I am 47 years old, married to wife Vicki 27 years and have one daughter, Courtney, who is 22 years old.
I am an ordained Pentecostal minister with over 30 years of ministry.
My ministry motto encapsulates my philosophy of ministry - “Ministering To Serve, To Save and To Heal”. My passion is anointed, biblical and practical preaching and teaching that is relevant, realistic and exalts Jesus Christ!
I am also an avid hunter, LSU football fan and St. Louis Cardinals Baseball fan The Source Is More Important Than The Substance
John Clardy
Luke 15:11-13
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
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.
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.
How many times have you read about or heard a message about the parable of the prodigal son? I know I have many times, but I had never seen this until preparing for a message a few weeks ago.
The prodigal had no appreciation for the lifelong labor and toil his father had invested to have something of substance to pass to his sons. He demanded his portion of the farm’s substance, which the prodigal promptly wasted.
As we know, the prodigal finally returns home in shame and shambles and is met by a loving father that celebrates his return and of all things, restores him as his son.
In spite of the fact that the prodigal wasted the substance that the father had given him, the father did not require retribution. Only repentance preceded restoration.
Too often we are like the elder brother; fretting and fuming over the fact that someone has wasted the substance they have been given. We want our pound of flesh! We want retribution! And we are offended when the father restores the prodigal.
But the father wasn't worried about the wasted substance, as long as the source of that substance was secure. The father understood that the source was more important than the substance.
The source was the farm! The farm had generated the substance that the prodigal had wasted. And as long as the source was safe, the substance could be regenerated.
We may make foolish mistakes or even outright rebel and become sinful to the point that we waste the substance that has been given to us. But if we will repent, restoration will await us!
Understand this; God is the source! Without Him nothing exists! He is from everlasting to everlasting! He never changes or faces depletion!
If you are a prodigal, quit worrying about trying to repay what you have wasted. You’ll never be able to do it. God is more concerned about your return than He is about the substance. He generated the substance in you once and He can regenerate it again in those who repent and return to Him!