What's going on? His hands. Y'all doing alright? All right. Can I say happy Father's Day too? Cool deal. How about all the fathers stand up real quick? Real quick. All the fathers stand up. All of them. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Woo! Bless you guys. Bless you guys. All right. Father, give him grace. Give him wisdom. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Well, we're going to talk about some cool stuff this morning. If you want to turn to your Bible, you can turn to, but if not, it's up here. We're going to read out of Matthew 22. I'm going to kind of, like I always do, tell, use my own story to kind of talk to you about yours. And I might have to use that one. My thing's messing up on me again. All right. Let's just read it together up there. But look at this cool story. Jesus was talking to a bunch of folks, and he says, There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, Son, go and work today in the vineyard. How many of you like his honesty? I will not, he answered. You know, some kids are like that, you know. But later he changed his mind and went. Kind of cool. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, Oh, I will, sir. But he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? Now I want you to remember that phrase because we're going to use that as we wind up today. Which of the two did what his father wanted? The first they answered, and Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes. Now, in our day, I hope we don't look at tax collectors the same way they did, but the point is, this is people that we would label like, wow, they're so away from God, they've got their lives just really messed up. And they're the kind of folks that religious folks get real nervous about. Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God in front of you, ahead of you, before you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. How many of you know that Jesus, when he wanted to kind of convey an idea or a principle that he knew was going to shift their thinking, he would often tell a story. And I'm going to tell you a story today, a very personal story. And how many of you know all good stories start with what? Once upon a time. Once upon a time, there was a guy named Leroy. And we called him Leroy the Lost, Leroy the Lazy, and Leroy the Leech. Leroy the Lost, Leroy the Lazy, and Leroy the Leech. We called him Leroy the Lost because he grew up in a family that didn't go to church, didn't know God, wasn't anchored to any truth that helped him make decisions, helped guide him through life. So he was just a ship without a rudder, no North Star, Leroy the Lost. We call him Leroy the Lazy because whenever he went after something, if it got a little bit hard, he would just kind of give up. And he he wanted stuff. He had dreams, he had things that burned in his heart, but he just didn't marshal the resources to go after them. Now, little point here. We say Leroy the lazy, but what we learn about this character is he really wasn't lazy. He was scared. He was afraid. He was afraid that he didn't really have what it took to get those things that he wanted. So when he'd go after something he wanted, at the first sign of resistance, something inside him would just say, You don't deserve that. You won't do enough to get that. So why don't you just give it up? So the sum of that was Leroy the lazy, meaning he just didn't go after what he wanted. And then Leroy the Leech, because how many of you know a leech kind of latches onto something and just sucks life from it and sucks blood from it and all that kind of good stuff? Well, because he didn't know how to go after what he wanted, because he didn't know how to really get what his heart wanted, he settled for substitutes. And he learned to use people. And he just used people and things to try to get what he thought he needed. And by the time he was a young adult, he had gotten pretty proficient at using substances, activities, relationships to get what he thought he needed. But the problem was it never touched that place deep in his soul that needed to be touched. Now, the good news is some things changed. But before we jump there, I just want you to think about this. What are what would your story look like? How many of you figured out who I was just talking about? In case you don't know, my real name's Leroy. I tell people not to say that. But the deal is, that's kind of my story. And what I want you to think about for a minute is if you were going to come up here or get in front of two or three people, or however many people, and tell the highlights of your story, what would they be? What would be some of the key phrases that you would use? And I want to introduce, this is the only complicated thought I'll throw at you today. To understand a story, it's important or helpful to understand the elements of a story, the pieces of a story that really make it a story. And there's three elements: characters, plot, and theme. Now, sorry, I'm going to be a little complicated, but it's really going to, I hope, help you look at your own story. Characters, plot, and theme. Characters are the people in the story. How many of you agree that all of us have probably a handful, literally, a handful of characters that have shaped our story? Raise your hand if you agree with that. Most of us could list about five characters that have shaped our story. And then plot. Now, plot and theme sound like, oh, that's just the same thing, but it isn't. Plot is the events of life in the order in which they happen. So plot would be, you know, I was born at this age, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever. So you got that whole piece of it. And then you got theme, which is the meaning that you take from the story. Now, with this story, which is my story, the key characters were the same characters that are the key in all of our stories, usually. In counseling, almost always, what we want to deal with goes back to where? In counseling, almost always, what do we end up talking about? Childhood. Childhood's where everything gets set in