God Lifts Me Up When I’m Worn Down

Idea of a table. And there’s something about a table, right? There’s something beautiful about gathering around a table. So we’re in the summer of psalms. We’re just hitting on different psalms.

We’re going to have different speakers speaking during the summer. And this will probably go for the next couple of months, depending on how long we want to go with it. Okay. There’s a lot of psalms. We can just go all year if we want to.

But there’s a beautiful, beautiful things that we can pull from these psalms of different writers, mostly David, but we have several different writers of the psalms. And the beauty that comes from those psalms to speak to us today, I mean, they just still permeate in our souls. When we read these psalms last week, I talked about. I connected a proverb to a psalm and we talked about the beginning of wisdom and what that means. And then we brought in the wisdom of God that we see in the psalm.

This week. I want to talk about how God lifts us up when we’re worn down. When we’re worn down. That’s a good amen, right? I think we got a good amen right there.

Because all of us have been worn down. Life can treat us pretty harshly. We can have a lot of experiences in life that aren’t too friendly to us who are believers. Right. It’s tough at times.

Life wears us down so that you have nothing left to give at times. Right. Sometimes you just feel like you don’t even have anything to give back because you’re just so beat down. There was a note, an email a pastor shared one time from one of his congregants. It reads like this.

I feel like I’m in a war zone. There’s just one battle after another. I argue with my wife. I clash with my kids over everything. I fight to keep my job.

I struggle with our growing debt, and I’m losing the battle with my weight. And when there’s a conflict inside me, it seems like there’s. I can never control it. I fight my own fears, and I battle with my anxieties and my temper, and I’m always fighting off depression. Sometimes I’m just fighting to keep my head above the water.

And I’m just so tired. How many of you have been there? I’m just so tired. I’m trying to keep my head above the water, Bills to pay, kids to raise, marriages to keep in place and relationships that I deal with all the time. How does God show his goodness in the middle of those times?

How does he show His Goodness in the issues, in the hard issues that we walk through, the seasons of darkness that we go through. How does he lift us up when we’re down? How in the middle of the battle, not after the battle. How does he do it when we’re sitting in the battle? How does God come in and give us hope and give us peace and pick us up?

Psalm 23:5 says it beautifully. He says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And it was written 3,000 years ago. How in the world does that connect with us today?

How can it continue to connect with us today? What kind of banquet is this? Is what we want to answer today. What kind of banquet is this? How’s this enemy?

And who’s this enemy and how does he work? What does this banquet symbolize? I mean, what is all this stuff there and what’s on the menu? Because that’s what we’re all asking at the end. I want to know what’s on the menu and what’s going on.

Do we have rib eye steaks or do we just have TV dinners? Right? What’s on the menu and how does this help me? Today is really what we’re going to get to today. So let’s look at this banquet for a minute and see what God has for us when we look at this psalm.

So what kind of banquet is this? The passages suggest when we look at this, first of all, you prepare that God is the host. God is the host of this event. It’s God’s idea. It’s God’s plan, It’s God’s preparation.

And God has put it together. He’s made the invitations, he sent out the invitations specifically for you. Imagine the honor of having God to invite you to a party. What would you do if God came in today and somehow you experienced God, maybe in Jesus Christ or just the spirit of God? Say you are invited to a party.

What would you. You’d probably be getting the best outfit you can find, probably getting your hair done. You’re probably, you know, getting on your best behavior, you know, doing all that stuff. Because it’s just an honor to be in the presence of God. And that’s.

That is the God of the universe that is inviting us into a banquet. Think about that for a minute. The God who created us, the God of the universe, is the host inviting us to a banquet. Not only that, it’s well planned. It’s well planned.

It’s prepared. He prepares a table for us, it’s not spontaneous. It’s not last minute. He’s not running to the pizza place to grab pizzas real quick because you didn’t have time to prepare a meal. He already has the meal prepared.

It’s not just a microwave dinner. He throws into the oven real quick into the microwave real quick and pulls out and says, here it is, and it’s this magnificent feast. It’s a king’s feast. In the original Hebrew, Shulchan is the word. It’s the king’s table, which was an honor.

