NO SOUP FOR YOU!!

******************************************

Parable of the Great Feast

Luke 14:16 Jesus replied with this story: "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’
21 "The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’" New Living Translation

It is found in the context of becoming a Christ-follower, in the context of the call to discipleship.

What I find especially interesting albeit disturbing is verse 24--"For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet."

Frankly the excuses given by those who were invited are pretty lame--who buys something without first inspecting it? or who will allow family and/or friends from keeping them from the Kingdom? They basically say to the Lord 'thanks but no thanks'.

I wonder how many people who fill the pews in our churches each time we gather and hear the Word proclaimed and the invitation given to come and follow Christ really have taken this verse into account.

How many invitations by the Spirit of God have been shunned by the hearer. How many times have we told God--'not right now, maybe at a more opportune time'?

Are we guilty of putting Jesus off?

peace

The Sin of Sodom

Ezekiel 16:48 “As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. NKJV

Isn't it interesting that the LORD defines the sin of Sodom much differently than most churches do today.

Just an observation.

peace

Malachi 3:3

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?' He smiled at her and answered,' Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

First Works

"No one who knows today’s church will want to complain that the church doesn’t do anything. No, the church does immeasurably much, and also with much sacrifice and seriousness; but we all do precisely too many second, third, and fourth works, and not the first works. "And exactly because of this, the church is not doing what is crucial.

We celebrate, we represent, we strive for influence, we start a Protestant movement, we do Protestant youth work, we perform charitable service and care, we make propaganda against godlessness -– but do we do the first works which are the basis of absolutely everything?

"Do we love God and our brother with that first, passionate, burning love that risks everything -– except God? "Do we really allow God to be God? Do we leave ourselves and our church to Him completely?

If that were the case, things would have to look different, there would surely be a breakthrough."

[Bonhoeffer’s sermon preached on Reformation Day, November 6, 1932 as quoted in Georg Huntemann’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer: An Evangelical Reassessment (Baker), p. 285].

I'm going to be preaching this idea on Sunday a week at Gum Springs Baptist Church. My text will be from Revelation 2:2-7 and John 6:26-29.

I meet with a group of Baptist preachers/pastors every Monday morning at 9am. They have received me quite warmly and my message of grace/righteousness. At least Brother Winfred has as he asked me to preach a Sunday nite at his church.

Partnership

In the 19th century William Carey felt a call to travel to India as a worker in the harvest field of the Lord. Pastors around him scoffed at his idea: “young man, if God had wanted to save the heathen in India, he could certainly do it without the likes of you or us.”

They missed the point of partnership. God does very little here on earth without the likes of you and us.

2 Corinthians 5:19,20 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” NLT

Advent 2007

Advent letter 2007

It’s hard to believe that we are so quickly approaching another Christmas.

I know that we will be busy getting things together and ready for the holy day, “too much shopping and not enough rest time” we’ll complain.

I hope we won’t forget the reason which we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Lord.
God came in the likeness of sinful flesh (me and you) to deal with sin in that flesh.
The Babe of the Manger is the Man of the Cross. The purpose of His coming was the Cross. He came to reconcile us to the Father by His atoning death on the Cross.

He came to conquer death and the grave by His resurrection.

Let us try to keep that the focus of our celebration of Christmas this year!

Try not to go in debt this year--leave your credit cards at home--if we are honest with ourselves we know we already have more than we need.

Remember the poor.

Advent is a time of expectation—“Behold I stand at the door and knock” said Jesus. Be ready for His appearing.

Love, Pastor Jim