LOST AND FOUND – PART 4(THE LOST SON – B): PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 12TH FEBRUARY, 2023.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE WITH PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER, INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: LOST AND FOUND – PART 4 (THE LOST SON – B)
DATE: 12TH FEBRUARY 2023
BIBLE TEXT: LUKE 15:17-21 (NKJV)
Let us rise up together as we make our “DECLARATION OF GATHERING” in this “YEAR OF GATHERING”.
Are you ready? Say with me:
I Proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The Lord is the Shepherd of my Soul, my Shelter by Day, my Light by Night.
In His Name, we Plough our fields, by His Spirit we gather the Harvest, in His Light we seek and find.
In this Year of Gathering, the Lord of the Harvest has commanded: Launch Out into the Deep. At His Words, we cast our Nets, we gather in Souls and Substance for God’s Kingdom.
The Lord is our Reward; in this Season I received God’s Portion set aside for me: Full Measure, Pressed down, Shaking together and running over.
Nothing is Lost and Nothing is wasted in Jesus Name – Amen!
LOST AND FOUND – PART 4:
And we are just concluding “The Lost Son”: I did Part A of The Lost Son last week (12th of February 2023). So, we are looking at Part B of The Lost Son today (19th of February 2023).
If you look at the Three (3) Parables that Jesus spoke in Luke Chapter 15; He talked about the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son.
The Lost Sheep belonged to the Shepherd; the Lost Coin belonged to the Woman; the Lost Son belonged to the Father.
Be he had something else: he didn’t just belong to the Father, he was born of the Father.
The Sheep was not born by the Father, the Coin was not born by the Father but the Prodigal Son was born by the Father – He had a very Special Relationship with the Father.
And that is why I believed that this Parable is for Believers who fall away from the Faith and return home.
The last time we met this guy, he had gone his merryway and eventually found himself in a lot of trouble. He spent everything that he had, and then he was assigned to go and feed the pigs.
And the Passage says that even whilst he was feeding the pigs, he wanted to eat the food of the pigs.
Now, for a Jew to feed pigs, that’s an Abomination in the first place. But to try to eat the food of the pigs – I don’t know what is greater than an Abomination: that is “Super Abomination”.
And the Passage says that although he wanted to eat the food of the pigs, no one gave him anything. In other words, he couldn’t even eat the food of the pigs.
The owners of the pigs felt that the pigs were more important to them than to the Prodigal son – Because the pigs would be fed to be sold, and they would fetch a Price. And so they Valued their food was to fatten them.
This guy (in their own estimation) had no Value – A great son from a great family reduced to a Place below pigs: couldn’t eat the food of pigs because the Value of a pig was higher than the son of a Noble Man.
It just shows the extent to which sin can bring a Child of God: to a Place where even the Unbelievers don’t consider you worthy, because you have gone far below.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THIS SITUATION?
Let’s pick the Story back in Luke 15:17-21;
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
… So, what do you do when you have reached rock-bottom?
I. There are some who will keep going and going and going! Probably move to another Town and hope that somehow, they would find the way.
It’s like People who get lost and still keep driving and hoping that they will find their way.
II. There are other who will stop and settle and say well, Life is bad. I am just going to stay here – I think this is all that I have.
III. And there are those who would try to go back to where they used to be.
And that is the Option that this Gentleman took – He decided to go back to the Father.
So, let’s look at the Process of going back to the Father – There are Four (4) Things he did in order to go back to the Father:
- REALIZATION:
The Passage says, “he came to himself”.
That means he was beside himself all this time. He came to himself, he took Charge of his Life; he accepted the reality of his Life. He stopped making excuses, he stopped lying to himself.
He faced reality!
He looked himself in the mirror and told himself the truth.
The Problem many times with us is – When things go bad, either our Christian Life goes bad and we are now backslidden; we don’t face reality.
