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The Upside Down World, Week 9, Day 3

by David Joynt on November 07, 2017


LUKE 15:17


The excuses in our parable are beyond lame. They are utterly and probably deliberately illegitimate. In the Ancient Near East, there were two stages of invitation. A first invitation was given and a response offered. Then on the day of the event, a notice was sent, through a servant, that the feast was now ready, and the guests who had already accepted the original invitation should come. The key to understanding the reaction of the party-giver is knowing that all the guests who are no-shows have previously agreed to come.

Some people intend to be on God’s guest list, and make an initial response to His invitation, but then don’t follow through.


How has God invited you into relationship and commitment?


How have you responded?


FAMILY TIME— What commitments have you said yes to? A sports team? A set of music or art lessons? Talk about the need to say yes repeatedly to each practice or opportunity.

Tags: commitment, relationships

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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