Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of understanding God's heart towards us, especially in our weaknesses. He shares how the enemy often accuses believers, leading them to feel condemned and distant from God. However, through the parables in Luke 15, Bickle reveals that God is not primarily angry or disappointed but rather delights in us and enjoys our relationship, even amidst our struggles. This understanding fosters confidence and encourages believers to approach God boldly, knowing they are loved and accepted. Ultimately, Bickle encourages sincere believers to embrace their identity as those whom God enjoys, which transforms their relationship with Him.

15 if you would Luke chapter 15 and You could follow along of the notes. Although I only do a small portion of the notes most of them The notes are for you to read on your own time if you want to I Want to talk about how God feels about us in our weakness. I'm talking about sincere believers who are Genuinely trying to be pleasing to the Lord Because the enemy he is determined As it says in the book of revelation to accuse us night and day So that we draw back we give up we give in But we when we know the truth About what Jesus did on the cross and the truth about the father's personality It gives us confidence To stand steady in the presence of God with with total boldness Even in our weakness and our failure father. We come before you in the name of Jesus And Lord I ask you for living understanding of your word Lord, I ask you holy spirit That you would magnify Jesus into human heart Even tonight that you would mark us with a biblical New covenant confidence in our relationship before the father Even in our weakness even in our struggles and we thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen Amen Well luke chapter 15 is a must read chapter It's a chapter that changed my life in my teen years I was 16 years old and I was really dedicated Uh to follow the lord In the midst of a youth group that had a lot of dedicated Uh young people we were reading biographies about People god used in revivals and we all wanted to be a part of a great revival. We were going hard for god we were uh Really pressing into the lord, but the problem is Is that I kept discovering my sin and my weakness And I kept falling short And failing in that which I was aiming to do I wanted to walk in total purity and holiness and and do the will of god in every way, but I kept coming up short And I was discouraged And when you really love the lord Failing in sin falling in sin. It's a crisis I mean if you don't really love the lord, it's not a big deal Yeah you know if you're just a part of a youth group and you don't really love him and you Fall in saying ah, so what I fell and said, but if you really love him, it's a crisis Like it hurts our heart. It's like lord. This is not what I want to do And so this message from luke chapter 15, it really changed my life in my teen years And it's a message that 40 years later is still changing my life I've spoken on this chapter many many times over the years and the reason I say that Is that many of you in your teens? Determine you're going to know luke chapter 15 I want to encourage you tonight say i'm going to in your heart i'm going to know luke chapter 15 Even if it's a new chapter to you right now I trust that in the weeks and months and years ahead you'll read it over and over and over again There's three parables And the parables basically have the same message all three parables It's a message revealing what the father feels How he feels towards you and me how he feels towards his people i'm talking again about sincere believers How he feels when we fail Because if we don't know how god feels if we think that he's Mostly mad or mostly sad when he relates to us As a rule, we'll draw back and we'll give up and give in Most believers that i've talked to over the years when they think about how god feels towards them They know they're going to go to heaven when they die They know god stamped their passport and when they die that all this trouble will be over and they'll eventually be in paradise But when you talk about how does god feel about you? I mean in the journey in this life Most believers that i've talked to over 40 years of ministry. They think god is mostly mad Or mostly sad at them Well, I have good news for you And the very core of god's personality When he relates to his people, he's mostly glad And that one that one insight When I began to see the smile on god's face towards me As I was struggling in my weakness, then it made me want to run to him instead of run from him And I opened my heart I think you're the you're the one who likes me most and knows me best I mean, you know me best, but you still like me so much you enjoy your relationship with me and if you can Feel that beloved you'll keep running to him. We all like to be in the presence of people who like us And there's nobody who likes you more than the lord. I know that's a Strange way to say it. We talk about god loving us But I have good news for you. He actually enjoys his relationship with you And not only when you're more mature spiritually than paul the apostle he actually enjoys you now Not just 20 30 40 years when all the issues are settled Well, I found out 20 30 40 years all the issues. They didn't get settled in my life. I'm still working through issues I found out a spiritual principle That if you feel dirty in the presence of god, you'll live dirty I'm talking about sincere believers if you feel dirty if you feel condemned If you feel mostly like a failure you will live like that as a rule in your life That's what i've uh seen over the years But if you feel clean, I mean by the blood of jesus You feel enjoyed You'll live clean You'll live an entirely different way before god Well, uh again 40 plus years