Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

PowerPoint PDF: The Great Invitation

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Introduction:

1. Been hungry for the Old Testament.

Romans 15:4-5 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,” ESV

Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” ESV

Going to examine Isaiah 55. The only OT book quoted more in the NT is Psalm. 3^rd largest book in the Bible (Psalms, Jeremiah)

2. Lois and I have a fall ritual – we watch the baseball playoffs.

One of the greatest invitations I’ve had in life…was to the Cardinal dugout.

Jack Michael’s my baseball coach knew Jim Toomy the Director of Promotions for the Cardinal Organization.

Over the next few weeks we are going to explore the greatest invitation every given and received. God is an inviting God!

Inviting – Two meanings:

1. An inviting spot – pleasant, attractive, peaceful, comforting

2. Invited to your friends house – something special is happening and he / she wants you to come.

God is inviting in both ways! Isaiah 55 shows this!

3. Context!

Isaiah’s name, “The Lord (Yahweh) is

salvation,” meaning the Lord is the source of salvation,

Six times in Isaiah God claimed the ability to predict the future (42:8-9; 44:7-8; 45:1-4, 21; 46:10; 48:3-6).

Lived in Jerusalem and predicted 700 years before Christ a detailed description of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection and blessings to come. Poetic writer, powerful orator and martyr

The Great Substitution

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely he has borne our grief’s and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” ESV

The Great Blessings, Isaiah 54

For all nations (peoples) - sometime just sit on the bench in the airlock at Wal-Mart. Watch the people. Look at their faces and into their eyes.

Healing Stranger Envy

Healing Widow Shame

Healing Orphan Loneliness

I. Who Is Invited? Two kinds of people

A. Isaiah 55:1 The Thirsty

You have come this morning with thirst in your heart. Your heart feels like the brown grass in my back yard. It hasn’t rained for a long time. A lot of old hopes have dried up. Dreams have waited and almost died. Dead end streets again and again. Empty. Unfulfilled. Dissatisfied. Knowing there has to be something more to life.

Spiritually Chapter 11 and you know it.

Can’t pay:

Broke. Everything that looks good is out of reach. No money. No strength. No motivation. But at least a longing. A thirst.

B. Isaiah 55:2, The Dissatisfied

Have money to spend.

Have a job.

But not satisfied. Frustrated.

Still spending and still working, “dreaming, chasing, searching, experimenting – different job, different city, different car, house, wife, new camera, boat, tickets to the Packer’s game, golf clubs.

When you are honest, you know there is a need and longing on the inside no matter how self-sufficient you look on the outside. And God knows even better than you. He has you in mind when he says, “Why do you spend your money for bread which is no-bread, and labor for dreams that do not satisfy?

Jeremiah 2:13 “people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” ESV

II. What Are We Offered?

A. The Benefits, 55:1

Water = refreshment, Is 44:3

Water corresponds to the need for refreshment. When you are most thirsty and most desperate, most dehydrated, it’s water that you want and nothing else. “He leads me beside still waters, he restores (refreshes) my soul. God invites you this morning to receive refreshment, restoration, reviving, a new beginning.

Milk=Nourishment, Ex 3:8

Milk corresponds to the need for ongoing nourishment. When someone is gasping for life, you give them water. But when you want a little baby to grow day after day you give it milk again and again. God is not just for emergencies and mountain peaks. He is for health in the long haul. He invites you not only to come alive with water, but to be stable and strong with milk.

Wine = joy, Is 25:6-8

Wine corresponds to the need for exhilaration. We want to live an not die. We want to be strong and stable instead of weak and wavering. But that is not all we need in life. No matter how stoic, unemotional, phlegmatic, laid-back, or poker-faced we may seem to others, there is a child inside of everyone of us that God made for exhilaration—for shouting and singing and dancing and playing and skipping and running and jumping and laughing.

God invites us to come to Him.

He wants to revive us.

He wants to strengthen us

He wants to give us real joy!

B. The Quality and Quantity of These Benefits, 55:2

Good!

Richest!

C. The Reality, 55:3

Come to me.

Water, milk and wine are figurative of the salvation that is found only in Christ.

God is our living water. God is our nourishing milk. God is our exhilarating wine. “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart my portion for ever”

Psalm 73:25-26 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 42:1-2 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” ESV

Psalm 63:1-3 “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” ESV

John 4:10-14 “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” “The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? “Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” ESV

John 7:37-38 “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”” ESV

III. How Do We Get These Benefits?

12 inviting imperatives

3 Commands have to do with listening carefully to what God is saying

Pay attention to what you hear!

James 1:21-22 “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” ESV

All the rest = 4 steps = what the Bible calls faith

1. Come – if you are away from God, turn around in my mind and heart and come to him. Draw near to God in your heart.

Not everyone accepts His invitation: Matthew 22:1-10

2. Buy - If you draw near, then don’t be a spectator, buy in!

Actually make a heart transaction without money, but with faith.

Receive him

Open the door of your life

Make a commitment – don’t just here it!

Not everyone who comes, comes dressed properly!

3. Eat – if you draw near, if you become a participant and buy in, then start diving into Christ – drink the water and milk and eat the word.

Making a decision to become his apprentice!

Watching him to learn.

Moving toward going to work yourself!

Have to learn to walk with Christ.

Daily, time carved out to sit and chat with Him.

Increasing your knowledge of God’s Word.

Learning to pray.

Learning how to pray.

Learning to fellowship with a small group.

4. Enjoy – delight yourself in Christ

Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” ESV

Practicing his presence!

Learning to enjoy Christ!