Two Prodigal Sons? (Special guest Brandon Workman) | Season 5 Episode 2

I Are y 'all ready? I'm assume. We've already started. Are y 'all ready? Are you good? Yeah? I mean we basically already started

Hey everybody welcome to the point -taking podcast we have new cameras You can see the blackheads on my nose right now

He said at the times 20 zoom which I think with my nose you probably just need like a times two

It looks like a greasy bell pepper. I love you both very much guys. I say that with love

A greasy bell pepper, I've never been insulted that way a greasy bell so how much you like food, so I didn't

Love bell pepper yeah, there are only three and a half foods. I don't eat onions mushrooms

Tomatoes raw tomatoes I can't say tomatoes all out cuz I don't you'll do like chunks of tomato and like soup like so I used to not but Like if someone if someone actually makes good soup like this morning

One of those it had corn ground beef and the white sauce or ever I'll eat that no

Now look if you do a pizza do pizza sauce don't do them tomato chunks like those people from Chicago do that Oh, that's just crap for my wife

They make that crap for those bedwetters that like when I have vegan pizza, so they they can't just hand them cheese

All right, they got to put some other crap on it, too I want to ask you something and I had this argument slices of tomatoes on it, and that's how they sound no it is

He's right giant chunks of feta cheese We have never talked about this you can put the feta cheese on the meatlovers by the way

I want to see if you agree with me on this in season one. I believe was we had an argument and as normal Everyone disagreed with me

But I think I'm right. I Don't think there is such a thing as cheese pizza.

I don't think it exists. Let me explain If we define

I have my own definition of pizza and I admit it's my own but I think it's consistent pizza by definition in my brain is

Bread, and it doesn't matter if you do thin crust stuff. There's a self -rising whatever sauce cheese and a topping so so if you just have cheese

Okay, you have cheese toast With sauce there has to be one additional ingredient.

That's how I see it So like and here's how here's how a pepperoni pizza true or false.

Does it have cheese? Yes, nine times out of ten Yes sausage Yes, or no

No, does a sausage pizza have cheese? Yes meatlovers. Yes vegan

No So here's my point Here's my point. They all have cheese on them.

So a cheese pizza They every one of them have cheese on it except but it's just one cheese

Let me know when you're ready for my rebuttal So if they all have cheese on them and you take all the toppings off What kind of pizza is it if you say cheese, they all have cheese on them

Yeah, but they have additional toppings which make but okay watch this watch this on a supreme on a supreme

They have sausage, but you're not allowed to call it a sausage pizza I'll let so on a meatlovers.

They have cheese. You don't call it a cheese pizza. That's what I'm trying to say All right, so I'm super super into just Calling it like it is.

Yeah, don't try to be something. You're not right. All right your assessment of Would you call it cheesy crust whatever?

No, I love cheesy crust. Yeah, but you said you said something a second ago It wasn't it wasn't cheesy bread. It wasn't pizza.

It was cheesy bread Alright, well cheesy bread does not have sauce on it. So we'll start there. Yeah, okay, so I think

I said cheese toast with salt Okay a pepperoni pizza is a pizza with what on it pepperoni no, no, no a

Pepperoni pizza is a pizza with pepperoni on it. Yes. Yes or no, not exclusively.

No, I can't No, I'm gonna say no because meatlovers have pepperoni. No Listen to me.

I am a meatlovers Has all the meats so you can't you can't single out a single meat.

You have to call it a meat lovers That's why supreme is a supreme. You can't single out one ingredient, but a sausage pizza is a pizza with sausage

I've never me is a pizza with pepperoni on it and a cheese pizza is not a cheese pizza

It's just a pizza with nothing else on it You literally prove my point

Hold on You are calling it. What do you?

cheesy crust with sauce Alright, well that is trying to make up another term for when the proper word is pizza

All right. So to be clear you are agreeing with me that there's no such thing as cheese pizza I am agreeing with the fact that I don't know.

I don't think we're in agreeance at all So a cheese pizza a pizza is just a pizza until you add stuff to it.

So a cheese pizza is a pizza Yes, but so you it's redundant to call it a cheese pizza. I think it's redundant to call it a cheese pizza

I'll take the half agreement. Thank you, sir If you don't mind, yeah,

I Would never have taken you shake my hand that way That was my that was my impression of Justin For Justin we love him.

