Harris Creek Baptist Church The Father’s Response to Rebellion and Repentance
What do you believe about God? Who and what has contributed to that belief? Are you sure you are right? As we start a new series, Far From the Father, JP teaches us about God by examining when Jesus taught about the Father in Luke 15.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-“What comes to a person’s mind when they think about God is the most important thing about them.” -AW Tozer
-When the gospels talk about “sinner” they are talking about a class of people. When they talk about “tax collectors” they are talking about people who took 85% and used part of the money to oppress the very people (the Jews) they took it from.
-Asking your father for your inheritance in Bible times was the equivalent of saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead.”
-Sometimes when we aren’t pursuing the Lord it makes all the sense in the world that we are experiencing a storm or a famine in our lives.
-When you rebel, God will let you.
-God wants you to know that life can be found in Him alone. Not possessions, money, experiences, or anything else. Only Him.
-Read Romans chapter 1 for a commentary of what is happening in our culture today.
-Do you really want God, or do you just want His stuff?
-Most of us superstitiously approach God, trying to say our prayers just right, hoping to get what we want because what we want is not Him.
-If you like what you got, keep doing what you are doing. But if you keep doing what you are doing, you are not going to like what you got.
-Some of the richest and most “free” people in the world are the most depressed and anxious.
-The Bible is brilliant, and the way you will miss the truths it teaches is by thinking you already have them.
-Do you ever plan to pray rather than pray?
-Do not be deceived: God has seen everything. The darkest perversions of your heart and everything you’ve ever done. He has seen and knows it all.
-When you come to ruin, God hurts with you.
-God isn’t hurt by you, but He hurts with you. The Son was hurt for you.
-The way the world was designed by God is that sin will always have consequences. Eternally, because of Jesus, we are free. But on this earth, sin always has consequences.
-God looks at you and He embraces you. He’s not scared of your filth.
-Sometimes when you hurt in relationships, it’s good and healthy to create boundaries with those people. However, you need to understand that God doesn’t do that. He radically pursues you.
-The number one metaphor for heaven is a party.
-When you repent, God restores you.
-What someone celebrates tells you a lot about them.
-What do you celebrate? If you are a parent, what do you celebrate in your kids’ lives?
-What does God celebrate? He celebrates repentance.
-Repentance is owning whatever you did and taking the consequences as they come. It’s turning from your sin and turning to God.
MENTIONED OR RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
-Suggested Scripture Study: Luke 15:1-24; Romans 1
-Book: The Prodigal God by Tim Keller