I. And there are People who still think they are doing well, when they are not doing well.
II. There are People who are down, but think they are up. They never face reality.
But this Gentleman faced reality.
And if you are here now or reading this Message now on the Label of DMC, Struggling with your Christian Life: if you want to get back to the Place of Relationship and Intimacy you had with God, you are going to start with facing reality.
That is what you need to do – Face reality. Because if you don’t start facing reality, you are going to lie to yourself for a very, very long time.
Apart from our Christian Life, there are many areas where we need to face reality.
I. Sometimes, couples need to face reality that there is a Problem in their Marriage. Instead of saying, there is Nothing, they has to understand there is a Problem.
II. Maybe you are in a situation where your Finances are going bad and now you are blaming Witches and Wizards, blaming everything. And now you are blaming the almighty Russia and Ukraine War.
But you have to face reality, because until you face reality, you are living a lie. And nobody can have Recovery and Restoration when they live in a lie and tell themselves a lie.
I must admit that telling yourself a lie is something very nice because it encourages you. But when you are feeding, eating and living with pigs; you don’t need encouragement to live with pigs – You need to get out! And you starts by facing reality.
- REASON:
The Second Step he took was that he reasoned with himself.
He spoke to himself, he reasoned, he started thinking and he said – Woooooow! I remembered my Father’s House. And even the Slaves, the Servants have bread to eat and they have bread to spare.
Common sense, reason!
And that’s what he did – He remembered what Life was and he asked himself the “All Important Question”:
I. If this is how Life was in my Father’s House, what am I doing here?
II. Why am I allowing this thing to overtake me?
III Why am I allowing this thing destroy my Marriage, my Christian Life?
IV. Why so I sit here and allow this situation to destroy me?
Reason!
Because if you don’t reason and you don’t ask the tough Questions of Life yourself, you can’t get out of the pig’s stall.
You know, for many of us, when we are in trouble (in Ghana or even in Nigeria); we blame the Witches and Wizards, Demonic attacks, Spiritual attacks.
I can guarantee you: Most of your Problems, about ninety nine Percent (99.9%) are not Spiritual attacks – It is Personal attacks you have given to yourself. It is based on wrong Choices, based on Mistakes we have made, Bad Choices we are making.
And if you keep blaming the Witches, you will never reason to solve the Problem.
So, we’ll stop blaming, and face them squarely, and then start to think:
Why am I sitting here? Why have I allowed this to happen to me? Why do I keep doing this to myself? Why do I keep making this Mistake over and over and over?
That’s reason!
But he didn’t stop there: because if you just reason with yourself you are just joining a Debating Society. He took the next step;
- HE RESOLVED:
He committed himself, he brought his Will into play.
He said, because of all of this, “I WILL ARISE”.
This is so important because many times we know what is wrong, we have no Will to do anything about what is wrong.
It is like Couples who are having Problems in their Marriage – One is facing West, the other is facing East.
In their minds, they both want to resolve the Problem, because none of them is happy.
Husband is saying, I wish you would say something, and I will respond. The wife is saying, I wish he would say something then I would respond.
So, both is them are wishing somebody would speak first!
And so, they keep lying East and West. And this can go on for Weeks and even Months.
Before then a Problem which started so innocently – A very small Problem has now become a huge Problem.
All because, although you are reasoning in your heart that what you are doing is wrong, you haven’t applied your Will.
And that is what this Gentleman did: “I will arise, I will do something about it. I am just thinking about it; I will do it.
An so it is with every Problem – You want to lose weight and you say you don’t like what you see in the mirror. Get up! You have done Phase 1 and 2, now you need results “I Will.”
He said, I will arise, I will go back to my Father: I am not waiting for my Daddy to call me. I am not waiting for my Father to send Servants to look for me. I am going to take the initiatives because I left by myself, I have to go back by myself – “I will do it.”
But that is not enough, because you can just keep on Procrastinating: “I will” and end up not doing it.
