Never Forget

Well, all I can say is buckle your seat belts because this weekend has been eventful in the way that God has given our guest speaker Andrew McCourt, I think a heart and a message and a voice that's not only going to get your attention, but I think it's not going to inspire and in fact might even challenge you in some ways and that's all good. Andrew McCourt is one of the senior pastors at Bayside in Granite Bay. He's been there, yay! We've got the Granite Bay contingent here. Awesome. And he's been there for three years, so that's good. You've got people cheering for you. Just three years. He grew up in Northern Ireland. How was that? That sound like a lard, huh? Keep going? Keep, he said, keep, he said, "Bag it." But he is married to his lovely wife Isabel. They have four children between 13 and 21 and it's just been a great, great privilege to have him here this week. So would you please give a very warm TLC welcome to Andrew McCourt as he speaks to us this morning.

Well, hi everybody. It's okay, I don't need it, thank you. Well, hi everyone. It's good to see you. And yes, this is an Irish accent and you need to listen carefully because this is how you're going to talk when you get to heaven. This is true, everyone, so pay much attention today. And so I want to say thank you to Pastor Mark, to Pastor René, all the staff for having me here. It's always a risk having an outside speaker. But I've enjoyed being here. I don't know if anyone else has enjoyed it, but I've had a ball. This is great. It's like Irish weather outside too. That's really cool. That's cool. Two great days in an Irishman's life or an Irishman's year and that is his birthday and summer. That's it. Okay, it's one day a year. That's all that happens.

But yeah, so I've got Isabel with me. Isabel's originally from France. Ooh la la. Yeah, and we've got four kids, so that's working. We've got Ben 21. We've got Dan who's 19. We've got Abigail, my only girl in the world. My only girl. She's 15 and she loves her daddy. And Abigail means father's joy. Isn't that right? Yeah. So the reason I moved to the United States was that I could buy a gun. Any dads know what I'm talking about? Yeah. And then I've got Nathan, Nathan who's 13 and he's here as a missionary. He's officially a missionary to the United States to get you into proper football. That weird one with a rugby ball. The proper football. Soccer everyone. God is currently watching the World Cup. He's keeping a little eye on the service but he is watching the World Cup.

But I just, if you're that sort of person that loves to take notes, if you look into your notes today, we're not doing that sermon. I'm sorry. You're going, "Whatever, I can't leave this church without filling those things in." Okay. Jesus is testing you. So I just felt last night that we should do something different and I feel that it's worked. So I really want to speak to the people that are here because maybe you took the wrong turning. You thought you were going to Costco and you've ended up in the strangest bingo hall in the world and so you're here and you're just wondering what is going on. It's like having karaoke without the bouncing ball. You don't know the words. You don't know what's happening. No one took money out of the bag. That was weird for you. You were going like, "Easy money." But you're here and you don't really know what's going on. That's okay. Especially if you're here and you hate religion. I think it's great that you're here because you're in the right place because Jesus hates religion.

I want to try and take the next two hours and talk to you. He's ordered pizza. Everyone's going to be okay. I just want to take the next while and see what I said. While. I'm not putting a time on this because, you know. I want to take the next time and just talk about Jesus for a while and try and introduce to you a snippet of what I think is the real Jesus. Because when Jesus came to this earth, he never had a problem with Rome. Rome was like the ruling authority of the day. They weren't good. They just were not good. But what he did have a problem with was organized religion. I mean, he really got in those guys' faces. And some of it, it sort of went from mild disagreement to crucifixion. It sounds like the average marriage, doesn't it? It just goes through. And so, you know, Jesus just seemed to rattle these guys.

So the setting for today's reading is simply this. That these Pharisees, Pharisees, they were like the Pharisees of the day. They were like, they were just like really, you know, wildly religious people. You know what I'm saying? It's like Republicans today. I didn't say that. I'm Irish. Just, just come on. It's Santa Cruz. Um, Pharisees of the day, what were they like? They just couldn't get on with Jesus. And so they got together and this is what they said. We need to deal with him. We need to deal with him. So it hadn't gone Def Con 1, crucify him. But it was, let's do something. And one of them said, ah, I've got the ultimate put down, the ultimate put down. I will say this to him. And they said, okay, let's do it. Let's find him. So they all found Jesus and they were like, say it to him, say it to him. And he went, Jesus. And he went, yeah, you go and say it. You, you friend of sinners. They were all like, yeah. And Jesus was, thank you very much.

Because this is the truth, everyone. He is the Lord of Lords. He's the King of Kings. He's the creator of the universe. He made the whole world by his word. He keeps the whole world together by the power of his word. But if he is not a friend of sinners, I am stuffed. We're in big trouble because we're all good at sinning. Come on religious people, loosen up. You all got skeletons at home. Some of you got them in your purse. Come on. Yes. Got them on your phone. Don't open that safari link in here. Yes. We've all got skeletons. And we're really good at sinning. We got a PhD in sinning, some of us. We really teach sinners how to sin. That's how good we are at sinning. But Jesus is a friend of sinners.

