Luke 14:15-23

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Word curses is not something I plan on talking about today, but um the Bible speaks about them. So a word curse is something that somebody can speak over you that would speak against who you are, speak against what your destiny is, speak against what your purpose is, speak against what you're capable of, speak against basically what God has put in your DNA. It's anything spoken over you that goes against what God has said about you, that's a word curse. And people can speak that over you, that's a word curse, or also check this out, it's something you can speak over yourself. Right? So can I just give like a just a just a moment where you see into the life of Joey? My wife and I, we were trying to finish the flooring in our in our basement, right? We got the the little planks and we're trying to put them all in. And there was this one section of plank where I almost lost my salvation. I was gonna just like start punching things and go outside and kick some squirrels. I was losing it. I was so uh uh Ella came down the steps, like, hey dad, how are you doing? I'm like, oh my god, and she went right back up the steps. She's like, I'm gonna leave you to it. And there's like this one section where like I burned through like a half a box of planks because they just kept snapping. And uh, and then finally I snapped. And Ashley came downstairs, and I've always been frustrated with building things. I'm just I never felt competent in it, right? Especially because I've had people in my life, my dad helped build houses and uh remodel all kinds of kitchens and all kinds of stuff, and he could do this kind of and like I would be like, here's the hammer, right? That was my contribution to it, and I was never good at it. And I was downstairs, Ashley came downstairs, and I was just in a moment, I was in my fields, and I said, I've never been any good at this, I hate doing this kind of stuff, I will never be good at this. It always frustrates me, it always makes me mad. And then it was like four days later, all of a sudden, like, thank you, Lord. Social media does have some benefit. And and and and a pastor popped up in a message talking about curses that you've spoken over yourself. Maybe yours are different than me. Maybe it's like, I will, I will never get far enough in this job. I will never be able to be the kind of husband or wife I want to be. I'll never be able to be the kind of father. I'll never be able to be the kind of right, like whatever, fill in the blank. And you speak it over yourself. And the way that you get to the other side of that is when you acknowledge what you've said. And sometimes, listen, you might have been such a habitual offender in this area that you've forgotten some things you've spoken in your life. But praise God, the power of the blood of Jesus can break any of those chains. And so you just come and say, Jesus, I can't even remember everything I've spoken over me that goes against you. But I just ask you to forgive me for speaking that and that your blood would break every chain, every curse I've spoken, and that I would walk into the most blessed season of my life. Right? Uh, and and listen, if anybody has spoken a curse over you, um there there's a there's a verse, I lose the address in the Bible that says, He will turn every curse into a blessing. That God will turn every curse into a blessing. And a quick, quick just insight story on that. Uh, a guy that had mentored me sort of from a distance, his name is Graham Cook. He was in his office one day, gets a phone call, and he hears like a hissing sound, and his office starts smelling like sulfur. It's like, what is going on? It's weird. And it was it it was a it was a warlock on the line. And he called, uh, he he he called to specifically speak curses over Graham. And he's and he's telling him what he's gonna do, right? And Graham and Graham says this because he's secure in who he is in Jesus. Graham goes, hey, before you start, he's like, Can I just ask something? He's like, what? He's like, give me your best one. Like whatever your worst one is, like, because the Bible tells me that he'll take your curse and turn it into my blessing. Like he'll he'll turn it, he'll flip it. So whatever the worst thing is, because I want the biggest blessing. And the guy got really mad, and he's like, You don't know who you're talking to. And Graham's like, I don't think you know who you're talking to. He's like, he's like, listen, he's like, Jesus loves you and Jesus is coming after you. And the guy got mad and hung up the phone, and the the stink went away. And listen, Graham walked into the most blessed season of his ministry he had ever had. A year passes, the phone rings, it's the same guy. And he says, Listen, I've got to call and tell you what went on in my life. He's like, and Graham said, Before you do that, can I just say thank you for cursing me? Because this has been the most fruitful season we have ever experienced. I just want to thank you for whatever you said. And he said, Well, I was so mad in that moment. And he said, I got off the phone, and then from that moment on, all power that I had accumulated through