ago I was In a fiery youth group high school group I want to encourage all of you to get in a youth group if you're not in a youth group Be faithful in your youth group back home You may say well my youth group's not that exciting. Well, I got good news for you Every youth group is not that exciting Because every youth group is made up of human beings And human beings the goal isn't to be excited at every meeting The goal is to have real fellowship and go forward in the grace of god together And so don't wait for the most exciting Dazzling youth group to come along because that you're not really going to find that youth group You'll find them in the social media world. But when you actually go to those groups, they're They're made up of weak and broken people just like us And so don't go to a group only if it's dazzling and exciting get in one and stay committed to it And over the months and years you'll look back. You really will grow more consistently If you're consistently With the fellowship of other believers even weak believers, but they're sincere and they're going hard after god well 40 plus years later the young people back then that had this Understanding that god actually enjoyed them and liked them they stayed steady all through the years I've looked back at many of my friends from my teen years. I'm in my i'm 59 years old now So it's 40 plus years later and I look back and those Hundreds that stayed steady over 40 years. They had this one consistent reality They had this confidence in the presence of god And the ones that went hard for a few years then backslid for a few years then tried it again Then backslid again and then gave up and just gave in those were the ones That they constantly felt god was angry. He was mad or sad at them all the time We don't evaluate our relationship With the father we don't evaluate our relationship with god by our failures We evaluate our relationship With god mainly By what jesus did on the cross for us. He really made provision for us to have confidence in the presence of god But it's not only What jesus did on the cross? It's actually the truth of god's personality as well It's it's what his personality is like now we can uh, uh imagine that god is like an angry parent or an angry coach Or an angry authority figure it's a very common idea for people to Want to be pleasing to a particular authority figure in their life a parent a coach a teacher just somebody in authority, but that That leader is very demanding and has a harsh tone and and is uh uses anger to motivate and so it's very uh, very common for young believers to Transfer How they relate to that authority figure that they're really trying to please they transfer that to the god the father and they think well my My mom my dad my coach my teacher. I mean they loved me, but they motivated me mostly by anger and threats and so they imagine that god motivates us mostly by anger and mostly by threats And so they get this distorted view of the personality of god And it makes them really close their heart towards the lord. I mean they want to please him, but they're never comfortable with him I remember in my early years when I told the lord I You know, I I did this or that. Well, I had a whole bunch of sins. I I did I mean and I love the lord. I would stumble in this way stumble in that way stumble that way and I I remember saying oh god, can you believe it? I did this again I could imagine the lord saying young man. There's a whole lot more where that came from. Yes I'm, not shocked just because you're shocked I thought god was shocked when he saw my failure because I was shocked And then I would make these promises. Oh god, I promise never never to do that again And the lord made it clear to me through his word He doesn't want me to relate to him based on the promise. I'll never stumble again I promise if you forgive me one more time i'll never do this again and the lord would say I don't want you relating to Me on the basis of your promises never to fail I mean, it's good to make commitments to obey I mean, I believe strong and making wholehearted commitments to obey jesus to love him but I don't want to evaluate my relationship Based on my failures and I don't want to relate to god based on my promises I want to relate to god based on his promises I want to relate to god based on what he did not what I do And when I do that, I have confidence in his presence And again, i'm talking to sincere believers now There's always that one guy looking for an excuse to sin and he'll turn any message this way or that way to validate his sin But i'm talking to a gathering of young people. They're saying no, I really want to obey you jesus. I mean i'm for real But I keep stumbling And uh, and and I keep having this feeling that you're so mad at me or you're so disappointed all the time You look at me again. Oh, no, it's mike again That's how I used to feel that it's mike bickle again. It's okay by the blood of jesus one more time I'll forgive you and I thought oh, but beloved I got good news. It's a real relationship With a real father. It's real And he has real emotions And he really enjoys the relationship He really really delights In helping us and walking with us and pursuing us And that's what luke chapter 15 is all about Let's look at paragraph a and again, we're not going to look at all the notes here. But uh, uh, just a few of them i'll highlight I believe this is uh, the high point one of the high points of jesus's teaching is luke 15 these three parables And the reason I say it's one of the high points of his teaching Some people think well luke 15 is just for young believers I think jesus was giving one of the greatest revelations of the father's heart It was shocking to the religious leaders in israel what he said about god the father The religious leaders in israel had the idea that