The Life-Giving Table - August 30, 2026

Oh, how are you guys doing?

You guys look better.

I can't hardly ever see anybody on this side.

So I think that's why Brother Pastor Jason sits over there.

He don't want to see anyone, I think, right?

You know?

Alright, we'll get out of the room, alright?

So I am a six foot three, two hundred and twenty-pound Cambodian.

We don't exist, amen.

So uh I'm the eighth wonder of the world.

Never met Daniel before, but Daniel, can you stand for a little bit?

Daniel, back over there?

Alright, I'm supposed to be your height, brother.

I'm supposed to be your height.

My parents are very small people, about the size of your pastor and Daniel, amen.

And uh I'll tell you what, it's uh it's it's a joy to come back to Southern California.

I'm originally from Long Beach, California.

I grew up on Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard.

I was a kid who rode the buses and the trunks and the trucks and whatever you put me in, I came to church.

And I'll tell you this, right?

I have it's an honor to be here.

Uh you want to, some of you came here to listen to Pastor, okay?

You came here to listen to Pastor here.

Uh our church is going on right now, and there, you know, we have a guy there, and his name is Matt.

He's he's literally ran away from the Lord for a long time and came back to the Lord uh several years ago, found me at Kansas City, started coming, had long hair down to here, and now he's preaching Sunday mornings when I'm gone.

And God can still use you.

If you're running away from God, God can still use you.

I'll tell you this right now, 2020.

Uh, we had we actually, my wife and I, my wife's right back over there.

Raise your hand, Jennifer.

My wife, Jennifer, there.

We're married 20 years this year, and so a couple weeks ago, 20 years.

And he got new engagement couples right here, and of course, as well as Pastor Jason, his daughter is engaged.

Praise the Lord for that.

I'll tell you this right now, 2020 was a hard time for us.

Uh, we were um, I was an assistant pastor down there in Long Beach, California in 2020.

And in 2020, God took away my business, God took everything away, and God took away my wife, my wife actually in the ministry.

My wife got up and left.

Uh, my kids left, my dog left, amen.

Uh everything gone.

Uh had no idea it was happening.

And in 2021, God started putting things back together.

And I'll tell you this: if you uh if you're going through something like that, I never thought in a million years I'd be pastoring after going through a separation like that.

Uh praise the Lord.

It wasn't anything uh bad as in like any infidelity or adultery or anything like that.

It was just, I wasn't myself.

I put the ministry over my family.

I was the bus director, we were running 325 people in Long Beach every single Sunday.

And I was the number one ministry in 2019.

I made a lot of money in 2019, but God says it's time for you to be humble.

I'm taking everything away.

So I lived in a 200 square foot shed uh from 2020 of August to 2021 of August.

And so for a whole year, uh my wife and I had to go through a separation.

And then later, after we got things right and decided to, you know, let's pursue this thing called marriage even better.

Uh, we walked into a church, and right in the back, there were 11 people in this church.

It was called Metro Baptist Church then, and 11 people um said we're gonna sell the church on the day I showed up to Kansas City.

Eight months later, uh, God called me and said, You're gonna be the pastor of that church.

And today we're running a lot of people that are getting saved, baptized, added to the church.

Amen.

Um, and I say that to just be a testimony, is this some of us don't realize uh God might have a plan for you.

Sometimes he just might have to take everything away first and then put it into perspective that it's all about him.

Remember again, he could have used 32,000, but he decided to use 300.

Why?

Because he said those words, if those thousands of people did it, they would have said, it's all about me.

And he said, I'm gonna use 300, Gideon 300, and because of those 300, they said it's all about God.

And I want to come to you today is this uh the message today, when you walk out these doors, has nothing to do about me, really has nothing to do about pastor, has nothing to do about us, has everything to do about him.

He had a plan, and the plan is this in John chapter 21, he said, I want you to come and dine.

John 21 · chapter mention

Come and dine.

You ever said that before?

Come eat with me at my house.

Let's go out to eat.

How many guys love to eat over here?

Say amen.

I tell you what, uh, I'm we are Baptist Baptists at our church.

We eat every single day.

