The Bryce Crawford Podcast - The Power Of A Meal (EP 16)

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

In this episode, Bryce talks about the power and importance of the dinner table.

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And today we have an episode. I'm really intrigued. It just randomly came to my heart. No outlined. We're just going verse by verse in scripture. We're going to talk about the power of a meal, the power of the dinner table. I think this could really encourage you guys because I think that there's power in a meal. And we're going to read this here in Luke 24 of instance where a meal is so powerful. powerful in scripture and how you can apply it to your life, how you can use the dinner table to your advantage. And then on top of that, we're going to look at another account in John 21 of what a meal does. Now, in Luke 24, here's some context of Luke 24. I love these, I love these podcasts when we go verse by verse because it's so powerful because it's just the word of God. So we're going verse by verse. Luke 24, Jesus has resurrected and he's finally appearing to the disciples. So keep in mind, even though Jesus told them multiple times that he was going to resurrect from the dead, they still don't know he's going to resurrect from the dead. They're mourning the loss of Jesus right now.

So Jesus had just appeared to two disciples on the road to Amas, and now he's about to appear to the rest of him. Verse 36, as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you, but they were startled and frightened. I love it. Imagine seeing someone that you just watched die. Say, hey, good to see you, man. That would be skilled. Gary. And they thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why did doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. So Jesus's spirit didn't raise from the dead. His physical body did. Really interesting. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And they still disbelieved for joy. For joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of brood fish, and he took it and ate it before them. Now listen, they'll listen.

This is very key. It says that they marveled and were joyed out of disbelief. So because of disbelief, they had joy and they marveled at him. Now, if you look at Mary, the story of Mary at the beginning of Luke, when she gets impregnated by the Holy Spirit with Jesus, it says that she treasured and pondered these things. she didn't marvel at them because with marveling there's kind of like this disbelief gray area but rather she treasured and pondered them so if jesus has spoken something to you or god has spoken something to you or the word of god says something you can treasure it and ponder his words you don't have to marvel and disbelief or doubt if jesus has spoken something to you treasure it and

ponder it but says that they were overjoyed and marveled then he said to them these are my words that i spoke to you while i was still with you that everything was was written about me in the law of Moses. And then as he begins speaking to them, it says, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem. The dinner table and the meal is something that believers are invited into. This intimate moment like the dinner table is an intimate place with people and most people's regret when they get

older is that they didn't eat enough home cooked meals at the dinner table with people and a lot of people actually desire to have a meal with the family the dinner table is a close place my mentors have always taught me that if you invite someone into your home you invite someone to have a meal with them you bring them around your kids you bring them around your family you really love and care about them so the dinner table is a vulnerable place and notice how their minds weren't open they in disbelief before Jesus opened their minds. And where did he open their minds at? The dinner table.

Through the power of the scriptures, he opened their minds. And then if you look in John 21, Jesus appears to Peter on the beach. And how do they get into the conversation of what Jesus, I mean, what Peter's going to do, what he's going to be the cornerstone of and everything? It's breakfast on the beach. Jesus cooks fish with Peter in the morning on breakfast on the beach. So interesting. where does Jesus reveal that he's going to get taken captive and crucified?

The last supper. The last supper was a powerful meal. What does Jesus say at the last supper? I will not partake this meal with you again until I have come and defeated Satan. Until after judgment day, we're going to have a feast with Jesus in heaven. And there, Jesus will take communion with us again. Very powerful how the meal, the dinner table, the power of the power of. of a meal. So I have this thing written in my Bible where it says, Jesus has shown us the moment

of his crucifixion has been prepared for before the beginning of time. Because how does he start off the opening of the scriptures? He says, everything has been written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. So the prophets would be, after Deuteronomy, it would be Joshua, judges, Ruth, like those, the prophets and the judges and the Psalms to be fulfilled. And then he open their minds to the scriptures and said, Christ should suffer in three days, he'll rise again. The power of a dinner table. I heard a story one time of a pastor,

a pastor of a church and his wife lived in an apartment complex. And the lady across from the apartment complex was a lesbian woman. And the woman that shares the story is this lesbian woman. She wrote a book on it about how she hated Christianity. She hated Christians. They hated gay people and all this other stuff. And so one day they went across and they knocked. on her door and they invited her over for dinner. And so she came over knowing that they were pastors

of the church. She was expected to get, you know, blasted for being gay, blast for all the stuff. She's just down at the dinner table. They didn't say a single word about her being gay. They just loved on her. Then they said, you should come back next Wednesday. We'll have dinner again. So, okay, she had a great time. She came back again. Every week for a few years on the same day they had dinner and not a single time did they bring up that she was gay or accuse her or condemn her. They just ate with her and loved on her. That's real discipleship and ministry. And there was even a point as they were going to eat so much that the pastor's couple gave her keys to their apartment and said, if you need anything or need a break from your place, you can come stay at our place. So she had keys to their apartment,

but never once did they condemn it. And finally one dinner, she bursted out crying in tears and said, I've been coming here for years and you haven't once condemned me. Why do you love me like you love me? Boom gospel she gets saved leaves her homosexual lifestyle gives her life to Jesus she's happily married and she writes the book on her testimony of the power of the dinner table what the meal did to her

so Thanksgiving giving thanks can be correlated to the dinner table because when we break bread we're thanking God for the meal and for providing we oftentimes forget to thank the person that put the bread on the table so Thanksgiving can be more than just a holiday it can be a weapon against sin.

