Prodigal Brother Key

“The Prodigal Brother” Kingsway Community Church Ernie Prabhakar • 10/29/2006

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Parable of the Prodigal Son • Luke 15:11–32 • There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

• So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. 3

• After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

• That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father.

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• I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.

• When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'

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• But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.

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• All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, 'Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!— because he has him home safe and sound.'

• The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen.

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• The son said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'

• His father said, 'Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!' 8

The Parable Of...

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The Parable Of... “There was once a man who had two sons...”

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The Parable Of... “There was once a man who had two sons...” – Luke 15:11–32 (The Message)

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The Parable Of... “There was once a man who had two sons...” – Luke 15:11–32 (The Message)

• Who is this Parable about?

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The Parable Of... “There was once a man who had two sons...” – Luke 15:11–32 (The Message)

• Who is this Parable about? (a)The Prodigal Son

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The Parable Of... “There was once a man who had two sons...” – Luke 15:11–32 (The Message)

• Who is this Parable about? (a)The Prodigal Son (b)The Loving Father

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The Parable Of... “There was once a man who had two sons...” – Luke 15:11–32 (The Message)

• Who is this Parable about? (a)The Prodigal Son (b)The Loving Father (c)The Unforgiving Brother

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Who Was The Audience? By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story... – Luke 15:1–3 (The Message)

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“The Prodigal Brother”

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“The Prodigal Brother” • (‘Prodigal’ == ‘Wasteful’)

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“The Prodigal Brother” • (‘Prodigal’ == ‘Wasteful’) • What happened to the older brother?

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“The Prodigal Brother” • (‘Prodigal’ == ‘Wasteful’) • What happened to the older brother? • What did he waste?

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“The Prodigal Brother” • (‘Prodigal’ == ‘Wasteful’) • What happened to the older brother? • What did he waste? • Can a Pharisee be redeemed?

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“The Prodigal Brother” • (‘Prodigal’ == ‘Wasteful’) • What happened to the older brother? • What did he waste? • Can a Pharisee be redeemed? • Do non-rebels have a testimony to tell?

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Act I: The Fall

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Why Do Pharisees Sin?

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Why Do Pharisees Sin? Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. – James 1:13-15 (The Message)

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Act II: The Flight

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Why Do We Run?

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Why Do We Run? This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is. – John 3:19-21 (The Message) 15

Act III: The Return

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Where Do We End Up?

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Where Do We End Up? What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life...So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. – Romans 1:21-25 (The Message) 17

Act IV: The Redemption

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How Can We Be Saved?

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How Can We Be Saved? You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:6-8 (The Message)

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Act V: The Reunion

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Is There A Happy Ending?

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Is There A Happy Ending? None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing — nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable — absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. – Romans 8:37-39 (The Message)

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Act VI. The Call

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What Does God Want?

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What Does God Want? This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin. – I John 1:5-7 (The Message) 23

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