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Invite Them to Come and Fill my House

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"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. (Luke 14:23)

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Jesus was eating with several people when one man asked Jesus.
"Jesus, I think people sitting in the Kingdom of God's feast will be very happy and blessed." He asked this question because he wanted to know who would be able to join the Kingdom of God's feast.

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Jesus answered this question with one story.
There was a very noble person in one town.
He was going to have a very big party and he was going to invite lots of people.

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He made invitation letters to the people he wanted to invite.
Those people who received the letters promised him that they would surely go to the party.

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He believed in their promises so he prepared for the party.
The party was prepared very grandly.
All the food was the best and the most delicious.
Finally, the preparations were ready.

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He sent his servants to the people whom he had sent the invitation letters.
"All the preparations are done. Go and tell them to come."
The servants got their orders and went to the people he had invited.

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The first invited person said like this.
"Oh, I am so sorry. I bought a field yesterday and I have to go there so I cannot join the party. Please tell him that I said, 'I am sorry.'"
He was really saying that he could not join the party because he was busy.

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The second invited person also said like this.
"Oh my, I really cannot go today. I bought 10 cows a while ago and I need to take care of the cows so I cannot go to the party."

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The third invited person also said.
"Not long ago, I got married. If I will go to that party, my beloved wife would have to stay home alone so I cannot go there."

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Among the invited people, no one was able to come to the party.
The noble man who was throwing the party got very angry.
Then he said to the servants. "Go out to the streets of the town and invite other people to my party. Don't mind if they are sick or poor."

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The invited people joined the party with very thankful hearts.
For their whole lives, they had never been able to join that kind of party.
They had never eaten such delicious food in their whole lives so they joined the party with very grateful hearts. But the seats were still not filled up.

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So the master said again. "Go to streets again and go here and there. Invite many more people and bring them in. Fill all of the seats."

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So the party seats were filled with all kinds of people who had not been invited at first. The original people who were invited were not able to join the party because they had their own things to do.

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Today, Jesus told this story to tell that the Israelites with the wrong idea of faith will not join the Kingdom of God's feast. The Israelites during that time had the wrong idea of faith. They didn't follow God's words yet they still thought that they would surely get to go to the Kingdom of God.

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The Israelites were given the chance to join the Kingdom of God's feast but they did not say yes to their invitations. So the people who were not invited at first became the now invited guests and they will join Heaven's feast. That is why we believe Jesus and we are going to the everlasting Kingdom of God.

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Now, we should thank God for that great blessing we have received. We are the children of God and we are the ones invited to the Kingdom of God's feast so we should truly act like the children of God and the invited guests. We should follow our God's words and we should thank our God for inviting us to the Kingdom of God's feast. Also, we should be faithful to our God and live out our Christian lives victoriously.