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Yeah, we get to dive in last time with us all together and talk about the older son. So, yeah, we've been in what chapter? The last night and this morning. Where are we? All right. And there's three lost things in Luke 15. What are they? There you go. Sheep coin. And then sun. We're diving into the sun after we yesterday morning hit the Good Samaritan. Of course, before we even jump into it, though, my friend Pastor Dan, did he. Where's I influence his employment? So actually he went ahead. Several of you have come to me and asked about some resources. If you're in the Q and A this morning. And I know some of you had to play golf, but if you. I'm sorry, did that come out? I shouldn't say names. Drew and Ryan, but did it come out? It just keeps coming. I'm sorry. So what we're going to better do, keep it coming. This is so fantastic, isn't it? I am a feather ruffler. That is my camp name. But Pastor Dan's amazing at this kind of stuff. Some of you asked about even probably the thing. I think six different families came to me and said, tell me about the five things. Do you remember this? Literally, I probably. I went on a weekend trip before we had our first child to truly fast about how to parent. I'm like, what should I incorporate from the very beginning? And one of the things that God taught me and just showed to me, I believe, is are those life. Everything in life is those five areas, right? You remember what they are. Faith, finances, relationships, habits, school or work. Everything in life falls into those five categories. And it has always given me a platform to talk openly with my children naturally, right? Because all of a sudden, you ever been in that situation and they're in a relationship and all of a sudden you're going, hey, we need to talk about this. And it's awkward because you never talk about this. But when you're always talking about, hey, where are you in relationships right now? And it starts when they're 4, 5, 6, 7 years old. It's easy. And so I'm always flattered and honored simultaneously that my kids come to me for everything, the adults and the young ones. And they're like, hey, what do you think about this? Because we've taught them what bring questions, stop making so many statements, ask questions, right? And so if you. There's a QR code on the screen that's going to pop up that that QR code are a lot of different resources that we use meaning over the years We've pulled together about that. And so if you want it, you can have it. We are a church. We have a rule. We will always be overly generous. And so we just give everything away. We don't think we will never outgive God. And so that's what we end up doing. So, yeah, take it. And actually, we've had churches call us with different resources and say, hey, we really want to use this, but it's kind of weird. And so we've literally printed their name on it and given it to them. We don't care. There's nothing original under the sun. Right. So that's kind of our posture. If you want that. If you want to ask me some more questions tomorrow morning, feel free, and I'd love to talk to you about it. Older son. All right, I got to give you a quick kind of a review, and then we'll dive into the text, because we're just. We're just six verses tonight. 25 to 30, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. That's all we're doing tonight. It's going to be really easy. Nobody told me what time I need to stop. I know we have a big thing tonight. Like, my kids are stoked, so it doesn't really matter what you say. Well, no, I do have a watch or a clock. What time do I need to be done? Oh, 8:30. Okay. Okay, okay. Oh, yeah, I got plenty of time. Okay, cool. So we already know what's taking place. Here's a younger son. You got the younger son. We did the father this morning, and now we're looking at the older son, which a lot of people don't really consider the older son. And it's a fascinating story. Now, you have to remember from this morning that the amount of shame that was brought on the father, and then you also have to remember what the father ended up doing, breaking every cultural norm in order to show love to that son. It's such a powerful story of love and passion and zeal and fervor. It is remarkable. Right? Remember, he jacked up his robe. He's running to him. You didn't do that, Right? What was the rule, culturally? He would have to go sit out in the community for days and be ashamed and be embarrassed. Right? That's what he deserved. And then, not only that, but he then is bringing them in. He's like, let's throw a party. Right? It's fantastic to think about because he's even putting a robe on him now. One of the things I Didn't tell you this morning is the robe was important because it signified that he was part of the family again. Remember, he came back hoping to be like one of the, what, servants? And then his father put a robe on him, which is the same thing as saying, you're back in. I wish. I mean, it's the father, right? You ever had your kids, you know, you look at them, you go, hey, I love you, I love you. And then the kid looks at you and you're like, I love you more. Anybody ever heard that from a kid? I love you more. Stupid. They don't, they don't get a parent's love. They just don't. I love that they say it and it's cute and it's amazing. My older two, one that just became one of mine because of marriage, right? Literally said that to me today. They had to leave to go to a wedding and they're like, we love you more. I'm like, you're just morons. You don't get it. Cause they don't love me more. I would lay down my life in a heartbeat for them. There would be no question in my mind. I would certainly do the same for my wife because she's awesome. And I go, man, it's that father's love that is so amazing to me because he broke every cultural norm. Here's one of the things that I've got to tell you about with this. Here's one of the things that I've learned. Parents are often most concerned