I've got a little I've got a little something on on veganism I really do and we're not gonna get off on a tan.

Just eat your talk about raw food Is that just died from starvation? Oh, I didn't know about that one.

This is just a thought poor girl because natural selection Because Because Okay, let me just I've done this before there are vegans that do it for health reasons or visions that do

There are vegans that do it for a political stance. It doesn't matter Okay, so I'm talking about these people over here the ones that do it because they think all life is equal

Animal life plant life human like that. Has anyone ever met someone like this? They think dude. Those are the only girls

I dated Yes, I know. I was trying to look towards you. So so here's what I'm saying. I'm not talking about the health

I'm talking about the people that are vegans on a political stance because they believe all life and they literally mean

Like flowers all life is equal. I want you to think about something I've got to say but the kill babies think about this for a moment

In a sense In a sense when you pick an apple aren't you technically killing

Yeah, you're taking it from its life. You're at least you're at least making it where that life the apple and the apple alive

Okay, but it's a product. It's a product of the tree which you are stealing without permission

Yes, okay cutting down the tree would be the same avocados you use to make your flower you stole without toast.

Thank you It's avocado toast. So thank you. So Okay, their food their idea is no product of any kind from animal period right mulch if they're consistent

Makeup if they're consistent oil Believe me. I know. Yes. So here's my point.

They do the only two foods that I can think of That doesn't kill or alter life

Because like you're stealing the apples right your day. Okay would be milk and honey

Which they reject because they come from an animal. I think honey is like have I told you this before?

Yeah, but I think some people are more lenient with the honey. They can't it's a product of an animal You're gonna be consistent or you're not.

Oh, no, I totally agree with you There are some what's funny is they reject those even though you can get those without stopping any natural process

And it's cruel because those poor cows have to have their udders, right? But when they have overproduced milk that they you know,

I'm not talking about from a farming system Yeah that they don't need because of all the cows they don't have enough cows to do it They reject those because they come from animal

It is intriguing to me that promised land was promised to be a land of milk and honey Which doesn't kill life to produce it's intriguing to me if nonetheless my thing is if you if you are vegan for like the political stance just like Be sad just be miserable over there.

Like don't make a whole spectacle of it there was actually a little girl who she was friends with my cousin and they were over at dinner with their

They were over at dinner at my aunt's house And she's like, well, I can't eat that because I'm vegan and my aunt says well you can go eat the grass

That's in the backyard. Yeah, it's a good or you can eat what's put in front of you, but that kills life

Yeah, the consistency really bothers inconsistency. Go ahead pretty wild. You have a lot

I mean I have so much to say do one Parable of the probably are but we're not playing a game.

Yes. You got one comment to make my comment about veganism is everything everything that makes a vegan food is

Heavily processed made with soy. Yeah Let's think about this for a second All right.

Let's think about this for a second What do you have to do in order to create soy destroy molehills and you had a pillar person see

You know what we should just talk about the argument All right, so it's

It's time for the prodigal son. We don't play the game today because I won last week So we don't have to play another game today.

If I said something incorrect, you can correct me Yeah, I mean I wasn't playing against you. So I don't have anything to say because you sure had something to say last week when

I was winning You told me I was a sore loser when I was winning. No, that was with the spelling.

That was with the spell Spelling be anyway, so so here's what we're gonna do guys

We're gonna walk through the parable of the prodigal son the lost son And and I'm just gonna frame it for us

Anna's gonna read it and then we're all going to but primarily brother Brandon is gonna walk us through the text

So just to give everyone a frame of reference We're in Luke 15 and Jesus actually,

I don't know how many people notice this He actually tells the same parable three times using three different analogies

So first he starts with the lost sheep Then he talks about a lost coin then he talks about a lost son all three of the parables are just Re -illustrating the exact same point.

Yeah, Jesus was like me Let's try that again. I'm like Jesus in that Repeating myself with different analogies gets the message through apparently

Yeah, so lost sheep lost coin, but then the longest section is the lost son So that's what we're going to walk through here.

