Sermon

Called to Party with Purpose

Luke 14:12-23                                          Bruce and Jan Williams

I.    Party to build bridges

A.     Jesus at Levi’s feast (Luke 5:27-32)

B.     Jesus at the house of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)

C.     Jesus at Pharisees’ houses (Luke 7:36, Luke 14:1, John 12:42)

II.    Party to show hospitality

A.     Treat strangers like family (Lev. 19:33&34, Deut. 10:17-19)

B.     Festival celebrations are to be inclusive

1)         Feast of Weeks (Deut. 16:10-12)

2)         Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 16:13-15)

3)         Feast of Purim (Esther 9:20-22)

C.     Pharisees were forgetting hospitality, (Luke 7:36-47)

like many do (Matthew 25:35, Hebrews 13:2)

III.    Party to see healing

A.     Healing at a house party (Mark 2:1-3, 11)

B.     Healing at the temple party (Matthew 21:14&15)

C.     Healing at a mountain gathering (Matthew 15:29-38)

IV.    Party to lift up God & encourage faith in Him

A.     Jesus at the wedding, resulting in return to Cana (John 2:1&2, 11, John 4:46, 53&54)

B.     Jesus at the feast, in a parade of praise (John 12:12&13, 20&21)

C.     House-to-house parties in the early church (Acts 2:44-47)