Welcome everybody. Grand opening. That was pretty good. But I'm I I'm so excited.

If we haven't met before, my name is Josh Meyers. I'm the lead pastor here. And man, I have been dreaming about this day for a very long time. And we are so happy that you're here and joining us.

We believe that God has something for each and every one of you in this room. And we're just believing that today that you would find and follow Jesus. , and man, I I'm I'm thankful that you're here cuz going to a new place can be difficult, right.

, it kind of difficult if it's a new job or maybe if you've never been there before, a new community, a new trip, something like that. But I'm thankful that it's easier to get somewhere than it used to be. All right, I'm gonna see how old this room is. Do you remember that there used to be a time before this thing called a GPS.

You remember this. I got lost so much because I didn't have something in my ear telling me to take a left or a right or saying you've reached your destination, you've arrived, right. So I got lost a lot before the GPS came along.

And one time in particular, this one's probably the worst one of them all, is in 2010 before I had the handy dandy GPS on my phone. I I was traveling to this beautiful oasis destination vacation spot called North Dakota. I don't know if you've ever been there before, but man oh man, this was my first trip ever to North Dakota.

And let me tell you about the three things I learned about North Dakota. Number one, it's not even the best Dakota. Okay, I'm sorry if that offends you. I would take South Dakota first over that. But number two, North Dakota's really cold, like colder than Minnesota.

And we were there in the winter. And we were touring with our band at the time and we were going from Bismar, North Dakota to Minot, North Dakota. And so the third thing that I learned about North Dakota is there's quite a bit of distance between towns and gas stations. Okay, so you probably know where this is going.

We get out of our show very late. It's about 1 in the morning and we are lost. We cannot find our way to anything. And then as fate would have it, gas runs out and we are stalled on the side of a dark country road.

No map, no cars, no reception, nothing. And have you ever been lost like that. And I don't mean just physically lost, but lost in a part of your life, whether it be a relationship. Maybe you are in a relationship or it's a it's a marriage and and you're just wondering like, how did we get to this this spot. It just feels I feel so lost.

Or maybe it's in a friendship or or maybe with the child that you're parenting, right. Or maybe it's in the world. You look at the world and you you just start to think, "How did we end up here.

How did we get so lost. How did everything how does everything feel so lost here. " Or maybe you look at God that way, like you've prayed and and you feel like he's not answering. Or you've prayed and you just feel like you're talking to the ceiling and everything just feels so lost.

So, what I'd like to do with you today is answer this question. What do I do when I'm lost and hopeless. And for the big questions in life and the ultimate authority here at Destination Church, we look to the word of God. That's why there's a Bible on each of your seat.

By the way, if you don't have a Bible, you can take this one home with you. That's our gift to you. But we're going to read and open this word up together and I pray that this encourages you to do that throughout the week. So you can turn to page 898.

We're going to be in Luke 15 and we're going to be reading chapters 11 through31 this morning to answer this big question. Now Luke, the book of Luke is one of the gospel accounts of Jesus. And Jesus is telling something here called a parable. And a parable is simply just a story that illustrates a spiritual truth. So Jesus is going to tell us a story that illustrates a spiritual truth.

And it's going to have three characters in this story. And with each character that we meet, we're going to learn one of the key things, one of the key three things that we need to do when we're feeling lost and hopeless. So starting in verse 11, it says this.

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country. What luck, right. And he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him out in the field to feed the pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, "How my father's servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. " All right.

So let's pause because the younger brother is going to teach us the first thing. But we need to understand the character of the younger brother and the context in which the younger brother is living. It's really important that when we read through scripture that we understand some of the context cues of that day and age.

The first thing that we learn is that this younger brother has a just an extreme disregard for his father and respecting his father. He says, "Father, give me my share of the estate. " He's essentially saying, "Dad, I wish you were dead so I could have everything that you have that is of any value.

" That's what he's saying. He's breaking the Ten Commandments, which was was highly regarded here. And not honoring his father or mother. And not only that, but he has a disregard to the legacy to not only his father, but the father his grandfather before him.

Because here's what happens. The father in order to give the son what he needs, he divides property. Now, back in this context, property was passed down from generation to generation.

It was sacrificed for. It was honored. It was fought for. It was passed down as a gift to the next generation. So, the son is essentially saying, "Hey, I I don't I I I'd rather have you just sell off all of that hard work so I could have some money.