So miss Anna. It's a long section, but hey, it's the Bible so get over it Miss Anna's gonna read it and then brother

Brandon's gonna walk us through it. So let's go don't mess it up Okay so I'm in Luke 15 11 through 32 and He said there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father

Give me a share of the property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them Not many days later the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into the far country

Where he squandered his property and reckless living and when he had spent everything a severe famine arose in that country and began to be

In need so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him to his fields to feed

Pigs and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything

But when he came to himself, he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread

But I perish here in hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father

I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called of your son

Treat me as one of your hired servants and he arose and came to his father But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced and kissed him

And then the son said to him father. I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called of your son but the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on His feet and bring a fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate

For this is my for my son was dead and his alive again and was lost and now is found and they began to celebrate

Yeah going 25 through 32 just finishing it up now His older son was in the field and he came and drew near to the house

He heard much music and dancing and he called to one of the servants and asked what these things meant

And he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and But he was angry and refused to go in his father came out and then threatened or entreated him

But he answered less father. Look these things. I'm sorry. Look these many years

I have served you and never disobeyed your command yet You never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends

But when this son of yours came who was devoured your property and prostitutes You killed the fattened calf for him and you said to him son

You were always with me and all that mine is yours It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this is your brother was dead and is alive and he was lost and now is found

I did mess up so You mostly did great He's such a bully

Brandon, no, I think you're just I'm only a bully until you get to know me So if anybody in church doesn't know me is listening to look at the way that he's dressed

I'm only a bully for as long as you allow me to be which is mostly your fault.

Yeah You see the rings that's like bully The rings.

Yeah punch him I'm talking about my signet ring. Yeah, that makes someone a bully.

Oh, yeah, and you see his tattoos and all that stuff He's just but the father in this exact story has a ring and he gave it to that.

I came a bully Joke master You was whispering thing

Brandon, okay I used to be very intimidated of Brandon when I first met him, but then

I saw him with his dogs. Oh, yeah Bowl of mush

I remember looking at him because we were over at your house for like accountability at one point with your wife

And I remember him coming in and him just being like, there's a good baby I'm just like Like what's wrong with them, but no he

I'm just like he is a bowl of mush It's just the front but now if you get to know Brandon, he's really cool. It's not just the front

There's there's some depth a little bit It depends on how your attitude is and where that attitude is directed if we're being serious about it

I will say it's a strong front But if your attitude is directed towards the wrong person you'll find very quickly it's not

That's fair Okay prodigal son Prodigal son.

Okay, so I've been thinking about this from my own perspective in my own

Experiences ever since I was asked to be on this podcast and I really don't think

The prodigal son applies to me in the sense that it's being asked because I you have to have first Been a part of the family in order to have left the family

When I was I asked what was what was needed for me? Like what was expected of me in the podcast and it was you know

I was asked to share my testimony from when I walked away with God to When I came back and I don't know that I I was ever really a part of God's family to begin with so I'll start by saying that I grew up in church

A lot of people like me grew up in church and they all experienced the same things and when you're young you don't realize that People are gonna act like people

Sinners are gonna act like sinners, even if they're Christians and they're doing the very best they can do

You're gonna find fault with them And so naturally, you know You call them a hypocrite or whatever and you you tried to use that as your crutch to leave

I don't wanna go to church with all those hypocrites, you know, who's heard that before anyway heard that before? Yes.

Okay, so He let's see here the son goes to his father, right and he says give me the portion of inheritance that it's false to me and I was thinking about thinking about that The the son going to his father and asking for his inheritance is probably pretty akin to Wishing the father was dead

You know what I mean? I mean like you think about that this only doesn't come till he's dead. Right? He doesn't come till he's dead He doesn't care about his father

And this is important for something that I want to follow up with later. He doesn't care about his father He doesn't have love for the father

He just wants what is his and he wants to go off and do what he wants to do And that was me for years and years and years and years and years.

I Grew up in church. I I was only there because my parents made me go

And I you know, I had friends there but it wasn't Something that I didn't want to be there if I had my choice and oftentimes

I would think you know when I get old enough Where I can make the decision not to come

I'm gonna stop coming I said that to myself a lot and I did when I was 16, you know 17

It was those were really bad years for me, too Before the podcast

I found out something Brandon used to do when he was 15 and that was no That was the dresses came after that.