this, because listen, there is a darkness in this world, right? And people are attracted to it because of power. And so, but all my power, he said, Graham, all my power was gone. And so I was trying to do every incantation, everything that I could do. He said, in fact, uh, I met up with my coven, and we went into the woods, and we were gonna have a sacrifice to try to regain what had been lost. Now, listen, you think this world doesn't exist, it's just in the movies, but this world exists. And we don't have to be afraid of it because we've been given authority, right? And so, so speaking about word curses, so Graham's like, listen, now you're not gonna speak something over me and mess me up. God's gonna bless me. But then Graham spoke life to that man. He, the man said, Graham, my covenant and I, we were in the woods, we were gonna do a sacrifice, we had started this big fire, and he said, I don't know another way to explain it. It's gonna sound crazy, but we felt like the image of Jesus showed up in the fire and stepped out of the fire. The whole covenant gave their life to Jesus. And then, and then from that, now they were they were being sort of hunted by the rest of the group of that area. And so he had to go into hiding because he gave his heart to Jesus. And he told Graham said, Thank you for saying what you said because I have freedom like I've never known. Right? And and so what I just wanted to say coming in today, and I just felt like this was the Holy Spirit leading this direction, um, so many times we get to these last few weeks of the year, and we're like, okay, and I'm gonna switch some things. I'm gonna make a New Year's resolution. I'm gonna switch some things when I get to 2026. I'm gonna change some things. Can I just tell you, let's not wait till then, let's start right now and say, God, would you change in me things that I've spoken over myself, or even things other people have spoken over me, right? That that God, that you would break the chains that have held me bound, right? And so I just want to encourage you right now. It is, it can be a habit to speak negative over yourself. But what I want you to begin to do is remind yourself that you are daughter or you are son of the king. And so you should not speak against the son's daughter or the king's son or daughter in that way, right? And so um, can we just take a moment really quickly that we would just address this? Uh, because I don't want to bring it up and then not address it. I don't want to give you the tools and say, now go home and try it yourself. I just want to deal with it right now. Can we do that? Get some freedom right now. So just go ahead and just close your eyes real quick. And some of you, you are aware, is the moment I started talking about you're aware of what you spoke over yourself. Whether it was something about your intelligence, I'll never be smart enough, or I'll never have money in the bank account, or I'll never uh everything's always gonna go wrong. It's always gonna be uh one step forward and three steps back. It's always whatever those things were that you spoke, it's coming to your remembrance right now. And some of you are just like me, where it's like, man, maybe there's so many things you spoke, you don't remember them all. But we just want to come right now and just just say this after me, and we're just gonna walk through this freedom together. Jesus, I thank you that you have paid the price for all of my sins, and that you have paid the price to break every chain that would held me bound. I ask you to forgive me for what I've spoken over myself. I also declare freedom from any curse spoken from somebody else over me. In the name of Jesus, by your blood, break these chains, break these strongholds, let me walk in your freedom in Jesus' name. Amen. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to begin making a habit of this, be self-aware in this next season when there's moments or times where you might fall in the habit and boom, right? Because Lord knows I've looked around this church and there's more construction projects coming. And I might I might have to have some days where I remind myself, like, no, I am blessed, the work of my hands are going to be blessed, and I've got favor that there's people around me that know how to do stuff as well. So I'm inviting y'all in on the journey. But but but but I I felt strongly, just as if we were in worship, there's some things that's just been weighing us down, and I couldn't get the verse away from my head. Who the sun is set free is free indeed. And man, like habitual sin, that that whatever that one thing is that you can't seem to wrestle free from, it uh it sucks hope out. Sucks hope out of your heart. Whether it's an addiction of some sort or like just anger you can't get free from, or what it just sucks hope that there's never gonna, there's never gonna be change. And I I love that Proverbs says, seven times the righteous fall, but seven times they get back up. And you know what that means is that seven doesn't mean you only get seven chances to fall and get back up. But it's like seven means there's you you never stop. There's always more. So when if you have a week where you're like, man, I missed it this week. Seven times the righteous fall, seven times they get back up. Get back up, keep pushing into him, keep giving them your stuff, keep walking in freedom. Amen. Cool, praise God. So now we'll get into what we have for today, and I've got 10 minutes to preach it. Woo! Uh we are in Luke, and we are in uh chapter 14, and this is verse uh 15, and um it's what it says. Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, What a blessing! What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the kingdom of God. So Jesus had just gotten done talking about like an invitation to a banquet, right? And Jesus replied with this story: a man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. So let's stop right there. When Jesus in this story, as he's sharing this, the the man who prepared a great feast is who? It's God, right? The feast is relationships. One of the things we have to remember when you see food talked about in terms of the kingdom, Jewish culture, remember, this is written to a bunch of Jews in this time, like this is who he's talking to. Jewish culture, when you would break bread with somebody, the reason they hated Jesus for him breaking bread with like tax collectors or uh or or other like drunks or whatever, like the reason they were mad at that is because they believed to break bread with something, somebody, as you were eating from the same table, you guys were consuming the same thing, almost that you were becoming the same. So, like we're enjoying meal together, but we are like becoming one in this. Because what's going into your body is the same thing that's going into my body, and we're becoming the same. We're becoming like. And so when you read this, and he says, A man prepared a great feast, what he's talking about is an invitation to relationship. That there's a celebration, clearly, the scripture says, when we get to heaven, there's gonna be a huge feast that we get to celebrate together, and there's gonna be like this spread, and who knows what it's gonna be like. The Bible speaks into it, and it's incredible. In this moment, he's talking about a relationship, and he's talking to Jews in this group, and he says, A man prepared, a great feast, and sent out many invitations. I need to say this one more thing that it struck me. A man prepared. That word prepared, I feel like it's underlinable, it's highlighable. Uh, you should write it down maybe or put a star by it. Something to remember that that God has things prepared for you that you can't even imagine yet. That you're not an afterthought, that you're so much in the mind of God that He's prepared for you things to bless you. And so when you read a man prepared, you need to keep in your mind, man, what a good God we serve. What a God of love. Anybody that would declare God to be a tyrant or cruel is somebody that is choosing and willingly saying, I'm not going to read all the scripture. Right? Because you can't read this and study this and walk away and say, He's a cruel God. No, no, no, no. He has prepared. Listen, if you don't care about somebody, you don't prepare something for them. Right? When you care about somebody, when I know somebody's coming to my house and we're gonna have like a meal together, like I we we prepare, we get ready for what's coming. I remember my mom, like when her mother would come to, she would mop under the refrigerator. Joey, come move this refrigerator, mama. Mama is not gonna look under the refrigerator, like she can barely open it, right? Like and she would prepare. Why? Because she cared. And when you see this, you recognize, oh, this is talking about God and He cares. He has prepared. Prepared, recognized, means love, right? Verse 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guest, come, the banquet is ready. But they all begin making excuses. One said, I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Who buys a field and hasn't inspected it? Does that right? Like, like some things you know that are not new. Like then they would look at what you're gonna look at what you're buying. You're gonna look at what you're spending money on. I bought a field and haven't inspected it. That's ridiculous. I've just bought a field and I must inspect it. Please excuse me. Another said, I've just bought five pairs of oxen and I want to try them out. Please excuse me. Another said, I just got married, so I can't come. You got married and can't go to a party? You married the wrong one. Right? So you look at this, and really quickly what you see unfolding is I have just bought a field, possessions. Another one said, I've just bought five pairs of oxen. What were oxen for? Labor for work. So uh I've just bought a field, possessions, I've just bought oxen, work, and another said, I just got married, relationships. Those are three things that will uh uh come to grab your attention so that you'll give up on the invitation to Jesus and you'll focus on what's going on in your life. The things that you have, the work that's of your hand, and the relationships in your life. You can have a great relationship with somebody, but if you put them in the place of God, you've created an idol. And what did God say about idols? I will have