Learn How God Lift Me When I'm Worn Down Rick Warren

life can wear you down everybody agree with that yeah it really can so that you've got nothing left to give and I'm sure that many of you will relate to this anonymous prayer request that came in I feel like I'm in a war zone it's just one battle after another I argued with my wife I clash with my kids over everything a fight to keep my job a struggle with our growing debt and I'm losing the battle with my weight then there's the conflict inside of me and I fight with my own fears when I battle my own anxieties and my temper and I'm always fighting off depression sometimes I'm fighting just to keep my head above water and I'm just so tired what is the goodness of God have to do in that kind of a situation when I'm feeling that way when you feel that way when somebody else feels that way where is the goodness of God when you're worn out how does God lift you up when you're worn down you know we've been in this series now on living in the goodness of God and we're looking at Psalm 23 the most famous chapter in the Bible twelve different expressions of God's goodness it's only six verses but it's jam-packed with gems of spiritual truth and so far we've looked at about seven of those spiritual benefits that show us God's goodness in our lives and today we start verse five and they're actually three in this verse we're going to take the next three weeks to look at these three individual jewels of God's goodness in our lives so if you look at your message notes if you'll take those out at the top of your outline Psalm 23 verse 5 the first of three phrases in that verse and that's all we're going to cover is this you prepare a band it for me in front of my enemies now the motif of Psalm 23 changes in verse five and six and he goes from being a shepherd out in the fields to now at a banquet hall and he says you prepare a table or a banquet before me in front of my enemies now what in the world does that mean and how can it relate to my this was written friends three thousand years ago how could it possibly have any relevance for your life today well when you understand it it's as accurate and as relevant as the news you read or listen to every morning it's another metaphor that needs explaining and really to unpack this for you in this message we need to ask four questions and here they are what kind of banquet is this that's the first question second question is who are the enemies who the enemies number three what does this banquet symbolize and number four what's on the menu and we're going to look at all four of those and when you see the answers to these you're going to see I realize how important this passage is to your life how God lifts you up when you're worn down let's get right into it first question what kind of bent with is this well let's just take the sentence apart word by word okay now the first word is you you who's that talking about talking about God so once you write this down in this banquet God is the host he's the host of the banquet you're not a host no human being as though God is the host of this banquet not your typical party imagine the honor being invited by God if God invited you to a banquet what would you wear you'd probably go get your hair done even if you're bald you'd go get your hair done you take two or three baths you stay up all night you know cleaning your fingernails and well women don't do that you just paint them but I imagine they're clean under that right I've never thought about that you know guys maybe if we painted ours we wouldn't have to clean them that would be very okay so anyway you God is the host number two he says you prepare second thing we learn about this this banquet is it's well planned it's prepared it's not spontaneous it's not off-the-cuff it's not of I just thought about it now it's something that was prepared any of you who've had to prepare wedding know that the banquet is probably the biggest part it's amazing to me how little preparation actually gets spent on the most important part of a wedding you know what it is the vows the vows is the most important part of wedding if you cut out the vows you don't have a wedding you have all the music all the procession all the you know all the refreshments and everything else but if you don't have the vows you don't have a wedding and yet I can't tell you how many people who spent months and months and maybe up to a year planning the reception when it comes to vows that whatever you think Rick if people spend as much emphasis on preparing their marriage as they do preparing their wedding reception they'd have a lot more stable marriages but he says you prepare this banquet so it's not spur-of-the-moment now by the word the way the word banquet here in the Hebrew is actually the word table but it's not just any table the Hebrew word here for banquet our table is a shikon jewel con means the king's table it's not a portable table that you just kind of set up it's not some Formica dinette you know in your kitchen it's not certainly not a TV tray this is a giant big long table that a king or queen would happen it's it's a big series table this word is used mostly in the Bible related to Kings tables and sometimes it's used to refer to the table of showbread in the in the tabernacle so this is at a bullets special significant and sacred you gods the hosts prepare its well planned he says you prepare a banquet for me now that means number three write this down I am the guest of honor in this banquet you are the guest of honor the whole banquet is prepared for you not for somebody else and you just get to come this banquet is in your honor it's for you it is all about you in this particular situation then he says you prepare a banquet for me in front of next thing we learn about it is it's a public not secret event what God's going to do here he's planning a party he's planning a party for you it's specifically for you and it is in public he does it