The God of Restoration

I would like to read to you a scripture tonight. And I was in prayer earlier today and seeking direction from God on where we would go. And so I'm going to do something a little condensed tonight, but I know that the Lord spoke to me very clearly about where to go tonight. And I want to just share a very familiar passage with you and then get us to maybe think about something in a slightly different way. If you have your Bibles, you're welcome to join me. I think they can put it up on the screen. And we're going to turn to Luke chapter 15. And we're just going to read a few verses. This is a very, very well-known story. Probably all of the adults in this room know this story. It's the story of the prodigal son. And I'm not going to read the whole story. I just want to read part of it. Starting at verse 17, it says, "But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." And he arose and he came to his father. And this is my favorite verse in this story. Look at this. But 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 when he was still a long way off. You know what that tells me? It tells me daddy was looking for him. Okay? That's not when he got to the edge of the farm. It's not when he got to the gate in front of the house. It's not when he got all the way home and knocked on the door that dad came out. It says when he was still a long way off, dad saw him and ran to him and was already looking for him. And it's a beautiful image of repentance because the world and the power of the world has lied to so many people and told them when you get your act together, you can come to church. When you clean up your life, you can come and find Jesus. But that's not what this story tells us. This story says that he came to his sense. He realized he needed help and he started home. And while he was still a long way off, amen, his father saw him. And many of us can attest to the fact that if if you will start a journey and you just begin to turn towards him and you take that first step, he'll begin to meet us. Amen. And this story demonstrates a powerful message of restoration and a father and a son who were restored to right relationship because of a son's repentance and his willingness to turn around and start coming home. I want to read one more scripture to you. We're going to jump over into 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 10. And this is Peter writing a message of encouragement to Christians that the diaspora, the Christians who are spread around the Roman Empire. And it's during a time of persecution. And he says to them, "But may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you have suffered a while perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." I'm going to read it to you again. Another translation, in his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. The word in this verse that is translated in English in the King James and New King James uh as perfect, he will perfect you is a Greek word that talks about taking something that was broken and then putting it back together and restoring it to the way that it was before. It's it's perfecting it, making it right once again. And so other translations like the one I just read to you say that after you have suffered, God will restore you. And when he restores us, he supports us and strengthens us. And he puts us on a firm foundation. He gives us solid footing. Amen. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You've seen how God has restored you. And so, for a few minutes tonight from these two passages, I want to talk to us, if you can put my title slide up for just a little while, I want to talk to us about this idea, the God of restoration. Aren't you thankful for the God of restoration? I am so thankful that God was kind enough, full of mercy, and gracious enough that he brought me to a place of restoration. And now I am so privileged and blessed to spend my life sharing that message of restoration and working in God's kingdom all over the world as I continue to see God work as the God of restoration. Now, restoration involves more than one thing. The first part of restoration is probably in my mind the easier part to talk about. I was a pastor before we came to global missions. I read to you part of the story of the prodigal son and I love that story and that is a great passage to teach and to preach from and I shared with you just a little bit of that idea about repentance and turning around and we see a son who is restored to a right relationship with his father and God does the same thing for us and he wants us to be restored to a relationship with him and he is the God of restoration when like that prodigal son if we'll just turn around. That's repentance. And began to take a step towards him while he was still a long way off. His father saw him and ran to him. And no matter where you're at in life, if you will turn towards God, he will meet you because he's the God of restoration. Amen. And that part of the message and that aspect of repentance is wonderful and it's beautiful. And I got to tell you, as a as a minister and as a pastor especially, I enjoy that part. And honestly, that's probably the easier part of restoration to talk about. But that's not the only thing that's involved in restoration because really there's two aspects of restoration. There's two stages, if you will. There's the first stage that most of us understand where we are restored to a right relationship with our father. And like that prodigal, we journey home to our heavenly father and we're restored unto him. But the second part, the second part is a little more challenging and we don't all make it to the second part. First Peter, I read to you 1 Peter chapter 5:10 where he talked about the fact that after you have suffered a little while, God will restore you and support you and strengthen you and put you on a firm foundation. And so Peter, interestingly enough, doesn't say if you suffer, he says after you have suffered, he recognized that the church at that time was in the middle of persecution. And as