The Irresistible Invite

I want to encourage you to go on the offensive. Stop waiting, stop wondering, stop wandering around, stop wavering back and forth. I want to challenge you. I want to challenge us to become bold. I want us to be bold from a place of faith. I want us to begin to venture into a place where we are inspiring people who are feeling stuck in places of darkness and facing difficult decisions. I want to encourage us. I want to encourage us to engage those people, those people who are doing life, who we're doing life with, each and every day, the the people that you're that you go to the grocery store with, the people that you're in the drop off and pick up lines with the people who you are you know going to work with, going to class with. I want to encourage you to do life alongside them, but I want you. I want to encourage you as we go on the offensive to offer the irresistible invite today. That's the title of this message. I want to preach a message I'm calling irresistible invite. Let's pray, and then we'll jump right in to Luke, chapter number 14, Father, we love you. We're so grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have today to be in your presence. God, we don't take it lightly. It's a big deal. And so we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would lead us and guide us, that you would show us Jesus like we never seen Jesus before, because we know it's upon revelation of who Jesus is that you will build and establish your church. So God, we say, build. We say establish. We stay, grow your church and use us to do it. Father, move us and advance us forward, as we are beginning to recognize more clearly that this is a valley of decision that we all live our lives in, and so God help us in this temporary moment, make the decision that will encounter and change the trajectory of our eternity. Lord, we love you and we honor you today, in Jesus name, we pray, Amen, amen, amen. So like I said, if you got a Bible, you can open up to Luke, chapter number 14. But if you don't, that's okay. We'll throw it on the screen here just a minute, and I'll make a few little notes on it. You can follow along just like that. But as I catch you up, I want to give you a little background of where we find ourselves in Luke chapter 14. Jesus was actually at a dinner party. He was at a dinner party that was being hosted by one of the religious leaders of the day, a Pharisee and Jesus, while he was sitting at the table. Was doing what Jesus often did. He was teaching. He was interacting. He was essentially discipling people. He was he was on topics of conversation, like of healing and faith and humility. You know, a lot of the real basic discipleship measures. That's what Jesus was offering. How many of y'all know that faith isn't always easy and basic, and you know, faith and humility and these different things, it's not always easy and basic, but that's where Jesus had us. And so what I want to do is now jump right into verse number 15. Luke 14. Verse 15 says this, hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, What a blessing it will be to attend the banquet in the kingdom of God. Jesus replied with this story. He says, A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. Somebody say, many invitations, exactly when the banquet was ready. He sent his servant to tell the guests come the banquet is ready. Verse 18 goes on to say, but as he made these invitations, and the people came back, and they begin making excuses, let me say making excuses, of course. And one said, I've just bought a field, so I must go and inspect it, please excuse me. Another said I have just bought a pair of ox. And and I need to go try them out. Please excuse me. And another said, I just got married. Let me go meet my wife. No, I'm just joking. He didn't say that. He said I just got married. So please excuse me. I can't come. I need to spend time with my wife. I want to just pause there for a minute, because this really reminds me of The Church of Jesus Christ today, it reminds me of the church, specifically in Nebraska. It sounds like comfort, because I don't know about you, but I used to not be familiar with anybody that would buy a, you know, a piece of property without looking at it. Now we hear stories of it all the time. But what does it communicate to us. It communicates a level of comfort that not everybody gets to experience. They're talking about things that they're comfortable with. II spent this lot of money to buy this property, and so I need to go check it out, because I hadn't checked it out yet. It speaks to a level of comfort. It speaks to a level of passion lacking or lacking of intentionality. And then goes on to say, about these oxen, I need to go try em out. I got married, and I need to spend time with my wife. So what is this speaking to To me, it's speaking to not realizing that the very blessing I once prayed for is now the roadblock that keeps me from actually connecting back to the Father. How many times have we experienced people who have prayed for certain things like a marriage, they've prayed for certain things like a child, and then all of a sudden, God blesses us with a business or a marriage or a plot of land