Unexpected Invitation

Good morning church, how are you guys doing today? You guys ready to worship and praise Jesus? Stay to your feet, everybody with their hands up like this, come on. I want to hear you sing and say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, oh sounds good, come on Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, keep those hands up, let's go Oh I've got a God who is for me, that's right And he is known for making a way And he fought the battle so I wouldn't have to All glory belongs to his name Oh I've got a God who's been faithful Far more than I could explain And through every season in spite of my weakness He gave me a song I could sing I came to pray I came to pray Oh that's why I woke up today I came to pray We say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, oh come on Oh I've got a King who is risen, that's right And he put my shame in the grave

Went to hell, laid back, so now I won't have to And he did it only three days I came to pray I came to pray Oh that's why I woke up today That's why I woke up today You're so great, come on I came to pray And together we say We say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, oh come on I'm singing in the morning, I'm singing at night I'm singing in the battle, that's how I fight I'm singing He's holy, I'm singing twice I'm singing He's holy, that's how I fight I'm singing in the morning, I'm singing at night I'm singing in the battle, that's how I fight I'm singing He's holy, I'm singing twice I'm singing He's holy, that's how I fight I'm singing He's holy, that's how I fight Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, always Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say

I'm singing in the morning, I'm singing at night I'm singing in the battle, that's how I fight I'm singing He's holy, I'm singing twice I'm singing He's holy, that's how I fight Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, we say I came to praise, I came to praise And devil get out of my way That's right, one more time, sing I came to praise, that's right I felt the flame, the pestle, the dark But I never knew till I had the scars How good your grace could be How you would be my strength No matter what I have resolved My lowest day is still in control I will not be afraid I'll get back up and sing The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me, oh. I never said it wouldn't be if I promised that you'd be right by my side. No matter how it seems, my confidence shall be. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me, oh. You're right by my side, oh. No fear may tell me to tremble, I'm not gonna bow. I may be thrown into fire, but I'm gonna walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but smoke, and it may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm not alone. No fear may tell me to tremble, I'm not gonna bow. I may be thrown into fire, but I'm gonna walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but smoke, and it may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm not alone. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. No fear may tell me to tremble, I'm not gonna bow. I may be thrown into fire, but I'm gonna walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but smoke, and it may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm not alone. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need.

The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my hour of need. Look at your neighbor and say, we're not going to bow. Not today, not tomorrow, not next week. We will not bow. Because if God be for us, who can be against us? Come on, somebody. You understand the problem with the modern day church is we've bowed way too many times. Do you understand what I'm saying? We've bowed to things in society that God told us not to bow to. But today, I'm looking at these young people on stage, and they're saying, listen to me. It may look bad around me. I may experience the fire. But listen, I've got news for you, King. We're not bowing down. Come on. We're not bowing to your images. We're not bowing to your statue. It doesn't matter. God be for us, who can be against us? No weapon formed against us is going to prosper. Amen? Come on. Come on, somebody. Give Him praise in this house today. Give Him some real praise in this house today. Come on.

Let's go. Do it again. Let's go. You may tell me to tremble. I'm not going to bow. And I may be thrown in the fire. But I'm going to walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but a smoke. And it may look like I'm surrounded. But I'm not alone. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever rest in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever rest in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. You know, Elijah was surrounded with a host of armies. Enemies had surrounded him. And the Bible tells us that he didn't fear. He wasn't worried. Chris, it didn't bother him. Because he could see beyond the natural. And he knew in the natural, it doesn't look good. Some of you today, you can look in the natural and it doesn't look good around you. Sister Flo, the doctor's diagnosis doesn't look good.

But what we don't see is what God sees. Did you hear me? That's what we don't see. And so, Elijah's servant was nervous and he was worried. And he went out and all he could see was what was in the natural, surrounded by the enemy. And he come back to Elijah and he said, have you been out there yet? Have you seen what's out there? He said, God, open his eyes. Open my servant's eyes. And he goes back out and he sees this wall of angels surrounding the enemy. That's what we don't see. Amen? But that's what we know is there for you, for me, for all of us. So we're not going to bow. Amen? Amen. Say, I'm not bowing. Amen, in Jesus' name. You guys can be seated. Shake somebody's hand. It's good to see all of you in the house of the Lord today. Praise the Lord. Thank you, worship team. Great job. Love what God's doing in the house. You know, last week we touched on the younger generation, 18 to 24, coming back into the house of the Lord.

