A WOW Moment with Vicki, Mercedes and Jeremiah

No, that's too much room. Oh my gosh, so I had it right the first time. You don't even have your table with it.

I do not. Your phone is not on silent.

Oh, I gave it to you. I thought you were going to do that. That's your phone. That's your job. Oh, okay. Well, hit the button. What button? The finish button? No. We'll just leave it. My stomach just made a funny noise.

Do you hear that? Can you not pull down a... Try it. Not that one. Well, okay, yeah, that one. That one will do it. Okay. There we go. Okay, sorry. It's not a do not disturb, it's just a silent. I got you.

The do not disturb is in the settings. By the way, I want you to know this. When I first got this, I said, I don't know what this is, so you'll have to look it up. So I did this. Oh, it's an iPhone. You work Android.

So last night, because it hasn't rang or anything. I got a spam call, but it was spam. So last night, I looked at Miranda and I said, what am I doing wrong? It says press home, Miranda. So isn't that what I'm doing?

She said, oh, mom. You're putting your finger on it. You've got to press it. No, I press it. Press it. Just press it. Oh, look at that. Just press. Just tap it. Amazing. So adorable. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to our Bible study.

A Wedding Announcement and Jeremiah's First Night

Oh, Vicki, everybody knows Mercedes. She's about to run out the green again. Burgundy next for the wedding. Burgundy next for the wedding. Speaking of wedding, guess who's getting married? Yes, tonight we have Brother Jeremiah Shipley, which is our youth director, minister, pastor, whatever you want to call it.

Director. Are you director still? Minister. Yeah, you just got licensed. Just got licensed. Let me write that down. I was there. You were. I was sitting on the front row. I was right there. I saw it all.

I did take pictures. The way I electrocuted myself today at work. I've done that, too. I might be a little slow. It wears off. Oh. It was that calm of a reaction? No, because it was a plug-in, and the thing was falling off, so I was fixing it, and the whole thing fell off, so I was putting it back on, so I was making sure that the brown part on the plug-in part, where we plug the stuff in, was really on there tight.

Oh, there's wires back there. I was like, that was fast. You said you didn't use a screwdriver. At least. So, if I'm a little off today, I got fried earlier. That's all. Anyways, so, we have our youth minister with us tonight, which is a soon-to-be-husband of Mrs. Aisha Howard, which is so lovely and pleasant and so much fun.

I could say a lot more about her, but I won't, because she'll blush. Anyways, so, congratulations on the wedding coming up. Thank you. Everybody's so excited. You're excited? You're moving this weekend?

Yep. Moving this weekend. Saturday. Nemo's leaving the home. Well, that was, he got lost. He did kind of get lost. Yeah, not a good metaphor. You're not going to get lost, honey. I'm just saying, you're Nemo.

The little kid leaving the home. So, you're gimpy, too. You're lost and gimpy. I'm done. He was pretty pathetic in that movie. He was so cute. Cute. Just like you, sweetie. You're so cute. Anyways, anyways, so, welcome to our study.

We've had a lot of gentlemen on, well, no, we've had some gentlemen on the show, on the study, but tonight's Jeremiah's first night, and I'm really excited about it, because Jeremiah's a shiftly, and when he gets pumped up and excited about something, it's just all over him.

So, I've really been, all day long, I've been waiting on this. I've been thinking about it all day. So, I hope he'll enjoy tonight. I know I'm going to. It doesn't matter. It's just going to be good. I mean, we're sitting here at the church, which we all love, and I love you guys to death.

I mean, what better company could I be in? Sure. There is Rachel. Come on. Oh, yes. She's a good company. Oh, man, yes. I could sit and talk to her for hours. But anyways, you probably have. Anyways, so, I've asked Jeremiah, because I'm sure that he has several verses that he probably goes to in scripture that's his go-to verses, but I told him, I said, we will study in look over or read whatever you choose.

I mean, you've got, I just went blank. 66 books? Yes. Yes. Because I was about to say 68, and I said, no, that's wrong. 66. Yes. Books to look into to choose one. So,.

Jeremiah, honey, what have you chosen for tonight? We're going to do Luke 14, 12 through 24. It's the parable of the great banquet.

Every time. It is fantastic. Then when she's here, I call her Mercedes. Everybody does. Y 'all look so much alike. Will you please read the scripture? You said 14? Luke 14, 12 through 24. 12 through 24.

Okay. He also said to the one who had invited him, when you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors because they might invite you back.