So, you have to realize it, you have to think about it – reason. You have to resolve.
- HE ACTED:
The Passage says, “And he returned” – He went back by himself.
He left the Father by himself, and he returned by himself.
This return journey must have been Probably not easy for this Young man.
I don’t know what he said when he was leaving home but normally when some People leave, they do so very bombastically – “You will see, by this time next year when I return to this house, you will see!”
It’s like somebody who left Ghana/Nigeria – Went to America, to come and Prove to all of us that he has Prospered. Now life is treating him badly, he can’t come back because he Promised that next time we see him, he’ll be on a Higher Level.
So he stays on, thinking a long stay will Change his situation. But things get worse and worse. Returning is always tougher.
Can you imagine what the Prodigal son is thinking?
I. He is returning with Shame.
II. He is returning to face Disgrace.
III. He is returning with Guilt – He knows he has messed up his Life.
IV. He is returning with fear – He doesn’t know whether the Father will accept him, whether he will mock him.
So, every step from the Pig Stall to the Father’s House is very difficult – His heart is heavy, thoughts are going through his Mind but he has said, I’ve reached rock bottom, and no Life will be worse than what I have experienced. I am going back.
And there are many People who need to return to God – There are People who need to return to Church; return to their Marriage, apologise to People. And it is a very tough thing: “What if the Person insults you when you are apologising? What if he disgraces you?
So, this guy is going back to the father with a very heavy heart – If he is defeated, he still goes.
Restoration, Returning is not always easy – And for him it was tough!
And then, he gets to the area where his Father’s House is:
I’m sure the moment he entered the territory he is now Speaking in Tongues, Praying in the Spirit.
And if he had forgotten how to Pray in Tongues, he is now remembering it – Praying, having All-Night Meeting, Fasting, speaking to God “Oh Lord!”
Now he is in his father’s House – Let’s see the reaction(s) from the father:
And for me as a Church, this is the most important Part of this Message because all the others are taken by People who are Returning;
Now, what about those the People are Returning to – What is our Attitude?
Three (3) Things I want you to note about what happened in the father’s House:
First, let’s look at Like 15:20-24;
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
… What a Reception! What a Welcome.
THREE (3) THINGS I WANT YOU TO NOTE ARE:
- RECEPTION:
How he is received – He is seen and he is received!
The father sees him and welcome him.
The Passage says that “his Father was so full of compassion when He saw him, that He ran to him, fell on his neck and kissed him.”
That is Reception!
There is nothing like, “I told you so!
Finally you have realized I Am the father, and you have come back.
Now you know there is a father somewhere.” There is nothing like that!
Reception is how you are treated at the Entrance – And sometimes in Church we can also be very nasty to People who are Returning.
So, if there is a Church Member who left saying, “you People here are all Lost. I am going to find the “Real World” and I am going to have fun.” And for a Season, the Fellow is having fun. And then Life hits him or her very badly. And now he is very disturbed and finally decides to come back to Church.
And you saw him or her outside.
Some of us would look at them and say, “Fnally you have come back to Church. Now you know there is Church. Look at you, see how you suffered.”
But that is not the way we receive People back to the Father’s House. We don’t receive with condemnation; we don’t receive with guilt by Pointing out their mistakes.
We receive as this father receives – He received because He sees the Person, goes to the Person and He welcomes the Person.
If you see a Person who left the Church and is coming back; don’t ask them embarrassing Questions. Go to them and welcome them – “We are so glad to have you, we are so honoured you are in Church today. And we trust you will enjoy the Service. May God touch your Life today.”
Say something warm and nice to the Person – Don’t Point out their mistakes because the People who have messed up know they have messed up. They don’t need you to tell them that they know they’ve messed up.
Don’t you know when you’ve messed up? If you mess up you will know you have messed up. Hence, you don’t need somebody to indicate that you are messing up because you are already coming with guilt on top of your head.
