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I'm not a fan of those invitations where you're supposed to sneak up and hide the most joyous, memorable moment of your life, the one where you realize just how much Christ did for you and what it means.

But...you didn't say if he did that! As far as what he did, I like it! Simple and to the point. What's the point in sweetening the act of denial? None.

I'd love to see a reverse invitation just to see the reaction. Ask anyone in denial to come forward and announce it.

And for everyone pastor here...stop with the "eyes shut, nobody looking around." It's dumb. Thanks.

 

I'm convinced that many of those who conduct those high-pressure, interminable, invitations are doing only what they've seen done by those who came before them. They've never seen it done any other way.

Here's the mindset which I think drives this practice: If I don't give an invitation, and some lost person leaves that service without being given an opportunity to respond, and they go out and get run over and killed by a car, then their blood will be on my hands. Had I given an invitation, they might have been saved.

Luke2427 is right. The message is the invitation.

That's not to say that the preacher ought not to exhort men and women to come to Christ. And he might do it at the end of a service. We're not talking about whether we should invite (Paul commanded) people to Christ. It's the manner in which it is done.

 

:thumbsup:

 

If you ask most preachers, they will certainly insist that the Holy Spirit must open minds and hearts to understand the gospel; must convict of sin; and must draw men and women to faith in the Lord Jesus.

Too often, though, it seems that they forget those realities in framing the invitation. As if they can literally drag people into the kingdom by their own powers of persuasion. I like to call it the "I see that hand" syndrome.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not against being as persuasive as possible, or being passionate in the exhortation. I wonder what would happen if, at that point, we just SHUT UP and wait on the Holy Spirit.

 

I suspect that in the average Baptist church, an invitation for someone to "come forward and be saved" is fruitless. In my small rural church we seldom have a visitor who does not profess to be saved. All my members profess to be saved. Only God and them know for sure. When we have a public invitation, which is most Sunday mornings...never on Sunday night, I usually close it after the first verse of the hymn. I figure if anyone is interested in responding to whatever God has laid on their hearts to do, one verse is enough time for them to do so.

I cringe when I look back on my early days of ministry and realize how caught up I was in the "we are going to stay here until somebody responds" mentality. Though I was never an IFB, I did follow Hyles for a few years. Age and maturity has a way of giving a pastor a more clear vision and understanding of the error of the high pressure techniques intended to "get people into the kingdom."

 

If you used "99 bottles of beer on the wall" for the invitation song and counted down to zero, then that should get everyone up front just to end it.

 

I think most of you are like me. If the Spirit is truly moving in a service, it is a wonderful time,and few would want it to end. I'm sure most of us have been in that kind of service.