Chicken Sunday
“Food”
Ed Doss October 14, 2000
Good Morning, it’s so good to see so many of you this morning at our 5th annual Chicken Sunday.
Read funny
I want you know that you have all been intentionally invited to share this special day with us as we have been planning it for weeks.
We’ve really enjoyed the sacrifice of time and effort to help this be an incredible time for you to worship God. Not to mention the ultimate sacrifice that the chickens made.
There’s just something about a banquet that draws people. Great fellowship, the food, great conversations around the table, the food, great friendships built, the food……
~ I love a huge spread. I love buffets. I love being invited to dinner when the person doing the inviting has a reputation of being a good cook.
Tell story of sister in LA whose mom stuffed us.
I mean we love to eat at our house, sometimes it shows, especially when we get to eat new and exciting foods. Foods that we don’t get to eat often.
~ Like alligator, sushi, eel, etc. MMM!!!
Jesus loved banquets. Many times in the bible it records Jesus going to banquets and feasts and parties to talk to the people. He loved a good time.
Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus is using a parable to teach a spiritual truth here.
Being in the Kingdom is like being at an incredible banquet – this is the way Christianity should be – where you never know what dish is next, only that it’s going to be better than the last one.
never ends, the dishes just keep on coming, and you never really get full.
~ Like a huge buffet that you can just keep on going back to, never getting full.
But I think there are some things that we need to understand about God’s banquet.
It is truly awesome – Not just O.K., it’s McDonalds, not Boston Market, not the Old Town Buffet -–but a MASSIVE WEDDING BANQUET!
Unfortunately Phoenix is not a city known for it’s food.
~ You go to any coastal city and you have some awesome seafood
~ You go to some midwest cities and you eat buffalo, or elk.
~ Obviously when you go to cities overseas you eat some good food.
Phoenix?
~ BBQ, Steak, Rattlesnake if you’re daring. Not many “indigenous foods”.
But when you finally find a place you tell everyone! You rave about it!
If we really understood God’s Kingdom we would rave about it too.
If we really saw what church is supposed to be we would become it’s greatest advertisement – that’s why many of you are hear today.
~ You’ve seen changed lives, something different in the persons life that invited you.
In God’s banquet there are many dishes, some you may think you have tasted before.
I want to tell you about 3
I. Christians have nothing to hide.
There is something very freeing about knowing that you’ve got nothing hiding in the closet. Something that you hope nobody will ever find out.
We’re free to be open with our lives and secure in the grace because we are all sinners.
Share about you conversion and being real about your sin. Hey we’re all alike.
Birds of a feather.
There’s freedom to be ourselves.
II. We Have the Bible
There are so many misconceptions of the Bible.
~ Old history book, Book of Do’s & Don’ts ,
We forget that it’s not readily available to some in other parts of the world.
2 Tim. 3:16-19 Says that it has everything we need to live a life of godliness.
It’s just like the end of Sports Center “Did you know?”
Did you know that the bible teaches how to have an
unbeatable marriage
to be an incredible parent
how to build character
How to become and stay a faithful Christian – not nebulous
III. Convictions
This doesn’t even exist in today’s society.
If you ask someone what his convictions are he might tell you his criminal record. Or just look at you funny as if it were some sort of trick question.
I mean today convictions might mean “watching the game, having a bud, whaaaat’s uup?
We’ve learned to put on a little makeup that keeps us from living a life of conviction even though down deep that’s really what we want.
~ If we want a life of deep conviction we need to open up and let someone in our life. ~ We have to be willing to be honest with ourselves and get broken about our sin.
Back to text.
When the servants were sent to invite the bible says they REFUSED! Huh?
~ They all alike began to make excuses
~ Uh, I can’t because of my schedule, my business, my…….
The real issue: They were afraid of the food.
Have you ever been afraid to taste some foods? Alligator? No Way!
~ Until you actually taste it then you’re hooked!
We can be just like this spiritually. Some of us have never really tasted the food at God’s banquet.
Some of us have heard of things from the bible, but have you ever really read it?
~ We can’t just go to the end (Revelation) and say that we’ve really read it.
If we’ve never really tasted the food, let’s just get real and admit we’ve never really tasted the food and realize that it’s normal to have a bible, normal to read it, it’s normal to sit down and study it with someone.
Some of believe that we’ve tasted it, but it’s like eating Taco Bell and saying that you’ve eaten real Mexican Food. You’ve been jipped!
Some of us have been to what I call “Cookie Cutter” churches where nothing is really different and where the basic beliefs about church were
~ That it should be boring
~ That it should be very impractical
~ That it should have no reasonable basis.
Satan has made “church” a bad name.
This group is not a bunch of weekend hypocrites – not perfect but they know their bibles.
~ We believe in service, in deep talks, and in enthusiasm.
If you are searching for real answers to real spiritual questions you’ve come to the right place.
Back to text
When we read Matthew 22 we need to realize that we don’t have forever.
~ Jesus say’s “come for everything is now ready”
What would he say to you today?
~ Now is the time, this is the place, don’t refuse the invitation.
We need to understand some things about God.
1.) He’s an awesome God and he can be offended.
~ When people say “sorry, I can’t come because……” Job, busy, schedule.
He doesn’t say “Isn’t that nice”
The bible says the King was enraged.
~ We can’t overestimate his patience.
Some do come but “not in wedding clothes”
~ Must come by God’s standards & not ours.
In the USA we think were King and try to tell ourselves and God how we’ll make it to Heaven with teachings that are N.I.B. Not In Bible.
Let me tell you, if Bill Gates invited you to a banquet you’d cancel everything to come.
There is a very scary aspect of this scripture : “But they paid no attention” in the parallel scripture in Luke 14 Jesus says “not one of those men invited will ever get a taste of my banquet”
This morning you may leave unchanged and not wanting to make any changes in your life, I can’t judge you.
Will God have another invitation? Maybe, but you’ll come on your hands & knees.
~ Like the prodigal son – needed to be humbled.
The challenge is so clear to us – open the bible and study it with the person that brought you – it is very normal to do that
Make a decision today that you will not be caught without wedding clothes.
And lets not refuse God’s gracious invitation to the Banquet to end all banquets.
Amen.
