✝ Daily Encouragement (2/11/25) "The Younger Son's Repentance"
Published: Tue, 02/11/25
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A new message
is updated
most weekdays,
usually by
Noon Eastern
Time (USA).
(Click refresh or reload for current message) Tuesday, February 11, 2025  Purple
Martin houses
are very
common here in
Lancaster
County,
especially it
seems on Amish
and Mennonite
farms. I
watched this
man lowering
the birdhouses
on Saturday
and asked him
why. He told
me the other
birds do not
like to nest
this low to
the ground. He
will raise
them again
when the
Purple Martins
come around.
He had a
ratchet type
setup on the
poles to raise
and lower the
houses, an
example of
ingenuity.
"The Younger Son's Repentance" Message summary: Let's consider today how low the prodigal got and his coming to his senses.
Listen
to our message
on your audio
player.
“But
when he came
to himself, he
said, ‘How
many of my
father's hired
servants have
more than
enough bread,
but I perish
here with
hunger! I will
arise and go
to my father,
and I will say
to him,
'Father, I
have sinned
against heaven
and before
you. I am no
longer worthy
to be called
your son.
Treat me as
one of your
hired
servants'.
And he arose
and came to
his father"
(Luke
15:17-20).
Today
we continue to
consider the
Parable of the
Prodigal Son.
Yesterday's
message dealt
with his
rebellion.
After
departing from
his father the
younger son
"took a
journey into a
far country,
and there he
squandered his
property in
reckless
living". Jesus
does not
specify the
kind of
"reckless
living" the
son ensued or
how long "the
good times"
rolled
for him in the
far country.
But the text
is blunt: "He
squandered his
property in
reckless
living".
It
was downhill
all the way: “And
when he had
spent
everything, a
severe famine
arose in that
country, and
he began to be
in need. So he
went and hired
himself out to
one of the
citizens of
that country,
who sent him
into his
fields to feed
pigs. And he
was longing to
be fed with
the pods that
the pigs ate,
and no one
gave him
anything”.
Notice
the
progression:
spent
everything,
severe famine
came
(ultimately
sent by God),
he began to be
in need, hired
to feed pigs,
longed for the
pig feed, no
one gave him
anything. He
was desperate
physically and
emotionally.
“But
when he came
to himself”
is translated
“came to
his senses”
in the NIV
which I find
helpful. I
have friends
in our ABF
class with the
last name
Sentz
(pronounced
like sense)
and when I
taught the
lesson this
last Sunday I
quipped that
this didn't
mean he came
over to their
house!
Finally the son confronted his own heart regarding the decisions he'd made that led him to the mess he was now encountering. It would lead him to humbly return to his father, acknowledging his wrongdoing. He began to mentally rehearse the conversation he would have with his father. "I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you". This reflects the importance of acknowledging and confessing our sin and returning to God with a humble heart. 1 John 1:9 states, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
Repentance
is a theme
found all
through the
Bible. Ezekiel
prophesied, "Thus
says the Lord
God: Repent
and turn away
from your
idols, and
turn away your
faces from all
your
abominations"
(Ezekiel
14:6). John
the Baptist
preached, “Repent,
for the
kingdom of
heaven is at
hand"
(Matthew 3:2).
In the first
sermon on the
day of
Pentecost
Peter
proclaimed, “Repent
and be
baptized every
one of you in
the name of
Jesus Christ
for the
forgiveness of
your sins, and
you will
receive the
gift of the
Holy Spirit"
(Acts 2:38).
But
the younger
son surely had
not fully
grasped the
depth of his
father's love.
If he had he
might not have
rebelled in
the first
place. Before
deciding to
return home he
was preparing
himself to be
treated as a
hired servant
but he sure
had a surprise
waiting! The
next two
messages we
will consider
his father's
relentless
love and
receptive
heart.
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"New
Name Written
Down In Glory"
Watch
on YouTube
Charity Gayle
"I
Must Tell
Jesus"
Watch
on YouTube
Mary Barrett
Brooksyne's
Note: As a
young teen
when we sang
this hymn in
church my
heart was
drawn to the
last stanza
and I even
memorized it
(see below). I
recognized
that the
attitudes and
actions of
those who did
not call
themselves a
believer often
was alluring
to me. I
remember
turning this
hymn into a
prayer that
God would help
me not to be
attracted to
that which
would lure me
back to the
ways of the
world. Hoffman
wrote this
hymn in 1894
but its
message is for
all
generations.
"O
how the world
to evil
allures me.
O
how my heart
is tempted to
sin.
I
must tell
Jesus and He
will help
me,
Over
the world the
vict'ry to
win."
Here's
the entire
parable from Luke
15:11-32
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