The Prodigal Son Revisited

Hello Friends!!!

An update. Last week I shared about my friends who are recovering from burns received from an accident in May. I want you to know that along with Brent, Troy has also been moved to a private room! Once again God shows His awesome power! Please continue to pray for Brent, Troy, Nick and their families. This battle isn’t over yet!

Thank you!

This past Sunday, our pastor, Rodney Hobbs, started a series of messages on Luke 15. I have to admit, when he said he was going to be preaching for 3 or 4 weeks on Luke 15, I thought, “ Ok Rodney, you’re a good preacher, but 4 messages on the prodigal son? REALLY!” Well, we’ll see. Haha Actually I have no doubt we will find truths in this chapter I have never seen.

Not only did this message make a great impact on me, but it also goes right along with some things we’ve been studying in Esther.

If you have spent any length of time in church, you’ve heard or read the 3 stories in this chapter, the lost sheep, the lost coin and the parable of the prodigal son. Most of the time when we, as church-goers/Christians, look at this passage we think about those who have purposefully wandered away from God. People like the sinners, the wayward, the ones that have strayed away from the father and have gotten themselves in to a big ole hairy mess. They either have never had a relationship with Him, or have wandered so far that the relationship is almost non-existent. The interesting thing is, that there is a second group of people. Those people are like the older brother. They have done all the good things. They hang around Jesus and the church, and they pretend to be like Jesus but they either don’t have a relationship with Him or they have been saved but they haven’t truly let Him take control of their lives.

Luke 15:31-32  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

This chapter shows us 2 ways to run from God, by immorality or by morality. Either way we rebel against the ways of God. The first one is open and blatant. The second is more sneaky. In this way we look good on the outside but our hearts are rebellious. This reminds me of this old cartoon- Can’t you just see Dennis the Menace sitting in the corner, with the caption over head, “I may be sitting on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside.” Isn’t that just like us, we say, “Ok Lord, I’ll do that.” But we do it begrudgingly, or our heart is really not in it.

As we have studied Esther, we have spent much time looking at Haman. To briefly remind you, Haman was the King’s right hand man. He had ordered that all the Jews be put to death because Mordecai (Esther’s cousin and guardian) refused to bow down to him. Haman had one goal and that was to be as famous as he could be. I truly believe that if he could have, he would have become the king. Haman was obsessed with fame and fortune, and in his mind the best way to get it was to get as close to the King as possible. Spend as much time with him as possible, but Haman’s motives were not pure. When I spend time with people, and get close to them. What are my motives? When I spend time at church or doing "God's work", what are my motives?

I Samuel 16:7  But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."


Am I spending time with the Lord to "look" like him or do I truly reflect the glory of God. There is a song that I just LOVE the lyric to. The song is Shine by Salvador here are a few of the words.... 
Lord let me shine, shine like the moon
A reflection of You in all that I do
Lord let me be a light for Your truth
Light of the world, I wanna be used to shine for You

Living in Grace,

Angie

If you are interested in the first message on Luke 19 or any of the others in the series, they are available by podcast at

 Stonegate Sermon 7/10/11