Welcome Home Son
Notes
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Post Critical Incident Seminar
Post Critical Incident Seminar
Thank Pastor Mickey (He and Robin are Branson police chaplains) Pastor Mickey lead the Voluntary prayer service on Tuesday evening and spoke on Wednesday afternoon “Man’s Search for Meaning.”
I met an officer’s wife who conducted a routine traffic violation. When he exited the vehicle, he was shot in the stomach piercing his vest as well as one shot which went through his hat and skimmed his skull. On his way to the hospital, he thought we was going to live his last day.
Female KC officer after the death of her husband said that Tuesday night was the first time she slept through the night since 2013. Many, many more stories.
48 Officers from all over Missouri with similar stories
Kingdom Builders
Kingdom Builders
Thank Phylis Rodrick and announce that Kara Prince will be leading this group.
Illusionist David and Teesha Laphlin
Illusionist David and Teesha Laphlin
Transition
Transition
Today, I want to share a message with you from a very familiar portion of scripture found in .
Mark Twain was once interviewed by a reporter who asked him, “People say you are the best storyteller that ever lived. What do you have to say about that?” Twain said, “I am not the best story teller that ever lived.” Then, the reporter asked, “Who would you regard as the greatest storyteller ever lived.” He said, “It would be Jesus.” “If so, what is the greatest story ever told?” He said, “The Prodigal Son.”
Introduction
Introduction
In , Jesus finds himself teaching to an unusual crowd (sinners, tax collectors, needy, Pharisees and religious leaders).
The Lost Sheep ()
The Lost Coin ()
The Lost Son ()
Today we are going to focus on the the Parable of the Lost Son otherwise known as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” What these three parables should have been called is the “Parable of a Loving Father and His search for that which was Lost.”
What each of these parables teach in this … No matter how far you’ve gone or how lost you think you are, the loving heart of God always says:
Welcome Home, Son!
Welcome Home, Son!
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
1. Even though we all rebel, our Father is always waiting for us to come home.
1. Even though we all rebel, our Father is always waiting for us to come home.
Rebellion
Jewish law - the elder son received twice as much as the other sons (), and a father could distribute his wealth during his lifetime if he desired. It was perfectly legal for a son to ask for his inheritance while his father was still alive, but it was not very loving.
12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
Verse 12 “
The younger son - “Property” (ousia) = “One’s very substance or being” = “give me the piece of your being that belongs to me.”
The younger son wasn’t just asking for stuff, but for his life - He was asking the father to tear himself in two. “I wish you were dead, so that I can live my life my way!”
The Father’s response:
12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
luke 15.
“Property” (bios) - “Life” = “So the father divided his life between them.”
Thomas Huxley said: “A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do just as he likes.”
You might say; “I’m not like the prodigal son!” but We do this every time we resist His control and guidance and ignore his goodness as the source of our lives.
“We are not just squanderers, but wanderers.”
“We are not just squanderers, but wanderers.”
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
***additional scriptures supporting this wandering
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
“Distant country” is not necessarily a distant place because we can be close to home and yet be in a “Distant country” in our hearts.
But remember this: Even though we all rebel, our Father is always waiting for us to come home.
Many rabbis of that time believed that God received the sinner who came to Him the right way. But in the parable of the shepherd and the sheep, Jesus taught that God actively seeks out the lost. He does not grudgingly receive the lost; instead, He searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God.
Many rabbis of that time believed that God received the sinner who came to Him the right way. But in the parable of the shepherd and the sheep, Jesus taught that God actively seeks out the lost. He does not grudgingly receive the lost; instead, He searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God.
Jesus teaches something that man had never been taught about God, that he actually searched for men.
2. We all have to “come to our senses” and realize we belong with the Father.
2. We all have to “come to our senses” and realize we belong with the Father.
Repentance
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
Rejoicing
“Came to his senses” - this is a Hebrew/Aramaic expression for “repented”
Resentment
It’s important to understand that there is a difference between “confession” and “repentance.”
Confession is the acknowledgement of our sin, where Repentance is:
Repentance - A change of mind leading to a change of action.
Repentance - A change of mind leading to a change of action.
That is exactly what the young man did as he cared for the pigs. (What a job for a Jewish boy!) He “came to his senses” or he “came to himself,” which suggests that up to this point he had not really “been himself.”
“There is an ‘insanity’ in sin that seems to paralyze the image of God within us and liberate the ‘animal’ inside.” Warren Weirsbe
Perhaps you’ve heard this saying before:
“Sin always cost more than we expected to pay, takes us further than we ever thought we’d go, and keeps us longer than we wanted to stay!”
“Sin always cost more than we expected to pay, takes us further than we ever thought we’d go, and keeps us longer than we wanted to stay!”
“Sin promises freedom, but only brings slavery, it promises success, but brings failure, it promises life, but ‘the wages of sin is death.’”
“Sin promises freedom, but only brings slavery, it promises success, but brings failure, it promises life, but ‘the wages of sin is death.’”
The son thought he’d find himself, but he only lost himself. The young man changed his mind about himself and his situation, and he admitted that he was a sinner. He confessed that his father was a generous man and that service at home was far better than ‘freedom’ in the far country. It is God’s goodness, not just man’s badness, that leads us to repentance.
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
“I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.” Billy Graham
“I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.” Billy Graham
“I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.” Billy Graham
“I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.” Billy Graham
1. Even though we all rebel, our Father is always waiting for us to come home.
2. We all have to “come to senses” and realize we belong with the Father.
3. When we return, there is rejoicing and not ridicule.
3. When we return, there is rejoicing and not ridicule.
20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The third section of the parable describes the father’s response. He apparently had been waiting for his son to return, “but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him.” The father, full of compassion for his son, ran to him, and hugged and kissed him.
The father not only ran to his son, but put a robe, a ring and sandals on him and prepared a feast.
The robe stood for honor, the ring stood for authority, the shoes for family (sons wore shoes, slaves did not).
The father watched
The father ran
The father received
The father never did permit the younger son to finish his confession; he interrupted him, forgave him, and ordered the celebration to begin!
Luke 3. The Father Joyfully Receives the Lost Son (20–24)
The father’s love waited and never forgot. It was a love that fully received, not putting the son on probation. This was especially remarkable because the son had disgraced the family by his prodigal living.
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
eph 2.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
eph 2.4
1 verse summarizes Luke’s gospel:
This chapter makes it clear that there is one message of salvation: God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners. God’s part: The shepherd seeks for lost sheep, the woman searches for lost coins. Man’s Part: The wayward son willingly repented and returned home.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
3 words summarize this chapter - LOST, FOUND, REJOICE!
Luke 2. Finding a Lost Sheep (4–7)
Many rabbis of that time believed that God received the sinner who came to Him the right way. But in the parable of the shepherd and the sheep, Jesus taught that God actively seeks out the lost. He does not grudgingly receive the lost; instead, He searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God.
Jesus teaches something that man had never been taught about God, that he actually searched for men
Remember: Jesus is speaking to an unusual audience.
The Lost Coin
The Lost Son
ALL BELONG TO SOMEONE!
All belong to som
Tax collectors and sinners who were drawn to Jesus
Self righteous Scribes and Pharisees who criticized Him for His association with sinners
The disciples who needed to know the Father’s heart. The fact that these are top priorities of God should make them top priorities of all those who already know and follow Christ.