September 6, 2026 | Eat, Love, Pray

For the most part, every church has a vision.

It's like here's the church.

Here is the world, or those who are not in church, those who don't know Jesus yet, and in the middle's vision.

So you got to get from here, get the church moving to there, and the middle is called vision.

So let me just guarantee you this morning.

Okay, this morning will be the most underwhelming vision you've ever heard.

This will not impress anyone in here.

But because it's underwhelming and unimpressive, every single person can do it.

Because we believe that every single person in the church is commissioned to reach the world.

Let's pray.

Lord help us to have eyes to see this morning.

And just to take off of last week, may we not be complacent in our duty and joy to reach people who don't know Jesus.

And we just ask that you would help us to have joy in the fact that someone told us about Jesus.

And may we not hold out on now telling others about this good news we've have in Jesus.

And it's his name we ask today.

Amen.

It's Labor Day weekend, and nobody needs to be told to eat.

I don't know what you eat, maybe brisket, burgers, ribs, somebody's potato salad.

And so whatever resolution you made back in January is dead.

And this weekend you're gonna like just nail it home and bury it.

None of us have to be told to eat.

So this morning I want you to make a resolution to eat more.

Very specifically, I want you to make a resolution to eat more intentionally.

It's a fact of life that you're gonna eat.

Most of us eat three meals a day.

Some of you eat more than three meals a day, but it generally comes out to 1,095 meals per year per year.

Okay, so get this.

1,095 miles per meals per year, same chair, often same people, same conversation.

And what I want to encourage you to do this morning is to branch out.

I want to encourage you to branch out and be more intentional in your eating, not what you eat, but who you eat with.

There are people who are far from the Lord.

They may be your coworker, they may be your pickleball opponent, a friend, an acquaintance, a neighbor, a golf partner, an artist, a hiker, whatever, and they don't know the Lord, or they are disconnected from the Lord, or they have wandered away from the Lord, whatever the case is.

The menu doesn't matter, it's all about the mission.

And at our church, this is something we called eat, love, pray.

Now, for those of you who like to take notes, this is very difficult to understand.

Here's what you do: you ask somebody, do you want to go eat?

Or you have them to your house.

While you're eating with them, you listen.

Some of you talk way too much.

Listen to people, ask them questions about themselves, and perhaps even share the gospel with them, the love of Jesus with them.

And when you're done on your drive home by yourself or at home, pray for them.

Eat, love, pray.

Not very impressive, very unimpressive, very underwhelming.

There is no budget line, there is no committee, there is no charts.

All we have for you is a magnet.

In the lobby after the service, you can get a magnet and put it on your refrigerator.

That's it.

That's the vision.

We want you to realize that it's not about a huge program, it's about a plate and a name.

And you are called to eat, love, pray.

Now, I want you to make sure you understand this because I know it's right now you're thinking, when this is really hard to understand.

This is really pushing it here.

But I wanted to show you that this is this is not a program, it's not this grand vision, it's something that helps you fulfill the Great Commission and the second greatest commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Did you know?

This is what I've heard.

I don't know if this is true.

I don't know how they figured this stuff out, but we've been told that 50% of the people in the village do not go to church.

That's not a statistic.

That's that's your street.

So you drive down your street, that's pretty much every other house of people who either don't know the Lord or they they don't go to church.

And let me just tell you something.

I'm gonna just big thing here.

Most of them are not gonna come here.

There is no outreach that we can do, no laser light shows, smoke, whatever, concert, nothing.

Huge pro okay, okay.

There is one thing that we can do to get someone to come to church who doesn't go to church.

We can have funerals.

They definitely come to for funerals.

But let's not make funerals our only outreach event.

They may not come here, but they'll go to your house.

They'll go to a meal with you.

They will.

You're not gonna treat them like a project, you're gonna treat them by like a person, someone you already hang out with, or know, or love.

And it all starts with a meal.

