Voice of the Nazarene 8-3-25

Voice of the Nazarene 8-3-25

Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene. A week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene,

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:18

The lost and found DEPARTMENT OF THE BIBLE happens to be the book of Luke, and it's chapter 15. More things lost in this chapter and found than any other compartment in all of the Bible. And among the things lost were a couple boys. Let me read it to you. I'm picking up the 11th verse, and he said a certain man, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus, Christ, said, A certain man had two sons, not just one, but two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. Now many days after the younger son gathered all together, took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with righteous living. And when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in one. I'm picking up the story of the younger son and his badness. It's recorded here just how far down that he'd gone. It began with his cavalling. He had a cavalier spirit, that frivolous spirit, that nothing was important except himself. He had this kind of a mentality about him that we call entitlement. He just felt like everybody owed him. And he walked up to his father and said, Dad, I want you to give me and he snuck his hand out. We have a generation nearly like that today, a give me generation. 100 million Americans are living off of handouts from the government. What they're doing, they're taking from other people's pocket that worked and giving it to people that don't want to work. And I'm simply just saying that if you're hungry, you need to get a job. Now, I'm not saying there are people that are handicapped and don't need some help, but not a 100 million. It's costing $1 trillion a year for 80 some federal what we call program nets to catch people, and the word has gotten out until millions have come across the border into America with their hand out, and they're wanting on the rolls, and they're wanting finance, and they're wanting citizenship without going through anything, and we've nearly divided our language in America because of people that don't even learn our language. I'm not fighting anybody. But he came to his father and he said, Dad, give me. Give me. But the day came in his life when he said, I think I'm going to go back to my father and say I've sinned. And instead of give me like a son, make me like a serpent, make me but it not only ends there. The day came while in the hell holes of sin, he said, I've got to find my way back. Now next we see his traveling verse 13, not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country. Now, some use a needle for their trip. There's others looking for a high and a long and for a trip, and they do it in the bottle. Others are out with immoralities and trying to have a fling. They think that's their journey in life. And others are rolling the roulette wheel and scratching a card trying to find their lucky number, another little trip. But I notice this reveling. Look at Verse 13 and wasted his substance with riotous living, merry making. He's in the city. He's away from dad, he's away from his church friends, he's away from prying eyes, and he thinks, I'll live the way I want to live. I'm tired of the rules, I'm tired of regulation, I'm tired of being squeezed in, and I want my freedom. But he wound up joining himself to a citizen and serving him. I'm talking about his badness, but now we see him down in the city. We see his sadness. And I think verse 14 points out that he pretty well. He went to the dogs. I don't know who let them out, but somebody must have and when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land and began to be in want. The watering holes of sin are dry. When the little woman, we call the Samaritan woman, came to the well, she came with empty water pots, she had empty relationships, married five times, and gone through all of them, and now she's just living it up in relationships, and they're all empty. Bible tells us he went to the dogs, but if you'll read verse 15, you read where he ate with the hogs, look at it, joined himself to a citizen of that country. Would fain have filled his belly with

the husk that the swine did eat: 5:22

and no man gave unto him. Verse 17, when he came to himself, let me tell you something. When you take your shirt off and you take your undershirt off, you finally come to yourself, not much left, and listen to what he has to say in verse 17, how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and despair and I perish with hunger, he said, I will arise, go to my father's house. May I just say to you today that your will is about nine tenths of the battle. I will. It's about nine tenths of the battle. You got God voting for you. You got the devil over here on this side voting for you, and you cast the two thirds majority vote. Is it for God or is it for the devil? Can I just simply say if you want to go to heaven, there's not a devil in hell or out of hell, big enough to keep you out of heaven, and if you want to go to hell, there's not a god big enough in heaven to keep you from going to hell. God never overrides the power of choice. You get to choose. That's why I'm saying two thirds of the majority, vote is in your hands which way you want it to go. And so I notice his gladness. He said, I'm going home. Verse 20, he arose, came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, saw him, and had compassion. Lamentations, chapter three, verse 22 and 23 tells us that the Lord's compassions are new every morning, and he has this prepared speech he's going to say, father, I've sinned before Heaven and in front of you, and I'm not worthy to be called your son and his dad hushed him, and the Bible said the father ran to meet him. This is the only time in all of scripture where we ever see God running to meet someone. The Jewish father to run would have to pull up their garment on the bottom and hold it up and then run so as not to trip. And the