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<DIV><FONT size=4>This parable can be read from several different perspectives
and it still has an important message. Last time I preached on it I took the
prodigal son angle and very nearly lost my job as a result of how I treated it.
So this morning I'm taking a different angle and I hope I don't arouse quite the
same hostility.<BR><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>If you've never been a prodigal, you haven't missed much.
Those who have can tell you that it can take a lot of years to repair the damage
even after you get home. If you've always been the one faithfully working at
home, then the message of this parable is appreciate the love and security you
have and lighten up and have more parties.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html">http://www.laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>(Sermon 1.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Nathan Nettleton, 1995</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I still believe grace precedes repentance. Jesus' parable of
the father with the two sons underscores that normal progress. On the surface, I
know, it appears that repentance comes first in this parable. The younger son,
tired of his pig-sty diet, comes to himself and begins rehearsing his confession
of sin...and he receives grace and forgiveness and welcome when he returns to
speak that confession. But the movement of the story makes it clear that the
grace of the father is pre-emptive...and not just toward the younger
son.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://day1.org/1759-which_comes_first_grace_or_repentance">http://day1.org/1759-which_comes_first_grace_or_repentance</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Robert Dunham, 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jesus, the teller of these stories says, “Excuse me, these are
not stories about the way you behave. These are stories about the way God
behaves. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/willimon_5316.htm">http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/willimon_5316.htm</A></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><SPAN class=style15>William Willimon, 2010 </SPAN><BR>- -
- - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Almost every preacher makes this the boy's repentance. It's
<I>not</I> his repentance. This is just one more dumb plan for his life.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/Capon_4414.htm">http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/Capon_4414.htm</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Robert Farrar Capon</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV> All we
can do is the same. We can turn back to God and say, "Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your
child; treat me like one of your hired hands."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> An
amazing and wonderful gift is given to us now. God forgives us. God,
because of God's own love for us, loved us in this way: God sent his own
son to take our place under God's judgment and condemnation. God sent his
son Jesus who suffered God's sentence of death against us. For our sake,
God's son died. Jesus promised us that his death meant God would welcome
us back, that God would have mercy on us, that God would not count against us
our selfishness, our pride, our going against God's commandment. No, for
Jesus' sake, God would welcome us.</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/predigt.php?id=98">http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/predigt.php?id=98</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Timothy J Hoyer, 2007</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>There’s not three different kinds of grace, there is one Grace
that is understood by us in three different ways. <BR>T. S. Eliot put it like
this: "The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know
the place for the first time."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://morrisokumc.blogspot.com/2007/03/march-18-sermon-arriving-where-we.html#2492489617316738328">http://morrisokumc.blogspot.com/2007/03/march-18-sermon-arriving-where-we.html#2492489617316738328</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Nathan Mattox, 2007<BR>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I think that part of what this is saying to us is that we will
never really experience the joy of our faith until we realize that we are all
outsiders who have been invited into the party of joy through no merit of our
own. Some of us are like the younger brother, people who have wasted our lives,
and some of us are like the older brother, people who have worked hard and who
smolder with resentment because things are hard and responsibilities are heavy,
and life is not fair. But the fact is, both are on the outside, both the younger
son and the older son are on the outside, and it is God who invites us into the
place of joy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://day1.org/471-is_there_joy_in_gods_house">http://day1.org/471-is_there_joy_in_gods_house</A></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Thomas G. Long, 2004</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
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