Being a Better You: Let’s Celebrate

Scripture: Luke Chp 15:32 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 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. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 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: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Scripture: Luke Chp 15:32 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 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. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 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: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Luke Chp 15:32 Scripture: 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 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. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 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: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Being a Better You: Let’s Celebrate Luke Chp 15:32 Scripture: 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 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. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 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: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet 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 see the struggles of our world today and it can be very hard to just think of something that is worth a celebratory celebration. We are in the being of February, a month selected to showcase the history of Black America. A history of pioneers, engineers, inventors, doctors, lawyers, athletes and the list go on. We celebrate the path way of their efforts that have left a future for us now. We don’t celebrate the struggles that they endure but we are reminded that they existed. No – we don’t forget there struggles but we have to be careful not to celebrate the struggles vs the impact. How do you differ between the two? The struggles are emphasized through exhausting celebratory measures of remembrance vs the production of what was accomplished. The impact is defined by the impact on the present and the future. Are we talking more about what done happen, or what’s about to happen? Are you still angry because you didn’t get the job or you happier that you have a job?

Are you still mad because they didn’t move over this morning on the pew or are you happy just to be in the house of worship? (sigh) – Im just happy to be in God’s house. I can not allow my heart to be contrived and torn between the struggles of the world. I got a God to glorify. What does it mean to glorify God? means to reveal him. ... Therefore to glorify God we must show the world Jesus and the gospel most of all. I ‘ve learned if you want to be a Better person, you have to removed the foolishness from your life. You can be so caught up in the liability of your decisions that you block the light of the solution.

Are you so consume in your daily life, your loyalty to friends that you missed those critical times to glorify God. Are you so stuck in the routine of going to church, but you never really have church? How many of you came to bless God? How many came to lift him up, came expecting to leave better than you came. It’s hard to celebrate when you have anger in your heart. It’s hard to celebrate when your spirit is not right.

The reason a lot of us cannot move forward in our relationships with others because we have not advance our relationship with God. We are stuck in position. You can’t advance from park if you never shift the gear to drive. You will never move if you don’t change your gear.

You must want to be better. How can I be better?

I need change, I need a change of people, I need a change of environment, I need a change in my surrounding. I need a change so I can experience the move of God.

The reason we frustrated is because our frustration has locked us in to a position. It’s caused us to be stuck in place. We can’t see the good because all we know is our position. Proverbs 23:26- My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. We need some people who will celebrate.

It is impossible for you to every shift in God, without a change in Heart.

The second son only appears in the second half of the parable where he takes over from his younger brother as the leading figure. He appears immediately after his brother’s homecoming and his father’s generous welcome to his erring son. Like his brother the elder son appears in a negative light, though for very different reasons, and fails to redeem himself through personal repentance and reconciliation with his father and brother. At least, there is no account of a later conversion. Although his personal circumstances differ from those of his brother, his story is more tragic just because he fails to see his plight and to face up to it. There is much here that resonates with the attitudes and beliefs of members and adherents of the mainline churches throughout the 20th century, the high noon of theological Liberalism across Western Christendom.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. King James Version (KJV)

The reason many are not experiencing God in the church is because they heart is not right.

Don’t care how bad you are, how smart you are, how many degrees you have, how long you been deacon, how long you been program chair or chairman of the ministry. A bad heart diminishes the efforts of the ministry. It marinates others.

Sad thing is sometimes you don’t even know your heart is bad.

How do you know a heart is bad ? In the medical industry a bad heart gives signs and symptoms of shortness of breath, legs swelling and hurting, irregular heart beat, loss of body function.

First: The older son was in the field working, as he had been doing for the whole time of his brother’s absence (25). He later relates this to his father as a point of criticism and complaint against his father (29). He was extremely self-conscious of his personal loyalty to his father in performing the same duties day after day, a proud record of faithfulness in service over many years.

In the church we see bad hearts, has less patience, unwillingness to cooperate, unwilling to participate, not straight answers, attitudes.

Psalms 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 King James Version (KJV) Our heart must be in sync with God. We cannot become frustrated by situations that consume us. In other words we can not be concerned about what they did and didn’t do.