scene here is when a person returns back to God and returns from their mistakes, and when they're blowing itand the devil tells them you're unworthy, and God isnot interested in you, you can return, because God's going to run to meet you. Several things I want to point out. First of all, he got the seal. The father said, bring the robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. The family authority was that signet, that ring on the hand. Contract is made. They pour wax on the seal, and they take that signet ring, and they stamp that signet ring into that soft wax. He had the family authority. He got the seal. Verse 23 he reads that he ate the veal. Bring hither the fatted calf, kill it. Let us eat and be merry. And then, if you don't mind me stretching it, he danced the real. Verse 25 says the older brother heard the music and dancing. Now, in these number of years since 1967 been preaching full time, I've never used this outline. Our professor's name was Butler. I can see him yet, if he ever smiled, I don't remember it. Of course, at my age, I'm lucky to remember. In fact of the matter what we were talking about? But his name was Butler. He was my homiletics teacher back in seminary days, and he asked all of us students to go come up with some kind of an outline. He wanted it to have a sense of uniqueness, but it needed to be scriptural. This was my outline. Now I've never tried to use it in a pulpit. About his badness, I mean, his caddling, his traveling, his rattling, and then his sadness. He went to the dogs, ate with the hogs lost his togs and then his gladness. He got the seal, ate the veal and danced the reel, and he cut my grade, an entire letter from an A to a B plus. And he said, We don't believe in dancing, and that's why we've cut your grade. Well, I didn't say he did believe in it. At his age, I doubt if he could have anyhow, but they were so glad to have that younger son back, they literally played music and they were dancing for joy. Now, do you understand that your behavior, even if it's vile or wicked, cannot change the opinion of God of how valuable you are in His sight. Fact of the matter, you may suffer consequences for doing something stupid, but it doesn't stop God from loving you. Now, we have parents in the in the audience today, don't we? Would you put up your hands? You're not ashamed to admit you're a parent. The one lady, she had three kids and somebody asked her, Would you do it again? She said, I'd do it again, but not those three. Well anyway, we've got parents here, and you may have children that made some mistakes. They may have failed, they may have disappointed you, but I doubt if any of you if your kids, I mean if they if they really blew it, whether it was through drugs or immorality, you caught them in porn, you caught them drinking, maybe if they broke the law, I doubt if there's a parent here that if your kid made a mistake, that you would put them up for adoption and say, I don't want them anymore. And this is the same way that God feels. God, I mean, even after you're born again, if you make a mistake, God doesn't put you up for adoption. He's not trying to turn you over to the devil. He's not trying to disown you. He's not trying to cause you to lose your soul. Faithful is he that called you who also will do it. He's the keeper of our soul. Now, in the story I know, the prodigal son left home, have you ever thought about it, leaving the church, preacher? Have you ever thought about just giving up? Well, I'm not going to tell you one way or the other, but the reason I don't leave church and the reason I don't leave the holiness crowd, I can tell you why. I don't want to give the devil a chance to dig up my past and resurrect it and show it to everybody. I want everything that's under the blood to stay under the blood. Fact of the matter, I don't want the devil rubbing something in my face. I'm not going to let the devil intimidate me. I'm not going to let people's opinions hold me hostage. You know, we remember this and we remember that. And remember you had a child out of wedlock? Remember you had a bankruptcy? Remember you had a divorce, remember you were once in jail. And on and on it goes, and God says, big deal. I don't remember any of it. Why all of the past has been forgiven. That ought to put a note of praise on our lips. You see, God is not checking my yesterdays to determine my tomorrows. You understand what I'm saying? Can I just tell you something real, honestly, if you're a Christian, you don't have a past, and hell can't bring up your sins of the past if they've been forgiven. And we don't need to let an old crowd or our own emotions remind us that we did this, or we did that. It may be true, but the good news is you've been forgiven and you've been shown mercy and you've been given grace. You don't have a past. All you have is a present. You better be thankful that you have a present this morning. Now let's go back to this little theme. All of us here know the story I assume, of the prodigal son, but if you really get on, there's something I never really noticed till this week. Really, it's not a story about the younger boy being the prodigal. The only reason we have heard that is because somebody read it and dubbed that or they titled it the prodigal son. Do you know what the word prodigal means? You got a dictionary. Look it up afterwards. Prodigal means extravagant. It means lavish. It means over the top. It means without any limit of expenditure. Now I know the boy went through his inheritance. He wasted his substance. The Bible said he spent all but he didn't spend anything compared to what the old man spent. I mean, he came up with a party and with a celebration. Here's this boy coming home wondering, Will, Dad let me come home, and the Bible said the dad looked out and saw him. He probably said, That's my boy. The Bible said that he ran to meet him. The. Boy hadn't bathed yet. He hadn't showered, he hadn't shaved. He smelt like pigs. He smelt like the honky tonks and the dead. Grabs him and hugs him and kisses him. And