The father showed how to receive a Lost son! And I believe this should the attitude of every Church – Every House of God must be like the father’s House; where those who are wayward come and we don’t fight, curse or belittle them. Rather we welcome them.
You say, “but how are they going to learn their mistakes?” They learnt the mistakes before they came!
You are not the one to teach them their mistakes. They already knew they were wrong, that’s why they’ve come back.
And if you look at the Father’s attitude, He doesn’t even say repent. He doesn’t even say Pray. He doesn’t even talk about all of that. All He does is “Unconditional Welcome”.
Why? Because He knows how tough it is for His son to come back – Smelling like a pig, and coming back home.
It is tough for you to be wayward and go back.
If somebody used to be in Church and backslides; listen, it has taken them Months to arrive at that Decision.
They have been thinking “should I go back there? Should I go to another Church or go to where Nobody knows me? If I go back, how will they treat me?”
They have debated and debated;
And then one Sunday, he gets up, and he says, I will go back! He carries his bag, puts on his clothes, comes here.
He already knows he has messed up! We are not the ones to Point his guilt to him – He knows it.
… So, that’s the first thing – Reception: how we receive People.
- REPENTANCE:
This is the Second thing – Very interestingly, Repentance.
He confessed his wrongs.
The father didn’t ask him to, the father received him and then he repented.
In other words, the father didn’t wait for the Repentance before He forgave him – The father heard his cry in the Pig Stall and then forgave him already.
But the son also understood, “I cannot act as if nothing went wrong. I cannot act as if everything is Perfect: I have to “Own Up” to my mistakes and I have to make Preparations for my mistakes. And I have to repent.”
The fact that somebody has forgiven you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t repent. Because sometimes you know, we take People for granted. We take people’s treatment for granted.
And this guy has learnt a Lesson – “I am not going to take my father’s love for granted. Although He hasn’t asked me to repent, I will repent.”
And here, his Repentance is very, very Total – Father, I have sinned against God. I am not worthy to become a son again. Just make me one of your servants. Because I have realised, in this house, even the Lowest is better than the Life I experienced.
Total Repentance – Not Expectations, not asking for Restoration, not asking to be put back into the Palace. He says, I have messed up, I’m just happy to be back.
And that is for those who returned; they don’t come back with Expectations. You come back just trusting in God’s Grace, in God’s Mercy.
And if God wants to lift you up, He will lift you up. Don’t say, “before I left, by the way Pastor do you know I was the Director for so and so? And I was Heading so and so Unit? I am coming back for my Position.”
That is a wrong attitude! You don’t come back with Expectations – You come back with Repentance.
… There is Reception, there is Repentance, and the final one:
- RESTORATION.
He is Restored! He is Clothed and Celebrated.
The father did Three (3) Important Things for him:
I. Gave him new Robes;
II. Gave him a Ring;
III. Gave him Sandals.
Now, for us today, they may not mean much. But everyone of those things the Father did – in the Culture at that time was very Symbolic.
- A ROBE:
The Robe that was given to him, in those days in the Jewish Community, they were Robes for Treasured Guests.
If a very Important Person comes to visit you, you put a Robe on him to say, “we value you, you are Important – You are a Special Guest to our home.”
And so those Robes would be in most homes and would only be given to an August Visitor.
And that is the Robe that the father says, “Take and put on this Boy!”
… Interestingly, there is no note that he had bath. Maybe they bathed him but that is not recorded.
So I would assume he was still in a mess when the Robe was put upon him; just to say, “we know you don’t smell good but you are welcome – You are important to us.”
The father put the Robe of Honour on him; the Robe reserved for People who are highly Treasured but it went to him.
That’s the first thing He did!
- A RING:
The Second thing He gave him was a Ring.
This Ring is not a Wedding Ring – It is the Family Ring.
In Prominent families they would have a Ring, and the Ring would be a Seal of the family. That is what shows that this Person is a son of a Noble Man and not only that; he can act on his behalf.