no God before me. Here's what I don't want. I don't want to love my wife so much that I put her in a position higher than Jesus and then have God come against her because I've created an idol out of her. Right? And so our possessions, man, your possessions can like capture your affection and your attention. Your work, man, praise God for a good job, but it can capture all your attention and your affection. Your relationships can do the same. And listen, these are these are people that said, I've got an invitation to relationship, I've got an invitation to go to the feast, which is more than a feast, it's intimacy. No, I'm good. I've got a lot going on. Now he's speaking this to the Jewish people who he's gone after over and over and over again, trying to reach, trying to reach, trying to reach. Now he introduces a new thread. The servant returned and told his master what they had said. And his master was furious and said, Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. This this is representative of Gentiles, everybody that's not Jewish. Why is this representative of Gentiles? Everybody that's not Jewish, because the poor and their society were outcasts, the crippled were outcasts, the blind were outcasts, the lame were outcasts. Because everybody looked at them and said, Your position in life is because God's judgment on something you did. And so we don't want to have anything to do with you. We don't even want to touch you. Remember, we said before, like if a priest would walk by somebody that was poor or afflicted, they would gather up their robes so their robe wouldn't even brush against them. Right? This is the kind of religion that Jesus is addressing. This phrase invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Everybody that was sitting at the meal that Jesus was at that night would have been jaw-dropped. They would have been gut punched. Like, what? We're connecting the dots. No, we're the chosen people. These others are not chosen. And but because the others had stuff to do, Jesus says, no, no, no, no. The master is now calling the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Let's keep going. After the servant had done this, he reported, there is still more room. There's never a time where we should ever assume God is done building his kingdom. There's never a moment when you should ever say, okay, that's enough. Right? Like we never ever, ever, ever, ever, never, ever measure what God wants to do by what's within these walls, but we look outside because the whole time, every Sunday that we've ever had a time here, there's been cars passing by. Now they might have work to do or there might be something going on in their life, and it doesn't mean they're not a believer. But as long as there's people outside the doors, the recognition is there's people that still need Jesus. Right? And so the table, there's more room. There's still more room. So his master said, go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come so that the house will be full. Um, there's another version uh version that says, um, where it says urge anyone, it says um compel, compel them to come. That that verse was super abused back in the day because you look at like crusades, you look at times like the church has abused that phrase, compel them, like by force, drag them into the kingdom. No, no, no, no. Love them in such a way, minister to them in such a way that they are compelled to say, I need to know what you know. I need to come into relationship with who you're in relationship with. That we would live our life in such a way that people would be compelled to want to know Jesus. Let that simmer with you for a minute. It's like, am I living a life that compels somebody to come to the feast? Do I compel them or do I repel them? Right? Because there's no other any option, right? And so even apathy is a rejection of what you're offering. So either I'm compelling them or I'm repelling them, but what I'm called to do is to go out and compel them. So the house will what? It will be full. For none of those I first invited will even get the smallest taste of my banquet. I was trying to honor them, but they rejected me. And here's how religion works Religion serves to try to earn your own honor. Relationship with God takes that which is shameful and then makes it honorable. It redeems it, it restores it. And what he's saying is everybody that's been rejected, the poor, the blind, the lame, the crippled, I'm taking those things that have been shameful and I'm gonna bring honor to them. In a community in a society that has rejected them, look down upon them, guilt trip them, all these things. I'm gonna take it, I'm gonna turn, I'm turning all the tables, I'm changing all of this. A large crowd was following Jesus. How are we doing on time? We're doing great. I got two minutes. A large crowd, Jess, would you would you mind coming? You just left the stage, but Christmas time, we can just be kind of willy-nilly out here. We're Holy Spirit, wherever you want to go. That's what we're doing. A large crowd was following Jesus, and he turned around and said to them, If you want to be my disciples, you must by comparison hate everyone else. Woo! Um This is a term. Uh