at all. There
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: is no female character in this text at all. If
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: this text were taught today, it would be greatly criticized
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: because now people quickly scan your page to see if
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: they are represented properly in the text. You ain't. You
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: are not in the text at all. This is a
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: man's story. It is a story of three different men
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: at three different ages and stages in their life. all
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: coalesced together to develop a truth about a God who
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: is explaining his love through a story about men. Now,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: this is not misogynistic by any stretch of the imagination.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Let us be clear because the Bible is full of
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: women From Eve forward, the Bible is full of women.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: From Eve to Bathsheba to Ruth, the Bible is full
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of women. From Jael to Naomi, the Bible is full
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: of women. To the woman with the issue of blood,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: to the woman at the well, to Mary, the mother
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: of Jesus, The Bible is full of stories, powerful, life-changing
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: stories about women. It's interesting to note in this particular case,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: this father has sons that he could not have by himself,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: and yet the woman is not mentioned in the text
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: at all. I must admit that the Bible is written
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in the midst of of misogynistic times where women were
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: not always valued. Consequently, many of the women who premiere
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: in the texts are often not even given names in
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the texts. They are just referred to as the woman
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: at the well, the woman with the issue. There is
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: no discussion about what their names were. Oftentimes men's names
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: were mentioned more readily than women because in the times
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: of the scriptures, the birth of a man child was
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: considered to be more weighty than a woman. Don't stone me.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I'm just teaching. I am not saying that men are
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: more valuable than women. I am saying that was the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: attitude of the times. And so we must put the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: text in context to understand the complexity of the text itself.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: The interesting thing also to note is that one of
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the things that I love about Scripture, this particular verse
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: starts out saying a certain man had That is not accidental.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: We will see that all throughout the scriptures. A certain
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: man had two sons. A certain man like Adam had
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: two sons, Cain and Abel. And when Abel was slaughtered,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Seth was born and still a certain man had two sons.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: There's Phares and Zerah. There's Hophni and Phinehas. A certain
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: man had two sons. There's Jacob and Esau. A certain
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: man had two sons. There's God who has the first
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: man Adam and the last man Adam, a certain man
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: had two sons. What I love about the word of God,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: it does not show us just the grandiose ideologies of
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: successful families that have no turbulence, but from the very
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: first family, he warns us that families will.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Be complicated, conflicted, dysfunctional.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: If the first family was dysfunctional, The apple couldn't fall
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: too far from the tree. As soon as God put
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the man in the garden and pulled out of him
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the woman and they started the first family, murder hit
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the first family. Is a clue that there is going
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to be turbulence the rest of the book with families.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: The law of first mention, the first family that's mentioned
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: is dysfunctional and all the way throughout the rest of
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the book we see turbulence, we see rape, we see molestation,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: we see drunken fathers, we see ungrateful sons, we see
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the impediments of people who dress themselves up like prostitutes
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and slept with their father-in-law to get pregnant to produce children.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: If the Bible were to be cinematic, it would at
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: least be rated R. At least rated R because God
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: is honest and vivid about the fact that life is messy.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: It's complicated. That's why you ought not to covet your neighbor.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Because you're standing on the outside and on the outside
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: every family looks good and stable and solid and sane
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: and part of your pain comes from your comparison. Because
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: you wish that your family were more like them but
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: if you went inside the house you would find out
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: that they are not everything that you thought that they
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: were And maybe you better deal with the devil you
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: know than the devil you don't. Family is tough. I
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: would rather build a church any day than build a family.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I would rather build a business any day than build
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a family. I would rather lay block than build a family,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: because block don't have an opinion. Block don't talk back.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: It stays where you put it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Come on, somebody.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: But raising a family, see, every block got a mouth.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: And every mouth has an opinion. And every opinion has
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: to be expressed. And it is your job to hold
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: together all of these different opinions and personalities and attitudes
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: and dispositions and mood swings, and midlife crisis, and menopause,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: and adolescence. You got to hold it together for a
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: long time. There is no retiring from your family. There
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: is no resigning from your family. You will always be
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: attached to them. Don't believe your divorce papers. Just because
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: you signed a release doesn't mean you're out of jail.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Because the first time trouble rises, the first time they
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: have a car wreck, the first time they get sick,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: the first time they get in trouble, they're going to
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: call you.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: And it's going to affect you. I know you said
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you don't care and it don't bother you, but you're
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: going to have flashbacks because you got a brain and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you are having, where are the real people at? Are
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: y'all sitting in the section over here?
