04/14/24 Sermon Recap: Sermon, Memes & Notes.

We are invited to God's heavenly table.

God is all about inviting those who shouldn’t have been invited. We are invited to His Heavenly Table!

The Parable of Wedding Feast in Mathew 22: 1-14: “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The custom in those days was for the one hosting the wedding to provide the wedding clothes. To reject the wedding clothes of the king was extreme disrespect and defiance; we cannot have the honor of attending the wedding feast without being clothed in the King’s clothes. Though we weren’t worthy of the honor, being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, we are.

Have you been clothed in the rightouseness of Jesus; are you ready for the wedding feast of the king?

Do not place human limits on our God of more than enough.

God does things more than enough: the nets full of fish almost broke TWICE, and when Jesus fed the 5,000 there was food left over. Do not place human limits on God when it is in His character to do things more than enough.

What human limitations have you placed on God?

In our insufficiencies His grace is made known.

God likes to use people that seem unworthy. Many times He will allow our gifts to “fail” us so that we do not put ourselves on stage, because it is in our insufficiencies that we can see His grace. When God’s grace hits you, you will begin to see people in a different light, not as sinners, but as potentials waiting to be saved. Grace allows you to take the judgements off and to just start loving them.

Have you encountered the grace of God that allows you to extend  it as well?

He is waiting for the precious fruit of the Earth.

Do not be a mocker and stand disillusioned about the Second Coming; be patient! You need to continue to have a heart that is ready for Him. He is waiting for the moment, He is waiting “for the precious fruit of the earth”: James 5:7-8, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Are you patiently reaping God's harvest or are you impatiently rushing Christ's return?

Hand out samples of the kingdom to everyone you meet.

Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” God wants us to hand out samples to everyone we meet; just like when you get product samples from a store, we should be handing out samples of the Kingdom of God in us. Everyone should be having a sample taste of hope, of healing, of health, of wholeness, of freedom, of the love of God!

Does your life offer samples of the goodness of God to everyone you encounter?

Heaven backs us up when we pray.

Having authority in Christ means that we do not have the power to do it on our own, but through him, WE DO. Just as military commanders get their authority from the backing of the United States government, we have authority by the mighty name of Jesus. We have all of Heaven backing us up when we pray.

Are you using your authority in Christ to pray Earth-moving prayers?