Three Invitations

I. Introduction

A. Have you ever been driving down the road with your radio on, and a song comes on that you just have to groove to?

a. Either it reminds you of days gone by, reminds you of a special moment in your life, or you identify with the message.

b. So your head starts bobbing and your mouth starts moving.

c. Your steering wheel becomes your drum.

d. The good thing about all that is that with wireless phones and blue tooth headsets you can just pretend you’re talking on the phone.

B. Everyone of us here has to admit we’ve done that in our car at least once during our lifetime.

a. Most of us at least once a week.

b. There are two places in my life where I am Frank Sinatra.

c. One is my car, and the other is the shower.

C. But what about church?

D. What do we do when the praise team gets up to sing, and lead us into worship?

a. Do we connect with the message of the song, bob our head a little, get our worship groove on?

b. I have to be honest with you, because I often stand up here and sing with the praise team.

c. There are some Sundays when we seem to be in the groove; people seem to be connecting and getting into the worship.

d. And then there are other Sundays when I have to admit I wonder if we’re all singing the same song.

E. This isn’t a criticism; just an observation.

F. I don’t believe true worship means we have to raise our hands, shout amen, and run the isles.

a. We certainly can, but we don’t have to.

b. But worship does and should have an outward expression.

G. Hannah comes home just about every day singing a song; it’s not a Christian song, but it sums up the heart of worship.

a. “I lift my hands up in the air sometimes…”

b. Worship moves us, or should move us.

H. But I think sometimes we are not moved because the intimacy of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is just not there.

a. I’m not saying we don’t have a relationship with Christ, but perhaps that relationship lacks intimacy.

I. In Luke 24, on the day of the resurrection, two of Jesus followers were walking on the road to a village called Emmaus.

a. There they had an encounter with Jesus that changed their lives.

b. And I think it teaches us something about the intimacy of a relationship with Christ as we prepare our hearts for communion this morning.

J. Read Luke 24:13-32 *PRAY*

II. Three Invitations

A. The Invitation to Walk

a. Isn’t this where everyone’s journey begins?

b. We are invited to walk with Christ.

c. Jesus kind of invites himself into the walk of these disciples, and it’s interesting that they don’t know who he is.

d. But isn’t that us?

e. How many of you entered a relationship with your spouse already knowing everything about them?

f. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Beth before we got married.

g. Boy was I wrong.

h. The trip we took down the aisle was just the beginning of a process that isn’t over yet.

i. The invitation is where many believers stop.

j. They are walking with Jesus, but they never allow the walk to take them deeper.

k. And so there’s no intimacy that helps us connect with a song like “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to know him more and more.”

i. We can’t connect with that, because we don’t know how sweet it is to totally trust him.

ii. So the song is nothing more than words.

B. The Invitation to Stay

a. This is where intimacy with Christ begins.

b. Don’t just walk with me; stay with me.

c. Don’t just meet me at church; live with me in my house.

d. Those disciples didn’t know it was Jesus who was talking them, but what they did know is that they wanted more.

e. Our home is perhaps our most private place on earth.

f. Something begins to happen when we invite Christ in.

g. When the invitation to walk becomes an invitation to stay.

h. That’s when the level of our intimacy with him begins to change.

i. But it goes one step further.

C. The Invitation to Dine

a. It wasn’t until they were gathered at the table and the bread was broken that their spiritual eyes were opened.

b. The Bible refers to the gathering of all believers at the end of time as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

c. Here’s the reason.

d. You’ll eat supper out at a restaurant with just about anybody.