intentionally in front of people it's not secret God wants everyone to see how he's going to honor you and then he says you prepare a banquet for me in front of my enemies now that's a little catch you weren't expecting that you'd say prepare banquet for me and my friends prepare banquet for me and the dignitary if you want advice and says no you prepare a big banquet for me in front of my enemies so here's the last thing I want you write it down it's on a battlefield this is the banquet on a battlefield we're going to come back and talk about that and see the reasons in just a minute but the kind of banquet it is God's the host it's well planned thought out you're the guest of honor it's in public God wants to honor you not secretly but publicly and it's actually on a battlefield and your enemies are there watching this now the second question we ask is well what are the enemies who are the enemies you say well I don't have any enemies you ever felt picked on by anybody you ever felt put down you ever felt rejected you ever felt criticized who are the enemies or what are the forces that oppose you let me put it this way what are the foolish forces that oppose God's best in your life well the Bible says that you have three fundamental enemies and and you need to know them Sun Tzu said in the art of war he said the first law of winning a battle is know your enemy know your enemy Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 he says we're not ignorant of the way Satan works at his tactic see he says then I don't want you to be ignorant you need to know who your enemies could you name your three enemies let's look at him here's what the Bible says number one the first enemy is the world around me the Bible has a lot to say about this the world around me no matter what you think no matter what you say no matter what you do somebody's going to oppose it have you figured that one out evil if I could just be perfect then everybody would like me Jesus was perfect then they nailed him to a cross even if you were perfect somebody's not going to like you and it's impossible no matter what you think people going to pose you and if evil doesn't fight you it means you're not doing good they tell you that if evil does not oppose you you feel no opposition from evil it means your head in the same direction that's not a good sign jesus said it like this beware when all men speak well of you you tell what a person is like not just by their friends you can tell a lot about a person's character but who's their enemy and that'll tell you a lot about the kind of person they are who their friends are but also who their enemy enemies are so you've got opposition everywhere you can have opposition of course at work people who don't like you people are gunning for your job people are trying to you know get you demoted or they don't like because you're a believer or whatever maybe they just think you dress funny but their enemies are a pot you'll see opposition at work do you remember the opposition used to have at school how people would pick on you and that wasn't any fun you can have opposition in the neighborhood you can have opposition from relatives no don't look at them but you know who I'm talking about by the way did you know what the first prayer in the Bible is the first recorded prayer in the Bible it's a Genesis chapter 32 and is the prayer for protection against an angry family member Genesis 32 verse 11 look here on the screen Jacob prays to God save me from my brother Esau I'm afraid he'll attack me now Jacob had cheated his brother out of his birthright and he had run off and years later he's coming back and he knows he's going to run into his brother and he says in the rest of us I'm afraid my brother's going to kill me my family my kids my life my wife the very first prayer in the Bible is a guy praying about protection from his own family I don't want to get into this but I want to just pause you and say some of you have been abused by family members I'm sorry I'm sorry physically abused verbally abused sexually abused I'm sorry read the statistics it's not that uncommon a lot of people get abused growing up by family members and I just want to say I'm not preaching on this today the Saddleback is a safe place and if you have had family abuse or are in family abuse this is a place to be you could talk about it here we will help you here this is a safe place look at the next verse what the Bible says jesus said in this world you will have tribulation circle will have you'll have tribulation not you might have you're going to have it count on it you're going to have tribulation and trials you can have distress and frustration but take part because I have overcome the world he said don't be shocked don't be shocked when people oppose you in the world don't be shocked when you have troubles and tribulations and trials people test you people poke you people prod you so don't be don't don't be surprised by this it's going to happen in life why you ever thought about it why is life such a battle why is life so hard then the answer is because the world's value system is anti-god and anything that stands up for God is going to get challenged one way or the other you see this world worships itself the world worships creation and all the things God created and does not worship the Creator now whenever you have that you're going to have abuse you're going to have a muse misuse you can have perversion all kinds of things look at the next verse first John chapter 2 talks about this first enemy in your life that is the world now it says do not love the world stop right there is it wait a minute isn't this a contradiction because the Bible says God so loved the what world okay so which is it hearings we're clearly told do not love the world and yet the Bible says God so loved the world that he gave a son the difference is in the meaning of the word world we are to love the people of the world and hate the world's value system