Our words are so powerful. When we say to someone “Hey I really like this you should check this out.” That has an impact. I mean, think about influencers on youtube and tik tok. People make entire careers out of inviting people to try something out. Whether it's a product or service or whatever. Their goal is to get you to like them and trust them and then try the things they recommend.
We do the same thing with our family and friends all the time.
How many of you, just today, have sent someone a tik tok that you thought they would like or find funny? What’s happening in all of those situations? You experience something, you like it and then you invite other people to experience it with you. Whether it’s a quick text, a share on social media or a conversation face to face, we do it all the time which is why I am going to ask you to commit to sharing with everyone you know what we are doing here at Remix.
I’m asking you to use the same things, social media, a text, a conversation, but I’m asking you to use those ways of communicating to talk about more than shoes or a cool movie. I want you to be bold and start sharing the difference Jesus has made in your life and to share with your friends all the cool stuff we have going on at Remix.
We have already committed to Give our Best to the One who gave His best for us and we have decided that Satan isn’t going to use us to make this place a mediocre place. I mean come on. We Refuse to Be Used by Satan. Here is the last thing we need from every single student.
Everyone to Bring One
This is our goal. This year when you are showing up to Remix events or we are starting a new series that you are excited about. Do everything in your power to not show up alone. If you care about this place. If God has impacted your life because of this place, why would you want to keep that from someone else? If you have the news that will save people’s lives, why would you hide it?
In the book of 2 Kings, we come across a time where the nation of Israel is under attack. The Arameans have their city under siege. Which means they had it surrounded so no one could get out and no food could get in. They were going to slowly starve the people, and then come in and take over.
While this is going on there are some men with leprosy who realize if they stay in the city they are going to die anyway so they decide they should try and see if the Arameans will have mercy on them and let them live so they go out to the Arameans camp to find out. Look what they find when they get to their camp.
2 Kings 7:5 says,"At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there,"
No one was there. God had actually caused the Arameans to panic and abandon their camp. No one was left and they had left everything behind. Basically, these men just won the lottery. Look at verse 8.
"The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also."
So they are eating and they are stashing the loot. This is like the best day ever! Not only are they not going to die but they have everything they could ever want. It is amazing. But up to this point they haven’t thought about anyone but themselves. They are just stocking up on their needs meanwhile there is an entire city dying right next to them. Look at what happens in verse 9,"Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”
What we are doing is not right. We are surrounded by people who don’t know who Jesus is. We are surrounded by people who don’t understand what Jesus has done for them by dying on the cross for their sins and rising again from the dead. Come on. Most of your friends think they are going to heaven because they are good people and that kind of thinking will wind them up in hell because good people go to hell every day. Only forgiven people go to heaven.
We cannot continue to keep what we know to ourselves.
Let’s be honest here for a second. How many of you have at least one friend that is not a Christian or is not involved in church? How many of you have invited that friend to come with you? Some of you have but most of us haven’t and I know why you haven’t.
You are scared. You are afraid of rejection or of offending someone, of being made fun of or worst of all losing a friend. I get that. People can be so cruel so I understand the fear. But we have got to get over the fear and realize that our friend’s soul’s and eternities matter more than our comfort. And I think you are going to be shocked. We all think people will freak out if we talk about Remix or the difference Jesus has made in our life. It’s just not true. I have never been yelled at for inviting someone to come to church with me. I have never lost a friend because I love Jesus. A lot of fears we have are just made-up scenarios that we come up with in our mind that cause us to be less than what God wants us to be.
If we would all push through the fear that we have made up in our minds and actually invite someone to Remix you might be the reason someone finds Jesus. How many of you came here because a friend invited you to come and check it out? We need to do the same thing for someone else that someone did for us.
Another reason a lot of us don’t invite people to church or tell people about Jesus is because we don’t know what to say. We put so much pressure on having the right words and the right reasons to come that we end up just not saying anything at all. But what if I told you, it was a lot simpler than you thought. In fact, it’s only three words:
Come and See
Come and see the place where I have found real friends. Come and see the relationship I have found with Jesus. Come and see the fun we have. Come and see the way my life has been changed because of Jesus Christ. Come and see the freedom and joy I have found in Him. It’s that simple. I know it’s that simple because when we look at Scripture this is exactly what they did.
In John 1 we read about Jesus starting His ministry and inviting some men to be his disciples and to come along with Him. On His way to Galilee, Jesus meets a man named Philip and all it takes is a few simple words from Jesus for Philip to be bought in. So now Philip is following Jesus when he comes across his friend Nathanael. Look at this conversation they have.
John 1:45-46 says,"Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked."
So Philip essentially runs into His friend and says, “Hey I have found the messiah, the one who is going to save us all!” Which was a huge thing to say because the Jewish people spent their entire lives waiting for the Messiah to come so Philip makes a bold claim here and Nathanael is like ok yeah right? He’s from Nazareth. Nazareth was like a tiny little hill town that had nothing going for it. So he had some doubts. But look at what Philip says next.
John 1:46 says, “Come and see,” said Philip."
Three simple words, and you know what? They changed Nathanael’s life.
Let’s read the rest of the story. John 1:47-50 says,“When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.” Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Because Philip invited his friend, Nathanael met Jesus and believed in Him. Nathanael spent the rest of his life following Jesus because of this moment. If you notice, after Philip invited him it doesn’t say “And then Philip convinced Nathanael to follow Jesus.” No, Jesus did all the work. Philip’s job was just to offer the invitation and that is our job too.
Our only job is to offer the invitation, and let God do the rest so we are going to commit this year to bring one. Everyone, bring one.
Every Remix event or service you participate in all year long think of one person who could come with you. Luckily, we have the perfect opportunity to practice this week.
You guys know that One Night is just a few days away. We are so excited about it. We are going to have French fries and games and we are really excited for the worship service. We have had people working hard and praying that God would use this night to change people’s lives. The problem is it can’t change someone’s life if they aren’t there.
Because Remix is yours and One Night is yours it is on you to get your friends there. Under each of your chairs is one invite card, in just a second, we are going to pull those out. Now if you want more than one, I will get you more but right now I want you to focus on the one.
Every new person and the friend that brings them, will get access to our exclusive new student room and the soda bar that is just for that room. So, there are all kinds of reasons for them to show up, you just have to invite them. They might not know it yet and you might not know it yet but this could be the night that changes their life. And it all started because you were willing to say” Come and See”. Pray about who you are going to bring and pray over a card you can pick up at Remix.
©2024 Sagebrush Church
