Humility and Hospitality continued...

Luke 14:12-14 (GNT) Then Jesus said to His host, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors - for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did.  When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back.  God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death."

Humility and Hospitality

Luke 14:7-11  (GNT) Jesus noticed how some of the guests were choosing the best places, so He told this parable to all of them: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place.  It could happen that someone more important than you has been invited, and your host, who invited both of you, would have to come and say to you, 'Let him have this place.'  Then you would be embarrassed and have to sit in the lowest place.  Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that your host will come to you and say, 'Come on up, my friend, to a better place.' This will bring you honor in the presence of all the other guests.  For everyone who makes himself great will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be made great."

Jesus Heals A Sick Man

Luke 14:1-6  (GNT) One Sabbath Jesus went to eat a meal at the home of one of the leading Pharisees; and people were watching Jesus closely.  A man whose legs and arms were swollen came to Jesus, and Jesus spoke up and asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, "Does our Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?"  But they would not say a thing.  Jesus took the man, healed him, and sent him away.  Then He said to them, "If any one of you had a son or an ox that happened to fall in a well on a Sabbath, would you not pull him out at once on the Sabbath itself?"  But they were not able to answer Him about this.

Jesus' Love For Jerusalem

Luke 13:31-35 (GNT) At the same time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to Him, "You must get out of here and go somewhere else, because Herod wants to kill you."  Jesus answered them, "Go and tell that fox: 'I am driving out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I shall finish my work.' Yet I must be on my way today, tomorrow, and the next day; it is not right for a prophet to be killed anywhere except in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets, you stone the messengers God has sent you!  How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!  And so your Temple will be abandoned.  I assure you that you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'God bless Him who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

The Narrow Door

Luke 13:22-30 (GNT) Jesus went through towns and villages, teaching the people and making His way toward Jerusalem.  Someone asked Him, "Sir, will just a few people be saved?"  Jesus answered them, "Do your best to go in through the narrow door; because many people will surely try to go in but will not be able.  The master of the house will get up and close the door; then when you stand outside and begin to knock on the door and say, 'Open the door for us, sir!' he will answer you, 'I don't know where you come from!' Then you will answer, 'We ate and drank with you; you taught in our town!'  But he will say again, 'I don't know where you come from.  Get away from me, all you wicked people!'  How you will cry and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, while you are thrown out!  People will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God.  Then those who are now last will be first, and those who are now first will be last."

"What Shall I Compare the Kingdom of God With?" (The Parable of Yeast)

Luke 13:20-21 (GNT) Again Jesus asked, "What shall I compare the Kingdom of God with?  It is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with a bushel of flour until the whole batch of dough rises."

The Parable of the Mustard Seed - "What is the Kingdom of God like?"

Luke 13:18-19 (GNT) Jesus asked, "What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with?  It is like this.  A man takes a mustard seed and plants it in his field.  The plant grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make their nests in its branches."