"I will return to my Father's House." Part 1
INTRODUCTION: In this 2 part – series titled “I WILL RETURN TO MY FATHER’S HOUSE”. We shall study the importance of knowing and acknowledging the goodness of God, in making us His very own children through the sacrifice of the life of Jesus, and how great are the blessings which He has bestowed upon us. God in His love has made us heirs of His inheritance. The Bible says “all things are yours”. Above all He has given us His very life and nature and made us king’s and priests (Rev. 1: 6) to reign in life and to serve Him through our priestly service of bringing the unsaved to God through the preaching of the Gospel. The teaching is based on the story of the “PRODIGAL SON”.
Please read Luke15:11-22
- The story reveals a loving Father with 2 sons
- The Father has great wealth and riches
- He has servants who serve his family in his home
- He is in business with his sons
- He has an inheritance to be divided among his sons
- They all lived in the serenity, peace and security of their home.
This in the context of God’s Kingdom represents:
- God the Father – and His loving relationship with His children (those who have become His children by accepting Jesus into their hearts as Lord and Saviour)
- God is Creator/Owner of all that has been created and exists in the world
- His fabulous earthly wealth is for His children. He created the earth and gave it to Adam with all the gold and silver and treasures of His creation
- Because He was God – He blessed His children with more than enough.
- God the Father has a host of angelic servants who serve Him and His children. They do His bidding and carry out His orders. Ps 103:20
- God’s Kingdom lacks nothing that is good spiritually, emotionally, physically or materially.
THE ATTITUDE OF THE YOUNGER SON (PRODIGAL)
- He demanded for his inheritance, whilst His father lived
- He displayed immaturity and lack of wisdom
- An heir (inheritor) who is immature needs tutors and governors (Gal 4:1)
- He had no vision for the future even though he had an inheritance. No wonder he became a failure. “An inheritance hastily gained through greed shall not be blessed at the end” (Pro. 20:21)
WHAT CAUSED HIM TO MAKE THAT DECISION (1 JOHN 2:15-17)
- He might have heard lies from others about what he was missing in his life as a Christian (It was the same with Adam and Eve)
- Satan tempts us with the deceptive pleasures of sin. (Heb 11:25)
- He makes us feel dissatisfied with what we have
- He tempts you based on your fleshly desires (James 1:14 -15)
- He deceives us into thinking that God is withholding some blessings from us. (Gen 3:1-6)
- The world ruled by Satan has many traps.
- We must not love the world. We must love God and use the good things of the world to serve God
- The love for money is the root of all evil – 1Timothy 6:10
“We must not serve Mammon” – we love and serve mammon when we break the laws of God to get it. Luke16:13
QUESTION: WHOSE VOICE SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO?
Activity:
- Pray that God will be their strength to resist the temptations and attractions of a sinful world and live in righteousness and true holiness.
- Check up on all the scriptural references at the end of the statements.
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