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Flashback. Have you ever had a flashback?
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: You broke up but you still got a flashback and
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: you're a little worried but you can't call and you
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: tell yourself you don't care but you do and you're
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: walking around in the middle of the night with that
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: little sick feeling in the bottom of your stomach because
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: your stomach won't listen at your head and disconnect from
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the fact that you are still connected though you are
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: free on paper. You are still bound by experience and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: family's Our messy business. We live in a time now
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that everybody wants everything quick. Quick love. Immediate gratification. I'm
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: gonna talk about some stuff you don't know about, cause
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: you grew up on instant grits. But I remember when
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: grits weren't instant. So what you call good grits, I
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: just call gritty. Cause real grits are slow cooked. Come on,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: talk to me somebody. Real grits are slow cooked, take
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: a long time to get the grits right. But that
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: stuff y'all throwing in the microwave that you call grits
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: is not really grits because if you want something to
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: have real flavor, you got to slow cook it. You
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: gotta put it on a smoker. You gotta give it
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: some time. You can't cook collard greens in 15 minutes.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: It takes time to cook greens. You gotta put the
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: meat in and let it boil down and let it
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: thicken up and let it get a little flavor in it.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Come on, somebody, you got to cut your greens and
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: wash your greens and add them in at the right
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: time and then cover them up and let it cook down,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: let all the juices cook down till you can't tell
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the greens.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: From the broth.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: And see, we don't have time for that! We want
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: instant sons and instant fathers and instant marriages. Listen, it
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: takes 30 minutes to have a wedding. But it may
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: take 30 years to have a marriage. And most of us,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: if we don't get what we need, when we need it,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: like we need it, in the style that we need it,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: in our love language, we're out of there. And all
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: of these love languages sound like the United Nations to me.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: How am I supposed to know what your love language is?
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I'm still trying to figure out what my love language is.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: And when your love language and my love language and
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: then the kids' love language gets in there, it sounds
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: like the day of Pentecost. Touch me. No, give me space.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Acknowledge me. No, don't make me stand up in front
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of people. Shut up! The family started before the church.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: God knew he had to slow cook it because it
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: was going to take.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: A long time to get that right.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: He didn't even bring up the church to the New Testament,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: but he started the family way back in the book
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of Genesis because he said this is slow grits. We
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: got to cook it real slow. because the brothers are
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: going to get jealous and brothers do get jealous they're
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: going to murder and they're going to kill and they're
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: going to be envious some vocally some silently but it
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: takes a long time to have a family and we're
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: in trouble our communities are in trouble Our nation is
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: in trouble and our world is in trouble, but all
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: of it is only because our families are in trouble.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: How can you have a strong community and a weak family?