Okay, I wasn't gonna admit that you were dressed. Oh, I have no shame. Okay I've done a lot of stuff in my life.

I learned a long time ago Can you imagine Brandon in a dress and not even tell you something man? It was red velvet.

Okay, those who are wondering the first dress I ever wore was red velvet and It was at school and my science teacher who was also a it was like a retired wrestler

Tried to look him up it what I couldn't find anything do that name Maybe he was lying to us, but I I'll bet my paycheck.

I remember he said his name was Hugo humongous So a wrestler not a wrestler a wrestler.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Is what my English too good? Yeah, it was Yeah, not Southern enough my mistake

Anyway, he he told me no, he was like not in my class. You can take that off right now

But that was just me being stupid. Yeah Anyway 16 17 year old Brandon, you know, so little interesting as The father it doesn't really go into it because the story is a bit vague

But the father gathers together his estate and gives it to his son, right?

But it doesn't talk about the pleading that no doubt the father Did with his sir, you know and the mother where's the mother and all this?

So you've got the father pleading with his son many many many times over and over but the son will not listen

He is stubborn. He is prideful and arrogant and entitled. Let's not forget that.

That's a word that people don't want to apply to themselves pride and entitlement is something that I have dealt with a lot in my life and Still deal with and I think you know going back to that whole being opinionated thing

I think there's a lot of entitlement in people that are opinionated because Nobody cares what you have to say.

Yeah, just just shut up That's what other Brandon tells me that all the time but I'm like mid -sentence and so I have to commit

But nobody cares and it's that sense of entitlement that somebody really cares what you think about their outfit.

Yeah, you know, I mean anyway, so He doesn't listen to his father.

He Doesn't listen to counsel. He doesn't listen to the wise a person that is

Pushed himself away from God the way that I did doesn't want to hear or listen or abide by rules or Doing what they know is right now whether somebody admits it or not, you know,

I did When I was running around running around I think that's what

I was gonna say. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know anyway, so How far did he go?

He went Let's see here, where is it he went to another country, right it says he into a far

Traveled to a distant country, right? Well, how many times have you heard pastor Jeff talk about sin will take you further than you want to go and keep you there longer

Than you want to stay. Yeah, so I think that's an interesting distinction that he went to a far -off country where nobody knew him

Yeah, right where his family couldn't come visit him Where there wasn't anybody that knew his family

That knew him that could give reports back to his family And I so for me personally when i'm reading that passage.

I see that as sin Dividing me from the father And at that time in my life, um,

I did not have a great relationship with my dad who Is not a great communicator

But was doing everything he could do to communicate with me And I was also not a good communicator at that time

So I was doing whatever I wanted to do anyway, um So he let's see here

He's far away, I think that is a representation of um Sin keeping us from our heavenly father

And then we've got um, it says in verse 14 Uh that after he spent all a great famine arose in the country

I think it's uh, I think it's a funny side note that people that don't have anything are always in famine.

Yeah that's that's kind of a hard lick on People that can't govern their finances.

Well, not just their finances, but their lives, you know what I mean? Yeah But they're always in some sort of turmoil or peril or famine and I think it's funny that um

You know and then when you when you have your stuff together, it's just like an inconvenience It's not for sure is falling right exactly

But a famine is always going to arise when you have spent all And he has spent all

You know one thing that when you just said that in verse 14 So I look at it two different ways

Luke presents this dude As he spent everything and squandered it on worthless crap.

Oh for sure Okay, the woman with the problem of blood She spent everything he had

On stuff she thought was not worthless. She did not intend to squander it on on But she spent all

I had on what ended up being worthless crap. Yeah, okay It says she went to every physician she knew and the bible says she gave

All her money to physicians and no one could help her. Yeah, so He squanders it on probably a bunch of bull crap

She squanders it on things. She thought she were helpful Neither of them until later went to jesus and they both came up empty -handed brokenhearted destitute

Nothing. So it when you just read that Uh, I thought about that. They both spent all they had on two totally different lifestyles, but without jesus

They both came up with the end same result for sure for sure um, so the famine arose in the country and The reason that I think that's important in this passage is um

Not only did it push the son to come to a place where he needed to come to in order to uh,

Make the decision to go back home But if the famine is arose in the country his father certainly has heard about it and and it's it's

Covering a lot of people not just him, right? But what does that what does that mean for the father in this particular story, right he says he knows yeah

He's aware and he's probably worried about the well -being of his son. He thinks his son is dead Probably right probably right?

