What do you believe about God? Who and what has contributed to that belief? Are you sure you are right? As we start a new series, Far From the Father, JP teaches us about God by examining when Jesus taught about the Father in Luke 15.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-“What comes to a person’s mind when they think about God is the most important thing about them.” -AW Tozer
-When the gospels talk about “sinner” they are talking about a class of people. When they talk about “tax collectors” they are talking about people who took 85% and used part of the money to oppress the very people (the Jews) they took it from.
-Asking your father for your inheritance in Bible times was the equivalent of saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead.”
-Sometimes when we aren’t pursuing the Lord it makes all the sense in the world that we are experiencing a storm or a famine in our lives.
-When you rebel, God will let you.
-God wants you to know that life can be found in Him alone. Not possessions, money, experiences, or anything else. Only Him.
-Read Romans chapter 1 for a commentary of what is happening in our culture today.
-Do you really want God, or do you just want His stuff?
-Most of us superstitiously approach God, trying to say our prayers just right, hoping to get what we want because what we want is not Him.
-If you like what you got, keep doing what you are doing. But if you keep doing what you are doing, you are not going to like what you got.
-Some of the richest and most “free” people in the world are the most depressed and anxious.
-The Bible is brilliant, and the way you will miss the truths it teaches is by thinking you already have them.
-Do you ever plan to pray rather than pray?
-Do not be deceived: God has seen everything. The darkest perversions of your heart and everything you’ve ever done. He has seen and knows it all.
-When you come to ruin, God hurts with you.
-God isn’t hurt by you, but He hurts with you. The Son was hurt for you.
-The way the world was designed by God is that sin will always have consequences. Eternally, because of Jesus, we are free. But on this earth, sin always has consequences.
-God looks at you and He embraces you. He’s not scared of your filth.
-Sometimes when you hurt in relationships, it’s good and healthy to create boundaries with those people. However, you need to understand that God doesn’t do that. He radically pursues you.
-The number one metaphor for heaven is a party.
-When you repent, God restores you.
-What someone celebrates tells you a lot about them.
-What do you celebrate? If you are a parent, what do you celebrate in your kids’ lives?
-What does God celebrate? He celebrates repentance.
-Repentance is owning whatever you did and taking the consequences as they come. It’s turning from your sin and turning to God.
MENTIONED OR RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
-Suggested Scripture Study: Luke 15:1-24; Romans 1
-Book: The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
