Sermon Central
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You're Invited
Contributed by Chris Johnson on Oct 15, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: God gives all a gracious invitation to His banquet.
The Parables of Jesus are wonderful little stories given to us in very earthyly language to illustrate the most profound heavenly truths. Jesus communicates to us in ways that we can understand and identify with readily.
In this story a man made a great feast, he went all out to make it the finest feast anyone had ever seen. He then invited a group of guests. When it came time to come to the party, however, there were no guests only excuses--pitiful explanations for non-attendance. The man then, in response to his guests’ nonchalance, sends his servants to invite anyone who was willing to come.
This Parable speaks to us of the responsibility to respond of everyone who hears the invitation.
I. GOD HAS PREPARED A GREAT BANQUET--V. 16.
A. The Christian experience is a feast, not a funeral.
B. God does not invite us to a lower, sadder, or worse-off existence.
"God never called anyone that H did not want to do something good for."
C. Romans 14:17 "For the kindgdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
II. GOD HAS MADE ALL THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE GREAT SUPPER--V. 17-- “ALL THINGS ARE NOW READY.”
A. God prepared the banquest from the foundation of the world.
Hebrews 4:3 "Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
B. We don’t have to prepare the feast, just accept and enjoy it.
III. GOD GIVES THE INVITATION TO EVERYONE--VV.21-23.
A. V. 16 "Bade many"
V. 21 "the poor, the maimed, the halt,the blind"
V. 23 those in the highways and hedges
B. God’s invitation is not limited by color, race, national origin, gender or any other qualification.
C. Whosoever will let him come.
IV. IT’S UP TO EACH INDIVIDUAL WHETHER TO ACCEPT OR DECLINE GOD’S INVITATION. VV. 18-20
A. One said "No" because of business, one because of possessions, one because of family.
B. It makes no difference why one turns the invitation down.
C. Even the best "reason" in the world would not be of such seriousness as to warrant missing out on God’s joyous feast.