part of living for Jesus, we're not immune to suffering. Can I get a witness? Anybody live long enough to know that just because you are a disciple of Jesus, there are still valleys, still low places, still storms. In the South Pacific, we'd say cyclones. The cyclone still comes and hits your island even when you live for Jesus. Yes. And so, we know as we journey along and as we continue in our walk with Jesus that we're not spared from difficult times. But Peter says something curious. He says, "After you have suffered, God will restore you." And it's that second part of restoration that honestly is often more challenging for those of us who live for Jesus, especially the longer that we walk with Jesus. So, let me unpack this for a moment. I read to you from Luke chapter 15, part of the story of the prodigal son. If you were to go to the book of Luke and you just jump forward two chapters later to Luke chapter 17, you're going to read a different story. It's not a parable. It's something that happened in the ministry of Jesus. And it's a curious story. In Luke 17, we read about lepers. This group of 10 lepers who come across Jesus. And they had some sort of contagious skin disease. And it meant that they had to live separated from society. And often this disease would continue to uh deteriorate and it would cause all kinds of problems and sometimes it made the flesh infected. And I won't be too graphic, but it was it was debilitating and it would maim you and it would destroy the body and it was highly contagious. And so people who had these various skin diseases, they had to live separated from the rest of the community. And they all had to live together in a leper colony. And in Luke 17, we have 10 lepers who find out that Jesus is in the area. And they come to Jesus as a group and they ask Jesus if he would be willing to cleanse them. You can go back and read it later. And Jesus says that he's willing to do this. And he prays for this group of lepers and he cleanses all 10 of them. And then they leave and they go their way rejoicing for how God has cleansed them. And he gave them instruction. You go to the priest and you show the priest that you have now been cleansed from this leprosy. Make the appropriate sacrifice so you can be restored back to the community. You can be reintegrated with society. And so they leave rejoicing. And as they leave, it says that one of the 10 lepers, many of you know this story, turns around and comes back to Jesus a second time. And it just so happens that the one leper who returns is a Samaritan. He's not even a Jew. And it says that he falls down at the feet of Jesus and he begins to worship Jesus, thanking him again. And Jesus looks at that one leper and he says that not only is he now cleansed, you can go read it later in Luke 17. He said, "You are now made whole." Isn't that interesting? We have 10 lepers who find their way to Jesus and he cleanses them. But of that 10, only one of them comes back to Jesus and is made whole. And this is important because it demonstrates that there's a difference between a cleansing and a complete restoration, a healing. And there are many people who find cleansing. And that's important. We all need cleansing. Everyone like the prodigal needs to make their way home to Jesus. And they need to have a right relationship with their father and they need to repent. They need to be baptized in Jesus name. I heard you celebrate a couple here who were just recently baptized and that's awesome. That needs to continue to happen. That's a huge part of our journey with Jesus and all of us needs to experience that and that's a cleansing and every one of us needs to be cleansed of our sins. Amen. And then we're filled with the Holy Spirit and we begin to develop as disciples of Jesus and we walk with him the rest of our life and one day he's coming back for his bride and yes and amen. And we all need that. But that's the first part of restoration. But when the 10 lepers came to Jesus, 10, all 10 found a cleansing, only one came back to Jesus and found healing. Put differently, 10 of them were cleansed. Only one was restored completely. And it's a real story from the ministry of Jesus. But what physically happened with those 10 lepers spiritually demonstrates what happens with many of us. We come to Jesus and we are washed and cleansed of our sins and we're filled with his Holy Spirit and that's important and it's beautiful and it needs to happen for everyone. But there's a secondary invitation where Jesus invites us to keep coming back to him for more because he'll cleanse you first. But if you keep coming back, he wants to heal you and restore you. And I'm not just talking about a physical healing. And the God of restoration wants to do multiple restorations in our life, but it's an invitation. He won't force you to pursue more. 10 lepers found cleansing. One found healing. Let's look at this slide up here. I picked this picture deliberately. If you're looking at this picture, you can see that we're looking at the side of some old building. And at one point, there was a doorway on the side of this building. And somewhere along the way, for whatever reason, that doorway got sealed and closed up, and they decided to kind of paint over it and kind of make it match the side of the building. That was a doorway at some point, but it's no longer a functioning doorway. And many of us go through life spiritually, myself included, and I'll give you part of my story. And spiritually, we have doorways like this. I call them the hidden rooms of our heart. And if you allow me to use this analogy, when we experience the new birth, God comes and he fills us with his holy spirit. And he says, I now want to come live inside of you and it's beautiful and it's wonderful and it needs to happen. And so if this sanctuary was our heart, our inner being, God comes and he takes up residence right here and his spirit fills us and I begin to walk with him and travel with him and he's changed my life and I now think differently and I live differently and I act differently and I've been