Who'll be Sitting Around Your Thanksgiving Table?

In a few days…most of us will be sitting down at the table and enjoying a magnificent Thanksgiving Day Dinner; just a bountiful feast of turkey and stuffing and ham …sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes…and green bean casserole… cranberry sauce and apple sauce…and warm baked rolls…and pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie. And maybe it was my trip to the rescue mission…or maybe it was the faces of the people I saw there...or maybe the fact that I can’t get them out of my head…but something got me to thinking… ...if we really are followers of Jesus Christ…and we really are trying to obey everything He commanded and taught during his earthly ministry…then shouldn’t we shouldn’t we care about more than just being thankful on Thanksgiving? Yeah I know…Thanksgiving is a day set aside to….”be thankful” and so of course…we should grateful to God for all of the blessings that He has bestowed on our lives….our families, our spiritual blessings…our material blessings…our financial blessings…and so we should be mindful and we should care about giving thanks to God for the abundance of food that he has provided on our Thanksgiving Day tables…that’s a given… But shouldn’t we care about…and shouldn’t we want to know…who Jesus would want us to invite to Thanksgiving Dinner…this feast…that He’s provided for us? I think so…and…so I want to talk about that while there is still time. The title of today’s message is: “Who’ll be sitting around your Thanksgiving Table” Why does it matter? Because Jesus says it matters. Jesus says: When you give a feast…invite the poor…the maimed….the lame…the blind and you’ll be blessed…and you’ll be blessed because they can’t reciprocate…because they can’t repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Jesus says: You’ll be blessed because they can’t repay you! What an amazing thing for Jesus to say! Jesus goes: Your self-denial for the poor will bring you great blessing in heaven.” And so I say to you today: Listen very carefully to Jesus words because clearly your eternal interest is at stake.