SEP 28 2025 | “Are You a ‘Paco’?”

Sea Change Church · "“Are You a ‘Paco’?”" Pastor Elliott Stearns · September 28, 2025
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

All right, we are here. Welcome church. You are the early birds. Let's give it up for yourselves. Come on, come on. We're here to worship the Lord. Uh, let's stand up please. Um, I'm a Jesus follower, but I always wasn't one. And I remember the first church service. I came when God was calling me back. And it was the worship of God corporately, where I palpably felt the love of God.

And I thought, God is in this house. So as we go to worship today, together as a corporate one, let's invite his presence. Be aware of his presence, and, and, uh, as we do that the Spirit will encourage us and move us. Let me pray. God, you were in this house. You were in your house all over the world. As your saints worship you on Sundays and you inhabit the praises of your people.

Let the things of the world be gone as we step into your church and let your son be lifted up through the fellowship of the saints, through the preaching of the word, through the singing of songs. And we ask this all in your son's mighty name. Amen. Amen. Take me back to The Lead me back to the moment. I heard your voice. Take me back me back to the moment I saw your face.

And it was all so simple. It was easy To, No, it was easy to Try Because you're You closer than my You. Air breath. And here's Where the I so good know you. This is here in the place I find you clothes. This is coming here in the place. I, and it was so, so simple. It was easy to Love. It was easy. You are closer. You are closer, closer than he's Where the come back to Living.

I feel my heart beating. It feels So good. Know you are my prayer. Yes. Jesus will give you worship model. Glory to you this morning. God. Come on. Let's mean this next party. This is where This, where to be. You and me. I don't have to prove You've Already you of me. This is, This Is where Be me and you and you and me. I don't have to, You've Already approved Of me. This is Where, This is Where meant to be.

Me, you, you and me. I don't have to prove you've already of me. You're closer. You Where The Come back To living. I feel my heart beating so good you. And here's where the dad, I feel Heart. It feels so good. You're, Let's continue to just lift him this morning. He's all deserving of it. Everything changed. It's getting harder to, before I encountered Christ, I don't walk like I used to.

I don't like I used to. I've been watched from the inside. I cannot explain. But nothing's more than this. In the presence of God or When heart experience, when my shame hit the wayside and my, the, I was from the inside. I was from the inside Hall. I, we have only been the blood Hallelu Hallelu. No, it have only been the Blood, The on it's nerve.

It's never been about performance, perfection, or striving for acceptance. Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. It's never been about deserving or it's, it's a, a gift that's really given. Lemme tell you, it's only by the to play that it's never been or it's a gift that's lemme tell You. It's only You. The Hallelu it, the Halle Hall, The I'm An Instrument of ex.

And I was born to you hear the of all creation. But there's a song of praise only. Who else is who else is worthy. There is no one, only you. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy Is no one. Only Jesus. You're the instrument God of the Yet You chose to make my heart. Please. You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory. So I have songs to sing. Not even angel.

Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no One. Only you Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Jesus. Who else is who else is Worthy? There is no one. Only Jesus. Us. Who else Is worthy? Who else is Worthy? There Is no One Anointing. One who was and is and is to come seated on the throne Above Th shed blood to prove to us the father's Jesus Christ of Godin, who is to come Seat Throne Holy Righteousness, His blood to Prove to us the Father love Jesus Christ.

Who is, Is no One, only Jesus Who Is worthy. Only Jesus. Jesus. Yes. Jesus. We worship you this morning. God, we exalt your name. We give you all the honor and glory, Jesus, forever and ever. Amen to your name. Amen. Amen. Let's give it up for the worship team and the Lord, you may be seated. Uh, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. It's so amazing and powerful to be with you on Sundays.

And hopefully you got a bulletin when you walked in. And inside there's a connect card. And if you're new, we would love you to fill out this connect communication card so we can follow up with you and plug you in. And even if you're not new, maybe you didn't get plugged into a small group yet, uh, we'd love to hear from you. If you have pro requests on the communication card, you can fill that out.

