Hope for Prodigal Children | They Can Escape Your Presence, But Not Your Prayers

A New Beginning presents a book from Pastor Greg Laurie, with help for those suffering loss, called Hope for Hurting Hearts. God has used this book over the years to touch many people. If you've lost a loved one, or if you know someone that's recently lost a loved one, it would be an excellent thing to get this book into their hands, because I really wrote it for them. So we're offering you a copy of this book, Hope for Hurting Hearts, for your gift of any size.

Available at Harvest.org. Sometimes when our kids go astray, we wonder, where's God? I'll tell you where God is.

He's right there, trying to bring the kid to their senses. And what may seem like the worst case scenario, can be the very thing that brings them back. Coming up today, Pastor Greg Laurie has good counsel for parents who are at the end of their rope, concerned about their prodigal children. Don't give up on them.

They can escape your presence, but they can never escape your prayer. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again you hear how the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day when life begins. A 17th century poet once said, before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories. Child rearing is one of the most humbling things a confident parent can undertake.

Kids have minds of their own. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings hope for parents of prodigals. And later in today's message Pastor Greg's son Jonathan recounts his years of rebellion and how he came back home. This is the day, the day when life begins.

Today we are going to talk about hope for prodigal children. So let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. A familiar story. The story of the prodigal son. One of the most beautiful pieces of literature in all the world. In fact Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson both thought it was the greatest short story ever written. But it is more than great literature. It is a story that Jesus told that shows us how we often run from God. But it is also a story that shows us what we ought to do as Christian parents when our children rebel. Luke 15. Jesus says, We will stop there.

So number one. This boy simply wanted independence from his father. Verse 12 he says, This boy was not the older son.

Because we read about the older son later in the parable. So he was asking for something that really was not rightfully his. And in effect he was saying to his dad, You know what dad? I wish you were dead. I am tired of waiting for you to die.

And I want you to give me my portion of the inheritance now. He saw his father as an impediment. A restraint. He wanted independence.

And this happens with our kids as well. We read in verse 13, What does that mean? That means in the Greek that he turned it into cash. There was a vast estate here with servants, hired help, buildings, etc. How do you liquidate something that quickly?

You sell it off at a discount. So he took his inheritance and got as much money out of it as he possibly could. This was so inconsiderate because this appears to be a great home. There was no abuse here. There was no divorce that we can see.

No hypocrisy. No raging alcoholic parent or abandoning father or mother. This was a stable loving home with a very hands on dad. It was also a loving nurturing home. It is evidenced by the fact that when the son finally returned the father threw his arms around him and showed affection kissing his son. It was an affluent home. There were servants there. Meaning that this boy wanted for nothing. And there was probably faith in this home as well. I am sure the father would read the Scripture to his boys and take them to church with him.

Well interestingly the boy pushes back. He stays there for a while and goes off to a far country. Verse 13. I am sure when he hit town he was very popular with all that money. But as soon as his money ran out his friends ran out with him. He even turned to prostitutes.

He drugged the family name through the gutter. He brought shame to his family. And in time he discovered the emptiness of life without his father.

And verse 14. After he had spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want. You see dad wasn't there to turn to. When crisis hits we usually turn to family. We turn to our spouse. We turn to our parents. We turn to our children.

We turn to our loved ones. But he had no family to turn to. And he was despondent. And he finally attaches himself to a local citizen just asking for some kind of job. And the guy sends him out to feed pigs. But God was at work.

Because the boy was coming to his senses. And I bring this up because sometimes when our kids go astray and we pray for them and things get worse we wonder where is God. You pray, Lord bring my prodigal son.

Bring my prodigal daughter back to you. And then all of a sudden they get thrown out of school. They get fired from a job. They get arrested.

Something happens that is a bad thing. And you say, God where were you? God what are you doing?

I will tell you where God is. He is right there trying to bring the kid to their senses. Because sometimes people have to learn lessons the hard way. Right?

But if they learn the lesson that is a good thing. Because when you get to the end of yourself you get to the beginning of God. Both of my sons had their prodigal years.

Christopher more than Jonathan. He went astray for a number of years. And so this boy had gone astray as well. I am sure there were many sleepless nights with this father.

