We certainly did that this morning. David spoke correctly earlier this morning when he said that I was here in November and you must have done something right because I did thoroughly enjoy my time here and desire to come back. So it is truly a delight to be back here with my family this time. I'm going to have you, if you will, turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15 and while you're doing that, I'm just going to provide a quick update on the work of Family Bible Hour, F.B.H.
International. Now, I'll try to do this systematically as I can. Someone had asked me a little bit earlier today about Ron Hughes and how Ron's doing. Ron is doing better.
He's still on the medication for the blood cancer which he'll be on probably for the rest of his life from my understanding. He does have some side effects that leave him fatigued but he's doing a lot better. He's getting back out to regular meetings at the chapel. He's being able to do a little bit more here and there.
So we're thankful for that but it does leave him very fatigued with a bit of brain fog. As for the work of F.B.H. we've got a lot on the go right now that's pretty exciting. One of those things is we've partnered with Amaeus Worldwide, the Amaeus Correspondents School of courses and of course if you're familiar with them they have their books that go through what the Bible teaches in different ways and in different studies.
One of the things they didn't have was audio formats of those books. So we've talked with them and what we started to do is we have started to record the audio versions of those books so people who want to do the courses while they're driving or commuting or people who struggle with reading can now listen to the course material, still do the exams that go with it and then communicate by email with Amaeus Worldwide and go through the courses and get that feedback from them. So we're really excited about that. It's a lot of work.
We in the past historically have kept our audio programs on the Hope Stream radio for about 15 minutes and these books, some of them, I think it was William McDonald's, what the Bible teaches is about 12 hours of material when we recorded it. So it's a lot of work but it's been a huge blessing and they've been very grateful for what we've been able to accomplish with that. Our YouTube gospel videos are continuing to go out. These are 30 second videos that proclaim the gospel that we buy advertising time on YouTube so when people watch their videos they get an ad instead of getting an ad for product or service.
They hear the gospel and we're delighted that starting in July we set a plan to make sure that the ads were running somewhere in Canada every single day and we've been enjoying the Lord's Blessed. We've got about a 70% view rate all summer which means 70% of the people who get the ads are not skipping them but watching them through hearing the gospel message which is fantastic and we've been able to reach over 250,000 people with the gospel this summer through this method. And then finally we've launched our Bible distribution program and this is again utilizing what we've learned through YouTube. We've got a video ad prepared that basically says have you read the world's number one best-selling book of all time.
Click here to get your free copy of the Bible and explore God's message for you and when they click on that they're taken to the website of an assembly that we're partnering with and there's a form there they fill out their information and then someone from that assembly reaches out contacts as a makes a connection in a perfect world they go and meet them in person give them a Bible answer any questions they have about the gospel of a Christianity pray with them and it's just a great way for these assemblies to make connections in their local community. There's actually one of those being run right here in the Halifax Regional Municipality we're partnering with Bethany gospel chapel right now and so they're doing this they're the point of contact in Dartmouth when and I think in the last they've been doing it for about a month and a half now and I think they've made three connections already where someone's contacted them requesting a copy of the Bible and they've gone out to meet them so please pray for that and for all this it's been a wonderful way to get people out and sharing the word of God and connecting with our local communities. So again this morning I'd like to look at Luke 15 what we commonly refer to as the parable of the parable of the lost son I would like to propose or suggest a different title for us today and call it the parable of the good father and as we go through this parable we'll see that this story really is about him that the parable of the lost son is a wonderful story of redemption but of course we realize that his story ends pretty bleakly without the father and without the love of the father when he returns. I think last time I was here I was looking at the parable of the miners it's been part of my study through the parables which I've thoroughly enjoyed they're just so rich and so deep as we go through them.
