We live in a very mobile world. Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere.

Throughout Scripture, God often taught people the greatest lessons along the journey.

Today, we continue with Scott Pauli, our study through the great journeys

of the Bible. Our prayer is that you will rediscover the adventure of walking with God.

Most often it is referred to as the parable of the prodigal son. Perhaps you've heard of it,

Luke chapter 15, the young man who took his father's inheritance, went to the far country,

spent it all, blew everything, ended up with nothing. But I like the title the old Scots gave this story.

They didn't refer to it as the parable of the prodigal son.

They referred to it as the parable of the wonderful father.

You see, the real hero in the story is the father.

He's mentioned 12 times.

You see, that's a picture of our heavenly father.

Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 says his name should be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.

You see, the God of salvation is a loving father. He is not a God who keeps you at arm's length. He is a God who

draws you in. He is not a God who stops you on the porch and says, I told you so. He is a God that

flings open the front door and says, come in, it's all yours. Three hundred times in the New

Testament our God is referred to as Father, and every one of those is a revelation

of something. It's a revelation of his heart. I told you last time that Rembrandt painted two

different paintings based on the prodigal son. Why too? Well, on the first, he painted it from the

perspective of the son. But he came back and he said, that's on the first, he painted it from the perspective of the son.

But he came back and he said, that's not sufficient.

And he painted the story again from the perspective of the father.

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