But now look how the story ends. The boy comes to himself in verse 17 and says, You know my father's hired servants have it better than this. I am going to go and say I am no longer worthy to be called your son. So now the son returns home again. The prodigal son. He went to the dogs. He fed the hogs. And homeward he jogs.

So he is making his way back. And how does the father react? Look at verse 26. When he was still a great way off his father saw him and had compassion. And ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And then the father said to the servants, Bring the best robe and put it on and put a ring in his hand.

And bring the fatted calf and kill it and let's be merry. My son was dead. He is alive again. He was lost and he is found. And he began to be merry. So what do we learn from this story about dealing with prodigals?

Number one. Stay true to your beliefs. Stay true to your beliefs. Just because you get push back from your child does not mean you should back down.

Hold your course. Live as a good example. Teach the Word to them.

And understand that even if they go through a rough patch it doesn't mean that they will stay there forever. We have always had rules in our home. And I would say to my boys, Listen. You live under my roof. I pay the bills. And when you live under my roof you live by my rules.

And if you break those rules there is repercussions. They understood that. And even though my sons would disagree with me they were always respectful. And I think that very tension is a good thing if you are standing for what is true. Christopher when he was in his rebellion and came back to the Lord later told Levi Lusko who was his friend and our friend as well.

He said he kind of used me as a barometer. And he said, I always knew when I was right with God I noticed I got along really well with my dad and I noticed when I was not right with God there was tension between my father and I. And so that tension is not necessarily a bad thing. You don't want to send out the signal that you approve of what they are doing. You hold your ground and stand on your principles. But number two you should never give up on them. Don't give up on them. They can escape your presence but they can never escape your prayers.

And what may seem like the worst case scenario can be the very thing that brings them back. And thirdly and lastly we must always keep the door to home open. Always keep the door to home open. The prodigal knew he could come back no matter what. When Christopher was in his prodigal mode I always kept communication open.

Sometimes I wouldn't speak with him for a week or longer but we would communicate through email or I would call him and we would get together for lunch and those were uncomfortable at times but he always knew I loved him. And he did finally make that recommitment to the Lord and he got married and boy it seems like he made up for lost time because his life just took off spiritually. He started a Bible study in his home.

He was doing so well. And three years after he made that recommitment to Christ he was called home to heaven. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Download the Harvest Plus app. And now Pastor Greg continues today's message. I can look back on the way that I raised both of my sons and say I was not a perfect parent nor am I a perfect parent. I may be a perfect grandparent but I wasn't a perfect parent. But I don't really have any huge regrets to be honest. I think I did the best that I could.

I made some mistakes. But we raised our boys in the way of the Lord. Our youngest son Jonathan also had his prodigal time. He wasn't like Christopher wandering so far away. He was still at home but he was living sort of a double life we were not aware of. And then it came to our attention and we realized we had not one but two prodigal sons. But he too made a recommitment to the Lord and I asked him to tell a story and we have it recorded on this video that I want to show you now. So here is the story of how my son Jonathan made a recommitment to Christ. I was born and raised in Southern California.

Orange County specifically. I grew to love skateboarding and going to the beach and surfing and swimming. I was like every other kid. I liked to goof off in class, make jokes, make fun of people, whatever. And sometimes teachers they would like to single me out because of who my dad was. They would say, oh Jonathan I'd expect more from you seeing as who your dad was. You know when you're a young kid you take that to heart. People are expecting more from you. I just wanted to be like everybody else.

I just wanted to blend in. But growing up around my mom and dad I can tell you one thing's for sure. I was never able to doubt the existence of God. I recognized that they had a true relationship with Jesus Christ. The faith that my dad showed in the pulpit was the same faith that he showed in the kitchen at home.

In the intimate places of our house we'd be spending time as a family. He was the same guy. Maybe less bald jokes. But he was still the same guy and he had a great love for his family and I always knew that. As the age of innocence was lost I began to resent this question. Little Jonathan are you going to grow up to be bald like your dad?

No they wouldn't say that. They would ask me obviously are you going to grow up to be a preacher like your father? I wanted to be known as Jonathan Laurie. Not as the son of Greg Laurie.