Our mission statement on our website, you can see it, is we feed people and we tell people Jesus loves them.

That's literally our mission statement.

We eat every single day together.

So this message as I come to you today is this the encouragement is do you have a hurting family?

Do you have a you know a marriage that's broken, a relationship that's broken?

Do you want to keep your marriage going?

Friendships are broken, church members, you're broken.

Uh, maybe life group, you're broken.

Maybe you don't like this side, and maybe you don't like that side, and maybe something's happening.

There is a way that God said you must do it this way in order to stay together.

In order to stay together.

My wife and I, before everything, my wife and I, we had a hard time eating together.

This is why we went through our separation.

I was so busy with all that I had.

My business, my job, other friends, ministry, the bus ministry, the college that I taught at.

I was so busy with all of that that I didn't have time to eat with my wife and with my kids.

And God said this You want your family back?

Eat with them.

Eat with them.

Wow, it's so simple, isn't it?

By the end of today, you're gonna learn that you can keep your marriage, you can keep your family, you can keep your home, you can keep your life by eating together.

How many of you guys are ready for that?

Say amen.

I don't know what it is, but God told us in here, Jesus in Luke chapter 14 said this.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

He said, We must have a life-giving table.

Some of us know how to have small groups.

We know how to uh maybe uh go out to eat with co-workers, maybe we like to go out to do other things, but there's something that we ought to have.

It's a life-giving table.

Right here I have a cup with me, and this cup right here is important.

This cup, when it's upside down, this cup reminds us that the table is empty and the table is ready.

When the cup is here, it means someone's still sitting at the table.

Before we go on, let me ask you this question.

You know how it is at restaurants?

When you walk in, you see the cup up like this.

You know that at that restaurant, everything's not clean yet.

Everything's a mess.

Everything that you see right there, there were conversations about marriage.

There were laughter, crying, stories.

You saw the cup up.

Some of it is half full, some of it's half empty.

Napkins everywhere.

If you're like me yesterday at Phil's barbecue, I had napkins everywhere.

You gotta have napkins when you're eating barbecue, amen?

But when that cup turns over, that means someone is ready to be invited to the table.

Let me ask you a question.

This morning, you woke up this morning, you probably had breakfast, you probably had a coffee, a cup of coffee.

After this, is your cup upside down?

Or is your cup too full for God?

Too full for God.

When you leave the cup, it's gonna represent something.

No one's allowed to sit at my table.

I got too much blessings.

God, you gave me too much.

When my marriage was broken, I asked for it, you fixed it, and it's too full.

When my job was a wreck and I didn't, I was looking for a job and I wanted to get paid more.

God, you gave it to me.

My cup is too full.

It's about time for us to empty it this morning.

And to put the cup upside down so that we can invite people to our table.

This room right here, filled with many people, you're blessed.

Don't tell me you haven't eaten.

Don't tell me God has not fed you.

Don't tell me God has not given you money and a job and a place to live and a family.

Kids in there, don't tell me you've never been to Disneyland.

Amen.

You probably have.

Don't tell me you've not been blessed.

Too many Christians are walking today into churches like this.

Too full for God.

Way too full.

When the offering comes, you're too full for God.

When missionaries come and you have to give to missionaries so we can they can do the work for us, amen.

Getting people out there to hear the gospel, we're too full for God.

At the end of the service, I pray and hope that we turn our cup over and invite someone to our table.

Let me ask you a question before we start.

Are you ready to turn your cup over?

If you're not, then no one's allowed to come to your table.

When you turn it over, invite your wife back.

Men, if you're going through your marriage struggles right now, turn it over.

Humble yourself.

Invite your wife back.

Wives, invite your husband back.

Kids, parents, invite your kids back to the table.

Thanksgiving comes, don't have your cup up.

Turn it over.

And invite them to come to the table.

Look at Luke chapter 14, verse 12.

Luke 14:12

This life-giving table, Jesus is going to challenge us about this thing called hospitality.

Hospitality is not like fellowship yet.

Hospitality is inviting people you don't even know.

Inviting people you don't even like, inviting your enemies, the very person that hurt you.

Hospitality is inviting people that are too blessed, that forgot about you.