Did you know that gratitude is the number one weapon against sexual sin? Gratitude is. Most marriages fail in divorce rates because people aren't grateful for the relationship in front of their eyes, so they separate themselves from that and they go outside of their relationship for a sexual desire and they cheat on their significant other because they're not grateful for the relationship in front of their eyes. So if we can partner Thanksgiving with the dinner table, then we can use that as a weapon to combat sin and bring people in for the kingdom of life. lot of you guys encourage me and you tell me like Bryce, you've encouraged me with boldness.

I need boldness. I need to figure out something. You want to start really going after evangelism and discipleship? Meet up with people one-on-one for meals. There's something powerful about the dinner table and meeting at the meal and how God can use your words to open the mind and soften the heart of the person on the other side of the table. How a table is such an intimate place for a meal. Very powerful. So I have three things written down, three points. In my Bible. One, Thanksgiving and the dinner table is a constant opportunity for gratitude. Like we said, gratitude is the number one weapon against sexual sin.

We can be grateful for so many things. The dinner table is a place where we can be grateful and bring our gratitude. Number two, the dinner table is the most effective opportunity for mission. If you're really struggling with going out, invite people to the dinner table one-on-one, share your story, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. when you release your testimony into the air, you're actually impregnating the air for that very thing to happen

in that person's life again with more power. So when you meet at the dinner table, share your story, hear them out, listen, be slow to speak, quick to listen, share your story, use discern it, know what to say, when to say it. And number three, it is the most inclusive opportunity for communion.

There's something powerful about sharing a meal in communion and fellowship with believers. And not only that, but the power of communion, the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, the symbolism of it, and knowing that when we come before the table, like when we eat communion,

the Greek word for communion is coinania, and it literally means intercourse. And the reason that this word is intercourse is because intercourse is the most intimate, is the most intimate description of love that you can have with someone physically on earth. And so when Paul says, we're having intercourse with God,

he's saying that the communion meal is the most, intimate meal we can have with God. It is symbolism with him. So the dinner table is not only for an opportunity for communion, literal communion, physical like bread and wine, but it is an opportunity to commune with believers and non-believers and invite people in and make them feel loved. Some of my most memorable meals have been group dinner table meals of Shabbat.

When we would do the celebration of Shabbat. It was just so much fun, so much love, so much Thanksgiving and gratitude. it was powerful, something powerful about it. Now, we can't be amazed by God, but we can ponder and treasure the work of his power. So when God uses you to open the minds and soften the hearts of people on the other side of the dinner table, don't be amazed, ponder and treasure the work that he's doing.

You know, this is just a side of this is nothing to do with the dinner table, but, you know, I often think of how, you know, there's pastors and preachers that say, oh, you can't say you're welcome when people come up and say thank you for preaching you can't do it because it's Jesus speaking through you you you can't say you're welcome when people say thank you here's the reality you can't steer away like you can't avoid the fact that people are going to come up to you and say thank you when you preach or minister them it's going to happen the way you respond is different so when people in the past

is from personal experience i'm just sharing my heart here when people have come and told me thank you for ministry or for preaching or things like that i say thank you and i collect a rose in my head i collect a rose from them as if I'm collecting a rose. And so when you preach, you know, you might have a few people come and say, thank you, thank you, collect the rose in your head, say, you're so welcome. I pray that God bless that and use that to touch your heart, because it's not about you. It's about Jesus and what Jesus is doing through you. It has nothing to do with you.

And at the end of the day, when you go home, you shut your door and you have a bouquet of roses of thank you's from people. And you give that bouquet of roses to the Lord and say, look at what these people have said about you. Look at what you did. And so when you're at these places, people are going to say, thank you, God's going to use you. Don't be amazed at what God's going to do through you. That's why I say it. Ponder and treasure the work he's doing. And give God the bouquet at the end of the day,

saying God, thank you. Look at what he said. He's so thankful for the work that you did in his life. Thank you, Jesus said. You touched him and used me to touch him. So powerful is how you respond. The dinner table is an opportunity, an opportunity for mission, an opportunity for communion. The last thing I want to read is a passage from Isaiah 55. 55 says come everyone who thirsts come to the waters and he who has no money come buy and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price notice how when jesus invites us to the dinner table that it doesn't cost us anything that he just invites us the invitation the free gift so when you look at it from a salvation perspective being invited to the table with jesus is salvation

