Jesus Has The Table Spread…"Come And Dine"
Psalms 23: 5-6 KJ
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies...
No matter how it may look in the natural, God is continually looking for ways to bless His Children...
David was acknowledging the amazing fact...that nothing is to hard for God...
Psalms 68:19 NKJ
Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah
He can Bless you anywhere, anytime He feels like...and what makes His Blessings even sweeter, is when He does them
When it seems like there is no way in the natural...that we can see it happening
Then out of the blue...He does and you realize never in a 100 yrs could you have ever made it happen...but it happened
And it's even sweeter than you could have imagined...when you realize you had absolutely nothing to do with it! Amen?
Text Illustration: A little girl’s Prayer:
A little girl was being punished by eating alone in the corner of the dining room. The family paid no attention to her until they heard her pray: “I thank Thee, Lord, for preparing a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.”
Think about Adam and Eve in the garden...They walked right in to the most
Lavish garden that was, has, or has ever been created
Did they do anything to deserve what they received?
Everything that was there he had already created before they were even there to enjoy.
It was a complete utopia...There was nothing there that God did not include that Adam or Eve would ever want for
TBS, “He took Adam, after He breathed life into him and put him in the garden.”
Notice that Adam came into a prepared blessing, something that God had already finished for him.
In the same way, God has prepared blessings in store for you. He is working behind the scenes, arranging things in your favor, getting it all perfectly in place.
In the natural we don't see the transformation taking place...and you know what
We don't have to...all we have to do is step into it when God gets done
With the preparation of it... Amen?
You couldn’t make it happen on your own...even if you tried
It’s just the goodness of God bringing you into a prepared blessing!
Adam and Eve walked into perfection… The blessing was absolutely perfect that God had created for them. And we know the rest of the story...
when the accuser came into the story and tempted them and they took their focus off of God and put it on themselves and their circumstances and shall we say the rest is history.
Sin...entered the world and has been a plague on society from that moment on.
It's evident from the very beginning, that God wanted us to and continues to want us to have His very best…He never does anything second rate..
however he wants us to keep our focus on him and not the things and circumstances that surround us.
Proverbs 4:25-26 KJ
25. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26? Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
MSG says it this way
23-27 Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
David gave us some great advice in verse five of Psalm 23… Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
David uses a pretty broad brush here...about the ability of God, by using the phrase in the presence of mine enemies…
Which pretty much encompasses the accuser and everything to do with him in and around your life, that will ever give you trouble…your whole life long.
Now some might say that's quite a stretch...but to them I would say is anything too hard for God? NO!!!!
Is there anything in this life that we live, that is too hard or out of the capability of God's amazing ability to take care of or to watch over for us? NO!!!
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19 that with man things were impossible… But with God all things are possible! Amen?
Jeremiah said… Lord you have made the earth and a heavens, nothing is too difficult for the Thee!
Somebody Ought to be praising the Lord this morning...because we serve not just "a" God of all possibilities… But "thee" God of all possibilities!
And the Bible is full of examples...that show what is possible when you keep your focus and your mind on the things of God...
Abraham did
David did
Elijah did and those are amazing stories...
But this morning I want to talk about what happened when a multitude decided
to focus on a word from God...
Joshua 6:1-5, 10-17, 22-25 MSG
Jericho was shut up tight as a drum because of the People of Israel: no one going in, no one coming out.
2-5 God spoke to Joshua, “Look sharp now. I’ve already given Jericho to you, along with its king and its crack troops. Here’s what you are to do: March around the city, all your soldiers. Circle the city once. Repeat this for six days. Have seven priests carry seven ram’s horn trumpets in front of the Chest. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, the priests blowing away on the trumpets. And then, a long blast on the ram’s horn—when you hear that, all the people are to shout at the top of their lungs. The city wall will collapse at once. All the people are to enter, every man straight on in.”
10 Joshua had given orders to the people, “Don’t shout. In fact, don’t even speak—not so much as a whisper until you hear me say, ‘Shout!’—then shout away!”
11-13 He sent the Chest of God on its way around the city. It circled once, came back to camp, and stayed for the night. Joshua was up early the next morning and the priests took up the Chest of God. The seven priests carrying the seven ram’s horn trumpets marched before the Chest of God, marching and blowing the trumpets, with the armed guard marching before and the rear guard marching after. Marching and blowing of trumpets!
14 On the second day they again circled the city once and returned to camp. They did this six days.
15-17 When the seventh day came, they got up early and marched around the city this same way but seven times—yes, this day they circled the city seven times. On the seventh time around the priests blew the trumpets and Joshua signaled the people, “Shout!—God has given you the city! The city and everything in it is under a holy curse and offered up to God.
God had prepared that moment… Before the beginning of the world for them to walk right into and be successful...
Even when God gives you a word...you still have to step out in faith
To claim and receive the promise...
Faith is a verb..it's an action word! Amen?
Now do you suppose that when they put action behind their faith...
That it made much sense to the people that were inside the wall of Jericho?
Probably not, I'm sure there were those there that were laughing and carrying on…
No doubt there were those there they were making fun of what the children of Israel were doing when they walked around their city..
Even on the seventh day… When they begin to shout, I'm sure The people of Jericho probably thought...first you March around our walls and now you think your shouts and trumpet blasts are going to defeat us?
And maybe right at that moment....nothing happened.
But the children of Israel Kept on shouting...and the children of Israel kept their focus on God and what he had promised them....