Not as the son of the famous pastor and evangelist. I wanted to be known as my own person. I wanted to prove to them and to myself that I could be my own person.

That I didn't have to follow my father's footsteps. So when I was 16 a friend persuaded me to try smoking marijuana with him for the first time. I still remember quite vividly that first time. I remember we were at his house.

It was in a backyard. I remember being scared. Let's fast forward six months now. I'm getting high three, five times a day. I'm now drinking alcohol as well, smoking cigarettes. And actually right here this is kind of like my old stomping grounds where we're at right now on Laguna Beach. I spent a lot of time here. As I continued to live this lifestyle of smoking marijuana and living at home with my parents I found myself living a double life. I was lying to everybody. You see the very thing I was running from my friends were identifying me that at parties I would go to. They like to introduce me as, hey, do you know who this guy's dad is?

Have you heard of the Harvest Crusades? That's his dad. Have you heard of Greg Laurie? That's his dad, you know? Have you seen the picture of the guy off the 55 freeway?

His head's about 13 feet tall. Yeah, that's his dad. Right on. That's what I got to be known as. The very thing I was running from I was now identified as.

I think there's some humor in that on God's part. I successfully lied to my parents for about a year. When I was 17 I was in a parking lot down in Newport with a couple friends. We were standing around my car in a parking lot at like 11 o'clock at night. It was a Friday night and we were smoking pot. That's a real smart place to do illicit things, right? Well, sure enough, a cop car rolls up.

He busts us. I get arrested. I get a possession for marijuana. And, you know, my parents had no idea. I had to come and tell them point blank what I had been up to for the past year and a half or so now. It was tough. So as a result they put me on restriction. They took away my car, my friends, no surfing, no going outside, no skateboarding, you know, nothing.

Just mom and dad time. But before I told them, I told my brother Christopher. I told him what had happened. He prayed for me. He encouraged me to seek accountability and to get new Christian friends. He told me of his own problems of drug use and lies.

He said that it was a lifestyle of temporary fulfillment and it was empty. So after a few months of being grounded, I started to get some privileges back. I earned some trust.

And what did I do? I immediately went back to those old friends and I got back right where I left off. I was back to smoking pot more than ever. I was viewing pornography regularly. I was partying all the time. I was drinking, underage, whatever.

Whatever was around, I would do it. You know, looking back, I can really only think one thing and that's that God had grace on me because there was people right alongside me doing the exact same things. I knew guys that got DUIs, got STDs, got girls pregnant, knew girls that got abortions. I knew guys that got felonies, they got arrested, that are in jail. I had a friend, he was a close friend of mine. Before he went to sleep one night, he ingested a lethal amount of heroin and died in his sleep. Another friend of mine attempted to commit suicide.

This was supposed to be fun. For six years, I lived this life, this life of deceit and lies and the continual ignorance of the gospel. You know, as a result, I became increasingly isolated, lonely, depressed. I was isolated because I didn't fit in with either crowd.

I had too much of the world to be happy in the church and I had too much of the church to be happy in the world. Some nights after partying, I'd be driving home and I'd look over my passenger seat and I'd see the bag of drugs sitting next to me. I decided I'd want to quit.

I did this a number of times. I'd be driving home, I'd roll my window down, I'd grab that baggie and I'd fling it out the window. I'd go to bed that night feeling pretty good about myself, thinking, hey, I just, you know, I'm quitting.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be clean. And I'd go to bed feeling pretty good. And that next morning, I'd wake up, I'd get in my car, I'd go find the spot that I threw that baggie out. I'd go back over to it, I'd pick it up, brush it off.

I'd probably run over by a couple cars. Sometimes it was wet and smashed and gross. I'd bring that baggie back into my life. I was addicted. I was never really fully honest with anybody, but the one person that I did share with more than anyone was my brother Christopher. One day we were driving in the car and he looked over at me and after sharing some stuff that had been going on in my life, he asked me, Jonathan, what's it going to take? You see, we were talking about giving my life to Christ. He asked me what it was going to take and I don't remember what my response was.

