Bless – Week 3

Jesus changed the world one table at a time and so can we.

 

How to Change Your World

(all at once)

1. Start Where You Are 

  • B – Begin with Prayer
  • L – Listen
  • E – Eat: 
  • S –  Serve 
  • S –  Share 

 

Hope is not a strategy.

We are not hoping people meet know and follow Jesus 

We are Helping People Meet Know and Follow Jesus.


2. Be Hospitable 

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. 2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!  Hebrews 13:1–2 

 

Hospitality defined – 

The friendly reception of guests or strangers.

 

3. Use Your Table  

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. 3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”Luke 19:1-10 

 

Zacchaeus was morally bankrupt, selfish, corrupt.
And yet Jesus looked up in that tree and said:

“Zacchaeus, come down. I’m coming to your house today.”

That meal changed his life.
He responded with generosity and repentance.
Everyone else saw a sinner — Jesus saw a son.

That’s the power of hospitality:

  • It opens hearts.
  • It restores dignity.
  • It starts transformation.

4. Make Meals Missional

Excuses we make (all at once) 

  • “I don’t like having people in my home.” 
  • “I don’t have time.” 
  • “I wouldn’t know what to say.” 

 

Ask questions (all at once) 

  • Where did you grow up?
  • What’s your family like?
  • How did the two of you meet?
  • What kind of work do you do?
  • What do you do for fun?
  • What dreams do you have for the future?

 

5. Live to Bless Others — The BLESS Offering

  • Kids Against Hunger – (pictures) 
  • The Thanksgiving Food Drive – (pictures) 
  • Our Dominican Republic Mission Trip – (pictures) 

When we give, we extend the table.
Your generosity turns strangers into friends and friends into family.

 

Next Steps 

  1. Invite someone to your table
  2. Be a host where ever you are 
  3. Give to the BLESS Offering

Email my notes