about their children. When their kids are behaving in a way that embarrasses them. I had somebody knock on my door recently and I got nervous because I have a little bit of land. So when it's not an easy door to knock on, I say that. And so they come, they knock on my door and I'm like, oh, no, this might be bad. What's going on? And so I go open the door and it's just some neighbors from down the street and they were good friends, church people, like, we need to talk to you. One of our kids did something. It's a six year old kid. And basically at the end of it, I said, your problem is not that your son needs to grow up. He's six. He's six years old. He's going to be fine. It said, he embarrassed you, and so now you're parenting out of your embarrassment rather than out of your love. And then she just. I probably said, I don't know if it was the right thing or not, because she just started weeping. And I was like. I told my buddy Mike. I was like, mike, hugger, like, hug her, do something. I felt awkward. And so of course they're hugging. And that's what it was because she was now parenting out of her embarrassment rather than out of her love for her child. Anybody know what I'm talking about on this? Like, stop crawling on the floor of the grocery store. Like that kind of thing. It's a three year old, they can barely walk. Relax, it's okay. That father's love is absolutely amazing to me. So here we're going to learn. You know, we Already know Exodus 20:10 commandments, honor your father and mother. And this guy's not honoring his father, that is for sure. All of this is happening. The father's going to love him primarily because of the joy that it gives to him to love. The joy of love. Beautiful to think about. All this is just from last night. This morning, here comes the younger brother. Father's ecstatic, he's happy. And then we're going to step into a text tonight about the older brother being angry. He's not real happy. So here we are. Luke, chapter 15, 25, 30. I do have it on the screen for you, I think. Let's pull that up. There it is. And so we're going to go ahead and dive in this right now. Here we go. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. So this is right after younger son comes. Let's throw a party. The fathers round out, kissed him, hugged him, and let's throw a party. This is going to be amazing. Kill the fat and calf, by the way. Fattened calves. I did some research on that. I was like, how many people. This is my brain. How many people would a fattened calf normally feed? Those are the kind of questions I ask. You want to know the answer? 100 to 200. So this is a big party, right? This is a big shindig. So he's going to. Here's what's going to happen though. All this is taking place. There's going to be a party. It's already taken place. The older son was in the field, though. So right away, you know, they must have had a huge property because how do you not notice that many people having a party, right? I mean, around here, every neighbor is upset with this place for having a party. So it's that type of thing. Close. Maybe a lot of neighbors get upset with you guys. Maybe, praise God, you should take him to the cougar den. So the older son is out in the field. And when he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So again, we know the party's already happening. And so he called one of the servants and asked him, what's going on, man? And they're like, your brother has come home. He replied, and your father, he's killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound now. Right? Then your response, because you're good, faithful lovers of Jesus, your response will be like, dad is amazing. Let's go. And you're going to run up and give him a hug, right? I didn't ask. I said, your response. I want you to sit in that for a moment. What is your response? When others receive something that you don't think they deserve, I'll keep going because we're going to come back to that. The older brother, though, here's his response. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, I love that Listen, he doesn't even say, but when my brother, The disgust and the distaste is real. But when this son of yours has squandered your property with the prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. Now we start to recognize so much in this text. It's going to continue and it's going to give us a bit of a response from the Father, even as we look at this again, Luke, chapter 15. Listen to this. It says, but when the son of Came. Listen, here it is. But when this son of yours comes home, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf. And he said to him, son, this is the response of the father, some of you need to hear this. Some of you in this room have made some pretty bad mistakes against God. I want you to listen, though, to the Father's response. It should do nothing but warm your heart and encourage you. Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is now found. So here we are. I think it's safe to say we have a biblical brother rivalry of some sort. There's some others that we find in Scripture, so it shouldn't be a shock to us. Ever heard of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac. I can think of a couple more. How about you? What do you got anybody? Jacob and Esau. That would be a big one, right? I think about Joseph and his brothers. We've seen it in scripture and now we're going to see it. Remember, you don't think the parable. Sometimes people are like, ah, it's a parable. It's just a story. It's a third of the teachings of Jesus. I just want to remind you of that. So a third of the teachings of the Son of God is using this method to help us learn. And now he's painting a picture of the Father's love for us by how this man is going to treat his son. It kind of. He refused to go in the house. This is going to be silly, but you remember the Lion King, Simba and how the Uncle Scar wouldn't even go to his presentation as a. You remember this? I remember this because