Discovering My Ministry Class
Sunday, September 10th at 11:15am - conference room
The Bridge Church Reno
If you have said yes to Jesus and have started a relationship with Him then you have been given at least one spiritual gift. This class focuses on discovering that gift as well as how you can use your talents, abilities, and past experiences all together to serve God.  In this class we will develop your personal ministry profile and work towards discovering how God has uniquely shaped you to further His Kingdom.  Please sign up using the connection card.
 
Baptism Class
Sunday, September 10th at 11:15am
The Bridge Church Reno – Learning Center
If you are interested in being baptized or just want to know what the scriptures say about baptism, we will be hosting a baptism class on Sunday September 10th. Please sign up using the connection card on The Bridge Church App.
 
Church Wide Small Group Campaign
Sunday September 17th
The Bridge Church Reno
We will be starting a 6 week church wide small group campaign based off the book “8-15 Your World Is Smaller Than You Think.” This book is going to help us better live out our mission and vision here at the Bridge. We are encouraging every Bridge attender to become part of a small group during those six weeks.  We will begin signing up for small groups this Sunday.  Please visit the small group table in the welcome center to sign up. If you are willing to host a small group please plan on attending a short briefing after church this Sunday.

August 27, 2023

The Audience
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.  Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)
 
The Story: Two Parts
Part One:  The Lost Younger Brother

• His Speech

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So, he divided his property between them.” (Luke 15:11-13)
 

• His Loss

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So, he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  (Luke 15:13-16)
 

• His Plan

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ (Luke 15:17-19)
 

• His Return

 So, he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.  “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  (Luke 15:20-21)

• His Reception

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate.   (Luke 15:22-24)
Part Two: The Lost Older Brother
His Obedience
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  (Luke 15:25-27)

• His Rage

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’  (Luke 15:28-31)

• His Refusal

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”  (Luke 15:32 NIV)
 
The Point of the Story

• God is our Father: A Father unlike any other Father. Jesus gave us a picture of a Father that has great meekness and majesty, power and tenderness, passionate anger, and compassionate mercy.  He redefined God as Father. What is amazing about this story is that Jesus says the Father goes out to both sons to reach out to them and try to bring them in. He has experienced the pain of rejected love from both of the, yet he still loves both of them! He still loves us and invites us into His feast.
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• Sin is Bigger:   Through the younger Jesus gives us the traditional view of sin that we all agree with-one who is disobedient and evil. One who does very bad things. Through the older brother, he turns the table.  The older brother is very, very good and does all of the right things but for the wrong reasons and he is alienated from the father as well. Each of them wanted the Father’s things and not the Father. Each of them used the Father to get what they really loved. One of them did it by being very, very bad and the other did it by being very, very good.  BOTH ARE LOST!

 

• Salvation is Costly: Jesus is our True Older Brother. Unlike the Pharisees, represented by the older brother, who should have reached out to the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus gave up all that He had to come here and pay the price for the salvation of ALL of us!

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.  2Cor. 8:9

Discussion Questions:
1. Read Luke 15:1-2:  How do these groups feel about each other?  Do those groups still exist today?
Why do you think Jesus told this story?  

2. Read Luke 15:11-12: Discuss why you think the son wanted to leave and is this attitude inevitable? Why do you think the Father gave him what he wanted? How would you have responded? What do you think other fathers thought about what he did?
 
3. Bill talked about the Father experienced the pain of "rejected love".  Have you ever experienced that and if so, how did you respond?
 
4.  Luke 15:13-24:  Is there anything in this part of the story that you can relate to?  What emotions do you think the younger son was experiencing?  What do you think the younger son was expecting to happen to him?  How do you think those who saw what happened thought about it?

5. Read Luke 15:25-28: What do you think the older brother was thinking as he was coming home and heard the party?  Why was the older brother angry?  Do you think that he had any justification for being angry?  Why did he refuse to go in? How would you have felt and what would you have done?  
 
6.  Read and discuss Luke 25:29-32:  What was his attitude towards his father?  What was his attitude about what he had been doing his whole life?  What was his attitude towards his brother? How does the Father express his love to the older son here?  What do you believe the Father wants from Him? Does he get it?

7. Which brother are you more like today?

8. What is Jesus teaching us about God, the Father that we need for our lives today?

9. How does Jesus define sin in this story?  What do we need to learn from his definition of sin?

10. Read and discuss 2 Cor. 8:9:  How is Jesus our true elder brother? In what ways are we to be an elder brother in the world today?