"The Prodigals" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

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Music.

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Rescue Radio, because there's a war for your soul.

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Yes, Father God, indeed, the war is your problem.

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And we thank you that you are protecting us, that you said you would never leave us or forsake us,

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that you'd carry us through this, and so we're trusting you,

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that you have got every aspect of the war that we're in, the challenges Satan

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has made against you regarding our lives, our children,

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our future, our life and health, that you have gotten everything under control.

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So we praise you and thank you, Jesus.

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You died on the cross. That didn't look very victorious at the moment,

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but it was altogether complete victory over sin and death.

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And so we praise you and thank you that we do not look at the way things look

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or look at what they look like.

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We look at you, Lord God, and your word and your promises, and we declare we

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choose to believe the report of the Lord in every matter, today and in the days ahead.

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We do not go with what it looks like or feels like. We go with what your word says, and you do not lie.

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And so we thank you, Father, for your faithfulness, your goodness,

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your truth. You are the faithful witness, the wonderful counselor.

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You've given us wisdom and protection, every good thing, even prayers to pray.

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Lord God, the Holy Spirit to live inside of us.

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You've given us everything. All we have to do now is choose to follow you.

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And so we do choose to follow you. And Lord, whatever Satan has done to put

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blocks and rocks in our way, We pray that they'd be removed today,

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whether they're lies or opinions of other people or fear,

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that you would just remove those things and your children would be set free,

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walk out of captivity into the fullness of your love and destiny by their power to believe you.

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And I bind the powers of darkness that have come against us,

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our families, especially against the prodigals, to seduce them and deceive them and lead them away.

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We bind you enemy, you sirens, seductresses, who are trying to catch the souls of men in your cages.

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You are bound in the name of Jesus Christ, not just here, but everywhere,

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at every level, in every dimension.

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You are bound in the name of Jesus Christ.

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And Lord, we loose the revelation of your love, your peace, your power,

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your rescue, to find the children, the prodigals, those who are lost,

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those who have been swept away, those who have been destroyed or Satan's tried to destroy them.

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Bring them back, bring them home, and bring them into the full revelation of

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your love for them, Father, and divine protection over all of us who are rescuing

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and going after them, that there be blessings and protections and wisdom and counsel.

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He that wins souls is wise. Give us your wisdom. And Father,

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we ask these things now in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Amen. Yeah, you sound like I'm urgent. I'm running, I'm going fast today.

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You notice that? You typically go fast. I know. You have basically one speed and that's fast.

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Go forward, keep moving. We're talking today about prodigals. And the lost sheep.

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The lost sheep. And Jesus was very concerned about the lost sheep. Right, right.

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In Matthew 18, he says, 18 is a good chapter if you need to forgive someone

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if there's offenses in your world and you wonder where they come from and how

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you're going to get through that. because offenses are a big problem.

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And I think that's the big problem behind prodigals and lost children is offense.

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They've been offended, offended by their parents, something that's...

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Or they believe the lie. They believe lies of the enemy. The enemy has come.

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The enemy is the master of offense.

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And deceit. And deceit. And he'll try to do everything he can to get people

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hooked on an offense that will just haunt them the rest of their lives.

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Yeah, in the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18, Verse 11,

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for the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

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So, He's not come to criticize or condemn, but to retrieve, restore,

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save, find, recover that which was lost. So, what do you think?

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If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave

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the ninety-nine and go to the mountains and seek the one that is straying?

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Now, that's an interesting word, straying. Why are they straying?

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Why are they wandering away from love and truth?

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And some of them are running away, fleeing from things that are not lovely.

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And so they're running away actually to save their lives.

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And we can't blame them for that because some of them, their families are filled

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with demonic interactions constantly. And they're in jeopardy in many ways.

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And he says, if he should find it, and the Luke version says when he should

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find it. So if he should find it or when he should find it, surely I say to

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you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the 99 that did not go astray.

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Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these

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little ones should perish.

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So God's perfect will is that your children be brought back home.

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That's your will too. You're agreeing with God in that process of bringing them

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home, whether they left for whatever reason.

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Isaiah 53 says that all we like sheep have gone astray. So it's not just...

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Excuse me, not just kids, our children. Well, we are children.

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We are children. We're just, some of them said we're just teenagers trapped

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in aging bodies, almost adults.

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But anyway, here we are. So we tend to go astray.

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We tend to wander away from God because the enemy is just saying,

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oh, there's something better out here.

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You have to wonder why this process of straying and wandering away is so absolutely

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prevalent. and there's just very, a small, small percentage of kids that don't wander away.

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And you have to realize there must be something out there, some force,

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some seduction, some treachery, some challenge, something that an enemy of God

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is doing to destroy his offspring, because that is really the heart of God.