Now I'm gonna tell you something that's gonna blow your mind here is that I think that was part of Jesus' strategy, a meal to connect with people.

I read this book by Tim Chester.

It's called A Meal with Jesus.

This is this is really gonna blow your mind.

In the book of Luke, this is what he says.

I want you to just try to track all the meals, okay?

Luke 5, Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners at the home of Levi.

Luke 7, Jesus is anointed at a home of Simon the Pharisee during a meal.

Luke 9, Jesus feeds to 5,000.

Luke 10, Jesus eats in the home of Martha and Mary.

Luke 11, Jesus condemns the Pharisees and teachers of the law at a meal.

Luke 14, Jesus is at a meal when he urges people to invite the poor to their meals rather than their friends.

Luke 19, Jesus invites himself to dinner with Zacchaeus, Luke 22, the Lord's Supper, Luke 24, the risen Christ has a meal with the two disciples in Emmaus, and then later eats fish with the disciples in Jerusalem.

And one scholar has said it this way in Luke's gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal at a meal or coming from a meal.

Isn't that crazy?

And not only that, but he gives imagery and parables about meals.

We have Luke 14, the parable of the great banquet.

Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son that ends with a huge meal.

Luke 16 condemns the rich man who feasted while ignoring the poor.

Luke 22, Jesus tells his disciples of a coming feast in the kingdom over and over and over again.

Meals.

And so you can put it like this.

What is Jesus' purpose?

These son of man statements we see in the scripture.

Okay.

The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.

And we also said the Son of Man has come eating and drinking.

All right.

So the Son of Man, that's Jesus, has come to sit seek and save the lost.

That's his purpose.

And the method is the Son of Man came eating and drinking.

You get that?

That's it's really what Jesus did.

He ate with people.

And when you eat with people, you are meeting them where they are.

You're pointing to community, you're pointing to friendship, to welcoming.

And it's you're just simply, intentionally sitting down and eating with someone.

And the story we're gonna look at this morning is a quick story.

This sermon won't be long.

They never are.

But turn to Luke 5 and let's look at this quick story.

Luke 5, starting in verse 27.

After that he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me.

And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow him.

And Levi gave a big reception for him in his house, and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?

And Jesus answered and said to them, It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus is eating with sinners, not only the tax collectors who notoriously ripped off his own people, but a variety of other sinners like prostitutes and shady characters.

Now, before we go any further with this eat, love, pray, I need to put something before you.

You are the one who needs Jesus.

And so you're a part of the table, the one in need.

You are not Jesus.

As it has been said before, we are just nobody's telling everybody about the somebody who saved us.

That's all we're doing.

We're nothing special, but we point to the one who is.

Well, if you notice in verse 27, um, he calls Levi, which is Matthew.

He says, Follow me.

And so Levi doesn't carry on life as usual.

He abandons all, falls Jesus, leaves everything behind.

Let's go.

And you know what's so cool about Levi?

He throws a party.

And he throws a party for all his wild party friends.

He doesn't know that he's not supposed to do that.

Now that you're a believer, you definitely don't want to bring all your unbelieving friends along and throw a party with Jesus.

He just doesn't know better.

But once Jesus changes you and saves you, you want everybody to know.

You don't care.

You bring your unbelieving friends, no matter what their background, to Jesus because you love them.

Because Jesus is called a friend of sinners.

So he throws this big reception, not a church potluck, but a big reception.

It's not a, you know, you can see it more like a block party.

And he's just bringing all the sinners in, not to a church, not to a big reception, not to big outreach meal, but he but he's bringing them to his house.

And it's interesting.

Once again, people who don't know Jesus probably don't want to come here.

And especially if they understand their sin, why would they want to come to the place that's gonna make them feel worse about their sin?

It's like a prostitute was asked, you know, why don't you go to a church for help?

She goes, Go to a church?

I already feel bad enough about myself.

They're just gonna make me feel worse.