cleansed of my sin. Colossians and other places in the New Testament, it talks about us becoming a new creature in Christ. You become a new man, a new woman. You're completely different than the way that you used to live. And that's wonderful and it's beautiful. But as you journey along with Jesus, he's going to begin talking to all of us. And in essence, he's saying, "Thank you for allowing me to come live in this sanctuary, making your body, your being, the sanctuary, the place where his spirit comes and dwells in tabernacles on earth. And I appreciate that you've let me into this room, but what about that door?" And very gently, the Lord begins to knock on these little tucked away corners. I call them the hidden rooms of the heart. And we all have them. They're the little doorways that we've bricked up like that. We've painted over them. We've done our best to make them blend into the background. And it's that doorway that we never talk about anymore. Because if I unlock that doorway, and let me clarify, I'm not talking about hidden sin. I'm not talking about rebellion. I'm not talking about those kind of things. I'm talking about, and you know what I'm talking about, those hidden rooms of the heart where we have tucked away all the stuff that we never mention. This is where we've tucked away disappointment and dead dreams. This is where we've tucked away the wounds of failed relationships. It's where we've tucked away dreams that died. It's where we've tucked away what we thought was going to happen in ministry that didn't unfold and our failed expectations are back there. It's where we tuck away the really hard why questions that have never been answered. Why did God let this family member die this way and I've never understood what happened and it seemed so unjust? Why did this relationship fall apart and I wasn't able to repair it? Why did this person hurt me this way and I was never able to make that right? Whether or not you acknowledge it, you know what I'm talking about. Because as we go through life, we all end up with that doorway tucked away somewhere in our heart. And behind that door is where we put all the stuff that we don't want to talk about. In a uh secular setting, we talk about the skeletons in the closet, right? We talk about the things that have died, that are unresolved, that we put behind that doorway. And again, let me clarify. I'm not talking about sin, but I'm just talking about wounds, hurts, disappointments, frustrations, failed dreams. You fill in the blank. It's different for everybody, but everybody's got one of those doors. And when we invite the creator of heaven and earth to come live inside of us and take up residence and tabernacle in us, He moves into our being and it's like his spirit filling this sanctuary. But then he starts knocking and he says, "What about that door? Would you let me in there, too?" Because the God of restoration doesn't only want to restore you in the sense of cleansing. He wants to restore you in the sense of healing. And cleansing and healing are not the same thing. The cleansing is necessary. If you want to spend eternity with Jesus, you must be cleansed of your sins. But you don't have to be restored. That's voluntary. He cleansed 10 lepers. He brought a wholeness, a complete healing to one. And it was the one who came back and it requires coming back again and again. And this process is not easy. And so it's not mandatory. But the God of restoration says, "My son, my daughter, I love you enough that I want to completely restore you. Well, Brother Lugo, you have no idea what that's like for me. And you're right. I don't. And I'm not going to pretend I do. But I'm going to be vulnerable by choice for a moment. And I'll share a little bit with you about me. And everybody's journey is different. And everybody's door looks different. I'm not pretending I know your door. But I can stand here tonight and I can do the missionary lugo thing and I can make everything really bright and shiny and clean and never ever ever touch that doorway. And if I chose not to tell you, you wouldn't know that I didn't grow up in an apostolic home. My mother was apostolic, my father was not. and that our home was never at peace and it was a very violent home and receiving domestic disturbance calls and visits from the county sheriff was a regular part of my childhood. And at age 15, the police and child protective services finally stepped in and told my mother, "You have 72 hours to get a restraining order against your husband or we're putting all your children in foster care." and it forced the issue and it brought even more things to the surface and it actually got worse. And at 17, I left home and I moved from Washington State to California and never went back and I started life over. And God was so good to me and gracious and I ended up in Bible school and he turned my life around that I met my lovely wife Rachel in Bible school and we got married and started in ministry. Eventually I ended up right here in St. Louis and I went back to school at UGST and I ended up on staff at the sanctuary with Pastor Dugas and Pastor Graham and Pastor Bland and life was wonderful. And then I left the sanctuary and I went to Delaware and we pastored. And I'm in my 30s. And I've been in ministry now for almost 20 years at this point. And I have been ignoring that gentle knock as God was saying, Desi, what about that door? Oh, not that one. And so I pray things like, "God, I will go anywhere. I will do anything you want me to do. I am yours, Lord. Use me for your kingdom." And he says, "Great. Would you unlock that door, God? I mean it. I'll go anywhere you want. I'll do anything you want me to do." I sold my home, sold all of our furniture, reduced our personal possessions down to what we could fit in a 10 by10 storage unit, and I moved to the South Pacific. And that was easier to do than it was to unlock that door. And I'm not a brand new Christian. I'm not immature in my walk with Christ. I'm an ordained minister of the gospel. I am pastoring a UPC church and I've been in ministry for almost 