That's what hospitality is.

And this hospitality part here in chapter verse number 12 says this.

Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee.

Which means this: don't invite people, don't have fellowship yet.

Just learn here first.

You have to learn how to have this thing called hospitality.

I'll tell you this.

Kansas City is called Midwest Nice.

These people have major, major hospitality.

I am a Cambodian who pastor in a Kansas City church in the Midwest.

My church is about 80% Caucasian.

Tell me that's hospitality there, amen.

This is the Midwest.

I should not be pastoring, Pastor Jason, in Kansas City.

I should be here in California, where we all look alike.

Do you understand something?

Hospitality is something that every Christian ought to have.

The problem that we have is we only invite people that we like, people that are just like us, or like Monet or Avon, or all those multi-level marketing.

We only invite people to come so that we can make money and exchange money.

We only invite people to come sit with us because we're gonna gossip a little bit because we have the same gossip.

Slander, dreams, vision.

God says here in this story, the hospitality must come to people that are your enemies.

Inviting them to your table when you and your wife don't get along.

Inviting to the table when your prodigal son left.

God is saying you need to bring them to the table.

Now, here's the part about it.

Later here, we're gonna see a bunch of excuses.

A bunch of people who were blessed.

But understand this the master himself, the servant himself, didn't even know that these people were blessed.

Didn't even know that these people were gonna have excuses.

Look what happened here.

Let's look, let's look at some things here.

Let's look at Philippians chapter 2, verse 3 and 4.

Philippians 2:3

Let's look at this real quick.

The Bible says this let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

So here, first, before we go to people, it says here, we must have humility to conquer this thing called ego.

Ego.

You know what ego is?

Ego is people that are small.

Sorry, Pastor Jason.

Amen.

But likes to drive that F-350 truck.

Amen.

Some of you are laughing because you're like, oh, I know people like that.

Amen.

Ego are a bunch of people that say this.

I'm gonna one up everyone.

I'm gonna be the best at it.

If you say Kobe Bryant is the best, I have to disagree, right?

Is what you're gonna say.

LeBron James is the best, is what you're gonna say.

How many say boo to that, amen?

You're always gonna try to one up someone.

Here says this says, do not do anything that's gonna make yourself look better.

Which means that the hospitality part here is important.

Has nothing to do with the fact that your house has to be nice.

Your table has to be ready.

As in, like, here it is, I'm gonna have a flower here, it's gonna match these plates, and it's gonna match these china, and I'm gonna come in and everything's gonna look right.

Let me tell you something.

The best hospitality is leave everything on the floor, leave everything, leave all the shoes, make it look like a place you live at, amen.

Understand, the Bible clearly says this.

Stop doing that.

The reason why is this because when people look at your things, people stop looking at what God is doing through you.

They see, wow, I wish I had a house like that.

I wish I had China like that.

I can't come around these people, they're too good for me.

You see what happened is children, what happens when they run away from God, they try to come back to the parents, and the parents instead of just saying, just come, I don't really care.

What they do is they try to make sure everything is nice and tidy.

And the kids say this even my sir, even the servant my dad has.

Even the servant eats better than me.

Even the dogs that my dad have eat better than me.

How about we get to the place where we look at what God is trying to say here?

I'm gonna go back to my mom and dad's house, I'm gonna go back to my husband, I'm gonna go back to church because they don't care about how anything looks like, they care about people.

Understand, money can buy things, but that's not what God died for.

You gotta serve God or mammon.

Which are you gonna serve?

That's for me in my house, I'm gonna serve the Lord.

Notice the word says, me in my house, and at my house, God is here, and let me tell you, I'm messy, you're messy, and come on over, let's eat together.

And here I want you to look at the excuses that come when people get to fool for God.

Look what happened here in Luke chapter 14, verse 18.

Luke 14:18

You guys still with me, say, Amen?

This is morning time.

We're talking about food, amen.

Here we go.

And they all, with one consent, began to make an excuse.

The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, I bought land, and I must need go and see it.

I already bought it, but I need to go check it out.

See how many weeds are there.

I pray thee, have me an excuse.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen.