when the Bible says God so loved the world he didn't love the sin in it he didn't love the abuse in it he didn't love the misuse of his gifts in it God so loved the world he loved the people we are to love the people and hate the world's value system you know what the problem is we do the exact opposite we hate people and we love the value system we love materialism we love hedonism we love secularism we love I got to be me I'm going to do it my way it's all about me look at the rest of us do not love the world or all the things that's materialism in the world if you love what the world offers it shows the Father's love the words loves missing there the father's love is not in you for everything the world values and here's the list of the world values the three big ones doing anything that feels good and indulging every lust that's called the lusts of the flesh being driven by greed to always want more what's called the lust of the eyes and the pride full pretending to impress others that's called the pride of life these things they do not come from God the world and all the things people think are important are actually passing away but the person who does what God says will live forever so he says your first enemy is actually the world's value system what everybody thinks is so important they're given statues to you shouldn't care about because that's not what life is all about it's not about having more you know looking good feeling good and having the goods it says all these things and so what they're natural natural does not necessarily mean moral natural doesn't necessarily mean moral I mean it's natural if somebody hurts you you want to hurt them back that's the most natural thing in the world is it right no you punch me in the face my natural reaction is to punch you back and sometimes I might want to feel naturally to punch you first so it's natural doesn't mean its moral lying is natural I was watching a show the other day said kids learn to start lying through their eyes and veins as early as two years old that by five years old 50 percent of kids know how to lie habitually and by seven years old 100 percent of kids know how to lie habitually lying is very very natural is it right no so it's not moral sex is natural sex with everyone well that's the animals do sex with everybody is it moral no natural doesn't necessarily mean moral natural natural can sometimes be toxic arsenic is a natural subject you drink it it'll kill you you can see a mushroom in the out in the garden and six Wow natural food and eat it and die just because something natural doesn't mean it won't you it won't kill you what am i saying is it because of the world's value system when a gift from God a good gift from God and everything in life that was a gift from God it all comes about when a gift becomes a God it becomes destructive water is a gift from God too much water will drown you fire is a gift from God fire in the fireplace in the right place will warm your house fire out of control will burn down a city and even hundreds of thousands of acres sex is a gift from God out of control not used in God's parameters it becomes destructive and anytime we take God's gift and we abuse it and we misuse it or we pervert it then it then it becomes destructive sex is not dirty it's Holi its Holi and that's why God says there are parameters for it so the first enemy is the world around you and you live with it all the time but here's the point just as God can take the fish and put them in the ocean and that ocean is filled with salt water it's briny when you catch a sea bass or ling cod or a rock cod or any kind of fish out of the ocean and you bring them in and you you know scan them and then you cook them when you cook them the first thing I've just put salt on them why an oil got to do that they lived in salt their entire life shouldn't they be briny but saltwater fish don't have salt in them why they're not isolated from their culture they're not imitating their culture they're insulated in their culture and if God can take a fish and keep them in a briny ocean is entire life and then you have to put fish salt on them to eat them God can keep you in a world with the wrong value system without him infecting you that makes sense if you trust him so that's your first enemy the world second enemy is first as the world around you the second is Satan is against me the world is around me in the second is Satan is against me the Bible calls Satan your adversary your accuser because the the the liar the father of lies your foe your enemy in fact the Bible says that Satan would like to kill you very clear the Bible says the thief comes to kill and to steal and to destroy Satan wants to kill you steal your identity and destroy your life why well he doesn't care anything about you but the reason he wants to kill you and destroy you is because God loves you and because God loves you Satan wants to hurt God the easiest way to hurt me would be hurt my children or my grandchildren and so Satan doesn't care anything about you you're nothing did you mean nothing to him but because God loves you he wants to destroy you he wants to mess you up he wants to try to hurt God that way now the Bible says in first Peter 5:7 be careful watch out for attacks from the devil who is your great enemy and the Bible says you should be aware of his tactic so I'm going to give them to you right now was somewhere on the outline just I didn't provide a place for this let me give you the tactics of Satan's uses number one the number one way Satan uses in your life is this deception and suggestion deception and suggestion he tells you lies he's suggesting them to you all the time and he puts thoughts in your mind when God gives puts the thought in your mind it's inspiration when the devil puts a thought in your mind it's called temptation Satan works in your life through the power of suggestion and from the very beginning he will question God's Word did God really say