And it is Youth Sunday. And we are gonna go into video. Youth announcements. Get ready. How you doing La Jolla? Good morning. And this is Good Day, LJ Sunday Morning News. I'm Chet Chatfield. And I'm Laura the Lobster. And we have a lot in store for you today. In recent news, we have a special announcement to all the parents out there.

We are having an upcoming parenting seminar. It is about raising healthy kids in the digital age. This seminar is going to be on Thursday, October 23rd from 6:00 PM to seven 30. You can scan the QR code right here that is currently on the screen as I speak. AI is taking over. Chad, GBG is stealing your job. We are just in the technological revolution.

You had the industrial revolution, you had the dust ball, and now we're in the technological era. And, uh, we need to inform parents on how to parent their kids in raising healthy kids in the digital age. Miss Laura, the lobster. What is on your agenda today? After church? I'm going to the window. Ooh, snap. And where exactly is that gonna be?

PV pre doors open at five 30 and worship starts at six. Come through. We wanna see all your awesome faces there. I'll be there. Front and center. PTLN, Mr. Chet Chatfield. Miss Laura, the lobster. Do you have a lot of spare time on your hands? I do. Do you like hanging out with children? Depends. Do you wanna incorporate Domino's Pizza into your weekly diet?

Absolutely. Then you should volunteer with middle school and high school. It really means a lot to have adults like you to shepherd and mentor these young teenagers. So if you are interested in any way, here is the volunteer interest form right here. You could scan this QR code as I am currently speaking. And this will just connect Pastor Vinny with you and your information so you guys can talk.

And now for a special segment that we like to call Sunday Fun Day, where we send a special on field reporter, uh, just getting a little insight with the congregation. And we got a exclusive interview with Ms. Pastor Kim. So here it is. I'm here with Pastor Kim, and we have a nice list of slang words where she's gonna try to guess the definitions of them. Are you Ready? I think so.

Alright, so the first word is clock it. And then like this, you do it like this. Clock it. Yes. Do you want, do you know what that means? Mm. Maybe uh, make a note of it Means that like, something's good. Like clock it. Like that's really cool. It's good. Oh, okay. The next one is finna Finna Yeah. Finished. All done. That means that, that's a good guess.

But it means like you're going to like, I'm finna do this. I'm about to, Okay. I'm finna do this. Yes. The next one is cap. Cap. Yes. Uh, top it off. It actually means it's a lie. It's a lie. Yeah. So like, oh, you're capping. That means you're lying. Okay. I'm gonna be able to talk to young people now. Oh Yeah. You're gonna be a pro.

This has been good day LJ Sunday Morning News. I'm Chet Setterfield. And I'm Laura The Lobster. And Remember, church family to always answer the calls that you get about your car's extended warranty. I mean, it is so true. That is just adulting 1 0 1. Like you always have to answer and pay the collect calls you get about the car's.

Extended warranty. I'm about $300,000 in debt because of the amount of extended warranties I had to pay. I mean, I'm a lobster, so I don't really have a car, you see? But see, that's what's interesting. I you're a lobster, but you're like a human. How does that, how does that work? Well, when I'm dry, I am human, but then when I'm wet, I, I'm a lobster.

What do you mean? Like, when you're wet, like when you, when like water like touches your body, you Yeah. Go into a lobster. Yeah. Uh, I kind of prefer to still, what are you doing? Ah, look what you did. I, I am kind of shocked. I did not believe you were actually a lobster. Why would I lie about something like that? I it's a lobster.

I'm a lobster and I could see that now, don't touch me All definitely. Youth Sunday. That was Youth Sunday. And um, we have this, uh, program, it's called Wordly, where if you speak a different language, there's translators. And I'm realizing we need wordly for all the cultural language for the young people that would help Gen Z, gen Z language.