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We're the heart of God. We're his offspring. We're his children made in his image and likeness.

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And there's nothing absolutely in this whole world that God loves more and hurts

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more over than the way his children are treated and the way they treat him.

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So can I just say, going back to straying, you know, some people, some children flee.

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They run away from home. They get married too early.

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They actually literally, by the time they're 14, some of them have run away. They've been seduced.

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They've been deceived. Well, they're gone in their minds and hearts.

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Well, they're given. Maybe they're just still trying to survive.

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But so we go back to that interesting verse in Ezekiel 13, verse 17,

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where God is talking about the souls of men being hunted like birds, seduced, deceived.

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These souls are caught in cages and hunted like birds.

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And so what happens is there is charms, seductions, deceptions,

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these sirens that bring the—they're called soul hunters.

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So they're hunting the souls of men so that they can catch them in cages and keep them locked in

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and destroy them. So this is the real strategy that you as parents of prodigals

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are up against is the spirits of seduction, enchantment, deception.

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Video games, bad friends, drugs, pharmakia, witchcraft, indoctrination, programming,

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everything out there, everything, you know, what they eat, what they drink,

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what they think, is all being used by the enemy to draw them away from God.

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And it's incumbent upon parents, especially fathers, to bring them up.

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In Ephesians, it says, you fathers, bring them up in the nurture and admonition

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of the Lord, training, the training, the correction of the Lord.

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So really, where are the fathers?

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How many people, most of the people that are in prison today never had a decent

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father or didn't know who their father was. Right.

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And the problem, too, is that fathers don't know who they are and don't know

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who their kids are and don't really know how to raise them.

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And if father's even around.

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Yeah. Well, you know, and the fathers are also children. Mom has to do it.

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The whole thing is a strategy to divide and break up the family.

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And in Deuteronomy, we go all the way back to Deuteronomy, the Old Testament.

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He says one of the curses in Deuteronomy 28, verse 32, well,

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he says, if you will not obey me.

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In other words, if you will not follow me, if you will yield your will,

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your resources, your life to the lie, to the enemy.

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Then begin to worship the sticks and the stones and the idols that the pagans were fleeing after.

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He says, verse 32, your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people

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and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long.

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There shall be no strength in your hand. Or in other words, there's nothing

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that you can do to bring them back.

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So this is one of the curses that is on this nation. And I'm thinking it's on

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a lot of the nations now because we have really, as a group.

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Went away from God. We have fallen away from the truth.

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We've fallen away from the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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And now we are in this terrible, terrible predicament of losing our children.

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And this is probably the worst thing that can happen to us in terms of relationships

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is being estranged from our sons and daughters and not know where they are.

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And literally that happens too. I was talking with some parents last night and

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they said, well, our daughter was in Europe for two years and we had no idea

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where she was, what she was doing or anything like that.

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And it's not necessarily just, you know, physically being departed and gone

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to another place, another city.

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But just gone in their minds and hearts. Yeah, in their minds, that's right.

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You know, and so given to another people, you know, given to the... The world.

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To the world, to the rock stars, to the drug dealers, to the...

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They're searching, and that becomes... To the universities.

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Yeah, they're searching. When they're that age, they're especially searching

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for truth and for their own way and what they're supposed to do.

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And so that very fact of they're searching for things makes them super vulnerable

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to being deceived and seduced by things. And here, it talks about here in Deuteronomy

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28, 32, what you just read, there shall be no strength in your hand.

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In other words, there's really nothing you can do. Well, there is something.

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There is something you can do. You can pray.

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You can pray. You can love them when you have contact with them.

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God give you wisdom whenever you do talk to them.

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You have to remember, though, too, that Jesus is the good shepherd.

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Yeah. And he has a way of going after them.

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When you can't do anything, nothing you can say, no matter what you say,

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no matter what you do, they're just like, you throw up your hands and you're grieved in your heart.

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Know this, that Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, is after them. He's seeking them.

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Luke 15 says, he began to talk to them, the tax collectors and the sinners drew near him. just hear him.

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And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them.

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So he's talking to this group, this mixed group of self-righteous people and sinners.

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And this is what he said. And so he spoke this parable to them,

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saying, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them,

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does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he find it?

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And when he has found it, He lays it on his shoulder, rejoicing,

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and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors,

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saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

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I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven.

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Over one sinner who repents, and over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

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He's not saying there that people don't need to repent. What he's saying is

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those people have already repented, and this young one, this lost sheep,

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this one that has been caught up in the snares of the world, has come back.

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And there's nothing, I wouldn't think, more sweet and resounding,

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rejoicing, than to have your lost one come home.