And man, I look up here and I see these young folks leading us in worship. And it fires me up. And I want to say this, is Wednesday night, I was here in the foyer about 6 o'clock. And this place was absent. Pastor Grant, it was rocking, was it not? I mean, it was a full house and it was young people. I'm talking about youth. Let's give it up for our young people in the house today. Thank you guys, all of you that are in the house. But they were out here, huge crowd. And then I heard later that there was 101 youth that showed up here Wednesday night. So praise the Lord for what he's doing. There's a move. God's moving. And appreciate all of you that work with our youth and the leaders and what God's doing. And man, God is good. But now we're going to move on into a time of giving. And I want you to understand how grateful that we are that we're part of a church that gives, that brings our gifts, our ties, our offerings to the storehouse of the Lord. And I love that last week, Pastor Chris took us to another level. And he said, we really should worship during our giving. And he asked us to stand. And it felt so good when Connie and I were able to hold hands and visualize what we had given the offerings. Of course, we do ours online.

But what we had done earlier in the day, and we're just like, God, we're offering this up to you now as an act of worship. And so when we talk about worship, worship is more than the songs that we just sang. That is part of worship. It's more than giving. Worship is everything about our life. It's how I it's how I talk. It's how I respond to other people. It's how I live. It's honoring God with everything. And so right now, we're going to give you an opportunity to honor the Lord with your giving. But I wanted you to hear something here, a verse. It's in actually it's in First Chronicles. And it's found in chapter 16, verse 29. And so it goes like this. David said this, he said, give to the Lord the glory, do his name, bring an offering and come before him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness. That's so powerful. I want to read that again. Give to the Lord the glory, do his name. How many of you realize that he's do all the glory, all the honor and all the praise? He said, bring an offering. Come before him or worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness. Let me give you just a little bit of context of First Chronicles. Chapter 16 here. The Ark of the Covenant had been removed from Israel. They had stopped worshiping God. As a matter of fact, Eli, his sons, the prophet

were stealing money from the treasury, from God's house, corruption in the church. They were stealing money, his sons, and nothing was done about it. And so God allowed Israel to be defeated in an arm in a battle. And they lost the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the presence of the Lord. But here in First Chronicles, David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant back into the temple or into the tabernacle. And as he's bringing it back into the tabernacle, he writes this psalm. It's not in the book of Psalms. It's in First Chronicles. But he writes this psalm. And that was the part of the song that I just gave you. Bring the offering. But I want you to understand how important worship was for David. The Bible says that that David was a man after God's own heart. He understood. He understood how to worship. He played the instrument. He wrote the songs. He sang. He did all of that. But he was also a giver. And he understood that giving was part of worship. But I wanted you to hear this is this is when they're bringing the Ark of the Covenant back in to the tabernacle. And he reestablished worship and offerings. And as a result, it wasn't just once a week, but it was 24 seven for 33 years. They had a nonstop worship service. Think about that. Thirty three years.

David said, No, we're bringing the Ark back. We're bringing the presence back. We're bringing the power of God back. We're bringing the worship back. And it's not going to just be a Sunday morning thing or a Saturday afternoon thing, but it's going to be 24 seven, seven days a week for 33 years until the temple was completed by Solomon. They continue doing this as long as the Ark was in the tabernacle in the tent. They continue to worship God. Here's what I get out of that. Is that offering what we're getting ready to do is an act of worship. But do you realize that when we leave here, we're still worshiping God 24 seven? Live your life every day of the week, worshiping your God. Can I hear an amen to that? Amen. Praise the Lord. So so. Yeah. So here's here's what I want. There's different ways to give. There's envelopes that are in the back of the seats. You can put your offerings in there and drop them off in the buckets as you leave. You can give online. There's a tap tag on the seat. You can, if you have a smartphone, you can lay it up there and it'll take you to the link. So you can give that way. There's multiple ways for you to give. But what I want us to do is like we did last week. I want us to stand. And I want us, go ahead if you would, let's stand. And I want you, as we say this prayer together, as we worship together right now, this is dedicated to our giving.