Um, the window tonight is at 7:00 PM in pb. We hope you can make it. And we're doing, uh, worship through giving. Now it's called GPS, uh, give, pray, or Serve. And the youth really need volunteers. Uh, if you feel led to get in touch with the younger generation and serve, we would love you to serve. And we'd also love you to give, there's so many ways to give QR codes online.

Drop it in the back. And, um, for God so loved the world, he gave his only son. And sometimes it's hard to give, but maybe he wants to give you, cause you to give 1% more. And we will be great stewards of your financial donations. Father God, thank you so much for how generous you are. Jesus, thank you for before the foundation of the world volunteering to sacrifice your life so that we can be saved and be free when we have faith in you.

And Holy Spirit, thank you for motivating us to want to keep on walking with you and doing good. I ask you move in this congregation to want to, to give, to want to pray, to want to serve. And we ask this all in Jesus mighty name. And all God's people said, amen. All right, we're gonna head into the sermon, and before that we're gonna have Danny read scripture.

Hi everybody. Um, today we're gonna be in Luke, uh, chapter 15 verses 20 through 24. Um, it says, and he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and bring a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fat and calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. Father, this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. This is the word of the Lord, Church.

I'm Elliot Sterns, uh, teach a class on the Trinity. You're all, I'm still inviting people to it. If you're interested, I, uh, occasionally preach, preach here for, uh, pastor Adam. The um, theme of this, uh, of this message is called, uh, you see the title? There are Pac, we'll get into that in a minute. But in the reading that you just heard, I was very interested in thinking, I was thinking about the other day about the, what the Father did there.

He ran to his son, he threw away old dignity of old men. And he ran to his prodigal son returning there, and he embraced him. And then he said, bring forth the best robe and the ring and the shoes and kill the fatted calf. And I was thinking about those three things, the, the robe and the ring and the um, and the shoes. And there's a symbolism in that.

And there's a good sequence there as well. Uh, the, um, the best robe, where are we not, uh, be forgiven by the blood of the lamb as we sang this morning. And our, our soul is cleansed. And so the first thing that the son received was the cleansing of the blood of the lamb. You might say symbolically he was forgiven. And we are garment with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Amen. And then he was given the ring. The ring is a symbol of several things, but, uh, mainly it's authority. Uh, when Pharaoh, uh, appointed Joseph to be ruler of the land of Egypt, he gave him his ring and he said, this is the representative of your authority. And so the, the ring symbolizes being prepared by God, anointed by the Holy Spirit for the ministry that the Lord has to call us to.

And finally, he was given the shoes, the shoes of that is that which we walk about in, we take, we go places in. And so we're supposed to have the shoes of, of the gospel. Paul talks about that in Ephesians preparation of the gospel of peace. Um, uh, Lord told, uh, Abraham, and in Genesis 17, I am God almighty, walk before me and be perfect.

And the land, I'm, I'm gonna give you this land, uh, uh, the shoes of Joshua was told, wherever the soles of your feet go, that land I'm giving to you. So the shoes bring forth the territory gain for the Lord. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. We want to go forth and possess the land for the Lord. Of course, the Lord, uh, the Father just ran to his son.

He was enthusiastic. He saw his father come, uh, his son coming there. He embraced him. And I was thinking that's also something that we should think about. That same pattern of the garment and the ring and the shoes. Every day when we wake up in the morning, say, Lord, I just want to, I just want to walk in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

I'm clothed with you. I i want to have that, that ring that represents your preparing me for the ministry you're calling me to. And I wanna have those shoes, and I wanna have the direction I'm supposed to go in to fulfill your will. The thing is, we often think that once the Lord has done this wonderful thing for us, he's created, he is fallen upon us.

He's given us those things. We had that wonderful born again experience. We think, well, okay, uh, what about now and then years later, am I just part of the furnishings? Do you believe that the Lord comes to you every morning with the same enthusiasm that he came to the prodigal son at that time? You see? And so it, it hasn't diminished, not even a single bit.