the god of israel was mighty and he is very mighty That he was all powerful. He is all powerful But they saw him as aloof Powerful distant mighty angry and he is powerful and he is almighty And jesus came along and he talked about gave these three parables again. They all basically have the same message and they were about people who fell and people who said And jesus went on to describe the tenderness of the father And the religious leaders of israel at that time they were a little confused they go Well, if god the father's tender and he's kind and he's relates this way he goes That's not the god we're worshiping and jesus was correcting them. He made him very very angry Because it disrupted their whole religious system of what god was like But the tax gatherers and the harlots and and the other centers they were saying well if god is really like this I have a chance I have a chance if he's if he's if his personality is really this way I mean it has profound implications for our life This chapter gives I believe one of the most significant insights into god's heart. What his emotions are like now for those of you that are uh Really want to understand the context here of luke chapter 15 The real context of luke 15 begins in luke 14 So the message of luke 15 actually is in context to luke 14 And in luke 14, you can read it later It is jesus's call to discipleship I mean at the last half of luke 14, he gives the most radical call to discipleship to obedience to Giving everything to jesus and the very next thing he did was to teach luke 15 How god feels about people when they fail I've uh encouraged youth leaders or or uh, some of you aren't many of you aren't youth leaders of the youth group But I know a number are here. But if you're 15 years old, you can be discipling and influencing 13 year olds You can be discipling one or two other people that are newer in the lord than you are You don't have to wait till you're a youth pastor or go to bible school to start discipling people I was 15 16 years old and met the lord my youth leader said go find a couple 13 year olds And meet with them on a weekly basis and two or three of them and start discipling them and they gave me some ideas How to do that and I was a brand new believer They just said tell them whatever you learned this week Just tell them that and meet with them for an hour a week that kind of thing So if you're 14 and 15 16, you're not too young Start making disciples right now There's a couple 12 and 13 year olds around meet with them on a weekly basis get together with them And what what we did is we just got a christian book from the christian bookstore. That was interesting to me I got one for myself and gave it to two or three 13 year olds And I said we're going to read one chapter a week in our private time And when we come together, we're going to just discuss that chapter We're going to go around the circle and talk about the chapter one page at a time We're going to go right through each chapter and then next week we'll do the next chapter And then we'll meet for an hour and we'll just discuss it just you know We'll take each page of that chapter highlight a point or two and that's how I started making disciples when I was 16 years old And the reason i'm i'm saying this i'm on a little side track here for a moment Is that you're you can be a leader in the body of christ right now You don't have to wait till you graduate high school or wait till you go to college or bible school You're a leader if somebody's following you And if you have two junior high kids that you're meeting with every week beloved you're functioning in a disciple making way You're actually in a leadership role in the body of christ even now You don't have to wait for somebody to tell you to do it My youth pastor said just go find a couple 13 year olds and start I go. I don't know the difference between an apostle a disciple an epistle and the gospel I don't even know anyone. I don't know what any of those things even mean He said oh you'll figure it out Just go get a book from the bookstore buy one for each of them Read one chapter a week discuss it an hour a week and you'll learn as you go. He just pushed me out there I was just Daring enough to believe him because a lot of folks in our youth group were doing that So I thought well, you know i've been in the youth group for four four months now It's time for me to start being a leader in the body of christ And that would be one of the best things that would transform your life is to actually take Responsibility for a few young believers. Well, i'm gonna get back to my message now. That was all a bunny trail that was the last five minutes was was uh Another message that was for free tonight But in luke chapter 14 the chapter before luke 15 the chapter we're looking at tonight Luke chapter 14 is the great call to discipleship where jesus calls to radical obedience Well, I found a lot of folks call young people to radical obedience luke 14 But they never get to luke 15 telling how god feels about you while you're growing In radical obedience and even while you're stumbling and while you're failing in the process And when I connected the dots when my because it might get my youth leaders taught on luke 15 It I thought wow I can make disciples and I can be a disciple luke 14 If I know how god feels about me luke 15 So don't ever separate those two chapters. You all always put those chapters together Well still in paragraph a in the middle of the paragraph in these three parables Jesus revealed how god pursues how god enjoys How god even feels affection for weak for his people. I mean god pursues us Beloved you take one step towards him. He will take 10 steps towards you He will pursue you more than you pursue him. I mean it wasn't your idea to pursue him anyway The very desire that you have for him and