my wife likes that show on Broadway. So we've been a couple of times and it reminded me, I was like, oh, yeah, wouldn't even go do it. Why? Out of jealousy. Why wouldn't the brother go in? Jealousy, hatred, disdain. Why wouldn't he go in? So we start to learn about who he is. He's out in the field, the day ends, comes home, approaches the house. You start to recognize because just really what's taking place. Cause he hears the music, he sees the dancing. He goes to this guy, he's like, what's going on? And this is the guy, remember who's listening? Tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, religious leaders. The Pharisees and the religious leaders, they actually are probably aligned with this brother. He should feel that way. He got gypped, he got robbed. This is what he should be doing. So part of the question you're going to have to ask is right away, the task collectors and the sinners, because they knew their brokenness, they knew their need of a savior. Like we said this morning, they're like, yeah, this is amazing. The Pharisees and the religious people are the ones who actually resonate with the older brother going, no, you don't understand. We've been the good people our whole life. That was the good one. That's the one who stayed behind and he earned his keep and he took care of the property. Remember? What did inheritance mean? Inheritance came with what? Responsibility and accountability. And you're expected to not actually use it. You're expected to multiply it. And by the way, it's the same thing. With our faith, we're expected to multiply it so we see additional lives transformed by the power and the grace of Jesus. We need more of those two. Those two young adults, I don't remember their real names, but we need more of those guys, right? So you start looking at that and going, oh, wait, why are they so upset then? What's really happening here? So here he is. They recognize they've killed the fattened calf. It's already a full blown party. Everybody's stunned, Everybody's shocked, maybe confused. I think he's suspicious. Do you ever recognize naysayers? Do you know anybody who's a naysayer? There's always a problem with everything, no matter what. Naysayers are always suspicious, particularly of joyful people. They always think something's really wrong. What are you trying to hide? Nothing. It's called the joy of the Lord, right? There's just something about them. The person I always think about, I was just talking about her at the table over here was my wife's grandmother. She just died a year ago, the day before her 105th birthday. And I knew her for 20. I talk about this all the time because I knew her for 27 years. And in those 27. And she's so fun. Should I tell. I've got to tell the story about her real quick. She was the one, she was nine. I remember she was 98 years old and we were playing charades and all of a sudden she just goes like this. She goes and takes. She goes down to the ground and everybody's freaking out. And then I figured out, I go, grandma got ran over by rain dither. She goes, yep, that was her. But in those 26, 27 years that I knew her, never once did I ever hear her say a negative thing. I remember I took her to Outback. That's an Australian place, right? The Aussie cheese fries. She always. I don't know how she lived so long because literally for 15 years she lived on hot dogs and french fries. And she would get the Aussie cheese fries. That's all she would want. And one time they brought them out and they were cold and just nasty. And I was like, gigi, you can get more. She goes, no, no. I said, why not? She goes, we just don't need more of that in the world. I've never once heard her complain. And finally, I would always interview her. I'm like, what is it in you? She goes, you're the preacher. Haven't you heard of the joy of the Lord? We need More of Gigi's, don't we? And I start looking at the fact that here's his father. I think this father is blessing his younger child. And he's about to bless his older child because he has the joy of the Lord, because he is the Lord. That's who he represents. And so all of a sudden, this older son is struggling. He rushed in, father, what's all this about? What's going on? His father's gonna let him know, hey, your brother's home. Shouldn't you be rejoicing with them? This is kind of how I see it playing out. Verse 26, it says, he actually came and he summoned one of the servants, and he began inquiring about what everything was going on. In verse 27, oh, your brother has come home. That should have filled his heart with joy, but instead it was his worst fear. His brother had come back. Which now, if he had put a. Because he. Remember, he put that robe on him. He's now part of the family once again. And in verse 28, it says, the father went out and pleaded with him because he knew what was happening once again, here's what I love about this. Who went out to plead with the son, Remember the younger son? Let's go there. He's walking down the road. Who ran out to meet him, the father. Now the older son, who goes out to encounter him, the father. He's initiating the relationship. It is no different than what the Father has done on our behalf by initiating the relationship through his son, Jesus Christ. And so we see this, and we see God once again initiating the relationship. We see God in Christ seeking us out. Verse 29, the response of the older son. He looks at his father and he says, look. And I'm curious what our response would be. He says, look, all these years I've been slaving for you. He didn't even address his father with a title in that moment, which typically in that culture you would do. There's no respect. He says, for years, man, I've been serving you. It's really the initial response of the younger son. It's just repeated. And we see this playing out. And he just continues to assault his father. Verse 30. But when this son of yours comes home, he won't even say, brother, once again. When this son of yours comes back, who has taken