I bought cows, and have to go prove them.

I pray thee, have me excused.

And another said, I have a married, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

At one point, these people, and it's great that God has blessed them, amen.

It's great that they got land, it's great that they got homes, it's great that they have cows, it's great that they got they're getting married.

It's just wonderful, it's a wonderful thing to have the blessings of God.

The only problem about this part right here is they're saying this.

At one part of my life, I used to want to go somewhere and eat at God's table, at other people's table.

But now I'm too full to come to it.

I'm too busy.

You remember the time when you started coming to church?

You remember you used to bother pastor and all the deacons and everyone?

Used to bother them all the time.

Can I talk to you?

My marriage is a wreck.

My life, I need your prayers, I need fasting, I need hope, I need faith, I need trust.

Please help me.

Remember that time?

Let me ask you a question.

Did you get too full for God?

Did you get too full to fellowship with one another?

You ever got to the place where you got on your phone and you look at it and you go, Oh, I gotta go?

Or you look at your Apple Watch, oh, I gotta go.

Remember the time when you just said, Don't even look at the phone.

I just need you right now, Pastor.

Wife, I just need to talk to you.

Husbands, I just need to talk to you.

Can we just go out and eat?

Even if we have to go out to McDonald's, amen.

You see, these had excuses.

They're too busy.

They're working, they're serving, they're being like Martha.

Martha, Martha.

One thing that is needful is to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Did you get too full for God?

Now the excuses, understand this, the excuses is the thing that's going to keep you from scheduling the importance of the kingdom of God.

Look what it says here in Matthew 6.33.

It says this, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

The very first thing that Jesus said that will be added unto you, say with me, food.

Say it with me, food.

What is it again?

Wow.

The very first thing is food.

How many of you guys like food?

Amen?

I'll tell you this right now.

Yes, look at that.

Come on.

I tell you, my wife and I and our kids, we go to this place called Disneyland.

I'll tell you this: Disneyland has the most expensive food there is.

This is why you have to pack up your own sandwiches, right?

Amen?

Come on, man.

Come on, right?

Amen.

You gotta have that.

And let me tell you, my wife and I, we go there and there's no budget.

It's bad, all right?

Okay?

There is no budget.

When we go there, we look at that and we go, who cares?

Let's just buy it.

Let's just buy it.

At one point of our life, we call it beans, rice, and Jesus Christ.

Amen.

That is it.

At one point of our life, when we first got married, you guys are getting married.

I'm telling you, beans, rice, and Jesus Christ is all we had.

And man, oh man, how many remember those days?

Say amen.

Man, I'll tell you what, it was one of those things where I looked at it and said, I don't buy things at the 99 cent only store or the dollar store, but this is the time to do it, amen.

I've learned something.

Seeking first the kingdom of God means this when I start giving to people the kingdom of God, I start inviting people.

When it was just beans, rice, and Jesus Christ.

I start taking people and say, hey, at 7-Eleven, they got two hot dogs for$1.50 right now.

Let's go get it.

When I started giving and inviting people to come eat with me, even though it might be a cup of noodle or some leftovers in the fridge, God gave me more.

And more food, the abundance of food that I'd never thought I'd ever have.

I remember at a time when I threw the net on one side, I caught nothing.

And Jesus came and said, throw to the other side.

And so much fish came into my ship where the net broke.

Now we go to this place called Disneyland and I go, I don't even care.

Let's just eat.

Do you understand what happens when you empty yourself and you say to God, I do remember that I chose money.

I do remember.

I chose other things.

I do remember.

But I also remember when I lost everything, and now I choose to give everything.

What do you have in your cupboard today that you can give to the kingdom?

What do you have in your life today or your your bank account today that you can give to the kingdom?

The Bible says it is more blessed to give than to receive.

What can you give to the kingdom to receive something?

I'll tell you what, I love to go out to eat, but I love the fact that when I'm out to eat, I'm fighting over the bill.

How many of you are like that?

Say amen.

You're like, you're not gonna pay for that.

I'm gonna pay for it.

And I love the fact after I do that, the next several days, I'm out to eat with somebody else.

And by the time I get up, the person goes, it's already taken care of.