Sometimes we, sometimes we just wake up in the morning, we think of the challenges of the day. Say, good Lord, it's morning. What does the Lord want us to say? Good morning, Lord. We want him to take us by the hand as a child, as his child, and lead us through that day. We wanna know that his presence is there. You know, there's a verse. You should write down the, the notes today.

Don't go along with the sermon as much as they were last Thursday. Okay? Write down Hebrews three 14. Okay? Hebrews 14 says, we are partakers of Christ. If we hold fast, the, and here's the key word, the beginning of our confidence. What was the beginning of your confidence? You were so glad you were embraced by the Father. You were washed in the blood. You were, you were fulfilled.

You knew his, his glorious love, and you exalted in it. So it's no less, it's no less that every day with the Lord when we wake up, the, the garment, the ring, and the shoes are all there for you to have as well as the fatted calf. Right? So he hasn't changed anything there. I like, uh, the song we just sang, take me back to the garden.

Take me back to the time that I first got to know you Lord Jesus as my loving father. It never dead ends. Now I wanna tell you a story. The title of the message is, are You a Paco? Which I explain that this is a, a little story that Ernest Hemingway wrote in a book called Capital of the World back in the 1930s or forties or something.

And it takes place in Spain. And, uh, the story of Paco here is that Paco and his father were, uh, estranged from one another. Maybe Paco was thrown out of the house, maybe Paco left, we're not sure. But it was, he was estranged from his father. And it was a much hurt on both sides. But after many years, the father, Paco's father, uh, long for his son, he wanted to have his son back and, and, and reconcile and be at peace with him and love him and, and reconnect in that bond.

The trouble was, it's been years since he'd seen Pac. They hadn't, they hadn't talked to each other, communicated at all, and he didn't know where Paco was, except that he was probably somewhere in Madrid. So what he does, the father finally decides, he puts an ad in the, uh, the Madrid newspaper, and the ad says this, Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon this Tuesday.

All is forgiven. Love papa. So come Tuesday, the father's hope, hoping against hope, makes his way to the Hotel Montana, expecting or really hoping he can meet with his son, Paco. And when he gets to the Hotel Montana, he meets, he sees 800 young men named Paco all wanting to be reconciled to their father. What what makes this story especially poignant, is that Ernest Hemingway grew up in a similar situation when he was very young.

He and his father were very, very close. They'd go hunting and fishing and hiking and all these things very, very close. But as, uh, Hemingway reached, Ernest, uh, reached, uh, adolescents and all and, and did various things, uh, and his father grew more and more legalistic. And you might say it was a religious home, but it was very strict.

And his father entered into, uh, health problems and finally financial problems. And in 1928, his father committed suicide. Now, that's his father committed suicide. But really what his father did was he committed first degree murder of his son's hope for a reconciled, for a, for a father son bonding for the rest of his life.

You can see in this story and in others that Hemingway wrote, he really, he missed. He was, he was wounded very, very deeply. And, and unfortunately, he never came back to understand the Heavenly Father. He could have had the, the love of the Heavenly Father. So, so he Hemingway himself committed suicide in 1961. So the theme of this message is fatherhood.

What is fatherhood? How important is it? I still recall when Pastor Adam was first here, uh, very shortly after he became pastor here. He gave a sermon and he said that his very most favorite scripture, his very most favorite verse in the entirety of scripture was John 1418. John 1418 is very short verse. It says this, I will not, this is the King James, I will not leave you Comfortless, I will come to you.

And the Greek word for comfortless, there is oros. And yes, we get the word orphan from that. I'm not gonna leave you orphans. He says, I'm gonna come to you. And the context shows is that, is that Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. I'll send another comforter to you and, and, and He will be with you forever. I will not leave you orphans.

I'm gonna come to you in the person of the Holy Spirit. Never. And you can see why knowing Pastor Adams, he shared some of his back, his family background, why that would be such a comforting verse earlier in John 14, uh, we see Philip, Jesus is saying, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me.