We have to be concerned about what we are doing to advance in the kingdom of God.

I just want to advance. I just want to be all I can be for Christ. Frustration will cause you to feel depreciation. It makes you feel less value. It will have you operating with a chip on your shoulder.

Many in the mainline churches grew up under the theology of Liberalism which, influenced by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant with its centre in the autonomous self and the moral will, desacralised the Gospel of the New Testament and historic orthodoxy by stripping it of its inherent supernaturalism, and presented Christianity rather as a life of goodwill and practical helpfulness to others, than as a personal change of heart and a life rooted in communion with the triune God through Christ and the cross. As a result many in the ranks of the mainline churches have embraced a counterfeit of the one true Gospel of God’s grace, replacing it with a commitment to self-improvement and good works.

Why we can’t we celebrate together? We have to welcome change, where it’s good or bad.

You know rain is good for plants but to much rain may be bad. Sunshine is good but to much sunshine can be bad. What are you saying here, that we have to be able to allow for change?

Why can we rejoice together? We have to be happy, we have be joyful in the mist of it. Scripture says that weeping may endure for a night but Joy comets in the morning. We must know how to rejoice even when it’s uncomfortable.

Philippians is the most joyful book in the Bible — the apostle Paul uses the Greek words for joy and rejoicing sixteen times in only 104 verses. And yet he writes from a dingy Roman prison, a place we would typically associate with misery and trial, which most people assume are the opposites of joy. He’s surrounded by every conceivable obstacle to joy, so why does he seem so happy?

A great deal of faithful service has been conducted by many of the older generations in the various mainline denominations during their lifetime of membership in the churches, a proud chronicle of service taking many forms, from looking after the grounds of the church, teaching in the Sunday School, performing the duties of the eldership, being actively involved in the women’s meeting, to providing catering for church functions. Compared with that record many of the younger generation of Christian believers could not compete, and from it they could also learn much. On the other hand, in many cases, this service record seems to have been done out of a sense of duty or loyalty to the Church rather than to Christ, that is, from a sense of the rightness of service for its own sake, rather than as the heart-felt expression of a personal relationship to the triune God.

Our worship is dependent on our heart.

God is love, but we find it difficult not to be offended by God’s grace toward another, especially if we have serious questions about that person’s conduct

There is a condition worse than death, to be lost; there is a condition better than life, to be found.

What does it mean to be lost? Lost is the past tense and past participle of lose. adjective. If you are lost or if you get lost, you do not know where you are or are unable to find your way.

Second: The elder brother was angry and non-cooperative on hearing of the return of his younger brother (28). Given his pedestrian approach to serving his father, and the many years that he was conscious of labouring for him, the older boy was naturally displeased with the generosity of his father towards a prodigal son. He could not understand why his father would enthuse over his brother’s return, while he had served with him so loyally all those years, without a similar jubilation. He refused to join in the festivities, choosing rather to remain stubbornly outside in his field, in sullen mood.

Lost at some relationships

Opportunities Abandon Strong holds But to be found

You were rescued, you feel restored, you feel safe, there is a joy that’s eternal.

In the same way, many of those who have served in the mainline churches over the years have shown themselves to be actively antagonistic to changes in the life and habits of the churches, wherever these have been due to an evangelical faith and evangelistic fervour. The gospel celebrates the goodness and generosity of God, beyond all expectation and human deserving, towards the world in its selfishness, waywardness and unthankfulness towards him as rightful Creator and Lord. Whereas the arrival of this message and its messengers ought to have been the occasion for joyful celebration, instead it has become, in many places, a point of friction and division, leading in some cases to the termination of the work. Like the elder son, people become entrenched in their opposition to new measures and the whole evangelical programme that underpins them. They would rather die in their ecclesiastical traditions than embrace the changes that the Gospel brings.

You maybe have been lost but we ought to thank God that we was found.

We ought to celebrate, others when they are found. We ought to know the joy that being found brings.

What Is the Joy of the Lord?

