The Converge Network with Pastor Michele Jackson

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Today, I'm the Hope Connection.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Guess who's coming to dinner at your house. Jesus. He's
standing at the door, He's knocking on your heart. But
what I need you to think about is who you
already invited and who's already at the table. Because when
Jesus comes on the scene, just like that white family
didn't expect the black man to be marrying their daughter.

(00:26):
When Jesus comes on the scene, there's some stuff that's
already in us that we didn't expect to get confronted.
And so I need you to think about who is
at your dinner table. Who's invited? Is Jesus Christ the
guest of honor at your dinner table the table of
your heart?

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Right more in a moment with Pastor Michelle Jackson. But
before we get started, the Hope Connection will continue to
use what God gave Bishopfary to help you grow in Christ.
Our mission has not changed. Our methods may look different,
our anointing and conviction continue as we preach and teach
the word of God. Thank you for listening today and

(01:08):
we look forward to hearing how this broadcast has blessed
to you. Now Here is Pastor Michelle with Today's inspiring
message Guess Who's coming to dinner?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
The message title today is Guess Who's coming to dinner?
Guess Who's coming to dinner? Now, I know some of
the older people in the room can really film me
on that, because that was nineteen sixty seven. It was
after the Malchohn Washington, Sydney Potier. Come on, somebody, y'all
know what I'm talking about, a film that talked about
racial injustice and what was happening in families. Right, So

(01:44):
the young folk remember Guess Who two thousand and five
with like Zoe s Aldana and you know Ashton Kusher.
But I mean it really, even though it was like
a remake, it really didn't carry like the racial tension
and undertone because while we're not where the dream was
supposed to drop us off, we'd come a little bit

(02:06):
further than we expect it. So think about it. The
scripture today is Revelation three nineteen through twenty. Guess Who's
coming to dinner at your house? Jesus, he's standing at
the door, He's knocking on your heart. But what I
need you to think about is who you already invited,

(02:29):
and who's already at the table. Because when Jesus comes
on the scene, just like that white family didn't expect
the black man to be marrying their daughter. When Jesus
comes on the scene, there's some stuff that's already in
us that we didn't expect to get confronted. And so
I need you to think about who is at your

(02:50):
dinner table. Who's invited? Is Jesus Christ the guest of
honor at your dinner table, the table of your heart right.
So the foundation of scripture today is Revelation three nineteen
through twenty, and it reads those whom I love, I
rebuke and discipline, So be earnest and repent. Here I am.

(03:11):
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with that person, and they with me. To
the one who is victorious, I give the right to
sit with me on my throne, just as I was
victorious and sat down with my father on his throne.

(03:33):
Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear what the
spirit says to the church. Father, I thank you this
morning that you are going to use my lips of
clay to speak your truth to your people. God, let
us invite you to the table of our heart to
sup with us, that we would be victorious in this
life and the next in Jesus name. Amen. So the

(03:55):
context of this scripture, you know, we're at the Lord
speaking to the church that lay to see you, and
they've been kind of lukewarm. Right. So he's saying, if
the remedy is for you to invite me in, see
look warm is like. So, so it's not hot, it's
not cold, it's just in right. And so what the

(04:15):
Lord is saying is that if you hear my voice,
open the door, let me in, share a meal with me,
be intimate with me, and then by having that intimacy
and that deeper relationship with me, you can be victorious.
And like I was resurrected, and I resurrected and ascended

(04:37):
and sat next to my father on his right side,
I intend for everybody who connects with me and has
that intimacy with me to be victorious and be joint
heirs with me and in the next to sit next
to me next to my father. Amen. So when it
says who has an ear, it's talking about the ability

(04:57):
to perceive, the ability to be able to receive. So
when you invite people to your house, you're excited about them. Right.
We kind of talked about this on Friday night, Like
when you invite people over, you don't like throw your
dirty clothes on the floor and then expect them to
come and step over them. Right. You clean, you set
a menu, you might do some special shopping, right because

