“The Prodigal God” Sermon Series
For the month of June & the first week of July, we’ll spend 5 weeks in a sermon series focusing on Luke 15 called “The Prodigal God”. It is based on the book by the same name by Timothy Keller, which states at the beginning, “This short book is meant to lay out the essentials of the Christian message, the gospel.” This book and sermon series target both seekers who are unfamiliar with the gospel and longtime church members who could always use a good primer on the gospel. Make sure you invite your friends to this one… It’s gonna change the way you think about church and the gospel. Check out this video trailer for a brief description from the author.
Here is a helpful description from a book review on Amazon.com:
The book is laid out in seven brief chapters which aim to uncover the extravagant (prodigal) grace of God, as revealed in this parable. Keller shows how the parable describes two kinds of “lost” people, not just one. Most people can identify the lostness of the “prodigal son,” the younger brother in Jesus’ story, who takes his inheritance early and squanders it on riotous living. But Keller shows that the “elder brother” in the parable is no less lost. Together, the two brothers are illustrations of two kinds of people in the world. “Jesus uses the younger and elder brothers to portray the two basic ways people try to find happiness and fulfillment: the way of moral conformity and the way of self-discovery.” Both brothers are in the wrong, and when we see this, we discover a radical redefinition of what is wrong with us. “Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors may be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life.” As these quotes hint, Keller’s exposition of the two sons lays the groundwork for a penetrating analysis and critique of both moral relativists and religious moralists, showing that the latter are just as lost as the former. What both need is Jesus, whom Keller presents as “the true elder brother,” the one who comes to our rescue at his own expense. Through his grace, we are given hope and invited to the great feast of the Father.
Here are the series details:
“He Welcomes Sinners” (Luke 15:1-10) – June 6
“Give Me My Share” (Luke 15:11-32) – June 13
“He Refused to Go In” (Luke 15:25-32) – June 20
“Everything I Have is Yours” (Luke 15:1-6, 25-32) – June 27
“We Had to Celebrate” (Luke 15:11-32) – July 4
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday mornings!