I want you to visualize your gift today being placed at the feet of Jesus. As we pray this prayer, I want you to visualize that. Let's do it together. Father, right now, God, we just want to show you our love, our gratitude, our care for you as we worship you with our giving. God, we bring our offerings. We bring our tithes. We bring them to the storehouse of the Lord and we present them now at the feet of Jesus. We pray, God, that you would bless these offerings to further the kingdom of God, that you'd be glorified, that you'd be honored. God, I want to pray a prayer over this church. I want to pray blessings over every single individual that's here in person, that's watching online. God, that the blessings of the Lord would overtake them. Let today, God, be different for each person because they were in the house of the Lord. In Jesus' name, and everybody said, help me now, amen. God bless you guys as you're seated. Good morning, Revolution Church. I'm Amy. We are so glad you're here with us today. Amanda, we have a lot going on here at Revolution. If you miss anything, you can scan the QR code, visit the church website for any information that you might've missed. We do have Connect One coming up, that'll be on the first Sunday of the month. You can come and have lunch, meet Pastor Paster and his wife, Connie, and just hear the vision and the heart of the church. You can visit the website for registration. That's wonderful. Yes. We also have, I'm very excited about it, the group launch.

It's September 13th and it's very exciting. That's coming up next month. We're going to kick off John Brevere's book, You Are Called. Very excited about that. You can register online on the website. That's awesome. Tomorrow is the Trail Life kickoff. You can visit them at the pavilion at six o'clock. Church, we are so glad you're here with us today. If you need prayer, our prayer team would love to pray with you at the end of the service. We hope you enjoy the message. What's up, church? How are you guys doing? Hey, if you love Jesus, can we give him a massive shout of praise? Thank you, Lord. Man, that was some incredible worship. Great word, Pastor. Man, that was good, good stuff. We're going to continue on with No Empty Seats, the sermon series that we're in. Pastor Pacer brought a great message, one of my favorite stories in the Word, about lowering the man that needed it down through the roof. Couldn't get in the house, so he came through the roof. Come on, somebody. I love that so much. One of the things that Pastor said that impacted me during his sermon was, the power of God can't be manufactured. There are so many things that we do nowadays, smoke, lights, seats, we've got cushy seats, all those things, but listen, none of that can make the power of God come in the room. That's something I don't ever want to forget, Pastor, ever, ever. Today, we're going to continue on.

The sermon is titled Unexpected Invitation, Unexpected Invitation. Have you guys ever got an unexpected invitation? Raise your hand if you have. Yep, me too, me too. I like the unexpected invitations where they invite me to eat a steak. So I got one of those, I went with the FCA guy that I know, we've been friends for a long time, and he's like, hey man, you want to go to lunch, I'll buy. And I'm like, yes sir! So we go over. over to Longhorn Steakhouse, you know, over by Westown. And I don't know what it is. I mean, I've ate steaks from there, but I had the best steak I've ever had in my life. Maybe because it was free, I don't know. It always tastes better like that, you know? So anyways, today is not about a steak dinner, but it's about something greater than that. And that's being in the house and the presence of God. You know, we sang a song this morning, the Lord is with me. That has been something that the Lord has been speaking to me over and over and over again for the last few years. And then they made a song about it, so I'm over here, ah, you know, just crying. And so the great thing is this, y'all. The Lord has been with you even inside of your mother's womb. His presence was there. And here's the thing, the enemy tells us that God leaves us whenever we do bad.

You guys ever heard that? No, no, no. Shame on you, right? But the reality is this, God doesn't condone your sin. He doesn't like that. But he also isn't saying, you are done. In fact, God's presence sticks with us, listen to this, even while we are sinners. I just can't even comprehend that, Steve. I can't comprehend that. And listen, if you don't believe me, Jesus came and died on the cross while we were sinning. And I'll tell you this, if you were ever unsaved, which everybody is in this room, God met you, y'all ready, in your sin. Man, thank you, Lord. And so that's the God we serve. So we're going to talk about a few things today. But I hope that this message is received the way it's intended to be received. And that's for each one of you. This is for you, very clearly. It's not for the person beside you. I've heard this in my whole life. Oh, man, that would have been a great message for Bill to hear. You know? Y'all ever heard that? Some of y'all have done that. Let me tell you something. Today, the Lord specifically wanted me to say to you,