don't do this deception and suggestion ii faithful tool he uses is distraction and division and the satan can't get you to believe one of his life so just get you busy and it get you distracted from the main things in life it's so easy we have good forgivers that the stuff you know to do that's right and good and healthy and affirming in your life and affirming in the lives of other people you'll just get you distracted and if you can't get you distracted he'll get you divided with divided loyalties here and there the number one tools Satan uses in churches is division in the church and this group of people gets mad at that group of people so there's a second suggestion there's distraction in division and the third made tool he uses is discouragement and persecution he just wants to get you down so he'll have people say mean things to you and Satan can use anybody he can use me to use you you can use if you put some thought in your mind and you fall for it you just got used who you were a tool you were a tool and and you could say the wrong thing and you didn't even think about it but it was thought at plot came through your mind and it just came out your mouth and he uses discouragement persecution more Christians are dying today for their faith than at any other time in history you may not know that last year their I think 25 million people martyred for their faith and around the world we know the society and news meet it pays very little attention to it except to have some in in the Middle East but that's just one place where it happens it happens Hindu violence against Christians in India and Buddhist violence against Christians in Asia and many many other places when you have people attacking you you need to realize it's not really them look at the next verse fusion 612 our fight is not really against people on earth but against the forces of evil in the spiritual world so we have the world around us and we have Satan against us that's the two big two enemies but you got one more and this one's your biggest enemy of all and it's not the world around me or Satan against me it's my old nature inside me my old nature inside me is my biggest enemy and your old nature inside you is your biggest enemy I mean do you always do the right thing that you intend to do I'll say that again you don't have to answer do you always do the right thing that you intend to do of course not I don't you don't who cause that the world no the devil no devil doesn't have to bother with most of us most of the time because we're so caught up in our old nature Paul says it like this in Romans 7 he wrote an entire chapter in the Bible about the battle in your mind the battle against your old ways your old habits your old patterns after you become a believer you get a new heart you get a new identity but then you still have that battle the Paul says in Romans 7 23 inside me my old nature is at war with my new mind which wants to do what's right so you know I want to do the right thing you want to do the right thing you're obviously here at church this weekend you want to do the right thing inside me my old nature is at war with my new mind I get a new mind when I become a believer which wants to do what's right but my old self fights back keeps me struggling with my old patterns and sins it's a very famous story of a well-known Navajo chief who became a Christian leader on the Navajo Reservation and he was explaining to his people one day about this battle between your old nature new nature and he says in my life is that it's like two dogs arguing over a piece of meat the red dog of the black dog arguing and they're fighting and there's this battle going on inside my mind and one of the young men asked him he said well chief which dog wins he says the one I feed the most it's the one you give expression to in your life the longer I live the more I realize and I am my biggest enemy now let's go back to this song all I everything I just said is all set up for meaning of this verse you prepare a banquet for me in front of my enemies you prepare for me a banquet for me in the presence of my enemies now what does that mean well let's talk about for just a minute what is the meaning of the banquet in the Bible a banquet almost always represents one of two things either fellowship or approval and I want to teach you true very - very true statements about your life that when you're going through times when you feel like I'm getting beat up right now I've got a lot of enemies I got a lot of forces coming in to be financial forces I'm in a financial battle I'm in a health battle I'm in a marriage battle I'm in a relationship battle I'm in a business battle you need to hold on to these two things because it's in the battle the Bible says that God prepares the banquet for you and what does that banquet represent number one write this down first the banquet teaches us that God wants and welcomes fellowship with me God wants and welcomes fellowship with me he prepares this banquet for you when you are under attack Psalm chapter 5 verse 5 chapter 5 verse 11 says this you welcomed us with open arms when we run for cover to you this is talking about when you're in a battle you welcome us with open arms when we run for cover do you let the party last all night stand guard over our celebration I love that the message translation he says okay you're going to have a party in the middle of a battle and you're going to have somebody stand guard and and when we run to you for cover I'm being beat up right now I need you to lift me up when I'm worn down Lord he's talking about a party in a combat zone a banquet on a battlefield now those of you who've been in the service know that in combat there aren't any banquets on the battlefield there are no tables on the battlefield a soldier who's in a combat zone is going to eat MREs meals ready to eat they're cold they're vacuum for a fact and they're tasteless and and when when you're in the battle when you're