So Jesus turned around and he said, "Okay, you guys aren't getting me, you Pharisee religious people. I'm going to try and explain to you in three stories just how serious I am about loving people who consider themselves to be far from God." So I'm going to read one of the stories to you on my high-tech Bible. And here it is here. It's from Luke 15. It's going to appear on the screen, okay? Then Jesus told them this parable. Most one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, "Rejoice with me. I find my lost sheep." Sheep are really important. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.

So what is Jesus doing here? He's trying to get people's attention about the value of stuff. And what does he talk about? Well, there was a farmer, all right? There was a shepherd and any farmers in here. Shepherds, come on, make yourself known. There's one over a year, okay? Couple in here. But most of us, we aren't from a farming, shepherding sort of background, correct? I think today Jesus said there was a man who had a hundred iPhones, you know, like our average teenager, all right? And so he was trying to say, "These things are really important." So when he said sheep, people went, "Sheep, ah, they're really, really important. They're really expensive. We like sheep. We need one every year for the family when it comes to sacrifice time up at the temple." Sheep are everything to you. So he had their attention. And he talked about one sheep that got lost. And can we call him Larry the lamb? Is that okay? Come on, we've got to bond with this sheep. Get into the story, everyone. So it's Larry the lamb, all right? You'll have a tattoo next week. Okay?

So, Larry the lamb, Larry, a very interesting character. I mean, Larry didn't just wake up one morning and go, "I hate this. I just hate living around here. And I'm just going to get lost." Most people don't wake up in the morning and say, "I want to become a loser." They don't say that. They just gradually get lost. That's just the way that life is. So when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Woolie, when they rang the missing sheep investigation unit, and when that unit came round to their neighbourhood, it wasn't on the wrong side of town, wherever the wrong side of town is in Santa Cruz, like, "Oh, kids, be careful when you're going over there. Lock your doors." It wasn't like he came from there. He lived. He was a sheep. He lived in a gated community. They get worse. Trust me, they get worse. He lived in a gated community. He lived in a gated community. And so they walked into the house and met the parents, walked in, and there's pictures, not of Larry like, you know, it's punk sheep, you know, with hate on his hoof. It wasn't like that. There was pictures of Larry with lacrosse, you know, synchronized women with his brother. You know, this is, this is, that's the sort of pictures that we had in normal, nice home. It wasn't like Larry, you know, when it came to sheep shearing season that he said to the shearer, he said, "I want you to take it in real tight up the sides. Take it in real tight and just leave this big bed up the middle. Paint the black." It wasn't like that. It wasn't like, you know, he said to his friends at school, "You want some real grass? Because I'm mad. All right, enough of all of that." It wasn't like that.

How did he get lost? He didn't like, you know, sneak out the bedroom window, something like that. This is how you get, Larry get lost and look at me, this is how we get lost. Larry got lost because he put his head down. He saw some really good grass. He started eating it and then he saw some other good grass and he went after that and he saw even better grass. It was like an Irish green, okay? He went after that and he just kept eating. He just kept his head down and he ended up lost and look at me everyone, that's how we get lost too and that's how the vast majority of people in this place who are lost get lost and the people that are watching on Facebook, they aren't watching like probably from a prison cell or from a basement surrounded by the bodies that they've murdered. Come on or counting their dollar bill, hundred dollar bills from their drug deals. Most people that get lost get lost because we're addicted to stuff. There's just too many good things in our lives, correct? There's so much choice and we just get busy and we get so busy as adults, we're busy not in our one job. I love America, you're all so wonderful. You don't just work one job, you've got two jobs, you've got three businesses. You haven't just got one house, you've got multiple houses, you've got a house on your house, you've got a yacht in your pool. And then for the stuff we can't get in our house, we put it into stories. What's that all about? You don't need it. You don't just sell it. Don't put it into stories, there's a thing called eBay and it wants to help you. Get rid of it, Graham's List, move on everyone, you've got too much stuff.

And then we teach our kids as well that one thing's never enough, one thing's never enough. So we wake them up really, really early in the morning and you with your eyes bleeding because you're so tired from your multiple jobs and got to clean your yacht and you wake your kids up at 4.30, come on, cross country running, why would you do that to a child? Then a swim meet after that, you don't need to shower, jump in the swim meet, just do and then you're at lacrosse and then you're at football and you're at God's game, soccer. That's okay, you can keep doing that. And then they're at the chess club and then they're at ping pong and then they're at karate and then they die at 15 with exhaustion. And you've got five businesses and you're a professional Uber driver with all your teenage children. Are you with me here today? It's just insane everybody and you're not stacking up bodies out in the back, you're not dealing drugs. What do you want? Meth, cocaine, what's your, you don't do that. You're in bed every night out of sheer exhaustion at eight o'clock, living the wildlife. But look at me, you're lost. You're lost. And some of us say, I'm not lost. No, you're lost. You are lost. Because some of us think, no, you're really lost. You have to be in high security. No, you're lost in high tech company. You're just so busy. You're every bit as much of a prisoner as the prisoner because your life is so, so controlled by the demands of this world.

