I woke up this morning a little empty, a little weary, with my soul aching for God. I haven’t had time to fill up with Him and His Word as often as I’d like. I’ve finally learned how pointless it is to try to keep going on my spiritual fumes. So, I had to rearrange my schedule and open up some God and Teri time.
After reading and praying, I felt much better. Then I decided to listen to a podcast from my favorite teacher, Matt Chandler from the Village Church in Dallas. He is a young, brilliant, passionate man who reads the scriptures with fresh and discerning eyes. I randomly picked a sermon from their archives and found this one.
If you are much of a church goer, you’ve heard the story of the Prodigal Son over and over again. However, I can guarantee you’ve not heard it like this. Somehow, Pastor Chandler is able to put you in the story as Jesus tells it to first century Palestine, yet he keeps you glued to your seat here in 2010 at the same time. I’ve never known anyone who can do both at the same time. God has blessed him with a great talent.
It will be a major blessing to you if you take the 45 minutes to listen to this message. I pray you are as blown away as I have been.
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/20070106AA01S_MattChandler_TheTrilogy.mp3
PRAYERS
I believe this message is from 2007 or 2008. In December 2009, Matt found out he has brain cancer. He had surgery to remove most of the mass, but not all. He is currently on radiation and chemo. He has a young family with three children. He now has the opportunity to live out his faith in ways that will be a testimony to thousands and thousands of people who may come to their own faith through his story. Please pray for him and his family and his church and his testimony.