Being Salt and Light in Ocean View, HI

Luke 15:11-32

Hello brothers and sisters I’m Alan I want to welcome you to Ocean View Baptist Church let’s open with a prayer Almighty God we come before you to walk in the light of your word to understand and appreciate the teachings of your son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it is in his name that we pray amen in the message today we’re going to continue in the Book of Luke chapter 15 verses 11 to 32 but first let’s recap Nate’s sermon on verses 1 to 10 in which there were two stories told by Jesus to the Pharisees one about the lost sheep and the other about the lost coin where in both stories Jesus is referring to the sinners who are counted as lost and how God and all of heaven rejoice when even just one sinner repents and is redeemed these stories are about the lost and the found about repentance forgiveness and redemption my friends has there ever been a time in your life when you felt lost you remember what it felt like to be forgiven and loved we’re going to continue with the same theme now as Jesus tells us the story of the prodigal son it’s one that you may be familiar with or maybe like me you have known someone that has been through similar experiences but I ask you to please follow along with me as we revisit this wonderful and blessed parable so as the story begins Jesus is telling us of a man who had two sons the man was not exceptionally wealthy but he had enough means to provide for his family and hire others to help tend the flocks and work the field then one day younger son decides to collect early on the inheritance he has yet to receive from his father so his father does is his son wishes and gives him his share of the inheritance the young man then promptly takes off on an ill planned journey to a foreign land where he foolishly wastes all of his inheritance on sinful pursuits brothers and sisters what happens here to the young man in the story is the same thing that happens to many young men and women today every day and because of mankind’s sinful nature and dwindling faith in God our society is slowly eroding away let’s see what verses 14 15 and 16 have to say as Jesus is telling us of the young man’s troubles now when he had spent everything a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine reading and no one was giving anything to him in these verses we can readily see that the young man is now penniless and hungry he then takes on a foul job just to have scraps to eat when he finally comes to his senses he realizes that even his father’s hired hands eat good when he has nothing so in desperation he heads back to the home of his father and as he approaches from far off father sees him coming and now overflowing with joy the father runs to his son and hugs him and kisses him my dear friends this scene exemplifies the indescribable love of a parent the same indescribable love that God our Father Abba feels for us especially when one of us repents and returns to him after drifting away and turning to sin folks I want you to recognize what is going on here this story is about being lost and then found it’s about repentance forgiveness and redemption it’s about a Father’s love let’s go to verse 21 where it says and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and I am no longer worthy to be called your son the father who was just absolutely overjoyed that his son has returned home simply waters of slaves to get his son some new clothes sandals and a nice ring and then to go set up everything for a party this custom of replacing someone’s dirty smelly garments not only made things more pleasant it also served as a means of symbolically removing their iniquities or sins for example a Zechariah is dreaming he describes what the Lord said in chapter 3 verse 4 well Joshua is standing in front of God dressed in dirty rags he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying remove the filthy garments from him again he said to him see I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you in festival robes and what is the reason for all this you might ask well here it comes but the father declares that his son was dead and has come back to life that he was lost and has been found now by the time we get to verse 25 it’s time for the over son to make his appearance the scripture tells us that the older son was returning from working in the field and after getting closer to the house he heard the party going on and wondered what was happening so while outside the house he questions one of the servants and the servant tells him the party is for his long-lost younger brother who has just returned home safely as you can probably imagine this didn’t go over very well the oldest son then gets angry and becomes jealous and he refuses to go inside to welcome his brother back with open arms so his father has to come outside to try and talk him into having a change of heart but the older son doesn’t budge one little bit he stays upset and he feels that his father has favored his little brother over him he complains that his younger brother has wasted away the father’s wealth while he the older and more responsible son has worked hard for the father in verse 31 the father at last touches the heart of his son when he says son you have always been with me and all that is mine he’s yours then with verse 32 the story finally ends when the father tells him but we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found brothers and sisters this is such a beautiful story isn’t it a classic tale and the masterful teachings of our Lord Jesus a story also pertinent to our times of being lost and found and redeemed I want to have you take something away from this message a promise that’s right a promise that if you will strive to love those that are lost to be forgiving of them and humbly help them in the name of our Lord Jesus God our Father Abba will bless them and he will certainly bless you so if you have a family member or a friend you’ve grown apart from and haven’t spoken to or heard from in a while or if you know someone was not come to church and may have drifted away from the Lord I asked you to please consider reaching out to them by giving them a call or seeing them and please remember to trusting God by giving him a chance to work through you let’s close in prayer loving father we honor you with praise and gratitude for all of your wondrous gifts we love you and humbly vow to be faithful to you and to serve others compassionately in your name and for your glory we ask that you strengthen us and fill us with peace for the times ahead and we pray these things in the name of Jesus amen

 

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