in the heat of the battle they're not calling you into the mess hall to eat when you're in the heat of the battle you have no table you have no back banquet it's a quick bite of a meal ready to eat and then you're back into the battle that's the way the world operates but god it's different and once you'd imagine a scene let's imagine that you are a soldier let's just say in the Middle Ages serving some King the most powerful King in Europe and you're in a battle maybe it's one of the Crusades or something like that and you're in a heated battle and you're tired and you're sweaty and you're scared and you're hungry and all of a sudden without any explanation the captain of your division comes in and pulls you off the front line you have no idea why you're being pulled off the front line in the in the heat of battle and so you began to walk back and 500 yards back from the from the front line the King has arrived and the King has arrived and they have set up a huge banquet tent I mean it like one of those things with the turrets and everything that's just so pretty enough in the Middle Ages and they've set up this used banquet tent with a full feast and they have transported the Kings table to the battlefield somehow they got it out of the castle and they put it on a wagon and they brought it hundreds maybe a thousand miles to this battlefield and the King's actual table is there and they lay out this huge feast with your favorite foods and you look on that on that table there's all your favorite foods all that home cooking and the keenest stations let's say 500 guards around that table to protect you and then the King explains to you this he says see all this food this banquet this is for you and me nobody else that's a banquet in the middle of a battlefield you've been pulled off the line and they've done all this great expense and the King says this banquet it's your favorite food I did a little research I looked it all up and I want you to eat with all you want because I just did it for you I wanted to hang out with you the King says this to you I wanted to hang out with you so go ahead and eat all you want your unhurried your unworried you're protected there's no way the enemy is going to get in here they're out there on the battlefield like you could hear them but they're that far away and when you're beat up and you're away from home there's nothing like a home-cooked meal then there's comfort in that comfort food and then just in case nobody everybody doesn't know what's going on the king wants everybody to know what he's doing for you you are the guest this is your banquet it's for you and the King raises a banner and this banner says it's so big that everybody on the battlefield can see it it says I love and it has your name I love your name and inputs put your name up there and I am proud of them you realize that's what exactly what this verse is saying God does for you when you are under attack look at this verse on the screen songs of Solomon - for he brings me to his banquet table and his banner over me is love that's how much God loves you even if nobody else have lived on this planet Jesus Christ still would have come and died for you because he loves you that much this banquet is not for anybody else it's for you in the king only because he wants fellowship with you he wants to hang out with you the single most amazing unbelievable hard to believe truth in the universe is this that God would want to spend time with me the God would want to spend time with you but he does if I told you that tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. you could meet with the top 10 leaders of the world the Prime Minister of England the president of United States the president of chairman of China and on and on and on and they wanted to meet with you you wouldn't even go to bed tonight you'd stay up all night getting ready and picking out the best clothes and you'd get so ready because they wanted to meet with you yeah I'm telling you God wants to do that with you every day of your life and you don't have to get dressed it's called a quiet time where you spend time alone with him God says I just want to hang out with you God wants fellowship with you if God hadn't weathered fellowship with you he wouldn't have sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross the whole reason Jesus came to die on the cross and so that you could have fellowship with God if God didn't want fellowship with you he wasted Jesus death because he's the bridge that paid for all your sins and made that kind of fellowship with you God wants and he welcomes fellowship with me you know what that's called okay now we're talking about to the other day it's hospitality it's one of the top values of Saddleback Church we want people to feel welcomed and wanted at Saddleback Church that's called hospitality when you welcome people and you want people that's called hospitality and over in the Romans chapter 15 it says warmly welcomed others into the church just as Christ warmly welcomed you that's hospitality but God is saying this first with you I'm warmly welcome you into this banquet e10 and I've gone to all his expense and I brought the the the feast to you here on the banqueting table on the field of battle and he raises this sign and he brings me to the banqueting table and he says this banner over me is love that's how much God loves you now imagine if you're the enemy they see all this going on they see they see you pulled off the front line they say you walked up to the king the king embraces you the Kings got a giant banquet tent he's got a feast laid out the flaps are up for everybody and see all that food there they're hungry and sweaty and tired - and the enemy is so dumbstruck by this scene that they all just stop fighting and stare they just stop fighting and stare at you you know one of the things I've learned is that when God wants to bless your life all the critics in the world can't stop it