There is ALWAYS an “INVITATION” on God’s lips!!!
What great opportunities surely await us as we emerge from the last 16 months!
John 4:35 “Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields that they are white for harvest ALREADY!”
Matt 22:9-10 “Go out into the busiest intersections in town and INVITE ANYONE you find to the banquet.” “Those servants went out into the streets and GATHERED ALL whom they found, BOTH GOOD AND BAD, so the wedding hall was filled with guests!” They obeyed a COMMAND!!!
There are significant’ “GO’s” in the Word, that if we choose to be obedient, we must adhere to!
Let’s adventure together… I’ve been praying that you “catch” the heart of “INVITATION”, because it’s the heart of God. How else are people going to come to know Him, if WE don’t “INVITE” them to a relationship with Him?
I want you to catch the “BIGGER PICTURE”…. It’s not just “Come with me to church in Pickering”, or “PLLEEEEZ come with me to a Ladies Meeting at my church”…. We are INVITING the WHOSOEVER to COME TO A BANQUET…THE banquet!!! HIS Banquet!!!
And when we “INVITE” people, we are to remember that we are doing the will of the Father, because it’s HIS MANDATE, and that we are not called to “cook”, or “serve” at the tables, but to be “EXTENDERS OF THE INVITATION”!!!
Our job is to leave the banquet hall and GO to where the people ARE and invite them to attend the banquet God has prepared for them.
So…Where are the “main streets” in your lives? Where are the places where your lives “INTERSECT” with the lives of others?
“Both good and bad”… we aren’t called to be selective…not called to invite only “GOOD” people… people we think will be good church members…it’s for “ALL”…
We are to be an INCLUSIVE people…
Think of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman. JOHN 4:7…..EARLY..(6th hour)..Jesus was at the well, and ..”When a Samaritan woman came to drink water, Jesus said to her “Will you give me a drink?” The Samaritan woman said to Him “You are a JEW (He’s DIFFERENT), and I am a Samaritan woman, how can you ask ME for a drink?” (Jews skirted miles around Samaria in the natural)….
“Jesus answered her. “IF YOU KNEW THE GIFT OF GOD AND WHO IT IS THAT ASKS YOU FOR A DRINK, YOU WOULD HAVE ASKED HIM AND HE WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU LIVING WATER”.
This is where we see Jesus being ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, as…
- JESUS INVITED STRATEGICALLY
- JESUS INVITED SPECIFICALLY
- JESUS INVITED SUPERNATURALLY
A little poetic license here… Jesus was alone at the well. His disciples had gone into the town to get breakfast. I’ll wager that Jesus’s prayers to the Father were something like this “Dad, you bring them, and SHOW me that YOU have brought them… I’ll do Your bidding!!!”
IT WAS A KAIROS MOMENT. GOD ENGINEERED AND ORDAINED!
REVIVAL broke out in that town because “They BELIEVED what she said” (and she wasn’t actually too popular… because of her immoral life – 5 husbands and living with someone)… but after “meeting” JESUS, she had a TESTIMONY….
Jesus, always faithful, has given us handles:~
- Jesus strikes up conversation.
- Builds relationship.
Let’s ask God for STRATEGY for each “new” person.
DON’T be intimidated!!!
Have FUN!!! Start TODAY!!! INVITE!!!
NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THE ULTIMATE “INVITATION” IS FOR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST!!!