motion. Good, bad, or indifferent. That's where everything gets pushed where it's going. So in this particular story, the main character, now I'm not saying the other main character wasn't important, but the truth of the matter is the main character in this story was the father. And the father was very stingy with his affection. Not because it wasn't there, not because he didn't feel it, not because he didn't want to communicate it. But he didn't know how to communicate it. And it's because of his story. So the key character in this story is the father. Now, why is the mom not a key character? Really, she is, but in a whole different way. The mom in this story, my story, was really very affirming. I mean, have you ever seen the show Roseanne? Kind of that way. But underneath it all, very loving and affirming. My mother never not did not affirm me. But my big issue was that I never really felt like I pleased my dad. And it was based on not, here's differences in our story. Mine was not catastrophically traumatic events. Mine was an accumulation of non-fulfilling events. I've probably said these this phrase and many that I'll say today to you before. The absence of affection in a moment when you expect it and need it doesn't break even. The absence of affection in a moment when you want it or need it makes a withdrawal. So what happened between me and my father is I just didn't suffer great big hurts, but just lots of little ones. Lots of little ones. So, character, plot, theme. The plot is the story, the events. The theme are all the meanings you pull out of the story. And I pulled out of the story, in fact, I wrote them down just so I could give them in a little bit more orderly fashion. I pulled out of my story some of the things that I carried with me into adult life. Love, approval, and self-esteem are based on performance. They are earned by and through hard work and meeting certain standards. Another theme for me was I have to be approved or loved by certain people to feel good about myself. Another one, I have to meet certain standards to deserve love and to feel good about myself. Another theme for me was you can't rest and be comfortable with yourself until people are pleased with you and you've mastered a lifestyle of diligence. So I had all these character issues, plot issues, and theme issues that I was wrestling with. Now, just to kind of keep you with me, think about some of yours. What are the characters that have shaped you, that have impacted you? And probably yours are not that dissimilar from mine. Now the truth is I've had some good ones. How many of you can remember a teacher that deposited good stuff into your life? I had a third grade teacher that was very loving. I had a chemistry teacher in high school that was very affirming. I had a football coach that was very affirming. So God seems to try to place people in our lives that interrupt us in good ways. So what we're looking at today is this. Back to that first scripture, which of the two did what his father wanted? What I'm pushing you toward is this. I want to give you what I found to be the secret of how to give God what he wants. We're going to talk more about that in just a minute. But here's a thought for you to chew on. Change your story and you change your life. We've talked about this before when I've been here. Change your story and you change your life. If a story is character, plot, and theme, character are the people in your life, plot is the events, theme is ideas or meeting. Can you change the plot? Can you change what happened? Can you change your past? No. What you can do is introduce some new characters or introduce some new themes. And I'm sure you all know what happened with me was I met a new character. Anyone want to guess who he was? Jesus. Back in for me, 1976, I met a new character, and his name was Jesus. And guess what? He came into my story and he shook my story up. He brought a sense of the forgiveness of sins. He brought a sense of purpose. He brought a sense of feeling like there really was meaning to my story. That was cool. And then a little bit later, because of the kind of church I was in, I was introduced to another person. Anyone want to guess who that might have been? The Holy Spirit. And I met this person called the Holy Spirit. And I was introduced to a relationship with a living God who wanted to interact with me, wanted to talk to me. I found out that He had made me a certain way and had given gifts and abilities to me that were unique to me and that had something to do with how he wanted to use me and how he wanted to relate through me to other people. So I met Jesus and I met the Holy Spirit and they rocked my story and rearranged it. But I have to be honest with you, a lot of what I just read you didn't change. I still had this deep sense that until I lived a certain way, I couldn't really rest and like myself. Until I pleased certain people, I couldn't really rest and like myself. Until I achieved a certain lifestyle of success, until I happened to be pastoring. So until I like succeeded in numbers, I just I just really didn't deserve to relax and like myself. I'd met Jesus. I believed my sins were forgiven. I believed I was going to go to heaven when I die, all that wonderful stuff. I'd met the Holy Spirit, and I'd found out that He He brought power into my life. And I experienced power. God used me in other people's lives. But in the privacy of my own life, I still lived feeling inferior, tense. I'd get around certain kinds of people in particular, and I would just nod up. My relationship with my wife was good, but it wasn't as free as it could have been. I probably made mistakes with my children because of my own feelings of inferiority and insecurity. So I'd met Jesus, I'd met the Holy Spirit. Who do you think I was missing? I needed to meet God the Father. We talk about a Trinity. Well, I'm so grateful that somewhere around 10 to 15 years ago, somewhere in that neighborhood, probably 15, God started nudging me in these directions, and I started thinking, reading, pondering scripture, moving in these