John K. Jenkins Sr - Recovery From Bad Decisions - Part 1

Open your Bibles, your iPhone, your iPad, or your Android to Luke chapter 15 . Y'all know the Android is an Apple wannabe; can I get a witness anywhere in the camp? Yeah, all them Galaxies and all that are just the Apple wannabes. Luke 15 , beginning at verse number 11. Then He said , "A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father , 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'" So he divided to them his livelihood. Not many days after , the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything-somebody say "anything." But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'" And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off , his father saw him and had compassion, ran and fell on his neck and kissed him . The son said to him , "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatty calf here and kill it. Let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." And they began to be merry. Amen!

I want to talk to you today about recovery from bad decisions. How many of you have ever made some bad decisions? Hold your hands up; let me see the honest people in here today. All right, very good! God can help you recover from making those bad choices. You can be seated. This is our year of restoration, so we've been preaching for the last couple of weeks on restoration , and recovery is a part of restoration. Somebody say, "Recovery is a part of restoration." Try it again; look at your neighbor and say, "Recovery is a part of restoration." Now say it to the other side: "Recovery is a part of restoration." Be clear and slow it down. All right, it's 1:00; I'm looking at the clock right there. It's 1:00. I will be done at 2:30-no later than 2:30! All right, y'all are such liars. If I was preaching at 2:15, y'all would be getting up and walking out of here.

I want to talk about this particular story. This fifteenth chapter of Luke is a very famous chapter, but I think it's important for us to set the stage for this parable. Jesus is going to tell three parables- three stories to make a point. He 's telling this story in light of verse one of chapter 15 , which says that tax collectors and sinners came to hear Him preach. Verse two says the Pharisees and the scribes complained. The Pharisees and the scribes are the church people. Look at your neighbor and say, "That would be you." These are the religious people of the day who are complaining that Jesus is hanging out with sinners. Tax collectors were considered sinners, so they're mad , they're upset, they're bothered, they're irritated, they're angry that He would associate with people of such low worth .

Jesus responds to the criticism and the complaints of the religious culture by telling three parables. The first parable He tells us is about a shepherd who has a hundred sheep. In his journey, he discovers that one sheep is missing. He leaves the ninety-nine to find the one. Somebody ought to be glad that God left everybody else to come and find you! He finds the one, lifts him from his stuck position, brings him back to the flock, and the Bible says that they rejoice.

In parable two , He talks about a woman who has ten coins. She loses one of the coins in the house and sweeps the house thoroughly until she finds it. In her sweeping effort, she finds the lost coin and she celebrates, which tells me, first of all, it's possible to be in the house and still be lost. I think all the claps are coming from this section right here-thank you! Y'all don't know what that means? Let me explain it to you. It's possible to be in church every Sunday but still go to hell. It's possible to sing in the choir and still go to hell. It's possible to put your money in the offering plate and still go to hell . It's possible to be an usher- come on, somebody say "usher"- and still go to hell. It's possible to preach (don't say "Amen" too loud right there) and still go to hell. It is possible. There are a lot of people-I wish I could be honest with you-there are a lot of people who come to church every Sunday who are not going to make it to heaven because they never made the decision to follow Jesus 100% with their lives. But this woman swept until she found the lost coin, and she celebrated. Then He tells this ...