And, and then Philip interjects and he says, Jesus, show us the Father. And it's sufficient. You know, he wasn't trying to just, Philip wasn't trying to make a little theological point here, like, I'd just like to finesse this. No, he was, Philip had that yearning as well. He was yearning for the Father. Yeah, it'd been wonderful to be with Jesus and all of that.

But, but he really wanted to see the Father. He wanted to have that father again. And so what Jesus said, have I been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know me? He was seen me, has seen the Father. And the Greek words are, see, there is a very strong word that means you experience, you see something because you've experienced it.

If you've experienced me, if you come to really know me, you have known the Father for Amen. The Father. And the Father is in me, FA the Father and I are one. Jesus said in John 10, he ENT was a Jewish philosopher. She wrote in the, uh, mid 20th century, uh, she barely escaped the Holocaust in Europe, came to America. And she wrote a book later called Totalitarianism.

And she was asking one question, what is it that causes whole populations, whole nations to embrace crazy ideologies like Nazi-ism and communism? And so why do people do a thing like that? And she came up with the answer. She said, the one reason is, and she called it loneliness. People are lonely and they just have to have something that will substitute for their father.

Darwin taught us that we're all just, uh, product of evolution. Freud taught us that we're just a bunch of repre filled with repressed passions. And all Mark said, you're all victims, therefore you should revolt and start something new. But nobody has a father. And she said that that's the cause. People, people yearn for something, something to take the place of a father when the, when the world is all secularized as it was in those nations.

And so there's a scripture, Proverbs 1211 that is in your notes that says this, the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Whenever we try to find something that substitutes for the Father is always going to be a cruel in that comes to us, we have to know our heavenly Father. Like Philip wanted to know as well. There. Uh, the sub, the solution is the Father love that we were talking about there.

When we read these scriptures, Jesus himself always walked with in fellowship with his Father. And twice in the Book of John, he says, I am, I'm not alone, but I'm not alone yet. I'm not alone. Uh, yes, it's true. The Pharisees were attacking. He says, I, yes, it's true. I judge, but I don't judge by myself. 'cause the father was say, I'm not alone.

The father is with me. He says later, uh, John, uh, John, uh, 16, he says, yes, you're all gonna desert me and you're gonna forsake me. You're gonna leave me alone, but I'm not alone. And with the Father. And so that was the one thing that he needed to, to say, and not just for their sake, but for his own. He, he wanted people to know that if you know him, you're gonna know the father's love as well.

And so I started to think about that in terms of my own experiences, all, um, and I've gotta start repeating it again and again, instead of getting upset going, oh, I forgot my keys the third time, whatever, you know, or something like that. Or sometimes I use an expression from a novel by PG Woodhouse where this man said, always think spode.

And I always taught myself, always think Spode. Okay? Always think Elliot, next time, don't whatever it might be. And I said, I've gotta stop that and I've gotta start thing, but I'm not alone. Let's say that together. Ready? But I'm not alone. Say it again, but I'm not alone. And so situation comes. The husband says, I, I can't find my keys.

My wife's in labor. I need to go to the hospital, but I'm not alone. Lord, help me. The car breaks down on the freeway. This looks pretty serious, but I'm not alone. I gotta preach a sermon to 300 people this, this morning. But I'm not alone. You see? So we have to have that again because you're loved by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

John three 16, for God the Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, John 13, one, Jesus knowing the, when the Passover was coming, Jesus knowing it was time for him to depart from the earth, having loved his own, he loved them unto the inn. And you say, well, where does it tell me that the Holy Spirit loves me?

John, go to James four verse five. And this is a very difficult verse to translate, but I'm just gonna read off some of the translations that have been, that made of this verse says, the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, watches over us with tender jealousy. The Holy Spirit is a fiercely jealous lover. The spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous lover who intensely desires to have more and more of us.

So the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they all COHEs to use the theological term. They love, they love us passionately. Uh, in fact, Ephesians Paul says this, he says, he says that all fatherhood, uh, all the families of the Earth have fathers, and that, that fa all the fathers are in the pattern of the Heavenly Father. All fatherhood is named after the Father in heaven.