Lost people get lost because they put their head down like Larry the lamb and they just get lost. Well, how did they get found? Because there's a shepherd and a shepherd cares and a shepherd counts. You're hearing this? Shepherds count. So at the end of the day, a Middle Eastern shepherd, you know what? He really cared about sheep and he did this whole counting thing. I'll just look that and say, good crowd. No, he actually counted and he went one, two, three, 45, 46, 47, 98, 99. Whoa, we're missing one. All right, line up again, lads. Okay, everyone line up again. One, two, three, 45, 46, 47, 98, 99. And it was where is Larry? Now, I'm a city boy. I'm a city boy and if it had been me, if I'd have been doing like on my college break, doing a little bit of summer work and I counted the sheep, I'd have got the 99, I'd have gone, whatever. Is anyone else with me? I'd have been like, whatever, because 99 out of 100 is pretty good. Less your Larry, of course. But generally speaking, if you're not a shepherd, 99 out of 100 is pretty good.

Let's think about this here. Because if you've got a child, your child's going to do a test, they study really hard and say, "Are you ready for your test?" "Yeah, I'm ready for the test." They go in and do their test, they come out from the test and go, "Hey, how did it go today?" "Yeah, I did my test. What was your result?" "I got 99 out of 100, dad." You go, "What? 99 out of 100? You wister loser. You've been upstairs playing Fortnite. How many people know what Fortnite is? Many people have been frozen in time, don't know what it is. It's a crazy crowd. You've been upstairs playing Fortnite. What are you doing with your life?" 99 out of 100 is pretty incredible, unless you're a shepherd. Because to a shepherd, every single sheep really counts. Look at me, everyone watching online, everyone in this room, you really matter to God. This is not a crowd here today. We have a God that knows every single person. He made you in your mother's womb. You were formed by him. You were fashioned by him. He knows the number of the hairs on your head. He knows your absolute DNA makeup. He put it together. Yes? You don't need to go to Ancestry.com. Just connect with your Heavenly Father. He knows everything about you. Yes? Are you with me? God knows every single thing about you.

Because he's a shepherd and he really cares. And he finds out that Larry's missing. What does God do? What does a shepherd do at that moment in time? He turns around and he says, "Okay, 99, goodbye." And they're like, "Bye, goodbye. Larry's missing." And right now, the missing sheep is more important than the 99 found sheep. And do you know what? Look at me, seasoned Christian. You that know the Bible so well that you've been hanging out here, you're part of the furniture. Listen to me. Thank God for your faithfulness and all that you do. But this is Jesus' manifesto for the world. It is still his heart for the world that he will leave the 99 and pursue the one. And our comfort as Christians, our comfort as Christians is not the most important thing to God. God wants to make you uncomfortable for the uncomfortable out there. That are desperately lost. That don't know that this place exists. And don't know that Bayside, our church exists. They have no idea that it exists. God says, "My whole agenda and everything I think about and everything I do is oriented towards the one person who is terribly lost." And they don't even realize it.

So the shepherd counts and he goes, "Larry's missing. We're going to abandon ship everyone just to find Larry." I don't think at that moment in time, little Bo Peep has lost her sheep. Think about Bear Grylls on steroids. Think about the Terminator that's going to go and find the sheep. Back in Ireland when the kids were younger, we took them shopping once. Once. We only took them once. And we went to this one store that had aisles in it for all of them. Something to interest all of them. That's like a shopping trip from heaven, isn't it, parents? All of them were happy in the one store. So we went in and the two oldest boys then went over and looked at computer games. Isabel took the two youngest kids, Abigail and Nathan, and I went and looked at men stuff. And I turned around a corner later on and there was Isabel standing with Abigail. With only Abigail. And don't judge her, everyone. Don't judge her right now. God's forgiven her. And so I said to her, "Where's Nathan?" And she said, "I left him with you." Terrible woman. And I said, "You know, you're trying to keep it up. You can see what's going to happen here because you've all done it." And I said, "No, I left him with you." And she goes, "Andrew, I left him with you." And I said, "Woman, I were a liar. I left him with you." And at that moment in time, you've got options, everyone. Because three out of four is not bad. Are you with me? Come on. Don't we like the Pharisees counting? Three out of four is not bad. You know, you start to think to yourself, "We could save a lot of money." His brothers eat a lot and he's going to go the same way. And then the other thoughts are, "It could be awkward, you know, grandparents are going to ask questions about the child. It's going to be awkward at Christmas for that child. We lost him in the summer shopping. You know, it's going to be awkward." No, everyone. There's a muscle that kicks in at that moment in time as a parent and you just go, "Stop the stupid argument. Stop the blame game. Someone needs to take responsibility. He's missing."

