Come And Get It!
Come And Get It
Isaiah 55:1 through Isaiah 55:7 (NIV)
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Introduction:
Are You Hungry?
I. The Dinner Invitation
A. The Call is Universal
***Dr. E. Stanley Jones tells of a girl who, frustrated by the city, entered a house of prostitution. Learning of her daughter’s plight, the mother desperately sought to rescue her. Not having her child’s address, she left a photograph of herself in each house of ill fame visited. One day, the errant girl saw on a mantle in a reception room, a familiar picture. It was the likeness of her first love. . . her mother. Beneath were the words, “come home”.
Ya'all Come
Dinner Bell - all come running
B. The Cost is Covered
-My Treat
Unclaimed Promises
An aged and ragged Indian wandered into one of our Western
settlements, begging for food to keep him from starving. A
bright-colored ribbon from which was suspended a small, dirty pouch was seen around his neck. On being questioned, he said it was a charm given him in his younger days. Opening it, he displayed a faded, greasy paper, which he handed to the interrogator for inspection. It proved to be a regular discharge from the Federal Army, entitling him to a pension for life, and signed by General Washington himself! Here was a name which would be honored almost anywhere and which, if presented in the right place, would have insured him support and plenty for the remainder of his days. Yet he wandered about, hungry, helpless, and forlorn, begging bread of the charitable to keep him from famishing. What a picture of men with all the promises of Jesus in their hands and of Christians, too, with the charter of their inheritance in full possession, yet starving in the wilderness!
--- William Moses Tidwell, “Pointed Illustrations.”
II. The Dinner Menu
A. Satisfying
MMM..Good!
Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 119:103 (NIV)
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Goodness Of God Questioned
When a father received word that his son, a brilliant lad, had been killed in a railway accident, he turned to his pastor and cried in desperation, “Tell me, sir, where was God when my son was killed?” And in that tense and terrible moment guidance was given to the counseling pastor. “My friend,” said he, “God was just where He was when His own Son was, killed! “—Christian Digest
The Incomparable Gospel Of Christ
With another, I testify that at thirty, after examining as best I could the philosophies and religions of the world, I said, “Nothing is better than the gospel of Christ;” at forty, when burdens began to press heavily and years seemed to hasten, I said, “nothing is so good as the gospel;” at fifty, when there were empty chairs in my home and the mound builders had done me service, I said, “there is nothing to be compared with the gospel;” at sixty, when my second sight saw through the illusions and vanity of earthly things, I said, “there is nothing but the gospel;” at seventy, amid many limitations and deprivations I sing:
“Should all the forms which men devise
Attack my faith with treacherous art,
I’d call them vanity and lies,
And bind the gospel to my heart.”
---Baldwin
B. Sustaining
It'll see you through. Stick to your ribs.
Though it is the smallest of all warm-blooded animals, it has the biggest heart. . . relative to its size. This big heart allows it to be most productive. It can feed on as many as 1,000 flowers a day and fly up to 500 miles nonstop. It can fly backwards, sideways, and even lift itself straight up and hover like a helicopter. No other bird has all these abilities. It is
highly adaptable to different situations in its life. It can live productively in environments ranging from 100 o F. to subzero temperature, from the warm desert to the harsh Andes. The hummingbird’s primary source of food is nectar.
There is a select group of flowers that only attract and provide nectar for hummingbirds. Their blooms are red and easily seen, often tubular, hanging horizontally or in pendant fashion, and suitable only to the long bill of the hummingbird. They grow wide apart so there is no danger of the fragile
hummingbird becoming entangled; they have no appendages to attract insects and other birds while the hummingbird is feeding. These flowers have developed a nectar specially for the hummingbird. The nectar is liquid, has just the right sugar level, and can be easily sipped. The unique flowers also provide unusually soft and delicate filaments inside their blooms to cover and protect the very fragile eggs in the hummingbird’s nest. Because of the unique design of these flowers, they depend solely on the hummingbird for pollination. But a young hummingbird does not instinctively know it should visit these flowers. It is a learned process. Slowly, through trial and error, the hummingbird learns that these flowers are the source of greatest satisfaction and essential for survival. As it responds, darting from blossom to blossom, it pulls out the deep riches within, caressing the petals with its wings. In doing so, it gets pollen on its crown, throat, and chin and transports it to other flowers of the same species. The result is often pollination and more of the beautiful blossoms from which the hummingbird can refresh itself again and again. True, the hummingbird is a servant to these flowers, helping them thrive and flourish, and in being so, sustains its own growth and development as one of God’s most beautiful and talented creatures.
--- James F. Hind, TheHeart and Soul of Effective Management
C. Appealing
I'll have what they're having
III. The Dinner Reservation
A. At the Hosts time
-Come when your called.
B. On the Host's Terms
-On the Host's Terms
- Adam, with his shirt on.
Zephaniah 1:7 through Zephaniah 1:8 (NIV)
7 Be silent before the Sovereign LORD,
for the day of the LORD is near.
The LORD has prepared a sacrifice;
he has consecrated those he has invited.
8 On the day of the LORD’S sacrifice
I will punish the princes
and the king’s sons
and all those clad
in foreign clothes.
Conclusion:
Are You Hungry?
Matthew 22:1 through Matthew 22:14 (NIV)
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
13“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”