There's a mental image a lot of us carry of what God's face looks like when we finally turn around and start walking home. Maybe you picture disappointment, or a long, tired sigh, or a face that's already made up its mind about you. But Jesus tells a story about a father who saw his son while he was still a long way off, and the father ran.

This week's message is part of our ongoing series, The Good Fight, and we walk through what it actually looks like to draw near to God when you feel far from him. Drawing from Luke 11, 1 Timothy 6, James 4:8 to 10, and the three parables of Luke 15, we explore the difference between the omnipresence and the manifest presence of God, why holiness was never meant to keep us away, and how the love of the Father runs toward us before we ever have a chance to clean ourselves up.

Paul tells Timothy to fight the good fight, but he doesn't tell him to fight it alone, and he doesn't tell him to fight it through performance. He tells him to run from evil and run toward God. That is the heart of pursuing holiness in the Christian life. We don't simply move away from sin. We move toward our Father.

If you've ever felt like one of the put together religious people on the outside, or one of the put out people who feel too far gone, this message is for you. Two of sin's quietest lies are that God runs from you when you fail, and that your worth to him decreases with every wrong turn. The prodigal son sermon in Luke 15 dismantles both. Your Father is filled with compassion before you say a single word. Repentance is not what earns the embrace. Repentance is the debris that falls out of the collision of his love and your fallen humanity.

So how do you actually pursue holiness this week? You just show up. You stand in the presence of the Lord. You let him love you. The confession will come. The change will come. But it comes after the embrace, never before.

Scripture in this sermon: Luke 11 (the Lord's Prayer), 1 Timothy 6:11 to 12, James 4:8 to 10, and Luke 15 (the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son).