Introducing Jesus: Living Invitations
The Gospel
About 2000 years ago, God sent his son Jesus.
He walked on Earth and did amazing miracles.
He died on a cross and rose from the dead.
And if you believe this, God will wash away your sin, guilt, and shame.
And when you die, your soul will rise to be with Jesus in heaven.
And one day Jesus will come again and set up a new kingdom,
And our bodies will rise from the grave and be reunited with our souls.
Do you believe this?
Do you surrender to Christ?
Do you want Jesus to be the Lord of your life?
BIG IDEA: You have a role in moving people toward Jesus and life in him.
You are a living invitation to life in Christ.
You are the name with the number…1 Corinthians 3:5-9
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.Paul wrote this to a church that was getting hyper focused on the preachers and the helpers God was using to bring people to relationship with Him
- Paul is making the point that God is the superstar
- It’s all about God – Not the chart
- He’s also making the point that… we all have a role
BIG IDEA: You have a role in moving people toward Jesus and life in Him.
2.Living invitations: One is powerful, many are irresistible.
Merge your universe
- Did you know that ChangePoint used to have a hockey team?
- Did you know that ChangePoint supports Youth For Christ and CRU – ministries embedded in highschools and college campuses?
- Did you know that ChangePoint has an outpost in the rural village of Marshall (Pop 516) down on the Yukon River?
1 Peter 2:9-12
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
- Think about the universes and worlds you are already a part of outside of the church?
o Your School
o Sports team
o Neighborhood
o Your coffee shop
BIG IDEA: You have a role in moving people toward Jesus and life in Him.
3.Invitations go both ways…
Go to their things so they will come to yours
- Going to other people’s events or homes will cost you: time, money, energy…
- But when we go all in and spend time in other people’s worlds, the result is respect, trust, relationship
- And… if you go to their things, they may come to yours…
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
BIG IDEA: You have a role in moving people toward Jesus and life in Him.
Pastors Challenge
- Who helped you move toward Jesus and life in him?
- How can you be a “living invitation” outside the church?
- What invitation can you say “yes” to for the sake of the gospel?
- Who are you inviting to Easter?