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♪ God sent His sign ♪ ♪ They called Him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Here and forgive ♪ ♪ He would die ♪ ♪ To buy my boy ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ ♪ To save your lives ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is hope ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ We hold the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living just ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ In that one day ♪ ♪ I'll cross that river ♪ ♪ Our fight is fine ♪ ♪ No one will pay ♪ ♪ Amen and stand ♪ ♪ Way too big to hear ♪ ♪ I'll see the lights of glory ♪ ♪ I know He lives ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is hope ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ We hold the future ♪

♪ And life is worth the living just ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ In that one day ♪ ♪ I'll cross that river ♪ ♪ Our fight is fine ♪ ♪ No one will pay ♪ ♪ Amen and stand ♪ ♪ Gives way too big to me ♪ ♪ I'll see the lights of glory ♪ ♪ I know He lives ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is hope ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ We hold the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living just ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is hope ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living just ♪

♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living just ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living just ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ (applause) (applause) Amen, amen. (applause) (applause) (applause) (applause) (applause) How are you? And all my days I've been held in your hands From the moment that I wake up 'Til I lay my head But while I'll see Of the goodness of God I told my life you have been free I told my life you have been so, so hurt With every breath that I envy But while I will see of the goodness I love your voice You can let me through the fire And don't kiss your eyes You are those like no other I know you are the Father I know you are the prayer

And I have it In the goodness of God I told my life you have been faithful I told my life you have been so, so hurt With every breath that I envy But while I will see of the goodness In the goodness of God For goodness is not a lie It's not a lie to me For goodness is not a lie to me It's not a lie to me If my life fades out Some men come now Give you everything Your goodness is not a lie to me It's not a lie to me No, no, this is not a lie It's not a lie to me No, no, this is not a lie It's not a lie to me If my life fades out Some men come now Give you everything Your goodness is not a lie It's not a lie to me It's not a lie to me It's not a lie to me It's not a lie to me It's not a lie to me I told my life you have been faithful

It's not a lie to me Oh, oh, oh, oh It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful

It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful It's all my life you have been faithful Jesus calls us to invite those. And for some of us, maybe that's a hard thing to think about or a hard thing to do. But when we get down to it, that's exactly what Jesus did for us. He invites us into a kingdom to a seed at his table, knowing that we can't repay him, knowing that we can't earn it, knowing that we don't deserve it. But for whatever reason, if you're like me, sometimes we hesitate to accept that invitation, knowing who Christ is. Maybe we're walking in this morning and we're going, man, that sounds great, but I'm good. I'm comfortable, I'm successful, that sounds great, but I don't need that right now because everything's great. Maybe we're walking in today saying, I'm not worthy of that invitation because I'm walking in with shame and walking with guilt. It doesn't matter how good we are, it doesn't matter what we did last night, it doesn't matter what we might have said to our spouse or our kids this morning on the parking lot of the way in here. That is the beautiful news, that is the goodness of God that we sing about. It is the beautiful work that he finished on the cross, that none of us can be good enough to earn a spot at his table. None of us can be bad enough to not have a place at his table. None of us are too good to be out of his reach, none of us are too bad to be out of his reach. And knowing that should change our heart posture, knowing that should change what we think and we respond, knowing that should cause us to respond with a joyful heart of gratitude, a joyful heart of worship, to give God the honor of the praise, the worship that he deserves, and not to rob him of that because of whatever good or bad we think we are. Because he is a good God, he is a loving God, he is a holy God, he is a worthy God, and he is greatly to be praised. So as we continue to sing this morning, that is my, I beg you this morning, to respond in a way that is worthy of the finished work of the cross. I beg you if you're hesitating to accept that invitation this morning, to open up your heart for what God has with you, so as we continue sing, I'll ask you, you can stand, you can sit, you can even come kneel at the foot of the cross and lay everything down to him because he is worthy of our worship this morning. Amen. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] ♪ Sing Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ ♪ We're bound on before Him ♪ ♪ For He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ Sing Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Oh, what a Savior ♪ ♪ Isn't He wonder ♪ ♪ Sing Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ ♪ We're bound on before Him ♪ ♪ For He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ Sing Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Only come to the altar ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are opened ♪ ♪ My forgiveness was bought with ♪ ♪ The precious part of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Won't come to the altar ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are opened ♪ ♪ My forgiveness was bought with ♪ ♪ The precious part of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