In the Natural it looked crazy...but they were undeterred by the way things looked...because in the supernatural they knew there was about to be a whole lotta shaking going on!! Amen?
No doubt, I can imagine the people of Jericho we're filling sure of themselves and to the fact that their city was fortified with walls that all of their enemies...up to that point..thought were in inpenetrable...
But suddenly, at that very moment… The ground begin to rumble… And the more the Israelites shouted… The more the rumble begin to grow...
until the rumble became an earth shattering experience and the walls fell flat
and the shouts turned to cheers...and the people of Israel were victorious!
Now do you suppose that there were times, that the children of Israel questioned what they were doing...
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yes, there were probably times when they questioned what they were doing...
I mean after all, they were human and we human have a tendency to question things…
It may have been as they were walking up to the city, it may be in on the first or second lap around the city…
It may have been when the people of Jericho were ridiculing them and making fun of what they were doing
The temptation of questioning what God is doing is normal...as long as it doesn't override your faith and Trust of what God is doing...
You know.."I believe, help thou my unbelief"
You see sometimes you just have to say you know what…
I don't care how it looks…
I don't care how I feel…
I don't care what people are saying…
I don't care that the odds are stacked overwhelmingly against me...
All I care about is what God has to say about the situation! Amen? Amen??
God had already prepared that victory for them…
All they had to do was believe him and walk into the victory..
into the winner circle..into the preordained moment in time
that God already had waiting for them to arrive at.
Nothing is too hard for the God of all possibilities…
There is no miracle that he cannot bring to fruition…
Did you know that God can even do a miracles inside of a miracles?
Let's read on in the story of Jericho's demise..
vs. 17 "Except for Rahab the harlot—she is to live, she and everyone in her house with her, because she hid the agents we sent.
22-24 Joshua ordered the two men who had spied out the land, “Enter the house of the harlot and rescue the woman and everyone connected with her, just as you promised her.” So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, and brothers—everyone connected with her. They got the whole family out and gave them a place outside the camp of Israel. But they burned down the city and everything in it, except for the gold and silver and the bronze and iron vessels—all that they put in the treasury of God’s house.
25 But Joshua let Rahab the harlot live—Rahab and her father’s household and everyone connected to her. She is still alive and well in Israel because she hid the agents whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Now some people like to think that where they are in life and what they're doing in their circumstances their living in…makes it so they cannot feel like they're worthy to receive God's grace and goodness in their lives.
It is true that sin will take you farther than you want to go and keep you longer than you want stay there…
But this story gives meaning to the power of the statement…
That Gods Grace is always greater than sin! Amen?
Rahab, was a harlot… But even a harlot if she is willing..
can do something for the kingdom of God.
And the moment that she did something, she walked up and sat right down to the blessing..at the table that God had already prepared for her in the midst of her enemies!! Amen?
And her courage, not only saved her...but also saved everyone in her household and that was connected to her.
Right there is two examples that say it loud and say it proud…
That Nothing is impossible when you put your faith and trust in God…
Rahab the harlot was not only saved that day… That wasn't the only miracle that took place in her life…
She ended up in the genealogy of the savior of the world… She ended up in the bloodline of Gods own Jesus
That day she sat down at the table that was prepared for her…
That day she experienced God's goodness and mercy…
That day put her in the house of the Lord for the rest of her life
That day she began to experience the goodness and the love of God she never had before…
She took her eyes off of her circumstance and she put her focus on the God of all possibilities...and she never looked back.
Praise the Lord!!!
Psalms 23:5-6 KJ
5? Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
That day Rahab stepped into her divine destiny that God already had prepared for her from the beginning...and it was nothing short of amazing.
The Bible says… That God is not a respecter of persons..and we have no reason to believe otherwise… Which means what he is willing to do and has done for others he will also do for you..
Did you know that no matter what age you are…
No matter what family you have come from…
No matter what your background may be…
No matter what your financial status is...
God has a divine destiny already prepared for you…
Just waiting for you to arrive at
In order to fulfill your divine destiny, You should wake up each day trusting and knowing...no matter what it may look like you are one step closer then you were the day before
And realize that no matter where you may go and what may come across your path… That there is always going to be a table that is already been prepared for you to sit and enjoy God's presence and protection all along the way
Text Illustration:
A famous actor was an after dinner speaker at a big function and when he stood up to speak, he invited his audience to choose a poem for him to recite.
There was a long silence until a retired clergyman raised his hand and asked for Psalm 23.
The actor was slightly taken back, but agreed to do so provided the clergyman would recite it after him, which the clergyman reluctantly agreed to do.
The actor recited Psalm 23 and received a standing ovation. When the clergyman recited the Psalm, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The actor came over to the clergyman and said in front of all the guests. "Do you know the difference between his version and my version. I know the 23rd Psalm but he knows the Shepherd"
Do you know the Shepard today?
You may say… Course I know the shepard everybody knows about the Shepard
Many know about God… But few ever take the time to
really get to know God intimately...
The Bible says to draw near to God and he will draw near to you…
Let's all take the time this year to draw closer in our relationship that we have with the Lord
and know that the things that he wants to do in and through our lives is going to be nothing short of miraculous when we do.
On the Jericho Road there's room for just two…
No more and no less just Jesus and you…
Each burden he'll bear each sorrow He'll share....
There's never a care for Jesus is there...
Do you believe it… I trust you do
Amen??
Let's pray!