That fatherhood is that important for us. And so when we hunt situations, we've been reading about Elijah, and Elijah says, how long will you halt or leap between two opinions? We've got to accept that wherever I am, whatever has happened, however serious it looks, I am not alone. I have the Father with me. Now, I've been thinking about this in, in the Lord's Prayer.

I pray the Lord's Prayer a lot, and you've heard me teach on the Lord's Prayer a lot. Let's go back. It says this Abba Father, it starts with the one thing. You are my Father and you, and you love me just like you love the Faig Son when he came home, you're, you're running to me. You're embracing me for Abba. Father hallowed become thy name. That's what the Greek says.

Not just His name is holy, but make your name holy. And then I think about what his name is. And I've, and I've taught this before as well. Forgive me if you if I'm repeating myself, but you know, in, in Isaiah nine six it says this unto us, a child is born unto us. A son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders skipping a little.

And his name shall be called what? Wonderful counselor Mighty God. Everlasting what? Father Prince of Peace. And what, what what I really saw there was this was not the names, this is not the name of Jesus that the Father gave him. It's the names of Jesus that people gave him when they saw Jesus in his ministry on earth. He shall be called by those people.

Jesus ministered to wonderful counselor. Look at the sermon on the Mount Mighty God, look at his miracles. But most of all, what Everlasting Father with the result that you dwell in him under the Prince of peace. So I pray, Lord and wonderfully counsel me today, mighty God, prepare me for the ministry you have for me. But when I come to the fact that he's an everlasting father, I say, Lord, everlasting father, just let me know the father's heart.

I wanna lean on your bosom just like John did. I wanna know what it means to be a father. I used to think the highest calling that you could ever be given as far as the exalted ministries was apostle. I just wanna be an apostle God's man of faith and power. I'm gonna go and don't do all those things that Paul did. Right? But, But there's a higher calling.

The higher calling is to be a father, to learn, to be a father, to, to, to your heartbeat, to the father's heartbeat, to, to, to care for people like the heavenly Father does. Paul said this to the Corinthians, and he had the father's heart. He said, you have 10,000 teachers Corinthians, but you have very few fathers. Um, John the possibly wrote to in first John, the second chapter, he says, I write to you.

And he gives three, three groups there. He says, I write to you little children. I write to you young men. Finally I write to you fathers. And he repeats that twice there. So he, what God is yearning for is to have people who are really fathers of, uh, that, that that can really, can we use the term mentor to raise up younger disciples to, to know the father as the fathers know the Father.

Uh, Paul says this in, uh, to, to onesimus the epistle of Philemon. He writes to animist. He says, I want you to receive Philemon here whom I have begotten in the gospel in my bonds. Uh, uh, going back to the one about the 10,000 teachers and few fathers. He says, but I have begotten you through the gospel. So this idea of being a father and knowing the father's heart, that's the deep, that's the depths of God.

That's what he wants you to come into more than anything else. Now, I don't know of anybody, uh, that Paul had as a father, but he did have a mother. This is very interesting, and I just, you think about it, he writes at the end of the epistle of Romans and he says he greets all these people that know him and he's known and helped.

And he says, greet rufuss, greet his mother. She's my mother also. And I think that's very heartwarming, isn't it? That Paul had someone that just cared for him like a mother, you know, in his ministry. So this, this coming into that same degree of loving, of love of the father's love that we've had before, uh, someone wrote this many years ago and it's always meant something to me.

I just wanna read a short passage here from a writing from long ago. He said, fatherhood is the fullness and the ultimate of God's being nothing has nor ever shall approach unto its terrifying importance nor ever touch the shadow of its sacredness. It bears all and gives to the totality of itself for its offspring. Fatherhood is the very glory of God.

