The Power of an Invitation

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” -- John 1:38-39

Don’t ever underestimate the power of an invitation! Surely Jesus didn’t! While he walked the earth, Jesus was constantly inviting people to spend time with him. He knew something we must learn as His followers…sometimes people need to belong before they believe! Don’t take my word for it; read below from an email I received this week from someone who is seeking and trying to figure out who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him.

God loves her so much that he brought PCCers her way from the community who developed a relationship with her and invited her to check out our community. After numerous invites, last Sunday she came. Read below and discover what God did:

Hi Gary,
Wow is all I can say. It took me ALL week to get up the courage to go to church on Sunday and it was laid out perfectly. I got there early, found a great parking spot, walked in and “faked” that I knew what I was doing when the greeters greeted me so they wouldn’t know I had no idea where I was at spiritually, and then I found someone I knew. YAY GOD! Now I didn’t have to sit down alone : ) So I sat there and listened to the music. It was amazing. I was overwhelmed. I cried. I didn’t want to cry. I just related to the singing and the words and I cried. I can’t even remember what they were now, but they were awesome. Then you stood up there and did your awesome combination of awesomeness and humbleness and I thought that was great too.

When service was over I ran into a girl who not a few days before I had spent some time talking to at a store where I was buying my kids Christmas presents. She was excited to see me and then stunned to find out it was my first day in church in over a year.

Everyone (EVERYONE) was so welcoming. No one thought I was a fraud. I could have made a decision to turn my will and my life over to God that day. Needless to say, I will be back. The outpouring of love from PCCers was AMAZING! If that’s what it means to be a Christian, that’s really cool.

We are entering into a season where people are spiritually more sensitive than usual. Why not simply ask God to use you as His emissary of hope and invite them to one of our three Christmas Eve gatherings? What do we have to lose? What do they have to gain? What will you do about it?

This Sunday, we wrap up our Advent series called Love Gives looking at how Love Gives Salvation. We will study a very familiar Christmas text: Luke 2:8-16. Read up and come hungry!