or a house, and we're too busy all of a sudden to respond to the invite that the Father is giving us. I'm telling you, this sounds like church, but that's not even the message I want to keep preaching today. Verse 21 says this, the servant returned and told his master what they had said, and his master was furious, and he said, Go quickly into the streets, in the alleys of the town, and invite the poor, invite the crippled, invite the blind and invite the lame. What's he saying? Go invite the people who don't have it all together, necessarily. Go invite the people who aren't living the good life. Go invite the people who do have some places of passion, even though they are disappointed and they've lost hope. But maybe, just maybe, we can awaken some hope on the inside, if we'll issue an invite. So after the servant had done this, he reported back to the master. He said, there's still more room, and I gotta let you know today, Mercy City Church, there's always going to be more room. And no matter what we do, we're always going to do what we do to create more room for people to be able to encounter Jesus. There's still more room. So as Master said, go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find, anyone you find, to come so that the house will be full, so that the house will be full. This reminds me of a review we got not too long ago about our church, and one of the one of the knocks against our church was it was too full. But Jesus is telling a story right here in Scripture. He says, I want the house to be full like ideal situation is not that you have a seat on either side of you. Ideal situation is that it's standing room only, so that we know people are hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. I want to stand before Jesus one day and give an account of the fact that, you know what we did everything with, every single square inch we possibly had to do something with. For none of those I first invited will even get the smallest taste of my banquets. Let me say Shazam, good lord. So here's what I want to do everybody. I want to give us three thoughts this morning, three thoughts on an irresistible invite culture. I want to talk to us about an irresistible invite culture. Let me just preface by saying this, some of us give invites, and some of us are really good at it. Others of us are really bad at it. We want to be good at giving invites. We want the invites that we bring to be irresistible, and that's the culture we want to have at all of our locations. We want to have an irresistible invite culture. I'm going to preface these three thoughts. With this,our invites are issued to unchurched people, or D church people, disconnected church people. We're not inviting people who are connected to other churches. We're not issuing invites to people who are already happy with the places. They're worshiping. That's not the invite that we're issuing. We're issuing an irresistible invite to people who are disconnected, who are far from God, who otherwise would not be in church on a Sunday morning. Now I love so much that you love your church, however, however, however. It's not our responsibility to go and find people from other churches. It's our responsibility not to go find the comfortable, but to go find the uncomfortable. Do you hear what I'm saying? And so that's what we're going to do. I remember couple of years ago, we had a we had a woman in the life of our church, and and she, I found out that she had been inviting people to one of our locations from other churches. And I I said, gotta have a conversation with you. Listen, I love that. You love our church, but we're not trying to grow our church by pulling people from other churches. If God feels if, if they feel like God is stirring their hearts to go to another church, then we'll certainly accept them. We'll certainly open our doors to them, but, man, we are not pursuing them. Well, she didn't like that because she thought that her church was amazing, until one day she decided her church wasn't amazing, and now she happens to be doing the reverse of that evangelism, and she's trying to get people to leave our church. So here's what I'm saying, everybody, let's embrace the heart of this thing. We're not looking to get people from other churches. We're looking to find the lost. We're seeking and saving the lost, because that's what Jesus is about. Does that make sense? Everybody? Everybody say, yeah, yeah. There we go. Okay. Three thoughts on an irresistible invite culture, three thoughts on an irresistible invite. Culture. Thought number one, make the invite. Somebody say, make the invite. Listen. I don't know if you're an office fan, but there's a great quote by an amazing philosopher. His name is Michael Scott. He says this, you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take, you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. Of course, we know Wayne Gretzky said that, however, I believe that for us, it's time for us to be bold in our invite. It's time for us to be confident in our invite. It's time that we remember all the things that God has done, it's time that we take time, slow down a little bit, and recount the life change that's taken place. We should have a list in one of our journals. I used to be broken, I used to be addicted, I used to be depressed, I used to be anxious, I used to be stressed, But now in Christ, I'm healed and I'm whole, I'm free and I'm stable, I'm joyful and I'm at peace. I want you to write those things down and become inspired by those things. See, there's a statistic that I heard this last week, that 90% of church goers will not make an invite to church. 