The bill's already paid.

I remember Jesus Christ when he was on that cross, he said those words, tell it to last I tell it alas die, paid in full.

Everything's paid.

Do you understand?

The kingdom of God is the fact that you already paid for the bill.

You've already took care of it.

The prodigal son's dad, when the prodigal son came back to him there in chapter 16 of Luke, when the prodigal son came back, the fatted calf was already paid for.

The invitation for the party was already done.

You understand?

The meal was already prepared.

Let me ask you a question, Christians.

Whatever you're going through right now, have you already paid the bill for the very person that hurt you?

For the very person that stabbed you in the back.

For the very person that don't want to talk to you.

Have you already paid the bill?

Seeking first the kingdom of God means this.

If you go to the verses before, it says that you are more richer than Solomon.

You have more than Solomon has ever had.

More wisdom, more money, more gold and silver, more friends.

Well, guys, be careful.

He does have more wives.

Amen.

I want to tell you something.

This might not be something for you to realize.

The reason why that many Christians are going through their problems today is because they forgot to pay the bill for someone else.

How many are saved today?

Say amen.

Did Jesus Christ pay your bill?

Now it's time for you to pay somebody else's bill.

Let me ask you a question.

Do you pray more for people or do you pay more for people?

I'm gonna say that again.

Do you pray more for people or do you pay more for people?

Somebody comes up, I want to let you know, I'm struggling right now.

Do you pay for their groceries or do you pray for their groceries?

You take someone out to eat, you're sitting down with them.

Are you praying for them or are you paying for them?

See, Jesus Christ, he didn't just pray for them and said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

He also said, Paid in full.

You see, Christians, we're too used to praying, and we forget about paying.

Who are you paying for today?

Your sins are forgiven, amen.

Your life has been blessed, amen.

Now it's time for you to pay.

And I want you to look at the importance of this in verse number 13.

Let's go back to that.

I want you to understand what it says here.

In Luke chapter 14, verse 13, look what it says.

Luke 14:13

But when thou makest a feast feast, call the poor and the maim and the lame and the blind.

Are you paying for people because they're going to pay you back?

Are you going to pay for the poor?

The bus family?

The people that write the bus?

The bus kid, the lame and the blind, the poor.

Are you paying their receipt?

Oh, Christians, it's great, isn't it?

When we're coming to church, we might be networking a little bit.

I scratch your back, you scratch my back.

What about this?

Look at verse 21.

Look what it says.

So that the servant came and showed his Lord these things.

Then the master of the house, being angry, said to the servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maim and the halt and the blind.

Look what happened after everyone made excuses.

The blessings went to someone else.

The blessings went to someone else.

How many of you guys love blessings from God?

Say amen.

Well, if you're too full for God, if your cup is too full, there's no more water, no more blessings that can be added to the cup.

But when you empty the cup, now it's ready to be added even more.

When I give, I empty.

My bank account's gone.

When I serve, when I pay bills, everything's gone.

And I say, God, do it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

My wife and I, after I lived in this 200 square foot shed, my wife and I, after a year, the Lord allowed me to make my first million dollars.

How did that, how is that possible?

I'll tell you how.

Went to a small church in Northern California.

I walked in, there's about maybe 10, 15 people.

The church is running a lot now.

I'll tell you this right now.

Sometimes I open my big mouth.

Amen.

I saw the back right here, and I said, why don't we just knock that down, Pastor?

Remember again, I'm living in my shed.

No bathroom.

Just a small little trash can.

I'm literally broke.

I have to save up money so I can get my wife back and my kids back and let's go ahead and find an apartment or somewhere to live.

So I'm saving up these money.

And I said, Pastor, what about the back over there?

What are your thoughts?

Don't you think we need to knock it down to fit more people into this church?

Easter is coming.

And he said, We can't do it.

Walked away and I had my big mouth.

God says, Won't you do something about it?

I said, No, God, come on.

God said, Why don't you just give all you got in that bank account?

So they could afford to break down those walls.

I remember crying.

My wife, you remember this, my wife and I just praying about it.

I remember crying, and I said, I better head to Wills Fargo.