♪ Put my waking breath for my daily breath ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ For the sun to rise ♪ ♪ For my sleeping breath ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ You are the way the truth and the love ♪ ♪ You are the world and everyone's dry ♪ ♪ On the bridge and you are full ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to the sky ♪ ♪ With the spirit as I'm falling ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ For the victims ♪ ♪ Still in front of me ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ You are the way the truth and the love ♪ ♪ You are the world and everyone's dry ♪ ♪ On the bridge and you are full ♪ Be my strength, my song in the morning Be my hope, my treasure, my prize I am yours forever you might Drop me close and teach me to God I pass as I enter I depend on you I depend on you We turn all right To be raised with Christ

I depend on you I depend on you You're the way the truth is like You're the world and never much right On the bridge and you are the burning Drop me close and teach me to God Be my strength, my song in the night Be my hope, my treasure, my prize I am yours forever you might Drop me close and teach me to God And teach me to God You're the way the truth is like You're the way the truth is like You're the way the truth is like I depend on you I depend on you ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ Oh, I depend on you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ Your loving kindness has welcomed me ♪

♪ Though I'm unworthy of majesty ♪ ♪ You're at the holding in loyalty ♪ ♪ Who am I ♪ ♪ And you are holding ♪ ♪ Holy and I ♪ ♪ Give my life as an offer ♪ ♪ 'Cause you are worthy, so worthy ♪ (gentle guitar music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ When I throw up my hands ♪ ♪ It brings you again and again ♪ ♪ So that our habits are out in the mood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, the love that's not much ♪ ♪ Nothing else fit for the key ♪ ♪ Except for a heart-singing eye ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, the love that's not much ♪ - I thought we'd thank you this morning, God, that we can bring our hallelujah for who you are, God. God, for nothing that we could do to earn a place at your table, God, there's nothing we can do to earn a home in your kingdom, God, but your love, your grace, and your mercy that was poured out in the finished work of the cross, God, thank you for calling us your sons and daughters. God, may our hallelujah be all that we can bring to you, Father, nothing that we can do to earn a God, but for what you've done for us and for our praise, that your name is lifted high this morning, God, that you are blessed this morning by our worship. God, you're blessed by the teaching God that we have. God, may our ears be open to hear your word.

God, may our hearts be open to receive it. God, may our eyes be open to see we are leading us in our hands and feet. Be ready to do the work that you've called us to do, God, to invite those who can't repay us, God. Just to give the gift of grace and love and mercy, as you've shown us, Father. God, we love you. Thank you for this time to sing songs of praise to you, Father. We love you and ask everything, only in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen, you can have a seat. - Well, good morning. I am excited to share about a few things going on in our church that we would love for you to be a part of. And the first is we have a spring kickoff lunch happening today. And this is for our spring mission trips going out. And if you are interested in going on one of these trips, come and learn more about the details behind each trip, meet the trip leaders and learn about the pre-trip process that we do at this church. And we have four different trips going out this spring. Two will be to Southeast South Asia. And one to North Africa and one to Honduras. So join us today, 1230 upstairs. Next, the men's retreat is here. It is this Friday through Sunday at the Alossa Ranch in Hawkins, Texas. So if you have not signed up for that, register today.

You will want to be there. This will be a wonderful time to unplug, to be around other men, to hear some wonderful teaching from Chris Harper from Better Man Ministries and seek the Lord together. So if you plan to attend, sign up for that today. We also have another daughter retreat coming up November 13th through 15th. This is for daughters in fourth grade through high school. So if that is you, join us. You will not want to miss this intentional time. And we will also be at Alossa Ranch in Hawkins, Texas, and which is a beautiful place, truly. And moms, we have an opportunity to engage with our daughters for a whole weekend, to not be distracted, to have intentional time, to have so much fun. And you don't want to miss it. So register for that as well. I hope you will join us. And now let's turn our attention to the screens for today's mission moment. About a year ago I retired and didn't know what I do, but I had a couple ideas for volunteering and those quickly fell through. I went out for a walk and went to the nursing home, the Bear Creek near my house and just walked in and talked to staff there and said, does anybody ever come here and just volunteer to talk to people who never get visitors?