“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” -Nehemiah 8:10

The joy of the Lord is found on the road to restoration. God convicts us of sin, and often our first reaction is guilt and shame. But those feelings never come from God. Ezra the scribe gathered all the people. He read to them from God’s book and skilled ministers explained the words and their meaning to the people. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”

Third: The older son was suffering from a mixture of self-righteousness and self-pity (29). When pressed, he fell back in defence of his record of years of loyal service, his impeccable conduct towards his father, and his father’s failure to favour him in the way he was now doing towards a son who had broken all the rules and brought him nothing but pain and shame. From this reply, we can see into the heart of the older son, and come to the conclusion that through all his years of service he has related to his father on the basis of authority and law, not of love and liberty. He had the mind of a slave and not a son. He nurtured a grudge against his father, which he now articulates after all these years. He has been silently critical of his father while pretending to serve him and obey him. His service has been a matter of duty, never a joy.

Once the people understood — really understood — they wept. God's Word was opening their eyes to the way they had failed Him, but Nehemiah was quick to remind them of who the Lord is. “They could delight in the joy of the Lord because he is a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate.”

What Does the Bible Say about the Joy of the Lord?

The original Hebrew for "joy" in Nehemiah 8:10 is "chedvah," meaning joy or gladness. The root word for joy in this context means to rejoice or to make glad. "Strength" in the same verse is a Hebrew word meaning “a place or means of safety, protection refuge, or stronghold.” The root word of strength means“to be strong, prevail; to make firm, strengthen.” The joy of the Lord is a constant gladness and cause to rejoice. It stems from an inner strengthening from our relationship with Him. When Jesus died for us, He restored us to a peace with God that cannot be undone. “Your joy rests on God’s joy,” Tony Reinke explains.

Duty lay at the heart of Kant’s legalistic morality and the religion that it generated in European Protestantism, from around the middle of the 19th century and well into the 20th. Liberalism was a system of salvation by moral character and good works, the very kind of religious faith and practice that Paul exposes in his letter to the Galatians and that called forth the Reformation and every genuine religious revival since. Within the mainline denominations the harvest of Liberalism continues to be reaped in an entrenched spirit of self-justification among the many who have embraced its tenets from childhood, from Sunday school teaching and a lifetime of humanistic preaching, without being conscious of the religious toxins they were imbibing into their spiritual lives. This self-righteous spirit still displays itself in outrage when confronted with the message of God’s sovereign grace in Christ, that deprives us of all good works leading to salvation, and calls us to trust in him alone for our full acceptance with God, both now and forever.

What Is Biblical Joy?

“But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” -John 17:13 Jesus experienced the fulfilling joy that stemmed from His Father’s strength, and wanted us to be filled and overflowing with it (John 15:11). Repentance

Repentance and faith can be understood as two sides of the same coin. It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about your sin and about who Jesus is and what He has done. Whether it is repentance from willful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ.

Repentance is not a work we do to earn salvation. No one can repent and come to God unless God pulls that person to Himself (John 6:44). Repentance is something God gives—it is only possible because of His grace (Acts 5:31; 11:18). No one can repent unless God grants repentance. All of salvation, including repentance and faith, is a result of God drawing us, opening our eyes, and changing our hearts. God’s longsuffering leads us to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), as does His kindness (Romans 2:4).

Fourth: The elder son lacked the generosity and large-heartedness of his father though he had lived and worked with him all his life (28, 30). Instead of rejoicing with the family he withheld himself in self-righteous anger. It was only the father who looked for his brother’s return, being moved with profound pity for the penniless penitent, and ran to greet him (20). The elder brother knew nothing of this all-embracing and all-forgiving love. He was shut up in himself and closed to the needs and remorse of others. His whole existence was as thoroughly self-absorbed as had been his brother’s in the darkest days of his prodigality.

While repentance is not a work that earns salvation, repentance unto salvation does result in works. It is impossible to truly change your mind without that causing a change in action. In the Bible, repentance results in a change in behavior. That is why John the Baptist called people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). A person who has truly repented of his sin and exercised faith in Christ will give evidence of a changed life (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:19–23; James 2:14–26).