It was a sacred place. I think about Maximus and Caesar in the movie Gladiator. How he walks into the tent and it just looks. I just imagine how glorious that tent was with all the artwork around and all the beauty of it. And they’re having that discussion, you know, Marcus Aurelius wants to turn over the empire to Maximus, you know, because he’s the only one he trusts.

And the glory of being invited to that table, that Maximus had the opportunity to sit adjacent to Caesar and have a friend conversation with him. You know, God wants that for us. He wants that opportunity to sit at the table with us. He’s prepared it. He’s put all the stuff in place.

A sacred table. And I’m the guest of honor. You’re the guest of honor. It’s the next point. You’re the guest of honor at this table.

You’ve been invited. It’s for me. You prepare a banquet table for me. You put a. A feast together for me.

It’s not a banquet for someone else. It’s a banquet for you. That God has a banquet for you. And you are invited to attend this highest honored event. You are the highest honored.

There is a chair right beside the king for you. That’s how good our God is. God wants to invite you into. Into the highest honor. And then it’s public and not in secret.

It’s public and not in secret. It means in front of everybody. He wants them to know that you are the guest of honor, that you are his child, that you are his friend. It’s a public banquet and people are watching you eat with the king. Isn’t that a cool idea to be able to sit with the king and in his public situation?

And God wants everyone to see that you were honored. This is an honorary seat I have set up for Leon right there. And I want everybody to look at my child. I want everybody to celebrate my child. And here’s your food and here’s your feast.

And what’s really interesting is it’s on a battlefield. It’s not set apart from the battle. It’s on the enemies. It says, in the presence of my enemies, he sets up a feast and sets up a table. That’s interesting because usually a banquet is for friends.

Usually a banquet doesn’t allow the enemies in. Right? But he does it right in front of the battle. The battle that you’re going through. But it’s so that your enemies can see that you’re honored.

That’s how good our God is. He wants you to see that you are a child of God. And it is. It is an honorable place to sit. The battle gets harsh and the battle gets heavy.

But here is my child. Sit, rest. Let people celebrate you because of the stuff that you are doing, of the work that you are doing for my name in the presence of my enemies. Now, what is an enemy? What enemy is out there?

What are these enemies that he is talking about? Three enemies that we particularly deal with day in and day out. The outside, the up against and the internal. The outside is the world. The world around me is my enemy.

What do you mean by that? This world, the world that is around me is the first enemy that is against me. It’s always coming after you. Have you ever been criticized? Have you ever been left out?

How does it feel to be left out for no reason at all? I think about when you’re a kid and the kickball game is gathering in the. In the park. And I know you’ve been there. I’ve been there.

I was always a really little kid until I hit my growth spurt. So I tell Max and Savannah all the time, don’t worry, it’s coming. You’ll be bigger than the rest of the kids. One of these days you’ll shoot up, you’ll be taller. But I was always the smaller kid and I was always the one that was left last.

Doesn’t feel too good. You know, when the teams are picked out, you go there, you go there. I’ll have him, I’ll have him. I’ll have her. I’ll have her.

And even the girls are picked before you. You know, it’s just like, what is. And you know, you’re good. You know, you’re really good, right? You know, you’re good at what you’re doing, but you get left out for no other reason but based on your physique or the way you look.

Or maybe you’ve been. There’s prejudice or you’ve been denied or something, you know, unfairly assessed. It feels awful. Well, that’s what the world does all the time. It’s against us.

Jesus said, in the world, you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustrations. I love how the Amplified says that. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. Take heart. I know that you’re going to deal with tribulation.

Tribulation happens. Tragedy happens, right? Trials happen, right? We get distress happens all the time. And if none of those things happen, you’re just frustrated a lot of times, right?

I mean, frustrations in life happen. And what I see, particularly in young Christians, when you become a Christian, everything just seems so great at first, right? I mean, like, for the first year of your life, you’re like, whoa, I’m a Christian. Hallelujah. Praise God.

Everything’s working out. I have this joy in my heart that I’ve never experienced before. And I know we have a lot of new Christians in this church, but as you mature as a Christian, you start going through these things, you start learning that, you know what? Just because I’m a Christian doesn’t mean I won’t ever lose my job. Just because I’m a Christian doesn’t mean I’m not going to have trouble in my marriage.