And look at me for a second. We'll come back to that story. We, in the church of Jesus Christ, need to take responsibility for lost people. And we've got to listen. That's so true. We can't be the people that's turning them around and going, "What's that President Trump doing?" Or, "What did Obama ever do?" We're going to offend everyone here, okay? What are those guys doing on the hill? What's the government doing? "Oh, the state of California taxes again if they could only get their act together." Come on, everyone. What are we waiting for? Is our hope in the government or is our hope in God? There's a generation that's lost. That's lost. And the church needs to say, "We're going to get," listen to me, "our staff. We're going to get our finances. We're going to get our weekends. We're going to get our weekdays. We're going to get all of our people and we're going to get all of our guns and we're going to aim them at one thing and that's not the comfort of us in the pews, but we're going to get all our guns and point them towards." Guns is a bad analogy. We're going to get all our love and point them towards people who don't know God.

So I said in the store that day, "Nathan's lost." I said, "Abigail, you go right. Isabelle, you go up in the middle. Boys, you go to the left." And Isabelle said, "Where are you going to go?" I said, "Everywhere." Picking up like a little granny. You don't go up and just go, "Excuse me. I'm looking at the crockery. I'll give you a little minute. Just whatever." No, you grab people. You pick up a little granny and you look her in the eye. You seen a little boy? You answer to the name little boy. No. Right, Carol. Because you're desperate. You're a parent. And the next minute we see two grannies outside, outside the store holding Nathan's hand. And walking him back in. We're crying, Nathan smiling. Because we know he's lost. He doesn't know he's lost. And there are literally hundreds of thousands of people living in the great area of Santa Cruz that are still in their beds today or they're down at the beach trying to avoid great white sharks while they surf. And they don't know they're lost. They just don't know they're lost.

So Jesus tells the story of a hundred sheep. One goes missing. One at a hundred, well, whatever. And he goes, "Okay, you all still with me?" And everyone's like, "Yeah, it's great. This guy's great. This is great. Should have brought lunch. It's so good." Apparently he does lunch. Apparently he does lunch. Okay, sorry. So they initiate it. And so they all, they said, and he's looking at them and they're still going, "Huh? Okay." There was a woman, a woman. She had 10 coins and the smart ones were nudging each other and going, "Bet she loses one. Bet she loses one." That's what happens. The woman's got 10 coins. She probably keeps them in a purse. And that day and age, she didn't keep them in the bank. She kept them in the house. She had to protect them. She had to make ends meet. Wasn't like the rich West today. Life was tough. She's got the 10 coins. She's holding onto her 10 coins. Very, very precious to her. She would check them every day. One day to her absolute horror, as she looks into the little bag, one of the coins has got lost.

Well, how did it get lost? Well, that morning the coin woke up because that's what coins do. They just wake up. The coin woke up and he's looking in the bag and he sent some rest of his coin buddies. He said, "I was born for more than this." Coins aren't born for the kids though, okay? I was born for more than this. Tell you what I'm going to do the next time she opens that bag, I'm just going to, "I'm going to jump out. I wasn't born just to buy some local bread. I was born for Vegas. I was born for a slot machine. I was born for a win." No, it didn't happen like that. It was just like one day something happened. Whatever she was doing, the way that she counted, she had them in her hands. She went to put them back in. One slipped through her finger. Just slipped through her finger. It fell on the floor. Maybe the dusty floor. Maybe the carpeted floor, but she didn't hear it. Maybe he had some straw. She didn't hear it, but she realizes that the coin is lost. Just went through her fingers. Just slipped through her fingers.

Back in Ireland, we used to do this ministry, and it was called Street Pastors. It was in a city called Derry, where we planted a church. It was a last walled city in Ireland. The young people in the area were keeping up the great Irish tradition of drinking too much. It's a generational thing. The city council, they were just exasperated with this, and that's when the church goes, "Yo!" Where there's a need, we're going to do something. We formed this thing called Street Pastors. Instead of giving them alcohol, we offered them tea and coffee because it used to get cold at night, hot soup. Then also, for the girls that were out, because we used to notice there's a lot of the girls, and this is a really interesting thing. We get into this culture of Christianese, where we have these really late nights sometimes, and we go to bed at 10. That's when everyone else is going out. I used to notice that sometimes the dresses were getting so small, it was like three girls to one dress. Have you ever seen that? Three girls wearing one dress? They were in high heels. This is an impersonation of high heels. Some of the guys will know how hard it is to walk in high heels. It's like, sorry, that worked better than the previous service. These girls, it's hard enough to walk in high heels. Yes, people agree with me. Does anyone wear high heels here? It's not Santa Cruz. It's hard enough to walk in high heels when you're sober, but when you're drunk.