We better get a cashier check, and we're just gonna give it to the pastor.

And we handed him several thousands of dollars of all of our savings.

And after I gave that, he broke down the walls.

More people came to church, people got saved that week, people got saved throughout the year.

And let me tell you, let me explain something to you.

And God said, Really?

I'll give you more.

And we bought our house on the phone.

After we bought our house, we got there.

And everything was going good until I walked through the back doors of our church.

Six months later, I signed a$12 million contract with the NFL, doing a million jerseys a year for them.

I said, Lord, amen, Chi-Cing.

And God said, now it's time for you to pastor.

I said, Oh, come on, God.

There's only 15, 20 people here at the church.

What are you talking about?

Ain't no money in the bank.

God said, give it all back to me.

I looked at my wife and I said, What do you think?

She goes, that's what God wants.

We sold our shares, and the church cannot afford us.

We sold our house and we lived in the church for two years.

In the back of the church.

Four bedrooms, classrooms.

The bathroom, literally, we have to walk a hundred feet to go through to use the restroom.

A bathroom like this.

Not a nice one.

A bathroom like what you guys use here.

For two years.

Two years.

Let me ask you a question.

Are you ready to give up everything that God has given you?

Are you ready to take that and pay somebody else's bill?

Last week I was here, we were on vacation and dropping off my son at Bible college.

Last week, Matt preached the message.

I called him up.

How did it go?

He said, three adults got saved.

Two of them.

It's Jake's mom and dad.

Jake died of fitno.

He was an atheist.

Tattooed up all the way.

Came to church on Easter.

Four weeks later, I led him to the Lord.

Baptized him, went through discipleship.

He's my head usher and he teaches an adult Bible class now.

More than I ever had.

I love the fact that I get to see someone saved and his parents saved.

And his wife is now my assistant, who just had a baby two weeks ago.

She was living in a halfway home.

23 years old, she lost her son.

Living in a halfway home with other ladies, drug house.

And now she's raising these kids now.

Now she's doing something for God, singing in the choir, singing on the worship team.

Her husband's ushering.

Look, let me explain something to you.

This life-giving table, you must give your life away in order to do it.

It's not just about going out eating with your co-workers, it's not just going around having groups and small groups, although that's good.

It's giving your life away, willing to pay a price.

And this life-giving table is something that I desire for every Christian.

So I started at our church and I said, Would this work?

And let me tell you something.

We have not, and it sounds horrible.

I promise you, please go door knocking.

Please go soul-winning.

Please be a soul-winning church.

But God told our church, don't knock on any doors, don't pass out any tracks.

I'm gonna bring them to you.

And in four years, less than four years, this next month will be our fourth anniversary.

Our church has grown to 200 people without any marketing, without any door knocking.

That's because Acts chapter 2, verse 42.

Acts 2:42

They sold everything.

They gave everything for the church.

And we have people in the church.

We have seen numerous people, people that have money, people who don't have money, to give everything off the backs of their shoulder and say, I'm going to pay for someone's meal while I go hungry.

Pastor Jason, I've never seen anything like it before.

And my desire is for the churches to finally catch a vision that the God that you serve that paid everything, it's time for Christians to pay up.

And we can do it.

How many of you believe we can do it?

Say amen.

Let's look at this, okay?

I want you to pay attention.

Look what happened in Matthew chapter 9, verse 12, 10 to 12.

Matthew 9:12

How am I doing, Pastor?

Am I doing okay?

Look what it says here.

And it came to pass as Jesus sat down at meet in the house.

Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eat your master with publicans and sinners?

But when Jesus heard that, he said to them, They that behold need no physician, but they that are sick.

The churches that we have today is a hospital for sinners.

They're coming in, they are sick people.

You are sick people, you know that.

The people who don't go to church, they don't need a physician.

The people that want to go to eat, they're hungry.

They're hungry.

There's a saying a hungry stomach has no ears.

They're hungry, they're sick.

They want Christians to feed them so that we can share the word of God with them, so that we can have the passion of being a light to them, so we can be assault to them and seasoned with grace, and we can love them and cherish them and get to the place where we're saying this.

