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HOPE Covenant Sermons

The Prodigal Life

May 29, 2016 Speaker: Series: The Impractical Life

Topic: General Verse: Romans 8:1–11

THE IMPRACTICAL LIFE
“The Prodigal Life”

Pastor Anthony Espindola | 05.29.16


Running From God (Luke 15)


As we reflect on who God has made each of us to be, remember that we are made new in Him. Our past is washed away by the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. In moments of guilt, frustration, or hopelessness, read this passage and let the truth of God’s love speak to you:

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." - Romans 8:1-11


GOING DEEPER

SCRIPTURE READING:

GETTING STARTED:

Has there ever been a time that you lost something important? How did you feel? What did you do? Or If Jesus were to come into todayʼs society -- Where (in what ways) do you think He would struggle with the church?

How does God view (relate to) lost people (People who do not believe in, worship or obey Him)? Is God happy about their actions and unbelief?

A CLOSER LOOK:

Read the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15.
Does it make sense to worry about 1% of your financial worth? Or to put it another way -- does it make sense to throw a party when you recover 1% of your income?

Read Luke 15:7.
Why does God feel this way about lost sinners? (What is it about people, that He feels this way).

Read the story of the lost son in Luke 15.
In what ways do you identify with the younger brother? The older?

What attitudes and emotions does the older brother display when his younger brother returns? What does this reveal about his heart and his relationship to his father?

What were some of the reasons the lost son went back home? (Think of bad reasons and good ones)? How would you describe the lost son (both before and after coming home).

Name some of the characteristics of the father? What did he think about the lost son? How did he treat the lost son? What did He do with the older brother. 

DIGGING DEEPER:

Read Romans 5:8. How does this verse relate to the father in Luke 15?

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