Message Outlines

Our affection for Christ must be greater than our affection for anything or anyone else.

Some people have no room for Jesus in their good Christian lives.

The Feast is for Hospitality

Christmas has become a time of unrivaled charity. Much-needed donations will be made this time of year to groups that feed the homeless, serve the poor, and provide toys for children. Charities that limp along all year may joyfully find themselves receiving a donation or two that helps put them in the black, enabling them to carry on their good work. Praise God for the work that charities do, and praise God for the givers who keep them running!

“If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”
(CS Lewis, Mere Christianity)

As we enter the season of Advent, four Sundays when we prepare for the feast of Christmas, I was struck by Luke 14 and the fact that four distinct teachings of Jesus are given, all in the context of a feast that Jesus is attending, and each lesson giving us insight into the ultimate feast that is God’s kingdom. 

It seems fitting to me as we approach the feast of Christmas that we might consider these four portraits of the feast of the kingdom.  

We always have a chance to make today a day of redemption. It’s not too late to call him Lord. It’s not too late to gather under the shadow of His wing. It’s not too late to hear His voice, to soften our hearts, and to choose to make today our own day of redemption.

We all want to find meaning behind suffering. The pain of loss is too sharp; the sting too deep to ignore. It is human nature to try to find a reason for pain. But no explanation quite answers the haunting question: why?

Jesus says a storm is coming and a sentence is being handed down. Are we prepared? According to the Bible, we have no umbrella big enough to protect us from His fiery storm, and no bank account rich enough to pay our spiritual debts.

These stories beg the question: what does it look like to a Christian to work the night shift?

Has God ever answered your prayers with a rebuke?