The Great Banquet: Where We Must Go
Luke 14:16-24
Intro: Most
sermons/commentaries on this passage center around excuses, I want us to focus
on the invitation’s change of recipients.
Background: Jewish
rejection of Messiah; Jesus healed man on Sabbath (unlikely recipient).
Application- when you give an invitation to a meal, invite the unworthy.
I.
Not
everyone who is invited will be there
An Invitation was personally issued (16)
A Calling was made in time (17)
A rejection was offered (18)
II.
There’s
no excuse for not being there (18-20)
Three things that keep people from receiving Christ:
Every excuse offered was in reference to an acquisition that demanded a
sense of responsibility
* Land Purchase is no excuse (Business over God) – vs. 18
* Care for Livestock is no excuse (Responsibility/Interests over God) – vs.
19
* Marriage
is no excuse (Family over God) – vs. 20
III.
Some
of the most unlikely will be there (21)
*Poor – urban impoverished/ beggars/ homeless – ie. Lazarus
*Crippled – urban disabled limbs
*Blind – physically/mentally unable to see
*Lame – unable to walk; without feet
Missions that is more about our benevolence than about the Gospel
Population of Ellijay: Population in 2013: 1,637 in 873 houses – 75%
occupied (81% urban, 19% rural). Gilmer County: 28,500.
Lost in Ellijay: 32.3% Evangelical relationship; 55.1% no church
relationship. Probably about 70% lost. Means there are 1,150 lost in city
limits;
Median household income in Ellijay in 2013:
Ellijay: $24,427 (For Fam of 4 in Ga- that’s poverty)
State: $47,829
About 400 kids & teens in Ellijay.
IV.
There’s
no invitation that will be wasted (21-23)
Never once does the Master reissue an invitation; nor does he express a
sense of loss that they won’t be there. Because his invitation changes from
attractional to missional.
* Streets – City Squares where streets connect
Personal Soulwinning –
Neighbors, CoWorkers
* Lanes – Urban Streets with Buildings on both sides
Calendar Celebration
Connections – Christmas, Easter, Festivals
* Highways – Roads outside the city
Event Evangelism – Concerts,
Block Parties, Movies
* Hedges – Edges/Borders that surround the territory
Planned Programs of Evangelistic
Visitation
Ill. Ellijay – 6 natural divisions: West of 52 (North of the city), Other
side of that but North of Old Hwy 5 (Highest Hispanic population & Highest
unemployment), Directly West of Old Hwy 5 to the South of the city, Below the
Coosawattee but north of 515 S, Southeast of 515 S, and North of the Lower
Cartecay (East of 515 N)
1496 Street names in Ellijay; somebody ought to spiritually “own” one.
V.
Methods
we are to use to get them there
* Carry – Physically Aid (21)
* Compel – Emotionally Influence (23)
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