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Then he tells the story of the lost son, And in that story, we see the father.

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We see the prodigal's father. We really actually see not only the heart of the

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son, but the heart of the father in that story.

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And this was a good father. He was not a bad father. He was not a neglecting

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father. He was not a hard, narcissistic dad.

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He was a man who listened to his son. He says, I want my inheritance now.

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And so the father listened. And Jesus is in the heart of that father.

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The father of the prodigal son.

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So when the boy left, when your children leave, when you don't know where they

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are, they don't call, they don't text, they don't respond.

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They're cut off. They're being deceived, seduced.

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Maybe it's through drugs. Maybe it's through an affair with another person.

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Maybe it's their following false doctrines, witchcraft. Maybe it's a woman or

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a girl or a boy or a man that seduced them into leaving that which is right

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and stable and good and holy and just and wandering off.

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And these people, they're like they're struck, like they're shot with an arrow, a tranquilizing gun.

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It's like they don't even, they're so disconnected. They don't even know that

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they're walking in the snake's den or in the bed of snakes.

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They don't notice that they're walking among the rattlesnakes because they're

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so fascinated with the sound of the rattle that they don't realize they're in

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the midst of great danger.

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But anyway, the prodigal's father, what did he do?

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It said he waited. He watched. He went out to the end of the driveway every

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day, looking both ways to see if it's because of faith, because he believed.

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He believed that what he had taught his son in the beginning,

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the way he had given the truth to him in the beginning would prevail in the end.

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And some of us, our children have not been given the truth in the beginning

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by you, but the truth has been put in their spirit by God in the beginning.

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So it's not like they don't have any idea of what is right and what is wrong.

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But the father went back to the driveway every day, looking to the left, looking to the right.

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Watching, watching for his son to come home, believing God, believing that God

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would find this lost sheep and bring him back to his senses bring him back to

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himself that's exactly what happened there

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to the son, he was there, he spent all his money.

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You know, he was kind of like, he wanted stuff now. You know,

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that's what he comes, he says, I want it now, I want my inheritance now when I'm young.

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And he went into prodigal living, yeah. Yeah, and so basically he got the,

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the father said, okay, you got it. He spent all his money.

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He wasted it, he wasted it. And how many people are wasting their lives?

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And then what happened after he was wasting their lives?

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Well, not only that, but in the circumstances, there was a famine in the land.

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There was trouble, there was pressure, There was lack of food.

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The grass wasn't so green over there. So it put pressure on this kid who now

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had no money to go eat out at the restaurant.

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So he found himself having to join himself to a citizen of the country.

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Hog farmer. A hog farmer and one who fed swine.

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And so that's the worst, the lowest of job occupations back in those days, I'm sure.

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Yeah, because it was considered a Jewish, you know.

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So he was sunk down to the place, not only of feeding the pigs,

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but wanting to eat what the pigs were eating because he was that hungry.

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You know, he was wanting to eat what the pigs weren't eating.

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Well. Yeah. You know, the husks of what was left over, left over from the pigs.

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And he's thinking about this. This is happening kind of day after day.

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And then all of a sudden, it says he came to himself. What blessed words.

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It says when he came to himself.

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That is the key. That is it. This is what has to happen. Awake.

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The alarms go off. You wake up. You realize, you realize, aha,

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oh my, it's a revelation.

00:16:23.265 --> 00:16:25.985
I'm in trouble. What am I doing here? Here, yeah.

00:16:26.365 --> 00:16:30.325
And so then he thought, okay, and he would have gladly have filled himself with

00:16:30.325 --> 00:16:33.185
his stomach with the pods that the swine ate.

00:16:33.345 --> 00:16:35.805
And no one gave him anything. Here's another part of that.

00:16:36.085 --> 00:16:39.445
You know, people are not enabling him any longer to go in the wrong direction.

00:16:39.625 --> 00:16:42.425
You know, sometimes we enable our children. We give them too much.

00:16:42.425 --> 00:16:45.385
Nobody helped him. Nobody helped him. Nobody gave him any sympathy.

00:16:45.685 --> 00:16:49.465
No pity. There's a plague in the land. He's hungry. He's eating with the pigs.

00:16:49.665 --> 00:16:53.125
This is about as low as you can get. And sometimes as we call that the bottom

00:16:53.125 --> 00:16:58.645
of the barrel, but sometimes that's where we end up and we have to let our children end up.

00:16:58.805 --> 00:17:01.785
We pray for them at the bottom of the barrel that God will protect them.

00:17:02.201 --> 00:17:05.881
And they won't give up and kill themselves, because that's where the enemy wants

00:17:05.881 --> 00:17:09.281
to take them, to that ultimate place of despair.