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: You must understand that the community is made up of families.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: It is in your family that you learn authority, that
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: you learn order, that you have protocol, that you have
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: used to. Anyway, I'm sorry.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: I'm old folk.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Used to have discipline. That's where you learn your art,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: your skill, your talent, your rules, your regulation. What time
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: to go to bed? It's 9 o'clock. Go to bed.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Go to bed. Clean your room. Wash your drawers. Clean
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: yourself up in case you have a wreck. I never
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: did understand what a wreck had to do with clean drawers.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: He dead, but he has. Mama, I died, but my
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: drawers was clean. They cut both my legs off, but
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: my drawers was sparkling white. This is messy. This is complicated.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: This is difficult. This is tough. It is tough because
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the star of the story is seemingly the son. The
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: biggest fool in the text has the lead role. Yes.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: The most selfish, self-aggrandized, aloof individual in the whole story
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: has the lead role. The father is the supporting cast.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: And that's what it means to be a father. To
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: be the supporting cast. It's your job to support. And
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: nobody preaches about the Father. They always preach about the Son.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: They sing songs about the Son. They do sermons and
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: poetry on the Son. Nobody says anything about the Father.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: And the Father is the one who held everything together.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: But it hurt. It hurt. And just because a man
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: doesn't cry does not mean that he doesn't hurt. This
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: is how I look when I'm happy. This is how
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I look when I'm getting ready to knock your head off.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: This is how I look when I'm scared. And some
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of our homes are busting up because you expect my
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: face to radiate my emotions like yours does when in
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: reality I can feel everything you feel and go. When
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: they bring me bad news, I take it like this.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: When they bring me good news, I take it like this.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And just because the father didn't cry didn't mean he
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: didn't hurt. And unfortunately we live in a society that
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: gives empathy and compassion to that that is visible. So
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: the more invisible you become with how you feel, the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: less compassion you receive. Because they start saying, that's just
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: how he is. You built for this. You can do it.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: You can handle it. Because I took it like this.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Inside I wanted to die. I wanted to throw up.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: And I took it like this. The father doesn't get
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: the lead role because he's not given enough drama now.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: He probably did when he was younger. But drama dries
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: up with age. It's like a ward, it just dries
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: up and shrinks down and calms down. The younger son
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: said to his father, give me the portion of goods
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: that falleth unto me. Who says anything falls to you?
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: What entitlement that you think just because you're my son
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: that something is supposed to fall to you, that.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: I owe you something. I had you.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: I did that. I had you.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: You here.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: That's your inheritance. You breathe. My son said, thank you
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: for it. He comes to his father with a spirit
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: of entitlement, 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. His living.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: How much is that? His living, his life.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: See, whatever he had accumulated, he had spent his life
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: to get it. So when he gave it to his sons,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: it wasn't that he was giving him money. He was
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: giving them his life. He divided unto them his living.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: I have given you my life. While you pick through
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: it and tell me what's wrong with the gift. How
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: it should have been wrapped and how it should have
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: been handled and what should have been done with it.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: It was my life. I could have had it without you.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: I could have had it without you. I could have
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: went to Paris and I could have went to France,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: but I sent you to school. I could have went
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: to Venice. I could have been in Italy. I could
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: have been in Rome. I could have went to Afghanistan.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I could have taken trips to Dubai, but I paid
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: your tuition with my life. That hat on your head
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: is my life. that ring on your finger is my life.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: And he divided unto them his living. 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. Stay with me, I'm
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: going somewhere. Because if I'm going to give my life
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: to anybody, I should give it to my seed. If
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: I were going to die right now and I had
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: to pick out who I was going to give my
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: life to, I would give it to my seed first.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: The problem is he divided unto them his living, not
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: their living, his living. And the prodigal son took his
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: living and went a whoring. He's spending it on sluts
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: and tramps and parties and fake friends. He's spending it
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: in strip clubs and hookah bars and having parties and
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: dropping it like it's hot and making it rain up
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: in here. He made it rain. He made it rain.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: You don't get it. He made it rain with his
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: father's life. I gave you my life and you bought
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: weaves to impress men who gave you nothing. It's Father's Day.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: It's Father's Day. And I had to sit here and
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: watch you waste my living knowing I would not get
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: another one. Knowing this is my last run. Knowing that
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: I'm running out of time. Knowing that I won't get
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: a do-over again and I had to watch you blow
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: it and listen that you tell me what I should
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: have done. Because even though you haven't done it, you
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: seem to know how to do it. If another childless
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: person tells me how to be a father, I'll scream.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: I know this is gonna get me on TikTok for sure,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: but here I go. If another woman tells me how
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: to be a father, I will open my mouth and
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: flat out scream. You can no more tell me how
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: to be a father than I can tell you how
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: to birth a baby. I don't know nothing about birthing