this message is for you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you. OK? So whenever I read the Word, whenever I read Scripture, and this is just how I operate, I go through the Scripture and I say, God, what are you trying to say to me? Right? I don't have it all figured out. Amen? Praise the Lord, I don't. Because the Scripture tells us that God can work through our weakness. And then He can be strength. So first point today. God looks for those who show up despite 1,000 reasons to run. And some of y'all, that's millions of reasons. Right? God looks for those who show up despite 1,000 reasons to run. Luke chapter 14, 16 through 20. Jesus replied, a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent a servant to tell those who had been invited, come, for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. Uh-oh. Sounds like some of y'all in the room. Listen to this, this is crazy. So the first said, I have just bought a field. I must go and see it.

Please excuse me. Another said, I've just bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. Still another said, I just got married, so I can't come. When I read this, those are all legitimate excuses. Because if you think about it, we can relate to that today. Right? Some of y'all just moved into a new house. And you're like, how'd that guy know that? Well, because we have so many new people moving here, right? Have you guys seen the traffic? You know, it's crazy. So some of y'all just moved into a new house and you're right in the middle of moving. I know what that feels like. I just did that, and I hate it. Right? So it's a big deal. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort. And there's a lot of things that you can do when you're moving. You know, you can spend your time there because it's necessary, right? Got to set up the home. In this scenario, it's something similar. It would be like you. you having a closing date on your house and then saying, well, I can't show up because God called me to do something. Most of y'all wouldn't miss the closing, right?

And this is the comparison that Jesus is making here. He also talks about livestock. Those are things. Some of y'all have horses in here, so you can relate really well. But sometimes there are things in your life that require your time and your effort. But not everything that requires your time is deserving of your time, especially when Jesus is calling you to something else. And I think that that is where we're landing today on this point is what has God said to you? Listen to this. Some of y'all said, I ain't heard God in like years. Well, that's another problem. And that, let's talk about that for just a second. If you haven't heard the voice of God and you're confused at what he sounds like, let me tell you something. You have been running from God, if that's the case. Now, some of y'all say, no, I'm still going to church. That don't mean nothing. Y'all can come in here and sit and never serve God. Y'all realize that? And so God wants us to seek him. The Bible tells us that when we draw near to him, come on, help me church, he will draw near to us, right? And so the Bible is very clear about that. And there's a reason for that. Who wants to pursue someone that doesn't want to be pursued?

Most people don't at all, right? And so God, we expect God, even though we don't want to pursue him, to still pursue us, to still talk. And he does praise the Lord for his grace and his mercy. But for us to expect him to continue to talk to us when we have no interest in him, you wouldn't even do that if the roles were reversed. And so I think this is very important today that we understand that God wants our commitment. God has made us not, we're not perfect, obviously, in this room, but he's not interested in our perfection. He's interested in our willingness. Those are two different things. Are you willing today? Are you willing? You know, the Bible is full of stories of people being hesitant about what God called them to. Okay, ooh, I don't know, mm, I don't know, right? But then they eventually do it. And what we see from that is miracles. We see God moving, we see him speaking. Peter steps out of the boat, and then he looked down, you know? That sounds like all of us. Well, I'll try it. Oh, I'm on the water, whoop. You know, just dropping down, drown, right? And all of us have been there.

All of us have been in those spots where we're hesitant to be fully obedient to God. But what I want to tell you is God isn't intimidated by your questioning. He's looking for your overall commitment. And I think that's so important. So I got a question for you today, and this is really early on in the message. Will you step up? Will you cower back in fear? This is the coach coming out at me right now. I don't care how big the team is. I don't care how athletic they are. We're gonna go win. Come on. And some of y'all that, some of you kids that have been on my basketball team, you know what I'm talking about. We don't lose. Even when we lose, we don't lose. Come on, somebody. We just learn, right? So here's what I want to tell you today is we have, this sermon series is called No Empty Seats. Do you know why we're doing this sermon series? Is it to make us look impressive as a church? Somebody help me. Why would we want no empty seats? Somebody said salvation. Listen, this sermon series is about taking