00:17:09.641 --> 00:17:14.501
And we bind that spirit of death and suicide over them, because Satan wants

00:17:14.501 --> 00:17:15.861
to take them out of commission.

00:17:15.941 --> 00:17:18.381
He wants to steal their life, steal their gifts, steal their opportunities to

00:17:18.381 --> 00:17:21.741
live their life into the fullness that God has created for them.

00:17:22.141 --> 00:17:26.141
So he came to himself and said, how many of my father's hired servants have

00:17:26.141 --> 00:17:29.221
bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger?

00:17:29.261 --> 00:17:32.621
So he is repenting, because he's not, He's hungry.

00:17:34.101 --> 00:17:38.681
God's getting through to him in the reality that I'm starving to death. I'm hungry.

00:17:38.941 --> 00:17:44.941
And so sometimes those basic needs are the things God uses to bring us back

00:17:44.941 --> 00:17:48.501
to our senses and realize how dangerous the situation is.

00:17:48.661 --> 00:17:51.721
He said, I will arise and go to my father and will say to him,

00:17:51.861 --> 00:17:54.401
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

00:17:54.521 --> 00:17:58.661
So he's actually repenting here, confessing that he believed lies. He sinned.

00:17:58.721 --> 00:18:02.081
He took matters into his own hands. He ran off and did his own thing,

00:18:02.521 --> 00:18:06.321
irregardless of what the Father had taught him, spent all the money,

00:18:06.441 --> 00:18:12.461
wasted it, and now here he is with nothing to show for it except barely his life.

00:18:12.561 --> 00:18:15.361
I mean, he's barely got his life. He's probably lost 40 pounds.

00:18:15.361 --> 00:18:17.861
He's probably in rags by now.

00:18:18.201 --> 00:18:23.461
And he says, I've sinned before heaven and against before you.

00:18:23.601 --> 00:18:31.421
So he's actually repenting, coming back to the truth, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

00:18:31.581 --> 00:18:34.981
So this is the place of conversion in a way.

00:18:35.181 --> 00:18:39.921
This is where we get to that place where I'm not worthy to be called your son.

00:18:40.001 --> 00:18:44.981
I can't deserve to be called your son. I can't earn it, but I am your son.

00:18:45.661 --> 00:18:49.361
We are God's children whether we earn it or deserve it or are worthy of it or

00:18:49.361 --> 00:18:51.081
not because the fact is we are God's son.

00:18:51.301 --> 00:18:55.901
Even when he was in the pig pen eating the husks, he was still his father's

00:18:55.901 --> 00:19:01.201
son. His identity, his true origin and identity as being the son of this,

00:19:01.751 --> 00:19:06.271
pretty wealthy farmer, actually, was not changed. The fact that all that had

00:19:06.271 --> 00:19:09.331
changed was his circumstances and the way he had behaved.

00:19:09.711 --> 00:19:14.591
So he came, he says, I will go back to my father. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

00:19:14.711 --> 00:19:18.551
So he wasn't, you know, laying claim to, okay, now you have to take care of

00:19:18.551 --> 00:19:20.231
me again because I'm your son.

00:19:20.371 --> 00:19:24.631
He was not going there. He was saying, make me one of your hired servants.

00:19:24.731 --> 00:19:25.991
So he's really humbling himself.

00:19:26.311 --> 00:19:29.351
This is where I believe God wants that conversion to happen where we humble

00:19:29.351 --> 00:19:34.971
ourselves and we're not trying to earn it or approve ourselves or make someone

00:19:34.971 --> 00:19:39.411
else have to pay us something because we're actually recognizing we don't deserve it.

00:19:39.551 --> 00:19:45.611
So when he returns to the Father, the Father welcomes him as a son,

00:19:45.771 --> 00:19:48.371
not as a servant, as a full-blown son.

00:19:48.531 --> 00:19:51.251
He gives him the robe.

00:19:51.431 --> 00:19:56.551
Wait, wait. We got to go back to the good part. Verse 20, And he rose and came to his father's house.

00:19:56.671 --> 00:20:03.351
And when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion

00:20:03.351 --> 00:20:05.751
on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

00:20:05.931 --> 00:20:09.291
So there was no bitterness, no grudges, no, what did you do?

00:20:09.591 --> 00:20:13.731
You hurt me. I can't even, how can I ever trust you? You were such an embarrassment

00:20:13.731 --> 00:20:17.331
to our family. He didn't have any of that father.

00:20:17.431 --> 00:20:22.131
The father of God had been worked on too, obviously, because he was ready to

00:20:22.131 --> 00:20:25.551
kiss him, receive him back, hug him, hold him.

00:20:25.691 --> 00:20:29.671
And the son said to his father, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in

00:20:29.671 --> 00:20:32.011
your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son.