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: a baby. I don't know nothing about nursing a child.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: You have to know what you don't know. Shut up
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: being the teacher and just be the wife. How do
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: you know how to be a father? Not only are
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: you not a father, most of you didn't even have
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: a father and yet you're an expert on how to
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: be But that's all right, I'm not gonna bother you
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: because you're not in the text, 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 gonna bother you today and all
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: your ideas and all the stuff you read in Essence
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: and Woman's Today and all the things you heard at
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: the beauty shop about what a man ought to be.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to bother you today because you're an
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: expert on something you have never done. I'm going to
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: leave you alone. I'm not going to try to argue
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: with you because you talk faster than me. Go ahead.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: But just because you out-talked me doesn't mean you changed
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: my mind. That's why I look at you like this
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: when you're talking. And there you are. I want you
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: to feel what the father felt when the son walked
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: out the door with his life.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: And blew it.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: It's not like he went out 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
• 40:44
  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 he had to. He had
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: to wait. He had to wait. when it looked like
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: it wasn't gonna pay off. He had to wait when
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: it looked like he was a failure. He had to
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: wait when it looked like it didn't work. He had
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: to wait when it looked like it didn't matter. He
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: had to wait while they went on without him. He
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: had to sit there and wait. He had to wait
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: while he was running out of time. He's running out
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: of time. The boy has more time than the father.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: It is not the oldest son. It is the youngest son.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: He has the most time and the least sense and
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: the old man with the least time and the most
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: sense has to sit back. Help, help. 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. 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. And so he waited. Because good grits.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: He waited while he spent his money at payday loans,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: he waited While he made dumb decisions he waited. While
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: he got tied up with people that never meant him
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: no good he waited. While the young man valued his
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: friends more than his father he waited. while his fake
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: friends who were only with him for the money and
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: the opportunity that he got because he had a father
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: who helped him to be who he was, he had
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: to wait while the son picked his friends over his father,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: he had to wait. And he didn't say a word. Brothers,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: 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
• 44:36
  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 look 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.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: If the marriage don't.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: Work out in the first three years, we're out of there.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: If we're not happy in the first five years, we're
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: out of there. You don't understand how long it takes
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: for two different people from two different worlds and two
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: different family backgrounds to mesh together and figure out how
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: to make this work. 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. And so, so the old man waited. This
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: Jewish boy has gotten tied up with some Gentile people.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: You couldn't stay with me and I loved you. And
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: now you have attached yourself to a citizen of that country.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: And I had to wait while you gave them honor.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: You couldn't be attached to me. But you attach yourself
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: to the Gentiles who sent you out there to feed
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: what I would never feed you. For a Jew to
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: eat swine was a curse. And the moment they got
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: his attention, they sent him to the hog pen. Amen.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: not to eat the swine, to feed the swine.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: And the boy is so low.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: In his vision and his self-esteem that now he's craving
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: stuff that he's never been exposed to at home. And
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: it's not that he was about to have a ham
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: sandwich or some barbecued ribs. He was lusting after corn
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: husk Y'all are city people, you don't know nothing about
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: a hog pen. A hog pen stinks. It's full of
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: slop and feces and mud. And this son at his
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: lowest estate, you can tell he's at his lowest estate
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: because when you get down to your lowest, stuff that
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: never looked good to you starts looking good to you.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: Stuff that you weren't attracted to, you start being attracted to.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Things 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. Because he was hungry.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: I'm not blaming him, he was hungry. But while he
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: was hungry, there was food at his father's house. Amen.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: If a man gets.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: Hungry enough, you'll eat anything.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: You'll do anything. I understand that. I know what it
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: is to be desperate. I want to talk to some
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: desperate young men in this place right now. When you
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: get desperate, stop telling people what you won't do. Stop
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: telling people where you won't go. Stop telling people what
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: you won't smoke. Stop telling people what you won't drink.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Stop telling people who you won't sleep with. That's because
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: you're not hungry. If you get hungry enough... Oh, you
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: got to sit there and act like you don't know
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. You got to sit there with
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: your church face on and act like you haven't done
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: anything that you thought you would never do. You got
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: to sit there and look at me on this Father's
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Day and act like you ain't got no mess, no secrets.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: No stuff you don't want nobody to know about like
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: you have never been to the hog pen. You such
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: a phony. That's why I'm full with church folk. I
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: want to talk to some real people who have done
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: some nasty stuff, some stinking stuff, some wretched stuff, some
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: stuff you had to blindfold yourself to do. I want
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: to talk to some people that looked at corn husks
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: and thought it was sexy. And all the while this
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: boy has broken his own values and his.
