From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>
To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"
Sent: Tue, Jan 10, 2023 at 5:40 AM
Subject: 1-10-23 THOUGHTS
1-10-23 THOUGHTS
It’s important for me to think that I’m okay. It is vital to my very being that I am Okay with the God of eternity! Nothing else really matters. The parable told by Jesus below is unsettling because the invited were “unwilling to come.” Those on the inside FAILED, and it wasn’t because they couldn’t, it was because they wouldn’t! So the invitation went out EVERYONE! As honest as I can be, the improperly dressed wedding guest is most sobering. I am told to love the One God with my ALL! [Deut 6:4ff, Matt 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27] I begin to question the quality of MY ALL! This is self-examination and it is good. The bigger question is do I change “who I am” in the direction of ABIDING with God? Am I GROWING? Where is my TREASURE? We must refuse to be “play actors” on the stage of life!
Matt 22:1-14 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3 "And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 "Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."’ 5 "But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7 "But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 "Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ 10 "Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. 11 "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."
Luke 18:8b-9 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" 9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
2Cor 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
My Prayer:
Father, may our centered love for You guide and control all that we are in this life. Increase our faith, and the intensity of our desire to live for you! Help us to truly seek to abide in your presence. May the love of Christ control us that we might live for Him who died for us! Ever teach us the joy of your salvation. We pray in the name of our Savior, Amen.