All I have is Yours

“And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine”.

Luke 15:31

Today I want to examine this story of the Prodigal Son from another point of view, other than the usual understanding

of it, that of a wayward sinner coming home to God for forgiveness. In this Sermon entitled

“ALL I HAVE IS YOURS” I want to focus on the Boy who stayed at home, and not the Boy who ran away. I want us to see things in this story that I recon most of us have not seen before. Turn with me if you will, to the 15th Chapter of the Gospel of Luke and to verse 20. Let us read together:

“And he (the prodigal) arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my

friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet (fitting) that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was

dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found”.

We have become familiar in the Church with the wayward prodigal Son who took off with his share of the family fortune, wasted it in riotous living, and returned home after a while, not to a severe reprimand as most would expect, but rather to a homecoming welcoming party the like of which had never been seen in that house before! This is the Boy, most of us know. We are familiar with him, indeed some of us, if not most of us can identify with him to some greater or lesser degree. We are not altogether unlike him in many ways; and for some of us who have come out of the world, wasted and weary with it, who have repented and turned to and trusted in Jesus as sin bearer and Saviour, like that Boy, we too have found the Heavenly Fathers forgiveness, pardon and peace.

The story tells that this Boy had a Brother, there was another Boy in that house, who as we have just been reading about, stayed at home, never strayed into the world, never spent his families fortune, and as far as we know, never caused his Father an anxious thought. So angry was he at the warm and welcoming reception his wayward brother was receiving that he refused to have anything to do with it, and threw a “pity party” of his own outside! Exclaiming to his bewildered Father;

“Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at

any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid,

that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf”.

Look at what’s being done for HIM, and what has been done for ME? This was his gripe, his complaint, his response.

There are two pictures being painted in this story, the one is the picture of “The Sinner apart from the Father” and the Second, is “The Saint, at home with the Father”

This Boy had lived all his life at home with his father, yet according to his reasoning, there had never been any great fuss made over him. His brother had clearly messed up his life, and now there was a party in progress, apparently in honour of his failings? The fatted calf had been slain and was being prepared for a great bar-be-cue, but not even a

kid from the goats had ever been made available to him…

at least so he thought?

What this boy had failed to understand was, that as his fathers son, he now owned everything that was his fathers, and had he taken the time or bothered himself to ASK, then he could have thrown a party whenever and wherever he pleased! It was all his, but he didn’t know it. He was existing below his living potential. He never asked!

Do you see what I see?

I see that many Christians, many of the Saints of God are living in just such a place. They are living in the Fathers House, they are truly Sons and Daughters of the King, but they don’t yet know that all HE has, THEY have. When this earthly father said to the boy, “All that I have is Yours” he was echoing the voice of God to HIS children. Yet many, if

not most of Gods Children don’t know it. They don’t know what they possess in God. So then let us examine what God has, that belongs to us as Christians. Remember the Father in the story says “ALL” that I have is yours! And immediately the devil has you thinking that this could not be true with regard to God and his children. Surely God is not going to give us everything, all that He has?

WRONG! The Devil is a liar!

This is Gods word to you today, he says; “All that I have is yours”. Now before you switch off in total disagreement with me, let me explain what God says about that, and how that works out practically in everyday life.

Let me first of all teach you something so vital, so revelatory, so profound, and yet so simple, that if you can grasp it, it will transform your life. You have got to get this into your Heart and into your House.

GODS WORD IS NOT JUST FOR HEARING,

IT IS FOR SPEAKING. (repeat)

The preaching and proclamation of the word of God, is vital for the salvation of the World and the sustaining of the Church.

Jesus said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” Matthew 4:4

and the apostle Paul says; “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14

It is the WORD of God that saves, it is the Word that heals, the Word that delivers, the Word that sustains and strengthens, the Word that creates faith and so on. I make it my aim to “Preach the Word” week by week. I could preach from the

great works of Shakespeare, or from the writing of Carl Marx,

from the wisdom of Socrates or the works of Plato or Newton, but God has not promised that any of that would bear fruit.

However He has promised :

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it“.

Isaiah 55:11

But by my Preaching the word, and your Hearing the Word alone, that will not work the word in your life.

Gods word is not just for hearing, it is for speaking. You must SPEAK the word of God before that word will begin to act and change things in your life.

So when God says to us “All that I have is Yours” that means that we have His Word and His Word is all we need.

But then you ask “how do we work the word?”

or “how do we get the word to work for us”

The answer is simply by applying the Law of Confession. Homologeo in the Greek which means

to say the same thing.

This is not about any negative confession of sin or wrong-doing, rather it is about speaking positively and in harmony with God.

Nothing in this world is so great or so powerful that it cannot be turned around by the tongue. The Enemy has taken advantage of us for years because we have not been taught to walk in this way. So when we are not walking in these things simply because we don’t know and have not heard about them, then Satan can tie us up in knots which can hold and bind us for life.

If you turn to Matthew chapter 9, you will find the story of

the healing of two Blind men; … at verse 28 Jesus asks

“do you believe that I am able?”

