Churches in Princeton

“And I'll prove it to you. The writer of this gospel, John. Do you know that John gives himself a nickname? John gives himself a nickname, which is weird because nobody gives yourself a nickname. That's weird when people give yourself it. I mean, like, know a lot of guys that have nicknames. You're like, how'd you get that nickname? And I swear a few of them, they're like, if you gave yourself that nickname. Right? That's socially awkward. But John gives himself a nickname. You know what his nickname is? The disciple whom Jesus loves. Can you imagine introducing like, hi. My name is John. I am the disciple whom Jesus I mean, like, me coming to you going, hi. I'm Steve. I'm the most loved pastor in Gibson County Of Jesus.”

“Short time later, man, they're in the barn and they're kicking it. Electric slide taking place, all that good stuff. Chicken I don't know, not chicken dance. Let me ask you a question. How long was it between the time when the boy walked up to the driveway smelling of shame and dirt and stink till he was on unclean on the dance floor? And what did he do to deserve it? Listen. That's not how you and I would do it. We'd be like, boy, we're gonna party. You're gonna sit over in the corner till you figure out what you did wrong until you come to grips with how bad you were. And you sit over there and we'll think about giving you something. We might give you a hamburger, not the t bone, the hamburger. That's what we do. We tell him to sit over there and watch us celebrate. Not the father.”

“So the dad came out and the the brother's ticked. And in fact, actually, if you read the story from our perspective, he's the only logical person in the entire story. He's like, dad, my brother is a screw up. He wasted all your money. He did all the wrong things. I stayed around. I've been working the farm. I've been doing all the things. You didn't bother to give me any steak for me and my friends. How can you celebrate this screw up? In this one line, the father says, we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead. Now he's alive. He was lost. Now he's found.”

“That's the ridiculousness, the ridiculous love that God has for us. We are the screw up who walk up the driveway smelling of dirt and stink and shame. And he is the father who said who wants to doesn't wanna hear our pathetic excuses, who just says, get you cleaned up. Let's get you cleaned up. Let's get you in better clothes. Let's get you on the dance floor. Let's get you let's get you a steak dinner. Let's get you fed. Let's get you back to a position where you're looking healthy again. The I don't wanna hear your nonsense.”