90% of people who say, I go to church won't make an invite to church. Why is that? I think it's because we've forgotten how far we've come. We've forgotten what God's done in us. The reason that I don't make an invite is because my life is not inspired by the life change that took place. I used to be and now I'm something different. I'm someone different. We forget how far God's brought us, and so we stop making invites. We forget that our lives have changed, so we don't remember that God could change somebody else's life. I think it's we're not inspired anymore. There's nothing more irresistible than somebody's life who has been changed. There's nothing more irresistible. There's nothing more hope filled. There's nothing more powerful than me, in the ditch, in the in the pit, in the darkness of life, being able to see somebody who's living in the light than somebody whose marriage has been restored, somebody whose addiction has been broken, somebody whose mind has been set at peace. There's nothing more irresistible than somebody who's living an inspired life full of hope. There's nothing more irresistible than that, but we have to remember the change so that we can become inspired again. Studies have shown also that 80% of non church goers would attend a church service if they were simply invited. It doesn't even need to be an inspired invite. It just needs to be an invite. Imagine with me what it would be like if we were able to invite somebody in an inspired way, not like you should come to church. Me, Hey, we got this thing, and you know, there's a seat, hopefully that'll be next to me. Nah, man, I'm talking about an inspired invite. They would be they would respond to an invite. 80% of people would respond to an invite. But imagine with me what it would be like if it was an inspired invite. Like, oh my gosh. You have to experience what I've experienced. My life used to be and now it's this. My life was disconnected, and now I'm connected. I used to feel alone, and now a part of a family. Think about somebody receiving an inspired invite. Imagine, imagine what that would be like. Second thought on creating an irresistible invite culture. Second thought is this, the answer is never No. Thought number one is, make the invite. Thought number two is, the answer is never No. The answer is never No. So don't take no for an answer. See, somebody may say no to you, but it doesn't mean no. It just means not right now it may. It might mean not your invite. Maybe it means it'll be the next invite, but your invite begin to break up the ground of their heart where they would say no, but they're thinking, maybe there's something for me at a local church. Maybe there's something for me if I pursue a relationship with you, maybe, just maybe. So let me encourage you, no, is never the answer, so don't take it personally. Keep asking appropriately. Don't take it personally. Keep asking appropriately. Well, Pastor Matt, how long do I ask? Ask until the time is right, ask until they say yes, ask the Lord to lead you as you're asking those questions, as you're making those invites. God, what's another way that I can inspire? What's another way that I can inspire? I can think of two invites that I've been specifically making for the last 25 years, and God just gave me a new vision on how I could bring inspiration to this invite in a new life giving way. And so for the last four weeks, I've been inviting, I've been making calls, I've been making text messages, with new levels of inspiration as I'm making this invite, I believe at some point it's going to be irresistible. What happens so often, though, I think, in the lives of believers, is we ask one time and somebody says no, and because they say no, we think that they're telling us no personally. They're not telling you personally. No. They're just saying not right now I'm telling you, it's nothing personal against you. So don't take it personally. If you take it personally, I wonder how many people are going to miss opportunity because you don't make the next invite. Come on everybody. Let me encourage you. Let me encourage you. Don't let somebody know derail your destiny and knock you off track of your next invite. We want to stay inspired. We want to keep on going. And I'm challenging you make the next invite. Come on mercy city. Look at me. Look at me. Let's stay on the offensive. Let's stay on the offensive. Let's not get knocked back on our heels, and take a defensive posture. No, listen, no is never the answer. It's just not yet. So I'm going to remain on the offensive. I'm going to keep pursuing people. I'm going to keep loving God and as he leads me and stirs me, man, I'm going to make the invite irresistible. That's the second thought. No is never the answer. The third and