He he's not an idiot He's the father And he knows that his son is an idiot and is out there squandering his living and is probably going to die because of the famine because he's not

Not better prepared and I like that because when he comes back and he says You know

In the last verse your brother was dead and is alive again You know what

I mean? And that also is another portrayal of uh, not portrayal. I don't think that's the right word. Uh, Representation of us being dead in sin.

Yeah Yeah until we come to the father and he restores us and because the bible doesn't say

We were swimming in sin or we were wallowing and it says we were dead in sin.

That's exactly right so the son Is very stubborn just like me. I was very stubborn can't still can't be told now think about this

He is broke. He's destitute. He doesn't know what to do. He's in a land that is not his home

And he doesn't go back home that hasn't even entered his mind yet Because he's so far removed from everything that he grew up in What does he do?

He attaches him to he attaches himself to a citizen to try to get a job And the citizen has him slopping hogs and he's jealous of the hogs

And and you know less anyone as i've heard some dude before say well, this dude was so unkind

All I did was let him feed the pigs just think about this for a moment. It's in the same country Which means this dude hired somebody during that during an economic depression if you want to whatever he hired somebody

Of which he already had these pigs. He probably didn't need him. He hired him in this time period

And gave him a job. I wonder how many people were hiring at this point There's a famine in the land, right? How many people were jealous that he got to eat the pig slot, right?

Well, it doesn't say that he ate it and it doesn't say that he was hired It just says that he went to work for somebody.

No mine says he went he He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country. All right

That's what mine says he longed to eat his fill from the carob pods. The pigs were eating But no one would give him any but he never heard of a jewish boy slopping hogs

No, how far do you have to fall dude? That's true, right? That's pretty low.

And so isn't that the point? That's a good point. Yeah, the point is that God will put us into a position

Whether we like it or not More than likely when we don't like well, he got himself into this position.

Maybe he did. Yeah Maybe god allowed him to be in that position, correct? Yeah to teach him that he needed to come back, right?

Yeah, there have been many many times in my life as a young adult as a teenager as a as a freaking full -blown adult yes where I needed to Come back home

I knew it in my mind I kept trying to fill the void with women

Or I didn't really I didn't do any drugs or alcohol or nothing. So mostly it was just women I can can I tell you that surprises me?

It surprises a lot of people women and just I mean just yeah Stereotypes.

Yeah, it's okay. Everyone has their thing. Yeah, I never liked it I've never been drunk.

I've never been high um Well, let me say that again I have taken prescription medicine

That has made me High. Yeah, and then I quit taking it like when I was when

I got my butt whooped and I had to have that Collarbone surgery. It was a cheap shot. You told me It was it was brutal is what it was.

It was kind of awesome. Really? I wish you'd been there I wish i'd been there too because you told that story three times it gets better.

I love that story so He gave me some hydrocodone I think is what it was and I took it he says hey listen

Take this before you go to bed. It'll help you sleep And so I took it and I went to bed just like I was told to do and then this next night

I took it and went to bed like I was told to do but on the third night I thought i'm gonna take this pill and finish watching this movie that I love so much

But towards the end of the movie i'm just staring at the tv and I am feeling amazing

And I have I was like a totally new feeling for me And other brandon goes whoa

Like we snapped out of it You know the brandon says This is why people steal their grandmother's pain medication.

Yeah, and I quit taking it. I had three bottles of it Three bottles three bottles good night.

How long did he want you to stay on that? I don't believe ever I'm, not lying. I gave it to a buddy of mine. He ate all of it in two weeks

All three bottles. So you were his drug dealer? Well, no because there was no exchange of money It's more like I was his friend that gave him a bunch of drugs.

I had this sounds like a pizza argument from her Just saying I mean, no, my mom's done that with a couple of her first.