00:20:32.011 --> 00:20:34.951
This is a great day because his son has now come

00:20:34.951 --> 00:20:38.271
he's now gotten straightened out about priorities what's

00:20:38.271 --> 00:20:41.051
really going on and how he doesn't say you know

00:20:41.051 --> 00:20:43.891
the devil made me do it but that the devil was right there

00:20:43.891 --> 00:20:46.731
in the midst of the whole thing but the son made the

00:20:46.731 --> 00:20:51.591
choice to believe you know that his father would forgive him I believe that

00:20:51.591 --> 00:20:55.991
was there all along he knew he had he could come back and at least his father

00:20:55.991 --> 00:21:00.211
would be kind enough to give him a place in the bunkhouse and so he He trusted

00:21:00.211 --> 00:21:05.931
in his father's forgiveness even before he got home. And what did the father do?

00:21:06.451 --> 00:21:12.571
It said, the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it

00:21:12.571 --> 00:21:17.351
on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted

00:21:17.351 --> 00:21:19.551
calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry.

00:21:19.611 --> 00:21:23.111
For this my son was dead and is alive again.

00:21:23.111 --> 00:21:28.531
He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. So he says the best robe,

00:21:28.751 --> 00:21:35.791
we're not just giving him something from some rag from the goodwill or something.

00:21:36.011 --> 00:21:39.331
Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Reinstate him.

00:21:39.711 --> 00:21:42.331
Put the ring of authority back on his finger.

00:21:43.011 --> 00:21:45.071
Reinstate him. And sandals on his feet.

00:21:45.556 --> 00:21:50.816
So his feet are not going to be bruised and cut up anymore and bring the fatted calves.

00:21:50.956 --> 00:21:54.856
So they bring the best food. Of everything.

00:21:55.176 --> 00:21:57.556
It's a full restoration. Yeah. You know.

00:21:58.116 --> 00:22:02.776
Well, almost full. It's a welcome home feast. He was fully restored to his family, his position.

00:22:03.596 --> 00:22:06.736
But his brother, his older brother.

00:22:06.876 --> 00:22:09.576
His older brother didn't like it. Who was in the field, had worked hard and,

00:22:09.576 --> 00:22:11.456
you know, been faithful all along.

00:22:11.476 --> 00:22:15.376
And when he heard the music and the dancing, of course, he came and he asked, what's going on here?

00:22:15.556 --> 00:22:21.336
And they told him, the servants told him that the son had come home, asked these things.

00:22:21.496 --> 00:22:27.936
He said, your brother has come home and he has received him safe and sound.

00:22:27.956 --> 00:22:31.236
And your father killed the fatted calf to make the party, basically.

00:22:31.556 --> 00:22:35.636
And he was angry and would not go in there for the father to come out and reconcile

00:22:35.636 --> 00:22:38.036
and talk to him, plead with him.

00:22:38.236 --> 00:22:42.396
So he answered and said to his father, lo, these many years I've been serving

00:22:42.396 --> 00:22:47.456
you, I never transgressed. I was faithful, I got up early in the morning,

00:22:47.736 --> 00:22:51.576
I went on and did chores, I never complained, and yet you never gave me a young

00:22:51.576 --> 00:22:53.036
goat that I might make merry.

00:22:53.116 --> 00:22:56.996
You didn't even give me a little bit of something I could party with.

00:22:57.776 --> 00:23:02.696
And now as soon as this renegade son of yours comes back, who has devoured your

00:23:02.696 --> 00:23:07.016
livelihood and inheritance, with harlots, you kill the out of calf.

00:23:07.296 --> 00:23:13.956
How violating, how unfair, how whatever, you know, this offense.

00:23:14.456 --> 00:23:17.916
Because when God is good and faithful to receive people, prodigals,

00:23:18.096 --> 00:23:21.996
lost sheep back, are we offended because God is happy that they're home?

00:23:22.316 --> 00:23:27.396
And then the father said to him, son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours.

00:23:27.676 --> 00:23:31.776
It was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead.

00:23:32.575 --> 00:23:37.195
That's right. He was dead in sins and trespasses. He was seduced. He was deceived.

00:23:37.435 --> 00:23:41.395
He was in a stupor. He was in a trance. He was enchanted. He had no way to get home.

00:23:41.875 --> 00:23:46.715
He didn't even know he was lost, let enough have a way to get back home and figure that out.

00:23:47.015 --> 00:23:51.755
But he's alive again. He was lost and is found. And he was found by the goodness

00:23:51.755 --> 00:23:57.795
of the working of the Spirit of God in the boy and the prayers of the Father, the faith of the Father.