final thought is this, it's never about church attendance. Say it with me, everybody. It's never about church attendance. It's never about church attendance. It's never about church attendance. This is not a game that we play to pad our church stats or to get more jewels in our heavenly crown. Here's one thing that I've learned after working with people for 25 years now. In fact, I've been a person for 44 years now, and this is what I know. People are not stupid. They know when you're trying to sell them something. They know when you're trying to invite them to get their numbers up. They know when something hasn't really changed you. You're just doing what you think you should do out of obligation. No no, no, no no. Stop selling people on your church.I love again that you love your church, but stop selling people on your church. Tell people what Jesus has done for you. You're not selling them on church attendance, you're not selling them on cookies, you're not selling them on coffee. You are selling them on the life giving relationship that's only available and afforded through the person of Jesus. Jesus Christ, listen, they're not just in a bad situation. They are in the valley of decision. They're in the valley of decision, and what they choose concerning eternity now will affect eternity. Then make the invite irresistible. Don't let it be about church attendance. Let's make it be about what it's really about Jesus. It's about Jesus. This is about a relationship with Jesus. What are we talking about pastor, Matt, because you're telling us to invite people to church. Well, if you read the Bible, the Bible tells us that the church is God's response to be able to house his movement, or the Bride of Christ. Ephesians, chapter five says we are the bride. We are the body of Christ. We the church. So yes, it's about church. It's about getting people in the doors where they can be fed the Word of God, where they can be encouraged in the things of God, where they can be discipled into a relationship with God. But it's not about church attendance so that we can feel good about our church attendance. It's about the lost being found. Can I just, can I just say this? Can I just, I just, I feel like I need to say this. Everybody say this with me. I don't love my church. Come on. Come on. Come on. Some of you didn't say, I don't love my church. Now say this with me. I love his church. I love his church. That's who we are. We are not people that are going to wear T shirts that say I love my church. I don't love my church. I love his church. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that He's given us to steward this church, to steward this body of believers, to steward this location in Lincoln and city impact and steward I'm so grateful for that opportunity, but I do not love my church. I love his church, and I love the cities that he's placed us in. I love the communities he's placed us in. We love the people that he's placed us around. That's who we love, and that's how we're motivated and wired. Do you see the difference somebody just hey, they're a number or a statistic that we're going to add to pad our church stats, we don't invite people to church. We invite people into relationship with Jesus and with one another. That's what we do. That's what we do. It's not about church attendance. Let me share a couple of invite stories with you this morning. There's a couple of my favorite stories that are taking place right now. Right happen at our city impact location about six weeks ago. I think Peyton one of our movement students. There's a skate park connected to the to the park there, right by city impact. And he saw some some young people skating on Sunday morning. And so Peyton does what Peyton does, and he walks out there's a, you know, just yucking it up with him. And if you know Peyton, Peyton can't skateboard, I don't know how he, you know, used his conversation conversational skills. He does have some great conversational skills, but he used them to to strike up a common bond with one of the young people. His name is Ethan. And so Peyton made the invite to Ethan to come to church, and Ethan then attended a service, and Ethan that day, made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as a savior. But it doesn't just stop there. Ethan then started attending our revival student ministry, and on last Sunday evening, Ethan got baptized, all from an invite. It started all from an invite. But it doesn't just stop there. At our Seward location, there's a young couple named Alex and Caitlin. And Alex and Caitlin have been leveraging some of their relationships that they have on the Concordia campus. And so what they decided that they would do is they would host a sitting group. They would host a small group in their apartment. And from what I understand, their apartment is not huge, like most newlywed couples and just, you know, doing what they can do to to get by. But they didn't let that stop them. They begin to use their story the way that they've been inspired by God, and what God's done in them to now inspire and make irresistible invites. They opened up their tiny, little apartment for a for a Bible study, and from what I understand, almost the