Services | God as My Host

Bulletin

Hymn # 487 “Since Jesus Came into My Heart”

SCRIPTURE READING – Romans 8:26 & 27
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate


Praise and Worship
“Echo Holy”
“Way Maker”
“Endless Light”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“God as My Host”


PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection

“Grace Like Rain”
Benediction “Egypt”

Sermon Notes
Psalm 23:5a God prepares a table for me while my enemies see it
Song of Solomon 2:4 God brings me to His banquet hall and His banner over me is love
Psalm 23:5b God anoints my head with oil
1 Samuel 16:12 & 13 Samuel anoints David as instructed
Luke 7:44 – 46 A woman anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume and kisses
James 5:14 Anoint the sick
Psalm 45:7 Because you loved righteousness and hated wickedness God anointed you above your fellow
Psalm 23:5 c My cup overflows
Matthew 26:39 Jesus asks for “this cup” to pass from Him
Psalm 16:5 The Lord is my cup
Psalm 116:12 & 13 Because of the Lord’s benefits to me I will lift up my cup of salvation and call upon His name

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

My wife was an excellent host or hostess when we would have a meal like let's say Thanksgiving she would make sure that everyone had a place setting and a seat at a table and Even at the last minute if we had additional guests or not people we invited late She would bring in additional tables and chairs to make sure everyone had a place to sit not only this she would also Prepare an abundance of food and she did so not because we like Leftovers because quite frankly generally I don't but we wanted to make sure that everyone felt that they could eat is They're filled without having to limit what they're eating so that it might go throughout everybody But the most important thing she did was to make sure that everybody felt invited and welcomed being there The psalmist in Psalm 23 in chapter verse 5 is going to talk about God as host Let's see how

And in the first four verses, the motif that the Thomas David wrote about is that God is his shepherd and hopefully God is your shepherd and mine.

And now in verse 5, he's going to change the motif in the last two verses and talk about God being host. And so it's a change, but it's to get us to understand just how gracious

and abundant our God is in his mercy and as he's dealing with us. So if you have your Bibles and you should please turn to Psalm 23 verse 5. And while you're turning there, I want to talk about going and being or having a host there. So for instance, I remember many years ago when my boss had invited Libby and I to dinner at his home. You know, it's one thing to have your boss at work. It's a different thing to go to his house

and you're uncomfortable because you're not sure of the relationship and why you're invited to the house. And so sometimes you do things that you don't normally do. And so for instance, because I didn't want to offend my host and he was my boss, he served asparagus.

I don't like asparagus, but I ate asparagus that night because I didn't want to offend my host. Now, if I were at, let's say my brother's home and they

serve asparagus, I would either say, well, you didn't mean to invite me or you don't care that I don't eat it. And if I offend you, so what? Because you're my brother, deal with it. And so there are certain things that we do or don't do, but there is a kind of a sense of how you feel. So one time, for instance, we went to this home of some people's relatives that we were with. And the next two examples I'm going to give, I'm not going to say who they were to protect the innocent, but we had gone and had driven many, many hours to this place. And as soon as we walked in, the host, the man who owned the home said, "Do you have a motel? Because if you don't, there's one here," which says, "Oh, gee, we're really wanted." Or sometimes you might go to

your future in-laws and you're not too sure how they're going to treat you and whether they even like you or whatever. And so there's that uneasiness. And so that evening may determine how you feel, how they treat you. Maybe the mother is very inviting, but the dad kind of said, "I don't like you. And I don't care that you know I don't like you because I don't like you." And that never kind of makes you feel comfortable. Or you might go someplace and and there are certain restrictions. And again, an example, someone I knew very well, but again, to protect the innocent, they went to his in-laws. And I believe that that particular they had ham. And so what they did was they cut a very thin slice of ham for each person that was there and then put the ham in a refrigerator, which basically tells you you're allowed to eat one piece of ham, unless you can steal it off somebody else's plate. But that's it. There is a certain limit to what is going to be happening here. Now that is kind of foreign to the way my wife was a hostess. She would want to make sure that everyone had a seat, that there was a place setting for them. And if we had extra people, then we would get extra tables and chairs and make sure everybody felt there. She would always make a great abundance of food because she never wanted anybody to feel that they had the limit of what they ate. And again, we did this not because we like leftovers because quite frankly, I don't like leftovers. But she did this. But the most important thing I think my wife did as a host or hostess was that she tried to make everybody feel comfortable being in our home. But as I've outlined, there are times when people just don't do that. I haven't seen it a long time, but there used to be, especially in the South, you would go in and you see this sign that says, "Visitors and fish stink after three days." So there's a kind of sense of, "Okay, don't overstay your welcome." And I don't know if my welcome is three minutes, three hours, or three days, but I know it's limited. We're going to see now that God has hosted. How does God treat us being the host? And so in Psalm 23 verse five, it says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." Now notice I want you to say, "You prepare," which means he's gone to links to make ready this thing. It's not like, well, we'll just throw it together. He prepared, and it isn't a place setting. It isn't a place at the table. Again, I think my wife was a wonderful hostess, but we prepared a place setting and a seat for you. God as our host prepares a table so that all that we might enjoy is set before us. God is never stingy about anything that He gives us. His grace, His mercy, His loving kindness, His forgiveness, all these things are not just bare by the skin of our teeth. It is in great abundance. So He prepares a table before me. It's for me, prepared for me.