And they said, no. So I said, I think I want to try that. I had no experience doing it, but I, in face it, I'll give it a try. Since then I go a couple times a week and I simply go in and pray with them and they tell me what it is that will help or they need and we offer it up in prayer. And I also ask them, do you have any other needs? hear what's happening around me or I need glasses because I can't do the word search and I was able to pull glasses out of my pocket and give it to them on the spot and there was joy that I can't even describe. And there was a guy who had soiled garments and he just needed something new and he said I need three XL gray t-shirts with a pocket. I got him a half dozen. Now every time I see him he's so full of joy and thankful. And then there's another woman there who's 100 years old and she said I need pantyhose. I went home and told my wife I don't know how to do that. You'll have to do it. And we did it, gave her so much joy. And there's been people who said I want a bible. One guy said it was at home. He couldn't. He couldn't get it. I got what he needed. The word went out. Hey there's somebody that'll get bibles for you here. And the impact not just to him but to other staff, other residents. The word's gotten out. And now they ask me, can you get a bible for me? There's stories like that that I could fill an afternoon sharing and love to. And I share it with my friends, family. I share it with people at the grocery store. There's a joy that just can't be contained in doing this. If it's appealing to you, if it's something touching your heart, I would just encourage you. Reach out. Just act in faith. Step out in faith and try. If you think this is something you want to do, I can tell you folks in the older community want to get to know you. And you'll get 10 times back what you give to it. Contact the church office or the missions team and they'll help connect you. So grateful for Jeff and what a cool picture of being sent and being willing and available to do whatever God would have for you. And he's not kidding. He would love to visit with you and talk to you about what God's done. That was not his retirement plan. And God has done an amazing thing in it. When I think about 60s plus, I'm loving guys like Jeff and what they're doing. If you're turning your bible salute chapter 14,

we'll hover around in verses 1 through 24 in just a moment. But I have a research team that helps me with sermon prep in our church just to kind of give me a feel for how different people think. One of the ladies sent this set of questions and I thought it was a great way for us to think about this passage of Scripture. Have you ever received an invitation to a party or dinner at someone's house and wondered or even tried to find out who would be there? Would they be your kind of people, the kind of people you want to be with? Have you ever accepted or declined an invitation because of who else would or would not be there? I think those are pretty penetrating questions no matter who we are. Are we just about those that are like us or are we willing to step outside of that a little bit? Last week I was in Luke 13 for those who were here. If you weren't hopefully you're able to listen to it. But in it, Jesus makes statement. He says, "Strive to enter through the narrow door." And a man came up to me and he may be in the service. I'm not sure of it. He said, "Y'all are talking, this is a paraphrase." He said, "Y'all always talk about grace and the way you receive Jesus through grace." And then you talk about being sent, works. It gets a little confusing. I said, "That's fair. I get it." But maybe this is helpful. Timothy Keller's pastor in New York passed away a few years ago said, "There's two ways we can lay this. One, I'm accepted, therefore I obey, or I obey, therefore I'm accepted." That's not Christianity, the second one. I obey, therefore I'm accepted, not Christianity. I'm accepted, therefore I obey. That's Jesus. What he did on the cross is that he secured life for us, eternal life for us at the cross. We receive that. He receives us. Life begins at that point, eternal life. And that's been the rest of my days being obedient to what he's asked me to do, being sent, if you will. In The Better Man Divusional this week on October in me believes not in me but in him who sent me and whoever sees me sees him who sent me." If you ever wonder is Jesus God, this would be one Scripture among many that points to that fact. And Jesus says, "If you believe in me, then you believe in the one who sent me." In other place, say, "If you honor me, then you're honoring the Father. If you love me, then you're honoring and loving God." So the way we respond to Jesus is the same way we're responding to the Father because Jesus is God.

And at the end of that particular devotion, he said, "Live today in light of the day that is coming." So are we living? It's the whole point of Luke 13, because the time is short, the door is narrow, and there's an urgency about this. I shared with you last week about Tyler Ulrich, 21-year-old young man, my brother's wife from her side of the family, and he passed away from a head injury in a college football game. ESPN has been covering out if you track any of that, you've seen it. And I shared that story, and what I came ready to do this morning was to just share with you what an unbelievable week it's been, and I'm still going to do that, but it's with the much heavier heart. And the only thing I know with our church, I've done this my old 27 years, the only thing I know how to do is to walk in what I'm walking in and do it with you. But I got here and just shared all the things God had done this week. My brother, who was supposed to be running sound, said, "I need to meet you before you go up." And so he met me in the parking lot, and I know that's never good in our family. And so Billy, my nephew, my brother's son, he died last night. And I had to opt and decide, "What do we do today?" And that doesn't catch God by surprise. So I'm not going to tell you one thing, and then when it happens with me, walk a different thing. So I want to share with you what I was always going to share, and then share with you from the Scripture, because it's incredibly relevant today. And just like I said last week, I'm not going to try to overdramatize something, but I am going to shoot you straight, because this is for real, or not playing a game. And I know most you probably know that, some of you may be not. And that better man devotional that I shared with you a second ago, I was listening, he's speaking at our men's treat this coming weekend, and I'll just say if you haven't signed up, you should figure out how to get there. And I don't care if it's opening season for deer, they will wait for you.

