MEETING AGENDA
- OPENING PRAYER – Ask one person to open the meeting in prayer.
- GROWTH QUESTIONS – Ask everyone the Growth Questions.
- ATTENDANCE – Take attendance through the DG Attendance System.
- TODAY’S LESSON – Go over this week’s DG lesson.
- GIVING – Encourage everyone to give on the App.
- CLOSING PRAYER – Ask for prayer requests and pray.
THE GREAT INVITATION
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
Matthew 22:1-10 (NLT) – Jesus also told them other parables. He said, 2 “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. 3 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come! 4 So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ 5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them. 7 The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. 8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. 9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ 10 So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
- In this parable, Jesus once again addresses the religious leaders’ hardness of heart and their refusal to accept God’s invitation to relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
- Because these religious leaders continued to reject Jesus, they were ultimately rejecting relationship with the Father.
John 14:6 (NLT) – Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
- Jesus’ story makes it clear that God really did want relationship with those hard-hearted leaders. God sent invitation after invitation to them, but they refused each one. (v. 3-4)
- Ultimately, everyone gets an invitation to this royal wedding feast (v. 9), so we can be sure that God is inviting us too.
- It’s important that we ask ourselves if we have accepted or refused God’s invitations to us. It is only through accepting His invitation that we can experience relationship with Him and have eternal life.
- In this parable, we see the King sending his servants first to those who had previously been invited, representing the religious leaders that Jesus was speaking with.
- They refused to come, choosing instead to go “their own way,” just like so many of us. (v. 5)
Isaiah 53:6 (AMP) – All of us like sheep have gone astray, We have turned, each one, to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] To fall on Him [instead of us].
- Thankfully, God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty of our choice to reject Him and go our own way. Jesus paid for all the consequences of our wrong choices!
- Shockingly, the men in this parable not only refused to accept the King’s invitation, they also insulted and murdered the servants the King had sent.
- There was no logical reason for this extreme reaction to the invitation God had extended them, and ultimately, this led to their own destruction.
- We know that God does not want anyone to be destroyed, but the choice of how we respond to His invitation and the consequences of that decision are up to us.
2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) – The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
- In the end, the King then sends his servants to invite “everyone you see,” representing the rest of the world, including you and me. (v. 9)
- The fact that the invitation is extended to both the “good and bad alike” is also a clear indication that He wants everybody to be saved. (v. 10)
- The invitation to salvation has been made to all without exception and it will not be withdrawn or taken away.
Romans 11:29 (AMP) – For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].
- If there’s one thing that this parable makes clear, it is that God wants His banquet hall to be filled. He wants everyone to be saved.