In the presence of my enemies. Now I want to go first to talk about the table before me.

We're also told in the Song of Solomon, which very few people read, there's sometimes there's even a chorus that has this verse in it and it says, "He has brought me to his banqueting hall and his banner over me is love." Now I want you to think of this. Oftentimes when we go to a wedding reception,

what'll happen is the bride and the groom will sit at a particular table or maybe sometimes the whole wedding party, but then everybody else, even the bride's family and the groom's family, they're all at various tables. But in essence, because we are the bride of Christ, God has set us a table for us, not to share, but to be ours because we are His bride, if you will. And He set out a banquet table for us, but it's special. It just isn't there. It's over my head says, "I love Him." "His banner over me is love." So not only has God prepared a table before me,

that He has prepared it for me and that it's a table, not a place setting, but He has also placed a banner that says, "You are special. How much do I now feel welcomed?" "That I don't have to worry about. Well, how long is my stay?"

"Well, I offend Him if I don't eat the asparagus." He loves me. He set the table for me. So I'm suspicious of the fact that there's not a asparagus at the table He has set for me. Now, maybe for you He's got asparagus and broccoli and all kinds of stuff because it's prepared for you and it's prepared for me because God has prepared it. He is an excellent host.

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." Now, this is something that we don't really think. We usually think that God is going to eliminate our enemies and then we'll just sit in peace. But He said, "No, you prepared a table before me while my enemies are there."

Well, Jesus has told us, in fact, that we will in this life have tribulation. But don't be troubled because He has overcome the world. And so we can sit in peace at the table that the Lord has prepared for us because He's prepared it and He has overcome the world. So even if our enemies are watching us as we eat the meal God has prepared for us, we can do so in peace because He has overcome the world. He also says, "You have anointed my head with oil."

So not only has He prepared this table before us in the presence of our enemies,

but He has anointed our head with oil. Now, there are certain denominations that have this big thing about anointing and whatever. We Baptist kind of downplayed, but I want you to kind of get a grasp of what the Psalmist is saying here about God anointing our head with oil. So God decided that Saul should no longer be king and that he was going to anoint David as king. But He didn't tell Samuel who, He just said, "I want you to go to this particular family and in this particular family you'll find a son and that's the guy I'm going to tell you to anoint the oil which will now make him the new king." And as we read in the story, Samuel goes and all of David's brothers, except David, are there and there are some really tall, good-looking, strong guys. But Samuel goes, "That's not it. That's not it. That's not it." And he goes, "It's all your sons." He goes, "No, I got one guy. He's the little kind of run of the litter. He's out tending the sheep.

Well, bring him in." And so then the Scripture says this, "So He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy," which means he had a red complexion, "with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he." Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward and Samuel rose and went to Ramon." The anointing says in essence, "You are my chosen. You're the one that I have called. You're the one that I have chosen for this particular purpose and that the Spirit of the Lord descends upon you in power." And the Psalmist is saying, not just in David's sense of being anointed king, but that you have anointed my head with oil. You have placed your Holy Spirit upon me. You have chosen me. You have picked me. And I am there because of it. He has anointed our head with oil. But also it says,

Jesus was invited to a banquet and talk about hosts. He had prepared a table and did all these types of things, but he did not necessarily make everyone feel welcome. And so Jesus responds after all these people who are seeing this particular woman do what she's doing, anointing Jesus' feet with oil and kissing his feet and wiping it with her hair. Everybody's kind of, "Ooh, she's a sinner. Jesus should know better to allow this woman to touch him." And this is what Jesus is in turning towards the woman. He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she since the time I came in has not ceased kissing my feet.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume."

This woman, because she understood exactly who Jesus was and the power of his forgiveness, of her multiple sins, showed Jesus love for who he was and what he did. And going, "You, as the host,

didn't even do the minimal things. You didn't give me water to wash my own feet. You didn't give me any oil to anoint in any sense." And let's think of it, because I know you haven't.

In those days in Israel, it was kind of like our Mediterranean climate. And sometimes it can get warm, and you didn't necessarily have enough water to bathe thoroughly like we do, take showers and stuff. And then you traveled and the roads were dusty and dirty and gritty. And so sometimes you did not necessarily smell as sweet as we do today. And so you would use oil to give that fragrance

so that it would make the meal more appetizing.

The guest, the host here, thought he was doing well by giving "a meal." And Jesus is saying, "Look at the difference between you as a host and this woman who wasn't even invited.

She kisses me. She washes my feet. You don't give me water. You don't give me an anointing."

