Homecoming
Sunday October 27, 2019
1. Introduction
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back former students and members and celebrating an organization’s existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches.
It is a time of
Remembering
Rich Traditions
Reconnecting
Reconciliation
Rousing Celebrations
GHOE:
Greatest Homecoming on Earth
Everyone can relate to leaving home and coming back.
[2nd First Date]
2. Problem – many of us don’t think we need a homecomings
Who likes homecomings / reunions?
GHINT:
The Greatest Homecoming In New Testament
Luke 15:11-13 MSG
The Story of the Lost Son
Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.
Nothing wrong with going away. How and why we go away?
The Lost Son did not feel he could be who he wanted to be at Home…
Some people don’t have good feelings of HOME:
* I’m not who I thought I’d be
* Nobody understands me or cares
* Nothing to do / Nothing Here for me
Romans 11:36 TPT
Colossians 1:27 TPT
Your Home with God is your Destiny, the will of God for your life; is about “Being” who you were born to be versus having, going or doing.
The prodigal son was focused on having money, go somewhere else, and do something other than what his Father had for him.
He was trying to ”Find Himself” Searching in all the wrong places.
He was trying to find why he was made. You can only do that through The Maker. Himself.
Many of us don’t want to go home because we are not home within ourselves.
3. What keeps us from Homecoming and Intimate Relationship with our Heavenly Father
The reasons why we leave home often informs whether we come home or how long it takes us to come back home.
Luke 15:11-13 MSG
The Story of the Lost Son
Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.
Lost and Prodigal Characteristics:
a. Immature (Unrecognized Immaturity)
b. Want it All (Unhealthily Desires)
c. Right Now (Unchallenged Impatience)
d. Get away (Unsettled Avoidance)
c. Minimized Kinship / Connections (Undervalued Relationships)
a. Immature
1 Corinthians 3:2-3 NLT
Ephesians 4:15-16 Unity / Love
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ
When we grow up in Him, we know we can….
Come Home!
[Fishing with Dad]
b. Want it All – I can do all things
Philippians 4:10-13 MSG
You find contentment when you are at Home in the Father. Because he will never leave you.
Come Home!
c. Right Now
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
“Home is where the heart is.” Don’t give up on God because He’s good and he’ll never give up on you”
Come Home!
d. Get away – Change Locations
Philippians 4:11 AMP
Lost son in Luke:
It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant county
James 1:4 AMP
But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
Don’t try to get away…
Come Home!
c. Minimize / Devalue Relationships
Why do we Devalue people in our life?
* “Doing other things” – busy
* Distracted
* Disinterested
How do we value the gift of people:
* Turn out
* Turn off
* Try out
* Turn up
* Tune In (really listen)
2 Corinthians 5:16 NLT
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
We need each other… [Lock Arms]
Come Home!
Hebrews 10:25
e. The other son:
Luke 15:28-32
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
* Don’t feel valued or rewarded for our work
* Do not want to Celebrate others
* Don’t feel celebrated but tolerated
* Did not focus on what we already have
Your Thoughts become Words become Habits become Actions
Habits become your habitation
Both Sons were Lost
Sometimes we leave without leaving. One son was physically disconnected. The other was emotionally disconnected.
If you are Happy on the outside but lost on the inside…
Come Home!
The Secret of being celebrated:
Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.
4. Coming Home
Coming Home to the Father allows us to come home to everything else.
GHIGH:
Greatest Homecoming In God’s Heaven
Luke 15:14-20
About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
a. You may be a long way off
Romans 8:37-39 GNT Nothing can separate you from the Father
Luke 15:20
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
b. Your Heavenly Father sees you
Zephaniah 3:17 GMT
Luke 15:20
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
c. Jesus has love and compassion for you
Matthew 9:36-37 AMP
:37 [WARNING: D-Team Commercial]
Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Luke 15:20
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
d. The Spirit of God wants to run to you and embrace you. Allow Gods glory to shine through you
Ephesians 3:18-20
you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Luke 15:20
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
e. God kisses you. Don’t miss the kiss! [kiss God]
If we expect God’s Love we will find His grace and favor wherever we are!
Receive your heavenly hug and kingdom kiss!
5. Summary
Come Home to Your Father
The Greatest Homecomings include 3 elements:
a. A common frame of reference – The Word of God is our reference
b. Positive Relationships and Connections – Remembering what bonds us Together
c. Kisses and Hugs – Embracing What is Good (feeling Acceptance, Security, and being Celebrated)
a. Tune In to God’s Word
2 Peter 1:2
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
b. Realize we Need Each Other
Psalm 133:1
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
c. Don’t Miss His Heavenly Hugs and Kingdom Kisses of Grace
Psalm 85:10 (NLT)
10 Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed!
We can all..
Come Home
[Pastor Joe Frazier]