20 years and I can't unlock that door. But I could move to the South Pacific easier than I could unlock that door. So I throw no stones. Okay? And I did unlock that door. And God began to work on me. And that happened before we went to missions. And I'm so glad I did. And I was terrified if I unlock this door, he's gonna kick it open and all this stuff was going to come pouring out. I was just gonna and all this junk was going to, you know, bubble to the surface and I was just going to be a total and complete emotional wreck in front of everyone and shame myself. But he's the God of restoration, not the God of destruction. And that's not how he works. And he's a gentleman. And it's an invitation, not a requirement. He'll cleanse anybody who asks, just like he did those 10 lepers. But very, very few keep coming back to Jesus and find restoration. The God of restoration knows what he's doing. And yes, he's going to restore you to a right relationship with him. But that's only step one. The God of restoration wants to look at all the doors that look like this, that have been bricked up and painted over and hidden away in the background. And he invites us to unlock that door and let him walk into that pain and that disappointment, that trauma, that failure, that abuse, that fill in the blank. It's different for everyone. And he says, "My son, my daughter, if you will let me. I don't just want to cleanse you. I want to heal you." And it's a gentle knock. He doesn't pound on that door. And it's an invitation. If you'll stand with me, I'm coming to a close. We're going to transition in just a moment. And he invites all of us. And he continues to knock and he continues to invite, but he will never require it. And if you choose to walk your whole life with Jesus and you have been cleansed, that's wonderful. You not have to be made whole. It's a choice. But if you're willing to begin opening those doors, and some of you have done that, and you've got testimonies of your healing journey, but I I've also lived long enough and pastored long enough to know there's a lot of us, myself included, who could spend decades, walking with Jesus, having been cleansed of our past, but not healed of it. Because we've done a good job of becoming apostolic, and I I don't mock that. Don't misunderstand me. We've done a good job of putting things together and we know how to walk with Jesus, but also keep a little closet tucked away with all the stuff we don't deal with. But he loves you enough. And he says, "If you'll let me, I want that room, too." Not just your beautiful sanctuary, not just your sacrifice, not just your service, not just your prayer and fasting and your Bible study and your commitment. I want your hurt. I want your failed dreams, your disappointments, and the trauma that you have never named out loud. Because I'm the God of restoration. And I don't just cleanse things, I heal them. And if this is you tonight, and I'm one of them, you're thinking, "Well, Brother Lugo, I don't have any idea where to go from here." And I I hear what you're saying, but how would I do that? I am terrified to open that door. I was, too. And maybe all you can do is just unlock it right now. You're not ready to open that door. That's okay, too. It's an invitation. Well, how do I do that, Brother Lugo? It starts with a conversation where we begin talking to God. And that's what we're about to do. We're just going to transition to a time of prayer. And I'm not going to call you out and say, "If this is you, would you raise your hand and come down?" That's not fair. I'm not doing that to anybody, especially something like this. So, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to invite everyone to come up front. If you are able, if you are physically able, would you come join me down here in the front? and I'm going to join too because this is all of us. Okay? We're just going to pray together. And I'm not asking you to raise your hands and ask for special prayer. I want you to talk to your heavenly father who loves you enough that he invites you to more. And it's your choice what happens next. But if you want more than a cleansing, if you want restoration, he invites you to start that. And he's not going to kick open that door and he's not going to make you do anything. And my job tonight was just simply to invite you to this process. What happens next is between you and God. And if all you can do is unlock it tonight, then here's what we do. We pray together and then you begin to talk to Jesus and you tell him, "God, I don't know what to do or where to start, and I'm scared to open that door." And I promise you, if you want to pursue it and you're willing to begin that process, he will speak to you and he'll tell you what to do next. For some of you, that may involve talking to someone else and trying to fix a relationship. For some of you, maybe you need to talk to ministry staff in this church. For some of you, myself included, no shame in this, maybe at some point it involves some professional counseling, working through some serious things. There are lots of different avenues. That's why I'm not trying to give you a prescription because it's not that simple. But the God of restoration says, "I don't just want to cleanse you. I want to restore you." The question is as he knocks when we open the door. Heavenly Father, thank you for your goodness to us and your kindness, your patience, your gentleness as you tug on our heart and you see every son and daughter that's in this room and you know every scar and every pain, every dead dream, every unanswered question, every wound that is not named. And you love us enough that not only did you die to cleanse us and save us. You love us enough that you want to restore us. So now help us to begin to talk to you and listen to your voice and give us the courage if that's what we need tonight to unlock that door. All right, I'm done now. They're going to play for just a moment. Would you begin to just talk to your heavenly father? Would you listen to his voice and listen for what he wants to tell you tonight?