We used to give them flip-flops, and it was like a gift from heaven. That means I won't break my heels or my ankles. Thank you, servant of God. We used to give this to them. There was a young couple on the street, and she was 16 years old, beautiful, I would say model looks. She had high cut cheekbones. She just was a beautiful looking girl, and she had a boyfriend with her, couldn't see him. He had a big black hoodie on, like a Jedi Knight or someone from Mordor. He just had the hoodie on. She's talking to the two guys that are with me, and she's thanking them because the previous week, there had been an altercation, and a couple of girls jumped her and tried to rearrange her face, take her beauty away. She was just thankful that they intervened and separated all of that stuff. While she's talking, I notice her t-shirt. She's got a black leather jacket on, and she's got a t-shirt underneath. You can see what looks like a road traffic sign printed on the t-shirt. This is not to be rude, just to be real. It said on the t-shirt, "Men at work below." Yes. "Men at work below," and I was like, "Oh my goodness." I just whacked her with my Bible. It only took one hit. It was a really big Bible I got because that's what Jesus would do. So I went all missional. I said, "That's a very interesting t-shirt," and she went, "Oh yeah, my mum got me it." So whacked her mum with the Bible. Is that okay?

This is what she said. She looked at her t-shirt, and she looked at the hoodie boy, and she goes, "But I'm not a whore. I'm sure I'm not," and he shook his head, shook the hood, and she said, "But it's all okay anyway." She pulls down her little jacket, pulls up her t-shirt, her arms bruised here, and her mum's just got her the latest form of contraception. It'll stop her getting pregnant for a couple of years. She said, "My mum's sorted it all." I wanted to call Isabelle at that moment in time. I wanted to call Isabelle and just say, "Darling, we've just adopted." She's 16, and she's so very lost. She is so very lost, and she was put into someone's hand like a coin, like a precious coin. You see, there's no trash out there. Every single one of us is born a precious, expensive, valuable coin. We were all entrusted to somebody, but somehow we just fell through their fingers. We dropped. We dropped as a teenager. All of us. We were dropped in marriage. You stood at the front of a church or somewhere like this, and you said, "I do," and he said, "I do," but he didn't. Or she didn't. You put your precious life into someone's hand, and you know what? You didn't slip through their fingers. They threw you to the ground. You can remember where, and you can remember when, and you can remember how, and that divorce actually feels worse than death.

In our communities, there are people who have slipped through, who entrusted their lives, who should have been taken care of, and they fell through, and they hit the ground. It is the role of the church within the great tradition of Jesus Christ, representing his heart on earth, that we are there to catch, to find, and the story goes that that woman finds that the silver coin is gone. She gets the chairs. She stacks them on the chairs. She put the chairs on top of the table. How many people know what I'm talking about when you lose something? She puts the piano on top of the chairs, on top of the table. She lights a light. She begins to scar. Why? Because this coin is so precious, and it needs find. Jesus says, "One in a hundred sheep is lost. One in ten, a silver coin is lost." And then he wraps it all up, and he says this. Third story, people are like on the edge of their Middle Eastern seats. And he goes, "There was a man who had two sons." Jewish mothers are freaking out at this point. They know what's coming. I'm going to ask Trent to come out here on this last point. Isn't it great when a preacher says that when the musician walks out? There's like hope rises in the room. Let's hear it for this guy. Can you hear it for this guy? Some people are going, "This Irish guy's lied, but he's not long. That's good. That's just good. We're going to get lunch."

There was a father, and he had two sons. The crowd is just gripped. They're just like, "Don't get lost." Because at this moment in time, it's not just a sheep. Let's think about sheep, everyone's sheep. Isaiah 53 says this, "All we like have gone." If you don't know the words, don't worry. Why did Jesus say sheep? All we like sheep. He didn't say all we like dolphins. I've got lost at sea. No, because dolphins are smart. You've heard of sea world. You haven't heard of sheep world. Correct? Dolphins are smart. Sheep are. Look at me. Stupid. Just get lost. They're just animals. So there's a certain, the crowd. A coin is just an inanimate object. But when you start talking about boys, every parent is moved. Every parent is deeply involved at that moment in time. Because we never bring our children into this world, and we hold them in a hospital. I don't mean to mock today, and we have the confidence to go, "This is a boy." And we hold them and we go, "You know, one day you're going to be a great loser. I just hope you get so lost and really mess it up." We never do that.