00:23:58.035 --> 00:24:01.655
So as parents, you are going to go Go down to the end of the driveway.

00:24:02.135 --> 00:24:05.715
Look both ways. Keep looking. Keep praying. Keep waiting. Keep declaring.

00:24:05.975 --> 00:24:08.635
Keep rejoicing. Keep binding. Keep loosing.

00:24:09.035 --> 00:24:13.995
Keep declaring. Because God is faithful. He's, you know, the father was being

00:24:13.995 --> 00:24:15.315
tested just like the son.

00:24:15.555 --> 00:24:20.435
The son was being tested, and what was he going to do with the favor that he

00:24:20.435 --> 00:24:22.115
had been given? Well, he couldn't handle it.

00:24:22.455 --> 00:24:25.715
A lot of kids, they have to go back. We have to be converted.

00:24:25.935 --> 00:24:29.815
We have to get back to square one and realize that it's not about me.

00:24:29.815 --> 00:24:34.575
I can't deserve, I can't earn, I can't figure this, I can't perform enough to

00:24:34.575 --> 00:24:39.275
be who I want to be because I already, but the truth is I already am the son

00:24:39.275 --> 00:24:40.475
or daughter of the Most High God.

00:24:40.575 --> 00:24:43.855
You don't get it, it doesn't get any higher than that, but a lot of people,

00:24:43.995 --> 00:24:49.355
Satan wants us to look low, you know, settle, you know, settle for whatever,

00:24:49.555 --> 00:24:51.675
something way less than what God has planned for us.

00:24:51.835 --> 00:24:56.275
Yeah, and one of the things that we can get concerned about as parents and grandparents

00:24:56.275 --> 00:25:02.395
is that you don't want to see this life wasted, you know?

00:25:03.555 --> 00:25:07.195
I used to say if somebody got really drunk, they were getting wasted,

00:25:07.195 --> 00:25:11.015
but you don't want to see these gifts and talents and abilities.

00:25:11.495 --> 00:25:17.575
But we have to know, really, Jerry, that even though it looks terrible, hopeless,

00:25:18.370 --> 00:25:23.530
You know, there's no turning back. This one is gone forever, gone for good.

00:25:24.190 --> 00:25:27.950
He was lost. He wasn't totally gone. Well, he was, yeah.

00:25:28.170 --> 00:25:32.630
But at the same time, he was lost to his life purposes. Right,

00:25:32.730 --> 00:25:36.750
but he came back into it. But here's the deal.

00:25:37.090 --> 00:25:41.490
Your story, your son's story, your daughter's story, the tragedies that you're

00:25:41.490 --> 00:25:47.150
trying to work your way through and mourn your way through are testimonies to

00:25:47.150 --> 00:25:48.110
the faithfulness of God.

00:25:48.370 --> 00:25:52.870
So when this person has been so—you've heard many of these comeback stories.

00:25:53.070 --> 00:25:59.190
They were so lost, so broken, so beyond hope, beyond faith, beyond help, beyond anything,

00:25:59.370 --> 00:26:03.010
and God brought them back not only to the place where they were,

00:26:03.050 --> 00:26:06.490
but to a better place, a place where they can now preach the gospel or heal

00:26:06.490 --> 00:26:08.670
the sick or cleanse the lepers or declare the goodness of God.

00:26:08.910 --> 00:26:12.870
So it's the testimony of God that's being written in your child right now that's tearing you apart.

00:26:13.330 --> 00:26:17.230
Stop worrying about it and start praising God and thanking Him that all things

00:26:17.230 --> 00:26:19.810
work together for good, God loses nothing.

00:26:19.990 --> 00:26:23.090
Jesus says, God, I've lost nothing that the Father has put into my hands.

00:26:23.310 --> 00:26:29.110
And so he doesn't drop us, but he allows us to go through super pressure refining

00:26:29.110 --> 00:26:32.030
processes that are beyond our comprehension.

00:26:32.310 --> 00:26:36.630
And Satan thinks he's got us, but God says, wait and see what I'm going to do.

00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:40.710
And God knows how to get through to the prodigals.

00:26:40.710 --> 00:26:47.510
It's interesting, 2 Samuel in chapter 14, the last part of verse 14,

00:26:47.810 --> 00:26:55.310
it says, this is a wise woman that was really speaking a powerful truth here that we need to look at.

00:26:55.550 --> 00:27:03.230
He says, yet God does not take away a life, but he devises means so that his

00:27:03.230 --> 00:27:08.670
banished ones are not expelled from him, are not cast out from him.

00:27:08.670 --> 00:27:12.310
So God is devising one. This is a powerful truth.

00:27:13.212 --> 00:27:17.592
God, he's devising means. He's got a way. Setting up circumstances.

