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The
Prodigal Son
Luke
15:11-32
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There
was a man with two sons, and one day the younger one came to his father because
he wanted to leave home. He asked
his father to give him his inheritance. Do
you know what that means? An
inheritance is money or other
things that the boy would have gotten when his father died.
But this son just couldn't wait, he wanted to live away from home.
And
so the father divided everything he had between his two sons.
Not too long after that, the younger son gathered everything together and
went away from home, and from his family, to a country far away.
But he wasn't a very wise boy, and he wasted all his money on foolish
things.
Soon
there was a famine in the land, that means there was very little food, and
pretty soon the boy had nothing to eat, and
he was very hungry. So he went to a
person who lived there and that person gave him a job feeding pigs.
The boy was so very hungry he would have even eaten the food the pigs
ate, but no one gave him anything. He
was very, very hungry and all alone.
Because
he was so alone, he began to think of his father, and how at home everyone
always had enough to eat, and here he was all alone, and starving.
And then he remembered how he had wanted to leave his home, and how he
had wanted the money, and how foolish he had been when he left home., and he
then realized that he had sinned not only against his father, but against God.
Do
you know what sin is? That is when
we do those things which we know we should not do, like tell a lie, or be mean
to someone, those things are sin.
And
so the boy decided that he would go home to his father, that he would tell him
that he had been wrong, and that he was not even worthy to be his son. He only wanted to be like one of the servants.
So he got up, and went home.
But
you know what? A wonderful thing happened.
His father was watching for him, everyday he had been watching for his
son, and hoping, and praying, and waiting for the day when he would come back. And
so when the boy was still a long way from home, his father saw him, and was so
very happy, and forgave him, and ran to him and hugged and kissed him.
And
the boy told his father how he had sinned both against God and against his
father, but his father did a most wonderful thing.
He called the servants and told them to bring the best robe, and a ring,
and shoes, and then he told them to kill a calf and make a big feast, because he
was so happy that his son had realized his mistake and come home.
But
the older son who had stayed home was working in the field, and he didn't know
that his brother had come back, but he heard music and dancing.
So he called one of the servants to see why there was a party.
And he was told that his brother was home, and that everyone was
celebrating. But the older
son was very angry, and would not go in, so his father came outside to ask him
to come in.
The
older brother was very angry because he said that he had been with his father
all the time, and always obeyed his father, and yet his father had never made a
party like that for him, and yet here was a great party for the brother who had
run away.
And
so his father told him "you
are always with me, it is good that we have a
party, because your brother was gone away from his family, but now he has come
home."
We don't know if the older brother ever went into the party, but we do know that God was happy because the younger brother realized his mistakes and asked his father to forgive him. And we also know that the Father loved his son so much, that God brought him home again........
Memory Verse: Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.....
Questions:
1. What did the father do when the younger son wanted to leave home?
2. What happened when the boy left home?
3. Why did the boy want to come home?
4. What did his father do when he saw him?
5. What did his older brother do?
Answers:
1. He divided his goods between his two sons
2. He wasted all his money on foolish things
3. Because he was starving and he knew he had sinned against heaven and against
his father.
4. He ran to him and kissed and hugged him and then made him a feast.
5. He was very jealous and refused to go to the feast.
Vicki Gross/June'02