Matthew 15:11-20 states: Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

“But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

“I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’” “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”

Like the son in Luke 15:11-20, each one of us need come to the realization one day and see that we are lost and need to be found by God our Heavenly Father. Don’t feel ashamed for the need to come to God, the Bible talks about His unchanging and infinite love for us. He longs for every one of us to come back to Him. In God’s eyes to be lost is to be dead in sin and to be found is to be saved and made alive in Christ. What we need to do is return to God and repent of our sins and let Christ cleanse us with His precious blood. Our loving and forgiving Father is waiting for us to come to Him.

You know, every last one of us has sinned and come short of the mark of God. Unlike some people I am not ashamed that I have sinned in my lifetime and as long as I am in this flesh body I will continue to sin. Only when I get to Heaven sin will stop. Please hear me and believe what I am saying, God loves you and He sent His Son Jesus to die for every last one of us. It’s because of Jesus that our sins are forgiven. Every last one of our sins hung on the cross when He died for us but He not only died, He rose three days later.

Some people say that sickness and poverty come from God. That’s not true. Sickness and poverty are from the devil. I know some of you don’t believe this but someone had to die and shed innocent blood for our sins and guess who that someone is: Jesus the sinless one, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. My Brothers and Sisters, stop beating yourself up wondering if God is mad at you. He’s not, He knows we are going to go through things like this. That’s why Jesus had to step in. God’s love is bigger than this whole world and more. That’s how much He loves us.

In closing, I just want to say that we all make mistakes in our lives. We too, just like the young man in this story, want to go out and experience life before we can learn what life is all about. Stop thinking about what you are about to do and ask God to guide you in the right path. Don’t take matters in your own hands and make a disaster out of your life. Now, for my brothers and sisters who are locked up in jail, I hope to visit with you soon. Just know that God loves you. So repent and give your life to Him. He will forgive you — no doubt. I understand sometimes drugs and alcohol lead to doing bad things in your life, I know because I used to do drugs and alcohol. So just stop and ask God to deliver you from those things. Remember God loves you, it doesn’t matter what you are going through or what you are going to go through. He is right there to help you get through it. AMEN.

Contact Marcus: 501-908-9507 or mchandler2011@hotmail.com.