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: Own rules and his own.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Integrity and everything I put in him and everything I
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: put on him. And now he's down in the hog
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: pen where my parenting is tested. My parenting is not
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: tested when you're in my house. My parenting is tested
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: when you leave. My parenting is not tested at 9
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: o'clock in the evening. My parenting is tested at 3
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. My parenting is not tested when
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: I'm driving you to the prom. My parenting is tested
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: when you got your own car and you're over somebody
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: 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 pain.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Because there's a whole lot of women in this room
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: who have been raising children and you know what it
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: is to walk the floor at three o'clock in the
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: morning and you can't fix it and you can't stop
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: it and they won't talk to you and they won't
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: take your calls and they won't listen to you and
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: all you can do is wait. You tried fussing and
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: 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
• 53:59
  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. And there he is
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: where his father can't help him. where his father can't
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: reach him, where his father can't touch him, and he's
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: already spent everything that his father put in him, and
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: now he's down to nothing. And that's when we find
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: out what you're really made of, when you're down to nothing,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: when all hell has broken loose in your life, and
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: it looks like you'll never get back up again. That's
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: when we find out, are you a man? I don't
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: know you're a man while you got money. I know
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: you're a man when you're broke. I know you're a
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: man when you're backed in a quarter and you're shoved
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: to 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. And I don't know what the
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: father did wrong. Every father does something wrong, something stupid,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: something crazy. And all while you're waiting, you have nothing
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: to think about. But maybe if I'd have spent more time,
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: maybe if I'd have took him to the movies, maybe
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: if I'd have been at the football game, maybe if
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: I'd have been at the dance, maybe he wouldn't be
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: in the hall of fame. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe it's,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about guilt. I'm talking about guilt. I'm talking
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: to the men, but I'm really talking to everybody because
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: this is genderless. These feelings are genderless. They don't have
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: nothing really to do with gender. I'm talking about guilt.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe I should have said something. Maybe if I'd have
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: fixed the sandwich before they died. Maybe if I'd have
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: went to the hospital that night. Maybe if I'd have
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: went and got them out of jail. Maybe. Maybe, maybe
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: if I'd have drove down to the crack house. Maybe,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: maybe if I'd have fought a little harder. Maybe if
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: I'd have argued one more time. Maybe if I'd have pleaded.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Maybe if I'd have started crying. Maybe if I'd have
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: sat down in the floor. Maybe, maybe, maybe. These are
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: the thoughts of the waiter while you wait. Maybe if
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I'd have been a better wife, he wouldn't have left me.
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe if I'd have been a better husband, she wouldn't
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: have cheated on me. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe it's the
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: thoughts that run through the mind of the people We're waiting.
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: And maybe the waiting isn't worth it. Maybe I'll never
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: see him again. Maybe my son is dead. All of
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: this Jesus teaches to tell you what God goes through. See,
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: you think I'm talking about Father's Day, but I'm not.