Did I read that right? Nope. Okay. And you would be repaid. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, The one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God is blessed. Then he told him, A man was giving a large banquet and invited many.

At the time of the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who were invited, Come, because everything is not ready. But without exception, they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.

I ask you to excuse me. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me. And another said, I just got married, and therefore I am unable to come. So the slave came back and reported these things to his master.

Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame. Master, the slave said, What you ordered has been done, and there is still room.

Then the master told the slave, Go out into the highways and lanes, and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of these men who were invited will enjoy my banquet.

The Great Banquet and the Problem of Excuses

So, I'm really eager to know why you picked, I think I know, because I know you pretty well. Well, this is actually a parable or passage that I did not know up until recently. But I quickly fell in love with it, and the more it was actually Christian and I who were studying it, the more we were just looking it over and studying it, just the deeper and deeper it got.

And it's really powerful. So the first part, you asked if you read it wrong, you did not. He's saying here, quit doing things so that you can get something in return. Quit acting in a way where you know that you'll get something back.

When you do something kind and you do a good work, we often do that with the expectation of a reward. And it's like, okay, well, if we don't get it, that's fine, but we know we will. He's saying, hey, how about you give a blessing to someone who is incapable of paying it back, who is incapable of giving a blessing back to you, and your blessing will come at the resurrection.

Because if you do it the other way around, well, then you have your blessing already. One of my favorite sayings is, if you're a Christian, this is the worst you will ever have. And if you are not a Christian, this is the best you will ever have.

So, if you're not a believer, or even if you are, and you do things to get something in return, there is no reward for you from Christ. You get your reward here. You get your reward now. Which ain't nothing what you're gonna get.

No, which ain't nothing. But then, the parable aspect of this, when Jesus goes into that, this is really the part that's super beautiful to me. So, dude says, hey, I'm having a banquet. And sends out all the invitations.

And he tells his servant, he says, hey, it's time for the banquet, go and tell everyone to come. But they keep on making excuses.

They constantly make excuses of why. So, these are his friends. These are the people that he wanted to do this for. Correct. These are like... This is the Israelites. These are his.

Friends. These are the Israelites. Okay, that he's invited. Yes. Okay, keep going. Because there's a parallel here between the Israelites and the Gentiles. Okay. Jesus says many times, I came first for the children of Abraham.

I came first for the house of Israel. But when they denied me, then I went to the rest of the world and to the Gentiles. Same correlation here. Gotcha. So, he sent the invitation out first to Israel. To the righteous ones.

But they constantly made excuses. Oh, I got a new job. Or I just had a baby. Or I just got married. Or I have this opportunity to go do this or that. And that's why when I first read this, the first thing I thought of was, I don't care about your excuses.

He does not care. You can fill in the blank here. And the children, or the job opportunity is a big one. Pastor Chandler one time told me, he was like, why is it that we pray for a job and then when we get the job we use it as an excuse of why we can't come to church.

Yes, he's... We've discussed that before too. We pray for a child and we say every child is a blessing. So the Lord blessed us with a child and then we use the child as an excuse of why we can't get to church on time.

Right. We use the child as an excuse and a crutch to lean on for why we can't do what we know we need to do. Right. And so we do this often. We make excuses. But at the end of the day, God does not care about your excuses.

And this is one of the things when people, and I've heard it so many times to myself, but more than myself, to Pastor Jeff or to you, or, well they're just being mean. No, what they're doing is calling you out on your excuses.

Because God does not care about them. And you continuing to rely on your excuses will lead you nowhere good. No.

No. The other thing that now that you said.

Pastor Jim, the other thing you used to say.

Was they pray for this job and they can get to the job on time, but they can't get to church on time. And that's the truth. It's just a priority thing. Right. But, again, you're right, because it's like God doesn't He could care less if you had a flat.

Be at church. Or where you're supposed to be.

If you were supposed to be heading up or attending a Bible study, or if you were supposed to be going and taking a church member or food because they're sick or something, you still need to carry out what the Lord has set you out to do because that's what His intention was for you.

Yes. So you don't let anything get in the way because the excuse doesn't matter.

You know, I'll say this. The older I get, well not even the older, it's not even that. The more I learn to look at life through a biblical worldview, the more I learn to look at life through a spiritual lens, the more and more I realize this stuff is not a coincidence.

It's I was supposed to be at this gas station at this time. I was supposed to be here at that moment. And the way that God works His sovereign will within the fabric of our free will is amazing to me.

