PowerPoint - Sept. 26, 2007

September 26, 2007

And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

--Mark 16:15

People need the Lord. But they will never know the Lord unless you and I are willing to share Jesus with our world. It’s what God has called every one of us to do.

Now in Luke 14, beginning in verse 15, Jesus tells a story, or parable, of a beautiful banquet that has been prepared. But when the master of the house says, “Invite the guests,” all the guests begin to make excuses. They all reject the master’s invitation. So the master says, “Fine, go tell the blind, the lame, the maimed; go into the highways and hedges, go into the streets, the lanes, the back alleys and invite all of those folks to come in.”

As we learned today, this parable gives us important insight into our responsibility to share the gospel. First, verse 21 shows who is to go and extend the invitation to the banquet—tthe servants. If we are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s our job to share Christ…to issue the invitation to his “banquet” of salvation.

Next, it shows how we are to go. Verse 22 says, “And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in.’” We’re to go and share the gospel in every form and every fashion with every kind of method that we can use that honors God!

Third, we are shown who are we to go to. Verse 21 again shows us that we’re to go and reach the poor—tthe physically poor, materially poor, spiritually poor. All are poor without the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when are we to go? Again, verse 21 says we’re to go quickly. There’s never been an opportunity better than right now.

Finally, we are told in verse 23, why are we to go…“That my house may be filled.” Jesus is talking about His heavenly house, and He is looking for us to reach more and more people who need to hear the invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to spend eternity with Him.

God has prepared the banquet of salvation. Are you willing to be His servant…going to a spiritually hungry world and extending His invitation to come and dine with Him for eternity? I hope your answer is YES!

make it your priority to answer christ’s call to share the gospel