(05:22):
you want it to be presented in the best way.
But what I'm trying to share with you this morning
is that Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart,
saying I want to come in. I want to have
a meal with you. I want to break bread with you.
Are you ready? And some of us are so busy
thinking we have to clean like we would for a

(05:42):
natural guest, but we forget that the very presence of
Jesus brings holiness and that there's some some stuff that
we're just trying to get ourselves together. I'll do it
when I get myself together. I'll serve when I get
myself together. I'll be a church when I get myself together.
But he's standing there and he's knocking, and he's saying,
if you let me in, I will help you get

(06:03):
it together. If you'll let me eat with you if
you'll partner with me, if you to make space for me,
it's your table. I will help you to get things together. Amen.
So we have to remember that Jesus only did what
his father did when he was on the earth, so
he exemplifies the Father. So some of us, you know,

(06:26):
with all the things we've been through, we got father issues,
daddy issues and all of that, and we can't really
receive the covering, the guardianship, the protection that the Father
God wants to Father God wants to give us through
Jesus Christ. It's hard for us to receive Jesus as
a brother, to consider ourselves joint heirs with him because

(06:48):
of how we've dealt with our mindset about our family.
So today I want you to think about Jesus and
the God in this way, father, son and Holy Spirit
right a friend in the person Jesus. Is Jesus your friend?
Is he your homeie? See your road dog, a one,
your day one, whatever you call it? As boone, did

(07:09):
I hit all the generations for real? For real? Because see,
some of us haven't let Jesus really be our friend
friend like that, because we're still trying to clean things up.
And the reason I bring that up is because your
friend friend can come over when you're in a low
place and you don't have to clean up for them.
You don't have to put on a mask for them,

(07:32):
right all right, comfort in the person of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was sent to be a comforter. So
some of us we've been comforting ourselves. We've been self soothing,
and so we don't always seek the comfort of the
Holy Spirit. And then the Father, the Guardian, the one
who oversees so many of us have taken care of
ourselves our whole life that we're almost like an orphan

(07:55):
in the spirit because we can't see ourselves being protected
or care for truly one hundred percent by anybody, because
we've been let down. Right, So who is at your
table of your experiences? So I just want to encourage
you from John fifteen, remain in the Lord, Remain in him,

(08:15):
abide with him, let him in, let him sit at
your table, so that you can be fruitful. So let's
talk about some uninvited guest, right, because it's like stuff
that's already there. Because last week we talked about the
fact that part of the reason we need salvationists forgiveness
of sin, and so we were born in the sin
and shaped in iniquity. And there's some strongholds or people

(08:37):
that we've let sit at the table for a considerable
amount of time. You know, we're just talking about the
table of our heart. There's some stuff that we've just said.
You know what, I'm not ready to deal with that,
and but I need for you to start to trust
the Lord that he you've invited him in. But would

(09:00):
it be okay that you had a one on one
with him uninterrupted time? You know, when you're dating someone
and you're falling in love, you're not really trying to
spend a whole lot of time with a group. I mean,
are you? Were you for the married folk in the room,

(09:20):
it probably was safe right to not be one on one.
But what Jesus is saying is that he wants to
be the lover of your soul and your first love,
and he wants that one on one time. But who
else is at the table? Who are some of those
uninvited guests that keep you from trusting in him, to

(09:41):
keep you from accepting the love that he wants to
show you. Colossian's two six says, And now, just as
you accepted Christ Jesus as your lord. You must continue
to follow him. So in continuing to follow him, the
more that you're around somebody, you become like them. Oh
it's like that one on one time. It's like you

(10:02):
kind of can predict. Oh, I know they're gonna say this,
I know they're gonna do this. How much of that
is your relationship with Jesus Christ, with the love of
your soul. When you go to him about an issue,
can you sit there and you're like, yeah, okay, okay,
you feel reassured because you already know how this is
gonna go. That's the type of relationship that he wants