00:27:17.692 --> 00:27:20.952
Setting up circumstances. Got to play. Bringing a person to their life.

00:27:21.492 --> 00:27:25.512
That these banished ones, the ones that are alienated, that are gone,

00:27:25.892 --> 00:27:29.712
driven away, are not going to be expelled. God is not willing that any should

00:27:29.712 --> 00:27:31.052
perish, that all should come to repentance.

00:27:31.172 --> 00:27:34.972
And many of our children are in that place of looking like they're perishing.

00:27:35.252 --> 00:27:37.972
But they're part of the harvest. And it says in the last days,

00:27:38.012 --> 00:27:39.212
the prodigals are going to come home.

00:27:39.292 --> 00:27:42.232
The fathers, the hearts of the fathers are going to be turned back to their

00:27:42.232 --> 00:27:44.092
children. This is called humbling.

00:27:44.292 --> 00:27:47.652
This is called confessing. This is called repenting. This is called forgiving.

00:27:47.992 --> 00:27:51.032
And the most important thing you can do for your child right now,

00:27:51.252 --> 00:27:55.192
where you're sitting waiting for them to come home, is to forgive them, release them.

00:27:55.292 --> 00:27:58.272
That means forgive them for what they've done and how they've judged themselves.

00:27:58.572 --> 00:28:03.812
Forgive them for how they behaved and hurt you. Forgive them for how they rejected God.

00:28:04.072 --> 00:28:07.992
Forgiving means you release them from judgment and turn the judgment of the

00:28:07.992 --> 00:28:10.292
situation over to God because none of us know the true, whole,

00:28:10.412 --> 00:28:12.692
complete story except God. So I forgive.

00:28:12.912 --> 00:28:15.292
And right now, as we pray, I forgive.

00:28:15.572 --> 00:28:18.352
Jesus said, whoever sends you to forgive, they're forgiving them.

00:28:18.432 --> 00:28:22.132
So he didn't say they have to be alive. He didn't say they have to ask for forgiveness.

00:28:22.412 --> 00:28:26.312
He said, whosoever. So we're going to forgive all of the prodigals out there.

00:28:26.392 --> 00:28:28.172
We're going to forgive all of them, lock, stock, and barrel,

00:28:28.272 --> 00:28:31.372
all millions of them right now that have turned away from God.

00:28:31.572 --> 00:28:34.672
We're releasing all of you, sons and daughters of the Most High,

00:28:34.852 --> 00:28:40.092
from the prodigal lies and snares and witchcraft that's been over you.

00:28:40.112 --> 00:28:44.412
We release you. We forgive you for being deceived, for walking away.

00:28:44.412 --> 00:28:46.872
We release you from the judgments you've made against yourself.

00:28:47.032 --> 00:28:51.912
We forgive you, and we ask that as we come before the court of heaven now to

00:28:51.912 --> 00:28:56.432
present all these prodigals, we come as the plaintiff, we come as the petitioners,

00:28:56.492 --> 00:29:00.992
we come to present our cases on behalf of our children to God.

00:29:01.707 --> 00:29:03.967
And we're asking, Father, for the testimony of Jesus Christ,

00:29:04.067 --> 00:29:07.547
your Son, who was there when it happened, saw everything that happened.

00:29:07.687 --> 00:29:08.807
He is the faithful witness.

00:29:09.107 --> 00:29:12.427
So we're asking you, Lord Jesus, to testify to the truth of what happened to

00:29:12.427 --> 00:29:17.447
each son, each daughter, each one that's been led astray, deceived, snared, hunted.

00:29:18.287 --> 00:29:23.987
Captured, kept in cages, that you will testify to the Father the truth of what

00:29:23.987 --> 00:29:26.947
happened and that the court will rule according to the testimony of Jesus Christ

00:29:26.947 --> 00:29:31.807
and that these children, however old they might be, and their children.

00:29:32.387 --> 00:29:39.167
However many children they may have, will come back to God with true love and cleansing.

00:29:39.447 --> 00:29:44.507
True, deep repentance. Repentance. Yeah. And that the enemy's plan will be absolutely

00:29:44.507 --> 00:29:46.287
foiled and God's plan will be fulfilled.

00:29:46.807 --> 00:29:51.947
And we will believe God, cast our care upon him, for he cares for us and continue to praise God.

00:29:52.167 --> 00:29:57.987
And then we also bind right now, as the court has rendered the children guiltless,

00:29:58.427 --> 00:30:03.127
not guilty, that they will receive that forgiveness and then we will declare

00:30:03.127 --> 00:30:08.267
that the court must judge the demons, the liars, the destroyers,

00:30:08.387 --> 00:30:12.187
the ones who led them prodigal, tried to capture them, destroy them,

00:30:12.467 --> 00:30:17.347
that these demonic judgments would be removed from the children and be put back

00:30:17.347 --> 00:30:21.527
on the enemy and he would suffer his own consequences in Jesus' name.

