"Waving Bedsheets in Glory"
Luke 15:11-24
Not very many times in my short ministry that I’ve struggled with knowing what the will of my Master is for a message to preach from the pulpit. At times I may have desired to preach a different message than what Christ has led me to, but this message today has been a struggle for me. Part of that may have to do with the fact that in order to deliver this message it will be necessary for me to bear my soul to you this morning.
One night in a little Baptist church the Holy Spirit of Almighty God got such a tight grip on my heart that I felt as I would die unless I submitted to the will of God for my life. I had fought God and run from him and turned around to fight again each and every time he backed me into a corner to escape from his calling on my life. I heard a preacher say one time that he absolutely detested it when preachers said they had surrendered to the ministry because it implied that there had been a fight involved. That’s what I did! I finally raised a white flag of surrender, a signal of defeat…
To the one who had overwhelmed me! I had fought and kicked and screamed and bit and run until my soul was at a standstill and something had to give. (Marcel Ledbetter fighting a wampus cat )
If this in some way offends you then get over it because you called a defeated and surrendered man to pastor this church, yet empowered with the Holy Ghost we can do all things, all things, all things, all things, all things through Christ who strengthens us!
Since that moment of total surrender to the Lordship of Christ Jesus, I have seen God supernaturally reshape and reform my values, my perceptions, my desires, my hopes, my dreams, my habits, my purpose and my goals in life. The time has not yet come that God can say he is finished with me but he has been able to take a vile and sinful man to allow him to preach the gospel from HOLY GROUND! He told Joshua that though your sins be as scarlet, I SHALL MAKE THEM WHITE AS SNOW!!
The time has not yet come that we can lay down our banners and cast aside our mission because the labor of love Jesus gave us in the Great Commission has not yet been fulfilled. There are still 2000 people groups in the world representing 1.7 billion people who have not heard the life changing message of my Risen Lord and Savior! It’s not time for us to lay down and rest on our past accomplishments but instead to actively seek ways to be used in his nail scarred hands. We need the young and the old, male and female, the highly educated and the uneducated, white, black, pink or purple: there is a place you must stand in this great battle for the eternal souls of men. Nothing saddens me more than to hear the aged say that they will step aside because their time is finished and they are of no more use any longer to the mission of God. I’m just so tired Preacherman, think I’ll rest a little while and let you youngsters take over. Few steps short of meeting Jesus in glory and walking with the saints and we lay down our crosses short of the finish line. Brother T you are and inspiration to me as a preacher because of your faithfulness to the Master and I may not know how old you are but I know that God still has a purpose for you in this church.
· Sally Jesse Raphael show with the horribly burned and disfigured
There are people within the four walls of this house of God today that are just as scarred and disfigured in their hearts as burn victims. We may not be able to see the scars on your soul or to view you wounds but no matter how deep your pain may be…
Jesus is still able to heal your
Hurts and remove those scars!
Turn in your bibles to Luke 15:11-24 and as you’re turning there I’d like to say that if you’re tired of treating the symptoms and you’re ready for the cure… Jesus is the one you’ve been looking for. Little bit of unfiltered apple cider vinegar to take care of your physical ailments and a little bit of the Blood of Jesus is all you need!
( Prayer )
The story of the prodigal son isn’t a new one but is a message that has been preached for centuries by greater men than me and within this simple story we can all see ourselves. The lost can see themselves like the prodigal son with no one to care for them and love them turning to the Fathers’ House and being gladly welcomed and the Believer can also see themselves. I know that this story is a testimony of my life as I returned to the presence of my Heavenly Father after many years of struggle and strife. I may not know your pain or your hurts but I DO KNOW YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN and his message to you today is return unto me!
