What A Difference A Day Can Make! Series

What a difference a day can make!

The last Sunday I was here I was not preaching. I came to watch the dedication service that was here a couple of weeks ago.

What a wonderful day that was.

To see this building full of people.

To see this building full of people who are really nice people.

Nice people who are unchurched people -

people who as yet have not discovered who Jesus is for themselves.

Yet they were here, in church.

And I stood there at the back of the church greeting people as they arrived, and watching them take their seats.

And I had a massive smile on my face and joy in my heart.

Then I thought about why the people were here.

Now I know they came for the dedication.

But why were they really here.

And the answer is simple.

Someone invited them.

Someone invited them and they came.

In fact - people who do not regularly attend our church, invited people who have never had any contact with our church - and the people came.

These people came to the dedication and heard about Jesus. They came because they were invited.

Here’s the thing.....

For all the joy I had - I actually began to feel a little sad.

People who do not regularly attend our church invited people who have never had any contact with our church and the people came.

So why should that make me sad...

To answer that, let me ask you a question,

When was the last time you invited someone to come to church?

Church member, church regular, when was the last time you actually opened your mouth and asked someone to come to hear about Jesus?

That’s what made me sad.

We say Jesus is important.

We say we believe He is the Way, the Truth and the life.

We say that we have placed our trust in Him.

We say that Our sins are forgiven because of Him.

We say we love Him.

But we never invite anyone to meet with Him for themselves.

Do we worry about what people will think about us

Do we worry they may say no.

Or are we are even more worried that if we actually asked they might say yes.

And that might lead to questions about what we believe and maybe we just don’t feel confident enough to answer.

Friends, we need to allow God the opportunity to be God.

We need to give our friends, our family, our colleagues, our neighbours, and everyone else you can think of, the opportunity to discover who Jesus is.

So will you invite someone to come to church?

To come and hear about Jesus for themselves.

To come to the point where they understand that they need to be forgiven.

To give them the opportunity to know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.

To give them the opportunity to accept the truth that you have experienced yourself.

To give them the opportunity to experience a turning point in their lives.

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Actually, this morning we are going to consider an important turning point for the church

and the difference a single day can make.

In our Fresh Fire Series, this month we will be looking at The Holy Spirit in the book of Acts.

And our focus today is on the fulfillment of one of the promises Jesus made.

The Day of Pentecost was a day Jesus had promised his disciples would happen.

One single day that would be a turning point for the church.

The day that the Holy Spirit would come.

The Holy Spirit, the empowerer, the advocate, the comforter,

The One that would empower God’s people, to do great and might things for the kingdom of God.

The One that would change hearts.

The One that would change lives.

The One that would bring blessing.

The One that would even enable people to be bold enough to invite someone to church.

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Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem, and they waited.

They waited for 120 days.

Then God’s promise was fulfilled.

listen to Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

That day, this was the turning point in the lives of the disciples, and for the church.

Maybe, you can you pick out a time,

a date,

a specific event in your life,

something that you can point to that and say, “That was a real turning point in my life.”