The Older Son—the Harvest of Liberalism

The second son only appears in the second half of the parable where he takes over from his younger brother as the leading figure. He appears immediately after his brother’s homecoming and his father’s generous welcome to his erring son. Like his brother the elder son appears in a negative light, though for very different reasons, and fails to redeem himself through personal repentance and reconciliation with his father and brother. At least, there is no account of a later conversion. Although his personal circumstances differ from those of his brother, his story is more tragic just because he fails to see his plight and to face up to it. There is much here that resonates with the attitudes and beliefs of members and adherents of the mainline churches throughout the 20th century, the high noon of theological Liberalism across Western Christendom.

First: The older son was in the field working, as he had been doing for the whole time of his brother’s absence (25). He later relates this to his father as a point of criticism and complaint against his father (29). He was extremely self-conscious of his personal loyalty to his father in performing the same duties day after day, a proud record of faithfulness in service over many years.

Many in the mainline churches grew up under the theology of Liberalism which, influenced by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant with its centre in the autonomous self and the moral will, desacralised the Gospel of the New Testament and historic orthodoxy by stripping it of its inherent supernaturalism, and presented Christianity rather as a life of goodwill and practical helpfulness to others, than as a personal change of heart and a life rooted in communion with the triune God through Christ and the cross. As a result many in the ranks of the mainline churches have embraced a counterfeit of the one true Gospel of God’s grace, replacing it with a commitment to self-improvement and good works.

In the same way theological Liberalism has generated little or no interest in outreach evangelism, to try to win the lost generations outside the churches, at home and overseas. Traditionally there was a good deal of talk in these church circles about the gospel of the love of God for all mankind, but a total breakdown at the point where we might have looked for a translation of that theology into action, in the way of caring evangelism or earnest prayer for the revival of apostolic Christianity in our communities and across the nations. On the contrary, on receipt of the news of conversions of people out of secular paganism or of efforts to reach those in our communities, lost in a web of sinful living, the reaction is frequently one of indifference, disapproval or deep suspicion.

A great deal of faithful service has been conducted by many of the older generations in the various mainline denominations during their lifetime of membership in the churches, a proud chronicle of service taking many forms, from looking after the grounds of the church, teaching in the Sunday School, performing the duties of the eldership, being actively involved in the women’s meeting, to providing catering for church functions. Compared with that record many of the younger generation of Christian believers could not compete, and from it they could also learn much. On the other hand, in many cases, this service record seems to have been done out of a sense of duty or loyalty to the Church rather than to Christ, that is, from a sense of the rightness of service for its own sake, rather than as the heart-felt expression of a personal relationship to the triune God.

Second: The elder brother was angry and non-cooperative on hearing of the return of his younger brother (28). Given his pedestrian approach to serving his father, and the many years that he was conscious of labouring for him, the older boy was naturally displeased with the generosity of his father towards a prodigal son. He could not understand why his father would enthuse over his brother’s return, while he had served with him so loyally all those years, without a similar jubilation. He refused to join in the festivities, choosing rather to remain stubbornly outside in his field, in sullen mood.

In the same way, many of those who have served in the mainline churches over the years have shown themselves to be actively antagonistic to changes in the life and habits of the churches, wherever these have been due to an evangelical faith and evangelistic fervour. The gospel celebrates the goodness and generosity of God, beyond all expectation and human deserving, towards the world in its selfishness, waywardness and unthankfulness towards him as rightful Creator and Lord. Whereas the arrival of this message and its messengers ought to have been the occasion for joyful celebration, instead it has become, in many places, a point of friction and division, leading in some cases to the termination of the work. Like the elder son, people become entrenched in their opposition to new measures and the whole evangelical programme that underpins them. They would rather die in their ecclesiastical traditions than embrace the changes that the Gospel brings.

Third: The older son was suffering from a mixture of self-righteousness and self-pity (29). When pressed, he fell back in defence of his record of years of loyal service, his impeccable conduct towards his father, and his father’s failure to favour him in the way he was now doing towards a son who had broken all the rules and brought him nothing but pain and shame. From this reply, we can see into the heart of the older son, and come to the conclusion that through all his years of service he has related to his father on the basis of authority and law, not of love and liberty. He had the mind of a slave and not a son. He nurtured a grudge against his father, which he now articulates after all these years. He has been silently critical of his father while pretending to serve him and obey him. His service has been a matter of duty, never a joy.