the least of these, the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the one nobody else wants, the ones nobody else wants to invite to the table. We go invite them. to the table because Jesus said so. And so I want to encourage you guys, some of you are scared to death to talk to people. I have, you're laughing, the people that are. So some of y'all are scared to death, it's okay. Honestly, there was a season in my life I didn't like to talk to people. And so the reality is, is that God isn't looking for your eloquent voice or your eloquent words. Okay. He used Moses. Does everybody know what Moses had? It's called a speech impediment, right? It was weird. And so Moses was so insecure about that. What did he ask for? A spokesperson, right? Some of y'all just said, I can't speak, and you didn't even ask for a spokesperson. See, you've actually tried to just get out of it altogether instead of finding another way around it. And I came to tell you today, the Lord still has plans for you. He still does. Will you surrender today? We have these little cards, they're called No Empty Seats, they have our service times on them and some other good information on there. Pick one of those. Give them out, man. Give them out to your coworkers. Some of y'all are too nervous, just give them a card and then run away.

You know? That would actually probably make them come because they're like, that guy's weird. I like that. You know? I don't know, it's kind of strange how that happens sometimes. But and my last question before we move on to the second point today. Is your worldly calendar of events more important than your heavenly ones? I think that is a very important question today. That's what all these verses that we just read, that's what it's about. Are your worldly calendar events more important than God saying, I need you to stop? I need you to go over here. Don't go over there, I need you to go over here. There's something greater. Some of us have a hard time believing that God has something greater for our life. You need to pump yourself up a little bit. We serve the God of the universe. He's got great plans. I mean good plans. And if that's the God we serve, I want to encourage you today that he has something better than you can ask for, than you could ever ask for, than you could ever imagine. He's got a better plan than all of that. And some of y'all are sitting here saying, well I ain't seen that. Well you didn't stay seated long enough to hear it. You know what I mean? That's the thing. We walk with God. We don't run with him. We sit with God. Sometimes we jump with him, worship. The reality is that his voice doesn't come in the pillar of fire and the crazy wind and

the hurricane. It comes in the still, small voice. Why would that be? Because it takes commitment, come on somebody, to sit and be still. At the end of the verse, be still and know that I am God. You better know he's God. He's got great plans. Great plans for you. Point two today. The people that nobody values, Jesus prepares a seat for. If you're here today and you've never felt value, you just got an invitation to the banquet. Man, God is good. Let's read this. Luke 14, 21. The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, what does it say? And the lame. You know, all of these people can't do something for their self. They got problems. I have a feeling a lot of people showed up today, you got problems, you got issues, and you can't do anything for yourself right now. Your mind's scrambled. Your heart is scrambled. You've been hurt too many times. You got a lot of resentment down here, up here, and actually, your personality has transformed as a result of all of those things. And now you. been living a life from that place. But Jesus is telling you today that he has a

different way forward if you will accept his invitation. Come on somebody. Listen to this. Matthew 10 verses 29 through 31 it says, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside of your father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid. So don't be afraid. So don't be afraid. Stop fearing. You are worth more than many sparrows. Let me let me just give you a parallel here. Sparrows in this time were the cheapest bird sold in the market. The cheapest bird. Nobody cared. In fact it says they were a penny, right? They were the cheapest bird. They were throwaway. Just didn't really matter. That bird, its name made it into the Holy Bible. Does that matter? Think about it. He could have used any bird right here. He could have used any other way to describe it. He used the sparrow and he named it. He didn't say bird. He said sparrow. That is the actual name of the bird. What if God wants to do that in your life? What if he wants to take your name? The lowest of the low. The ones nobody else cares about. The ones nobody else sees as valuable. Come on, we've all been there. And God wants to pick you up and put your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's true. The God we serve is real, real good. I keep saying that, but he's real, real good. And he sees what everybody else does not. Some of y'all came in here today and you felt like there is something, there's like talent within you. You felt that your whole life. You felt like there's a calling on your life, but nobody has ever affirmed it in you. The Lord is speaking to me today and telling me to tell you, I did put that there. Stop being afraid and say yes to me. Stop being afraid and say yes to me. You know, it's interesting in the first century, you know, these physical deformities and the people who had severe illnesses, all of that stuff, people believe that that was a direct result of their sin. The things that they did. Jesus tells us the opposite in one of the stories. You guys know the man that was born blind? You guys remember that story? No? Yes? There was a man born blind and this guy, Jesus is going to heal him. And they asked, they said, you know, Jesus, like, what sin is this guy committed? Because they all believed that people who had ailments like that,

