Prioritize God and stop Making Excuses
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Prioritize God and stop Making Excuses
Prioritize God and stop Making Excuses
Joke -Have you ever heard the saying- excuses are like....bathrooms.
everybody has one and they usually stink
in todays sermon we will learn about the sad reality of the man who rejects Gods invitation and why.
does anyone want to open us up in prayer? Pray
open bibles to luke 14 in verse 15
Q. Have you ever made an excuse before.
Q. What are some things you didnt want to do.
Q. and what was your excuse.
How many of you have used the excuse of not feeling good.
who has done that?
What did you try to avoid? SCHOOL
Story - being late to work for a meeting.
my excuse traffic and forgetting
but why did I make that excuse?
What was my motive -reason
what is your motive for your excuses.
making an excuse for why you were late is one thing.
but what about making an excuse not to recieve Gods invitation into the kingdom.
God freely offers salvation
yet we see many men die in thier sin
When they meet God face to face
He will not accept your poor excuses
Open your bibles to Luke 14: 15
Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
Jesus just taught about humility
in the face of rich and proud pharisees
in response on says out loud in response
Blessed is He who Shall eat bread in the kingdom of God
teach
why does he say
may be idle saying
intention refering to the blessed Jews
Jesus response challenges that notion
Dont make excuses to avoid your spiritual priority
Dont make excuses to avoid your spiritual priority
Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
Parable
the man Giving the great supper/ banquet is God
The people in this parable are the jewish people of Israel
people were- pre invited - ex.
The man had the intention they were going to come.
sends messenger to let them know the dinner is ready
pre invitation had come to the nation of Israel in the law and the prophets
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
first Gospel
the invitation
A woman will have a child and He will defeat satan and sin.
We see the invitation sent to the people of Israel
sent by prophecy
in OT writing
This will come to pass
and when it does be ready
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
we see another invitation in Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This price of peace is at the table telling the parable.
Jesus is saying Hey! The final event is here
It is ready
come to me and recieve the spiritual cleansing of the Gospel.
I am that messiah
God is inviting the people of Israel to The heavenly banquet.
where there is forgiveness from sin and eternal life
When The messenger says It is ready
The people make excuses.
lets look at what they are.
one man purchased land
another purchased animals for His work
the third blamed his wife.
a traditional excuse in the homes of many
in all 3 cases we see in the excuse
a placement of priority
the motive for the excuse
the banquet is not as important.
Q.what is the most important thing to these people
their self interest
money, job, status, pride of life.
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
this speaks of satan deceiving you to follow a false gospel
This is what is happening here
Satan is trying to draw you away from the banquet
by leading you to prioritize worldly things over Spiritual
In this case the people are prioritizing money, jobs, and status above salvation.
Some of you may be in the same place today.
Others have already trusted in Jesus for their salvation
but you are being deceived into making everything else your priority.
Q. What are you prioritizing over Jesus?
Story- I have failed in this
getting my new Job
priority was work
after getting married.
My priority was having fun
after Bradley was born
priority spending time with Him. \
All of my attention and thought was after these things and not God.
If God sent a messenger to tell me to spend time with him in the morning
I would have said I cant, I must do my paperwork
I would have said we must watch this movie and eat Ice cream
I would have said no I must sing my son a song and get some rest because He is wearing me out.
DISCLAIMER- is there anything wrong with watching a movie with your wife and eating ice cream.
NO
The point is the neglecting of God to do these things
Put it this way.
think about what you like to do
Video games, gym, sports, school work, reading....
nothing bad about those things.
now count up the amount of time spent on the video game or gym or whatever it is.
Now count up the amount of time you accepted Gods invitation to spend alone time with Him.
(its not about the time but the heart)
I work 8 hours and try spend 1 hour alone with God
because we bring God with us to work, soccer games, video games, reading.....etc
Story - Tua praying mid game
sad to miss church on sundays
What happens to your spiritual life
when your neglecting personal time with Jesus
your spiritual life is hindered
yet we have all of the excuses
I dont have time, Im too busy, I already go to church,
It boils down to this
How important is your relationship with Jesus?
You know how important it is
time to stop making excuses
and start getting serious
decision to sit at His table every day
and spend quality time with Him.
ILLISTRATION
it can be like this- imagine getting invited to dinner by the pastor
and you accepted it
and you spent the entire time on your phone instead of spending time with him
Challenge- devotional time- 30 minutes.
as christians we may see it not worthwhile to spend alone time with God
but
The nation Israel didnt even see it worthwhile to
recieve salvation In Jesus
they made excuses to reject salvation
for this reason God has invited people who were not from the nation He made to be special.
That brings us to our next point
God desires a full House
God desires a full House
So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
the people who were invited had spurned the invitation
so the master was angry
Imagine inviting people to your wedding
you buy all of the food
spend money on the venue
pay the photographer
and most of your family blows it off
then half of your wedding party decides not to come
I had two friends do this to me at my wedding
and I was angry
wouldn’t it upset you?
Now the master is good and loving
and He wants to bring people in to enjoy His banquet
This is how God is
He is good
and despite many rejecting His offer
He is wanting a full house.
so He invites the poor, maimed, lame, and blind
Just like His parable from last week.
He invites the very ones the
pharisees looked down upon.
this shows the type of people who will recieve His invitation.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
Gods invitation is more easily accepted by those who are not high and mighty.
Why?
they are poor in spirit.
all who recieve Jesus must first aknowledge
they are a sinner
in need of a savior
picture Michael Jordan
(what He has ) rich man
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
It is easy for the rich man to look at his life
and think to Himself why would I need Jesus
My life is good the way it is
But what about the poor in spirit?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
the poor in spirit know their need for the savior
they are humble not proud
these are the types who recieve the invitation gladly
yet Gods house is still not full
Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
These verses point to the inclusion of the gentiles
Highways and hedges- regions outside of Israel
Jesus is telling the pharisees that they are invited to join Him
but in their rejection we see...
best religious people will miss the kingdom
lowly people who have gentle spirits will recieve it
We also see that God wants His house filled
and His invitation is sent to anyone who will freely recieve it.
In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
God has gone to prepare a great place for you to
live in eternity.
if you recieve that invitation.
q. Have you recieved the free gift of salvation
thats all it is
that is grace- (explain gospel )
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
each one of you is in one of two camps
the camp of the ones making excuses
or the camp of the humbled people who have recieved Gods free gift of salvation.
If your the one today who has not recieved Jesus as your Lord and savior, you can do that today.
and you can have a seat at the eternal table in the kingdom of God.
PRAY
Gospel
God, I admit I am a sinner
I believe you have sent your son Jesus
to live a sinless life
and die a sinners death on the cross
as a payment for my sin
I believe that he rose from the grave 3 days later
I repent from my sin
and have faith that you will forgive me
and recieve me into your kingdom.
God please save me
Amen