No More Excuses

NO MORE EXCUSES!

(Sermon notes take from a book called Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned: But I Have Several Excellent by James W. Moore.)

Luke 14:15-24 NIV - When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." (16) Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. (17) At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ’Come, for everything is now ready.’ (18) "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ’I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ (19) "Another said, ’I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ (20) "Still another said, ’I just got married, so I can’t come.’ (21) "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ’Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ (22) "’Sir,’ the servant said, ’what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ (23) "Then the master told his servant, ’Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. (24) I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’"

Definition of EXCUSE - that which is to make (an offense or crime) seem less serious or some thing used to justify a fault.

Today we live in frank times, nothing is kept under hat – NOTHING

• TV & Radio try and capitalize on these issues

o Sexual Preference

o Broken Marriages

o Having Children out of Wedlock

o Uses of Drugs and Alcohol

o Living Together without being Married

• We laugh and giggle at these things

• We even applaud these issues

Our Problem is not that we hesitate to admit anything.

Our problem is that we are learning to justify everything!

We all have excuses, and can make them at a drop of the hat

Whatever we do or say we have an excuse ready to justify what we have done or what we might do in order to make it right in our eyes. But what is God seeing?

I would like to open your eyes tonight to the fact that we excuse our self in many areas and fall short in Gods glory in many different ways. Tonight we hope to take away the excuses you use to use. Let us look at some ways we excuse our selves…

We Excuse ourselves with words

• Missing church

o Hebrews 10:24-27 NLT Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. (25) And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near. (26) Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. (27) There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.

o In a certain mountain village in Europe several centuries ago, a nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. At last he decided to build them a church. No one saw the complete plans for the church until it was finished. When the people gathered, they marveled at its beauty and completeness. Then someone asked, "But where are the lamps? How will it be lighted?" The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls. Then he gave to each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to worship. "Each time you are here the area where you are seated will be lighted," the nobleman said. "Each time you are not here, that area will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God’s house will be dark."

o Weather, Family coming over, Clothing, Children, Bible, etc…

• Stealing

o I don’t steal, I obtain

o The stores overcharge anyways

o It is my fault, he made me mad, that’s why I took it

o Exodus 20:15 NLT - "Do not steal.

• Profanity

o It is adult, honest, realistic speech

o What it is childish, unreal and dishonest

• Unfaithfulness

o My boyfriend/girlfriend doesn’t understand me