the the the term when you study this would be a term, if I can say it correctly, is Semitic hyperbole. So he's not declaring, like, listen, you need to be cruel to everybody in your life to love me. What he's saying is, like, there should not be anybody in your life that's on my level with you. Now, because right, the Bible says, like, if I'm to love my wife, I need to lay down my life like Christ did for the church for my wife. So is the scripture contradicting itself? Not at all. I'm going to lay down my life for my wife the way Christ has for the church, and I'm going to love her, but I'm also not going to elevate her to the relationship I have with Jesus. Let's see if I can put this in a different context. Think of what your favorite food is. Oftentimes I say, man, I love seeing this collard greens. And by the way, next time we have a meal, I'm never going to share with you anything like that somebody's bringing something good. I'm just going to keep it to myself. Because y'all on Thanksgiving Sunday, y'all tore them collard greens up, and I got like, Sheila rescued me and brought me this little plate, and I just had to sit there, small bites to savor it. I love some collard greens. And then my daughter walks in the room. I love my daughter. It's not on the same level, right? Right? Like, I go the rest of my life without the collard greens. Like, I love, I'm not going anywhere without her. Like, I love my daughter. And Jesus is saying, listen, there's so many things in your life that if you're not careful, you'll just keep giving it attention, attention, attention, attention, attention. Where's your heart at? It's where your focus is. Whatever you're focused on, it's where your heart is at. Does that make sense? Like, what do I love the most? What do you think about the most? That's where, like, where your treasure is in life, that's where your heart is, right? Like, what am I thinking about? What am I focused on the most? And here's why I want to say this. This is important right now. Is that Jesus is not asking for a worldly, romantic, spontaneous relationship. Because when we think about love in terms of the world, we think about like all these like movies where there's spontaneous moments of like just love and romance like this. It's like I've got to feel all the things. Real love is spiritual disciplines. What's a spiritual discipline, Joey? A spiritual discipline is when you say, Man, I don't have a ton of time to spend with God tomorrow. I'm gonna get up 10 minutes early so I can spend, I'm gonna, I'm gonna cut off 10 minutes of rest so I can get 10 minutes with Jesus before I start my day. Then I'm gonna set an alarm and I'm gonna get up when that alarm goes off, and then I and then I'm gonna get on my knees beside my bed, and I'm just gonna spend time with Jesus. I'm gonna start the day saying, Lord, I thank you that your mercy greeted me when I woke up. I just want to let you know I love you. I just want to thank you for this day. I just want to thank you that you have plans for me for today. And Holy Spirit, listen, we talk about this. Holy Spirit's a person, right? Mind, will, and emotions, right? So, Holy Spirit, guide me today where you want to go. I want to think about what you're thinking about. I want to feel what you're feeling. I want to know what you want me to know today. Guide me in this today. That's a spiritual discipline. A spiritual discipline is making sure that I don't pull the sheets up at night before I've put the word over my heart. Right? So, okay, it's been a crazy day. I'm gonna take five more minutes to get this word in my heart. Spiritual disciplines. Yeah? So if you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else. Your father and mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters. Yes, even your own life. Otherwise, what? You cannot be my disciple. Now, let me let me say this. Here's where I'm gonna land the plane. We'll cut a couple verses short. Salvation is free. It's a free gift. You can't earn it, you can't do anything to get it, right? That's what the Bible says. We talk about this all the time, but I want it to be in your heart. The only way to the Father is to confess with your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus is Lord. That's what the Bible says, right? Grace is a free gift, it cannot be earned. Discipleship costs you everything, though. Right? And in that giving Him everything, it means you say, I'm willing to give up anything. I'm willing to give up anything. In a couple days, give you a little another snapshot into Joey's life. In a couple days, we'll go visit my brother-in-law, sister-in-law. We love spending time with them. And they have a Christmas Eve service at their church. And it's it's beautiful, and it's so well done. It's just a great time. I mean, it's just massive, massive church, and it's everything about it. It's just oh man. The presence of God is there, people are getting saved. And by all accounts, society standards, it's what's known as a mega church, right? And um I got a call from that pastor a couple years ago, and he's like, hey Joey, I want you to come be on staff. I need help. And listen, Hope City wasn't running big numbers. Like, right? Like