Now one of the things that I have learned as I've been going through the parables is the importance of context. Now this applies to all literary works whether it's fiction news articles the context the setting and the situation in which the story takes place what is being said why it's being said is critical to understanding the meaning behind what we're reading and what we're taking in. In fact sometimes even the truthfulness of what we're seeing and we see this all the time these days in media where the different media outlets it doesn't matter what side of the spectrum they're on they they insert their political bias and and you know they take things out of context or they don't provide the full context and sometimes it can be hard to discover what the actual truth is. When it comes to the bible this truth about context is no different in fact when we look at biblical context it's even more important because there's two key contexts to keep in mind as we read the scripture there's the immediate the when the where the who the who's speaking the why they're saying what they're saying at that particular point in time and then secondly there's the overall context and this is the idea of validating scripture with scripture making sure that what we're reading what we're taking in from any one passage lines up with what the entirety of God word God's word says to us and so this is incredibly important to focus on the context of these passages if we're believers in Christ and and I pray that all of us are most of us are here today we should be in his word constantly so we can know what is right there's lots of false teaching in this world there's lots of things that come out that sounds good sometimes even when we first hear there's lots of verses to support it however left out our passages that would refute what they're being said and so so we have to be very careful that we're making sure that what we're learning from the bible lines up with the entirety of scripture and of course the second reason for this is that again it just brings out the full richness of the passage in the word of God so with that all out of the way let's look at Luke 15 but let's start with the context looking at verses one and two Luke chapter 15 starting at verse one it says now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble saying this man received sinners and eats with them and so right off the bat we have this set up this this conflict that's created in scripture and we see it so often in the gospels the tax collectors and the sinners verses the Pharisees and the scribes and it's a it's a pivotal argument of the religious leaders against the claims of Christ here's Jesus claimed by many at this time to be the son of God the Messiah or the Christ the one that they were waiting for to bring about the restoration of Israel to usher in the kingdom of God and and he's he's going through the countryside he's he's doing these miracles performing these healings and the Pharisees and the scribes are kind of uneasy about them now the Pharisees and the scribes at this time they're the religious elite you know as far as they were concerned anyway they knew the law they taught the law they followed the law at least in their own estimation they rightly judge those who disobeyed the law or so they thought and so these that's the problem that we've got with this this connection between the two is that we now have this idea of the Pharisees and the scribes and this conflict with the tax collectors and the sinners and the problem for the Pharisees and the scribes with their self-righteousness is that they they didn't know what we know from Romans 3 20 where it says because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for through the law comes the knowledge of sin you know there's a there's an interesting a site here that we get from this passage in Romans 3 20 that we see here that through the law comes the knowledge of sin if we look at Hebrews we see that in the sacrifices for the law there's a reminder of sin so through the law there's the there's the knowledge of sin through the sacrifices there's the reminder of sin but only through the Lord Jesus Christ can we have the forgiveness of sin and the remission of sin and so there's an important lesson here but the scribes and the Pharisees they didn't get this and so they grumbled you know and it's also a reason why they couldn't believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be and who the people were claiming him to be and so we ask ourselves why is that why couldn't they get past this why couldn't they why couldn't they reason this out and so we have to enter into the mind of a Pharisee and so as I go through this keep in mind that we're we're trying to take the perspective of a Pharisee in first century Judea when Jesus is walking around and his ministry and here we see Jesus and he's eating with and receiving tax collectors and sinners people who despised even mocked the law by their actions by their lifestyle they didn't revere God they didn't do his will or his work and so if Jesus were a holy man as people are claiming that he is if he were from God he would be receiving us he would be eating with us he would be honoring us you know we having been doing God's work and will we've been obedient to the law he should be with us now at this time Jesus would tell two other parables or later actually he would tell another parable about a Pharisee in a tax collector where the Pharisee prays in Luke 17 11 to 12 he says God I thank you that I am not like other people swindlers unjust the builders or even like this tax collector I fast quite so weak I pray I pay tithes of all I get and so this attitude that I'm creating for the Pharisees here this perspective isn't all that far off we see it in the scriptures this is what they were like this was the attitude of the religious leaders and so Jesus needed to educate them in the truth of God and so that gets us back to Luke chapter 15 and so he begins by telling these two short parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin and how their owners rejoiced when each item had been found and each parable ends with a very similar phrase in Luke 