Just because I’m a Christian, that I won’t experience divorce or I won’t experience tragedy or my kids won’t walk out or make poor decisions or whatever that looks like. Because I’m a Christian, I shouldn’t be dealing with the pains of this life. I shouldn’t be dealing with pain in my body. Because I’m a Christian, I should be, like, walking in victory in some type of physical reality. But the truth is, Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble.

But take heart when he says, I have overcome all these things. Whatever you’re facing, if they never go away, know that Jesus has a plan. God has a plan for all of this, and it is going to be victorious. So we need to have a mindset of victory over those things. As we walk in these things, we know that we got to walk in victory.

It’s a mindset change. Amen. And when we get that mindset there that he has overcome the world, we can walk through anything first. John 2 says it like this. Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. We can’t love the world. And he goes through three different areas. He says, for everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, doing anything that feels good or indulges the flesh or the lust of the eyes being driven by greed or driven by money or driven by more and more and more. Those things are attractional, right?

They’re distractions from what God has for us. Because, you know, I’ve got to have. I’ve got to do this. I can’t. I can’t be in the fellowship today.

I can’t go to church today because I got to make some money because I’m behind, you know, And I want to be here. And I got my goals and I got my wants, you know, I’ve got to have this type of house and I’ve got to have this type of bank account. I got to have this type of retirement, right? By the time I’m this age. And you forget your purpose in the world.

You forget that you’re a child of God, that you’ve been called to something. Because we’re so focused on the things that are temporal, right? We’re focused on the things that don’t really matter. I’m not saying don’t save money and have retirement, right? I’m not saying don’t have a job and take care of your family, right?

I’m not saying those things. But we get so distracted by greed and the things of this world when it overcomes what God has planned for our lives. His purpose for our lives has given us. He’s given us. As we talk through First Corinthians, I spent months talking about your purpose and why God designed you and that you all have spiritual gifts that are meant for this world, meant for a time such as this, where the world is chaotic.

We need to be Christians that rise up above and beyond the greed and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, the prideful pretending to impress others. Why do we do all this? To impress others, right? We’re impressing people that don’t really even care anyway, right? They don’t care about you.

They’re the world, right? We should only be living to please Jesus. So it says in the pride of life come not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, right? But whoever does the will of the Father lives forever.

We’re living forever, guys. When you become a Christian, you start on day one, on that hour, on that second when you. You give your life to Jesus, a transformation takes place and you live forever. Praise God for that. Because every day I notice that my body’s getting weaker, right?

I can’t surf as good as I could, you know, five years ago. Amen, Lee. I mean, it’s tougher. It’s tougher than it used to be. We got to get bigger boards.

Right. And. And we got. We paddle a little slower. Right.

We’re still going, but. And you’re losing those little things, you know, in your life that. I just feel sorry. And I feel bad for people who don’t know Jesus and don’t know eternity because they think this is it. But guess what?

One day, when our Lord returns, we will have new bodies. Praise God in heaven. We will be made just like we were always meant to be from the very beginning. In the garden, God has something so glorious for us. A glorious body.

Man. I’m so excited about that. Every time I’m back, my lower back is just all jacked up. I know I’m gonna have another back one day. I’m not worried about it.

Amen. Yeah. I’m gonna take care of myself now. Right. Cause I got a work to do in this life.

But we’re gonna live forever. The world that is around me and Satan that is against me. So the world that is around me, then you’ve got somebody right in front of you. A reality that there is an evil one that is against you and doesn’ in fact, he hates you. Why does he hate you?

Because he hates God. Because God loves his children. And God wants to bless his children. God wants to show off his children. And Satan’s going to do everything he can to limit that, to hurt that, to defeat that, because he wants to hurt God.

And when Satan hurts God’s children, God hurts and God fights. That’s why it says, be careful. Watch out for attacks from the devil. Who is your enemy? Who is your great enemy?

For we are not fighting. Right? Y’ all know this. We are not fighting against flesh or blood. We’re not fighting against people on earth.

I want you to remember that for a second. You’re not fighting against the people that have done you wrong. You’re not fighting against the people that have betrayed you or walked out on you or done you wrong or ended a friendship or that they. Or that ex in your life, you know, that done you wrong. That’s not the battle.

The battle is Satan. It’s not her. It’s not him. It’s not that person that betrayed you in a business dealing. It’s not that person who swindled you out of whatever it was.

