Luke 14:17-20

and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

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Luke 14

A Man with Dropsy Healed on the Sabbath

1 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

2 And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.

3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.

5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

Take the Lowly Place

7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:

8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him;

9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.

10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.

11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.

13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 

14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Parable of the Great Supper

15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,

17 | and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’

18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’

19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’

20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

21 | So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’

22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’

23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”

Leaving All to Follow Christ

25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—

29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Tasteless Salt Is Worthless

34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

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Judges 4:2-3

So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

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Despina Lachanaris

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Proverbs 5:3

For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil;

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Proverbs 5

The Peril of Adultery

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
   Lend your ear to my understanding,
2 That you may preserve discretion,
   And your lips may keep knowledge.
3 | For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
   And her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 | But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
   Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
   Her steps lay hold of hell.
6 Lest you ponder her path of life—
   Her ways are unstable;
   You do not know them.

7 Therefore hear me now, my children,
   And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove your way far from her,
   And do not go near the door of her house,
9 Lest you give your honor to others,
   And your years to the cruel one;
10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth,
     And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
11 And you mourn at last,
     When your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And say:
     “How I have hated instruction,
     And my heart despised correction!
13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
     Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
14 I was on the verge of total ruin,
     In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

15 Drink water from your own cistern,
     And running water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
     Streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be only your own,
     And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
     And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
     Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
     And always be enraptured with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman,
     And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
     And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
     And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
     And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

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Proverbs 10:32

The lips of the righteous know what finds favor,
but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.

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