But not in your house.

Not if you go out to a meal with them.

You're just gonna be around there and talk to them and love them like friends.

A friend of sinners.

Look at verse 30.

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?

Tax collectors, man, they're the enemies of Israel, and of course the prostitutes, bro.

What are you doing eating with them?

And it doesn't, once again, it doesn't seem like a be a one-time meal, but Jesus, he really seems to have this bad habit of hanging out with sinners.

Such a bad habit.

We're told that he in another portion of Luke that all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near to listen to him, but not the Pharisees.

The Pharisees said, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

See, the Pharisees don't think anything's wrong with them.

And so Jesus says to them in verse 31, if you want to look at verse 31, and Jesus answered and said to them, It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Do you see that all humans are sick?

Sick and sin, but not the Pharisees.

They were thought they were righteous.

I one time I went to the doctor's office, and there's a big sign on the door that says, Before you see the doctor, I want you to really think about what's wrong with you.

It's like bring your list in.

Don't just come in there and wing it.

Pharisees, they would say, Nothing's wrong.

We're good.

We're the righteous.

And I want to make sure everyone here understands this.

Jesus does not save us because we're good.

No one is good.

No, not one.

He invades our life with his love, snatches us from the flames.

Yes, we believe hell is real, snatches us from the flames.

We put our faith in him, he forgives our sins, not because we're good.

And this this crazy exchange happens, right?

Where he gets all of our sin on the cross, bearing the wrath of God, and we get all of his righteousness and a right standing before God.

And I also want you to understand this.

Once you become a Christian, you will no longer have any problems.

No, this is the big misconception that people that don't know Jesus think that Christians don't have problems.

But I, for one, have a lot of problems.

Someone asked me right before the serve, like right before I walked in here, they said, Pastor, you care for so many people.

Who cares for you?

And I said, I pay people to care for me.

They're called psychologists and psychiatrists.

Pay them good money to listen to me and care for me.

You see, I have problems too.

You're like, are you serious?

Yeah, I'm serious.

Like, yeah, none of us have it all together, right?

We all struggle, we have issues, and so when you're having a meal with somebody, it's okay to talk about that stuff.

Because we're forgiven, not perfect.

But we point to the one who is.

You get it?

That's what happens over a meal.

So we're talking about eat, love, pray, and I ask you a very poignant question.

And I don't care if you're from this church or not from this church, you've got to take this question.

This question is gonna hit.

Here it is.

Who do I have room for in my heart this year that I didn't have room for last year?

Maybe it's someone in your neighborhood, maybe someone you golf with, occasional acquaintance, someone at rehab, pickleball, I don't know what it is.

A disconnected Christian, a non-Christian.

Who do you have room for this year that you didn't have room for last year?

Eat, love, pray.

Now, just just to make sure that you understand where we're coming from, this is not complicated.

I'm gonna give you a few things here at the end that so shows you that there is no confusion when we leave here.

Number one, eat, love, pray is not a program.

There is nothing you need to sign up for.

You eat automatically.

We're just telling you and asking you not to have a big party, a dinner party, none of that stuff, but just find someone.

Maybe someone who doesn't know the Lord or away from church and say, Hey, do you want to go to coffee?

Do you want to come over and eat?

And no one's ever saved because they had a meal that was all perfect.

They're saved because someone made room in their lives to love them, share the gospel with them.

Not a program.

Well, eat, love, pray is intentional.

We're asking you to be more intentional in your eating.

Who you are eating with, inviting into your life, loving with your life, and have a meal with them and listen to them and hang out with them.

My daughter Jordan, she is kind of insta-famous.

She has a lot of followers on Instagram because of her art.

It's it's pretty cool to see.

She's had some pretty famous people follow her, but her best known piece is called Linger Long.

Do I have a picture of that?

Linger Long.

It's just a simple thing at a table, hanging out with people, lingering.

That's the image.

That's not a program.