What was the movie? The movie was the duelists Never heard of it. And if you haven't seen it, it's a drama

It's very boring But I think it has one of the best endings of any film i've ever seen and I I love it

It's one of my top five favorite movies But it is for real boring So if anybody wants to watch that's why you had to watch it high

No, I didn't watch it high. I was like, you know, i'll just i'll finish this movie and then i'll go to bed But then towards the end

I was like we are so high It's a so it's a movie during the napoleonic era about two men

That fight a series of duels over a number of years. I want to say like 10 or 12 years 14 years something like that They sword duels or gun duels both

They are some bad shots if they did a bunch of them. You have to watch the movie to understand they um

It's based on true events I've never looked them up. So I don't know how I could that is but as a piece of fiction

The movie is amazing. I really like it anyway so going back to um

Him being stubborn and having to come to a place where rock bottom Yeah, he had to make the decision rock bottom is different for different people.

Yeah, and for me It was um, I was tired of I was tired of doing stuff my way

You know, I was so tired of doing stuff my way and my whole life

I had been in rebellion against god a rebellion against What I knew I needed to do people would ask me if I was a christian and I would say no

Why don't want to do that? and People would ask me. Um If I was religious and I would say no

I mean the three Subjects that I never talk about was work Politics and religion we talked about anything else, but I wouldn't talk about those three things

And I would tell people They would say well, why aren't you a christian and I would say well i'm not ready to submit myself to the lord

That was my excuse for like 10 years. I feel like that's an honest answer I felt like that was the most honest that I could be.

Yeah Without getting into it now, I wouldn't volunteer that information But if somebody asked me that's what

I would say because it felt like a lie To say anything else not a lie against god just a lie against myself

That seems kind of arrogant, but that's what I would say. Yeah, but that's an honest answer that I have more respect for that answer

Versus like some other bs answers that i've heard in the past Ultimately that is the root

If somebody knows about god, especially fools that have grown up in church that have rebelled we know

They just want to do their own thing 100 for sure And they'll find any means necessary to justify their poor actions

But eventually you'll find yourself slopping hogs and trying to eat out of the hog trough And you'll make a decision to do something else which uh, you know our boy ricky

He does that here and just make sure everyone understands we're in verse 16 He wasn't even allowed to eat the pigs.

Yeah, because he can't eat pigs because he's jewish He is literally longing longing to eat

The slop the pigs are eating. That's that's the desperation we're talking about here

So after he's like envying their food like right I was the pig After he decides to do something about it

That's when I think the real beauty happens He decides to get up and go home for whatever reason right whether his reasons are selfish or whether they're righteous or whatever

He decides to get up and go home and when he was yet a long way off The father saw him and ran to him

Now, I don't know anything about the culture of that time But how would that have been?

Viewed by anybody watching that the father Ran out there to the son

It also said that he felt compassion For his son as he was running out.

I think that's an important thing to note Yeah, so The father restores him

He kills the fatted calf and he Celebrates his long lost dead son's return, right?

And that's that's pretty much the story. That's where everybody stops but personally

I think it should be the story of the prodigal sons Yeah Because there's two of them and the older son while he gets mentioned some he doesn't really get the main focus because He wasn't lost.

He didn't leave, you know, he stayed But that's not true. I don't think that's true so I wanted to examine that a little bit more because I feel like Now in my christian walk, even though I had to come to that place that hard love where I had to make a choice

I can continue to do things the wrong way my way or I can I can submit to god and do things the way he wants me to do them

And i'll say that since doing that my life is has been made

Has been made to be Exponentially better not easier

Right. It's still difficult and I still face all kinds of trials mostly the ones that I put on myself, right?

But god gives us the strength and the hope to persevere through those issues

Right, right. We have hope and the people that don't have god don't have hope. Amen.

And that's the That's the difference. So anyway Um the older son now

I hesitate to say this Because the older son is the representation of the pharisees in this story, right?

So I hate to put myself in In league with the pharisees here, but I have felt like the older son many many many more times for sure than the younger son

So I dare say That they were both lost Yeah One of them had the gumption to ask for something and then go out and get lost

But the older son I think had been lost the entire time Now let's think about this he says

Then he became angry and didn't want to go in now. He hasn't seen his brother for however long

He's got to have love for his brother, right? I mean brothers a brother's love is very strong, but he's angry

Not at his brother What is he angry at at his father? What what is he angry at?