it was a result of sin. And Jesus responds and he says, this is not a result of any sin. He was born blind to bring glory to God. I got to ask you a question today. This is coming right here, man. I got to ask you today, what imperfections do you have that God meant to bring glory to his name because of it? Seriously, somebody in here, you need to know something. You need to boast in your weakness. You need to boast in that weakness because when you do, the power of God will be all over your life. And God will get the glory. Amen? So, I got a message for you, crippled, broke, lame being. They're not even factors for your invitation to God's banquet. That means everything, everything that is an insufficiency is not factored into your invitation. That's the God we serve. But I'm going to tell you what is factored in. You ready? Your commitment. Your commitment to say yes. That's what God looks at. The Bible tells us that God does not look at the outside, but he looks at the heart. And today, if you're... You're here, God is staring right at your heart. He sees you. He knows you. In fact, some of y'all need to be humble enough for God to correct that heart. Some of y'all have ran from church for a long time. Some of you have a critical spirit of the church, and rightfully so. Think about it. There's a lot of stuff that's been going on in the church that shouldn't be. Welcome to imperfect people. I'm not saying that as an excuse. It's still not an excuse. But the reality is, if you build up, like the Bible tells us to make a reserve for those people,

like a reservoir, to build up a tank, essentially, so that when somebody does something wrong to you, you don't react in your flesh. See, all of us in this room, although you may follow God, you are also a walking piece of flesh. And it is very, very easy to get up inside of our emotions. It is very, very easy to get hurt. And let me tell you something. I am not excusing the people that hurt you. There is no excuse. You understand what I'm saying? But listen to me. God is bigger than those situations. We sing about it. God, you're bigger than cancer. You're all this stuff. You're bigger than this illness. But then we get hurt and we're like, you're not bigger than that. God wants you to know today that he is alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. And even when you think he can't work, he's working anyway. He's working anyway. So I got a question, church. Who will you serve? Who will you serve? Because we have two choices. We can serve the world and its expectations and the way it operates and the way it gets hurt and the way it holds on to stuff.

Or we can operate the way Jesus did and people beat him to a living pulp and he said, I forgive you. Some of y'all feel like you've been beat up to a living pulp. And God said, when you can't do it anymore, I can. And the Lord is here today. I don't know if you guys feel that. Point three. Jesus' invitation extends to those deemed too far gone. Hey, how many of y'all have ever heard it said about you? You are too far gone. Come on. Hey, we got all kinds of hands, all kinds of hands. All kinds of hands. Let me tell you something. The Lord specifically crafted this last part of the sermon for you. I want you to hear this. Luke 14, 22 through 24. Sir, the servant said, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room. I see some empty seats, not many, but I see some empty seats in here. There's still room. There's still room. Then the master told a servant, go out to the roads and the country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited

will get a taste of my banquet. You know what he's talking about? He's talking about the people that got the invitation first. He's talking about the people that should have been in the banquet who had excuses. Let me tell you something. We right here, we right here, we are the Gentiles. And we are a result of the Jews saying, eh, I'm good. Think about that. Because what happened next, see, the Jews were convinced that only they could know God. Gentiles couldn't know him. And God said, hold up. No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. I actually wanted you to go to all the nations to go proclaim me. I chose you. But since you won't, I'm gonna equip the Gentiles to go to all the nations. Think about that. God always loves you. He always saw you. He always knew you. And the reality is today that these country lanes and all of those things, when it talks about this, it's talking about those Gentiles. It's talking about those people that are outside of the immediate. area. Some of y'all have been so far outside the immediate area, you've been in no man's land for a long time. And the Lord wants you to know today that He is