it wasn't a line out the door. No salary. A little bit of a stipend here and there, right? Like, but family with six kids. Prayed, brought, invited the kids in, told the kids about it. I love little kids. They're like, yeah, let's do it. Ella, who's a little bit older, is like, I don't know, we need to pump the brakes for a minute. We stopped and we prayed, considered it, and we just felt like the Lord said, I'm not done with you. Not done with you in Rona. Well, if you're not done, you're not done. Because the hardest thing I had to wrap my brain around is like, Lord, please don't. I'm so in love with the people you've called me to serve. Having to leave them would be brutal. But I'll do what you want me to do. So, by world standards, you get a call from a megachurch, and they're gonna give you all the things that brings comfort in life, right? They're gonna give you a good paycheck and all the things that would seemingly be successful, and God says, no, not that. Not that. And so to be a disciple meant, God, I'm gonna I'm gonna lay that down because that's not what you're saying. That's not what you, that's not what you're like. I don't know what you want to do here, but you want to do something here. Can I also just add, if there's ever a Sunday where we're not here, don't freak out that we're church shopping. I don't that wasn't like a story to make you feel a type of way. But it was a moment in our life that could have shifted a lot. And it was a moment where Jesus says, No, you're not done. Stay put. So there's people that aren't in this house. There's other people that say, it doesn't make sense to make the choice that you made. But to our family, all that needed to make sense was that we honored God and we were obedient to Him. Because obedience for Him is what a disciple does. Now, do I always get it right? No. But my desire is I'm gonna lay down whatever you call me to lay down. Because compared to anything else, I love you above all. And it doesn't mean to love you, I'm cruel to others. It means to love you, nobody compares to you. And everything I have is yours. So whatever you ask me to do, I'm gonna do. Right? So could we could we just pray today and say, Lord, would you search our heart and say, is there, is there areas where I'm not willing to give something up? And that's a good question to ask because if there's an area where you're not willing to give something up, it's probably an area where there's an idol. Like if the Lord said, Hey, would you shift from this job to this job if I ask you to? Yeah. If I ask you to move from this place to this place, would you do it? Yeah. If not, you say, Lord, there's some things I'm still working with, but I want you to have everything. And here's a huge prayer. I trust you and help me trust you. Both at the same time. I trust you, Jesus, but help me trust you. Right? Because both are in effect. I'm choosing to trust, but I might not all feel like it altogether. So I trust you, but help me trust you. So let's just pray right now, Lord. I thank you. I thank you that there's so much room at the table. And Lord, we just want to say right now, God, if there's anything that has captured our affection that is keeping us from the table. Whether it's the fields that we own or the oxen that we have or the relationships that we have, whatever, whether it's possessions or work or relationships, God, if there's anything that's taking our attention, we just want to say, Lord, we repent of placing it at a higher level than you. And we repent for staying away from the seat of the table you've called us to. And Lord, we want to lay those things down and we want to respond by coming, and we want to respond by loving you, and we want to respond by saying, God, everything we have, if you ask for it, it's yours. Whatever you want, our life, it's yours. And Lord, we trust you, but help us trust you. We want to be disciples, and so to be a disciple means it's gonna cost us everything. Salvation was free, but God, we are willing to, we're choosing to. We're with courage in our heart, not even knowing everything that it might mean, Lord, we're gonna say, Lord, we commit to give you everything. Because you're worthy of it. Because you have prepared, you have prepared a feast for us. Because you love us. You're a God of love. You've prepared, Lord, may we not forget that word this week, that you have prepared for us, those whom you love, something that will bless us. This relationship with you like we couldn't imagine. Thank you for this day. We thank you for our time together. Pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, could you just give the Lord a praise real quick? Man. Um so next week, got the cookie thing. Let's do that. And uh the cookie exchange is gonna be awesome. But hey, before you go, please don't rush out. If you need prayer, please, please get prayer. Um, and uh, man, would you just know how much you're loved? I don't necessarily sound disingenuous. You are so loved and just grateful that I get to do life with you. And so be blessed. Have an incredible week. Uh Merry Christmas, felice Navidad, and all that. Yeah? Yeah, be blessed. Have a have an incredible day. Have an incredible day.