Alive Again

………there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:

12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

32 It was meet (to come face to face, to come together as an assembly for a common purpose) that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Intro: The right to choose. The whole cycle of life is told here in this story that Jesus told. It has been named, “The Prodigal Son.” Most remember the son took all of his inheritance that his father had provided for him, left his home and family and went on his way to a more pleasurable and desirable lifestyle.

He took his journey not knowing where he was going but it was far away from the Father’s house. Not knowing that his journey would take him farther than he really wanted to go.

Here in this tale is the story of every person, of our right of free choice and what those choices can do to us and other people. Long before Jesus told of this story, God re-created the earth for the second time. He created a beautiful and bountiful garden. In the mist He planted two trees, one called the “tree of good and evil” and the other the “tree of life.” God knew that when He formed man from the dust of the earth that He would put in him the right to choose who he would serve giving all mankind the right to choose, this is called a free will mind. A person has that state of mind all the days of his life.

Some day in our lifetime we will have a chance to prove for ourselves whether it is better in “Father’s House” or better in the “far country” of our self-will. In the exercise of “free will” lies all the potential of heartbreak, all the tragedy, all the conquest, all the glory, and all the story of our lifetime.

There were two sons in this story. I believe that both may have been visited with the right to choose. I believe that both were tormented by the same spirit. I believe that both were pressured to make a decision. Now the problem is not the situation they were in but how they coped with it. One brother put more value on his responsibility as a son, though entitled to the equal amount of inheritance as the other son. While one considered the joy of and security of being in the Father’s house, the other son dreamed of a Fantasyland that did not and does not exist even today. The concept of, “If only I had something different then I’d be happy, my life would be filled with Joy.”

1. The Inalienable Right: