Thank you for reading the Weekend Sermon this week. I am very glad to be able to be with you today. I hope that everyone is doing well.
I would ask that you would pray for me this weekend. We have been having a lot of rain, and much more is expected in the next couple of days. I am very worried about flooding. Please pray that all will be well in this situation. I thank you for your prayers.
In other prayer requests, please pray that the situation with North Korea will calm down. Pray that there will be peace in this situation. Also, please pray for peace in Syria and Iraq. Pray for peace wherever there is conflict in this troubled world.
For our prayer focus countries this week, please pray for the nations of Albania and India. Pray that those who live in these two countries will hear and respond to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Over the course of the last several weeks, we have been studying the parables of Jesus. This week we will continue with our study as we examine the parable of the great feast found in Luke 14:15-24.
In this passage, Jesus told the following story. Jesus said that a man decided to have a great dinner and invited many people. When the time for the dinner was at hand, the man sent out his servants to tell those who were invited that the dinner was now ready.
Instead of being excited about getting to go to the great feast, those who were invited started to make a lot of excuses as to why they could not attend. One man said that he had just purchased a field, and he needed to go and look at it. Another man said that he had just married, so he couldn't come. Still another of the invitees said that he had just purchased some plowing oxen, and he needed to go and try them out.
The servants came and reported what had happened. The man who was having the dinner was very upset. The man told his servants to go and invite the crippled, blind and lame to the dinner. There was still room at the table, so the man told his servants to go into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that the banquet table would be full.
This is a great parable with much to teach us. First of all, this parable had a particular message to the religious leaders of Jesus' day. They had heard Jesus' invitation to believe in Him, but they refused to do so. Instead, they ridiculed Jesus and tried to discredit Him. The religious leaders thought that the crippled, lame and blind were under the judgment of God, yet these were the very ones that Jesus invited to be part of the kingdom of Heaven.
The invitation to come to the feast in the kingdom of God has been extended by Jesus to everyone. Whosoever will may come to the feast and receive the salvation, love and forgiveness that Jesus offers.
What is so sad, is that just like the people in this parable, so many offer excuses as to why they can't come or why they won't follow Jesus as Savior and Lord.
I know that when I used to do a lot of evangelism work, I would try to talk to people about having a relationship with Jesus. Most people were not interested. Many didn't think that they had the need for a savior or forgiveness from sin. Many that we would invite to church had something else that they thought was more important that they needed to do.
What I found most distressing was the number of people who had attended church for years, but they thought they could work their way to Heaven by being good. They didn't see the need to place their faith in Christ alone for salvation and redemption.
Many people will not want to come to Jesus when they receive the invitation. However, thanks be to God, many people have responded to the message, and many more will respond to the invitation when it is offered.
Just as in Jesus' day, many who respond most readily to the love of Jesus are those who society has rejected. They realize how much Jesus loves them, and they want to get to know Him better. Many who have fallen into lives of sin and desperation realize how much they need the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
In this parable, I see those of us who believe in Jesus as the servants. We have been given the task of going out into the highways and hedges and compelling people to respond to the message of Jesus' love. It is our responsibility to share our faith with others so that they will know what true life and love Jesus offers to those who will call upon Him in repentance and faith.
I also love the imagine of the great feast as an image of what it will be like in Heaven when we are with Jesus. In the book of Revelation, it states that there will be a great marriage supper of the Lamb where all those who are in Christ will have a great feast with Him.
In the day and age in which Jesus lived, feasts were times of great fun and excitement. No one would turn down the invitation to a great feast.
I long for the day when I will be with Jesus in Heaven feasting at the Heavenly table. That will be a wonderful day. Heaven is a wonderful place. I long for the day when all pain, sorrow and trouble is over. Come quickly Lord.
Jesus extends an invitation to all to come to Him. He wants everyone to be part of the great feast in Heaven. If you have never invited Jesus into your life and turned to Him in repentance and faith, I hope that you will do that today.
At this time, I do not want to commit to a firm schedule on the blog for next week. Lord willing, the rain won't be as heavy as predicted, and we will be on the normal schedule. I just don't know for sure right now. If the house floods, I'm not sure what I will do. Please continue to pray, and together we will trust in the Lord. May God bless you all. Amen
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