your wealth, devoured your wealth with prostitutes and everything else, you kill the fattened calf and you've got a celebration going on with music and dancing and the younger son and the feast and out in the dark of the night. You've got this whole assault going on now from the older sibling to. Or the older son to the father. And we start to learn so much about who we are. Because the party symbolizes all the sinners who have collected around God to honor him for their salvation. And the older son is now the one who wants nothing to do with it. 31 and 32. My son, you are always with me. Everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because the brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. He says, my child, you have always been with me. All that's mine is yours. My child here actually shifts in Greek. It actually moves to this word, T, E K, N O, N. And it's a sign of tenderness. Like, I know that if my son would have come at me like that, I don't know if the response in that moment would have been tender. Because I would have been angry. I think I. Yeah. And now all of a sudden, you start looking at this and you go, wait, here. Is this that. Remember that compassion that it says the father had? Remember what it means in Greek, that it was about what your intestines, like it was about your bowels, like it was so deep in you. The compassion that the father had for the younger son when he saw him walking down the road. And now the same type thing is being conveyed, Even though his older son has mistreated him so poorly in front of the guest, he's gone out to him because of that same type of passion and compassion for him. And then verse 32 goes back to the main theme. He looks at him and he goes, don't you understand? Your brother came home. We had to be merry, we had to rejoice. There's no option. Remarkable to think about. This theme of this parable is about repentance, but it is also about divine joy. Here's a couple of questions for you. One, what is your reaction to the grace and the mercy of God? Personally, for you, what is your reaction to the grace and the mercy of God? And then what is your reaction toward the grace and the mercy of God when it's demonstrated to someone that you don't think deserves it? Ken, I've thought a lot about some of the conversations that you've had with us with missions this week. I think part of it is because of the number of conversations we both had internationally. We're both overseas a lot. And I remember I was on a trip and we were blessing some people and the People we were with were angry that we were blessing them. They need to earn it. You ever heard this one before? And even in me personally, I've struggled with that. They need to earn it. And then I've recognized. I've always heard God saying, what have you earned with me? Remember, I've done for you what you couldn't do for yourself, so that you couldn't boast. Look at what I've made. Look at what the title I've earned is. Look at the position that I've earned. And sometimes it's hard for us to respond appropriately when God is blessing and showing his mercy. Showing his grace is some grace to someone that we don't think that really deserves it. Are you more excited for others to know God's love? Are you more excited for them to be corrected? I want to close in prayer, and I'm going to give us a little bit of an opportunity. You know, today we got to pray a lot. We started with prayer, we got concluded with the time of prayer. We're going to do it again now. And I want you to sit in the reality that there's a Heavenly Father that has done that exact same thing for you. He's jacked up his robe, ran out to you. And even for some of you who are a bit, I want to say, maybe stubborn, I can be a bit stubborn. Anybody married to that guy, Oof. He'll still leave the banquet and go outside and find you and tenderly let you know that he absolutely adores you. You know that automatically makes it a good day, right? Like straight up. Some of you need to recognize the significance of the love the Heavenly Father has for you. Receive it. You're already doing all the right things. I'm just asking you to fully receive his love. Praise God for his truth. I want us to pray together. God, I thank you so much. That you have ran to a person, a child, who has totally taken advantage of you and taken everything you had and wasted it and ended up being a Jewish boy living with pigs in a gentile country. And when returning home, you embraced him. And I thank you, God, that even for the one who has always in our world today, for the one who's always tried to do everything right and go to church and give back and serve faithfully, even when it comes to their hidden anger, even when it comes to the reality that they want mercy for themselves, but maybe not for others, because they just care more about being right than righteous. And maybe we even discover a little bit about ourselves tonight. I praise you, God. That for that one you also run to, you go out to and you show compassion and mercy. God, we praise you for how you have shown compassion and mercy on our lives. You have showered us with your goodness. You have taken a dump truck of your mercy and grace, backed it up and we hear it beeping, and you have dumped it out upon our lives. We are sitting right now in a place that we freely are able to come to and declare that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is King. And if any of these friends of mine know the routine of serving you, but they don't actually know you as their Lord and Savior, give them the courage to say yes to you. May they be overwhelmed by you. May they plant their feet by the streams of living water. Psalms 1. May you raise their arms, lift their voices, give them an energy and a strength to move forward into tomorrow and the next day and the next week and the next month, and be completely enamored that the Heavenly Father would embrace them. May they sit with you and hear from you in Christ's name, Amen.