It's amazing because you don't know how many times you pull up to someone at the red light or you just saw someone before they left the gas station or the grocery store or whatever, and it's like five seconds difference.

Earlier or later, five seconds, they would have been gone. I wouldn't have seen them. It's like that's not a coincidence. And it happens all the time, but we're just too blind to realize what's going on.

Just like with Mercedes living right down the street all these years and passing by the church. Don't make eye contact. And then she ended up here and she loves it. Correct. I mean, you know, but it had to be his time.

Correct. It was his time.

This is an awesome passage though. The next part that it goes that kills me. Where is it? Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame.

Check this out. It says bring in the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. How does the blind man know where to go?

He has to be guided. How does the lame man get there? He has to be carried. He has to be carried. How do we come to Christ?

Same way? Same way. We are too blind to realize our need for God on our own. Those all describe each one of us. Exactly. We're too lame and broken. Even if we realized our need for God, we're too lame and broken to get there.

The poor, the lame, the blind, and the lame. Holy Spirit had to open our eyes. He had to carry us and show us this is the truth. Not only that, but the author and perfecter of our faith. He had to give us the faith to even believe.

Then He had to help sanctify it. We have a hand in that for sure. My hand can put a stop in my own sanctification. But from the start, from the origin, from the word go, and still today, my faith is dependent on Him.

I have to be carried to Christ. I have to be shown. I have to have my eyes opened because I'm too blind, lame, and poor to get there on my own. I can't do it. The servants of God. Here's the other thing.

The servants. Wait a minute, wait a minute. The slaves didn't hear. The slaves. What are we?

There you go. What are we? So what is our job? We are the slaves of Christ. I tell you what.

I tell you what. This is why I love you so much. I tell you what. I'm going to give you this one for you pro bono. Pro bono. Pro bono. You ain't getting nothing. Check this out. Same thing as what we just said.

The servants and the slaves of God. Where are we? This is Ezekiel 34. The servants and the slaves of God are supposed to be the ones that bring in those people. Same thing here. This specifically is a condemnation to the shepherds and the priests of Israel.

Which is today the pastors and leaders but also any believer who misguides someone else. Alright, here we go. I'm going to skip the first couple verses but it's really good. I'm going to hit right to it.

Ezekiel 34 verse 4. The weak you have not strengthened. The sick you have not healed. The injured you have not bound up. The strayed you have not brought back. The lost you have not sought. And with force and harshness you have ruled over them.

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. This is what we were to do. We were to heal the hurt. Bandage the wounded. Seek the lost.

And find the strays. You know when many times people are hurt by churches. And in my mind those are the strays. We have many who have never heard the gospel, never heard the truth. To me those are the lost.

And it is our job to say hey I know these people who claim Christ claim Christ. I know they hurt you. But let me show you and lead you and guide you to actual healing and actual truth. Let me help you find an experience with God and an experience with religion.

I guess the blind would just be the knuckleheads. The ones that you just want to smack and be like get it right. We have a couple of them. I've been there. That's the blind. You have to get some sense knocked into you.

And notice the anger of the master. Oh yeah. That's what I noticed when she was first reading it. I was like oh.

When I said earlier God doesn't care about your excuses. He does not like it. He is angry when we make excuses of why we can't serve. Of why we can't minister. Of why we can't do this. Or why we can't do that.

Save your excuses. God's not listening to those. He didn't even address these people here. He just said you're making excuses. In my anger. Go get everybody else. And you see what he said. Go out quickly.

With an urgency. That's a word that in youth we've been talking about a lot. Urgency. That's something I think is very important. And Jonah. I just finished a four week series on Jonah. When the Assyrians these were the people who skinned people alive and impaled them.

So when you walked into a city on both sides of the road would be people alive impaled. All the way down. For miles. That was the Assyrians. Which I'm going to be honest when you realize that you don't hate Jonah so much for not wanting to go.

When the Assyrians realized their sin. When Jonah obeyed God though he had to be coerced. When he obeyed God and said hey y 'all about to be destroyed. There was no hesitation. They had an urgency and repentance.

They had an urgency. They said let us know. Everyone's fasting. Everyone tore their clothes and put ash on their head. A king ordered. He said don't even let the animals eat. Right. And God may relent and be merciful.

Right. Yes. Because they knew that God would be just and destroying them. They realized that. And the problem is that we don't have the same urgency. We sin and we'll say well I'll wait till Sunday to repent.

I'll wait for a retreat. You better not. I'll wait for this or that to get my life right. You better not be waiting. There's no urgency with us. And that's a problem. We have to have urgency especially in repentance and especially in seeking the lost.