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: All of this Jesus is teaching is to illustrate to
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: you what God goes through with you. while you spend
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: everything he gave you in riotous living and being irresponsible
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: and going in your own way, what you don't realize
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: is that God is waiting on you. He's looking at
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: the watch. He's watching. I gave you a chance. I
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: gave you another chance. I gave you another chance. I
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: gave you another chance. I'm waiting on you. I'm waiting
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: on you to come back home. I still love you.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: I still want you. I'll take you back even though
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: your friends have dropped you, your girlfriends have dropped you,
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: the harlots have dropped you, the money is gone. I'll
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: take you broke. I'll take you stinking. I'll take you dirty.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: I'll take you smelling like feces. I'll take you any
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: kind of way I can get you back. I so
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: love you that I'm willing to do whatever I got
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: to do to get you back. This is not just
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: about the love of a father. Everybody doesn't have a
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: father who loves them like that. This is the love
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: of our father, our God, who so loved the world
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: that he gave his only begotten son, his living son,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: everlasting life and you are making him. And so the
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: Bible says that there was this moment, there was this
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: moment in his life Oh my God. 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 adhere.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: Surely my life doesn't adhere. Surely I was made for
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: better than this. Surely, surely, surely. No choir, no praise team,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: no preachers, no singers, no dancers. 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 2: Where you come.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: To yourself.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: I came to myself. Wait, that's a strange statement.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: I came to church this morning. I came to.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: 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 where
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: you really know who you are. He came to himself
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: without moving his body. He's still in the hall pen.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: They're still snorting. They're still stinking. It's still dirty. It's
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: still a mess. But nothing that hell sends against you
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: can stop you from coming to yourself. I don't care
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: what you're surrounded by. I don't care who's around you.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: I don't care what it looks like. I don't care
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: what you did and who you did it with. When
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: you get ready to come to yourself, you can come
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: to yourself. I wish I had a witness. Is there
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: anybody in here that ever came to yourself, holler at
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: your boy. Watch the order, he came to himself and
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: said to himself, How you talk to yourself determines where
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: you go. He talked himself into trouble. Now he has
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: to talk himself out. He says, I will arise and
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: go to my father's house. Glory to God. But he
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: knows who he is now. This is me, daddy. I'm dirty,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: but it's me. I'm stinking, but it's me. I'm broke,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: but it's me. I'm messed up, but it's me. I'm hurting,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: but it's me. I'm hungry, but it's me. I've been
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: a fool, but it's me. I finally figured out who
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: I am. I spent all your money. I messed up
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: all your stuff. I spent your time and your life
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: and your energy, but I came to myself. And listen,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: watch this, young men, listen good. He is so afraid
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: of being rejected that he is rehearsing. I will say
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: to my father.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: He ain't even there yet, isn't he?
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: But he's practicing. This is how I'm going to say it.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say, I'm no more worthy to be
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: called thy son. Make me one of your hired servants.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: And he's driving down the road trying to get his
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: speech together because... He don't even know his father love him.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: He don't even know that his father 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
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: is lying to you. Your fear is telling you that
• 1:04:10
  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.
• 1:04:34
  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 our 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
• 1:04:43
  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 2: I'm going to humble down.
