Beach Church 1/15/23 Beach Church 1/15/23

Homecoming - The Prodigal Son

Prodigal: /ˈprädəɡ(ə)l/ adjective
1. spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.

2. a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way.

“The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’’
Luke 15:12 NIV

“A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do just as he likes…”
~ Thomas Huxley ~

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”
Luke 15:13 NIV

When we declared our independence from God, we began to live in a foreign place.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
Luke 15:13-16 NIV

We waste our life… seeking what can no longer be found.

“After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.“
Luke 15:14 NIV

When we venture out on our own, we end up in a foreign land, left to our own devices outside of life with God.

“So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.”
Luke 15:15 NIV

“He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
Luke 15:16 NIV

“We often meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it”…
~ Jean de La Fontaine ~

We can’t run from ourselves…We can only run so far until we come to the end of ourselves.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’’
Luke 15:17-19 NIV

Hope begins with coming to our senses…

“The meaning of the younger son’s return is succinctly expressed in the words, “Father, …I no longer deserve to be called your son.” On the one hand the younger son realizes that he has lost the dignity of his sonship, but at the same time that sense of lost dignity makes him also aware that he is indeed the son who had dignity to lose. When he found himself desiring to be treated as one of the pigs, he realized that he was not a pig but a human being, a son of his father. This realization became the basis for his choice to live instead of to die.”
~ Henri Nouwen ~

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
Luke 15:20-21 NIV

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
Luke 15:22-24 NIV

God as our Father will welcome us with mercy and restore us.

Beach Church 1/8/23 Beach Church 1/8/23

homecoming - Heart vs. Appearance

• God Is Love
• God’s Love is Gracious
• God’s Love is Steadfast

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
Luke 15:25-27

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
Luke 15:28-29

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
Luke 15:30

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Luke 15:31-32

Your Heart is More important than your Appearance.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Genesis 22:2

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!
Genesis 22:9-11

We place what we love the most on the alter but we pray for God to come so we can have both.

What we need is for Him to be the thing we need.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
Luke 10:38-39

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Luke 10:40

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:41-42

We can be so busy doing good deeds that we miss the one thing we need the most.

Is there anything in your life right now that you love more than God?

Where is God leading you?

Will you be too busy, or will you follow him?

Beach Church 1/1/23 Beach Church 1/1/23

homecoming - a father’s love

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Luke 15:11-12

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
Luke 15:13-14

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
Luke 15:15-16

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
Luke 15:17-18

I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
Luke 15:19

So he got up and went to his father.“ But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Luke 15:20

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
Luke 15:21

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Luke 15:22-24

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
Luke 15:30

• God Is Love
• God’s Love is Gracious
• God’s Love is Steadfast

Have you experienced God’s love?

Have you experienced forgiveness and Healing?