15 7 Jesus says telling at the end of the parables says I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance and then again in verse 10 he says in the same way I tell you that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents now these were sort of one-sided accounts in these parables they spoke only of a lost item in the subsequent joy over finding those items so then Jesus takes it all one step further with another parable our focus for this morning the parable is it's again commonly known as the prodigal or the lost son so let's read that together beginning in Luke chapter 15 and verse 11 and I'm reading from the new American standard version and he said a man had two sons the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of the estate that falls to me so he divided his wealth between them and not many days later the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country and there he squandered his estate with loose living now when he had spent everything a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished so we went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating and no one was giving anything to him but when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread but I am dying here with hunger I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called your son make me as one of your hired men so we got up and came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his slaves quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fat and calf kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again he was lost and has been found and they began to celebrate now his older son was in the field and when he came and approached the house he heard music and dancing and he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be and he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fat and calf because he has received him back safe and sound but he became angry and was not willing to go in and his father came out and began pleading with him but he answered and said to his father look for so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours and yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends but when this son of yours came who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes you killed the fat and calf for him and he said to him son you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours but we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live he was lost and has been found now I mentioned earlier that I prefer to call this a parable of the parable of the good father notice the book ends it begins with a man had two sons and the parable ends with the words and the resolve of the father to the older son the story really is about him it's about his love and his compassion out is true that the majority of the story is centered on the younger son at the start we see him asking for his share of the inheritance and to do so while his father is alive would actually be quite insulting in this time essentially what he's saying to his father is you are dead to me I no longer want to be associated with you or part of your family now we have a word for this that we use today it's rebellion this young son is rebelling against his father but what's interesting is that the father agrees and he gives him what he wants and the young man goes on his way and there's an important lesson here for us all god will not force us to stay close to him he won't force us to believe in him or walk in his ways and that's true of the unbeliever and it's true of the believer if we want to go it alone he will allow us but it is always with the understanding that we cannot intervene when things go wrong we can do our own thing but we accept the responsibility and the consequences of rejecting god or moving away from him and that stands for the unbeliever those those consequences are perilous but for the believer as well we can wander away from god we can never lose our salvation the bible is very clear on that but we can lose that happy fellowship that happy communion that we have with our lord we can lose the we can we can lose sight of that relationship and we can we can fall into all manner of trouble when we walk away from him and we see that in the next part of the story the sun goes away and he squanders this fortune he wastes it on loose or in some translations it might have reckless living now the bible at this point doesn't give a definition of what this loose living is and i'm really glad that it doesn't because there's an overarching principle here and here it is that any life away from god is reckless any life away from god is reckless in fact it isn't even life john 336 tells us he who believes the sun has eternal life but he who does not obey the sun will not see life but the wrath of god abides on him this is after jesus said in verse 18 of the same chapter he who believes in him is not judged he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god john 14 6 jesus says i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me and so therefore to have a relationship with god the father and the life that he gives we must believe in his son the lord jesus christ rejecting jesus is rejecting god which means we have no life we have no future we have no hope now what about the believer and and sometimes admittedly it can be hard in these parables to to extrapolate things for the church because they were they were written and the context of them is is before that time it was it was while they were still under the old covenant but we can pull these these lessons out and so when we look at the church we remember that the believer is promised by christ to have life and to have it abundantly and while we can't give up that salvation while we can't lose it we can certainly put that to the side and chase after other things and so we want to be careful not to do that because as we do we lose focus on that life that he gives us and we can't live it properly for him now we get back to the parable in this younger son he really becomes representative of all mankind in this sense doesn't he i say a 53 six that tells us that all of us like sheep have gone astray we each of us has turned