I probably blew it off to some degree. I probably said something along the lines of, you know, oh, I'm just having fun, I'm not hurting anybody, I've got all the time in the world. So while I don't remember what my answer was that day, his question really stuck with me. On a Thursday morning at my job, my boss came to me and he asked me how everything was going. The boss happened to be a friend of our family and he asked me how my day was going.

I responded, it was pretty good. He showed back up again about an hour later with a police officer friend of ours also. They told me at that point that I should come with them, I should, I need to go home. When we got into my neighborhood, we rounded the corner. I looked in front of my house and I saw my father weeping.

I saw him collapse on the ground in front of our house. I didn't know what to make of it. As I got out of the car, a friend of ours got up and walked up to me, grabbed me by the shoulder, looked me in the eyes and told me, Jonathan, Christopher died. I felt vacant. I was vacant. I didn't know how to respond to it. My only brother was gone.

The only person I was ever truly honest with. Now I wasn't on earth anymore. After everybody had left our house, things began to settle and I really began to wonder what this meant. Instantly, Christopher's words popped back into my head.

What's it going to take? What's it going to take for you to give your life to Christ? And I knew what I had to do. I went into my room, I grabbed my drugs, my alcohol, pornography, cigarettes, whatever. You see, I still was hiding everything from my parents.

So I had all kinds of hiding spots. I put it all on my bed in front of me and I asked Christ to come into my heart. I prayed for him to forgive me. I prayed for him to not only take the addiction away from me, but the desire to do these things as well. And he's been faithful to do that. So today I'm married to the girl I had a crush on in junior high and high school.

My wife and I have two children together. We've got another one on the way. God's blessed me more than I ever could have imagined. If you had told me six years ago that I would be on video sharing my testimony, I would be married, I'd have two children and another one on the way, I probably would have laughed in your face, but that's what the Lord can do.

He can change anybody if you just give him an open heart. You see, I gave my life to Christ not because people wanted me to or didn't want me to. I did it because I wanted the hope of heaven. I wanted the hope of seeing my brother again. I wanted the hope of being reunited with family and friends.

I wanted to see Jesus face to face. As Christians, we have the hope of heaven, not the hope of a life without sadness. See, God can use these things to bring us closer to Him. Hey, to God be the glory. It took a lot of courage to say that. It made me feel like, boy, we were stupid parents, weren't we?

Just oblivious. But God was at work. So let me close now and kind of reaffirm what Jonathan said and ask you, are you a prodigal? Because if you are, you can come back to the Lord today. And I would like to give you an opportunity to make a recommitment to Christ. Maybe you were raised in the church. You know what is right.

You know what is true. You have rebelled against it. It is one thing to do it when you are in your 20s or even your 30s.

But some of you are a bit older than that and you are still playing this prodigal game. Don't waste any more of your life. If you need to make a commitment or a recommitment to Christ. Let's do it now.

Let's all bow our heads if you would. And if you need to make a commitment or recommitment to Jesus today pray this prayer with me right now if you would. Lord Jesus I want to come to You now. I have sinned against You. I have broken Your laws.

I have fallen short of Your standards. But I pray that You will receive me now as I turn from that sin and commit my life to You at this very moment. Let me follow You and glorify You with the life You have given me. Thank You for never giving up in me. Thank You for loving me.

Thank You for welcoming me home again. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer committing or recommitting our lives to the Lord. And if you've just prayed that prayer for the first time we'd like to send you something to help you get your new life in Christ started off right. It's Pastor Greg's popular New Believers Bible. It's full of hundreds of special helps for those who are new to the faith.

And the Bible text is in an easy to understand translation. Just get in touch and let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believers Bible. We'll send it free of charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number. 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially. Those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We're definitely a listener supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs. So if you've partnered with us, thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us, I hope you'll get in touch today.

And let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

Again, that's 1-800-821-3300. Hey everybody, I want to encourage you to join us for something we call Harvest at Home. It happens every Sunday at harvest.org. And on our brand new app, Harvest Plus, which is available on your mobile TV devices.

Download it now. And you can watch Harvest at Home with Christians from around the world as we worship together and study God's word. So again, join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org or on Harvest Plus. Well next time, Pastor Greg has another message of hope. As we consider the ultimate hope waiting for us in heaven. Join us here on A New Beginning with faster and Bible feature, Greg Lauren.