We All Have A Little Prodigal Son In Us

We All Have Some Prodigal Son In Us

Luke 15:11-24

I always seem to have some one come to me and ask some of the following questions; How can I be sure God will forgive me? How do I know that God will forget my sins of the past? I have wasted so much time and things God has already given me. I have been too bad for God to forgive. All of us have been too bad for God to forgive us. For the longest time after I knew I had a calling on my life I to preach God’s word I kept saying, “Why me? I’m not worthy.” The first person to say something to me that made sense was my son Andrew when he said, “Why not you daddy?” Then my first home pastor at Lake Wylie Christian Assembly said the one thing that made sense to me, “None of us are.”

My Message today is I think that all of us have a little bit of Prodigal son in us. We ask God for things that we “think” we need, or that we have an actual need for and we either waste it, or use for something else. I think we have all done that some thing like that with our earthly father as well. We end up in a bind and need to get bailed out and we come running back to God for help. The parable I am using today is the story of the prodigal son. Charles Dickens describes it as, “the finest short story ever written.”

This parable symbolizes the moral state of being lost, as well as the moral state of conversion by being found in repentance. I always get a laugh when I hear people say, “I found God.” Or they ask somebody, “Have you found God?” I have news for them, God was never lost.

That reminds me of a story about two little boys (we will call them Billy and Jimmy) that were always in trouble and one day the mother decided to put a little bit of the “fear of God” in them. She took them to a pastor who was very big and tall he also had a very deep and overpowering voice and he decided to speak to them one at a time in a room. The pastor stood over the first little boy and said in a deep voice,” have you found God.” The little guy was scared to death not saying a word. Once again the pastor stood over him and again this time leaning in toward him and said, “Have you found God.” The little boy jumped out of the chair and ran across the room and out the door. As he passed the other boy he screamed, “Run Billy somebody took God and they think we did it.”

In the parable of the prodigal son I want to look at two very important facets. Give and Take. But before I read the text for today I want you to listen to a song about this parable and how God feels about His precious children. Please listen very closely to the words.

Play song When God Ran by Phillips Craig & Dean

Luke 15:11-24 And He said, "A man had two sons. 12 "The younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.´ So he divided his wealth between them. 13 "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 "Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. 15 "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. 16 "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. 17 "But when he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 `I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men." 20 "So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 "And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.´ 22 "But the father said to his slaves, `Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.´ And they began to celebrate.