you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies and they can't do squat they may want to criticize you they may want to bait you debate you debase you reject you lie about you slander but you can't stop it when you have the favor of the King on your life you prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies and they are dumbfounded and they just watch you get blessed and blessed and blessed and blessed because his banner over me is love it's all because of his love nothing I deserve nothing you deserve they can't stop it you can't stop it today right now in your life in the middle of all your battles God is inviting you to a banquet look at this verse the Bible says in job 36 or 16 God is gently calling you from the jaws of distress what a beautiful picture from the jaws of distress to open to an open place of freedom where he has set your table full of the best food this is the same job saying the exact same thing David says in Psalm 23 he says God is gently calling it he's wooing you he is coaxing you he said come on I want to have fellowship with you how could you not love a god like that I want to I want to get to know you I want you to get to know me when I have fellowship with you I want to eat together he's calling you the kingdom of God all through the New Testament is portrayed as a banquet God says come to the party come to the party it's all about what I'm doing for you and as we may criticize you you demean you dismiss you whatever but God wants to hang out with you and he's put an awful lot of prep in honoring you he prepared this table he prepared this pamphlet he went to great expense to make possible fellowship with him that's the first truth we learned the second thing the banquet symbolizes is this I love this one too God wants to bless me to show the world his goodness that's what this verse teaches God wants to bless me in order to show the world his goodness that's why it's not in secret that's why it's in front of people in front of even my enemies I am a trophy of God's grace you are a trophy of God's grace I am Exhibit A of the goodness of God God's goodness on display that he used flawed frail people with all kinds of faults and flaws and flubs and motivations and things we don't even understand God only used perfect people you've heard me say it a thousand times nothing would get done he only uses he only uses imperfect people he only blesses imperfect people because it's based on His grace and he says not only do I want to hang out with you he says I want to use you to show my goodness of the world and I want to bless you and I want you to be a trophy of my grace and I want to show the world yea even your enemies how good I am Psalm 31 verse 19 your goodness is so great you have stored up great blessing for those who honor you you have done so much for those who come to you for protection when you're in the battle blessing them before the watching world now that that verse is packed with a lot of good material but notice this first you might circle the phrase stored-up he says god your goodness is great and you have stored up great blessings for those who honor you did you know that God has stored up great blessings for you if you're honoring him he stored up great blessings for you now the word stored up that clearly indicates advanced planning you can't store up at the last second you have to store up in advance so God had some advanced planning going on before he has the banquet for your battleground it's pre thought it's already been considered so let's just get real clear you're going to love this you know that battle you're fighting right now it's intense you may be fighting it with yourself you may be fighting it in the world you may be fighting it with an addiction you may be fighting against the devil you may be fighting against your thought life you may be fighting against the habit it's a white-knuckle bare bare bones bowel mano-a-mano your your you are tired and you're worn out because you've been fighting this battle a long time that battle that you're fighting right now before it even started God was planning your victory banquet he was storing up he can see the end being confident of this thing that he who began a good work in you will continue it into the day of completion Jesus Christ God does not sponsor flops ultimately he wins I've read the last chapter and you know if he wins that means his kids win and that battle you're fighting right now God has already planned the victory party in advance God loves to throw victory celebrations for his children look at this verse on the story the Bible says how great is the Lord he is pleased with the success of his servant God is pleased with the success of his servant God is pleased with your success when you're trying to honor him you don't always do it right but you're trying to honor him you have a tender heart an open heart and a fennec cart God is pleased with the success of his servant he wants to bless you to show the world his goodness so those are the two reasons we have this banquet metaphor God says I want to fellowship with you and I want to publicly approve you in front of everybody else I want to bless you so much that even your enemies their mouths drop with whoa look at that and we can't even stop that literally like her but God's hand is on her life and watch what it God is doing so last question what's on the menu of God's banquet remember this banquets in your honor it's for you alone it's not for anybody else he prepares for me a banquet in the presence of my enemies what's on the menu of God's God's banquet write this down everything that God has promised in his word that's the menu every single thing that God has promised in his word is on the banquet manual menu there are by many different counts one major account says that there are 5,500 promises in this book every promise is a menu item that God says yeah you can order that one we ordered all a car do you order it with five other promises - they're all there 5500 some say 6,000 what am I saying I'm saying this listen don't get anything else get this your banquet is in your Bible this is the menu the banquet is in your Bible all of the promises that God has given you about your money all the promises God has given you about your relationships all the promises God has given you about your past your present your future your salvation your heaven your saved from hell all the promises about God's giftedness in your life useability all of the 5500 promises that's a bigger menu than any restaurant you've ever been to the banquet is in the Bible and this Bible is full of fruit and bread and milk and meat and all kinds of sweets and tons and tons of desserts they're all in here and the Bible itself is called the bread of life and the Bible is called the meat of the word and the Bible is called like honey in the honeycomb and the Bible is called fruit that tastes good and the Bible is the metaphors of the Bible being called food this is your soul food food for your soul all these tons and tons of desserts and what I'm telling is this you can have a feast whenever you got one of these all you have to do is open it where do you think you're going to get your strength from the Bible watching YouTube things know watching television read the paper newspaper know where are you going to get your strength for your battle when you're worn down who's going to lift you up the Word of God this is the truth so if all of the menu on the banquet of God for your life all that good food is in this book why in the world would you ever eat an internal or an Internet granola bar when you've got all this I mean that sirloin steak in here you shopped over yawn we got baked the last go you know we got Cinnabon I mean we got I mean whoa it's just every page its dripping with food psalm 119 103 look on the screen the promises of your word taste sweet to me and they taste sweet that taste is sweeter than honey in my mouth you know sweet taste in your mouth do not spend enough time in this book so let me ask you a real quick question how much time are you spinning in God's Word a little bit every now and then not good enough that'd be like eating one meal a week and fasting the rest of the week are you fasting instead of feasting on the Word of God that's why you're sick that's why you're weak that's why you don't have any why you're a pushover for the devil you can just whip you around you give in to all kinds of things you don't even see them coming because they're camouflaged enemies don't just come and say hey I'm the enemy but your morale nourished while your banquet sits on the Shelf it's sitting there ready to feed you this is where you get your strength for the battle this the Bible is the banquet and all of the promises of God that he put in it so you need to go get a modern translation if you don't have them get rid of the thees and now is kind of get one that can actually read there's lots of good translations if you don't know how to do it three take class 201 in that class which I wrote teaches you how to have a daily fellowship with God how to hang out with God how to feast with God how to feast on the word take that class look at this next verse Psalm 34 verse 8 learn to savor how good the Lord is not a beautiful verse circle backward savor learn to savor how good the Lord is you know what you think of the Bible your view of the Bible what you think it really represents will determine whether you enjoy it or not if you think this book the Bible is a text book does anybody enjoy reading a text book very few people enjoy reading a text book so if you think that this is a text book you're not you're not going to want to go be in it on a daily basis if you think it's a history book that's got a lot of history about Israel and how God did things the paths of Jesus and if you think it's a history book it's not going to give you a whole lot okay if you think it's an insurance policy fire insurance policy to stay out of hell yeah have you ever read an insurance policy through no there's dry as they can all get out you'd be bored if you thought this was your life insurance policy for heaven or your fire insurance policy to keep you out of hell you would not read it let me tell you what this is this is God's love letter to you this is God's love letter to you and if you realize that you're not you can't wait to go read it when Kay and I got engaged we did the dumping of moving to the opposite side of the world from each other she moved to Birmingham Alabama to work at an inner-city church and I moved to Nagasaki Japan to plant a church and there were no cell phones in those days and it's the other kind of phone was so expensive 7 10 15 dollars a minute we didn't use that so every day we wrote letters to each other that whole time and I'd get three or four letters from her before she'd get the one that I had sent the two three and she gets two or three for me and not responding the one she had it was always out of synch but as a young man in love with a young woman and a letter would come in he they had lay it on the counter and say well I'll read that in a couple days man I tore that thing apart as fast as I could I would read it I would reread it I would try to read by it between the lines I would want to underline and memorize parts of it because that represents her love for me this is God's love letter to you learn to savor how good the Lord is if you're not in this book you are forgetting every day how much God loves you and boy is that easy to forget you forget how much the Creator who made you loves you he does this whole thing the banquets because he loves you look at this next verse Psalm 36 18 verse 7 - 9 how precious O God is your constant love we find protection under the shadow of your wings we feast there's that word again we feast on the abundant food you provide you let us drink from the river of your goodness you are the source of all life and because of