So, if a son went to transact a business and People wanted to know whether they had the right to transact business, the Ring will show, they can represent their father.
The father says, not only are you welcome; you can represent this house.
That’s quite a big deal to somebody who has just been come from feeding pigs – You can represent this house; you are Part of this house.
- SANDALS:
In those days Servants and Slaves did not wear Sandals – Only Noble People and sons, Free Men wore Sandals.
Obviously, whilst he was away, he had lost the Sandals he went out with. Probably, it’s in the Pig Stall or he used it for gambling or he did something with it.
So, he is walking barefoot as a Servant, as a Slave. And that’s why he said to the father, “treat me as one of the Slaves.”
The father said, “Son, you are not a Servant, you are not a Slave.” And the Sign of it, he was given Sandals to wear.
So when he walks into this house, the Servants would know, “he is not one of them. He is my son – He has my Ring, and he has a Noble Robe on him.”
And the father did all of these things for only one Purpose: to Celebrate his son.
At no Point in this journey did the son cease to be His son;
He was his son when he was with him; when he left home, when he was wasting His Property and Wealth. He was his son when he was feeding the pigs, when he was returning, and he was his son back home!
At no Point did he cease to be a son – He was His son and He had never forgotten that, this is my son. And never ever cut the son off in his Life.
And that is what God does to Believers – When a Believer backslides, at no Point do they lose their Salvation; at no Point are they totally disconnected from God.
They may sin, rebel against Him; but God always looks after them and say, that is my Child and I want him or her back. My son or daughter, I want him or her back.
Never ever confuse People’s Relationship with how God sees them – This man was a son throughout; and the father affirmed it in his Life.
This morning or as you read now on the Label of DMC – As we think about this Story, there are People here who are Struggling with their Christian Life:
I. Some come to Church but they are far away from God.
II. They come to Church just to Prove a Point to somebody, “oh, I went to Church.”
But you know that your heart has been out for a long time.
III. There are People in Church who are Struggling with drugs, who are living all kinds of Life;
And they want to get back to God; they want to reconnect with them with their Father; they want to get back with their Father.
This morning, I am going to give you the opportunity to reconnect with your Father; and to come back home.
I. If you are here this morning and you say: Pastor, I want Jesus Christ to come into my Heart, to be my Lord and Saviour.
Jesus would save you.
II. But if you’ve Prayed that Prayer before, and now your Christian Life is a mess.
You used to be for Christ; you used to live for Him, but now you are no longer living for Him – He can still restore you.
So, with every Head bowed and every eyes closed; if you are here this morning or reading now on the Label of DMC and you say- Pastor, I want to get back to God; I want my Relationship with God to be better.
I want to live for Him, I want to live a Righteous Life. I want to stop living in sin; I want to overcome this drugs Problem, this alcohol Problem, Prostitution Problem – I want to live for God. I want the Good Life of Jesus Christ.
If that is your Heart desire and that is your heartbeat, don’t feel condemned. And don’t feel ashamed, because God loves you just as you are and He will Change and Transform you this morning.
So, if that’s your Prayer – You want to reconnect with God, just lift up your Right Hand wherever you are: don’t put yourself down.
Nobody would put you down – It takes a lot of boldness to lift up your hand.
Like that son returning home, it takes a lot of boldness to return home.
I am going to ask you to do one more thing – Just Stand Up wherever you are.
God bless you!
It’s taking you a lot of boldness to do what you are doing but you are coming home.
We are going to Pray this Prayer together. And let it be your Prayer of Restoration.
Say with me:
Heavenly Father, I come to You today just a I am. I am a Sinner – I cannot save myself. I trust You for my Salvation, for my Restoration;
You are my God, You are my Hope. I trust You today to accept me and make me Your Own;
Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, make me a Brand New Person. Let me live Victoriously for Your Glory, all the days of my Life.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen and Amen!!!
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