1. The preparation has already been made.

START TALKING

When have you hosted a party or gathering of some kind, and the cost was so high that you didn't want there to be any empty seats?

Have you ever had someone accept an invitation or RSVP to something but then didn't follow through? What did it cost you? How did it make you feel?

START THINKING

Read Luke 14:16-17 and then read John 14:3 and Revelation 3:20. How do these verses go hand in hand? How has the preparation already been made? How have the invitations already gone out? What was the high price that has already been paid to make the party available to "anyone" we can find? Why is it important to keep this high price in mind?

Read Luke 14:18-20. Why do you think these excuses are so common? Why would someone make an excuse instead of just coming to the party? What are the excuses you hear - or have even given - for not being part of the Kingdom and not wanting to follow Jesus?

START SHARING

When have you tried to leave a mark on someone or tried to share Jesus with them in some way and it got rejected? Did you feel like they were rejecting you or the master? How does understanding that it's really the master that they are rejecting give you more freedom or confidence to invite them anyway?

Read Luke 14:21-23. The servant first goes to those who are closest to the master, but also includes those who would never expect to be invited - the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Who are the people where you live, work, and play that may be closest to responding to the invitation? Who are the marginalized where you live, work, and play that may never expect - and you may never expect - would be invited to the "party"? And finally, who are those in the "country" - the furthest from God - that you think about and still need to know there is a seat at the table for them?

How does this challenge your comfort or even your own religious ideology?

START DOING

Who are the names of those where you live, work, and play that you wrote down on Sunday or that have come to mind for you that need to know there is a seat at the table for them and need a servant to tell them that it is ready for them?

How can you share your own story of not believing you were worthy of being invited so that others will know that they can experience it, too?

What will you do this week to leave your mark on those that God has brought to mind for you?

START PRAYING

Pray for each other in the micro church to be the servants this week and to go find the "anyones" that this story talked about. Pray for each other not to internalize the rejection when it comes, but to remember who they are really rejecting. Pray that we will be like the servant who doesn't stop when there is still room for more at the party. Pray that because of us, the house will be FULL!