Jesus invites everybody to come to Him and receive forgiveness from the burden of sin, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 6:28).
The promise of heaven is an open invitation to anyone who will “COME” by faith and receive Jesus as their Savior, “The Spirit and the bride (Church) say ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost” (Revelation 22:17).
The gospel of Jesus is given to us so that we may receive it, believe it and come to Jesus in repentance and faith.
The church of Jesus Christ gathers in response to Christ’s invitation to come, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
A church family offers an open invitation to all who wish to worship God, and share in His blessings, “O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; and let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!” (Psalm 95:1-2).
There is power in the invitation for God’s people to gather together to pray for each other and to serve the Lord in unity and love, “…they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting… And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, and the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:4).
The invitation that God offers His church is to believe, to come together in unity and faith to receive the power He offers that makes such a glorious difference in everything around us.
God is a God of the open invitation. He invites all to receive Him and receive all that He promises. That’s why our church invites people to join us. We invite friends, family, neighbors and even strangers to come and join with us because we ourselves have been invited. People want to be invited to come to Jesus. Folks need to be invited.
There was an attorney who after reading several scriptures and meditating on God’s love and willingness to forgive our sins, decided to write all his clients who owed him money and cancel all their debt. After about a week, the letters he sent began to be returned from the post office. Only a couple of the letters were returned with thank you letters inside from people who had their debts forgiven. The rest refused to sign the certified mail form fearing that the letter inside was a notice to pay up or be sued. They missed the invitation to be debt free from their obligation by saying no to this caring and kind lawyer.
When we invite somebody to church, we are just extending to them the invitation that God has offered us. When you tell somebody about Jesus and ask them to receive His loving invitation, you repeat the invitation that you responded to when someone told us about Jesus. When you ask two people to come to church, it is very likely that one will take you up on it. It’s a two-for-one deal.
Commit yourself today to extend Christ’s invitation. Return the favor. Ask someone to join you here at Grace.
Remember, people want to be invited.