Witness: Pray. Invite. Bring.

February 11, 2024

I’m excited about today’s message! This is the last Sunday of our “Witness” sermon series. We’re doing this because we could all use some help learning to share our faith with someone who is far from God. God loves the whole world and wants to be in relationship with everyone! The first week we learned witnessing from Paul and Silas in jail. They didn’t run when they had a chance to escape! Instead, they cared enough to get involved and help the jailer, they saved him! Then they baptized him, and he found joy in Christ! Our challenge in the first week was to write down the names of three people we could invite to church. If you don’t have three names yet, keep praying! God will put some people in your mind and heart.

Last week we heard the story of the prodigal son who demanded his inheritance, deserted his family, wasted all he had, and found himself feeding pigs for a living. He wished he could eat as well as the pigs! But what brought him home was he remembered his father’s servants. He realized the greatest people are those who serve! We’re called to have a servant attitude: to listen to people more than we talk about ourselves. We can care on social media: by liking and commenting on people’s posts, like I know many of you are good at doing. We can text and offer to pray for people. A servant makes a difference by connecting with people.

Today we are talking about praying, inviting and bringing! We’re equipping you to reach out to those around you: friends, family, neighbors, or people you work with.

Jesus prayed in John 17:20-21: ²⁰ I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.  2000 years ago,Jesus was thinking of you and me: praying for all who will ever believe in him! He prayed that we would be one with God the Father and him. He prayed that overflowing from our relationship with God and Jesus, people would know God sent us and would come to believe! Praying is the most important part of pray, invite, bring. It’s not hard to pray!         Jesus prayed often. He wasn’t like, oh, I’m God, I don’t need to pray. No, he prayed. He even prayed for you and me. He prayed for us, and that when we invite, the world will believe God sent us to them! So, let’s join Jesus and pray!

Here are two things to pray for: pray for the three people whose names you wrote down. And pray for God to give you the boldness to invite! Jesus often prayed, and prayer is the most essential part of pray, invite, bring.

But the Invite part is also important!

In John 4, Jesus invites a woman he meets to conversation, inviting her into relationship. Jesus shows us what inviting is all about. You’ll see this story is very relevant to the situation we find ourselves in today!

In John 4:7 A Samaritan woman comes to get water from a well. Jesus asks her, “Will you give me a drink?” The woman looks at Jesus and says, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” She says that because Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along with each other and they didn’t share the same drinking cups! Yuck!

Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman is like, sir, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t even have a bucket. How will you get this living water?

Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman doesn’t know exactly what Jesus is talking about, but it sounds like something she might want. So, she says, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus says, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

She replies, “I have no husband.”

Jesus says, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Wow! Before she tells him about herself, Jesus knows all about her. She tells him she can tell he’s a prophet. But she tells Jesus,  he’s a Jew and the Jews don’t worship God correctly.

Jesus tells her there is a new way of worship that will come. People will worship God in spirit and truth.

The woman says she knows the Messiah will come. And Jesus says I am the Messiah.

What Jesus teaches us here is tha it’s ok to have spiritual conversations. We often treat our faith as something we shouldn’t speak about. Like death and taxes. Don’t go there. Some recent research found that most people who are unchurched are willing to listen to a Christian friend who wants to talk about their beliefs. 78% of unchurched people over 30 years of age are willing to listen. 89%, even more, of unchurched people 18-29 are willing to listen. We don’t have to be afraid to speak about what we believe.

Jesus also teaches us to treat people with respect. When he tells her he knows she has been married 5 times, Jesus doesn’t say, “and THAT’S RIDICULOUS!!” He doesn’t cut off the conversation and say, “You need to repent before I can talk to you!” No, he treats her with respect.

One of the big complaints the unchurched have about church is that churches are judgmental, hypocritical, and won’t accept them. When you think about it, we all have something we feel guilt or shame about. I remember once I asked my grandmother about her family, and she was suspicious, “Why do you want to know?” “Just curious.” My mom later told me there was someone in the family who went to prison. Which made me more curious. But grandma never told. If we’re honest we all have something we’d rather not discuss when we talk with people. We need to follow Jesus’ lead and show respect to all. Jesus made the woman at the well feel accepted and like she belonged. She felt safe and then took the step of believing!

You may be thinking, I’m not good at inviting. Here are some practical things you can do. And remember 8 out of 10 people would likely come to church if a friend invited them!

• Invite a friend to coffee. You can talk about your faith. Offer to pray for them.
• Check in on Facebook on Sunday when you get to church. Be public with your faith.
• Send a text message invitation.
• Get to know your neighbors and invite them.
• Invite someone to a church group you’re in.
• Before Easter and Christmas, give out invitation cards to people you know.

There are many ways to invite. The main thing is to make people feel like they belong, no matter what.

Now we come to bringing! After her conversation with Jesus, the Samaritan Woman went back to her town and told the people she knew: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” The people in her town came to see Jesus! Then they invited Jesus to stay in their town, and he stayed two days. Then many more became believers! She brought people to see Jesus, and many people came to faith!

We don’t stop at inviting, we do a little extra. If you tell a car dealer that you’re looking for a car, they don’t say to you, “If you get a chance, you can stop by. Take a look at the cars we have and find us if you have a question,” and leave it at that. NO, they call, text, email, do everything they can to bring you in! And they’ll do everything in their power to get you to buy a car before you leave the lot! They can get a little annoying. Don’t be annoying. But God is more important than a car. So do more than just invite. Bring, or drive someone to church. If they are going to drive themselves, say I’ll meet you in the parking lot. Or I’ll save you a seat. Tell them, “I’ll be looking for you!” Sit with them. Call or text the night before to help them remember and ask if they have any questions. Then have them over for lunch or take them out to lunch afterwards. We didn’t read the whole story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Jesus says in verse 35: “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” You have no idea the numbers of people that God may want to influence through you.

God loves everybody, and I am so glad God is in my life! I have hope from God, help to get through tough times, joy because I know God is with me. I bet you do too, that’s why you’re here today. There are so many people who want the power, grace and love of God in their lives. But they don’t know about God, and what could be theirs, until you pray, invite and bring. So, pray for your three people and pray for boldness. Invite people to relationship and to church. Offer to bring them to church and be there for them.  You have no idea the numbers of people that God may want to influence through you. Amen.