We always have a kid. We look at them and we believe the best. You're going to play baseball. You're going to play baseball. You're going to volleyball for Santa Cruz. You're going to be really special. You're going to play soccer. You're going to please God. And so there's a father who had two sons. And let me tell you this way. Back in Ireland, Isabelle's playing the piano, or she's teaching the piano, and she's in the front room. I got the kids in the kitchen. I'm trying to be super dad. It's Monday. It's a day off. She always teaches piano. I look after the kids. I cooked dinner that night. Well, I don't cook dinner. I reheat what she left out. And this is a real note. Note to dads. Father's Day last weekend, you want to be a great dad. Not only make dinner, but clear up afterwards. Am I preaching? Am I preaching women? Yeah? Clear up afterwards. Don't leave it up the walls, okay? Just clear it all up. And so I made dinner. Nobody's died. That's good news. And then I'm just clearing up. I'm just wiping up. I'm going frantic, dad, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, do whatever. Just clearing all up. My little son walks in, and he goes, "Dad, what's a prodigal?"

And I turn around, and he's looking at a Christian magazine that I have, because that's what pastors do. We just leave Christian magazines around the place in case anyone visits. And gospel verses on the wall, you know, and whatever. It makes a big difference. And so we're doing this, and dad says, "Dad, what's a prodigal?" I went, "What is it?" Look at it. I went, "Oh yeah, it's like the prodigal son." He went, "What?" I went, "Dad, the prodigal son. You're seven years old. The father's a pastor. The prodigal son. Don't know what it is." I thought, "What's his mother teaching him?" And I said, "Oh, no, right." So, Dan, quickly, and I'm just still wiping. He's behind me. I'm wiping. And Dan, there was a father, and he had two sons, and he really loved those boys, and he wanted the best for those boys. And they lived on a farm. And the older one thought he was okay, but really, he wasn't twisting the story at the end. And the younger one was just bored. He was just bored. Life around here is so boring. Teenagers is on a cruise. It's like some boring Santa Cruz. Like the whole world wants to move here, but if you live here, it's so boring. Whatever. He hates Santa Cruz. Nothing ever happens in Santa Cruz, only like white sharks get washed up on the beach. Nothing ever happens around here. He's going to get out of Santa Cruz. He'll leave him somewhere exciting, like Dallas.

And this kid, he just couldn't have it anymore, and he was just tired of doing all of the routine farming stuff and having dinner and dad's end grace. Tired of it all. And he got bitter, and he got something inside of him turned, and he went to his father, and the culture of the day, he said these words, and it sounds so benign to us. "Father, can I have my share of the estate?" Which basically means, "I wish you were dead." That's what it means. I wish you would hurry up and die so I could get my hands on the money. And I know the older brother's going to get the most, but I'll get a little bit of a share. I want my share of night, so would you hurry up and die? Have you ever said those words to someone? You ever heard those words? God hears those words every day from a society that rages on them. "I wish you were dead. Rock, do you want to behave like you're dead?" And the father gave him a share. He said, "Take this son out of the great and generous heart of God." He said, "Take this son." My son looked excited. Strategy. I said, "Don, he headed off to Vegas." He headed off, and I said, "Don, he was wild. He slept all day. He partied all night. He just had loads and loads of girlfriends, spent the money all around at the casino, ordered all the top champagne." And I said, "You know what? He never just thought to himself, 'I'm going to lose all my money. Let's just lose it all.' He actually thought, 'I'm going to invest it into these activities, into these relationships, and they're going to bring me the satisfaction and the excitement that I am looking for in life.'

And the sheep just got busy. The coin just slipped through someone's fingers, but the son just miscalculated on an investment. Look at me. You can get all of this world. You can get all of Hollywood, and get all of Santa Cruz, and get all of New York, all of London and Paris and Rome and high fashion and whole cuisine. You can get everything, and you can ram it down your throat, and you can have a yacht on your yacht in your pool, and it will never satisfy the craving and the longing that you have in your life. And I would say to any young person in here today, or any older person that's still trying, there's only one person that fits you, and it's God. There's no guy, there's no girl, there's no marriage. Look at me. Oh, she completes me. She's nonsense. That is nonsense. That's Hallmark. Two half people don't make a couple. Two whole people make a couple. If you don't know who you are, how can you introduce yourself to somebody else? "Hi, I'm still wondering." He miscalculated. The Bible says this, "Then a famine came." Modern translation is, "Then 2008 happened." There was an economic downturn. Everything lost its value, including people. Because their value was attached to stuff. We didn't just lose stuff. We lost hope because our hope was in the wrong places.