" He disregards values. Says, "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and he left. " So, what we need to gather at first about the character of this younger brother is that he's selfish.

He's a little self-centered. He's impatient. He wants it all.

He wants more and he wants it now. And see, he he thinks he knows what's best by by leaving and by going after this idea of what he thinks is going to fill him up. But it actually destroys him. And if we're being honest, or if I'm being honest, maybe this is just for me, but I know I do this, too. I will run to things that are not the father.

I will disregard the father. I will disregard the legacy of all who have came before me. It's sometimes this temptation that we live in to live like the younger brother. And and this tendency is even reflected to us back in in the book of Proverbs.

It says in Proverbs , there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end leads to death. And that's where this son is headed. And so here's what ultimately Jesus is trying to illustrate here.

Jesus is trying to create for us an unredeemable character. He's trying to show us, look, this this younger brother is to that culture, that family, and by his actions dead. Like we we can't go forward anymore with this.

He's unredeemable. And so what does he do when the famine hits. He works harder.

He goes and hires himself out to a citizen of that country. And let's be honest, again, maybe this is just like confession time for me. We try to do this too.

Like when we try to choose our own path, what we do is just try to work harder to prove that we actually didn't need the father. That we actually didn't need God. That we can figure this stuff out on our own.

That we can work harder for longer and and do whatever we need to do to get by. Or maybe we just passively accept that season that we're in. We passively upset. Well, well, maybe this is just going to be the way that it is from now on, and I'll just accept that.

But instead, now the the younger brother is humiliated. He has to feed the pigs. I need you to understand this isn't like, you know, a a great job. This is actually something that would consider be considered a defilement. And nobody would want anything to do with this younger brother.

And so he is unredeemable. But then something happens. Did you all catch it when we were reading it. But he came to his senses.

He had a realization that there was another way that even his father was kinder to his servants than they were to than this boss was to his employees. And so he he comes to his sentence his senses and then he starts to live out this repentance speech and he starts to rehearse this. And I think that this is a really important thing to see. This is repentance, not remorse. He's not having remorse as much as he's having repentance.

Because remorse sometimes can come with excuses. And he didn't give excuses. He didn't say, "Well, , I mean, if this famine wouldn't have hit, then maybe I would have been able to make it. " Or, "If my father would have given me more, then I would have been all right. " No, he just owns it.

He says, "I need to repent and go back to my father. " And this is what the younger brother teaches us about what to do when we're lost and hopeless. Know, Destination Church, everyone in this room, know that you are never too lost. You are never too lost for God.

And when you look at the younger brother, do you see yourself. Cuz I know I do. And I know that sometimes we get to those really dark places and we may not take the same path that the younger brother takes.

But we've all been in some of these dark places. I'll give you some examples. When I was 15 years old, I knew nothing about Jesus. I came in and sat in a church service and I was a depressed somewhat suicidal 15-year-old. I always asked this question.

If life was this hard, why live it. And then I heard a testimony of somebody sharing the truth of and love of the father and I said maybe I should try Jesus. And so I tried Jesus and here I am.

But here's the point is that we all make it to these dark low valleys. I can recall just another time in a dark low valley of mine when I was in my very early 20s. I was married, had my first daughter, and we were getting ready to start a life together. But my wife decided it would be a better idea at the time to walk away from Christ, to walk away from a marriage and to start a new life and leave me as a divorced single dad. And these are these heartbreaking lows that sometimes we find ourselves in.

And in those lows, you need to remember that you are never too lost for the father. If you don't believe me, let's read on verse 20. Find verse 20. That's where we're picking up and we're going to meet this next character, the father. So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son and threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to the father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. " Notice he doesn't even finish his pre-rehearsed speech.

And then the father interrupts him and says, "But the father said to his servant, quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his fingers, sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it cuz we're going to have some burgers and steaks.

Let let let's have a feast and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. So now we meet we meet the father and what we see in the father is we we have to understand again the culture and the context as well as the character. He starts to see his son.

This is such an important phrase here. While he is still a long way off. While he is still a long way off. In order to see somebody that's still a long way off, you have to be actively looking for somebody to be a long way off.

And so this is a reminder that the father was waiting for him. And the father is waiting for you. He's always in pursuit of you.