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: And when I talk to him, I'm just going to say,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not expecting you to give me back the privileges
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: that I blew. I'm not expecting you to love me
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: like you loved me before I messed up. I'm not
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: expecting you to take me back the way you took
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: me before, but if I could just work in the house,
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: if I could clean the floor, if I could mop
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: the floor, if I could cut the grass, if I
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: could do something in the yard, just make me one
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: of your hired servants. This is what he's practicing to
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: go back, and what he's saying to himself contradicts what
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: the Father is waiting on. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: Because he's saying stuff that the father's not feeling. The
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: father doesn't feel like you're no more worthy to be
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: my son. I disown you. I don't want you. I
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: don't love you. I don't need you. The father wants
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: his son to come home. Not a servant. He wants
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: his son to come home. He wants his son to
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: come back before he dies. He wants his son to
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: come back while he can see him. So the man
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: you're getting ready to talk to is not the man
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: that's waiting. It's the man you imagine.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: You came to yourself.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: You know who you are, but you don't know.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: Who I am. You don't know how fast I would run.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: Jesus. Oh, I can't look at you and do this.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: Let me go somewhere else. You don't know how fast
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: 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. No, no. While he was yet a great
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: ways off. While he was still smelling like a pot factory.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: While he was still, eyes were glazed over. While he
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: was still snorting cocaine. While he was yet a great
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: ways off. The father saw him. Jesus is teaching us
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: about God the Father so that we can get some
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: indication about how to be a father. The father don't
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: run down there and talk, you mean you spent all
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: my money, you wasted everything and you've been out there
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: with them tramps and them sluts and now we're down
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: to nothing and here you come back here and you
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: think you're going to move back in your house and
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: come back in here. The devil is alive. You must
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: be out there now. The Bible says that the father
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: was moved with compassion. Men, stop being so hard that
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: you lose compassion. So what he was wrong? So what
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: he was thinking? So what he was with the swine?
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: He's still your child. Amen. Some of you act like
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: you love your rules more than you love your son.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: This old man has no rules. This old man, this
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: old man. When you get my age, you don't run
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: over everything. It has to be something really serious for you.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: A scoot over, but if I come running, you either
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: need to open your arms or duck.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 2: Run over it.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: What would make an old man run? a scoot over
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: but if I come running if you see us you
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: either need to open your arms or duck son that's
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: the great ways off what would make an old man.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 2: God said if run.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: If you If you see us not even close to right, son, that's,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: and I see you coming to great ways off. God
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: said if, if you not even close to right, Not
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: even close to right. And I see you coming.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: If I.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: See you.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: Trying to be clean.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: If I see you trying to get yourself together, if
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: I see you trying to stand up, if you, trying
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: to be clean. If I see you trying to be responsible,
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: I will. If I see you trying to get yourself together,
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: run out to meet you.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: You ain't even got to.
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: If I see you trying to stand up, come all
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: the way back. I don't need your. If I see
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: you trying to be responsible, I will. No speech. I
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: just need to see you. Run out to meet you.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: You ain't even got to. You coming. If I see
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: you coming, come all the way back. I don't need you.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: I'll run out there to get you. No speech. I
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: just need to see you. You coming. If I see
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: you coming, touch seven people and tell them, God, I'll
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: run out there to get you. It's on the run.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: God is on the run. He's on the run. He's
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: on the run. He's on the run this morning. Catch
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: seven people and tell them God is on the run.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: He's on the run this morning. He's on the run.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: He's on the run. God is on the run. He's
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: on the run. He's on the run. I don't know
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: who he's after this morning, but he's on the run.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: He's on the run. He's on the run. God is
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: on the run. God is on the run. He's on
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: the run. God is on the run this morning. God
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: is on the run. God is on the run. But
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: he's on the run. He's on the run.
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 2: He's on the run.
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: He's on the run. He's chasing you. He's longing for you.
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: God is on the run. God is on the run.
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: He's looking for you. He's turning over stuff. God is
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: on the run this morning. God is on the run.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: God is on the run. He's chasing you. He's longing
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: for you. God, he's looking for you. He's turning over stuff,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: trying to find you. God wants you back. God is
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: on the run. God is chasing. I don't care what
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: you did. I don't care who you did it with.
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: When you're down, God wants you back. God is on
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: the run. God is chasing. When you're down, God wants
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: you back. What made the father run is that the
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: boy was worth the wait. What made the father run
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: is that the boy was worth the wait. Watch this,
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: you still don't get it. The one who's coming back saying,
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: watch this, you still don't get it. I'm not worth it.
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: I'm not worth it. I'm not worth it. I'm not
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: worth it. It's the one that the father thinks he's
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: worth the wait. Worth the wait. And he's worth the run.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: And he's worth the run. I don't care if you're
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: 70 or 17. I don't care if you're 70 or 17.
