The Prodigal Life ~ Part 1

The Prodigal Life ~ Part 1
Luke 15:11-24(KJV)
11And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12And 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.
13And 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.
14And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17And 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!
18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20And 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.
21And 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.
22But 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:
23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

This is a portion of scripture dealing with a prodigal son. I took an outline that I found in the Thompson Chain Reference Bible and looked at the life of one that perhaps is backslidden or even lost altogether. I preached this in one sermon but will deal with it here in several excerpts.
I dealt with the seven steps in the downward pattern of that ones life and then the upward pattern of that one coming back to dad’s place. Looking at every action with comment on life today as well.
The downward steps are found in Luke 15:11-17 with verse 17 being a pivotal point in the process of coming back to the Father’s House.
The first noticeable step of 7 away from the safety of the Father’s House is SELFWILL . I want what would be mine now – a give it to me now attitude. I want to be my own boss and do life my way.
Yes it would have been his anyway but it wasn’t time yet for him to receive it, however he said give me ~ one needs to guard their heart for out of the heart are the issues of life.

What I have noticed is this: when a person sees life revolving around themselves without considering others around them, it is a warning sign of impending destruction in some way in their life. They become like a horse with blinders on and it is full steam ahead without restraints. This leads into the next step which I will post tomorrow…
Be Blessed
Pastor Kitner