And I said, "Danny lost all his money." At that, no reaction. He's seven years old. He's like, "Whatever, go back to Dad. Get more money." But this happened. He said, "Danny lost all his friends." At seven years old, his little lip quivered. Tears came in his eyes. Because when you are seven years old and you lose your friends, you've lost everything. Is that true, everyone? At 17 years old, when you're on Instagram and you're not getting the likes and the loves and the hearts, it seems like the world is imploding. In fact, when you're 27 years old and the girls aren't calling you out to the special parties anymore, and you don't seem to be in the in crowd anymore, it does something. When you're 47 years old and people aren't sharing your Pinterest page, you're like, "Wow." "I'll create another name and share it myself." Can you share a Pinterest? I don't know. But it was all about friends. What Jesus was doing in this story, he was going into the depths of people's souls, and this is what God was saying, "I get you. I really get you. I understand what matters to you and what really matters to you is not money. What really matters to you is identity, is relationship, is community, is family. That's what really matters, everybody." And so he ends up having to feed pigs, and for a Jewish boy, that's the worst thing in the world. That's like a vegan having to clean out a meat factory. That's like a 49ers fan having to serve at a Raiders club, at the Raiders, I'm lost, for American football, whatever.

And so eventually, this is what the Bible says, he came to his senses, but not fully. He came to his senses and he said, "I will go home." See, it started out with this years before. He said, "Father, give me, give me, give me." Sounds like our generation. "Give me, give me, give me, give me." And then he sat there in the pig's mud in the mess and he went, "Father, I will go home and I will say, 'Make me.'" But there was still pride in his life. He said, "Make me like one of your servants, because I want to have the ability to earn cash and pay it all back and get this load of money and give it back to you one day." There was still that pride in his life. He still wasn't fully lost at that moment, but he said, "I'm going to walk home." He makes a long journey home with no money even for an Uber. He has to walk home. His father smells him before he sees him. Yes? The father is sitting on the porch and he's looking out and he's throwing this every night and look at me. Our God is a watching God. Our God is a father who watches. You don't need to get yourself all cleaned up and all spruced up. You don't need to do that. All you need to do is give God a look. That's all you need to do. If you would just give God even the corner of your eye, give him a wink, give him a look, that's enough for God to bounce into action, because this is what it says.

I told this to Dan. I said, "Dan, he kept walking up the path. He had no bag on his back. He had nothing left. He had rags and a mess and a smell. That's the only thing he brought home." His father saw him. I said, "Dan, you know what he did?" He said, "Walk, Dad." He said, "He got up and ran for him." I'm thinking, "Yeah." Dan's going, "He's going to kill him." I thought, "What do I model as a parent?" What is the difference between God and us? God's not asking for repayment. He's asking for reconciliation. This is what happens. Everyone, I wish the stage was bigger and I wish I was fitter, but God is a running God and he runs and he craps and he hugs him. The son had said back in the pig, "I'm going to give this speech," and he was rehearsing it all the way, "Oh, make me like one of your high servants and I will put the balance book together and I will save every month and I will do all of this." Do you know what he does? He grabs him and he squeezes his breath out of him. He squeezes the effort out of him. He squeezes him. He can't say a thing and he screams while he kisses him. It's so embarrassing for men in the Middle East to do this. An older guy running and pulling his skirt up and looking at my legs, running and flip-flops. He ever tried to do that. It's just wrong. He's doing it and he's hugging him and he's kissing him. Middle Eastern men don't do that, but fathers do. He hugs him and he kisses him and he spins him. He said, "Hey, while you're all looking, get him a ring. Look at those feet. Get him a pair of rainbows. Come on. Get them on his feet. Pull the fatted calf. The really, really good." Not that silly chicken. Get the fatted calf and book a DJ. Not the one from your cousin's wedding that was terrible last week, but a really good one without feedback. Get me that guy because we're going to have a party. Yes?

That's God. Do you know what should have happened? Middle Eastern culture of the day, Kenneth E. Bailey covers this in his book, "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes." It's called the kezazah. What should have happened to father should have saw him at a distance and he should have said, "Stop right there." Brother, come here. Family members, come here. Village elders, come here. Your middle school friends, your high school friends, high school teachers, everyone's going to be maximum embarrassment. Come here. You stay right there, line is drawn. You stay right there in your rags. Pathetic little stories. Everyone stand here with me and the father would have stood with a pot in his hand and he would have said, "Son, you took our inheritance, an inheritance that was given to us by Joshua when we were brought into the promised land. Men fought for this, women sacrificed for this and you squandered him in a Gentile world." He would have taken that pot and he would have smashed it in front of him, in front of the crowd and he would have said, "As this pot has been broken today and the pieces can never be put back together, so is your relationship with me, with your brother and with everybody here. I leave." That's what should have happened.

