Luke 15:11-24 ~ he came to himself

Chris Greenwood known by his stage name Manafest, is a Canadian Christian rapper and rock artist from Ontario.

Preacher, Preacher what you got for me save my soul
See beneath, and clip my wings I'm not an angel
I try and try to be good, I've lied with pride I'm a crook
Turn the lights down, burning up the night now

Sign my life out, I'm sick of living here yo
If you can help choir boy ring the church bells
I'd turn back if I could, erase the pain if I could
But I'm an animal and I don't know if I can

Hey
Cause I'm the prodigal man of this avalanche
I'm going down, I'm going down, down

Hey
And if you turn me in
I'll confess my sins
I'm going down, I'm going down, down

Before I'm six feet deep
I'm washing my hands clean
Just get me out of this avalanche

You scared the junk-crap out of me man
The Ghost Rider, hold my soul tighter
Jehovah take the ropes I'm a
Fly a plane out of the atmosphere
I've attacked this fear
This scar still here
I'm going on to the end

I'm holding out to a friend
I'm going I'm going
I don't care
I cursed a lot
The worse, the black sheep of the lot
Christopher Scott prepare to meet God

Hey
Cause I'm the prodigal man of this avalanche
I'm going down, I'm going down, down

Hey
And if you turn me in
I'll confess my sins
I'm going down, I'm going down, down

Before I'm six feet deep
I'm washing my hands clean
Just get me out of this Avalanche

Get me out, Out
Get me out, Out
Just get me out of this avalanche
Get me out, Out
Get me out, Out
Just get me out of this

You guided me when I was
Blind with pride a right off
Knocked me off my saddle
Sabotaged and overshadowed
Watched you chase a man down
Watched you raise a man out
Mercy on me, forever I'm free

Get me out, Out
Get me out, Out
Just get me out of this avalanche
Get me out, Out
Get me out, Out
Just get me out of this

The Word of God ranges from metal to rock.

Luke 15:11-24
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.



What draws us to Father God? God celebrates, pivots and awes.

Few of us reach the point where the still small voice can be heard before we have exhausted our own solutions.

We see the sixteenth chapter of I Kings has - dust, anger of sin, death, conspired murder, coupe, burned the king's house over him with fire and died, and Baal worship. Baal worship is complete with infant sacrifice. I'm not sure it gets much worse than this.

Enter Elijah ~  This is a FINE Time to Hope for a Man of God.

1 Kings 17
Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him

What??? Things are supposed to get .... better.

Things are so bad in the promised land, Elijah will be called out to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. It's not going to rain again unti ,,,l the Eighteenth Chapter when Elijah will have a chance to make fun of Baal. And kill priests who advocate the killing of infants for Baal. Elijah is rock metal meets John the Baptist. Wearing hair wrapped by a belt. This man is far more rock metal than Southern Baptist Convention Meeting. And Elijah is going to have to run for his life. The Holy Spirit is portrayed in the New Testament as a burning fire.

God is not always a small, low, whisper voice.

Another time will call Elijah back. This time when the Roman Empire sweeps more money into Israel than any other time until the Renaissance Revival of the 14th Century. Anno Domini.

We always picture Elijah's Holy Spirit as the calm, low voice. Elijah's time was FAR from quiet or comforting.

Judges 13 (Sounds like a fairly good movie)
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

When Manoah hears of this his reaction is - saintly. No. Manoah has a pretty reasonable reaction to hearing his wife heard from an Angel of the LORD.

8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?”

Okay. Now we get to the docile part.

15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 

20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”


Now we move from metal to Rock. There is another Being with the Father, during creation, who was known to laugh with pleasure in the Book of Proverbs - also called Wonderful.

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 
This is the One who saves.


Luke 18:19
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Only God is truly good."

(Was Manoah more pleased than this man?)

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