Yes. Go out quickly. Yes. Find them. Make them come in. Make them come in. Make them. Yeah. Look. You're not giving a sales pitch. But people need to know why should I come? Why should I believe? There's a convincing that needs to happen.

Because there is someone out there who is here to steal, kill, and destroy and doing everything he can to convince them not to.

And my thing too is as long as you're doing your part in what the Lord is telling you to do which is very simple right here. As long as you do your part in being his slave in getting them to the banquet.

Then the Holy Spirit is going to take over the rest. He does his job. Now check this next part out. And the servant said, Sir, what you have commanded has been done and yet there is still room. And the master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in.

Why? So that my house may be filled. God wants his house full. He wants his banquet full. He doesn't want it to be scarce. I believe it's in Ezekiel when it says, God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

In Timothy when he says, I wish that all men would come to repentance. He wants his house to be full. To the brim. Overflowing. But we are stubborn. And we are prideful. And God will not drag us kicking and screaming into heaven.

And that's you know, we're talking about how does that sovereignty weave into that free will. He will not drag us kicking and screaming into heaven. You know, when people, I've heard many of these say, I don't like God.

If he's real, I still want to believe. If he's real, I would, Christopher Hitchens said, I would rather be in hell than in heaven if that's where God is. He said, if God is real and he's in heaven, I would rather be in hell because that's not a God I believe in or would want to believe in and serve.

And so, God is not going to force you kicking and screaming into heaven. There has to be a heart change. There has to be a heart change, but he wants his house full. You know, and you talk about the heart change, and I have witnessed people where.

They are on fire for Christ. I mean, on fire. And then it's just like somebody walks up to them and douses them with water and that fire's gone and they just wander back into the wilderness. And to me, that is so hard.

It's so hard for me to look at and understand because you know where the bread of life comes from. You know where that water, you know where that well is at. You know what it takes. You know what you need to do.

You really do just quote a script without knowing it. You paraphrase it. Check this out. The man walking along throwing seed out. Yeah. What was one of them? It sprouted.

Quickly. But then the sun hit it and it died. It had no roots. But you would, I mean these are people that I really thought had some root, but I guess we really don't. They went out.

From among us so that we would know they were not of us. You know, the ones that hurt me aren't, I mean they do, but the ones that really hurt me aren't the quick sprouts. They're the people who I ministered with for years.

They're the ones who I, you know when scripture says, laugh with those who laugh and mourn with those who mourn. The ones you take into your home. You know, the ones who when they were in need, you were there for them.

When you were in need, you were there, they were there for you. And now they're nowhere to be seen. Yeah, so which one of those seeds are they?

I have to go back and look. Those are the seeds that were wolves and sheep's clothing. Ah, well, that's a whole other verse. But yeah, that's a possibility, but it's so hard to accept. Is it not, do you not feel, I don't want to say that I feel betrayed or anything like that.

I just, I guess I hurt.

More pity. I mean, for me, there is Yeah. But for me, it's less of that. It's more pity, because I'm like, you're the one missing out. On so much. You're the one who is consumed with pain and hurt and anger.

Yeah. And that causes you to act irrationally. Yeah. It causes you to betray what you know to be true. So are they.

One of these slaves? Are they one of these people we're going out and picking up? Are we picking them up or not? What do we do? We'll have to figure that out. Depends on when they come back. Are we picking them up or beguiling them?

I'll say this, though.

When someone denies the Lord repeatedly, you don't shove it down their throat. No, I don't know. But, I don't. One thing we should not do is never close the line of communication. No, I don't. Always leave the door open.

Yes.

I wouldn't want the door shut on me. No. If for some reason or another something happened.

And I just went off my rocker, I would hope that I wouldn't have the door shut on me.

Let me give you something else. Last year, the Scripture for the Lord says, Behold, as I am holy. It hit me differently. Because now, every time I read about a character of God or something that God does, that verse applies.

Because that is the character that I'm supposed to be representing. Yeah. So when I see the mercy of God, I see Behold, as I am holy. When I see the justice of God, I see Behold, as I am holy. When I see the love of God, I see Behold, as I am holy.

But the mercy one is really what gets me. Because we don't want to leave that door open. We feel justified in shutting it. And in some ways, we could make an argument that we are. Like, they betrayed.

They stabbed in the back. They lied. They this. They that. And you can be completely truthful in all of that. And yet, you still have to show mercy. You cannot turn your back on them. You cannot close the door and refuse them the same grace that Christ has given us.