It’s not that person that emotionally abused you in that relationship. That’s not. There’s somebody sinister in the background working. And the battle is not against flesh and blood. But against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in the dark world, against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Paul was very adamant that there is a system beyond what is going on in the people in your life. Beyond that, it’s not evil rulers. It’s not. You could just look at the world today and know that there’s something bigger and crazier going on in places we can’t see, right? That there’s something evil and sinister happening in the background.

Manipulating and moving things around in order to try to defeat God’s children and God’s church and God’s glorious purpose for this world. And then there’s the most important enemy, and that’s my old nature that’s inside of me. That’s probably the greatest enemy. You deal with the flesh, right? You’re battling with yourself all the time.

It’s easy to point to Satan. It’s easy to point to the world. But, man, when I look at myself, I don’t want to correct myself, man, because that’s the hardest place. I have to be honest and brutally honest with myself to see who I am and what I’m doing. It’s a constant battle.

Paul says, but there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. My mind is always battling with my mind. The power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. He talks about this inside me that’s battling with this new mind. Because when you’re transformed by Jesus, you have a new mind.

But the old mind and old heart and the old flesh is battling all the time, battling. So those are our three enemies. That’s why we need the Lord to step in with this banqueting table and just set it in front of us. So what does the banquet symbolize? Let’s answer that question for a second.

What does it symbolize? First of all, God wants and welcomes fellowship with me again. A table is a beautiful place where we can come together. I love the table. We got a little house and a big table.

Our table takes up our whole little dining room. Because I just believe in a big table. We had a little table for a while and drive me crazy. We’d have people over and I couldn’t fit everybody at table. The.

There’s something beautiful about the table. I actually get frustrated when we get so busy at times. And it’s my fault as much as it’s the rest of the family. But we get so busy sometimes we don’t sit at the table together like we should because there’s Gymnastics, and there’s school and there’s. I’ve got to run to a ministry thing.

Miranda’s got some work, evening work, whatever it might be. And unfortunately that happens a lot in families. We don’t have that table time, right? Because there’s something beautiful about the table. So that’s that.

Including me. I’m just making a sharp statement here that try to make table time. You need table talk. You need to come together. There’s a beautiful thing about the table because it represents fellowship, it represents love.

And he wants to know you. God wants to know you. He wants to be with you. He wants to be your friend. He wants you to hang out with him.

The Creator of the universe says, sit down, let’s have tea together. Let’s talk. I invite you in. I want to show you how much I love you. And it’s interesting that he wants to do this while you’re under attack, that things are coming against you.

Who would be throwing a party in the middle of a battle, Right? Let’s have a big party in the middle of the battle. We’ve got enemies coming at us, right? Imagine that. Look what Psalm 5:11 says.

And I love how the message puts this message. Paraphrase. It says, you welcome us with open arms when we run for cover. To you, let the party last all night. Stand guard over our celebration.

Now, I want you to just imagine for a minute a soldier who is fighting really, really hard in battle, just going to it, just all day long. They’re tired, they’re exhausted or emotionally drained or physically drained, and you were immediately pulled off the battlefield, some lieutenant or whomever. A lot of you are military people. Y’ all know it better than I do. But they would come in and say, hey, you’re coming off the battlefield.

And immediately you’re brought into this tent. And again, I go back to what that picture I shared earlier, that tent’s prepared for you and it’s got all the food. And he said, just come and sit and rest. You’ve done such a great job. You’re doing a great job.

I want you to come in and just spend time with me, and I’m going to affirm you and I’m going to tell you how much I love you and how much I appreciate you and how hard you’re working. You know that I see what you’re doing even when it feels like nobody else sees what you’re doing. You might be a simple soldier in the battle. You might be on the front line. Nobody may not know what you’re doing and how many battles you.

You fault. But I see you and I love you and I care about what you’re doing. You’re a faithful man, you’re a faithful woman, and I see you. Wouldn’t that be a dream to have that happen? In fact, the new King James says it like this.

In the Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, he brought me to his banqueting house, his banqueting table, some versions say, and his banner over me is love. That he hangs a banner over us and says, this is the one I love. Come sit at my table. And imagine the enemies when they see that. What’s going on?