And I know it's not even tracking one, and you're waiting, you want to shoot it on day one. Like Caleb Bundy told us, he's one of our residents, he said, "The Lord is sovereign, if you want you to have it, you'll have it." But I was listening to Chris Harper speak the other day, a last session of a men's treat, and one of the things that he shared is he was on an airplane with a guy, he's a cultural anthropologist, and that anthropologist, when Chris heard that's what he did, he just took his pen and pad out and started peppering him with questions. And they started talking about boys and men. And the anthropologist said in America, the idea of adolescents started in 1905. That's the first time that term was brought into play, and the term teenager was brought into play in 1963. There was not even a category for teenager until 1963. In most cultures, it's boys or men. And when does a boy become a man? And this is what the anthropologist said. When the boy understands that the needs of the tribe, the village, or the community 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80-year-old boys running around. And the Scripture tells us to act like men and men are those who follow Jesus, love Jesus, and obey Jesus. That's what a man is. It's not hard. And we'll give himself away for the sake of the community. So I described Tyler's story to you last week and in high school he received Christ and started reading his Bible. I need to be corrected. I said last week he'd read through the Bible three times. He'd read through two times by the time he was 21 and passed. He was leading his friends to follow Jesus. He was getting them to Bible studies. He was living his life the way Jesus called us to live our life. I would say at 15 or 16 years old, Tyler already knew what it was to be a man because he knew Jesus and he's following Jesus and leading others to Jesus. He wasn't silent about it. And I told you that that afternoon we were going to the service celebration of life. I've participated in a bunch of those, especially from our family. For those of you who don't know, in 2019, my sister-in-law, my brother's wife passed away in March. My wife's best friend passed away in June of that same year. My mom passed away in July. My other sister-in-law was found

dead at a ranch a year later. My brother died of COVID. And still that was one of the most substantive celebrations of life I've been to. It was a somber room because sorrow and joy often just have to go interwoven. But nobody could help but talk about Jesus because it just fell out of this young man. And then I did the grave side with the family and with friends. It was a sobering moment as well. But I told you that there were three of his friends, Tyler's friends, that wanted to be baptized. And an unusual thing, we're going to baptize them after the service. Well, that didn't happen for a variety of reasons. And I came in here ready to tell you this is one of the most unbelievable weeks of salvation that I think I've seen in a long time. I'm going to tell you that. Last week, an 11-year-old here that's been coming, received Jesus last Sunday morning. And then on Monday, a few of us received this email and I just wanted to read it. This is from a mom and I think this would just touch a mom's heart today. But she was describing her little girl, her daughter. And when her daughter was younger, they started talking about Jesus. And her daughter was excited talking about Jesus and what it would mean to go to heaven and so forth. And then the mom started with tears. And the little girl didn't know how to interpret happy tears from sad tears. And she just went silent over the years about a faith in Jesus and not willing to profess it. So that mom and daughter, 15 years old, the daughter, is here last week. And she said she's in high school now, reads her Bible, studies it, journals about the Lord. But she wouldn't profess it with her mouth and take that final step of obedience. I spoke with her, prayed with her, pointed out scripture yet. She would not take that next step. Over the years, I started to worry and doubt God. But each time the Holy Spirit quietly whispered, "My timing is perfect." The sermon you preached last Sunday, it was powerful. A young, healthy man of God was doing what he loved one moment and in a split second, gone from this earth. I took notes fast and furious. It was so much to reiterate and emphasize with my daughter. We got up to leave and she leaned over with tears streaming and said, "I really needed to hear this message today." She immediately went down front here to pray with staff and invited Christ to come into her life and be her Savior. Yeah. We cannot understand why a young man like Tyler was taken from us so soon. Through one family's grief, another family rejoices, these things we will not understand this side of heaven. That just sat on me all week long. But one family grieves, a way she shared it earlier, another. God does that. That doesn't take away the ache and sorrow of a lost child.

