Janet Neumann has been a Seventh-day Adventist her entire life. She has sat through many Sabbath services and is familiar with doctrine and the Bible. Despite this, she was just coasting along in her faith. She wasn’t pursuing the Lord, wasn’t actively seeking. She let faith come to her, she never sought it out. Her meeting with an old friend and her introduction to Walter Veith relit her fire for Christ and for her faith. She received a new invitation, one she could not refuse. In life we may get many invitations, some we ignore, some we cannot pass up. Christ gives us all the most important invitation. He asks us to learn of Him and in Him we shall find rest.

• Review Matthew 11 to reveal how we can learn of the Lord and receive His invitation.

Many churches hand out invitations too. Decked out in loud music, overdone decorations, sermons delivered with pomp and flash, but not much substance. This lecture will discuss some of the unBiblical methods that emergent churches use to collect an audience. Emergent churches ask us to “come” to Christ the same way Jesus does. But these churches stop there. They do not truly lead us to continue our search or to grow or mature in Christ. In the same way that Jesus gives us invitations, the devil does too. We need to be wary of whose invitations we are accepting. Only by accepting a true invitation from Jesus Christ and following His pure word can we come closer to Him. Are you ready to grow in faith by invitation only?