Great Invitations

Wisdom for Life

July 30, 2017

Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 15.

Proverbs 18:24: “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Your family can determine your direction but ultimately your friends will help you discover your destiny. More likely than not, your destiny is revealed through the great invitations of others.

Merriam Webster defines an invitation as “a written or verbal request inviting someone to go somewhere or to do something.”

But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.” – 2 Samuel 15:21

Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again… So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.” – 2 Samuel 15:25

Have you had a friend who invited you to do life together?

Jesus himself is the great inviter. The scriptures are full of invitations addressed to you and me. And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17)

- See also Matthew 11:28, John 15:4

John Piper from Passion One Day 2000 - https://youtu.be/mfpmbmsvu3A

Perhaps one of the greatest of all Christ’s invitations is: “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

- Notice it…let’s go somewhere doing life together (follow me) and let’s do something (become fishers of men.) Christ is inviting us to make an eternal difference in this world.

We desperately need men and women, girls and boys, who decide they are not going to spend their lives collecting shells but rather fishing for souls.