the reason you're even in a meeting like this tonight Is because he's been pursuing you for some time now You know, I tell my story. Well, I was seeking after god and I found him and the lord might say well That's not exactly yet. I chased you down for a number of years. I cornered you. I ambushed you I removed a few options and then you thought well, I started seeking god I was seeking you for a long time before you were seeking me Well, we connected and when I found out that he actually enjoys me I mean enjoyed me then I mean with issues unsettled. I mean I was I was sincere to Call sin sin and repent of wrong things, but I kept doing them but when I found out that he actually was Looking down with a smile on his face saying I see the willingness of your heart. I see the sincerity of your heart I enjoy my relationship with you. I'm going to help you along the way I found myself one by one getting victory in each one of those areas because I was running to him I wasn't running from him in my failure The truth that's most emphasized in luke chapter 15 Is that god actually? Rejoices in the process of restoring us It's not like he's reluctant like oh, no, it's you again I gotta forgive you again of the same thing It says in micah chapter 7 verse 18. I don't have this on the notes But it's a really important verse micah 7 verse 18. It says god. He actually delights in showing mercy You know, he doesn't show you mercy reluctantly He doesn't say well my son died. So now I have to show you mercy. I mean my son shed his blood I mean I have no choice but to show you mercy It is true. His son died and purchased our forgiveness as a free gift Because jesus paid the price for us in the presence of the father But it's it doesn't end there. God actually delights in showing you mercy He doesn't look at you and say oh you again Haven't we talked about this a hundred times before he actually delights In forgiving you and he delights in you being wowed by his forgiveness When we receive mercy and it really touches us and wows us. I believe he delights in that like look at that I can imagine i'm making up the conversation the father and the son look at him He's delighted in our forgiveness and mercy. I believe that god delights in us delighting in it And god is smiling saying this is moving his heart. This is moving her heart well paragraph b the way we View god's heart towards us The way we view his heart towards us in our weakness Affects how we approach him Again, if we think he's mostly mad, we're not going to approach him with boldness We're going to most people are going to give up and give in to their sin Now some people have a real distorted view. Here's their idea They stumble in an area of sin And they feel bad because they really love him But they take it to the next degree or to the next step They think if they put themselves on spiritual probation Like if they go sit over in the corner timeout, you know god put them on a timeout god didn't but they put themselves On a timeout they go sit in the corner And if they think they really suffer for a month or two like I am so miserable. I feel so rotten God do you see how bad I feel? Do you see my sincerity? That somehow the father will say wow You are so sincere and so miserable in that case I will forgive you now come out of probation and get back and function as a first-class citizen of the kingdom That's not how it works God doesn't want us putting ourself in spiritual probation for a season like i'm going to show you god How horrible I really feel and I will really prove to you and a little bit pay you back by all my suffering God doesn't delight in any of that Matter of fact, that's just religious foolishness. It really is. It's called legalism. It's a spirit of religion But god wants us actually confident And what jesus did on the cross for us, but not only that confident and how the bible says god feels towards us I mean, it's how he feels towards us Now king david Was called a man after god's own heart And as a man after god's own heart That means a number of things and he was only a teenager when god called him that Could you imagine? In your teen years God raising up a prophet speaking for god directly to you and you're called a man or woman after god's own heart in your teen years Well, that's a remarkable reality That didn't mean david never sinned because david sinned a bunch of times after that but uh Being a man after god's own heart means a number of things. I don't want to go into right now But one thing it means Is that david even in his youth? He was a student of god's emotions Meaning david was I call him the theologian of god's emotions in the old testament I mean nobody understood god's emotions more clearly than king david in terms of what david wrote about god's emotions Yes, god can be mad and sad even at his people But god has affection god has delight God has enjoyment god delights in In his people and david captured all of these emotions that god has And one reason david was a man after god's own heart he he studied god's heart determined in your teen years You're going to be a student of god's emotions meaning you're going to read the bible whatever it says about how god feels You're going to mark it And you're going to take it to prayer and say lord. Holy spirit. Show me what this means about the heart of jesus My favorite theme in the bible is the emotions of god I've been a student of god's emotions for decades. I it's my favorite theme I love to take an afternoon or a morning. I mean i've done it many many many many times not preparing a message or not preparing an outline for some other setting but just Discovering reading through psalms or reading through the new testament or old testament marking verses that give indication of how god feels I love to know how god feels Because if you if you know how he feels