One is not worthy of father fatherhood until he is prepared to see to the full maturity of his offspring. Such sacrifice is the price we pay for the joy of seeing our offspring come to the fullness of their calling in God. So Father, it is a very sacred responsibility and that God and the Lord has taken it very seriously and that's why he died to redeem us.

I wanna take a three minute time, three and a half minutes of a video here just by b Brendan Manning back in 2007. I think it was, just listen to this and then I want to close, if you could, In the 48 years since it was first ambush by Jesus in a little chapel in the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania, and in literally the thousands of hours of prayer, meditation, silence, and solitude over those years, I am now utterly convinced that on judgment day, that Lord Jesus is gonna ask each of us one question and only one question.

Did you believe that I loved you, that I desired you, that I waited for you day after day, that I longed to hear the sound of your voice, the real believers there Will NC yes, Jesus, I believe in your love and I try to shape my life as a response to it. But many of us who are so faithful in our ministry, in our practice, in our church, going are gonna have to reply.

Well, Frankie, no sir. I mean, I never really believed it. I mean, I heard a wonderful, a lot of wonderful sermons and teachings about it. In fact, I gave quite a few myself, But I always thought that was just a way of speaking. A kindly lie, some Christians pious pat on the back to cheer me on. And there's a difference between the real believers and the nominal Christians that abound in our churches across the land.

No one can measure like a believer the depth and the intensity of God's love. But at the same time, no one can measure like a believer the effectiveness of our gloom, pessimism, low self-esteem, self hatred and despair that block God's way to us. Do you see why it is so important to lay hold of this basic truth of our faith? Because you're only gonna be as big as your own concept of God.

Remember the famous line of the French philosopher blaze, Pascal, God made man in his own image and man returned the compliment. We often make God know our own image, and he wants have to be as fussy, rude, narrow-minded, legalistic, judgmental, unforgiving, and loving as we are. In the past couple of three years, I have preached the gospel to the financial community in Wall Street, New York City, the airmen and one of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, a thousand physicians in Nairobi.

I've been in churches in Banga, Maine, Miami, Chicago, St. Louis, Seattle, San Diego, and honest, the God of so many Christians I meet is a God who is too small for me because he is not the God of the word. He is not the God revealed by it in Jesus Christ, who this moment comes right to your seat and says, I have a word for you.

I know your whole life story. I know every skeleton in your closet. I know every moment of sin, shame, dishonesty, and degraded love that has dark in your past right now I know your shallow faith, your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship. And my word is this. I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are and not as you should be.

Be because you're never gonna be as you should be. You can quibble about this or that. But the point was, do you really believe that I love you? Are you still under a legalistic pal? Am I doing it? Can I be acceptable to him? He invites you to say, good morning, Lord, and I know you're coming to me just like the Father did to the prodigal every morning with the same enthusiasm, the same joy, the same embrace.

If I'll just reach out and believe that I'd like the, uh, prayer team to come up, stand next to me if you would, uh, right now. Okay? What I wanna say is I want you to, when I give the benediction, I'm gonna give the benediction a minute and ask you to stand up and so on. But after I give the benediction, if you're coming up for prayer, come up for prayer As Pastor Adam always asks if whatever needs you have, but there may be a few here that feel that God has spoken to you through these words.

I'm not sure, am I a Paco? Uh, or have I been wounded or do I do I do. I really, really, really believe God loves me and I need help to appreciate that. If there's anybody that comes up to you, members of the prayer team, and I want you to, to minister to that, and just as a sort of a mini dramatization of the prodigal son's father coming, just give them a hug and tell them how much God loves them as you pray for them.

Okay? So if you'd all stand, I'll give it been addiction. This is, uh, the last verse of second Corinthians 13, A very well-known benediction. Let me elaborate slightly in it. May the grace, love, forgiveness, kindness, and enthusiastic love of, uh, um, um, grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of the Heavenly Father God.

And the communion, the intimacy, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Be with you all. In the name of Jesus Christ. I say, amen. Lord bless you. Thank you.