Fifth: The elder son disowned his brother, holding him in relationship only to the father (30). He refers to him to his father as ‘this son of yours’ rather than as ‘this brother of mine’. He refused to be associated with his brother’s life of lawlessness and rebellion, choosing to see himself as belonging to those who keep the law and live respectably. He claimed to have never broken any of his father’s orders (29), and so despised his brother and disowned him.

Duty lay at the heart of Kant’s legalistic morality and the religion that it generated in European Protestantism, from around the middle of the 19th century and well into the 20th. Liberalism was a system of salvation by moral character and good works, the very kind of religious faith and practice that Paul exposes in his letter to the Galatians and that called forth the Reformation and every genuine religious revival since. Within the mainline denominations the harvest of Liberalism continues to be reaped in an entrenched spirit of self-justification among the many who have embraced its tenets from childhood, from Sunday school teaching and a lifetime of humanistic preaching, without being conscious of the religious toxins they were imbibing into their spiritual lives. This self-righteous spirit still displays itself in outrage when confronted with the message of God’s sovereign grace in Christ, that deprives us of all good works leading to salvation, and calls us to trust in him alone for our full acceptance with God, both now and forever.

Fourth: The elder son lacked the generosity and large-heartedness of his father though he had lived and worked with him all his life (28, 30). Instead of rejoicing with the family he withheld himself in self-righteous anger. It was only the father who looked for his brother’s return, being moved with profound pity for the penniless penitent, and ran to greet him (20). The elder brother knew nothing of this all-embracing and all-forgiving love. He was shut up in himself and closed to the needs and remorse of others. His whole existence was as thoroughly self-absorbed as had been his brother’s in the darkest days of his prodigality.

In the same way theological Liberalism has generated little or no interest in outreach evangelism, to try to win the lost generations outside the churches, at home and overseas. Traditionally there was a good deal of talk in these church circles about the gospel of the love of God for all mankind, but a total breakdown at the point where we might have looked for a translation of that theology into action, in the way of caring evangelism or earnest prayer for the revival of apostolic Christianity in our communities and across the nations. On the contrary, on receipt of the news of conversions of people out of secular paganism or of efforts to reach those in our communities, lost in a web of sinful living, the reaction is frequently one of indifference, disapproval or deep suspicion.

Liberalism has produced a similar set of mental and spiritual blocks in its time. In place of a generous welcome to those individuals who have returned to their Father’s house, a disapproving attitude has often sprung up, askance at the idea of visitors or non-denominational people disrupting the even tenor of their ways. It is as though there are two kinds of people, sinners in need of God’s forgiveness because they have failed life’s test, and the respectable who have lived a moral life and so enjoy a natural claim on God’s love and a place in the heavenly kingdom. But this is the mindset of Pharisaism that Jesus was so anxious to expose and explode (), and against which this part of the parable was told ().

Fifth: The elder son disowned his brother, holding him in relationship only to the father (30). He refers to him to his father as ‘this son of yours’ rather than as ‘this brother of mine’. He refused to be associated with his brother’s life of lawlessness and rebellion, choosing to see himself as belonging to those who keep the law and live respectably. He claimed to have never broken any of his father’s orders (29), and so despised his brother and disowned him.

Liberalism has produced a similar set of mental and spiritual blocks in its time. In place of a generous welcome to those individuals who have returned to their Father’s house, a disapproving attitude has often sprung up, askance at the idea of visitors or non-denominational people disrupting the even tenor of their ways. It is as though there are two kinds of people, sinners in need of God’s forgiveness because they have failed life’s test, and the respectable who have lived a moral life and so enjoy a natural claim on God’s love and a place in the heavenly kingdom. But this is the mindset of Pharisaism that Jesus was so anxious to expose and explode (Luke 16:15), and against which this part of the parable was told (Luke 15:1–3).