to his own way and we can all relate and identify with this younger son at some point in our lives can't we maybe you are right at this part of the story now living away from god wandering with no hope now hopefully you identify with this young son at the end of the parable having repented of his ways and returned to the father hopefully that's where you are today enjoying that that celebration life that god gives us through his son having returned to him through faith in jesus to be saved from that old reckless life that ends with perishing but look at the state of this man here in the parable before he returns he has nothing it strikes me that the bible says he would have eaten what the pigs were eaten we're eating but no one would give him anything he has no money he has no food um it didn't say it but if we logically look at this he has no property nothing that he can even sell to buy food he was hopeless he himself commented i perish with hunger i'm dying here i have absolutely nothing and if i stay if i continue in this i am dead this man had purchased every pleasure he could he enjoyed the things of this world but when reality struck he realized that he had nothing of real value and the same can happen to us in this in this life we can enjoy the riches the pleasures everything our world our society our culture has to offer if we don't have Christ we have nothing of real value nothing of eternal value it fades away it's empty it's meaningless if that's you today you know mankind in that state is lost like this son lost in his sin now if we have Christ but we rely on those things for our joy then our joy is fleeting and we don't have that true fellowship we don't have that true joy that comes from him but if if we don't know Christ understand this that if this is you today you are lost you are perishing that's the word of God saying that not me and oftentimes it does take a disaster it does take a hardship to make us realize how much we need him i'm saying today don't wait don't wait for that disaster you can turn to him today you can know his salvation right now by believing in the lord jesus christ likewise you know maybe you are a believer who has wandered from him it does happen you can return because you know the most beautiful part of this story is about to happen the man comes to his senses he realizes his plight and and decides to go back to his father not as a son but as a hired worker he's humbled and yet the father has different plans doesn't he but well he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion to him and ran and embraced him and kissed him he called for a robe and a ring to put on him and he celebrated with a fat and calf he rejoiced over him but notice that he ran to his returning son i love this because what one thing we realize about god is that any distance between us and god is never created by him it's always only ever created by us by our sin that's the only distance that's created between us and god is by us now believers know that we know that he will never leave us or forsake us god is always where god is where he always is but we wander from him we create the distance by our sin and by our reckless living but he isn't stationary he is where he always is but he isn't he isn't stationary james 4 8 says drawn here to god and he will draw near to you and this is what we have wonderfully pictured for us in the parable of the good father you know we can spend a lifetime running from him we can spend a lifetime moving away from god in our sin and chasing after the pleasures of this world and yet still in a single moment return to him if we approach in faith and repentance isn't that beautiful because he closes the gap he meets us where we are and he does it in all of his compassion in all of his love in all of his mercy and in all of his grace he restores us to sonship john 1 12 says but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of god even to those who believe in his name you know it's it's striking that the son came back to the father with a plan he said he said i'm no longer worthy to be your son make me as one of your hired servants that was his plan at least but the father wouldn't have it he gets to the father and he gets the first half out of that saying i've sinned against heaven and in your sight and i'm no longer worthy to be your son and before he can say make me as a hired servant the father interrupts him and restores him to sonship you know and there's a wonderful picture here that when we turn to Christ he's not going to make us earn the salvation that he offers he's not going to make us go out into the field and when we've done enough then we will be saved when we return to him in faith and repentance he makes us his children that's what the bible tells us we can't earn our salvation it's a gift it's offered to us freely and this is pictured wonderfully in this parable now to this point in our story Jesus has given us this beautiful illustration of the gospel has any but if we go back to the context that this is given and we recognize that to this point he is speaking of the relationship between god and the tax collectors and the sinners remember where we started the tax collectors and sinners were coming to him and the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and so Jesus has told this parable and he's made this connection that the tax collectors and sinners are represented in this younger son they were the ones who had strayed from God's ways visibly and and they were the ones that were returning to him and being received by Jesus the son of God they were experiencing the compassion of God they were experiencing his rejoicing over them they were they were those who had been dead and are being made alive but you know what the story is not really about them it's a fascinating aspect of Jesus's teaching that often even when the gospel isn't a central thought of the lesson it's still a prominent part of what he says because he wants people to know that they can be saved so next in the parable the father turns his attention to the older son now he had come in from the field he had heard the party going on and inquired what it was all about and you know I