Tonight's Free Indeed Meeting

15:11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 15:12 And the younger of them said to [his] father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth [to me]. And he divided unto them [his] living. 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 15:14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 15:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 15:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 15:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 15:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put [it] on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on [his] feet: 15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill [it]; and let us eat, and be merry: 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:11-24 KJV

I. Verse 16 the prodigal son was so hungry pigs food looked good. This is what we are feeding on when we turn to food rather than to our Lord--pigs food. We are using a physical substance in an attempt to meet a spiritual and emotional need. We forget so readily that we are His temple.  We would not walk into our church building and urinate and defecate on the floor or spray paint the walls with graffiti or destroy the building in any other way, yet that is what do to our bodies when we use food to fill our temple. We were made to house the presence of God not food. Food is to sustain our physical life not for us to live for.
    We have misinterpreted our hunger--it is for God, not pigs food. We feed ourselves so many lies and forget who we are. Shame is about who we think we are, "I 'm a mess up. What is wrong with me? Why can't I get on top of this thing? Why can't I lose the weight? What is wrong with ME?" These thoughts drive us back to the pigs food. We need to replace, take captive those thoughts and replace them with the truth! God loves me. HE created me in His image. There is nothing wrong with me because there is nothing wrong with God!! Yes, I am a work in progress, but I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). I may not be perfect but I run the race to attain the prize of my high calling in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 9:24).
     We are being transformed into Christ's image, who was the exact representation of the Father. So yeah, we made need some work, but there is NOTHING WRONG with ME because there is nothing wrong with HIM!!!!!!

(Pink emphasis is all me!!)
2 Cor 3:18 NKJV
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Rom 8:28-29 NKJV
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1 Cor 15:49 NKJV
49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

2 Cor 4:4-5 NKJV
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Col 1:15-16 NKJV
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Heb 1:2-4 NKJV
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Replace the lie with the truth that transforms!

II. The prodigal son came to his father in humility. He admits he is starving (so are we, for Him!). He is willing to take a demotion from son to servant just to be in his father's household again. What an example for us to follow as we seek His help to overcome.

III. The prodigal son had been living with the pigs. Ever been in a place where people were smoking? Your hair reeks of it, your clothes reek of it, your skin can even reek of it and you weren't even the one smoking. Ever been in a barn? Any barn? Take that smell, ferment it and multiply it to your hearts content. That's what a pig barn smells like. The pig barn at our local fair has no walls, and is EXTREMELY clean, yet reeks compared to the oxen, cow, sheep, and horse barns. This smell, the smell of SIN had permeated the prodigal son. He was reeking of pig smell. Ever been driving in your car and been overwhelmed by ode de skunk? You can't even see the critter yet you can smell it. "But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." The father was watching, waiting for the day his son would come home. When the son was "yet a great way off" the father ran to him. Now you know that the father could smell the son long before he got to him, yet he ran to him, and "fell on his neck, and kissed him". That is what our Heavenly Father does with us. Even when we are stinking of the sin we have just left behind. He holds us close all smelly and nasty and kisses us because of His great love for us. Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!
We need to remind ourselves of who our Father really is. He is not waiting to punish us. He is waiting for us to return to him in humility, stinking of our sin so He can love on us and clean us up. We need to ask ourselves, when the tapes we have played in our head are running about how unworthy we are, how does my Father see me? How does He respond to me?