RSVP --- RE` PONDEZ S’LL VO*US PLAI`T
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I did this lesson in two parts, I did points 1 through 3 on Sunday morning and then reviewed,
and did points 4 through 7 in the night service. It is possible to do this lesson in one part, but
you must move quickly and not linger to long on one point.
HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED AN INVITATION AND THERE WAS AN RSVP NOTE ATTACHED?
Invite, Invitation:
*** to offer, ***to increase the likelihood, ***to request your presence, *** to urge politely.
I love to be invited to eat, or spend time with a friend.
I have pondered what does RSVP mean?
I knew it meant respond soon to this invitation and let us know if you are planning on attending.
But what does RSVP mean?
I have found that RSVP is French, for RE` PONDEZ S’LL VO*US PLAI`T.
Did you know that if the invitation has RSVP and you do not respond that you are coming the RSVP
is null and void?
MANY MAKE LIGHT OF THE RSVP’S OF THE BIBLE.
What does to be on a mission mean?
Mission means "TO BE SENT." So a missionary is one that is sent.
Do you realize you are a missionary on a mission?
Matthew 22:3 And SENT FORTH his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding:
AND THEY WOULD NOT COME.
4. Again, He sent forth ---- COME TO THE MARRIAGE.
5. But they made light of the invitation and went their ways, ---
There was a Divine invitation to the wedding, there was a second invitation sent out,
but everyone seemed "too busy" to accept the invitation.
Are you "too busy" to hear the invitation?
I. RSVP GOES OUT TO THE TIRED, WEARY, HEAVY, HEAVY LADEN.
Matthew 11:28 COME UNTO ME, all ye that labor, and are HEAVY LADEN,
and I will give you rest.
A. There is a rarely used word in our vocabulary today, it is lade, or laden.
LADE, LADEN: TO PUT A LOAD OR BURDEN ON OR IN,
TO BE HEAVILY OR OPPRESSIVELY LOADED.
B. LABOR: to expend physical, emotional, mental effort; physical activities involved to give birth;
to put forth painful or strenuous effort, distress, or burden.
C. HEAVY: having stress; great weight or mass; grievously afflictive; borne down by something
oppressive; dull by weariness.
D. There is an RSVP invitation to all that labor and are tired and weary.
Will you accept this invitation?
E. In one of my pastorates we had an individual that slept until 11 AM, got up and fixed breakfast,
and laid down on the couch and took a nap until about 4 PM, got up, laid on the couch and then
ate something and took a nap until about 9 PM. This person constantly complained that they
could not sleep at night. I ponder why?
F. This RSVP goes to those that are busy for the work of the Cross. We must apply our hearts and hands
and put forth effort, and if we do this there is an RSVP invitation to come into HIS REST.
G. Some would rather be tired and weary, than to accept the rest before them.
Can you believe some will refuse this DIVINE REST?
H. Hebrews 3:18 And to whom sware He that they should not enter into HIS REST, but to whom that
believed not. 19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
I. Again look at the imperative command of John 14.
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled ---
If you have a troubled heart today, you do not accept the promises of God for you!
If you have a troubled heart, you believe a negative report.
J. John goes deeper:
John 14:1 Peace I leave you, MY PEACE I give unto you: not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, neither let it be afraid.
K. Believe beyond today’s circumstances and beyond how you feel, there is an RSVP
invitation to COME and REST!
II. RSVP --- IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS WITH JESUS.
A. John 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following and saith unto them, WHAT SEEK YE?
39. Jesus said unto them, COME AND SEE!
B. God has a plan. God has more for you. You have not dreamed or tasted of what God has
planned for you.
There is a greater than John the Baptist among us!
There is a greater than Solomon!
There is a greater than Abraham!
There is a greater than Moses!
There is a greater than Elijah! Some ask: Where is the God of Elijah? That is the wrong question!
The right question is: WHERE ARE THE ELIJAH’S OF GOD?
C. BEFORE WE WILL MOVE FROM WHERE WE ARE THERE MUST BE A HOLY DISSATISFACTION
WITH WHERE WE ARE!
How sad is the church when we are content to sit in LAZYBOY recliners as the world speedily
approaches eternity unprepared?
D. John 1:50 Jesus answered and said unto Peter, Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree,
believest thou? THOU SHALT SEE GREATER THINGS THAN THESE.
E. Please hear the RSVP call from the Spirit of God, ARISE THERE IS MORE FOR YOU!
Will you be trapped in the same spiritual depth a year from now? Two? Three?
III. RSVP TO ALL THE THIRSTY, DRY IS DANGEROUS.
A. THIRST: dry, suffer, crave, need, desire.
B. John 7:37 --- Jesus stood and cried saying: If any man THIRST, let him COME unto me, and
DRINK. 38. He that believed on me, as the scripture said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of LIVING WATER.
C. DRY IS DANGEROUS!
Remember as Moses was leading the people of God, there was a thirst that arose.
Moses had specific directions --- SPEAK TO THE ROCK.
Moses steps forward and turns God’s directions into a show, Moses in anger hits the rock.
Moses will pay for this.