directions. And slowly but surely, and I'm just stressing that because it isn't Shazam, but slowly but surely I was introduced to my father. And I learned that I have a father in heaven who loves me. Truthfully, I had a father on earth who loved me. But I have a father in heaven who loves me and wants to communicate that love. I believe my earthly father did. He just didn't know how. He didn't know how to go about doing that. So what happened? Well, how do you change a story? Character, plot, theme. Well, some people might be uncomfortable with this, and I've used this thought with you before. I was aided by God to do what I call, I switched fathers. If you go back to Genesis 3, and Genesis 3 is where Adam and Eve fell into sin and they fell away from God, and we got in this big mess that we're in. Well, when God came looking for them in the garden, he said, You know, where are you? And Adam's response was, I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. What I say is that's where we were all baptized into fear, shame, and separation. The fascinating things to thing to me is the next words out of God's mouth in verse 11 of Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve, Adam said, I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. The next words out of God's mouth. Who told you that? Who told you that? So what happened in my story is God the Father, what happened for a little while is I had like two fathers. One of them was kind of meager and stingy with his affection, his approval, his encouragement. One of them I could turn to a book and be lavished in love, encouragement, affection. And so I had these two dads there. And here's what the Lord used. He used that simple question, who told you that, to begin to jar my story. So what happened is I went through a little period where I would be going along like normal. Maybe I was going to a meeting where I was going to be around pastor friends. And maybe typically I would feel very inferior and kind of clenched up inside. And what I learned was to listen to what I was saying to myself. And in the background, I'd be saying things like this. You're not as sharp as they are. You don't work as hard as they do. You don't deserve to succeed. I don't know why you're even in the room. That stuff would be going on in my head. Now, who was saying that to me? Who was saying that to me? I was. It wasn't the devil. It wasn't my father, it was me. I was saying that to me. But here's what started to happen. That little question, who told you that, began to just pop up. I'd be heading toward one of these meetings, those thoughts would be banging around in my head, and I'd be feeling low and down and all that. And I'd hear that question. I'd be thinking the thought, you don't deserve to be in the room with them. I'd hear this statement. Who told you that? Say that one time. Who told you that? Say it one more time. Say it one more time. Now, why'd I ask you to do that? I want it to click with some of you. I would love some of you for that question to start floating in your mind. To where now, when that thought rolls across your head, you don't deserve to be in this room, you're able to say or hear, who told you that? So what happened is I'm living my story as it had unfolded up to this point, and I'm thinking, you don't deserve to be in the room with these guys. And I would hear a voice saying, Who told you that? Now, very important thought. Whoever's words tell you who you are, that person is your God. Whoever's words define you, that person is your God. So I would hear, you don't belong in this room with these guys. And then I'd hear this question, who told you that? And I would just sort of pause, and my heart would say, My father told me that. And then I would hear my heart say, Father, what do you say? And what slowly started to happen was I started to switch fathers. Here's an interesting thought for you. Your father determines your inheritance. Now chew on that one for a second. I would say, I'm comfortable saying it's a biblical principle. Now, moms, I'm not leaving you out. I mean both moms and dads, but it's a principle. Your father determines your inheritance. Well, how many of you know a father's inheritance is whatever he has to give you? A father's inheritance is whatever he has to give you. So I was living out of my father's inheritance. And I was living out of what he had to give. Give me, which was insecurity, mild depression, and not really knowing how to take my life where it needed to go. Now, did my father deliberately do that to me? No. But he gave me the best he had. So your father determines your inheritance. So what happened was God used this little who told you that thing, and what I slowly started doing was, I'm riding to a meeting. The thought rises up, you're not as sharp as these guys, you don't deserve to be here. I don't even know why you're going. Who told you that? I would hear the answer, my earthly father. And then I would practice saying, Heavenly Father, what do you have to say to me about that? And he would, I'd journal and do different things, and he would take me to all kinds of different places and slowly reset how that whole thing works in my heart. And somewhere, I don't know, my wife and I ought to talk about this and try to figure it out. But somewhere around 10 to 15 years ago, my heart switched fathers. Now, did I like throw my earthly father aside and they're mad at him, don't like him? No. But I stopped looking to him to define me and to determine my future. I stopped looking to him as the source of how I feel about myself and how I allow myself to talk about myself. What that did, Jesus coming into my life shifted my story some. The Holy Spirit coming into my life shifted my story some. I don't know how to tell you, I could not overstate this. The Heavenly Father coming into my life shifted my story in ways I never even knew I needed. Deeply, profoundly affected the way I wake up in the morning and experience being who I am. More confident, more at rest, more at peace than I even knew you were allowed to be. And it all had to do with