Day Thirty Seven - Invite someone to church

Day Thirty Seven  -  Invite someone to church

John 1:41  He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

42  And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

                The purpose of these exercises is to stretch us in areas of faith.  Faith is doing things that are difficult,  perhaps impossible for us to do in our own strength.  Some of the exercises are simple,  but not simple for the old nature.  The old nature hates rejection and the thought of inviting someone to church is frightening to us because they might say “no.” 

                The reason Andrew was so excited about inviting his brother was the knowledge within him that he had truly found the promised one,  the Messiah.  The news was so great,  that nothing would hinder him from inviting those he loved to come to meet that one. 

                We have much in common with Andrew.  We also know that this one is the promised one,  the Messiah.  We know what He has done for us.  We know what it means to be forgiven.  We  know the blessing of having God’s Word revealed to us.  We know the riches of Christ’s presence and the depth of fellowship with His body.  We also have the Holy Spirit that gives us power.  We ought to have a great desire to invite people to come to Christ.  If we are not ashamed of our church,  it should be an easy place to invite friends to come and hear and learn about Jesus.  We have the good news,  and since our church preaches and teaches the good news,  it should be our great desire to invite friends to hear the gospel.  It was the first thing that Andrew did when he came to know Jesus as his Savior.

An exercise to increase our faith:  Invite someone to come to church this Sunday.  If this is a special Sunday,  it will be great to invite someone to hear the choir and the orchestra.  But if it is a Sunday when God’s Word will be proclaimed,  it is also a great Sunday to come to know Christ.  Paul said, 

2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

Don’t be ashamed of what you have in Christ!