And all too often, we frequently are like the host rather than the woman. But God anoints our head with oil. He chose us. He wants us there. He gives us the power of His Spirit. We are also told,

"If anyone among you is sick, then he must call for an elder of the church, and they are to pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." Sometimes, if you will, oil is used as a medicine. Various oils, and those of you who are into various oils and essential oils, all this, you have the various oils that you use for relaxation or healing or whatever. And this is kind of the same thing. They would use certain oils as medicine. The Lord knows that we who are sinners are sick and need medicine. And He then also anoints our head so that it might run all over us, so that we might be made whole by His stripes. We are healed. The Scriptures also says in the Psalms, "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows." Now, this Psalm, I believe, is talking about Jesus because He loved righteousness and hated wickedness, and therefore He anointed God, He anointed Jesus above everyone else. But guess what? If we love righteousness and we hate wickedness, then God will further anoint us with oil of joy. We believers should be less concerned about the problems and more acknowledging of the thanksgiving that we should have and that God has given us not happiness but joy, that He has anointed our heads with the oil of the joy above everyone. So maybe if you feel that there's not quite as much anointing, maybe you need to love righteousness more and hate wickedness more.

And then the last portion of that, "You prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflow." Again, it shows that God is not stingy.

He doesn't just give us a little bit of drink. He doesn't give us just a half measure or three-quarters measure or the measure that the liquid just kind of goes above the brim and is full. Because no, no, God overflows my cup. He's not worried about the spillage because He has more than enough to satisfy all that we need, so my cup overflows.

Jesus talks about a cup and He says this, "And He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as my will, but as You will." Jesus has an entirely different cup that He drank than the one that has been set at the table that God has prepared for us. He gave Him this cup of judgment that we may never have to drink it, but that He has given us a cup that might overflow in love and forgiveness and mercy and loving kindness and never judgment because Christ drank that cup for us. We have a cup that overflows and benefits. Then it also says, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup, you support my law." The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup. Notice what the psalmist is saying here. It's God who is my cup. It is God who feels all in me. He's my inheritance and you support whatever my fate is, whatever my law, O Lord,

it is you who feels it. And then it says this in Psalms 116.12, "What shall I render the Lord for all of His benefits towards me?" They ask, "What do I do? Because God has done all of these things. That God has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies, that He has anointed my head with oil, that He has allowed my cup to overflow. So what do I do?" A lot of times when people come to a party or whatever, they'll bring a gift to do something. So the question is, "Okay, well, God has been my host. What is it that I do to acknowledge and to give Him back the things that He has done for me for all of His benefits?" Then he comes up with an answer.

"I shall lift up the cup of salvation. My cup overflows because I have been saved.

And I will lift my cup of salvation up and acknowledge who saved me and why He saved me and how awesome He is and that, yes, He is my shepherd that I shall not want, that He leads me beside," I'm sorry, He makes me lie down in green pastures. "He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

He's prepared it. He has made me to even though be of no regard when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, so I fear no evil. For His rod and His staff, they comfort me. And then as host, He prepares the table before me in the presence of my enemies. He anointed my head with oil and my cup overflows of salvation. And as a result, I call upon the name of the Lord."

I always know who it was that benefited me. I always know who brought me to His table. I know who is one who is there because the banner over me is love. I know of my Redeemer.

And I will lift up that cup just as at a wedding feast, reception people will do things and they'll lift up and they'll give toast for the bride of the groom and they'll wish them great things. We are to lift our cup up and say, "I'm here as a special guest of honor, not because I deserve it, not because I'm better than anybody, but because of Him who invited me, Him who called me, Him who keeps me in His good graces, Him who has provided all of these benefits for me, He who does such abundance, there is nothing stingy about Him. And He is such a gracious host

that even when the beggars and the criminals and the sinners and the prostitutes and even the religious people could say, "I am at this banquet because God called me." Now I want you to remember,

Jesus used an example of a parable when He said there were some invited guests and they didn't come. So He told His servants to go out to the highways and byways and compel them to come and to fulfill and fill His banquet. That's you and me, folks. There were people who were supposed to show up and they didn't because you know what? We're still going to have a party anyway.

And you may not be dressed for it, but come on anyway.

And I'll give you, instead of rags, filthy rags, I will give you righteous clothing and I will cause this perishable to be placed off and the imperishable to be put on. And there is going to be a day. Jesus talked about it in His revelation to John. He confirms it that there will be a wedding feast of the Lamb and we're going to be there. And we're not going to be just quote unquote the guests in the sense of whatever. No, we are the party. We are the ones sitting at the main table of the bride and the groom because our groom, Jesus, the Lamb of God, has made His church His bride and that's us. And there will come a time when we're sitting at these, this wedding supper of the Lamb, they were going to lift up our cups of salvation and say, "Let's hear it."

The Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Let's hear it for the Lamb of God who, even though I am who I am, loved me anyway and called me and set me apart and gave me great benefits. And I will, hopefully now and in the future, call upon the name of the Lord because He is gracious to me and His grace is awesome.