The point is how the leadership walked in dangerous territory because of the dryness.
Don’t turn church into a circus to reach people!
D. WALKING THROUGH DRY PLACES?
Matthew 12 :43 When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walked through dry places, seeking rest
and findeth none. 44. --- EMPTY, DRY, GARNISHED --- Him and 7 more move in...
E. PLEASE COME TO THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE AND ACCEPT THE RSVP FOR LIVING WATER.
IV. THERE IS THE CALL FOR AN RSVP TO THE HUNGRY!
A. HUNGRY: urgent need, eager desire, uneasy sensation, weakened condition,
prolonged lack.
John 21:12 Jesus said unto them, COME AND DINE.
B. Jesus taught a new teaching that had never been expounded, Jesus taught that people that are
hungry are blessed. Always before, hungry people was a statement of lack.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
C. IF YOU HAVE BEEN SNACKING ALL DAY ON CANDY, YOU WILL NOT WANT VEGETABLES.
In 1989 I moved here to pastor. My family was back in the mountains. Each day a family fed me.
One day no one had announced to me I had a place to eat, so after a hospital visit, I stopped at
an all you can eat pizza place. And I got all I could eat because there would be no more food that day.
I returned to church, the phone was ringing. I was supposed to have been at the Sledge’s house to eat.
Thinking of food was painful to me. I drove to their house and I ate a little, and I thought I was going to
blow up. Sister Sledge put even more on my plate. Oh my, I got sick eating.
D. Well, if you have been eating the slop from the pig pen, God’s Come and DINE may be meaningless.
E. PLEASE ACCEPT THE RSVP INVITATION TO DINE WITH THE KING!
V. THERE IS A SPECIAL RSVP INVITATION TO PICK UP YOUR CROSS, DON’T WORRY
ABOUT THE CROWN, TAKE UP YOUR CROSS!
A. There appears to be a vast growth of wasteland before God’s people.
Our enemy invites you to sit down in front of your television from the time you awake and stay up
late, with your eyes glued to the tube, until our spirit man grows into a vast waste land.
B. THERE WAS A NICE YOUNG MAN LOST IN THE WASTELAND OF MATERIALISM.
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him, LOVED HIM, (Jesus saw his potential of what he could be.)
and said unto him. ONE THING THOU LACKEST, go your way, sell whatsoever thou hast, give it to
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. AND COME, TAKE UP YOUR CROSS, AND
FOLLOW ME.
C. No sadder words of pen nor tongue, than the words WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
This young man was a rich poor man, his treasures were invested in rust buckets of junk.
D. THERE WAS A YOUNG MAN THAT GREW TIRED OF HIS CROSS.
This young man came to Jesus and he complained, his cross was not what he needed.
He told Jesus, I am sick of this old cross and I want a new one. Jesus turned and opened the door
behind him. There was a huge room of thousands of crosses, all sizes and all different materials.
The young man stepped into the cross room, threw down his cross, and spent several hours looking
for a new cross. After several hours the young man stepped out of the room proudly displaying his
new cross. Jesus asked him, is this the cross you want?
The man answered Jesus, I love this cross and this is my cross.
Jesus looked at the young man, and replied, Look at the cross you have picked, and see it is
the cross that you carried into the room in the first place.
The man was amazed, for after all those hours he had picked the same cross he had carried.
E. There is a cross before the crown. There is a Getheseme before the Upper Room.
ACCEPT THE INVITATION TO BEAR YOUR CROWN!
VI. RSVP TO ALL: COME APART OR COME A PART!
A. WE WALK IN A VERY BUSY DAY. We can’t hear the RSVP to a special time with the Master.
We have all the modern toys and tools known.
I was in the store the other day, and I heard a lady ask a worker:
IS THERE ANYTHING FASTER THAN INSTANT?
B. We need time alone as couples, as families and as individuals. Time alone in devotion and commitment
to Jesus. We must fill up, tank up, restore, renew, refresh, and regenerate our hearts in love.
Mark 6:31 And Jesus said unto them,
COME YOURSELVES APART INTO A DESERT PLACE AND REST A WHILE.
C. Some refuse to spend intimate time with Jesus.
Isa.28:12 To whom he said, this is the rest where with ye may cause the weary to rest; this is the
refreshing: yet they would not hear.
D. FIND TIMES AND SEASONS OF REFRESHING!
Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out,
when the TIMES OF REFRESHING SHALL COME FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.
E. Many people are doing the work of the Lord without the Lord’s presence.
Accept the RSVP and Come into His Holiness presence.
VII. RSVP: COME AND INHERIT FROM THE FATHER.
A. There is a question I ask today that I never asked when I was a young man:
WHAT AM I LEAVING MY CHILDREN? What inheritance will there be for them?
B. INHERIT: to come into possession of or receive as a right or Divine Portion; to come into ---
Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, COME YE blessed of My
Father, INHERIT the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
C. RSVP --- RE` PONDEZ S’LL VO*US PLAI`T.
God had a plan for you long before there was a you.
Will you accept the RSVP to receive your inheritance? Meet me at Jesus’ feet!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Would you partner with me and send this lesson into more hands than I can reach?
