The Invite

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Scripture

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
(Genesis 1:27 NASB)
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:28 NASB)
God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
(Genesis 1:31 NASB)

Observation

Yesterday we talked about the big wedding party. Today we begin a new year and go back to the beginning of the word of God. Here we discover the creation story and specifically the creation of man; male and female. They were created in God's very own image -- they were to be a reflection of him. They were created in this way so that they could be at the big wedding party. They were created to be the very bride of God, himself. God was pleased with this beautiful creation and he blessed them and said that this was very good! This whole story from beginning to end is the story of an invitation -- an invitation to God's creation to be united with him. From Genesis to Revelation he is saying -- come!

Application

It's New Year's Day -- and how will we respond to the invitation? Those invitations have been going out for a long time and yet there are still so many who have never even thought of responding. I know that I tend to get a lot of invitations to weddings. To deal with them all I put them on my desk in date order of the upcoming wedding. Then, I can keep them in order and know when I'm supposed to respond and when I should send something, etc. Sometimes I mess up and those RSVPs go out a little late -- and I feel badly that I have not responded to the invitation. The first question we have to ask ourselves is if we have responded to the invitation.

The second question we have to ask is whether we are involved in the invitation process. We are supposed to be sending out the invitations! However, it seems that the longer we walk with Jesus Christ, the more we go to church, the more we become insulated from the people of the world that need the invitations. We discover that all of our friends have invitations and so we stop looking for others that need the invitations. Then we begin to say that it's just too hard to get to those who might need and invitations. We don't have time, or my life simply doesn't take me there. Here's a challenge for this New Year. Don't fret over how you're going to get there -- let God help you in that, but instead, begin by praying for those that need to come to Christ. Ask God to help you identify five individuals who need him. Make a list and begin to pray for them each and every single day. They may live in your city, or far away, it doesn't matter. But I challenge you to pray for five individuals that need him this year and see what happens. Pray the invite their direction.

There really are no excuses for not being involved in the invitation process. You may be able to invite someone physically, in person -- or you may be able to through prayer, but everyone can be inviting those who need to know the Bridegroom.

The party's ready. Don't forget the invites!

Prayer

Lord, lead me to the names of those you want me to be praying for this year! Amen.

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