John K. Jenkins Sr - Recovery From Bad Decisions - Part 4

Luke 15 has already been read once; Rend Barnes already read it. But some might say, "Well, Pastor, why do you read it again after we've already read it once?" Because not everyone was here. Don 't turn around; don't look at the people in the back-just look straight ahead. Verse 11 says, "Then he said, a certain man." In chapter 15 of Luke, a certain man had two sons , and 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, who 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. But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to eat 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 and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf here and kill it , and 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. This is part four of recovering from bad decisions. Look at your neighbor and say, "This is part four of recovering from bad decisions." Look on the other side and say, "It's part four." You can be seated. Allow me a few moments to rehearse what I've been doing the past three weeks for the benefit of those who have missed them. This is a series that aligns with our theme for this year . We believe the word of God to our house is that this is the year of restoration. Somebody say, "Amen!" As a matter of fact, God has been bringing restoration. I wish I could do better with sharing testimonies , but God continues to pour in testimonies from people whom He has done fabulous things for and worked on their behalf , restoring them . A couple of weeks ago, there was an article on the front page of the Washington Post about how the housing values differ in Prince George's County compared to other parts of the region. In that front-page article, a family from Prince George's County , who happened to be a member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, was highlighted. They had their house turned upside down, and the value was less than the mortgage , and they had fallen behind. The wife of that family came to me this morning after one of the services and said, "Pastor, I'm happy to tell you that our situation has been turned around; God has fixed it." Somebody ought to go ahead and give the Lord a shout and tell your neighbor, "If He did it for them, He can do the same thing for you! It's restoration time!" I thought I would talk about this restoration piece from the story in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. It is, in fact, a parable that Jesus is telling. Let me rehearse it very quickly. Jesus is talking to the scribes and Pharisees, who are upset because Jesus is hanging out with sinners. They don't like the fact that He's associating with them . So Jesus responds to their attitude by telling them three parables. In the first parable, a shepherd has 100 sheep; he loses one and leaves the 99 to go find the one . That 's a lesson to show us that God will leave all the well people to seek out the one that is lost. He finds that lost one, recovers it, and brings it back to the fold, where they celebrate. He tells a second parable right after the first, about a woman who has 10 silver coins. She loses one of those coins somewhere in her house and sweeps diligently until she finds it . When she finds it, she celebrates . That 's a parable to show us that you can be in the house but still be lost. Look at your row; somebody's in the house but is lost. I said, look up and down your row- somebody on your row is lost. When she finds it , she celebrates. Then there's this third parable, the parable of the prodigal son . It is a world-famous parable and tells the story of a man who has two sons. He is a well-to-do man, but one of his sons ...