able, that He is able to show up in no man's land and drag you out of the pit, drag you out of the ditch. Come on. I'm telling you today, the Lord loves you so much. And some of y'all have been the social outcast. Let's talk about that for a minute. Some of y'all have been the social outcast. You didn't do all the things you were supposed to do. You didn't live the way you were supposed to live. You still don't have a house. Can I tell you about my Savior real quick? My Jesus didn't have a place to lay His head. He walked around and He preached the gospel and He made disciples everywhere He went and He moved from place to place to place to place. He wasn't concerned with having a mortgage. He wasn't concerned with having a car note. He wasn't concerned with having all the best things. He wasn't concerned with having the best clothes. He wasn't concerned about what He was gonna eat. Whew. He trusted God His Father to provide His every need. And some of y'all that's been in the ditch, you know what it's like to have nothing. You are in a prime spot to continue on the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible actually tells us those that are rich, it's easier for a camel to fit through an eye of a needle than for them to enter into heaven. But why is that? Because when you have much, you don't need God. When you have little, you see your need for Him. When you come in here on a Tuesday night in a CR, you'll see it. When you come in here and see some of these guys from Epperson Ministries, True Purpose, when you see that, when you see them, look at them in praise and worship. I don't mean to be weird, y'all. You got people staring at you. But listen, they are worshiping their hearts out because they've been in the mud, man. They've been in the mud. And Jesus did something for them that changed their life. It changed their outlook. It quite literally saved their life. See, some of us need that moment with God. Save me. Save me. If you've never said that prayer to God, it's something that'll wreck your world. Save me. Because no matter what your demographic, no matter what your situation, God's hand will reach down and pull you out of it. He will lead you out of it. And let me tell you something, I serve a God who parts the waters. He parts impossible situations. The God I serve comes from heaven down to earth. Even when it's not

convenient for him, he makes a way to see you, to know you, to speak to you. And even when you take his goodness for granted, he gives you, he gives you another chance. Thank you, Spirit of God, for being here today. I want to tell you guys, I wish I had a tissue right now. I got snot running out of my nose. Asking you shall receive. Some of y'all need to do that in your spiritual life. The definition of compel. I want you guys to hear this. It implies a strong, irresistible necessity or authority that leaves little room for refusal. If there's anything God's doing today, he's leaving little room for your refusal. He's been speaking to you individually. I know it. I can feel his Spirit moving through this place. And he's speaking to you as an individual. And he's saying, listen, I'm calling you out. You hear that preacher up there? He's telling you your life. and it's not because I'm great. Let me tell you something, God gave me this message and I knew, didn't I, Pastor? Pastor, we were sitting in a staff meeting on Wednesday and I said, man, this message is gonna wreck some people. Because God cares for you. I'm just up here being a little vessel or something, you know? He cares about you. You are not the second choice. You are not the third choice. You are not the black sheep. You've been set up to be loved. And I'm here to tell you today, some of y'all need to realize that you don't know what's good until you've seen the bad. You don't know what it means to serve a good God until you've been down in the ditch. And I just cast off today over everyone here in the name of Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus over your life. I plead the blood of Jesus over anxiety today. Leave in the name of Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus over suicide right now in the name of Jesus. I plead the blood over financial ruin today in the name of Jesus. I plead the blood over your family bloodlines right now in the name of Jesus. Come on, receive this today. I plead the blood of Jesus over your entire family and your kids in their school today. I plead the blood of Jesus that they would not be tainted by the world. I plead the blood of Jesus that you would see and know the wisdom of God. Speak to the things that are good and holy church. God's here this morning. Will

you respond? All of you have an invitation in your mailbox. You hear me? I got an invitation from another church the other day and I was like, I ain't coming there. I'm a pastor in another church. I just want to make y'all laugh real quick. The invitation has landed in your mailbox. You have received it today and God is asking you, will you respond? So there's a couple questions I want to ask. Will you respond to God as he calls you by name? This is not a broad invitation. It is a direct one to your name. And people at the jails, people online, will you leave your worthless life to feel worth for the first time? Some of the things you've been rolling around in, you were never meant for the pig pen. You guys hear me? You guys know the story of the prodigal son? Where'd he go? He went to the pigs, didn't he? He's gonna eat the pods. And he said, once he figured out that he made the bad decisions and he saw the error of his ways, the scripture says that he was good with being a servant to his father all the days of his life. And he came home expecting just to be a servant and to feel the shame of returning. And instead, come on somebody, the father came running. Come home. Thank you, son, for coming home. Some of you need to experience that today. God is not up there in a bully in the sky waiting for you to mess up. He's not up there saying, ooh, you bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. God is saying, if you will come to me, I can fix it. If you will come to me, I can reinstate your position in the heavenly realms. God is saying to you today, if you will come to me, you will find rest for your souls. So if you're here today and you need anything from the Lord, I'm gonna ask the prayer team to come up right now. If you need anything from the Lord, today's the day. Do not hear God's invitation and not respond. Don't do it. And I want to challenge you guys before this even happens, as you receive your freedom today, pass it on to somebody else when you go to lunch. Go pray for somebody. Go talk to somebody. You know, one of the things that atheists say about Christians as a this is a proof that they have that that we That god's not real is that we know the truth of the gospel and yet we still don't preach it That we know people are dying and going to hell, but we still don't preach it