Like, there’s a. And it’s not like off the field, it’s on the field. You know, let’s put up the tent. Like, look, everybody celebrating him. What would they think?

Are you kidding me right now? Is this really happening? And what is God doing? What is Jesus doing? When God wants to bless your life, there is nothing the critics can say about you.

They have to stop in their tracks. They can try to harm you all they want to, but God just continues to bless you because he loves to bless his people. He likes to show it off, despite slander and ridicule or anything that you may be going through in your life. People against you, the world against you. God wants to bless you.

In the middle of the battle, God is calling you to his banquet table. Job says it like this. Job 36. God is gently calling you from the jaws of distress to an open place of freedom where he has set your table full of the best foods. God wants to not only fellowship with you, he wants to feed you, he wants to strengthen you.

He wants to strengthen you. In the middle of the battle, there is a table that you can partake of. And I’ll tell you what that is in a minute. A table that you can eat from. The second thing is God wants to bless me, to show me or show the world his goodness.

He wants to show the world his goodness. You’re his trophy. And it’s not anything I did, not anything you do. Because we’re all without Jesus, sinners. We don’t deserve it.

But that’s what God is. He’s just that good. He blesses and he shows off his children, and nobody can touch it. That’s why the enemies have to stop in their track. Wow, you’re being blessed.

Even in the midst of losing everything, you can gain something because God blesses you and he loves you. Psalm 31 says it like this. How great is the goodness you have stored up, some versions say, planned for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world. Blessing them before the world.

God wants to show off his glory. He wants to show off his glory through you. He’s got that available to you. And you keep honoring God even when people are coming against you. You keep honoring God and doing what God’s called you to do, and living the way that God has called you to live, and serving God the way that you want to serve him.

And just keep on, don’t give up, because God sees that. And God is showing you off without you even knowing and realizing it. He’s showing you off. He’s already got all of it under control. That’s why Psalm 35 says he is pleased with the success of his children.

He is. And he blesses us your goodness. God is so great. That’s what Psalmist says. Your goodness is so great that even when I don’t deserve it, you show me off before my enemies, before the world.

You bless me so people can see your goodness through me. So the big question is, what’s on the menu? Am I going to get a steak? Leon, you know, like, when I get to heaven, is it going to be like right there? Like just I say steaks.

If you’re my wife, it’s not steak. Okay, I know. I realize not everybody’s. There’s something wrong with people not liking steak, but there are people that don’t like steak. But for me in my situation, I see that happening, you know, walking in with a big, nice, fat, juicy ribeye steak.

Amen, Stephan. Amen. Amen. Will? Yeah.

Stephan’s always sending me pictures of his steak things at the fire department almost every week. I’m like, goodness gracious, man, these guys eat. Alright, so what’s on the menu? Everything God has promised in his word is on the menu. Every promise is available.

You that God has made. Every promise is available to you. Amen. 5,500 and some odd promises in the Bible. Have you eaten from those promises?

Have you taken from those promises? If you haven’t read this book right here, you haven’t, you haven’t eaten. There’s so much you can eat in here. There’s a promise for every problem. Did you know that?

There’s a promise for every problem. There’s a promise for every situation. There’s encouragement for every walk of life. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, there is a promise for everything because it says the Bible says, this is the bread of life. This is the good bread, this is the sweet bread.

This is the nutritious bread. And man shall not live as our Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the Father’s mouth. What does the Father say right here? He says everything that we need in his word. It says it’s fulfilling.

It says it’s tasty. It says it’s fruitful. It says it’s sweet. It’s like honey. It’s honey.

That’s what the song is, Honey on our lips. We sang about that. It’s like sweet honey is what that is. Our fears and our angers and our anxieties go away when we read this book. So if I could say anything today, you need to not just make it a one meal a week thing on Sunday morning where you’re getting a word and you’re going home encouraged for a little while.

And then it goes away by Monday because you’re depressed on Monday because you have to go back to work, right? You have to go back to real life. And you’re like, oh, the weekend’s over. No, you need to wake up every morning, however that looks, and you start partaking. Maybe it’s afternoon, maybe it’s evening.

I suggest the morning because it starts out your day. You need the nutrition to get through your day. You need to be partaking of the word of God. And when we often settle for granola at our feast, we’re missing out, right? Because in a king’s feast, there’s a lot of steak, okay?