My question to you today is “do you believe that God is able?”

Jesus also said in Mark 9. v23 “if thou canst believe all things are possible to Him that believes” – how many things? ALL things! This is not speaking of any secular belief, like (do you believe that the present coalition Government will last?), but rather he is speaking of Bible belief, belief in the Word. It is an individual and personal thing … for what is possible for ME is based on my capacity to believe. It may not be possible for you, But You believe for what you can believe for, I’ll believe for what I can believe for! – but remember this …

Every thing that God has promised us in His Word,

He has already said YES to, in Jesus Christ.

Jesus often taught his disciples to Believe and Act, but also he wants us to Believe and Speak. He says in Mark 11:23

“Speak to this mountain and it shall be removed.”

Speak as God speaks, Speak the Word and it will work.

If you can control your tongue you can control your response to circumstances. The apostle James gives us many fine examples of this Law of Confession.

Turn to James Chapter 3, and let us read a few verses there:

“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth”. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members,

that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. (James 3:1-7)

Here James speaks of putting the “bit in the horses mouth.” A Horse will fight the bit, for it knows that the bit means it must

submit to the control of another. Our human Flesh will not want to cooperate with “words of faith” since the flesh assumes we are not making sense. In verse 4 James shows us that “ships, even large ships, are turned about with a small rudder” But Ships are not turned from the outside, but from the inside, from a wheel on the bridge. There is an inside control of an outside force – (how powerful is that thought?) In turbulent waters at first the vessel will be just ploughing waves, but in the storm if the Captain hold fast the wheel, then he can safely steer the ship to Harbour. We too must hold fast to the confession of our faith, the confession of the Word in troubled times.

Again James refers in verse 5 to the tongue as a little fire. He likens the tongue to the kindling, that which starts the fire. I recon that whatever the fire, or heat you may be facing today, words are what started it? Yet if words started it, then words too can stop it! Look at what James adds in verses 11& 12

“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? – so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh”.

From the same tongue it is possible to speak both sweet and bitter Salty and Fresh words. But ALL of our words have a creative impact on those who hear. For example, I may tell you (in a phone call) that I have been gifted a diamond encrusted Rolex. You cannot see the Watch down the phone line, but in your minds eye, you already have a picture of it.

The Words, the descriptiveness of the language have created the image in your mind. Proverbs 18:8 says “The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the

innermost parts of the belly.”

Gossip and tale-bearing are more than sound, they are spirit;

and they can play inside your body for years. Imagine the effect that telling a child “you are never going to amount to anything”

will have on that young mind?

We must NOT ever allow anything negative through the eye, or the ear gates, that negativity can get into the spirit, and the only thing powerful enough to erase or remove it, is the blood of Jesus and the Word of God. Thank God that Jesus said;

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” John 8:32

What I am trying to teach you today is that when God says

“All I have is Yours” He is in fact telling us that the “Creative Power” of this law of confession, of speaking in agreement or in harmony with God, speaking HIS word, is the most powerful instrument in the hand of the Christian. It is holding Gods ALL. The source, the tongue, the word – all the same thing. Remember that the Word is what started everything, the whole universe, the world and everything in it, including our humanity, were created by the Word. “All that I have” is yours.

As I said a while ago, the Elder son, did not know what was His,

and thus his expectation and experiences were curtailed.

He expected little and received little. Many of us Christians did not know what was ours, until Gods word opened our eyes.

GODS WORD IS NOT JUST FOR HEARING,

IT IS FOR SPEAKING.

NOW THIS FINAL WORD

We ought to know that it is not possible to live or work out the Christian life in the Flesh, it is only possible to do so, in the Spirit, with the enabling and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirits job is to lead us into the Truth of the Word and empower and enable us to act and speak on it.

The apostle Paul shows us how we can walk in the spirit, and teaches us not only about the indwelling, but also about the infilling of the Spirit. We must experience what it is to be filled, (or fuelled as I like to call it) every day. This is part of the “all that God has for us!” Paul says in Ephesians 5:18-19″…but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

The way to know this filling continuously is described here:

Paul says: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” When he says “speaking to yourselves” he does not mean, me speaking to you, and you speaking to the Pastor and him speaking with the Deacon? Rather he means ME speaking to ME, and YOU speaking to YOU. “Speaking to yourselves” He also adds “singing to yourselves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs.”

This means that if we go about speaking the Word and singing the Word, we are fuelling and refuelling our Spirits in the Holy Spirit and then being filled with the Spirit we can begin to effect those Creative Changes that are necessary in our world. Jesus said: “… whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak”. John 12:50

Jesus had learned the secret of the Law of Confession, saying

the same thing as his father. So …

When Sickness strikes say; “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”

When Poverty strikes declare; “thou prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies, thou anoints my head with oil and my cup runs over”

When you cant sleep say; “my help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer my foot to be moved: he that keepeth me will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep”.

And if God is still awake, there is no point in the two of you being awake.

Speak Gods word today into every situation and circumstance

of your life, and sit back and marvel at the changes you will create.

God says “All that I have is yours”

Amen