entire Concordia baseball team shows up for this Bible study just. Gather around God's Word in their little, tiny apartment to hear of the goodness of Jesus Christ. How did this happen? From an invite, from an invite, they were inspired to make an invite, and because they were inspired, the invite was irresistible. What if we use these inspired invites to make it irresistible people responding not to me, not to you, not to the church, but to the voice of God because of what God has done in you. I got one more story, last, but certainly not least, we got a guy named Dave. He owns a business here in Lincoln, and God has done some tremendous work in his life over the course of the last year, in such a way that, by his own admission, he would say, you know, I went to church my whole life, but, man, I wasn't saved. It was just fire insurance at best, God grabbed hold of his life absolutely radically, radically changed his life. Changed the trajectory of his life, changed his marriage, changed the way that he parented, changed the way that he ran his business, so much so that his entire family is now a church, but now more than 20 of the of the men and women that work with Dave have come as a result of an invite. They've seen salvation take place. They've seen people be baptized. They've seen addictions broken, they've seen mental illness healed. Why? How? From an invite. It all started from an invite. I heard it one more staggering statistic this last week about our invite culture. Again, I told you at the beginning of the message that 90% of church goers would not be willing to make an invite to somebody to church, 90% and the crazy thing about that is, even those stories that I just shared, there's a clock, there's a there's a shelf life on the inspiration from that invite. It's nine months. Statistics have proved that it's nine months. And so if, if that person Dave or Alex and Caitlin or Peyton if they don't have another inspired invite, where they where they are getting outside of their comfort zone. If they don't do that within the next nine months, chances of them making another invite is cut in half nine months. So we gotta keep that carrot out in front. We gotta keep that ball rolling down the court. Some of us in our rooms today, man, we would say we believe everything that we've been preaching. We believe that there's a valley of decision. We believe that that people are going to have to make a decision in this temporary life, it's going to affect their eternity. But we've still have been unwilling to make an invite. And it's not because you're a bad person, it's because you lack inspiration. And so I'm going to ask you, right there in your seat today, I believe that the Holy Spirit is whispering to you. I believe that he's tugging on your heart. I believe that he's speaking to you about the person, the person that you've been praying for. You wrote their name down you. You put them on one of the grids at one of our locations, we've been praying for them, but you've yet to make the invite. And I and I think it's because you've forgotten all that God's done in you. You might be here today and you're in a low place, you might be here today. You're in a high place, you might be here today. You're in an in between place, no matter where you find yourself. I wonder if you would reconsider the way that you've been making the invite. Have your invites been resistible, or have they been irresistible? Have you made them about your church? Have you made them about the cookies? Have you made them about the music or the preacher, or any of the have you made them about something other than the person of Jesus and the power of God that's taken place in your life. There's a banquet table that's been prepared, and there's a master that has issued invites through His servants. You and I, I wonder if you've taken no for an answer, we're not taking no for an answer anymore, because Heaven and Hell hang in the balance. So as you sit in your seat this morning, I just want to pray for you, as we close with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, you. If that's you, today, you would say, Pastor Matt, my invites have been non existent, or my invites have been absolutely boring and resistible because I've made them about the wrong things. But today I want that to change. If that's you, would you just lift your hand at all of our locations? Come on, sewer, chapel, city, impact, come on broadcast location. I know that's not everybody. Just lift your hand. Nobody's looking around saying, I want my invite to go from resistible to irresistible. That's the culture that we want. Just lift your hand, Father, thank You for every hand that's raised because it represents a heart that has been stirred by this message, father, an understanding that we are living life in this valley of decision, standing between the living and the dead, hearing the voices of those crying out from the pit. But we've wondered, What can we do? God help us realize that we simply need to make the invite stop taking no for an answer, and make it about what it's truly about, the person of Jesus, Christ Father, do in the hearts and the lives that these men And women would only you can in Jesus.