This is Your Invitation

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”                     Matthew 28:19-20

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 

If you have been waiting for someone to ask you to serve God, this is your invitation. Jesus has already invited you. 

I love the church, but remember that the church is not a building.  It is not just the group of people that you worship with every week.  You are the church because you are in the body of Christ.  You have authority to serve and power to witness, not because of the local church that you belong to, but because the power of the living God dwells in you and has called you to go and witness for Him.

Christians spend too much time organizing and making plans.  I can't tell you how many times over the years I have made phone calls and Excel spreadsheets organizing workers. I have come up with clever titles for events, bought treats for helpers, made flyers and schedules, decorated tables, the list goes on and on.  I think that Christians have become spoiled and we are all waiting for our local church to organize something that we can go do for a few hours to serve God.  We want our children to see us serving God and learn how to do that.  We want to make the people happy that call us on the phone and ask for our help.  We want to make sure that if no one stepped up to do it, we at least will try so that we can help with whatever they are organizing.  After all, if no one helps, the event won't take place.

I think that church programs have messed up our thinking on this.  Hear me, if your church is needing you to serve, you have a responsibility as a member of your local body of believers to help.  But, do not wait for them to ask you to get out of your stinking self and do something for God.  I have spent so many years as a Christian, being so utterly concerned with myself and my own spiritual growth or participation in programs, that it kind of makes me sick.  Being a Christian is not about how well you do at spending 15 minutes every morning reading your devotional over coffee (though that is good for growing closer to God personally and learning His word).  It is not about denying yourself the extra cookies or whatever you crave (though it is good to practice self discipline and not be a slave to your flesh).  It is not about signing up on every sheet that goes around (though it is good to help when there is a need).  All of those things are important.  They keep you focused and give you ways to act out your faith.

But, listen to me!  We do not need to wait until we know enough or are good enough.  We do not need to wait until our own local church has asked us to join them for something.  We need to listen to what God is calling us to do and just do it!!!  Being a Christian is loving and serving God and loving and serving others. 

I am going to share a story with you.  I am not doing this to give myself any glory or praise.  I am doing this to give you an example of hearing an invitation from God and just acting on it.

Once, when I took my girls for mani/pedis, I stopped for a minute and took it all in.  There we were, just spending money for a treat.   It wasn't necessary and it was frivolous, but it was fun.  It was fun because for a little bit, we just sat there and had someone do something that made us feel a little prettier.  We were pampered.

Then later that week, I met with my small accountability group, and I stopped for a minute and took it all in.  There we were, women, sitting on a couch in the middle of a morning, sharing, laughing and praying with each other.   We are all busy, but we try to get together, just to share needs and have honest vulnerability and transparency.  It is not necessary, we don't have to do it....but it is good to be with other women.  We were fellowshipping. 

God grabbed my heart and place an idea in there.  What if I went to hurting women and painted their nails and just sat with them a while?  What if, instead of meeting a real need or just donating money, I just did something frivolous for them and loved them in Christ for a little bit every week.  God put this idea in my heart four month ago....and then I just let it sit there.

I'm busy.  I have stuff going on.  So do you....it doesn't matter.  If God has placed something on your heart, just go do it!

I sat with our home group last week and we were discussing Pharisees....you know, the people who were supposed to love God the most, but had completely lost sight of what that meant?  God had been speaking to my heart all that week that until I went and painted the nails, everything was on hold.  I know that sounds strange and it may not even be true.  But, I felt like God has something big for me to do, but He would not do it until I went and sat and painted nails.  So that night, I told our group what I wanted to do.  I told them, because I knew that when we met the next week, they would hold me accountable.  If they asked if I had done it, and I said no, they had permission to throw stuff at me:)

 

So a week passed and it was the day of the next home group.  I was running out of hours.  I said I would do it, so I had to.  I got in my car, and drove to Food and Shelter for Friends in downtown Norman.  I had asked them months ago about doing this, so they knew that someday I would come. 

I pulled up around 10 and a crowd was already out there waiting for lunch.  There were probably 50 people all around in in middle of the day.  They were one block south of the theatre where we spend a lot of time.  They were there because they were hungry.  Many were homeless.

I will tell you more about this later, but for now, you just need to know that I drove there and I went in and I painted fingernails for an hour and a half.  It didn't really cost me anything, it didn't take much time.  But this weekend, I thought about women like Natalie and Julie, that had sparkly, pretty nails because I listened to God and just did it.  I am looking forward to going back there every week and some of my friends and my daughters will be going there, too.

If there is something that God has placed on your heart to do, please just do it.  If you can do it with your local church, great!  But if you can't, just do it.  Get with the people that are doing things and do it!  Or just go by yourself.  You have the power from the Holy Spirit and you have the command from Christ.....just go.  And when you are there, make sure they know you love Jesus and that is why you came.  This is your invitation. 

If you do not see the image, Click here for Casting Crowns' song, If We Are the Body