That doesn't do that. But there is an added joy in that child coming to Christ. Well, then on Wednesday, you got a text that said those three that were going to be baptized last week. They're going to be in town this week from college. And can we do that? Absolutely. So we had a plan for yesterday at 11 a.m. On Friday, Tyler's dad takes me and goes, hey, would it be OK if Linda and I were baptized? It's the dad and the stepmom. So we got on the phone. We talked for a while. He said, I don't know why. I said, I've known Jesus a long time. I don't know why I never got baptized. I'm going to do that. Then when I wake up yesterday, I was told three more we're getting baptized, so we had eight. And we were on a dock at Eagle Mountain Lake in Azel. This is what I drove up to. This pack of people. And this is my nephew on the right who passed away just a few hours ago. I didn't know that that would be my last time with him yesterday, nor did my brother. But I just wanted you to see the progression of what God did yesterday. Maybe it'll speak to you today. I don't know most of your stories.

I don't know if you know Jesus or not. I don't know if you've been baptized or not. I don't know if you're falling hard after him. Most of you, I just don't know. But let me show you what happened yesterday. If we can go to the next one. So when I got there, I spent time with the eight. And I just walked through the bridge. I walked through the gospel with him. I know I had a chance to do that. I knew a little bit about each of them. And I just walked through it. And we talked about this is about you're a sinful person. You need Jesus as your savior. And then we talked about baptism. And I explained what baptism is. It's a picture. It's a powerful picture of here you are in the water. And then when you go for your life in Christ and you go under and that you're being buried with Christ. So when you rise, you're being raised with Christ. It's a beautiful picture. And we worked our way to the water and Kent. That's the dad of Tyler in the white. He helped me baptize all seven. And then we started baptizing them. And then this was us baptizing him. That's Linda, his wife over to the right. And then the one next to him is Linda's little brother who was baptized as well.

And so with baptized, Kent, let me go to the next one. Just thought that was just a beautiful picture of a family. And that was one of the young men that was Tyler's best friends that got baptized. By the way, if you can hold that picture of the eight. It's his dad, his stepmom, his stepmom's little sister, his girlfriend who is going to marry two of his best friends and then two other that were really good friends. That's influence. And in case you're thinking, but yeah, this is kind of reaction to the grief. What I stress to them is this is not about Tyler. Although Tyler is the one that influenced you towards faith. This is about you and God and salvation. It's about obedience and baptism, hard stop. And yes, Tyler is the influence and the reason why we're here today. All that's true. But I don't want you to look 10 years from now and think I just did that out of an emotion. So then we walk off and I think that's a beautiful picture of our new life in Christ. The next picture, that's one of the young men's moms. That's celebration right there. That is a mama who's loving what's happening with her son. And then the next picture, I want you to just hold there for a minute. I want you to see this lady in pink. You can't see it real good,

but I just want you to see it and hold it. Everybody had left. My brother and I were still there and this lady. She's the grandmother of Linda, the stepmom who was baptized. And she just looked at us. She was a petite woman. She was just looking it up at us. Just really big eyes, just a joy about her. And she said, I want you to know, I agree with everything you just said to them. Oh, so that's awesome. And she said, I became a follower of Jesus years ago. The Holy Spirit assured me of that when I doubted that I was his child. So I've witnessed him my cousin and give him a Bible. And tomorrow is my 25th anniversary with my husband. And he's not a believer, and I've asked him to go to church with me and he won't go to church with me. I said, "You know what? Let's pray that he'll go to church with you." And so Randy and I just wrapped around her and we prayed that God would cause her husband to get up this morning and go to church with her. This is what else she said. She said, "Time is short. That's why I'm looking for people to witness to." I said, "You're the 16th up I'm looking for." She's right. You do not know.