and you answer that question rightly how he feels about you Particularly when you stumble you really get the answer right you will run to him instead of running from him We don't need to feel good about how bad we feel about our sin Again, some people wallow in their in their sin and condemnation and they just kind of feel miserable for a month or two And they think somehow that impresses god it doesn't It only lets the devil gain a victory in your life and it lets the devil lie to you He's called the great accuser. He's the accuser. He accuses us night and day the the enemy does well paragraph c I believe the greatest emotion That any human that every human being has the greatest emotional need is a better way to say it Is the uh to have the assurance? That god enjoys us I believe believer or unbeliever the greatest emotional need of any human being Even if they cannot identify this it is their greatest emotional need Not just the knowledge. They're saved. They will go to heaven. That's important But it's more than that. It's more than just going to heaven when you die, but actually having the assurance That god actually enjoys them that is the greatest craving and longing of the human heart Unbelievers are trying to satisfy that longing in many different ways And until they come to relationship to the god of israel through his son jesus They'll never ever have that assurance in a biblical solid A way that's based on on on the bible But your friends The folks that you are wanting to encourage that is their biggest need it's not their only need but it's their biggest need When they're depressed they're discouraged It doesn't make sense. Why should we obey god? Why should we read his bible? Why should we go to the youth group? Why should we press into god? I tell you their greatest need is the assurance god enjoys them When that need is touched in them even a little bit Something will awaken in them that will actually move them in a way that nothing else will I uh wrote a book, uh with deborah hebert It's called the seven longings of the heart where I identify seven cravings or longings of the heart We have it free on our website I want to encourage you to take a look at that book But the very first longing of I believe in the heart of every person is this longing? To know with assurance that they're that they're enjoyed by god god created us with this this longing to know this paragraph d Notice that we can have boldness to enter god's presence Hebrews chapter 10 by the blood of jesus we can draw near with assurance Now instead of the word boldness or assurance you could put the word confidence Confidence we can have confidence in god's presence We can draw near to god with confidence the opposite of confidence is rejection Feeling rejected feeling dirty in the presence of god The opposite of confidence is shame and condemnation The enemy wants you to feel condemned ashamed and rejected Because the enemy knows if you feel confident A sincere believer that feels confident in the presence of god will disrupt the uh, the kingdom of darkness A sincere believer filled with shame filled with condemnation will not cause much trouble to the kingdom of darkness Sincerity is not enough Sincerity is important Sincerity in our walk with god is very important, but you put sincerity with confidence beloved. You'll be a You'll you'll be an agent of change you'll bring change to your school You'll bring change to your friends to your youth group to your city to your church to your university I know a lot of of believers that are sincere But the enemy knows if you get confident in your walk with god with sincerity You are going to be cause trouble to the kingdom of darkness paragraph e Paul said there's no condemnation There's no condemnation whatsoever in the presence of god for a sincere believer I mean the sins we committed yesterday we've repented of and and it's important when we send to call sin sin and to Uh, not blame shift it don't blame it on somebody else say father I really did sin don't find a bible verse to kind of cover it up or make it kind of go away You can't lie to god and win say no. I really did do this. I did it Declare war on it repent of it Receive the forgiveness of jesus push delete and stand with confidence in the presence of god I mean within five minutes be in the place of confidence in his presence There is no benefit in spending a few days weeks months in condemnation With the enemy accusing you it's the next verse I have here in revelation 12 Satan is called the accuser He accuses us night and day he says You're not sincere God doesn't really accept you You're not even a real believer. God doesn't really love you Your sins are too great those are the common Accusations that the enemy he brings them night and day Through the demonic, uh his demonic emissaries demons whispering and or inspiring these ideas in our life in our mind night and day because if That accusation or condemnation lodges in your mind. You'll never ever make an impact on the kingdom of god You'll be sincere But you'll always be the conversation in your heart will always be. Oh, i'm. Sorry god. I'm, sorry god I won't do it again. Please forgive me. I'm suffering i've shown you how sorry I am Oh, please forgive me and the lord says enough of all of that The repent of your sin be bold in my presence receive my free forgiveness Understand I enjoy you and then be about the work of the kingdom the holy spirit's living in you And he will renew your heart and renew your mind day by day And I tell you in time you'll walk free of all those areas that you're struggling with one by one You'll gain more and more freedom over them as you continue Well again paragraph f I already mentioned this That the view of many is that god is mostly mad or mostly sad When he relates to his people Well, I have good news for you