That's just being with people and loving people.

Eat, love, pray is evangelistic, but not just evangelistic.

You don't want to just go up to people and say, Do you know Jesus?

And if they say yeah, say, okay, I'm not gonna eat with you.

But you can eat with people who know Jesus.

It's okay.

You're basically you're just trying to connect with people that maybe are disconnected.

There are believers who have been so burned by the church and they've experienced so much church hurt, they're not gonna come here.

But you can meet with them, you can eat with them, you can listen to them, you can process with them, and you can encourage them.

Maybe they'll come back.

And eat, love, pray is prayer saturated.

Doesn't mean you have to pray at with them or after the meal, any of that.

But with them, you can just pray on your own.

Because let me just tell you, if you're not praying for the people you're eating with, you're just having lunch.

Gotta pray for people.

You're gonna be with them, you're gonna share the gospel with them, encourage them, and afterwards, when driving home, just pray for them.

And eat, love, pray is ongoing.

We're gonna just this is what we just this is what we do.

This is our vision, this is our grand vision.

And don't get tripped up by the word eat.

It can be golf love prey, pickleball love prey, craft love pray, game night, card night love prey.

I don't care.

Just connect with people, love them, and pray for them.

And I don't want to be dramatic here, but I I I just gotta say it.

This is this is the last thing I gotta say.

I this sounds so dramatic, but uh eat, love, pray.

It really can be a matter of heaven and hell.

I'm in a I'm in a like a stretch right now of doing a lot of funerals, and there are people in our church who are dying, and people are about to meet Jesus and be welcomed or not.

There are people that you know that don't know Jesus, and if they die.

Face the fullness of the wrath of God without the shed blood of Jesus for them.

It's a matter of heaven and hell.

So, what's a good practical step?

This is going to be a stretch for you.

You walk out in the lobby, take a magnet.

Just grab a magnet, take it home, put it on the fridge.

And I want to encourage you this week, not next year, not next month, this week, one name, one meal, this week.

Who do you have room for in your heart this week that you haven't had before?

Just ask them out.

And you say, you may think, this is so unnatural.

What I want to do and you want to go eat?

You could do this.

Maybe they won't come to church.

You could say, hey, my church is doing this concert thing on Saturday.

Let's go to that and go eat afterwards.

There's something natural.

I don't know what it is for you.

But try to engage someone this week, one meal, one person.

And I think it is such a natural bridge for us to now, in a sense, have the most important meal ever together.

We're about to take the Lord's Supper.

And before we take the Lord's Supper, I want you to ponder this idea.

Who is not at this meal?

Who is not here that either has drifted away or they don't know Jesus?

Who's not at this meal?

Maybe next time we have this meal, they'll be here.

This meal is so significant because in this meal we remember Jesus Christ, blood shed for us, body broken for us, so that we can be saved and know the Father forever.

If you know Jesus and you're walking with Jesus, you can take this meal.

You don't have to be a member of this church.

We're not asking you to check any boxes.

We ask that you are a follower of Jesus.

Now, if you're a follower of Jesus in theory, in word, in your mind, but you're really, you know you're not following him.

Don't take this meal.

This is a meal not just for sinners, it's a meal for repentance sinners.

Those who realize they're sinful, they're broke, they're sick, and they find forgiveness in the doctor, in the healer, Jesus Christ.

We have this in front of you on the pews if you want to grab that.

And I don't know, hopefully we have enough to go around.

If not, we have some ushers in the back that can bring it to you.

This is a meal that Jesus introduced to his disciples.

And it's a meal that we take down through the centuries until he comes back.

And then we take the first part of the meal, which is the bread.

You can take the bread now if you'd like.

If you want to take the cup now, we remember Jesus shed blood for us on the cross for the remission of our sins.

Take and drink.

And we'll continue to do this until he comes again.

And we'll continue to have a heart for those who are not with us that we will pursue with the gospel starting this week.