The Power of Repentance Part 3 Divine Forgiveness 03-01-26

It's when we seek to reach and accept instead of to compartmentalize and separate. This divine forgiveness comes from realizing that God did that for us. And if he did it for us, the least we could do is have this divine forgiveness and joy for somebody else. So follow the manual, Pay attention. Don't drift. But if you do and somebody else does, don't judge them because we all have gone the wrong way, made the wrong choice, drifted a bit. But when we come back, God is waiting for us. And we ought to do the same to our brothers and sisters, not God's children, but our brothers and sisters who have done the same. Amen. [00:24:51] (60 seconds)  #ForgiveAndReach

And so therefore, if we are to be mature Christians, we should have the same attitude that God has, which is that if we bring people into the church who are rough, people who have just come out of the world, but wanna come to God, we ought to give more attention to them than almost anybody else. We ought to be more joyful about those coming out of the world and into the word than those who are already there. Of course, the attention should be on those who are here. We should continue to edify the saints, but the focus ought to be on saving the lost. [00:23:24] (45 seconds)  #PrioritizeTheLost

The father says, son, you've always been faithful and you've always been with me. But and he changes the language, your brother was lost and now was found. So we must rejoice. You see, there's a similar theme in all three, which is God, our father rejoices when that which is lost has been found. Jesus says, there is greater joy over one lost soul being lost and found than the many who were there who were never lost. [00:22:29] (55 seconds)  #RejoiceForTheFound

I'm gonna go back to my dad, and I am gonna beg for his forgiveness. And I'm gonna say, I've sinned against you and against God. I am not worthy to be your son. Just allow me to be a servant and I will be grateful. This is the essence of repentance. The essence of repentance is not just realizing you went the wrong direction because he wants to go back, but it's also waking up. Waking up from your spiritual slumber. [00:16:57] (42 seconds)  #RepentAndWake

And I maintain one of the reasons why so many of our churches struggle is because they are too inward focused. It's about their parties, about their events, it's about their plans that and doing things that feed them. But when we think about reaching the lost, it cannot only bring joy to God, but joy to us. So this divine forgiveness, it's when we see the opportunity for change instead of an opportunity for blame. [00:24:09] (43 seconds)  #OutwardMission

When we act fast and cut off a person instead of showing patience and kindness. When we decide to take what we can take for ourselves at the expense of another's when it's not ours, those are things that we are doing out of the world's manual instead of the word. Because when we look at the character of God, we see that God is patient, and God is kind, and God is long suffering, and God holds no record of of of of wrongs, and that God is gentle, and that this is the character of God because it's the character of love, and God is love. [00:12:42] (44 seconds)  #PatienceAndKindness

And so it says the second part. It says that as he is feeding these pigs, he begins to wish he could eat the food that the pigs are eating, but he can't because it's his job to take this slop and give it to the pigs. And when he gets that low, it says he comes to his senses and says, the servants, all those servants under my dad were eating way better than this. If I was just a servant, I would be better off than I am. [00:16:14] (44 seconds)  #HumbleReflection

And but he's coming back shivering saying, if he will only let me feed the pigs here, then I'll also get something to eat. And so he comes, the father seeing him from afar, kill the catapash the fatted calf, get the robe and put it on Kim. Have a party. My son, who was lost, has returned. And he runs out to him in tears, and he grabs him in joy. And imagine, the dumbfounded son befuddled as to how can he be joyous after what I have done. [00:19:57] (45 seconds)  #WelcomeTheReturned