Latest / The Daily Word / October 1 – Fill the House
Transcript
- Robert Rosales: Hey, good morning and welcome to the Daily Word podcast. If you're joining us in the afternoon, well then good afternoon to you. I'm Robert Rosales, and along with my wife Yolanda, I have the privilege of serving as the campus pastor for our Gastonia location. Thank you so much for taking a few minutes to invest with me today in God's Word. Whether you're listening on your morning commute, enjoying a cup of coffee. Or you're beginning your day with the Lord, my heart is that this time encourages you, draws you closer to Jesus, and gives you deeper revelation of his word. Just as a reminder, each day as a church, we're reading through the Bible together using the life journal reading plan. If you don't have a life journal, let me encourage you, stop by the lobby, the welcome center, the next step desk. Whatever your campus calls it, and pick one up today, you'll be glad you did. It's got a reading plan in there. Better yet, download our Lakeshore app if you haven't already done that. One of the things that I've learned over the years is that God often speaks and we hear Him the clearest in those quiet moments when we slow down and turn down the noise and the distraction. So just grab your Bible. Grab your journal, grab a pen, open your heart, and get ready to listen. That's how you do it. It's that simple. Now, I want to remind you, as we're reading, I'm going to use the SOAP method: scripture, observation, application, prayer. Soap. God's word will always clean you up. It's a simple framework that helps move God's word from the pages into our everyday lives. Now, before we begin. Like I do every time. Pray with me. Let's invite the Holy Spirit to lead us. Father, thank you for this new day and for the privilege of opening your word. Quiet the distractions around us and the noise within us. Give us hearts that are teachable, minds that are attentive, and lives that are ready to obey whatever you reveal. Holy Spirit, illuminate God's word to us and help us not only understand it. But to live it out today. We ask this in the name of Jesus. And everybody said, Amen. Okay, friends, today's passage for October 1st is Luke chapter 14. And I journaled from verse 23. Let me encourage you to read this whole parable. It's powerful. It's the parable of the Great Supper. Verse 23 out of the New King James reads like this. Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. Listen to that last part again. Compel them to come in that my house may be filled. I like to give my journal entries titles, kind of goes with the insight. And the revelation that I caught. So here's the title for today's entry. You ready? God's heart to fill his house. God's heart to fill his house. Here's my observation. In the parable of the Great Supper, God is the master of the house, and the kingdom of God is represented by the great banquet. The invited guests represent the Jewish nation to whom the kingdom was prepared. And presented, but who rejected Jesus when he proclaimed that the kingdom was near. When the original invitees refuse, the master instructs his servant to invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame from the city streets. This detail is crucial. These were people the Pharisees considered unclean and cursed by God. Yet Jesus taught that the kingdom was available even to them. The master's additional instruction to search the highways and the hedges indicates that salvation would extend to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth. Wow! Can you see God's heart to fill his house? Filling his house points to the fact that God desires for all men to be saved and Come to repentance and enter into the kingdom of God. God's compassion and love for humanity is the reason Jesus came to the earth for you, for me, for everyone. He wants all people to join him in his house, i.e., kingdom, at the heavenly banquet that he's preparing and planning for his kids. Wow. Here's the application. In other words, how does this apply to my life? See if this resonates with you. As a follower of Jesus and pastor of a local church, I will lean into my partnership with God as I invite all people to his house, to his kingdom. His house is a relationship with him. This includes inviting people to church service, but it also extends far beyond that. I want to keep growing in sharing the gospel. Stepping out in boldness to pray for people in public as the Holy Spirit leads me. I want to be known as a man of God who always invites people to God's house, who goes into the highways and the byways and compels them to come in. Friend, I hope that's your heart too. Here's my prayer. Father God, thank you for speaking to me today through your word. The revelation found in these scriptures. Help me to become a man who partners with God, compelling people to fill his house. Increase my hunger. Increase my heart to be a man who reaches the loss, who shares the gospel, who compels people to come into a relationship with God. I ask these things in Jesus' name. And everybody said with me, Amen. Hey, Lakeshore family, as you go about your day, my prayer is that you'll keep growing in your love for Jesus and His Word. As you invest time with him, may He give you fresh insight, strengthen your faith, and guide your steps. Thanks for joining me today on the Daily Word podcast. I pray you've been encouraged to stay in God's Word and walk closely with the Holy Spirit. God bless you, and we'll catch you again tomorrow.