Topic: God's Love

You've been invited to have a seat at the King's banquet. What do you do? Do you ignore the invitation or do you rejoice at this unexpected offer? In this Easter sermon, we take a close look at Jesus' parable from Luke 14:12-24 titled the Great Banquet. Jesus tells this story of a man hosting a grand feast who sends invitations out to many. However, time and time again he is met with excuses of those too busy or too self-important to attend. The man sends out more invitations, even to those whom society would deem undesirable, in hopes of filling his banquet halls. So what does this mean for us? Find out in "The Invitation" and learn that you too have been given an invite by God.

God's Love for us is extraordinary. It's important to know that because what we believe about God's love for us will impact our actions. When we don't have a healthy view of God's love for us there's no telling what kinds of thoughts and beliefs could creep in. Yet, when our foundation is the love of God, it impacts every area of our lives. Particularly impacting the most important areas of our life. Malachi teaches us some very important truths about these things.

Zechariah is known as the "Messianic Prophet" because he is quoted so often in the New Testament with his shear number of prophecies that point to Jesus. In this sermon we learn about the CLEAR GOSPEL STORY found in the book of Zechariah. When compared side-by-side with the life of Christ, the book of Zechariah paints an incredible picture of who the Messiah would be, down to his character and nature. He also shares clearly about the sacrifice Jesus would give us at the hand of God, Himself. If you've ever struggled with the love of God, this sermon is for you. God went to every effort to let us know He loves us, by sending His one and only son to die on the cross for our sins. You are loved.

The Minor Prophets is rich in life lessons. In fact, there is so much wisdom to be gained from them.  There are 12 minor prophets. In this sermon we receive an overview of this 400 year span in which they prophesied to the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms (as well as others).  What we're going to see is that God is a loving God who is trying to get the attention of His people. And that still hasn't changed. He's still trying to get your attention and my attention.   These are the major lesson from the minor prophets... 

It's hard to share Jesus with other people when we're caught up in our failures. I mean, you go to work and you're like, "Hey, why don't you come to Bible Study with me? Why don't you come to church?" Then you're like, "But they know me! They know what words came out of my mouth! They know the attitude I had last week! They know!" Yeah... THEY do. But are you sharing Jesus with them? Or are you sharing your perfectionism with them? Listen, we all fall short of the glory of God. We're sharing Jesus with them. Jesus is the ONLY answer!

And as Barabbas walks away a free man I picture Jesus standing there, looking at Barabbas. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't proclaim his innocence. He just looks at Barabbas... He stands there guilty of something he did not do. He just locks eyes with Barabbas. Who's Barabbas?... Barabbas is you and Barabbas is me. We are guilty. Yet He pays our punishment. Because love says, "I'll take that!"

God became man and He died like a man, too. And when He died like a man he knew fully what it meant to be a man.