paragraph g Jesus is Anointed with gladness more than any other man that ever walked the earth. Look at hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9. I mean chapter 1 verse 9 God anointed jesus with the oil of gladness more than all of his companions Which means more than any other man that ever walked the earth Jesus had more gladness in his personality than any other man that walked. I don't mean he had a giddy Silly kind of some people when they think of joy, they just think of being silly or giddy They go i'm filled with joy and they act kind of silly and and some people say that's joy But joy is far more than that Far far more than that Jesus had joy. He had profound gladness in his personality I can imagine when he walked in town that the kids, you know the the little Five six seven eight year olds they would kind of run up because of the excitement of the new The new preacher was in town who did mighty miracles I could imagine them running up and Looking at the pharisees, you know on their way to jesus going. Yeah, those guys are mean looking Oh, oh don't note to self. Don't go by that mean religious leader. So they'd go. Oh, that doesn't look good then they would get past the pharisees and Kind of get on to the disciples Jesus's young followers and jesus's disciples. They were always pushing the kids back They were not as mean looking as the pharisees, but those little five-year-olds go I don't think so. I don't think they like me either but I can imagine them. This is just my own picture That they're looking through the crowd and they lock eyes with jesus These little children and they could see something In that man's eyes the gladness the delight that he would have in them and those kids would go That's the guy I want to go and they would press through those mean pharisees and those Kind of semi-mean disciples and they would get to jesus and they would cluster around him Because they saw something in him in his eyes. That's my theory of why the kids gathered around him beloved at the very center Of jesus's personality is gladness And the way he relates to his people is mostly gladness. I mean there are times Where he is grieved over something we do But a sincere believer repents of that And uh, though they're not free of it in their life and they're still struggling with it There is a joy and a delight in the relationship that the lord has Just like a a uh godly parents They look at their seven-year-old child daughter or son and they'll see something in that child's behavior They don't like but they love the child. They love the relationship with the child though. They identify an area. They want to see corrected and the lord He loves us more than we love our own children And he loves the relationship with us, even though he identifies an area that needs correcting in our life He doesn't Throw out the relationship because he sees an area any more than A godly, uh parents would throw out their seven-year-old because they see an area that needs corrected They still love the relationship with their son or daughter And beloved if the lord feels that if we feel that way to our own children, how much more? Does god he has so much more gladness and love than we do? So much more glad in love. Look what king david said in psalm 16 16 He said that in god's presence Is the very fullness of joy The very the the throne of god is the epicenter of joy and pleasure for the whole universe There is more joy and pleasure at the throne of god than anywhere else That's the epicenter of joy the very heart and being of god is filled with joy When I think of his holiness, I like to call it happy holiness Again, I don't mean giddy or silly or trivial. I mean a gladness. I think that Joy and holiness and love are all different facets of the same diamond Some people they think holiness they think frowning Joy, they think giddy Love they think sentimental and I don't think that's the right view at all I think loving god walking in holiness walking in joy are all facets of the same Diamond of the grace of god that functions in our heart Look at paragraph h The prophet isaiah Paragraph h isaiah 62 Says you shall be called hefzabah For the lord delights in you for as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride. So god rejoices over you I mean what a remarkable uh statement God's looking at unbelieving israel at this time Most of israel were not walking in a in a godly relationship with god and he says he's naming his people hefzabah That the lord delights in them. This was a prophetic call He goes to those that are sincere in their relationship with the lord god Renames you not the biggest failure in your school The hopeless hypocrite the guy that never follows through that's not what god names you He actually names you hefzabah And hefzabah is the hebrew means god delights in you. He names you. I like you Do you know you have a new name in the presence of god? I like you that is your new name or you could call it god delights in you or you could call it hefzabah But I have good news for you god delights in you I remember 1995 many years ago About 20 years ago. I had a very strong spiritual dream one night and in this uh dream I was in the uh large uh auditorium down at the kansas city convention center where we have our one thing conference and As many of you know, you know 20 25 000 young people gather It's the last four days of the year right after christmas and it's a big gathering I was in that that I was in that uh auditorium some years before we ever started that one thing conference This was a few years before we ever started it and I was in that conference there were thousands of young people just like there are every year they're gathering and I heard the thunderous audible voice of god coming Uh from the right and it was and he's declared Call them hefzabah And i'm and i'm