5: How to return to God (Parable of the Prodigal Son) | Can you see it?
When personal relationships break down it can be absolutely devastating. Anyone who has experienced any kind of breakdown or split in a relationship knows how traumatic it feels. One minute everything seems fine, and then the next our whole world has fallen apart. In the next parable we are looking at today, Jesus seems to be giving a warning about these relational breakdowns in his story of the prodigal son. This parable is perhaps the most famous story he ever told. It’s a story about relationships, a triangle of domestic tension between a father and two sons. In each case the relationship is broken. But with all of Jesus’ parables, underneath the surface there is a spiritual message. Jesus is making the point that our relationship with God is like that between the father and his two boys. And yet, the good news is that we can be reconciled, and the relationship restored no matter how far we have run away from God. In this message we discover how it’s possible and what God has done to make it possible.
Download the outline here.