“15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” – Luke 14:15-24

Shalom and great to have you back as we continue with the part 2 of our last weeks devotional “The Great Invitation”.

Now, to sum up the key scripture or text above, let us look at what a banquet is. A banquet is a feast provided to entertain a company of guests. When you read Esther 57, it talks about a banquet. Now, it was at a banquet that Esther was able to bring in her request and that request delivered the Jewish race. At a banquet, you have the privilege to talk to the host. Presidents, most times do invite other presidents from other countries and then after their diplomatic meetings they go for a banquet. That is where they now talk more casually. You know, when you have food flowing into your stomach, you are open to say many things. Now this tells you that at the banquet, God wants to have communion with us. The Greek word is Koinonia, meaning to have fellowship. God wants to have a deep relationship with you. He wants to talk to you. It is not just about coming to eat. It is a place of communication. It is a place of granting you your request.

Then when you read 1Peter 4:3, Peter tells us about the importance of being in the presence of God or being part of the invitation. He said, for we have spent enough of our past lives. In doing the wills of the Gentiles, we have spent most times when we walk in lasciviousness, lust, drunkenness, rivalry, drinking parties… However, God’s party is not worldly drinking parties. That is not what God wants from us. He want to give us a great banquet. No more worldly parties.

You see, sometimes when you are Christian, people think you cannot do whatever you want. We can all go to places and do whatever we want to do but you see, ask yourself this question. If I am taking so much drugs, am I going to die? Nobody stopped you from taking those drugs. However, scientifically, you are going to die early. God want to give you long life. Therefore, if you put yourself on drugs, it is going to affect you. God wants you to have long life and grow up to 95 years but because you are on drugs, your system collapses when you get to 50 years. I have seen great musicians and I believe you all know great musicians who died out of drug addiction. Moreover, people keep pushing it; they keep using it to destroy the minds of the youth. How can a youthful man take a gun and start killing people if something is not wrong with the mind. If that youth child or that person has not taken any drug, I do not think he can take a gun and start killing his own brothers and sisters. People are killed every week and it is not by the police nor by a soldier, but by our own children. Now, if you are going to Walmart, you are not secure. If you are going for a game, you are not secure. If you are going for a party, you are not secure. God is saying that my party is devoid of criminality. You will come and nothing will destroy you.

When we read Matthew 26:6, the Bible talks about a banquet that was held in Bethany in Mary’s house. Now we can evidently see that people threw party for Jesus Christ and those parties cannot compare to the party that his Father is inviting humankind. Now in looking at this banquet from the Jewish point of view, this invitation is first to the Jews. God sent his Son, in the person of the servant to the Jews but the Jews did not accept him. So the Father said, now go to the streets and bring in the sick, the poor. You see, when Jesus came, he was walking on the street, and he was telling people about his Father. He said, Come, for the kingdom of God is at hand. He said, come and do not worry about the situation that is making you depressed. He says, Come, my Father will provide for you. That is what Jesus was doing. The whole story is about God sending his son to a promised people but they gave excuses. Today, when you go to Israel, there is a new prophet that has been lifted. They claim that is their Messiah. They now hail him as a messiah. That is rather unfortunate because the Messiah already came, he invited them and they refused.

Now, when the servant who is Jesus stopped going to the street, he said, bring in the Gentiles. Thanks be to God that we are part of the people that honored the banquet. We are the gentiles they saw as nobody. We are the Gentiles who accepted the Father’s invitation and that is where we are today. Therefore, when you see yourself in the church it means you have honored the invitation to the great banquet and you have the opportunity to dine with the Lord. You have the opportunity to communicate with the Lord. You have the opportunity to receive from the Lord. That is a great privilege for us. Hallelujah.

We end here and continue next week. God bless you for your time and have a great week.

Shalom.