preaching in this dream to this, you know 20-30 000 people and i'm interrupted and this loud thunderous voice says call them hefzabah Tell them the lord delights in them And I was like, oh Okay You know as I hear this i'm overwhelmed and so I proclaim Hefzabah Hefzabah the lord delights in you and in this dream again thousands of young people their Emotions were changed dramatically Even in a very rapid period of time when they received the understanding That god delighted in them. It changed their whole emotional makeup And I bless I do it every year the one day conference. I did Lots of conferences I take a minute which i'm gonna do in just a couple minutes and i'm gonna declare over you God delights in you Hefzabah, that's what he that's how he sees you He doesn't see you as a hopeless hypocrite who mostly Just as a failure who struggles with sin. He knows that we struggle But he sees us as a genuine lover of god. We genuinely love jesus Though our love is weak our love is not false Beloved I have good news for you weak. Love is not false. Love for god Because your love is weak doesn't mean it's not real The enemy wants to tell you that until your love is mature. It's fake So that you well if it's fake I've tried the hardest I can I'm a hopeless hypocrite god's mad at me anyway Why am I even trying and the devil says I got you? That's what the accuser does He pounds us with condemnation over and over and over again. So we just give up and give in But I have good news for you That he actually delights in you. He actually enjoys the relationship That he doesn't just forgive you he delights in forgiving you He doesn't just forgive you He actually Enjoys the relationship while we're growing and even in your Our weakness our brokenness we can still be used of god to impact others Now again, i'm talking to sincere believers who are seeking to love and obey the lord with all their heart, but they keep coming up short And the enemy knows a sincere believer that doesn't have confidence with god isn't going to threaten the kingdom of of darkness But a sincere believer that gets confident beloved you will cause trouble to the kingdom of darkness Well, I got a few more verses there on uh How god rejoices in the relationship with his people we'll skip those Go ahead and turn to page two So luke chapter 15 i'm only going to take a very short amount of time now. You've you've got the thrust of it And luke 15 actually is so self-explanatory So we don't have to go through it in any kind of detailed way Because just highlighting you highlighting this chapter to you. I believe is is the important thing that I that uh, uh For tonight's message just so that you would make the note to yourself and you'll read luke 15 many many times not only for your own life but you'll actually Use that message to encourage your friends To disciple younger believers as well Well in in luke chapter 15, there's three parables Again, they all have the basic same message and the message is how god feels towards a prodigal son or a son that Backslides for a season that falls away in sin and then returns back to the lord That's what a prodigal is The story of the prodigal son or the parable of the prodigal son. It's just a story A parable is a story jesus used to to it didn't actually happen, but he to make an analogy of of uh of spiritual principles And a prodigal is is a person who in spiritually speaking they backslide from the lord They come to their senses and they go You know what? I've been living in sin whether you've been living in sin backsliding for a few weeks or a few months or even for a few days I mean, this isn't just somebody who blows it for years This is the same way god feels if you've if you've stumbled for a day or a week or a month or a year Does it matter? Jesus is revealing how the father feels Verse 11 to 16. I'll just summarize it Uh, jesus said there were two sons There was uh, you know, the father had a billion dollars. He was wealthy i'm making up a billion I didn't say that the very wealthy man And the younger son says hey dad I know, you know down the road. You're going to give me millions anyway for my inheritance. Why don't you give it to me now? And the father Looked at his young son and he knew his son was going to go blow this money So he gave his son, you know a couple million dollars. I'm just again making up the amount It doesn't tell them out, but he gives the younger son a lot of money It tells us in verse 11 to 16 the younger son went and took that money and wasted it all on sinful living He spent it on all kinds of wild things then paragraph b verse 17 It says he came to himself And that speaks of his repentance. He said wait, what am I doing? I mean here I am the son of a wealthy Of a wealthy man i'm part of the beloved we're part of the royal family Why are we living? In poverty In the slums is what this son was saying because he spent all of his money then he had to go He had to go, uh, uh live on a pig farm And feed the pigs and that was really rough for a young jewish boy to feed the pigs. That's another story for another time But he wasted all of his time and verse all of his money then verse 17 He came to himself And he said wait, I know better than this He goes why am I? Living here with the pigs eating what the pigs eat Why don't I go home? Admit to my father. I totally blew it Don't try to cover up anything Just go say dad All that money you gave me it was horrible what I did. Would you forgive me? paragraph c Verse 20 luke 15 verse 20 This is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible You'll notice five verbs here and this is uh, really Uh what I want to just take maybe two three minutes on this and then one more verse, uh, And then pray for you and you could read the chapter on your own time but this son Made up his mind. He was going to go home humble