(10:22):
to have with us. I've realized recently that a lot
of my prayer, and probably is true for you, is
one sided. I'm praying, and I'm praying, and I'm praying,
and I'm petitioning the Father, and I'm decring and declaring
and I'm speaking scripture. But how much am I listening back?
How much am I sitting at the foot of the
Father to hear what he would have to say, to

(10:44):
know him well enough that I can know, yeah, okay,
I don't need to pray. I don't need to batter
on this one because he's already He's already given me
a word and I can just relax, you feel me.
So part of that is letting some of these uninvited

(11:05):
guests go, you know, the ones that kind of give
you anxiety. So here are some doors, some doors that
you want to close in your life, but also some
guests that you want to say, you know what, you're
permanently uninvited, you know, next time, maybe next lifetime. All right,

(11:26):
So fear is one right, So as we're praying in
this time of because we're still talking about inner healing
and deliverance and forgiveness. Okay, So in this time, allow
the Lord, according to the Psalm thirty nine, to search
you and know you your heart right, because what we're talking

(11:47):
about is Jesus coming to have a meal with you
in the table of your heart right. So it's a metaphor.
He will feed you his word and you will receive
it and digest it and appropriate right. So search me,
oh God, know my heart, test me and know my

(12:10):
anxious thoughts, point out anything that offends you, and lead
me along the path of everlasting life. That's on one
thirty nine. So some of the things that we have
to close the door to are fear. So fear, anxious thoughts, worry, unbelief,
the need to control things, anxiety, isolation, you know, drug use,

(12:34):
alcohol use. The whole thing of it is is that
we have anxious thoughts that lead us into these patterns.
And see, you probably didn't think that fear was linked
to addiction or that fear was linked to control. But
some of us, instead of being so fearful that we
don't do anything paralyzed, right, we control everything. No, I

(12:58):
got a plan. Okay, it's okay, you don't have to
own that, but it's true these facts. So the other
door we have to close is hatred or hate. Ephesians
four twenty five through twenty seven says, stop telling lies.
Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are

(13:21):
all parts of the same body. And don't send by
letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down
until while you are still angry, for anger gives a
foothold to the devil. So y'all remember Bishop's analogy, right,
He talked to us about the fact that a foothold
is top poss y'all? Remember right, the Greek word toppas

(13:42):
which means territory, geography, which means you're giving space or
possessive rights to the enemy. So as we're talking about
the table of your heart being a room right where
certain things are allowed and certain things are not allowed.
Hate is linked to anger. So when the when, the

(14:08):
when the Bible saying don't let the enemy get a
foothold by holding on to anger, it's saying, don't give
the enemy territory by holding on to hate. So here's
some cousins of hate, so we can check ourselves all right, Bitterness, envy, gossip, slander, anger,

(14:33):
self hatred, which is low self worth. Right, So some
of us feel less than because we're a certain race,
or a certain color, or a certain a certain size,
or our hair is a certain type of way. We
don't like ourselves. That's self hate. But I came to
decree and declare to you that you are fearfully and

(14:54):
wonderfully made, And that before you were in your mother's room,
knew what color you were gonna be, how straight or
how nappy your hair was gonna be, whether you're gonna
have a lot of hair, a little bit of hair,
a wide nose, a wide behind. He knew all of it,
and He decided to bring you through the family. No

(15:15):
matter how bad you feel about it, whether you feel
like it was toe up from the floor up, ghetto
is I don't know what, or you proud of where
you came from. He decided that you had enough to
be in that environment and still reflect His glory. Amen.
So we have to be in a place where we
start to accept what God has said about us. But

(15:37):
also let those cousins. Some of y'all got some cousins
in your family that you avoid these other cousins of hate.
We gotta, you know, put them on mute, all right.
So another door we have to close, the sexual sin.
It probably got quiet because I had to turn the page. No,

