Receiving an invitation usually brings about a positive response from the recipient: "Yes, I'd love to come! Thanks for asking" (There are exceptions, I know). But what happens when the invitation never gets delivered?
This month the family of Grace will be celebrating what is probably the biggest event in the life of the Christian church - the Resurrection of Christ. For Christians, our faith rises or falls upon this event. Grace Church will once again be celebrating Easter at Lovejoy High School and I hope you will be there...in fact, I hope you will bring your friends and family!
Our leadership and staff are working very hard to make this the largest evangelistic outreach in the life of our church. Our worship will be visitor friendly, the love of Christ will be evident in all we do, and the good news of Jesus Christ risen from the dead will be clearly presented. But how will people know about this special time of celebration unless we invite them? That's the challenge for each and every one of us in the family of Grace: To invite someone to be a part of the Grace Easter Celebration.
Most of you have already noticed the "paper people" as they appear on the walls inside the church. These figures represent people in our community - perhaps unknown to most of us by name, but certainly not unknown to Christ who died for them. How will we connect with them so that they might hear what Jesus did for them? The fact is that they won't hear a word of it unless they receive the invitation.
Over the next few weeks you will receive help on how to invite your friends, co-workers, neighbors and anyone in your community of influence to this time of celebration. We will have materials printed, give you helpful instructions for connecting with your community, make arrangements for advertising and develop special opportunities to reach out to those around you. But the reality is that we can organize it, but they won't come unless we intentionally invite them. Remember? Through Christ, all things can happen! I believe through prayer, it is going to happen. We must ask God to open up the doors of opportunity and give us boldness to make a connection with others. But let's not be guilty of praying, "God send people to us" unless we are willing and ready to go out and deliver the invitation. Hasn't He already brought people into your life? How about the cashier at your favorite grocery store? What about your next door neighbor? How about the guy sitting in the cube next to yours? God has already brought the people into your life - now it's our turn to deliver the invitation.
Will you help me make this delivery this Easter? Will you begin to pray now for God to help you identify the people in your community of influence, so that you can invite them to be a part of what God is going to do this Easter? Truly, Easter is God's greatest invitation to us. Let's share that with someone else.