Just look at me. You don't know. You don't know what you have left. You don't know what your friends have left. And it's time to quit clowning around, making excuses, and not at least getting the invitation on the table. So someone can know what it means to know Jesus. So let me give you just four quick points out of Luke, chapter 14. What I titled this today was expanding our guest list. And there's four things that will help us to do that from this part of Scripture if we just tether ourselves here for a moment. And I'll probably just share this in a paraphrase fashion with you due to time. And then on your own, I would dig into this. But sometimes we think the Bible is hard. This part isn't hard. Jesus told some stories and they're really, really clear. It's just a matter of we willing to receive it. It's God working in our hearts in a way that we can. And then are we willing to respond to it in obedience today? So if we're going to expand our guest list and even have an interest in those who are lost, then it calls for us to have compassion and not legalism. In the first six verses of Luke 14, Jesus shows up at a dinner party. It's with the Pharisee leader. So he's with the leaders of the legalistic religion. And he's eating with them and there's also a man that has dropsy. So he's got a physical condition that's a problem. And as he's eating with that man, the question comes up about healing on the Sabbath. The leaders are always trying to test him on that. Jesus says, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? He asked them a question. And they were silent.

Why did they not answer the question? If they said it's not lawful to heal on the Sabbath, then Jesus is not to do anything with that man and they look pretty heartless. On the other hand, if they say, yeah, it's okay to heal on the Sabbath, well then the way they interpreted the law in their legalistic way, then they were violating the very thing they believed. So Jesus trapped them. And then he says to them, if you have an ox that falls in a ditch that's your ox or you have a child that's not doing well, are you not going to take care of them? And they were silent because they would. So look at Jesus, we see a man who was compassionate in Matthew 9, 36, and following Jesus saw the people and he felt compassion for them. He didn't have some legalistic look at them. He didn't look at their tattoos and check them off the list. He didn't look at their rings that were all over them and check them off the list. He didn't look at the way they dressed and check them off the list. Jesus looked at people as a whole and had compassion on them. He said, they're like sheep without a shepherd. They're dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd. They're lost. They don't know their way. So we can either look at them legalistically or we can look at them with a heart of compassion. A few years ago I was in Seattle. planters and when we showed up and we spent time with him and he took us to downtown Seattle and we were in downtown Seattle we went into a coffee shop and I don't drink coffee but Lisa and Keith they got coffee and we're walking down the streets of Seattle and there's a homeless man. Gary could I have you just I'm not gonna ask you to talk don't panic. Keith looks at that homeless man right in the eyes shakes his hand he said my name is Keith what's your name and then he answered and then he talked to him for a minute thank you and then he gave him his coffee what did Keith do in that moment he didn't say go get a job get off the street you're making it

uncomfortable for me no he looked at that man in the eye he valued him as a man made in the image of God a person of value and he valued him he shook the man's hand and licked him in the eye there's value when we do that it's with compassion we'll only expand our guest list when we look at people as a whole with a mass of compassion and like Jesus we're praying for laborers to rise up and to go out and to have this compassion the second thing Jesus talks about with a story is we go with humility and pride in verses seven and following he began speaking a parable to the invited guests when he noticed how they'd been picking out the places of honor at the table saying to them when you're invited by someone to a wedding feast you not take the place of honor for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him and he who invited you both will come and say to you give your place to this man and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place but when you're invited go and recline at the last place so that when the one who's invited you comes he may say to you friend move up higher then you'll have honor in the side of all who are at the table with you for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he humbles himself will be exalted so Jesus talked to the leaders then he turns the invited guests and the custom of the day it was probably a u-shape around the table and the hosts would be at the end and the guest places of honor would be on his left and on his right don't walk in there and assume that you're the person that is to be next to the host instead you're going to have this walk of shame where you're asked to move and go to the further place from the table but humble yourself so he talks about humility and to not humble yourself falsely so that then you'll get invited to be the place of honor I was reminded the other night of the gathering I was at there are so many people that God has given influence on social media they've been given big platforms to bring the message of Christ and there's amazing work that goes out among so many but I tell you what it would be hard to be in a place in a position like that it was just a great reminder for me to just continually pray for those that God is giving influence in our culture for Christ to can you pray humility for them in the platform that they've been given and to watch God work through that humility did you know today that in first Peter five Jesus says he's opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble he is actively opposed to the proud like it's not funny once only makes a joke about pride whatever God is actively opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble

Tim of the Keller said this I don't know if he was quoting someone else by the time quotes get rolling you never know actually where it came from but that's where I learned it and so he talked about humility is not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less I think that's a great a great definition CS Lewis in his book mere Christianity talks about a chapter what they talked about the great sin the great sin is pride that is actually a core sin everything tends to come out of that and he described it as that's what leads to every other vice pride does If the other person wasn't doing the same thing you were doing, you probably wouldn't be prideful. It's actually competing against the other person that can make us a prideful person. So we can have more of it than the next man he says. It's comparing so that we'll be above the rest. But then he says, if you're proud, you cannot know God. And then he said, if you think you're not conceited, it means you're very conceited indeed. 'Cause it's probably something we all battle. With compassion and humility, Jesus keeps digging in, now to motivations. So the third thing I'd say is with impartiality, not partiality that we think about expanding our list, verse 12. And he also went on to say to the one who invited him, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your neighbor or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you'll be blessed since they do not have the means

to repay you, for you'll be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. This kicks me in the gut, candidly, 'cause this one's a little bit hard. So all of us ought to take stock here and say, how impartial are we about the kinds of people that we invite into our lives? How impartial are we about inviting people into our home, at our table? Do we just invite people in that we're gonna go to their house also? That's what Jesus is saying. He said, wait, hold out on that. And obviously we're to be in community and we're to do things like that. You got to say it and don't do that. But is that it? Is our table gotten so shrunk that we can't expand the guest list? And he's looking at future reward. He's saying, you know what, the table in the future, it'll be a pre-aclectic table. Ironically yesterday, we were talking about family and I told my brother, I said, hey, I'm hanging out in Luke 14 and thinking about the table. So there's a lot of craziness in all our families. Look, if you don't have craziness in your family, I find it hard to believe. We just saw different kinds of crazy. And you know what, the one you think is crazy,

thinks you are. So if you think you're off the hook on that part, you're not, you're part of the crazy with your family. Somebody else doesn't understand what you're about. We're willing to get in there with people. They're different. The future table in the new heavens and the new earth with God will be an eclectic table. There will be people that trusted Christ at their last breath that we thought had no shot. There will be people that were faithful in church, their whole lives, the nicest people on the planet that won't be at the table. They miss Jesus. Rosario Butterfield in her book on radical hospitality, I just grabbed a few things from her book, perused it this week again, and just wanted to share a few her thoughts about radical hospitality. She talks about making strangers' neighbors and neighbors' family of God. Now look at the progression of this story. It's going from compassion to humility to now being willing to invite anybody to the table. That's Jesus' invitation. We're all invited to the table. And she says God's image is reflected in every human being on earth. And when we have hospitality, we don't have to make everything a big event.

She just keeps a pot of stew or a pot of chili or something, but leave margin for people to be able to come. Make sure there's plenty to share. Build in your budget so you can feed others. Have friendships with people who are different than you. If you're a Republican, get a Democratic friend. If you're a Democrat, get a Republican friend. Sit around the table together. You can disagree all day long, but you could also build an unusual friendship in it. You never know. Are we willing to do it? Are we willing to have them in our home? Are we willing to have hospitality? You know what hospitality means? It's not that you're able to get your house in the best possible shape for all your friends to come. Hospitality biblically means the love of the stranger. it's like are we a safe person to hear the burdens of our neighbor's hearts. We need to die to self and lose the right to protect our reputation. I'll never forget I was driving an old car years ago and I got myself in a neighborhood that's fairly nice. It wasn't gated so I was able to get in. I didn't have the address of the person I was going to see and there was a man in my own yard. I knew I was in the hunt. I knew I was in three or four houses. I just didn't want to go knocking on strange people's doors. Never know these days what will happen to you. And so I asked this man and he looked at me. He looked at my car and looked at me and he said, I'm not telling you. Fair. I see what I'm driving. I understand I've got you concerned. But I'll bet you if I was driving something nicer you'd have told me the address. Are we impartial or partial? Are we expanding the invitation? Some ways we can do that. Our life groups we can expand a different than we are. Jeff in the video