I was once broken, I was once hurt, I was once sick, but today I'm the one feeding you.

Today I'm the one paying.

And here's the place that I love here.

Many people were saying, How dare you sit down with sinners?

How dare you sit down with publicans?

And Jesus said this, hey, be careful.

The word of God, Pharisees, it helped you, did it not?

Why aren't you sitting with sinners and publicans?

Look at James chapter 2, verse 15.

James 2:15

It says this if a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, I'll pray for you.

Be ye warmed and filled.

Oh, I'll make sure I post things on Facebook and let everyone know.

Be warm, be filled.

Notwithstanding, ye give them not those things which are needful to the body.

What does it profit?

Does it profit anything to say those words?

I'll pray for you, brother.

I'll pray for you, sister.

When they come to you and say, I need something.

Let me ask you, has that happened before lately?

When somebody comes up to you and says, I need something, you go, I'll pray for you.

Actually, matter of fact, let's pray now.

What about this?

The Bible clearly says, if you are given to hospitality, you might just be sitting and eating with an angel unaware.

What if God's just testing you?

What if God just wants to bless you more and he brings an angel unaware, and you decided to say no?

You're too busy.

Now, how do we have this life-giving table?

Let me tell you how to build it.

Let's look at Romans chapter 12, verse 13.

Romans 12:13

This is this distributing to the necessities of saints, given to hospitality.

Which means that I gotta look at my heart first.

Let's look at my heart.

Is my heart open enough where I want to open my home?

The next one is this I want to share with you is this leave one chair open.

Is your chair empty at the table?

Now, some of us we've gone through Thanksgiving because a loved one passed away.

Maybe a father, a mother, a child, maybe a wayward child left, and now your chair is empty.

Maybe that chair is meant for someone else to come in there to sit at your table on Thanksgiving, or Sunday evening, or after the service to sit at your table?

What about serving more than just food?

What about listening, encouraging, praying, and speaking truth and grace?

What about how about we stop trying to sell a product and start just talking about Jesus?

What about making Jesus the center of it all?

The goal is not that you have this impressive hospitality.

The goal is this: it's a life-giving relationship.

You ever said these words before?

I don't have friends in the church.

A friend must show himself friendly.

You want to have friends?

Invite them to your empty chair.

You want to have friends?

Stop talking about your blessings and start emptying it with them.

And turn it over and say, Won't you come on over?

We'll have blessings together.

You see, Acts chapter 2, verse 42 says this, and they continue steadfasting as the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking the bread and in prayer.

Acts 2:42

Notice first, you're all in church.

You continue coming to church hearing the Bible being preached.

Amen?

What's the next part?

Fellowship.

What's the next part?

Eating together.

What's the next part?

Praying.

So let's do a check mark analysis here.

You came to church?

What about fellowship?

Oh no.

Too busy.

What about eating together?

Too busy.

What about praying?

I'll make it there on Wednesday.

They continued with all four.

You want to be a complete Christian?

You got to do all four.

You got to do all four.

Look what happened in verse 46 here in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, in the church, and breaking of bread, eating together from house to house, did eat meat with gladness and sickness of heart.

Wow, how many think that's great?

Amen.

They just went to each other's houses and they just ate together.

Now here's the part where I want to give you, and we're done here.

Look at your table and three applications here.

I want to give you this.

Look at your table.

Look at your table.

What's missing at your table?

What's missing?

Number two, leave the chair open.

And number three, reset the table.

This message might not mean anything to anyone, but it might mean something to someone else.

To us, it might seem as I don't need this message, but your husband might need it, your wife might need it, somebody else might need it.

You know how the part where pastor preaches and you're always thinking, yeah, I hope that person listens.

This message is not for you.

This message is how the Bible says to love thy neighbor as thyself.

How many of you guys love to eat?

Say amen.

And other people do too.

Amen.

Amen.

I want to encourage you as we finish and wrap it up here.

Look at the cup that you have in your cupboard.

If it's upside down, you'll know it's clean.

When it's this way, you do this.

How many guys know what I'm talking about?

Or you go to the sink and you're shh.

Look at your cup.

Is it upside down?

Or is it too full for God?