A certain man had two sons and one day the younger of those two sons walked into his father’s study after dinner to ask him a favor. The favor was that this son wanted his daddy to give him all of the money he was entitled to only after his father had died and for some unknown reason this father granted his sons request…
· Maybe he had always indulged this child and was unable to say no to his request because he had spoiled him
· Or maybe it was instead because this father knew his son quite well and knew that no matter what he did, his son was going to leave
1. Maybe he detected a note of determination in his son’s voice
2. Maybe it was some glimmer of resolve in his eyes
At any rate and for whatever reason this father granted his son’s request and gave him exactly what he asked for. My heart cries out for this father as he watched his son walk into that living room and stoop down to kiss his mother’s cheek goodbye. When he reached to shake his son’s hand and to wish him well, I know that every fiber of that father’s heart wanted to take his son in his arms and beg him not to go… You know sometimes, we have to step aside and let our children make their mistakes. I believe that deep down in his soul that daddy wanted to stop his son from leaving and making the biggest mistake of his life.
1. How many times has our Heavenly Father looked down from the balcony of that city prepared for his children to see us do the same thing?
2. How selfish have we been to lay aside the one who died in our place and suffered the death we all deserve?
The word prodigal implies some term that we can’t really grasp in the century we now live in so if I may I’d like to give us another word that we can understand. Prodigal would best be described as disappointment.
How many sons of disappointment have we heard little mothers fall on this alter of the Most High God to pray for and ask that they be drawn back into the fold?
How many sons and daughters of disappointment have we known about in our lifetimes as their moma’s and daddies tell us their sad stories and wonder out loud where they may have gone wrong? Are you a son or daughter of disappointment and wonder if the blood shed at Calvary has any power to save a sinner such as you?
THAT’S THE TESTIMONY OF THIS PREACHER TO YOU THIS MORNING THAT GOD IS STILL ABLE TO WASH CLEAN THE MANY SINS YOU MAY HAVE COMMITTED AND FORGET THEM!
How many are here this morning with their scars and their pain waiting for someone to come up to them and tell them they’re not welcome here. Inside your heart you’re weeping right now knowing that you chose to leave the Father’s House and wonder if there is any room at the foot of the cross for you…
God still loves you and still longs for you to come home!
Verse 13 This son went into a far country, far away from his father’s house. We do the same thing because we never fall closer to the foot of the cross, we always fall farther away. Yet we aren’t without acquaintances and fair weather friends when everything’s going good for us and our pockets are full of money…
I used to be popular on weekends!
"and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and NO MAN GAVE UNTO HIM!"
He would have eaten hog slop and asked for seconds but even that wasn’t given to him by the people who deserted him when the money ran out! One thing Christians can be sure of is this, you can choose to be broken or wait to be broken but JESUS ONLY SHINES THROUGH THE CRACKS! The word used for a broken and contrite heart in scripture is a word that implies something being splintered into many pieces by a great force. Many times we have to come to the same moment of brokenness that this prodigal son did…
Ernie Clement
Trudy Day
Amy Rials
When all hope seems lost and our hearts and souls have been scarred and disfigured by the world’s pleasures and the superficial cosmetic coverups then and only then will men become hungry for the presence of God. This son had to come to a time in his life that he recognized there is a hunger in his soul that only Jesus could fill, only Jesus can satisfy the hunger in your soul my friends. Only in my Father’s house is the Great Physician!
This son of disappointment came to himself in verse 17 and woke up to smell the coffee! That’s what you need! Wake up and smell the coffee and quit playing games at the foot of the cross! Christ Jesus is the TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH! And if you’ll only come home to him he won’t give you hogslop for supper under the moonlight but he’ll instead kill the fatted calf and rejoice when you get saved or get right! He won’t make fun of you, embarrass you or tell you I told you so, he’ll just throw his arms around your neck and kiss you on the lips and rain down blessings for you!!!!!!!!!
I’VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER THAN I AM RIGHT NOW IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE BECAUSE HE FILLED THE HUNGER IN MY HEART AND GAVE ME TO EAT OF THE BREAD OF LIFE!
WHEW!! I AM SATISFIED WITH JESUS
VERSE 20 DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I SAW RUNNING BACK TO MY FATHER’S HOUSE?
BEDSHEETS IN GLORY!
INVITATION!
