AfterThoughts: February 2, 2025

February 2, 2025
The Parable Of The Loving Father
Luke 15:11–24

This week, Pastor David continued his sermon series, Stories That Still Speak. In this message about the Parable Of The Loving Father, he expanded on three points:

Our Heavenly Father allows us to leave home.
Our Heavenly Father welcomes us upon our return home.
Our Heavenly Father celebrates our return home.

GOING DEEPER:

This parable that still speaks is about rejoicing when something you lost is found. When have you experienced this kind of rejoicing? Describe.
Pastor David shared that our Heavenly Father allows us to leave home. God allows us to run away from His love because of the security He has solely within Himself. God loves us so much that we are never forced to love Him in the return, never coerced to obedience. Has this ever been you? What are the consequences have you suffered at the times when you have left your “spiritual home?”
The father running to meet his son would have been a spectacle in the time of Jesus. And yet, our God is waiting for us to return home and runs toward us with His arms open wide. If you are far away from God, even as you sit in worship each week, what steps can you take to change direction today and return to Him?
Pastor David shared that in God’s grace and mercy, He always welcomes us home. God’s love is not transactional but healing and embracing, and we can’t earn it. When we bow before Him in repentance and confession, His hands of grace and mercy rest on us. How can you change your schedule this week to make more time for repentance, confession, and praise for God’s amazing love and grace?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

To view past sermons, please click here.

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24–26

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