Daily Encouragement

The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
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Friday, February 7, 2025

Balancing Rock, Bryce Canyon, photo by Howard Blichfeldt

Balancing Rock at Bryce Canyon National Park

We visited this stunning park several years ago in the summer.

Photo by our friend Howard Blichfeldt

_{^{"The
Prodigal Son"}}

Message summary: Let's all be sure we are staying with the Father!

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“There was a man who had two sons” (Luke 15:11).

This Sunday I have the privilege of teaching our Crossroads Adult Bible Fellowship class (AKA Sunday School). I share this duty with several other teachers in our class which normally has about 50 in attendance who are right around our age. We are now in a series teaching from the parables.

It's interesting to be with those my age who have had similar life experiences and memories. So that can apply today to our readers as well who are 60+. We can easily visualize the LP record and remember when the cassette tape was a new thing. Although our tastes in music likely vary we have memories of some of the same groups when we were young that was revolutionary, "Contemporary Christian Music". *

When we were young it was musicians like Keith Green, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Andraé Crouch and the Disciples and many more that most who are younger now have never heard of.

But let's see if anyone else in my generation recalls a group called "Isaac Air Freight". They came around in the late 70's not as a music group but as an entire record of humorous skits based on Bible stories.

This Sunday I will be teaching on "The Parable of the Lost (Prodigal) Son". As I prepared for the lesson a skit from Isaac Air Freight came to mind from one of their albums that surfaced in my memory. It tells the parable of the prodigal son in a setting of the old Bonanza TV show with Pa representing God, little Joe as the prodigal and Hoss as the older brother. I have a link to it below.

This parable is in a chapter of Scripture (Luke 15) with three parables regarding lostness, "The Parable of the Lost Sheep", "The Parable of the Lost Coin", and "The Parable of the Lost (Prodigal) Son".

The parable begins, “There was a man who had two sons”. The man (the father) represents God and the sons represent what are ultimately the two classes of people: those who are with the Father and those who are not. It has several major themes that we will examine in a five part series of daily encouragement messages next week.

But for this message let's all be sure we are staying with the Father! And if you have walked away our Father is ready to welcome you back no matter how far you have strayed.

Be encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, we thank You for the teaching we can apply from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Help us to embrace Your forgiveness and extend it to others, even those who have willingly turned their backs on us. We want to reflect Your love and grace as seen in the Prodigal's father who never gave up on his son but joyfully welcomed and celebrated his return. Amen.

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Prodigal Joe" Watch on YouTube Isaac Air Freight The recording has record scratches and all! These guys are all probably older than us now but they have a YouTube channel with their skits here. For us these skits brings back some youthful memories where we sat with other young believers and listened together to the amazing lessons taught through these talented young men! They preached sermons not in a homiletical style but rather through their humorous storytelling.

"The Father's House" Watch on YouTube Cory Asbury

Here's the entire parable from Luke 15:11-32

There are several songs written based on this parable that we will share next week.

* I have never been able to find the quote again but recall reading a point years ago by Warren Wiersbe, who would have essentially been in the generation before ours. He lived from 1929-2019. He pointed out that each generation has had "contemporary music", that is, music written when they were living. When Fanny Crosby wrote "Blessed Assurance" it was contemporary! Now our local CCM station, WJTL, refers to music written through the 90's as "classics"!

Our lead photo is from Howard J. Blichfeldt Photography. I met Howard about 20 years ago when Al Worthley, my former chaplain supervisor introduced us in his office in Springfield MO. He has since become a good friend. The photo above is a selfie Ester took at the top of the Monongahela Incline overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline not far from where Howard and Sharon live.

Our photos from our trip to Bryce Canyon National Park

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version and a variety of other versions.

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