Sixth: The elder son failed to avail himself of the father’s presence and presents though he lived within reach of these all his life (32). This is the final word of the parable and the final judgement on the elder brother. Living surrounded by untold wealth in the form of the father’s company and all his possessions, the elder brother had never translated his opportunities into realities. Though potentially wealthy he was actually a pauper through his own prejudices and disbelief in his father’s love. So near and yet so far, he had created a far country in his own mind where he lived out his life, spiritually removed from any real enjoyment of his father’s company. He was as far away from his father, as he was from his brother.

In the same way, many have grown up and lived out their lives religiously and physically near to the churches of Christendom, yet remained strangers in their hearts to the saving love of God in Christ, the risen and living head of the churches. Religion may be a form without real substance in the heart and conscience. Such was the religion of the Pharisees who took pride in the externals of their ritual and ceremonies but did not know God for themselves as a reconciled Father and friend, according to the terms of the new covenant of his grace (). Only an evangelical encounter with the Father of mercies and the God of all grace, rooted in a deeply felt sense of personal unworthiness and sinfulness, can rectify this state of affairs, by exchanging externals for internals and giving priority to the religion of the heart (). People may be close to the kingdom of heaven without ever taking possession. Theirs is the most tragic story of all, more than those who were far away from God through many years of their lives, before they found the entrance point. Heaven rejoices over any sinner who repents, no matter who that sinner may be (, ), but grieves and weeps over sinners who think they are righteous and have no need of repentance.

In Closing

In order for us to be a better person, we must celebrate others. We can not be so consume on what we been doing, that we miss what we should be doing. This lost son, allowed his self-righteous and pity, loyalty to father block the blessing that was bestowed to his brother. His brother was out in the world, and now had came home.

Somebody wants to come home today, will you help them celebrate. Somebody tired of being in the world of hustle and bustle, tired or running from relationship to relationship, church to church and they just want to be celebrated.

Sixth: The elder son failed to avail himself of the father’s presence and presents though he lived within reach of these all his life (32). This is the final word of the parable and the final judgement on the elder brother. Living surrounded by untold wealth in the form of the father’s company and all his possessions, the elder brother had never translated his opportunities into realities. Though potentially wealthy he was actually a pauper through his own prejudices and disbelief in his father’s love. So near and yet so far, he had created a far country in his own mind where he lived out his life, spiritually removed from any real enjoyment of his father’s company. He was as far away from his father, as he was from his brother.

Somebody wants to come home today, will you help them celebrate. Somebody tired of being in the world of hustle and bustle, tired or running from relationship to relationship, church to church and they just want to be celebrated.

They want to be used by God.

I once was lost, but now im found. I’m glad the lord is using me.

I asked the lord to use me

Use me in for thy service

Use me in thy service

However, you want to use me,

In the same way, many have grown up and lived out their lives religiously and physically near to the churches of Christendom, yet remained strangers in their hearts to the saving love of God in Christ, the risen and living head of the churches. Religion may be a form without real substance in the heart and conscience. Such was the religion of the Pharisees who took pride in the externals of their ritual and ceremonies but did not know God for themselves as a reconciled Father and friend, according to the terms of the new covenant of his grace (). Only an evangelical encounter with the Father of mercies and the God of all grace, rooted in a deeply felt sense of personal unworthiness and sinfulness, can rectify this state of affairs, by exchanging externals for internals and giving priority to the religion of the heart (). People may be close to the kingdom of heaven without ever taking possession. Theirs is the most tragic story of all, more than those who were far away from God through many years of their lives, before they found the entrance point. Heaven rejoices over any sinner who repents, no matter who that sinner may be (, ), but grieves and weeps over sinners who think they are righteous and have no need of repentance.

Do I have any body here? That will tell the lord to use me.

The reason he can use me, is that one day on hill called Calvary, He died for me. That’s why I have joy, Without a Calvary experience they’re would be no repetance.

The reason he can use me, is that one day on hill called Calvary, He died for me.

That’s why I have joy, Without a Calvary experience they’re would be no repetance.

Thank God for his Grace and Mercy. Use me lord.

Milne, D. J. W. (2001). The Father with two Sons: A Modern Reading of . Themelios, 27(1), 15–18.