You know, when Scripture says, Forgive as your Father in Heaven has forgiven. For if you do not forgive, either I will forgive you. That wasn't a suggestion. No. It's not a suggestion. No, that's a command.

And we must forgive. And in that forgiveness is a level of mercy where that door has to remain open. Yeah. Now, well, that's another rabbit hole. We won't go down that.

The Lost Sheep and the Call to Seek the Straying

Well, and it's just like, because we, now that we've gone from this, let's just mosey on over to 15. Okay. Let's look at 15.

Verse 3. Yeah. Okay. It's 3 and 3, 4.

What do you want me to start with? You know, I can't see the little bitty letter. I mean, the little number. Well, 3 runs into 4. It's all one sentence.

Okay, just 3 and 4. So he told them this parable. What man among you who has 100 sheep and loses one of them does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it. When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost.

Sheep. There you go.

Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who enter who need no repentance. There's no slaves again. And what are we to do? Go out.

Pick them up. And bring them back. And here's the other thing. It's not for us to decide whether the sheep is worthy enough to be sought out. And that's a big thing. Because we want to determine the worthiness of the sheep of how much effort we are to give based off their worthiness.

Right. Well, they're more worthy, so I will seek harder and more diligently for them. Right. Wrong. That's not for us to do.

No. It's not for us to decide who's worthy and who's not. Exactly. Because none of us are worthy. But there we go again. We want to put a level on sin.

And say that your sin is worse than mine. That your sin makes you more unworthy of the grace of God than me. And there is no level of sin. So, not at all. We're all dead in our trespasses.

At some point. All sin is equal in that it separates you from God. Right. But not all sin is equal in its consequences. Right. And that's where people get mixed up. Because there were verse 7 that God says He hates in our abomination.

There were sins where Jesus said it's better for you to tie a rock around your neck and throw yourself in the ocean than to make one of my children stumble and hurt. You know. And that goes back to Ezekiel 34.

Because part of what ministers and servants of God are to do is to protect the sheep. Because when we don't, as it says, they are scattered to be devoured by the wolves. And I ain't gotta tell either one of you two, this world's a nasty place.

This world is a nasty place. I never noticed that until my conversion. And then I saw it and I'm like, whoa.

Yeah. Never noticed it. And you really don't. When you're living in the world, everything's just... You have a bad day, oh well. Maybe tomorrow will be better. You just keep on flowing with traffic.

Well, you have no hope. And you're too blind to see that there's something more.

Well, we're gonna end on this. I had dinner with a young lady when I said flowing with traffic. I had dinner with a young lady that got a ticket and... I'm not gonna say her name. Um... She was... She said, let me speak English to her.

I was just flowing with the traffic. But you could look at it this way. You're flowing with the world and you get plucked out of the world. And then you start seeing things.

At that point, you become the outsider looking in. You see it for what it's worth.

It's not not... Not at all. Perspective is a powerful thing. Man. I mean, it's a whole new life. The sun's brighter. The sky's bluer. When it rains, it feels awesome. It's incredible. It doesn't matter.

And to be honest with you, when you sit back and you look at the creation and how He created everything. When I get up in the mornings, it doesn't matter when I start to go to work. It doesn't matter if it's raining or storming or sunny.

It's a beautiful morning. Period. Well, thank you. This was great. I knew this would be great. See, I knew I was excited for a reason. I hope y 'all enjoyed it. I did. Um... So, again, thank you. No problem.

So very much for coming tonight. We'll have you on again probably.

After you become Mr. Shipley.

He's so stinkin' cute. I could just paint him. But he's gonna be a Mr. with a Mrs. beside it.

With a capital M. Maybe. He's a little M right now. He's gonna have a capital M with a little R. Period. And the and sign.

I'll take it. Mrs. Did you know you were gonna be a Mistress Shipley? Mistress. Anyways, I just hope y 'all have a great night. Um, I enjoyed this evening. I love Thursdays. Um... This Thursday was so excellent though.

I just loved it. I love you too. I love y 'all too. So thanks for joining us tonight. And I, um, again, have a great Friday tomorrow. Um, I think Mercedes will be with me a couple more weeks and then you'll be out of town.

I'll be out of town. I got one more week and then I'm out of town for two weeks.

Yeah. Y 'all have to stay tuned though. Cause my two co-hosts it's gonna be a surprise! Anyways. So, um, y 'all have a great night. See you next week. Bye. Great, great work. Great work.