think if I'm thinking as a human being that must have stung a little bit if you ever consider to realize that no one thought to send for him when he was out in the field the father makes these arrangements with his servants the language of the parable even suggests that the servants were included in this celebration and all the while the older son was out in the field no one summoned him to the party it's almost like he wasn't on the guest list like he wasn't invited and it almost makes you start to wonder which of the sons was actually farther from the father throughout this parable doesn't it when he finds out what it's all about he's angry he's in he's indignant and he refuses to be a part of this now remember his attitude here because it becomes very significant in just a moment so here's the older son he's he's sitting outside sulking how well a party is honoring his brother is going on except for one thing the party's not honoring his brother it was a celebration of the father's joy and you know sometimes I think that the older son I can understand why he was angry here but but it's important to recognize that the son the party was not honoring the younger son in his return you know sometimes we loved it we love to see people being saved don't we if we run kids programs and summer camps and bible studies and we love seeing people say we love seeing backslidden Christians returning to god but remember that that's only possible through the grace and mercy and the redemption offered through Christ right and we acknowledge that in our language even we don't praise Jimmy for accepting Christ right we praise the Lord for redeeming Jimmy so that's that that's what's going on here is the celebration and we're starting to see the reason why Jesus told those first two parables they weren't just empty words he was reminding these Pharisees that heaven rejoices god rejoices god celebrates over one sinner who comes to repentance so the servant says to the young to the older son your father has killed the fat and cap because he has received him your brother back safe and sound and again we see why he's angry that he felt his brother was getting something that his brother didn't deserve her because his father had never rejoiced over him like that even though he did all his work and again I think if we're thinking as human beings we can understand that right we see people we live with people in this world today who receive things that we understand they don't deserve and sometimes we don't get the things that we feel we do deserve so his anger his frustration is if not appropriate it's at least understandable from a human perspective you know and there's a lot to be there's a lot to be said about that especially considering he wasn't told that this party was going on but but look now at the reaction of the father in verse 28 his father comes out and begins pleading with him to come in you know I'm reminded here of Jesus standing over the city of Jerusalem where he was about to be crucified the Pharisees reaction to this teaching and others like it would cause Jesus to look over the city and cry out in Matthew 2337 oh Jerusalem Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together the way I hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you are unwilling you know the father here is pleading with the older son and what's his plea know my joy share in it and come in but he would not he would not instead he tries to state his case for so many years I have been serving you I have never neglected a command of yours and yet you have never given me a young goat so that I may celebrate with my friends but this son of yours comes who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes and you killed the fattened calf for him and we've come full circle here haven't we this older son is displaying the same character that the Pharisees were toward the tax collectors and the sinners while they grumbled about Jesus spending time with them the heart of the argument was the work he had done for the older son worked surely done out of love for the father right I mean that's that clearly presented in the parable except it really isn't you know if that were the case we might have read that for many years I have been serving you I've never neglected a command of yours and you have not given me a young goat so that we may celebrate together but that's not what he said he comes in and he says he says that you've never given me a young goat that I may celebrate with my friends no mention of his father now this may seem like I'm making an inference here about the heart of the son but I think it's further drawn out in what the father says next we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and his began to live he was lost and has been found do you remember how the older son referred to his brother when his father came out he said this son of yours and now we have the father turning that around and saying this brother of yours and so what's the point that's being made here and and this is an important lesson I think for all believers here what is the father saying he's saying yes you have your record of works you have your adherence to my command but you do not seem to know or understand my heart you don't share in my desires or have concern that my will is done this is a staggering rebuke of the Pharisees in a sense it reminds me of what we see the Lord Jesus writing to the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation he calls out I know your works that you've done all these things but I have this against you that you've left your first love for all of their religion for all of their display of themselves as righteous servants of God they didn't even know his heart they didn't know his will Peter writes he writes about it he says that God does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to repentance now to be fair the Pharisees didn't have that yet that would be written years later but they had the law and the prophets they had writings like Ezekiel 18 23 and 27 to 28 where God says do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked declares the Lord God rather that he should turn from his ways and live these were