If you would draw near to God, that God would draw near to you. And then as soon as the son is in sighteline, what does the father do. He doesn't like, , here he comes.

Look at this piece of work. Come on, make your way up there. No, he runs to his son. You need to understand that culturally Middle Eastern men in this time did not run. It would have been something like a ridiculous laughable sight because he's picking up his robe and he is on full speed to get to his son and then he throws his arms around him.

This is the coolest part of this text. And I need you to see this. He threw his arms around him.

Do you know why this is significant. It's not because he just wanted to hug his son. It's because in communities, there used to be gates around communities that either had guards or elders. And by right, when this son shows up, by Old Testament law, these guards or elders have the right to stone the younger son to death, to just throw rocks at him.

But what does the father do. He wraps his arms around him. And what's so beautiful about this is if you think about somebody that's holding a stone ready to throw it and somebody is has their arms wrapped around somebody so tight, you're not going to be able to cast the stone.

And so the father is not only joyful that his son has returned, but he's also protecting him from the consequences of his actions. The father is ready to put his arms around you. And not only that, but he was ready to celebrate. He was saving all of these things. Sandals, he was saving rings.

He was saving a meal for when his son comes home. He was waiting while he was still a long way off. And we need to know that that the father is ready to celebrate you and your homecoming.

And this teaches us the next thing that we need to know about what to do when we're lost and hopeless. Know that the father's arms are open. The father's arms are open. And to be a father with open arms and to feel that embrace is something so powerful and strong.

I'm I'm going to get really real and raw with my story this morning and I hope you guys have already seen that a little bit. I'm going to go just a little bit deeper here and and say that I know how it feels to be the embraceful father. I have three kids.

My oldest is 16 now, but when she was eight years old, she was playing in our backyard and got taken out of our yard by strangers. And we were not living here in this area at the time, but she was brought about a half mile up the road. And meanwhile, I'm looking out the back window and I see her playing. And then the next second, she's gone. And I'm looking around.

I'm calling her name. And I run out into the street in which felt like the longest 10 or 15 minutes of my life. And I saw my little girl while she was still a long way off. And let me tell you, that hug when she came into my arms was a hug that I will never forget. Because it represented to her the safety and the loving arms of her dad.

And that's my prayer that when you are here at Destination, when you come to experience this church, that you would feel God's embrace for you. That God loves you just the way that you are, but he loves you too much to to let you stay that way. He wants to embrace you and he wants you to find him and to follow him.

And that's what the father teaches us. But here's the thing. We could stop at the father because this is already such a good story. But we have to meet one more character because if there's a younger brother, guess what. There's an older brother, okay.

And they're picking on each other. So, let's meet the older brother in verse 25. Follow along with me.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. And when he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of his servants and asked him what was going on.

"Your brother has come," he replied. "And your father has killed the fattened calf because he was because he has him back safe and sound. " Now listen to how he reacts. The older brother became angry and refused to go in.

So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered, "Father, look, all of these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. You yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours has come who have squandered all of your property has come home, you kill him with the fatten or you kill the fattened calf for him. " And his father responds, "My son, you are always with me and everything I have is yours.

But we had to celebrate and be glad because your brother of yours was dead and is alive again. This should sound familiar now. He was lost and now is found.

So again, the character and the culture. Here's one more character that we need to learn from the older brother. Okay, I want you to see that he doesn't come near to this scene at all until this verse.

And he doesn't come near until what. He hears music and celebrating from the house. And so he shows up. Then it just shows us that he has a different kind of selfishness that maybe isn't the same as the younger brother, but is still selfish.

I want to know what's going on. And then he becomes angry when he finds out that it's all about his younger brother. He's angry because the party should be for him.

And what does it mean that his brother is back now. Does he get inheritance again. And does that cheat me out of anything. This is what the older brother is thinking and then he starts to kind of give this entitlement to the father.

He says, "Look, I've been slaving for you. I've I've never disobeyed obeyed your orders. And and you've never given me so much as just a small little meal, but when this son of yours comes home," he doesn't even say my brother. He says, "When this son of yours comes home, he's mad. He is upset.

He wants the lost to ultimately stay lost. " But here's what the older brother teaches us, especially for those of us who are in here and who claim to to be Christians, is that we can always be in the Father's house, but never be by the Father's side. You see, the older brother is not there when the son leaves.