00:30:21.527 --> 00:30:25.627
And Father God, forgive us for the fear allowing fear to control us,

00:30:26.077 --> 00:30:32.337
You know, yeah, we realize that these kids, these children, again,

00:30:32.477 --> 00:30:36.597
whatever their ages, are in a really dangerous situation, Lord God.

00:30:36.797 --> 00:30:41.137
But we thank you, Lord, that we just trust you. We pray. We believe.

00:30:41.337 --> 00:30:44.897
We release them to you. You've got a way of getting through to them.

00:30:45.257 --> 00:30:51.477
Lord God, we've seen this. Margie and I have seen this happen even fairly recently.

00:30:52.577 --> 00:30:56.817
Prodigals that have returned and their families are being blessed and helped.

00:30:57.137 --> 00:30:58.617
Families are being restored.

00:30:58.997 --> 00:31:02.317
And he does it for others and he'll do it for you too.

00:31:02.517 --> 00:31:06.417
Because he's no respecter of persons. Don't realize, well, how about mine?

00:31:06.537 --> 00:31:08.657
I mean, I see these ones coming back.

00:31:08.937 --> 00:31:13.017
What about my kids? That's good news for you too. That's good news. Be encouraged.

00:31:13.957 --> 00:31:17.257
They're coming back. We call them back. Yes.

00:31:17.597 --> 00:31:20.337
In the name of Jesus. Come back to your home. Come back to the truth.

00:31:20.337 --> 00:31:22.637
Come back to Jesus Christ, come to your mothers and fathers.

00:31:23.197 --> 00:31:27.477
Children, look up, wake up, wake them up.

00:31:27.557 --> 00:31:32.477
Lord, send something, someone to wake them up, let the Holy Spirit wake them

00:31:32.477 --> 00:31:36.877
up, turn them around and bring them home and bring them home to people who love

00:31:36.877 --> 00:31:42.037
them and are ready to embrace them, not scold them and challenge them again, but we love them.

00:31:42.197 --> 00:31:46.177
Lord, let us learn our lessons while they're gone to receive them back with love.

00:31:46.297 --> 00:31:50.137
And these, when they come back, we just pray that they will be some of the mightiest.

00:31:51.277 --> 00:31:54.917
Warriors for your kingdom, the mightiest warriors on earth.

00:31:54.997 --> 00:31:59.557
The most dedicated, the most passionate and compassionate because they've been out there, done that.

00:31:59.797 --> 00:32:03.217
They've seen what's going on out there. Now they can work in the harvest field,

00:32:03.697 --> 00:32:08.317
motivated by what they've seen, by the love of God and the rescue of God and

00:32:08.317 --> 00:32:10.437
the goodness of God. Let it be done, Lord God.

00:32:11.497 --> 00:32:14.897
Vindicate yourself, Lord God, in bringing the prodigals home.

00:32:15.257 --> 00:32:20.137
Lord, forgive us for being the ones who maybe kind of were used by the enemy to send them away.

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Forgive us. Change our minds and hearts. Cause us not to be religious,

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narcissistic, unforgiving, bitter, judgmental, condemning. Forgive us.

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As we ask you to forgive us and bring our children home.

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Amen. You have a wonderful book called Doing Relationships God's Way.

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And that covers our relationship with God, ourself, our family,

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spouses. Difficult people.

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How can they get that? Well, you can go to Amazon.com and check it out,

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Doing Relationships God's Way.

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Or you can just go to our website, liferecovery.com, and purchase it right off

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of our bookstore, Doing Relationships God's Way.

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Very, very powerful little book that has lots of truth in it,

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and lots of even things, quizzes and exercises to do where you can see what

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happened to you as well. It's not just a read it book.

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It's kind of a read and be absorbed and learn from it book. So God bless you,

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and also take advantage of our Thursday night live Teams meeting from 6.30 to 7.30 Minnesota time.

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You can go to our website and get the link for Teams and join us.

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And what we do there, we talk, we pray, we cast out demons, we do it. Answer questions.

00:33:36.714 --> 00:33:39.974
Yeah, answer questions. It's just a conversation, and whatever people need to

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do, that's where it goes.

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So it's a free time to just get your questions answered, get your prayers prayed, and join us.

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6.30 to 7.30 every Thursday night on Teams.

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Go to the website and get the link and then go get the app so that they'll remind

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you every week of the Teams meeting. God bless you.

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Music.