There’s a lot of chicken steak, big turkey legs. I don’t know, I just imagine this king having big turkey legs out. I think about those movies and things. You know, you see just. Just all the feast, just everywhere, stretched down the table, everything we want.

But instead, what do we do? We go for granola, right? We get some granola. We go to social media. We.

We go through the news, to the news and get fear and anxieties in us before we start our day. Oh, man, there’s another bombing. What’s America going to do in Iraq? You know, Iran, Excuse me, I’m living in Bush era. Not true.

90s boy. Right? Yeah. The Iran, Israeli conflict. What’s going on in Ukraine and Russia and what’s going on with Trump and what’s going on with Democrats and Republicans and all the fighting and all the things going on.

That’s all that’s on the news. That’s everything there. And you’re just like, you get so anxious and worked up. Are we all just going to blow up tomorrow? Instead, you need to go to the life, the word of God, the thing that gives us and feeds us.

Look at the psalmist, what he says, how sweet your words taste. To me, they are sweeter than honey. If you have bitterness in your mouth, coming out of your mouth, you’re probably not filling it up with good honey. If you’re angry and you’re frustrated and you’re talking bad about things in life and people and situations, and that’s most of your conversation. You’re probably not eating from this.

You’re not taking that good food in. I love how the psalmist says it here in chapter 34, learn to savor how good the Lord is. You got to learn. Takes practice, right? It takes time getting in your word.

You got to go into it. Look, and it’s not a history book, okay? Some of you like history, some of you don’t. But if you go into this like it’s a history book, you’re going to get what you get out of a history book, right? It’s not an insurance policy.

How many of you like reading your insurance policy? That’s zero. Because none of you have read your insurance policies, right? Because it’s not fun to read. This is not an insurance policy.

It won’t be exciting to you if we read it in these categories. Instead, read it like it’s God’s love letter. Like he’s written these letters to you for you, specifically for you. Wrapped and put in a little envelope for you to read every day. Every day, guys.

Every day. There is love in here to speak to you and help you through life. I think about when Miranda and I. I don’t even know if she remembers this. She probably does because she has a way better memory than I do.

But we were. We were just engaged and each of us were going off to different places. She went to Costa Rica for a few weeks, and I was going to Africa for you weeks. But it kind of wrapped and we didn’t see each other for like. Like a month, you know, and we were so in love and excited and we were getting ready to get married and all these things, you know, we aren’t going to see each other for a month.

Oh, my gosh. You know, it’s going to be weird. We’re, like crying as we go. Walk away now. She’s like, bye, bye.

You know, El Salvador trip. I’ll see you in two weeks, okay? Please get out of here. You’re driving me Crazy. But back then, you know, you’re newly in love, you’re excited about life.

And she wrote me a letter for every day I was gone. She’s blushing right now, every day, like she. I don’t know how much time it took her to do this, but it had one or two sentences in it. And I would open it up every morning while I was in Africa, and I would read it, and it just brightened my day. It was just love, you know, I just could sense her love pouring through those letters, and it kept me.

It was just exciting. That’s how we should go into this book here. It’s a love letter. It says, I love you, I care for you. I’m with you.

I’m not going to leave you. I’m going to walk this out with you. That’s God’s love letter. Look what it says in Psalm 36. It says, how precious, O God, is your constant love.

We find protection under the shadow of your wings. We feast on the abundant food you provide you. Let us drink from the river, our goodness. You are the source of life. And because of your light, we see the light.

See, David understood it very well. He knew what it was like to be completely in love with God and that God completely loved him. A man after God’s own heart is what he was called. We need to be people that are after God’s heart. How do we capture God’s heart Here?

Every word is profitable. Every word is meaningful. Every word is for us. And in closing, I want to give you one more piece here. And I think this is the greatest thing about the banquet.

The greatest banquet of all is coming. The promise is now, and the event is later. Okay? The banquet that is offered to us, it does work now, right in the midst of our battle. But we have the greatest banquet of all coming our way.

It’s called the marriage supper of the lamb. We find it in Revelation, history, all of history is moving towards this. Everything that we do. This is what keeps us going. This is what, why.