(16:00):
Jesus standard for sexual wholeness is that we have to
deal with both our expressed desires and our suppressed desires
and actions. So the whole thing of it is is
that you know, sex talk is only weird in church.
It's not weird anywhere else. It's really strange if you

(16:21):
ask me. But y'all, y'all didn't ask me my opinion.
Y'all said, what did the word say? So the whole
idea is that we have to have holiness is our
standard for our expressed desires and our suppressed desires. Matthew
five talks to us about how the heart or the
mindset that commits adultery. And if you notice that Jesus

(16:41):
was more concerned about the heart than he was concerned
about the heart that precedes the action than the action itself.
So what I need for you to think about is
that when you're sitting at the table with Jesus and
he's like, I want someone on one time, what's up?
Who else is at the table of your heart? Because

(17:02):
that's what he's trying to clear out, right. So when
it comes to sexual sin, we know what they are. Adultery, pornography,
for nication, lewdiness, molestation, fantasy, and rape. The challenge for
us though, as a church is that we don't always
recognize and honor the fact that some people were forced
into this bondage, not as the act of their will

(17:24):
and the healing that needs to take place in the
area of sexual sin. But Jesus came for all who
were lost and to set the captives free. So let's
not harden our heart, but be open to what Holy
Spirit would say through the person of Jesus through his word,
so that we can be totally free, and you know,

(17:47):
invite some people to leave from the table. Is that
okay to say it like that? All right? So Hebrews
three point fifteen says, as it is today, if you
hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in
the rebellion. While it is unbiblical. We know we're not
supposed to Christians like anyone else can harbor anger against God.

(18:14):
So what I need for you to know is that
when you hear conviction knocking at the heart of your door,
let Jesus in. Because if we hearden our heart and
we don't allow for conviction to come, then we will
not have a conscience, which means the Holy Spirit will

(18:34):
no longer be able to convict us or talk to
us about the things that bring damage to our life,
which means we will no longer have access to the
pathway of life. The Bible says, narrow is the gate.
Narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life. So
if it's narrow, it means that you need a guide
to get there, and if you don't have a guide,

(18:56):
you might be lost. I mean, remember before GPS, because
some of us, including me, are so dependent on GPS.
It's like if the GPS said it, I'm gonna do it.
It doesn't Holy Ghost have done a trite recalculating, recalculating,
recalculating rut. Come on, somebody give him praise in this place. Hallylujah.

(19:17):
All right. So the last door that we have to
close is to the occult. So we don't want to
give the enemy unnecessary power by being scared to talk
about it. Right, Jesus said before he gave his disciples
a great commission, he said, I have been given all
authority in heaven and on earth. And what he's told
us is if we let him in, he intends to

(19:40):
give us the same place of honor that he has
with his father. So there's no need for us to
be afraid. Amen. Okay, So here are some things that
think about in terms of the occult, because there's so
many things that are regular nowadays that really are witchcraft
and you might not be aware of it, but I

(20:02):
pray that your eyes are open to it today. Astrology,
fortune telling, tarot cards, mediums. Y'all know that TLC show right,
We're a little blonde guy is a medium and he
talks to the dead, to the YadA. This is regular,

(20:22):
like every day, okay. And then there's casting curses, we
giboard seances, manipulation, rebellion, participation in coveents, and witchcraft practices.
So you don't have to intentionally be involved in witchcraft
to have something in your life that is an object

(20:45):
or a fetish of witchcraft. Sometimes people will give you gifts.
That's why you need discernment. Sometimes people will give you
gifts that have a curse attached to them. And sometimes
when we have illness or a series of events that
happen that our sin as an attack from the enemy.

(21:06):
There was something that was given to us that we accepted.
Part of closing the door to the enemy means that
you reject its influence and its power right and you
submit it to the power of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Thank you for listening to The Hope Connection. Visit the
Hope Connection dot org. Do upspread the hope found in
Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening. Today Tomorrow part two of
Pastor Michelle Jackson's message, Guess Who's coming to dinner? Would
you be ready for Christ to knock on your door?