The older brother is not there as the father is waiting. The older brother isn't there when the younger brother is coming home. He is only there when the younger brother is getting something that he thinks he should have.

He cares way more about consequences than conversion. He wants the lost to stay lost. And this can be the really just tricky thing for those of us who have been following Jesus for a long time.

Maybe we've sat in the church and we've done the whole church thing before. But we can easily become like the older brother where we're not about reaching people for Jesus and helping people find and follow Jesus, helping the lost be found, helping the dead come alive again in Jesus. And that is what the older brother is doing here.

And so we as as Christ followers, we always need to be in this evaluation of ourselves and our walk with Jesus and to know where we are. And that's the third thing that we need to do when we're lost and hopeless is figure out where you are. That's how you get to where you're going.

You have to know where you are. You have to have a sense of you are here, right. And so destination, I'll ask you this question.

Where are you this morning in your walk with Jesus. Where are you. Because I I kind of picture it like this. I always have kind of like this mental visual in my mind when I present this.

Let's pretend this side of the stage represents the loving arms of Jesus, your final destination in heaven. And let's pretend this side represents the other. It represents hell.

Now, in the story of the prodical son, to give you an illustration, the younger brother is doing this. He is running all the way to the edge and then looking back and seeing his father and running full speed in repentance back to his father's arms. That's an easy storyline for us to see.

But the older brother thinks that he is here facing the father, facing the cross, but instead is actually facing this way and taking small steps away from his father. And so I'll ask you again this morning, where are you. Do you see yourself in the younger brother. Do you see yourself in the older brother. Because no matter where you are in this journey, in order to be over here at the end, you need to know this that heaven is the destination.

But Jesus is the way there. He is the way and the truth and the life and nobody comes to the father except for through Jesus. And so if you want this this freedom that this this celebration that the younger brother gets to experience then you have to come to the father's arms.

You have to come to know Jesus. And do you know him. Have you found him.

Are you following him. And so I want to ask you guys just as we close today to just bow your heads and close your eyes. And this is just to have a private moment between you and God. This isn't supposed to be, you know, something weird, but just something where you can kind of examine your heart and your mind and see where you're at.

Have you found him. And are you following him. And in order to know the answer to these questions, we have to accept the gospel, the good news of Jesus.

The gospel is this, that God created you on purpose and for a purpose. That he loves you. He loves you so much. And that he is good.

But we are prone to wander. That we choose our own way like the younger brother, that we choose our own rebellion like the older brother. And that is what the Bible calls as sin. And sin separates us from God and leads us to brokenness. Leads us to those dark places that I told you all about that's happened in my life.

And it's something that we can't fix on our own. But the good news is that Jesus came. He lived a perfect life, died, died in our place on the cross, rose again, defeated death, and now through turning from sin and trusting in Jesus, we can be forgiven. We can be healed. We can find hope.

We can find healing that the father offers to each one of us with his open arms. Not because of what we have done or how hard we have worked, but because of what Jesus has done for each and every one of us. And like the father in the story, our father is ready to throw a party this morning for you. But the question that you need to answer is, are you coming home.

Are you coming in to the banquet. I want to give you an opportunity to respond to this. Whether you're the younger brother or the older brother, wherever you find yourself, maybe today is your day. Just like me, as I sat in a church years and years ago and heard the gospel, this good news for my first time, I made the bold decision to say yes to Jesus.

And now I'll invite you with every eye closed, head bowed, so this can just be a private moment here. If you want to say yes to following Jesus, to running into the father's arms, would you just be so bold and raise your hand so I can know who I'm praying for. I'm just going to lead you in a prayer. This prayer doesn't save you.

Your salvation is found through Jesus who has already paid the price for each and every one of us. And so I just want to invite us all to to say this prayer in our hearts, especially for those of you who so boldly raised your hand. God, I confess I'm a sinner in need of a savior.

God, I believe that you sent your son to pay the price of my sin. God forgive me and make me new. Jesus, you are Lord and I give you my life to follow you.

God, I thank you in Jesus name. Guess what, destination. Heaven throws a party for those who confess and believe in Jesus. So, are you ready to party destination. Let's welcome some new people to the family of Jesus.

Would you stand together and we are going to praise. We are going to worship. We are going to worship a God that is so worthy of it and we're going to thank God for him.

So God, I thank you so much that you are in this place. We worship you and we praise your holy name in Jesus name.