John K. Jenkins Sr - Recovery From Bad Decisions - Part 3

Luke chapter 15. Reverend Chapman has already read verses 11-24. I'm not going to read them again because of time, but let me zoom in again on verse number 22 . But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet." Today is part three of this series we've been doing on recovering from bad decisions. I think I asked you all last week how many of you have ever made some bad decisions. Hold your hands up; let me see who you are. Great! All right, you' re telling the truth. I can deal with people who tell the truth, amen. Now let me ask this: how many of you made bad decisions since last week? Let me see your hands . Oh man , you all are really heathens, aren't you? Did you raise both your hands? All right, you can be seated. Allow me a moment to recap what we are dealing with for the benefit of those who have been playing hooky from church for the last two or three weeks or who haven't been here. We've been looking at the theme of our church this year: the Year of Restoration. Somebody say, "This is the year of restoration." This is the year of restoration! Can you all say it with a little more enthusiasm than that? Jesus, I was so sad the first time! I'm looking at this story , this 15th chapter of Luke , to look at restoration stories. In this chapter , Jesus has some tax collectors and sinners come to hear him preach . The Bible says that the scribes and the Pharisees , in verse two, begin to question the fact that Jesus was hanging out with sinners. Jesus responds to them by telling three parables, and they are all right here in Luke 15. The first parable he tells them is about a shepherd who has one hundred sheep; one of them gets lost. He leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one. That one lost sheep is important to him; he leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one. He tells them a second parable about a woman in her house who has ten silver coins . She loses one and searches the house diligently until she finds that one lost coin . The Bible says she swept the house until she found it. The lesson there is that it's possible to be in the house and still be lost. I think I highlighted that point: it's possible to be in church but still be on your way to hell. A lot of people will be in hell from a church pew. Look at your neighbor and say, "I hope it ain't you." Then he tells this third parable, and this parable is what we've been focusing on for the past three weeks . This is part three, by the way, of this series on recovering from bad decisions. He tells a story about a man who has two sons . He's done well; he's made a good living . The younger son reaches a point where he asks his father for the portion of the inheritance that falls to him. I'm recapping now. The way it's supposed to go is you're not supposed to get the inheritance until the father dies. Let me make an announcement right now to all of the Jenkins children: you ain't getting anything until the father dies. Don 't come ask me early ; don't come ask me for anything . It won't happen. Somebody say, "It won't happen." So if you come and ask me for something ahead of time , the answer will be a negative . Don 't ask me for it. But this father does what I wouldn't do. He takes his livelihood , what he's earned, and divides it among his two sons. Shortly thereafter , the story , the parable goes that the younger of the two sons takes his resources , takes what's given to him, and goes to a far country and squanders it on reckless living, riotous, wasteful living. Now don't you look at me in that tone of voice, because some of you have made bad decisions in how you spent the resources you've had. You all get on my nerves acting like you haven 't done it. But think about how much money you would have if you could save all the money you spend on cigarettes, liquor , drugs , and on women and men in the clubs. I'm giving you all a chance to say amen, right? [Applause] This is the right crowd! I know you' re here; I know you don't want to confess and acknowledge it, but he wasted his life. He wasted his money; he lived loosely and wasted it all. He got to a place where he ran out of money, and I said last week, or whenever I've been-every week, I think I've said this-that as long as you have money to spend on people, you're going to have people around you. But the moment the money runs out, your so-called friends will likewise disappear . This man was doing all right, happy while he had money , but when the money ran out and the famine hit the land and he had nothing else, all the people whom he once helped provide for were nowhere to be found to help him when he needed someone to help him out. So he's lost ; he has absolutely lost everything he has. And the story Jesus is telling reaches a point where he joins himself to a citizen of that country who gives him the ...