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In Sunday’s sermon, Isaiah 55 was called “The Great Invitation.”  In this chapter, God invites us to eternal life through His suffering servant, Christ Jesus. We’re invited to join the loving lordship only He can provide. God invites us to repent and know the freedom of forgiveness. He invites us to realize that we are His creation and He’s the creator worthy of our worship. The Holy One of Israel invites us to be amazed by the power of His word and to experience the joy and blessing that only He can give. Isn’t that a great invitation!?

An invitation is a written or verbal request inviting someone to go somewhere or do something. We get invitations for birthdays, weddings, and showers. We get invitations to mourn at funerals. We get invitations to have fun and to enjoy good food. When we receive an invitation, we must decide what to do with it. We can choose to accept it, decline it, or even ignore it. The invitations of the Lord are the same way.  We can choose to accept the LORD’s invitations, reject them, or ignore them. 

Salvation is not the only invitation that God extends to us. Every day, God extends an invitation to us to read His word. God sits on His throne, inviting us to pray to Him. Our sins, no matter how secret they may be, come with an invitation to confess and repent. Our very lives come with an invitation to submit to the Lord and respond to Him through worship. The situations we find ourselves in that cause us to have a bad attitude come with an invitation to find joy in the Lord through all circumstances. What invitation is the Lord extending to you that you keep declining? What’s keeping you from accepting the Lord’s invitation in your life?