I don't know if you get it or not, but what I'm trying to tell you the prodigal father in the story is actually a revelation of God, the Father. That's what this whole story is. All About. Facts, no matter if you read and listen, this is how God feels about us. This is how God sees us. Now I want you to go right back to the very beginning of the chapter, verse one, chapter 15, Book of Luke, Bible, USA, okay with me. It said, then drew near unto Jesus all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him. Jesus was like a magnet. He didn't come to criticize people. He didn't come to condemn the world. The Bible said that he came that through him the world might be saved. And people were drawn towards Jesus Christ, and verse two said, and the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured. You ever been around people that murmur? You ever have somebody they won't just say it to your face, but you hear a murmur as they're walking off under their breath. I wish I could tell you what I'm thinking, but I won't. And how disgusting somebody they got to say something as they're going away. You kinda overhear it, but they would deny they said it. They murmured saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with him. They're complaining. They're criticizing the element that had gathered around Jesus, that little legalistic crowd was simply saying, hey, they've really let down the standards anything goes around this place. And I want you to look at verse three. Because of this, he spake this parable unto them, this parable. He spake this parable unto them. Who is the them, the critics, the cynics, the fault finders. And he speaks this parable He knew their concept of their traditions was wrong, and when you have a wrong concept, you'll end up with a wrong conclusion. And Jesus is saying, I want you to look through the eyes of God and see these people as God sees them. You see them as trash. You see them as junk, and they don't meet your criteria of acceptability, and so he gave them this parable. Now, may I say this parable is written singular, possessive. It's not three different parables. One parable with three aspects, three components, lost sheep, lost silver, lost sons. Incidentally, two lost sons, not just 1, 2. Like sheep, was lost out yonder and the other was lost like the piece of silver right there in the house, you can be lost out there in the dregs of sin, those leap in sort of limp out hell holes, or you going to be lost right in the middle of a church with a bitter attitude and a resistant attitude toward God. Lost. So he goes into the story. He said, Which of you shall have 100 sheep and you lose one, and they leave the 99. You go out in search of that one lost sheep. And when you found it, you put it on your shoulders and you bring it home, and you go tell your neighbors, come rejoice with me the sheep that was lost has been found. Rejoice, and nobody knew any better how to get excited about that than the Jew. Why? Because the nerve of a Jew went straight to their billfold. They put more value in sheep than they did souls. They put more value in the silver the coinage, than they did souls. And so he goes on, and when the boy comes back home, the Father, He didn't go looking for the boy, because, you see, the boy was the only one that had a human will that could choose to leave. May I say, if you choose to leave the kingdom of God, you have to choose to come back. You have a choice. Somebody said, nothing can separate us from the love of God. That's true. Nothing can except one thing. God made you a sovereign being. He gave to you and I a will. We can choose. I'm a moral, free moral agent. I have the power to choose. Even God regardless ofwhat John Calvin said, he talked about the tulip system and the irresistibility of God, that he can just overpower you with his kindness. God can't make you go to heaven if you don't want to go, and he can't keep you out of hell if you've decided you're going there. He's not going to override your choice. You ask the angels, 1/3 of the angels that fell from heaven, they had a choice. They said, nothing can remove us from heaven, but they're not there now, Adam said, nothing can knock me out of the garden, but he had the power to choose. He reached out and took forbidden fruit and sinned and was put out of the garden. And so here's this prodigal he could choose to come back now the father never stopped loving the boy. And it may be that you're a mama here with you got a son, or you're a dad and you've got a daughter somewhere, and they've left the church, and they've left the will of God, and they're out there on their own, and you pray for them every night, you plead the blood over their soul every day, you'll be thrilled if they walk back into the will of God for their life. But you never stop loving them. You wouldn't turn them over to the devil. You wouldn't ask God to kill them. There's too much value there. And Jesus died for them. The blood was shed for them, and their behavior will never diminish your love and your care for your child. I'll give you a quick story and try to wind down. I don't remember what year it was. I was pastoring here. Been here 32 and a half years, we'd never had what we call a watch night service. Watch night service is final night of the year. And other churches I'd been to had them. What we would do, we'd meet about 10, preach and sing, and then we would pray the old year out at about 12 and pray the New Year in, called watch night service. Never had one. So I said to my associate, Larry McNutt, I said, Let's plan one. And we did, and we announced it, and the crowds were coming. It was time for me to leave my office and step right across the hall into the Event Center. Used to be the sanctuary. Just as I'm heading for the door, the phone rang behind me, and I turned and walked back over, and I picked up the receiver, and I said, Hello, and the voice asked, Are you Ray LaSalle? I said, Yes, I am. Said, this is the sheriff's office. And boy, I said, Yes. Said, Do you have a daughter named Renee