Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

There is something about Easter Sunday. It is a day of hope. It is a day of restoration. It is a day when many take the first step to forgiveness and healing. There always seems to be a tangible expectation of seeing God transform lives. This year is no different.

If you are here today, it is not by accident. God is drawing you to himself. He is inviting you into restored relationship. He is extending His hand of mercy and grace to all who would trust in Him.

For many you may have heard this story a thousand times, but for some this may be the first time or first time in a long time. My prayer today is that we would hear His voice and respond to His call.

Jesus came into the world to lay down His life. He said in Matthew 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John1:29. He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot with a kiss. The disciples fled from Him, and they arrested Him.

They beat him, mocked him, and plucked the beard from His face. They falsely accused Him before Pontius Pilate. They led away to be scourged and ultimately to be crucified. He was nailed to the cross to pay the price for sin. While he hung on the cross, they gambled for His clothes, they mocked and ridiculed Him.

Satan’s greatest hour revealed the greater love of God.

This story is known as the story of the prodigal son.

The younger son in this story tells his father your dead to me. Give me my inheritance. The father divides his portion, and the son leaves to live the way he wanted. He squanders his inheritance in sinful living with prostitutes and wild parties.

The pleasure and freedom he found eventually let him down. As a famine arose in the land, he found himself humiliated and hungry feeding pigs. He was so desperate that he longed to fill his stomach with the pig slop.

His desperation led to revelation. He came to His sense’s and made the decision to return to His father. The questions arose from a place of shame. How could I return after what I have done? How could my father accept me?

So, he comes up with the idea to become a servant instead of a son. He prepares a grand speech saying, “Father I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

What shame he must have felt to realize what he had done.

I can’t help but think about how many of us subconsciously identify with the son when we hear this story.

For whatever reason in life, we have walked away from the father. We choose to go our own way. Living the way that we want to live. Sin has driven us from Him.

But like so many other times. What sin promised in pleasure has once again resulted in pain.

Our confidence is robed and like the son in the story we no longer feel worthy. We don’t feel like we belong. The feeling of rejection is overwhelming, so we prepare our speech to God expecting rejection in return

Im not valuable, I don’t deserve to be in the family. If you let me come back, I will wash the toilets. While we sit in the grip of our guilt and shame, we easily miss the heart of the father.

In the story while the son was still a great way off, His father looked for him. He was seeking for His son.

When the father finally saw him, compassion swelled up on the inside, AND HE RAN AND FELL ON HIS SONS NECK AND KISSED HIM.

So often this picture of God doesn’t fit the picture we have in our hearts. We picture a father who is angry and resistant to our return.

When in reality the father’s heart is overflowing with joy! The son that was dead is now alive and though he was lost he is now found.

God the father is running to us today. Looking for the one who would say I have come to my senses. It is time to return home. It is time to come back the house of the Father.

We can have confidence that God desires for us to come home.

He gave himself that we might be forgiven and set free. He looks with anticipation for our return to him.

Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

Through the finished work of Jesus, He clothes us in a robe of righteousness. He puts the ring of authority back on our hand.

He is looking and longing for our return. He is longing to show His greater love for us. He is calling out for lost sons and daughters to come home.

There is room for you. He sent His son to die in your place so that you can find life and restored relationship with him.