himself to his father Say father I send I blew it Now again, jesus is telling the story to tell the people How they should respond to god and how god will respond to them if they do respond to god in a right way So as the son verse 20 He Arose and came back home to his father all the way home. He's thinking. Oh, man, this is going to be This is going to be a difficult conversation when I tell dad I wasted all the millions on parties and drugs and Alcohol and harlots it says that he's wasted it on harlots and all the partying and everything This is going to be a really tough situation But notice it says verse 20 luke 15 that when the son That prodigal or that sinful son Was still a far way off His father saw him That's the first thing he saw him Number two he had compassion on him Number three the father ran towards him Number four the father fell on his neck. That means he hugged him. He embraced him And number five the father kissed him. I mean now imagine this The son's coming up over the over the hill when he walks over the hill he sees the family farm over there in a distance But on the porch the father is there day after day because he knows his son is going to come to his senses one day He knows his son is going to return now again. Jesus is only telling the story so we know how god responds When we sin and we repent of our sin and we come to god so we know how god feels about us when we do this So it says the son I imagine in my mind it's you know He comes walking up over the hill and the family farm is still a quiet, you know hundreds of yards away And the father sees this this young man kind of can't quite see his face, but he knows how his son walks You know that certain walk that his son had he goes That's my son, so the father was eagerly Watching and waiting. I picture him on the porch night after night beloved. The father is eagerly Watching any movement of our heart towards him? And it moves his heart We think that our eyes are on him but beloved his eyes are on us he watches earnestly for us for us Then the son it says here He felt compassion, I mean the father felt compassion Instead of anger The father had tender feelings I mean, this is amazing instead of looking at the son saying how dare you waste all that I gave you He said oh My son was lost My beloved son is now coming home to my heart Oh how I love my son and he felt compassion jesus is telling the crowd This is how my father feels towards his people when they return to him the number three The father jumps off the porch comes running after his son now in the ancient world A wealthy respected father would never get up from his chair and run towards a sinful son But rather the father would stay in the chair the son would walk Come to his You know highly respected father bow down the son would give his speech. I'm sorry. I blew it. I blew it I blew it and then the father would say okay Here's the terms. I forgive you on these terms but That's how a normal father in israel would have done it But jesus said no The father jumped up and he went running after the son And they I can imagine the crowd of israel's going an an israeli father running after a sinful son I don't think so unless he's mad at him, but he goes no not the god of israel He comes running you take one step. I tell you he will take 10 steps towards you He wants you he wants you more than you want him And then when the father caught up to him he fell on his neck which means he embraced him He wasn't disgusted with him beloved when We come to our senses whether it's a sin in a few hours or a few days or whatever. We come to our senses He's not disgusted with us. We renounce our sin whether it's a short-term or long-term thing He goes I want the relationship more than you do I love you more than you love me. I want you more than you want me And it says in number five He kisses his son Which speaks of the full restoration of favor? I'll just mention one more verse paragraph e verse 22 Then the father he really takes it to the next level He tells his servants look at verse 22 He says bring out the best robe Bring out the family ring And bring out the sandals Kill the fatted cow and let's have a big celebration Because my son is returned. Let us eat and be merry well when we Give our heart to the lord. He's provided the best robe for us the robes of salvation The ring the family ring speaks of the Ability to operate in the authority of the family business or the family wealth It's that entrusted authority to kill the fatted calf Was to have a big celebration. I mean they had this calf they fattened up when they had an honored guest But only when an honored guest came would they kill that calf they made especially fat for that great meal This son is the honored guest the father. Jesus said treats His prodigals like an honored guest in his presence. He fully receives them I mean this was Too much to bear for this son almost And then finally the father said let us be merry. My heart is glad Let's not wallow in Self-pity let's not stain our condemnation There is rejoicing in my heart That is how god feels and again luke chapter 15 Is the immediate teaching after luke 14, which is the great chapter on discipleship and obedience It's almost like jesus was saying you're never going to follow through on that obedience of luke 14 If you don't know the heart of the father in luke 15 And the two must go together And I found over the years That to the young believers or old believers alike those that really connect with the heart of god They end up having this confidence And they have this desire to go deeper with god because we love feeling enjoyed by god I mean, there's no deeper need that we have There's no greater joy than the joy of when we feel god is smiling at us and helping us Even as we're growing in our obedience and our love for him amen and amen Let's stand