A Fathers Day

A Father’s Day

Luke 15:11-15:31

Introduction-

Have you ever had broken or shattered dreams?

Have you ever wanted the best for someone and they seem to be on a destructive path and not even desire your help?

Have you ever been so entangled in a situation that you see no way out of that situation?

That is how this father from our text must of felt, and I believe that our Heavenly Father must feel as He looks at us at times.

This mourning we want to honor our Fathers. Men that want to be men.

I know that there is not one Father here that would not lie down his life for his children. That is the way that it is suppose to be.

I also know that there is not one Father here that has not blown it, especially if your children are older. (realize you have been far from perfect)

Those times that we wish we could change how we handled a situation.

Most of the time for Father’s day we look at leadership qualities, look at being a role model, but I want to look at the Father of this Prodigal son and how he handled himself when things did not go according to his plan and his faith that he had for his son to return.

Luke 15:11-31 read from Bible

Red letter edition- words from Jesus Himself.

Parable is a simple story told by Jesus in the gospels to illustrate a spiritual truth.

A Prodigal is someone that is wasteful, extravagant.

This is an example of a person that was wasteful, made bad life choices, and had to come to his /her senses. Anyone relate to that so far?

Our culture in an attempt at finding themselves has slipped off a slippery slope.

We have gone farther away from God, and most do not care.

We have alienated ourselves from others by not letting anyone get too close.

We have made ourselves so busy that we have no time to just breathe and refresh.

Don’t believe we have gotten away from caring of others? We use to take pictures of others, now everyone takes selfies!

It is all about us! (show yourself taking your own picture)

This young boy thinking that his life at home was so bad that he must leave all is not anything new under the sun, it is still happening today.

This Father had two sons, One was older and one younger.

The younger son decided that he had had enough and wanted to go find himself. (rebellion)

He wanted what he felt his father owed him and he was going to take it and do what he wanted.

His older son by choice had stayed and was working the family farm and only became enraged after his father had given such a warm reception of his brothers return.

One stayed and one strayed.

Today’s society looks at nothing as sin. It is a right for you to do as you please, wither it goes against God or family values, or moral values.

The church universal has to be careful that we don’t fall into the same trap. We grade sin.

We look at certain sins as acceptable, tolerable, and then some that we just cannot get past.

I want you to know with the shooting that happened in Orlando this week that this was not the wrath of God coming down on sinners.

God did not cause that shooter to go into a place and gun down innocent lives. It was an evil demented act of hatred.

The church universal has to embrace the fact that lives were lost and that God grieves at the loss of life. Those people’s lives mattered to God.

You cannot evangelize and antagonize at the same time.

We better sit ourselves down and realize that our sin is no better or worse than someone else’s. WE ALL NEED JESUS!

As much as most see this parable about the change in the boy’s life and his return to his father, There is a another side of this story of a father that never gave up hope that his son would return and had already decided what and how he would act when that day came.

Let’s go back to this parable.

The boy decides that he will leave and demands his portion of the family estate. (Younger son gets 1/3, older son 2/3) what is bad is by asking for it, he is saying that he wishes his father dead.

He waste his money on a wild lifestyle to the point there is nothing left and there is famine in the land and this man has gone from plenty to need.

He has gone from many friends because of having money to no friends because he is broke to the broke broke.