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: This word is for you. This word is for you.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: I don't care if you're a woman in the, I
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: don't care if you're a woman in the balcony, or
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: a little boy boy in the back in the, I
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: don't care who you, I don't care what tattoo you've
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: done to, to, and made up, and fake fat made up,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: out of them. And you're more loyal to them than
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: you are those who put the most in you. And
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: I know you made some dumb decisions. And you blew.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: And you blew a living valley. But you're worth it.
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: But you're worth it. And I may be the only
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: one in the whole story who still believes in Who
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: still believes. You're worth it. You don't get it. You
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: don't even believe. But when I see you come and
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: see you come. I think you're worth it. And in
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: that moment, while the son is talking, he's talking out
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: of his shame. You know what the father's talking about?
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: Father's talking about bring me the robe. Kill the fatted calf.
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: Bring the ring and put it on his finger. This
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: is my son. This is who was dead. It was
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: alive again. I'm, I'm, I'm gonna party for, for, for your, your,
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: and a, and a reject, a reject. Your, your, and a,
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: and a reject, a reject. Because, because. I so love you.
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: I so love you. It's not just that I love you.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: It's not just that I love you.
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 2: Can you help it? Can you?
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: Can you? Can you? I loved you when you took
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: the I love money. I loved you when you spent
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: the money. I loved you when you didn't come home.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: I love you when you ignore me and acted like
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: people were more valuable than me. People were more valuable
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: than me. I so, so love you. Love you. I so,
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: so love you. Love you. I'll take you back muddily.
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: I'll take you back muddily. I'll take you back with
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: your eyes and your nose. That's all around you. I'll
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: take you back. I'll take you.
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 2: I'll put my robe on.
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: Over your dirtiest secret, and I will cover your dirtiest secret,
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: and I will cover you up. Because I sew you up.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: Because I sew you up. You have lived, you have
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: taken your love like that. Your love. like that. You
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: ain't live till you love like that and love like
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: that and for all the people people you ain't live
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: till you love like that and love like that and
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: for all the people people you love it's not it's
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: not cool people people who got who got it together
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: and they fine and fine people people who got who
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: got it together And they fine, and they fine, and
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: they educated, and they smell good, and they look good,
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: and they look good.
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 2: You don't know nothing about love.
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: Get out of here.
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 2: You don't know nothing about love.
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: Get out of here. Love will make you turn somebody
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: over and clean them up. And I don't, and I
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: don't know, know. And I don't, and I don't know, know.
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know if I know. I
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: have boy, done, I have well enough enough of this, this.
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: to accomplish what God wanted God me to accomplish. But
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: the Lord said to me, that you are worth the wait.
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: That you are worth the wait. And if you would
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: just try to come. If, if, if, if, if you,
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: if you just, just, if, if, if you, if you just,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: just start to do better, do better. The old, the
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: old man, run out, run out of me, out of me.
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you dear. Thank you dear.
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 2: He missed you.
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: You're looking for love and all love and all places.
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: He thinks you're worth it. Oh, God.
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 2: He thought I was the world's worst savior. He thought
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 2: I was... He thought I was.
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: He.
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 2: Thought I was.
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: He thought worth dying for. Worth dying for. He thought
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: I was worth shedding his blood, blood to get, to
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: get my act back. And even though I thought I was,
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: I was a bad deal, I was a bad, I
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: told the other man I I told him, I said,
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: I said, Lord, Lord, why would you want, why would
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: you want? You ain't getting, you ain't getting. I said,
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: I said, this is a bad, this is a bad,
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: bad deal. I said, I said, I can't do.
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 2: I said, I said, I can't do this, do this.
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: We started arguing when I was 17 I started preaching
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: when I was 19 I can't believe I'm 66 and
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: still doing it I can't believe I'm He thought stuff
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: about me that I didn't think about myself. And I
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: had evidence not to think about myself. But his evidence
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: for this was stronger than mine. His evidence for this was,
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: of course, false. His evidence for this was, of course, false.
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you.