That he's not getting celebrated. Yeah, no He's angry Because his brother is being forgiven

Okay now listen to this he says But he replied to his father. Look I have been slaving many years for you.

I have never disobeyed your orders Yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends

But when this son of yours came who has devoured son of yours, not my brother Yeah, exactly.

I was I was just about to make that point when this son of yours Came who has devoured your assets with prostitutes now.

Let's let's go back for a second he Went to a travel to a distant country where he squandered his estate in foolish living

It doesn't say anything about horse Right. It doesn't say anything about prostitutes

But the older brother is trying to make it Worse than it actually is because he's angry

You slaughtered the fatted calf for him He is angry At his father's forgiveness.

He does not believe that his brother needs to be forgiven Deserves to be forgiven because he does not have any forgiveness in himself

I've been there A lot. Yeah. Another thing is He has done all of these things

But it wasn't for love of his father Right. It was for the fatted calf. It was for his inheritance for the recognition right for his uh, personal gain

Am I misreading that at all? No, I don't think so. Those are actually really good points that i've never well like like you said earlier when

People go over like in church the prodigal son It's always the first section. It's never over that second section

And so preparing for this podcast, I actually I did read that and so the father says like oh that son sounds bitter son

He said to him you were always with me and everything I have is yours But we had to celebrate

And rejoice because your brother the brother of yours was dead alive I'm, sorry

Was dead and is alive again He was lost and he is found so you have the father right pleading with both sons

Both sons are lost one doesn't even know he's lost He thinks he's doing good because he's at church every day

And the other one who has wasted his life in foolish living He probably had a great time until he found himself with no money and no friends or food, right?

um But the father loves them both The father pleads with both of them to come inside and be a part of the party and Is willing to as you said earlier have compassion and restore?

What needs to be restored? and so I I have felt like both personally and I think a lot of times now my strong sense of justice irritates me when

I see people Not getting the justice that I think they should be giving because I struggle with Giving god's mercy and grace to other people because you don't think that they deserve it

Because I don't think they deserve it or I mean there's because i'm entitled I mean, i'm not like pointing the finger at you.

I relate to this a lot. I'm saying that's that's what pride and entitlement um

That's what it looks like I think Yeah, I think You know if you look at the beginning of the chapter the scribes and the pharisees

Do you recognize their original complaint in verse two? Yeah, it was slumming He was sitting down and eating with sinners exactly and the pharisees describe in verse two and the pharisees and scribes grumbling

Saying this man receives sinners and eats with them And he told them this parable so these series of parables.

Excuse me is a response to their grumbling and you know

When they do this in other times It says like they grumbled where he couldn't hear them, but he knew their hearts

I don't know here if he heard them or he just perceived so he literally watch he told them a parable

So he directs his talking from the sinners. He's eating with To them who are standing off away from the table.

I would assume since they can't eat with sinners by the way Oh, they were probably loud about it.

They probably were people that have strong opinions about things. They want to be heard um I could go on a little tangent and i'm just going to mention it in passing the whole thing about eating with sinners they're getting that from psalms 1 who says blesses the man who does not sit at the seat of the scornful nor standeth in the way of sinner

And it's talking about a lifestyle not the actual act of eating and anyone who has read psalms 1 know that but they want

To make it more about the letter of the law so on and so forth, but I think What jesus does here?

Um He obviously is comparing them to the older brother Oh for sure, and let's say the gentiles or the tax collectors are supposed to be the younger brother

I think another parable that jesus tells In matthew, which is really short relates to this really well.

He said look It's there are two sons

It's like super short Uh one the father tells them both to go work in the field

One refuses and says no and then later goes back out and works in the field The other says sure pops no problem and then never goes which one did the father's will?

And they said well eventually the first one And the point was

That even though they resisted They eventually did my father's will whereas you

Said you would and never have so while they both disobeyed and had to repent one eventually

Repented and came to me you never have right? And of course then they perceive that he's talking about them and then they get all mad and stuff

But it is amazing when we read this now how long it took them to realize he was talking about them

So, uh, and you know, I don't know if this one if they ever did figure it out it doesn't say I think brandon makes a good point.