wrestling with who told me that, and that allowing me to rearrange some of the key characters in my story. I love my dad, he's gone on to be with the Lord. I love my mom, she's gone on to be with the Lord. But before both of them passed away, I had a great relationship with them. Largely because of these very things we're talking about right now. Now that scripture we opened up with, it said, Two sons, why don't you go out in my vineyard and work? The first one said, I don't remember which is which, the first one said, Yes or no? No. And then later said, Okay, I'll do it. And he did. The second one, immediately when asked to go to work, said yes, but didn't. And then that little story, Jesus ends with this question to the crowd. Which one did what his father wanted? Now I'm just want to ask you a simple question. It's Father's Day. Justin just shared that, you know, we want to say happy Father's Day to God. Let me ask you a question. How many of you want God to get what he wants? Raise your hand if you want God to get what he wants. What if I told you that it's easier than we've made it? What if I told you that we, the church, have it messed up in some ways that's making it way harder than it needs to be? In fact, I'll go so far as to say, what if we've got it pointed in the wrong direction? One more time, raise your hand. How many of you want God to get what he wants? Alright? I think worship team, you can go ahead and head on up here. We're gonna finish in a minute. I'm not sure how long, but in just a minute. All right? How many of you want God to get what he wants? Here's another way to ask it. How many of you personally, you sitting right there in your chair, how many of you want to fulfill God's purpose for your life? How many of you want someday to stand before God and He look you in the eye and say, Man, I'm so pleased with what you did with what I gave you. How many of you like a little bit of that? All right. I think the reason more of us aren't enjoying that is we've got some stuff out of order and mixed up. So there's a way that I like to trick you, and we've talked about this before, but I just want to trick you again. It's very simple. If I want to fulfill God's purpose for my life, I've got to deal with one simple question. Why did God create me? Why did God create me? You're sitting there. Why did God create you? Why did He give you skin, bones, flesh, teeth? Why are you breathing God's air? And in my opinion, ultimately, what is the first and most important thing he wants from you? Now I'm going to give you my answer, and I've told you this before. My test of good theology is how does it live? And this theology lives really, really good. So what is why did God create you? Did he create you to worship him? Is that his ultimate purpose? How many think worshiping God's a cool thing? I think it's a cool thing. Did he create you to reach the lost? That's a cool thing. Did he create you to find your gift and operate in it? That's a cool thing. But I believe God created you for one simple reason. Now, if we boil it down, and I say no to that, no to that, no to that, we'll get closer and closer to what I think's the truth. And some of you will land on this. God created me to love him. We'll get really close. But 1 John 5.19 says we love him because he first loved us. We love him because he first loved us. Why do I think God created you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, me, all of us, not to worship him, love him, serve him. I believe God created you to be loved by him. Now the problem is we're rushing to do all these other things, and we go right past that. I was recently talking to a fella. I'll alter the story a little bit just so I don't, you know, violate anything. But this gentleman had a career path he was on, and quite honestly, he had derailed his career path twice, twice, by serious moral failure. He had derailed his career path so badly that he felt like it cannot be restored. He cannot be put back on track. And we had a service recently somewhere where he was, and I talked just like I'm talking to you right now, and I and I said to the people that God's ultimate purpose for you is for you to let him love you. I want to fulfill the purpose of God. The purpose of God is for you to live loved. For you to live loved. Well, I happen to see this guy a couple of days later, and he said, you know what? I'm still under a little bit of a dark cloud. I'm still wandering around, not sure what's around the next corner. But for the first time in over a decade, I have hope that maybe God's not finished with me. That maybe I can still fulfill his purpose for my life. And his purpose, again, is very simply to learn to live loved. You know what he told me he's doing to try to stay there? He just starts his day and then repeats to himself all through the day, God loves me. I'm loved by God. And he just tries to catch himself all through the day when he drifts from the simple thought that God loves him. Now, what I'd love to challenge you to do is find a way to get God's love in the center of how you start everything. I like to call it R in the Father's Love. My R is this: learn to receive and rest in the Father's love. Learn to receive and rest. Is it easy to receive God's love? Yes or no? Not always easy. Not always easy. And others, all of us have different ways we go about that. But I just encourage you to practice receiving and resting in the Father's love. I'm going to pray for you and turn it back over to the worship team, and they're going to wind up the service today. Thank you, Lord. Father, thank you for these wonderful folks. I appreciate your love for us. I appreciate the awesome way you pursue us in your attempt to bring us into your love. And Father, I pray that every person in this room would move closer and closer and closer to that sweet spot of receiving and resting in your love. And we thank you for it, Lord. We just appreciate this awesome day. We pray again for all the fathers and families. We pray for miracles to happen in our families. And we appreciate it, sir, in Jesus' name. Amen.