Why we can make it through the battles. This is why we can. We can get through the muck and the stuff of this life. Because one day there will be a literal banquet placed in front of us. And all of us will be there.

All of us will be there. And there will be no more tears. There will be no more pain. There will be no more suffering. Right?

Hallelujah. Praise God. We don’t have the trials of this life. We no longer have to worry about whether, you know, that paycheck’s coming. Tomorrow we know I don’t have to worry about whether that, you know, that person is going to be in and out of my life or betray me or this or that.

We’re not only going to worry about the hurt and the pain and all the things. We’re no longer going to have to worry about hurt backs. Right, Lee? Amen. I know he’s going through some pain right now with his back situation, man.

I’m telling you that you’re going to have a new body. You’re going to have it all right? Hallelujah. And we’re going to be at the table, and me and Lee are going to get. Give that high five.

And yes, all dogs go to heaven, so baby will be there, too. Hallelujah. Lenny, you’re just an easy target today. I just see you right there. You’re on the front row.

Praise God. So if y’ all want to be a target, come to the front row. All right, all right. I’m not. Yeah, he’s an easy one anyway.

He loves it so. Amen. It says, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of the finest food for all people. If you have put your faith in the Son of God, it doesn’t matter who you are. You have a divinest feast placed in front of you.

It says, in a banquet of the best meats and finest wine, and on this mountain, God will destroy the shroud. Underline that. If you’re following your notes here, that enfolds all people in the sheets and covers of all nations. What is the shroud? Shroud means death.

When you put shroud over a body, that means it’s covered by death, but it destroys death. There is no more death. Right. And the sheet, what does a sheet represent? When someone puts a sheet over him in mourning.

Mourning. It’s grief. So death and grief, he will destroy all that. Death is the last enemy to be defeated. That banquet table will be set before death and death will be destroyed.

And it says, he will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, and he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. What does that disgrace? All those who have put you down as a believer. All that, though all of those who have talked bad about you because of who you’re following, he’s going to do something in Christ.

He’s going to prepare a seat before your enemy in that day. And it goes on to say, and in that day, they will say, surely this is our God. We will say, surely this is our God. We trust in Him. He saved us.

Yes, this is the Lord. We trust in Him. So let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation. Hallelujah. And the eternal party will begin.

The eternal party will begin. Are y’ all ready? Are y’ all ready? Let’s feast now. Let’s begin to feast on the table now.

Hallelujah. Let’s pray. Father, we thank youk for your word. We thank youk for the honey that yout’ve given us today, Lord Jesus. I thank youk, God, that.

That everything that’s written in this scripture is profitable. It helps us, encourages us, it feeds us, it builds us up. It’s an amazing book, Lord. You’re an amazing God, and you do amazing things. Lord Jesus, thank you so much that we have this available to us today.

Lord, let us not sit it down today and walk out of this place and just say, well, I got encouraged today. I got some honey today. I got some good food today. But, Lord, we want to take this every day. And I just pray that you would just impress upon the heart of the people here today if they’ve fallen out of reading your word or if they’ve gotten away from spending time with you, Lord, at your table, God, that they would get back to that every day and they would just trust you and lean into you and encouraged by you and be rested by you and be given peace by you, Lord Jesus.

We pray for that in the name of Jesus. Jesus. Perhaps there’s people here today that don’t know you, God. Maybe one of you here today has never really given your life to Jesus. You know about God, you know about church.

Maybe, or maybe you’ve never even walked into a church before. Can I say, today there is a banqueting table waiting for you right now. And all it. All you have to do is trust in Jesus. How do you trust in Jesus that He is the Son of God and that you need him because you’re a sinner and you know you are a sinner.

It doesn’t take much to figure that out, right? That you need a God, you need a Savior. But trust in Jesus, who gave his life so that you can be given everlasting life, so that you can live with him forever. And he will come into your life and he will change you from the end inside out. And it’s not anything magical in the prayers.

Just surrender from your heart. Pray this with me, Lord. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you died on the cross for my sin. Thank you, Lord, for rescuing my soul.

Thank you Lord, for giving me hope. Thank you Lord, for giving me life in your blood. Would you come into my heart? Would you change me? Would you transform me from the inside out?

Come in Lord. Make me a new creation. Change my mind, change my heart. From this day forward, I walk with you in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.