It is incredible How We who have received god's grace and mercy

Can ever be hesitant To give somebody else And I think one of the reasons

Is because we forget What does the bible say leave room for his wrath vengeance is mine says the lord

I will repay I think david Expresses this in psalms. There are some psalms where um

David says lord. How much longer are you going to allow them to blaspheme your name?

I mean, I mean, where's the Where's the vengeance where's and you know it to david's credit

Uh One of the the reason that david and bathsheba lost their child was because of unrepentant sin

The lord made the child ill that's what the bible says, right Uh and god's answer is always the same whether we're in psalms whether we're in revelation chapter six

His answer is always the same I will balance the scales and make all things right in my time

That's literally always his answer Uh, i'll i'll do it in my time Which is not our time.

It's not and it's it can be very frustrating our time Well, we can't think outside of our own

We can't think outside of our own brains, right? So we oftentimes when we are trying to understand something or a perspective or something that we've read

All we have to go by is our point of view unless We pull ourselves out of it to think about it dispassionately from like a third person's view

Other brandon's view not other brandon other other brain, right because other brandon's in your head.

So unless we do that we We can't comprehend

You know god's time in god's time and plus we don't want to do it in god's time We do it in ours right now for sure.

Oh, so right now so impatient. I I read uh somewhere

Actually, there's a book um, I don't often Recommend recommend books because you know, whatever there is a book

I read called the holiness of god by r .c Sproul is one of the top five most influential books i've ever read

It is written I don't know how to say this. It's not like super thick super Difficult to read it's very readable.

It's very readable And it's called the holiness of god and in that he says something and I have never forgot it he said mercy

Is god not giving out the punishment someone deserves justice is just fairness, right?

God has never been too harsh So justice is the middle ground

If you want to think of it that way on a scale if you want to think of that way as we go We are so accustomed to god's mercy

That whenever he shows an ounce of his justice we call him being unfair We say that he's being if you think about it, that's crazy god's justice is a scary thing

It's it's terrifying. It's a fearful thing to fall Angry god if it really happened the way we wanted it to happen, you know retribution on this person for our imagined slights

And god came down and struck them with the justice that we desire in our heart

I think it would scare us. I think it would scare the life out of us. Oh, heck. Yeah, you know what I mean? I think it'd be terrifying

I think If god were to peel back the curtain of hell

For half of a second we would fall on our face and beg for hitler's forgiveness

I mean, I believe that when I read the the descriptions of hell in the bible it is

Earth -shattering it's terrifying. But I again I I I really like what the way sproul puts it there

He says we have grown so accustomed to god's mercy because god shows his mercy in in this

Uh time frame god shows his mercy way more often than he shows his justice Way more often than that day will end right one day his mercy will end and his justice will reign but for now

He the bible calls it long suffering. I think it's an interesting phraseology for it

Uh, he shows his mercy far more often Than he shows his justice that whenever he shows his justice at all.

It's easy for we as humans to say. Well, that's not fair Right. Yeah So and we don't really want justice.

We actually don't we want we want to be left alone We want to do what we want to do unless someone wronged me

Yeah, and then I want that person punished for it, but I don't want universal justice We appreciate you guys watching brandon.

I would love to have you back. Why does she not sit here? She's a much better host than I am. I said that last because you're the overseer

It's because now not of this why isn't this a round table? Let's ask that question, uh, because it was free

Yeah And it's not a great answer. It's the only one I have 70 of the food you ate Yeah Brandon You need to come back on.

I will be happy to come back on anytime. I'm invited. I'll get back with you Um, but the reason why

I didn't like hosting was because we had that super long intro that like I was always We'll make a new intro.

No, we don't have an intro. It's just welcome Brandon love to have you back on. Um, we enjoyed this conversation

Like I said, if you guys like the conversation hit the like button share subscribe do all the things but until next time

Deuces, okay, we're gonna do that again because brandon didn't do it. It's like every time we have a guest brandon's not gonna do it

All right, i'll do it for him. You're gonna do i'll do it for him. Okay until next time