the religious leaders of the Jews they were supposed to be in a way shepherding their people towards God and towards his ways they should have known that God's desire was repentance and to follow him and they should have been thrilled that their brothers their fellow Jews who had wandered away from God's ways were forsaking evil and returning to God and so begs the question who truly was lost it also gives an indication of what they thought of Jesus now the context leaves a lot of questions about their motives but consider this if if they're if in their minds Jesus was a sinner a blasphemer why would they care that he receives his own you see they couldn't refute his claims regarding who he was they didn't believe them but they couldn't refute them either there were some among their numbers namely Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and John tells of others that believed in secret for fear of the Jews they couldn't understand who he was but they didn't want to believe that he was the Messiah that he was the one who came from God even Pilate recognized that he turned that they turned Jesus over to them out of envy they recognized him as someone perhaps sent from God and yet they still rejected him because he didn't fit their mold he didn't fit their ideal of what the Messiah what the Savior should be and why did he not fit their mold because he didn't honor them for their works he didn't congratulate them and celebrate with them over their good works and their adherence to the law you know pride pride has heart heartened many hearts over the course of time Jesus didn't honor their works because they weren't done for God they were done for themselves they wanted their accolades in the marketplaces they wanted their special greetings they wanted their own party with their own friends they didn't really even know God if they did they would have recognized his son and they would have seen that he was accomplishing the will of God and they would have rejoiced in that they would have seen that he was fulfilling all of the prophecies that the scriptures say the son of God would fulfill that the Messiah would fulfill but they didn't see it instead they grumbled like the older son of the parable but you know what the parable is not really about him either the older son Jesus told this parable because he wants everyone to know God's heart he wants everyone to know the heart of the Father he wants everyone to know his own heart to know that he never stops loving us and that he waits for us to return to him so he can receive us back with all compassion and all grace he wants us to know that God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved he wants us to know that no matter what we may have done if we come to God in faith through Jesus Christ we will be saved from death and enter into true life and a relationship with God where we are his children and he is our good Father if we are believers who have gone astray this morning on either side of this story maybe maybe we've chased after the things of this world and stepped outside of our relationship with God and with Christ you know the hymn writer says prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love it happens perhaps we're like the other son embittered and hardened towards those we see in this world that reject Christ reject God in his ways have we lost our sense of love compassion and urgency towards those who need it most those who are perishing the lost souls of this world have we gotten to a point where we would rather see certain sinners judged rather than saved that is not the heart or the will of God there's a song a modern fairly modern song what's modern to me isn't modern to most people anymore sadly but the song's hosanna and the bridge in that there's a line that says break my heart for what breaks yours and is that our attitude do we have a heart so in tune with that of our Lord and Savior with that of our God the Father that the things that he desires are the very things that we desire in everything we do do we share in his heart but you know what we do have a good Father who will never leave us or forsake us no matter how far we stray from him in any direction the promise remains that if we draw near to God he will draw near to us we can return to him today in closing I just encourage everyone here to be focused on the word of God to be focused on the message that we have to dig into this book so that we can know our heavenly Father so that we can know our Savior know his heart and seek after those things that he desires if there's anyone here who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior today if you are wandering like the lost son understand that today you can return and you can be a child of God simply by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ that the work he did on the cross is sufficient to forgive all sin and to restore you and give you everlasting life we have a good good Father don't we let's thank him and praise him together heavenly Father heavenly Father we thank you for your word we thank you for parable such as this that intended to teach a lesson to those who thought they followed you but didn't know you and we pray Father that if there's anything in any of our hearts here today that don't know you that don't know your desires your heart that you would speak to us today that you would put in us that desire to seek after your kingdom and your righteousness Father we thank you that you still save souls and we recognize that we live in a world full of lost sons full of those who are far from you who need to know your truth your grace your mercy we pray for those who are out there each and every day spreading your gospel we pray Father that even one would be convinced to return to you because we know that when they do they will receive your full forgiveness your full restoration and be born again to new life as your children Father we praise you and we give you all glory and honor for who you are and for what you've done in sending your son Jesus for us we pray that you again that you would help us to be more and more like him each and every day as we give you thanks and praise in his name alone amen