your light we see the light God's love for you is the reason for the feast it's the reason for the banquet now this statement that's just one of three in this sentence you prepare a table you prepare a band put the Kings table for me in the presence of my enemies this has a now and future application to it so one of these promises that you get to use now in the Word of God there is going to be a literal real banquet the banquet to end all banquets of all time that start the new age of eternity marriage supper of the lamb one day is going to be the greatest banquet of all time and who's going to be invited the people who've put their faith in Christ God's children the people who've trusted him for salvation and here's how it's going to happen Isaiah 25 the greatest banquet of all history is moving toward this climax one day in heaven the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast you know in the Bible feasts are commanded by God what a God not just fasting but feasting is command to do the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of the finest foods for all peoples that means doesn't matter what your background is what your race was what your religion was if you trusted Christ a banquet of the best of meats and the finest wines and on that mountain God will destroy the shroud that in folds all peoples and the sheet that covers all nations what you're talking about there well a shroud I need to explain to you shroud is the covering of death you put it over a dead body and a shroud is the covering of death it means the gloom that hangs over people because we all know we're going to die and says God is going to get rid of that one the Bible says the last enemy I mentioned three but you have a fourth one the fourth enemy in your life is death and you can't stop that one the Bible says one day God is going to destroy death the final enemy will be destroyed and he says I'm the Shroud of the covering of death that's the gloom that hangs over it's because death and the sheet what's that the sheet that's over all covers all these that's the cloud of grief that we're all under because we know we're getting older we know we're going to die we know we're not perfect that's that's the cloud of grief and God is gonna in His goodness eliminate the last enemy look at the rest of the verse he swallow up death forever the sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces and he will remove the disgrace of his people from the earth that means all the mean things said you when you try to stand for Christ when you tried to stand for truth when you said that's not right I can't do that I can't cheat on that I that's not right that's immoral and all of the the put-downs you've had because you tried to stand for truth you stand for truth Evil's going to come against you he will remove the disgrace of his people all the persecution that have been to those systems we followed him from the earth and in that day they will say surely this is our God we trusted in him and it saved us yes this is the Lord we trusted in him so let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation let's bow our heads that's the ultimate banquet one day who's invited all who've invited Jesus into their lives have you met Jesus yet have you accepted his salvation are you still trying to fight all your battles on your own power why don't you pray this simple prayer I invite you to pray once again just in reaffirmation or maybe for the first time God thank you that you love me this much that you host a banquet to honor me that you set up the Kings table and you fill it with all the stuff I like to eat and I'm the guest of honor then it's in public and it's not in secret and even when I'm in the middle of a battle like I'm in right now you come to the battlefield Lord on my own power I cannot defeat the enemies of the world and all its pressure to conform and I cannot defeat Satan and I can't even defeat my own old nature but I know if I spend time with you you'll give me that power Oh God that you would want and welcome fellowship with me is too hard to believe you know everything about me and you still want to have fellowship with me eat with me hang out with me Lord you've said in your word that you are gently calling from the jaws of distress to an open place of freedom where you have set a table full of the best food for me you've said that you welcomed me with open arms when I run to cover for you your goodness is so great God is amazing that you've already stored up the great blessings for those who honor you I want to be one of those people you've already planned a victory party for the battle that I'm in the heat of right now thank you that you want to bless me to show the whole world your goodness what a god you are God forgive me for not reading the menu forgive me for not knowing the 5500 promises that you've made to me I know that's insulting and I'm sorry and I want to commit to learning to savor how good the Lord is the spending time with you every every day the feast on the abundant feed of your word and the drink from the river of goodness in the Bible Lord your love is too hard to understand but as much as I know how I asked you to accept me into your family I want to be one of your children I want to put my faith in Christ I want to follow in the rest of my life I want to not listen to what the world says that I want to do what you say because you say those who do the will of the Lord will live forever and thank you Lord that one day there will be a great feast and at that feast you're going to end all death and sorrow and suffering and sadness and take away all the tears I commit my life to you I repent to you because of your goodness to me then I pray this humbly in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Saddleback Church Hong Kong

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Id: FA-yF_C7A9c

Length: 62min 17sec (3737 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 14 2017