PARTY!
JEREMIAH 31:8 (CEB)
I’m going to bring them back from the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the disabled,
expectant mothers and those in labor;
a great throng will return here.
LUKE 14:16-17 (MSG)
Jesus followed up. "Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’"
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God is inviting you, regardless of who you are, what you've done, or where you've been, to his great dinner party.
PRAYER
Thank you, Lord, for inviting me to your great feast. Forgive my narrow point of view for not wanting some people to be invited. I think I have a special right to be there. Open my heart to want those you want. Help me to reach out to those who would love to join your feast. Amen. (Daily Texts, Ground Up Grace edition)
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