The only way we get to feast with Jesus and have communion with Him in heaven is if we've been born again. So when Jesus has invited us to the table, it is a born again salvation opportunity. And notice how it doesn't, we have to give our life to him, but we didn't do anything. It's what he did for us. So the reason we get into heaven is not because we were a good person, not because we did anything, but it's what he did for us. He gave it to us, right? If I gave you two tickets courtside to an NBA Lakers game and you get down there and the security comes

and they attack you and they say, why are you down here? And you say, well, I have a ticket. And you say, well, how did you get that ticket? It was given to me. It was a gift from Bryce. Bryce gave it to me as a gift. You're not going to say, well, I've beenangled my way down here. I worked my way to get down here.

They're not going to let you buy. Your ticket was a gift for me to get to the Lakers game. And so salvation is a gift from Jesus. And so when he invites us, he's saying, come, dine with me. It's free. It's not going to cost you anything. and it's an invite to be richly fed by Jesus. And so because you have been richly fed by Jesus,

now you have an overflowing cup in you, streams of water being ready to pour it out with you. You're like a sponge soaked with water. And when you sit at the dinner table and you invite someone to eat with you in a meal, one on one, they sit with you on the other side, they touch you like a sponge, and you get squeezed and nothing but love

and Jesus comes out of you because you've been richly fed, and now you get to feed that rich food to them. Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live. The only way our soul may live is if we dine with Jesus, if we feast with Him. And he's invited us, and if we are in communion with Him, then we can invite other people into communion. How can you invite someone into communion with Jesus if you don't communion with Him yourself? How are you going to know what the fullness of Jesus looks like, and the community of Jesus looks like if you don't communion with Him yourself?

And then a little chunk of Isaiah 55 is so interesting. He says, seek the Lord while he may be found, him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man in his thoughts, let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. The dinner table is an invitation to be forgiven. So when you come to the dinner table, when you feast with Jesus, you bring the broken most awful version of yourself, because you've been feeding yourself with the things of the world, and when Jesus invites you to dine, you say, I've never had food as rich as this. I've eaten everything else and it tastes good, but it's quick. It's like that McDonald's. You know, when you feast with the world, it's like eating McDonald's.

I'm a sucker for a 20-piece McNugget. And I actually have my roommates today stop me from DoorDash and McDonald's because it feels good in the moment. But an hour later, it don't feel too good in the stomach. And I'm regretting eating it. And it was cheap and it was bad. And that's what the things of the world do. The alcohol and the sex and the drugs, but then Jesus invites you to die. And when you come eat with him. You see food you've never seen before, but when you eat it, you taste it, and it's so good, and it's that manna from heaven. And it's, oh, wait, I'm not eating shame and condemnation. I'm actually eating forgiveness. And actually the things that I brought here, I actually didn't even enter into the dinner table with because I accepted the invitation. I've been forgiven, and I can't

even remember the things that I did because Jesus has wiped my slate clean. So because he's wiped your slate clean, you're going to eat with people and invite people to the dinner table who are bringing shame and condemnation with them. And just as 1st Corinthians 13 says, it says love keeps no record of wrong. So if you want to point people to Jesus and use the dinner table as an opportunity for mission, it is an invitation for people to be forgiven.

Invite your enemies to the dinner table. Bless them, pay for the meal, love on them. Invite your bullies to one-on-one lunch. Invite the people that curse you and pray on your downfall to lunch. And love on them. the things that they say about you and look to their heart because hurting people hurt people they're probably saying nasty things about you because they're jealous they're hurt or something else the dinner table is a powerful place to be forgiven so i want to pray for you guys i want to pray that

god gives you guys a burden to invite people to the dinner table that god is going to give you guys just power and god's going to use you mightily at the dinner table that god is going to begin to use you to open the minds and soften the hearts of people on the other side of the that dinner table. And I pray that God will use the dinner table for you as a start for evangelism and a start to discipleship. Jesus, I just pray for anyone watching or listening to this, God. Will you just use them mightily? Will you flow through power at the dinner table? God, will you use the importance of a meal to bring people for a passion of evangelism? Will you use that as an open door for people to start evangelizing? Will you use the dinner table as a place of compassion and forgiveness? God, will you

encourage people listening or watching this invite their enemies, people that curse them, people that hate them, their bullies to the dinner table just to love on them as an opportunity to love on them and point them to Jesus. God use them to open the minds of people on the other side of the dinner table to the scriptures and soften their hearts. Jesus, we love you and bless you. Jesus. Name, Jesus name, amen. Guys, thank you so much for listening to this podcast episodes. Subscribe to us on YouTube, Bryce Carver podcast. We're on Instagram, same name, Spotify, Apple Music. Go check out our merchandise, Jesus in the street.com. Support what we're doing. Love you guys. We'll see you guys next time.