LaSalle? My blood turned to ice. My heart felt like it didn't flutter anymore. It was as quiet as doomsday. I said, what's happening? Well, said she was involved in a car wreck and wrapped her car around a tree. I said, Where's the accident? I'll come No, no. Said no. I said, How is she? She's fine. Said she's been life flighted to Grant Hospital in Columbus, and all kinds of pictures begin to roll around in my thinking. And I've got a great imagination. I had buried her about 20 times before I walked out of the office. I had to let the mother, her mother know. I asked my boy if he wanted to go. He was fighting cancer and was involved in radiation and chemo, and he dropped all of his weight. His hair was all gone, his teeth and his eye whites of the eyes had changed colors, and he looked so troubled. And he said, Dad, I've got all I can handle. I don't think I could go to the hospital. I said, Okay, son, Jan and I got in the car. We headed to Columbus. It was probably one of the quietest rides that we ever took in our lives. Parked the car, I don't remember any of that. We were told to go through a door and we would find her, and I opened the door, and instead of it being a private room, it was a room that had about 15 beds in it. When I walked in, there was a patient over here, but I I couldn't tell who in the world they were, and I walked on past them, and I realized the rest of the room was empty, and I turned around to look at the patient, and they looked like they were totally out of it. Hair was batted with blood, blood all over their face. There was a neck brace on, everything smeared with blood. And a little voice spoke out, Daddy, Daddy, I'm sorry, and I realized it was my daughter, Renee, and I didn't even know her, swollen, bruised, battered. I stepped over the side of the bed. Now, she had called me a couple days before and said, On New Year's night, I want to run down and to the home of my boyfriend's parents. They happened to be formerly ministers of music in a Nazarene church. And they left all of that and began to seek fame and money. Began to make it, became very arrogant people, and the sons were well known in the football field. And she said, I want to go down there and spend that evening. And I said, Okay, if he wants to be a gentleman and come up to the university, she attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University, if he'll be a gentleman to come up and get you, you can go. If he doesn't come. I don't want you driving down on New Year's with everybody out drinking, everybody out driving late at night, all the drunks will be out, don't you go. She got in her car and went. You got any kids? And I stood there by that bed. She said, Oh, Daddy, I'm so sorry, Daddy, I'm sorry. Did I jump on her and say, Well, you knew better than I told you not to go. I didn't say any of that. I didn't jump on her. I didn't condemn her. All I said was, Daddy loves you. Can you hang that on a peg for a moment in this story, the father was not condemning. Never said a word about the boys past. But not everybody at that house was as welcoming. It was an elder brother. And when he found there was music being played and people were celebrating, he was out in the field. He came and stood on the outside, looking in through the lights, and he said to one of the hired hands, what's going on? Said your brother that left has come home, and the Bible said he was angry. He was angry. It's sad, even around some churches that I've been to, that people get upset when the church starts growing a little bit and things start changing, and there's not as many not as many seats left, and you don't always get the one you like, and there may not be your parking space out front, and you have to walk from clear across the parking lot. You know, walk from Illinois to Indiana to get to Ohio. And people get angry sometimes, and when he heard the music, he didn't like the music. Wasn't his style didn't set well with him. Fact of the matter, he wouldn't go in. He didn't want any celebration. He didn't want to be a part of the party. And the father had to go out and entreated him, and he said he didn't call him my brother. He said, Thy Son wasted his substance with harlots. Bible never said that he went to a harlot. It was just the accusation. Anybody can accuse you of a lot of things. Do you know what? I think it's time the church world just throws a big old welcome mat out front and says, Come unto me, all you that labor are heavy laden. I was thinking this week about this story, and I haven't thought of this story. I don't remember how many years, and it just seemed like God whispered to me, remember Renee in the hospital? Oh, boy, do I ever remember don't want to. Shattered her ankle, broke her femur, fractured her neck. They had her in a neck brace. They knew if she moved, it would maybe paralyze her for the remainder of her life. And so they she came home with a halo on and it screwed literally in through the skin and into the bone. She couldn't move her head. She could move her eyes. Couldn't move her neck at all. Had to leave college and come home to recover. I came in one morning. I saw the light on. I went in the front room, and she was in there with a wrench trying to undo the screws. And she said, Daddy, my neck is charlie horsing again. I've got claustrophobia I can't stand another moment. I said, You gotta keep it on. Not once did I ever condemn her. Just told her I loved her to glad she survived. And God reminded me of that this last week, and said, you remember that? Did you ever get on her? I said, No, Lord, I never got on her. I just told her I love her. And somehow it just seemed like God was saying, Well, I want you to go into church on Sunday morning and you tell the people I love them too. And I'm not out to condemn them. I'm not out to make a big deal about their mistakes. I'm not going to rub anything into the face. Just tell them that I love them. Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC Pastor Ray LaSalle for more information regarding BNC visit bucyrusnazarene.org.