that you saw at the outset. Just hospitality. Joe Sanchez, our executive pastor or pastor, he changed roles. He's over our worship and strategic initiatives. He's been in the hospital for two and a half months. 31 men, different men have spent the night with him in the hospital in those two and a half months. That is radical hospitality. And Joe has not missed a moment to invite every nurse, every doctor to the church or to Jesus. That's radical hospitality when you're in the middle of really hard. What about you? What are you willing to do to step in to be impartial, not partial. And the last piece is to be broad and not narrow with your invitations. And let me just share with you verses 16-24 in summary. There's a big dinner that's been given and invitations had gone out. And in the custom of the day, they went out early and then the persons would respond and say, "Yes, I'm coming." And then on the day of another invite would go out and say, "Hey, it's ready. It's time to come." We have some customs, somewhat similar to that, but that was their custom. On the day of the dinner, three different people representing people making excuses, make excuses say, "All of a sudden, they can't come." And they're not bad excuses. I mean, you look at it. It's reasonable what they're saying, but they knew this was coming. It's like one of my buddies said that helped lead Serveday because we've had this date on the calendar for months. How did you schedule something to not be here? We've invited you ruthlessly. Same idea. They make excuses. They're prioritizing something over something else. Over the main thing, what does the host do? He's not happy about it. So he sends out the servants to go out and go into the streets and invite people to come. So more people came in than that. They weren't the original invites. The house still wasn't full. He said, "Go out to the highways and the hedges." How he says it in verse 23, "The master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled. Compel them to come.'" That word "compel" means to urge. And it's not a forcing, like it's been misused at times over the centuries by Christians. It's an urging. Why did he say "compel them to come" on those who were the furthest out? These were the travelers. These were the strangers. These were the non-Jews. And he said, "Go to them and compel them to come." Why would you have to compel them to come? They didn't know the host. They might have thought it was a joke. They might have thought somebody was going to make fun of us by coming in. Why would we go to that? We've never been invited to their house before. So why would we go to that? So urge them to come. We're

not worthy to go to that part of town. Yesterday when I was walking through the Gospel with that small group of eight, I walked through the bridge. I said, "Where are you?" Some of them weren't quite there. And so we had to work through that a little bit. But one of the men said to me, he said, "I'm over here. I'm on the side apart from God." I said, "Well, do you want to be on the side I don't mean us because... And he said, "Yeah," he said, "But I've just got so much, "I need to clean up in my life." I said, "No, you will never get cleaned up enough. "You will never be worthy enough." If you think you're unworthy today of the invitation, if you think you're not clean enough, not pure enough, not good enough, then you get it, 'cause you're not. And neither was any of the rest of us. Jesus died on a cross, Jesus took our sin, he's the only one that could do it. And that's humility to have to come and say, to really self-sufficient, successful people. It's a humbling to say, "I can't do it." This time, somebody else has to do it for me. And that's what Jesus did. So we have to compel people because they don't believe they can come in. So we urge them to come. I hope that you'll be willing to expand your guest list. And as we close up today, I'm gonna pray and give us a little bit of some quiet space. And we'll have a few people down here that are a prayer team. I don't know today if you know Jesus or not. Maybe you're like that 15-year-old girl last week, and you just need to come down here

and talk to somebody about knowing Jesus. And I don't know how many people we have today, but Jake, would you mind you an Aubrey in a minute? If y'all just be available here? Josh, could you and Katie? I don't know what y'all have next, but if Lisa y'all could. And then in addition, he's already here. Good Leah, you're looking at me. You and Rick would be great, so thank you. I just want you to know that people want to talk with you about what it means to know Jesus. The time is short, the grandmother is right. Don't let today pass. Maybe just wanna pray with somebody for other people so you know how to talk to them about Jesus. We don't know. Again, I don't wanna be dramatic, but this is the day. This is just reality today. So let's pray together. And those who were already planning on being up here and then the others if you'll join them. Father, thank you for what became a heavier day for me than I anticipated. We talk about it all the time. There's be such joy and then there's such unbelievable sorrow that's its twin, that it just pops right up. And I know God, that's for everybody. So what I pray that this would not cause anybody to turn away from you, but instead God it would cause us

to deepen in our love and trust in you. I love what Sonya in our church told me the other day. She said, people would say, well, you know, people that turn from God when there's death. And she said, gosh, where else was I gonna turn but to God? I mean, that's where our footing is today. And Father, I pray anybody that doesn't have that, that moments like this will just crush them because they don't know you. I pray God today that they would know Jesus. Let this day not pass, time is short. And Father, I pray we would not shrink back and keep our table small, but there would be big invaders. Expand our list, expand the people. Let it look really eclectic, just like the future table, look, we ask your help, Lord Jesus. So let's be quiet and if you wanna go and come up and talk to these, you can, or when it gets a little more crowded and less conspicuous, you feel free, they'll be here. Let's just be quiet for a moment. (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music)

(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) [ Silence ] >> Amen. Thank you for being here today and again they'll be here for a bit so you feel free if you'd like to talk with them. You're dismissed.