Look at me, everyone. Never get used to salvation if you're a Christian here today. We come into worship and sometimes like, "Yeah, yeah, I feel like it." No, I don't feel like it. I'm sure in our worship mood. No, I'm not really feeling it. Listen to me. Church, we're free, we're forgiven. The Father said, "My soul was lost, but now I'm what? Find. I was blind, but now I see everything has changed." Instead of organizing a ceremony of rejection, the Father organized a party of reconciliation. That's our God. Some of you are here and you're thinking, "I am so far from God. I am so, so far from God." How do you know? How do you know you're far from God? Does anyone have God's zip code? You're not far from God, he's right here. He's right here, right now. You might have taken 10,000 steps away from him, but it's one step back. It's one step back.

I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to stay in your seats because this is why we do what we do at this church. Just for a moment, there's nothing out there. There's just long lines of Costco and traffic. Stay here and see. I want you to close your eyes. I want you to bow your head. I want you to do this. If you're here and also people watching online, wherever you are, unless you're driving, keep your eyes open. If you're here and you're saying, "I know I'm lost, but I'm not a loser. I know I'm lost, and I just want to feel the Father find me today. I want the shepherd to put me on his shoulders. I want the woman to throw a party with her friends, and I want to know the love of the Father today." If that's you and you've never become a Christian before, you've never just got ... We're not asking you to join this church. We're not asking you to get religious. God forbid, we're just asking you to come to Father God and know his love today. If that's you, would you pray this prayer with me? You could shout it out loud or you can just say it into your heart, whatever you want. We're not religious, whatever you need to do. Here we go. Just say these words with me. "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you love me so much. You give your life for me. Jesus, I'm lost. Please find me right now. Jesus, take my sin. Give me your forgiveness. Take my past. Give me your future. Take my mess and give me a complete life. Jesus, be my savior and my God forever."

Again, with your eyes closed, head bowed. In a moment, I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you prayed that prayer. When you raise your hand, nothing weird happens. Lights don't flash. Your picture doesn't go up on the screen. Steve Harvey doesn't call you to the stage. Nothing like that happens. When you raise your hand, it's me and you. So are you ready? I'm going to count to three. When I hit three, you put your hand in the air just to say, "I prayed that prayer." Are you ready? Here we go. One, two, three. Would you put your hand in the air? You prayed that prayer today and you really meant it. Thank you so much. So many people. That's amazing. Thank you so much. I have not done this in any other service so I'm going to ask you to work with me here. This is, you know what? We're just going to do this. I feel that we should do this in this service. I want to speak to parents here, parents that are going, "I love my children and I'm not God but I have got the love of God in my heart for my children." You're believing for children. I'm going to say this. Maybe you're here and your kids are all good and they're out there in the classes and they're loving Jesus. You can stand for this as well in a second. But if you're here as well and you're going, "My kid's somewhere and I just need them to know the love of the Father in their lives," I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to stand. If you're standing, I'm believing for my kid today. I'm going to be that parent like God. I want you to do this. Come on. Don't get religious on me. I want you to put your arms out like a sign of the Father. Put your arms out just the way I am right now. Put your arms out and say, "For my kids, wherever they have been, wherever they are, wherever they will go, God, I stand as a parent with your love and I will pray for them. I will intercede for them. I will be there for them." Put your arms right out. "Father, I pray for every single person right now," I call it in this posture. You have inspired us, Lord, by that great story. We put our hands today and I just pray, Lord Jesus, for every parent here that's dreaming of a reconciliation, a spiritual, supernatural moment where people, where their kids come back to God. I pray, God. Fast forward that moment, Lord. I just pray that. I pray, Lord, wherever kids are in this world, whether it's locally in beds or they're in Australia, Lord, about to go to bed, wherever it is, Lord, I just pray for prodigals, God, that you would bring them home in the name of Jesus. We pray, God, for a divine moment of breakthrough, Lord. We will not give up on our kids. You give them to us, Lord. You have a destiny for their lives and we believe that the plans of God are way bigger than the schemes of the enemy. We believe that in the name of Jesus Christ.

I want to ask everyone else, if you care for this area, for Santa Cruz, the wider area, and you're saying, "We're going to be like God the Father. We're going to be like God the Father. We're going to be like the woman searching for the coin and we're going to be the good shepherds and we're going to take up our responsibility. We're going to be the love of Christ and the hope of the world in this area." Would you stand as well? Would you stand right now? You're saying, "I feel burdened today for this area. Not only has God blessed me today or blessed me through this church for the last amount of years, but actually I'm going to be a blessing to the world and I'm going to love on them." So Father, I thank you for this church, for these wonderful people. They're just so kind and beautiful. I just pray, "God, help us, Lord, to leave this building and to go and be Christ, to go and be loved and not shout at or condemn, but Lord, get under and grab and connect with people in their brokenness and see them come to you." I would just pray, "God, for an increase, Lord, of salvation." I pray, "God, there will be moments in the future where we just see, Lord, this church bursting and bursting." Lord, it's already growing so much. I pray it will be bursting and bursting with tons of broken people, lost people being found.