Let me tell you something today God can change that fear in one instant He can make you an incredible tool for the gospel of jesus christ All he needs come on is your commitment and your yes So right now before we do anything before anybody moves Before before we do anything I want you to go ahead and decide what your commitment is Close your eyes right now bow your heads. Nobody looking around What is your commitment is it yes or no It's very simple. There is no in between it's a yes or a no And if it's a yes today I want you to jump out of your seat right now right now. Come on move move move. Come on Amen. Amen. Come on move Come up come up front get prayed for right now. Come on Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go There ain't no shame in this house. No, sir. No, sir. No, ma'am No shame in this house Come on Come on, is there anybody else? Is there anybody else come on God is asking you to respond say yes today Say yes today Say yes today Drown out the enemy's voice with your commitment to god drown out the enemy's plan with your yes Come on Amen. Amen. Amen Right now we're gonna have we're gonna have a song we've got one more song And and we still got people coming forward god is moving in this house y'all I want anybody that is in the seats and you don't feel that call from god I want you to start praying for the people up here right now. Let's just start praying for them

We're gonna worship together. We're gonna sing a song of praise Come on, god is worthy today. Holy. Holy. Holy is the lord. God almighty Holy holy holy is the lord god almighty lord We pray to you right now lord jesus and we pray for every single person that is saying yes to you today god I pray that every ounce of fear would leave their body god I pray that every ounce of doubt would leave their body god I pray that every illness would have to bow to the name of jesus right now god I pray that every excuse would have to bow to the name of jesus right now. We give you all authority. We give you all honor god We give you honor in this place And we give you credit for who you are and what you're doing God be with us today speak to us lord god in your name. I pray Amen, come on. Let's sing together church. Let's sing as a church Name above all names you hear the melody Of all creation But there's a song of praise that only I can bring who else is worthy There is no Jesus who else is worthy who else is worthy There is no You are the infinite god of the ages Yeah You healed my brokenness show me your glory So I have songs There is no Is Who else is worthy There There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus

No one is worthy to give our life to Oh, let my God anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne of all Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood To prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Holy, holy There the God anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne of all Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood To prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus There is no one, only you Jesus There is no one, only you Jesus No other one Who may we come? Come to the river

Come to the river Come and drink Come to the table All who are hungry Come and feast Those who are weary Those who are needy Come receive Come to the river Come to the river Taste and see He's waiting He's waiting Lord I just thank you so much for who you are this morning I thank you so much for your presence. I thank you that you are moving in this place, that you are touching hearts, Lord. I pray that you would continue to draw, Lord, and continue to speak to us this week. Father, I pray for anyone in this room that has not been feasting at your table, that they would come, that they would surrender it all and come sit with you and feast. That's your goodness, Lord, we taste and see that you are good. And I thank you, Lord, that there is nothing that anybody could ever do that could turn you away from them. There's nothing. And so, Lord, I just pray today, Lord, that we would just posture our hearts towards you in such a pure way that we would be able to receive what you have for each and every person here today. I pray you would continue to speak to our hearts and use us, Lord, use your body, Lord, to go out and touch the world. I pray you would put those people on our hearts that you want us to pray for, that you want us to invite in this place.

And I pray, Father, that you would just move in such a way that it would just bring revival, Lord, in such a greater way in this city, in this church. We love you, Lord, and we want to honor you. And so position our hearts to follow you in every way. We love and thank you. In Jesus' name.