The Invitation

Series Introduction

I’ve been hearing from many that they are in a season of seeking God - or better said, things FROM God

Is this you?

Church has recently been more about the motions or feeling emotions but only on a Sunday

Freedom in Christ is a religious expression but not your real-life experience.

Your knowledge of Jesus has grown over the years but your excitement for him has faded.

Prayer is rare.

Your calendar is full and you are spiritually empty.

In a sense, this series will be about revival.

not tent meetings.

not emotionalism

Emotionalism is a cheap substitute for revival in the same way that infatuation is a cheap substitute for love.

True revival:

A bringing back to life

reviving a plant brings growth

Why we are pairing this series with 40 days of prayer:

“The Word of God is the fulcrum upon which the lever of prayer is placed, and by which things are mightily moved.” ― E.M. Bounds

I don’t know of a revival in history that did not follow on the heels of fervent and urgent prayer.

Over the next 40 Days / 6 weeks we will SEEK THE LORD.

The success of this will have less to do with the attendance of your seat as it will the engagement of your heart.

You don’t consume revival — Revival consumes you.

ILLUST - NPR Article on U2 - Still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

NPR - National Public Radio did a segment several years ago that started out with this:

“The earliest anthems were sacred hymns, religious songs of praise. For this installment of NPR’s American Anthem series, we examine a rock and roll hymn — from Ireland”

“Three of the members of U2 - Bono, guitarist The Edge and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. - were members of a Christian fellowship called Shalom, For The Edge and Bono, their faith seemed at odds with rock and roll: They felt they should be doing something more meaningful with their lives than playing music. . . . Bono said that just as the band was on the brink of major success, they vent to tell their manager they wanted to quit. He was a no-nonsense type amed Paul McGuinness.

"And we say, 'Paul, we're done. We actually want to do something useful with our life, and maybe rock and roll isn't it,'" Bono recounted. "And he's like,

'Oh, so God tells you to do this?' And we said, 'No, not exactly, but it's very deeply convicted here.' He said, 'Would you mind speaking to God about the commitments I've made on your behalf to do another tour?' "”

U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” was then released in 1987:

I have climbed highest mountains I have run through the fields Only to be with you Only to be with you I have run I have crawled I have scaled these city walls These city walls Only to be with youBut I still haven't found what I'm looking for But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Perhaps you resonate now that the song is stuck in your head.

You are searching but you haven’t found what you are searching for - something of real meaning, transcendence. The commitments of this world seem to be pulling you back.

If God is real, then what really matters??

God is inviting us to be done with lesser things and to seek the Lord because he can be found.

To be sure, this passage is saying SO MUCH MORE than this, but it is not saying less than this.

Chap 55:

written by Isaiah 700 years before Jesus

Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest prophecies of Jesus the Messiah as the Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53 describes the redemption of God’s people through Jesus - how he dealt with our problem of Sin and guilt.

Isaiah 54 describes the benefits of the work of the Messiah and

Isaiah 55 invites people to participate in the redemptive work of Jesus

We will explore two main sections: v 1-3 and 6-13

God is inviting (1-5)

I’m grateful to another pastor who pointed out this statement could be understood in two different ways:

place may be inviting. Attractive and good that a person may be drawn to be near.

Someone might invite you to their house for a party - something good is happening and the person wants you to be a part of it.

Both senses are true of God and both are seen in this passage.

Isaiah 55:1–13 (ESV) 1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

This invitation is for two types of people:

The Desperate and Broke

The first type of person God is inviting is the one who is thirsty and desperate.

Lack of water was a common problem in the arid land of Israel.

Imagine walking all day in the desert and not having the money to simply buy water.

What Isaiah describes physically is true of you spiritually.

Your soul feels as dry as Indiana grass in the summer.

ILLUST - I cannot grow grass in certain parts of my lawn. It gets too brown and dry.

Perhaps this describes you. This season has left your soul dry.

You look around and you see things you think may satisfy:

Different job, Husband or wife to change, there is one bill after another with no end in sight.

The problem is, you have no resources to make it happen.

You are spiritually parched and need refreshment.

To you God says, COME. What you are desperate for, he has.

What you cannot provide, he can.

The second type of person that’s invited:

2. The Self-sufficient and Unsatisfied

This person has the resources to provide for themselves things that should satisfy; however, they are only left frustrated.

2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

While the first person had no money, this person has money but are spending on things that don’t really satisfy.

This is you if:

You’re doing well according to the world’s standards but still feel empty inside.

ILLUST - cotton candy

ILLUST - purchasing from Temu

You should be happy with what you have but you still don’t feel fulfilled.

It is interesting that for both, there is no money that is needed. The price has been paid.

The invitation is for two things:

God is inviting us to be done with lesser things. (1-2)

We need to stop ignoring God’s invitation.

How much of our time, of our day, is spent on things lesser than God and his Kingdom?

Isaiah 44:12–20 ESV

13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” 18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Revival will never come to spiritual zombies - those who walk around oblivious to the real spiritual world around them.

A zombie is nothing more than the animated dead and our churches are filled with spiritual zombies - the religious.

Illust - the movie “Warm Bodies”

Features a zombie who is outwardly dead in a world of zombies.

While outwardly dead, you are listening to his internal dialogue.

He recognizes his plight but can’t do anything about it.

He longs for real life.

The Zombie, R, then meets Julie. A living young woman.

As she shows him love, R begins to change.

How long will we chase things that do not matter for eternity?

My last visit with Tom - It’s JESUS! Nothing else matters!

“Don’t let the advertisement of the world drown out this invitation to heaven!”

— John Piper

God is inviting us to enjoy Him (3-5)

enjoy HIM

v 1 - Come to the water

v 3 - Come to me

God is the reality toward which Isaiah points

ENJOY Him

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Verse 1 come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Water for your needs

Milk for your growth

Wine for your joy

How do we fulfill the invite:

Seek the Lord (6-7)

Seek the Lord

Call on him

Repent of sin

Return to the Lord

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

“While. . .”

May not be the best translation

The preposition ב is used over 13000 times in OT - only a few dozen times translated as “while” and of those times it was used to describe something happening concurrently

none of those times is it used to describe a temporary situation that would soon expire.

In addition, nothing in this passage suggests God may only be found for a short period of time.

I’d suggest a better translation would be to

6 “Seek the Lord [because] he may be found; call upon him [because] he is near;

This fits the context better. It aligns with the invitation,

Seek the Lord:

Because He may be found

Despite how you may be feeling, God is NOT hiding from you.

Notice we are to seek the LORD, not stuff from him.

How often do we accuse God of being hidden

Because he is near

7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord,

The way to seek the Lord:

Call on Him (pray!)

Repent of sin

Return to the Lord

When you do, God promises to abundantly pardon

that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

“We humans what God’s gifts, but we are always fearful of letting the Giver into our lives, lest we should lose our illusory feeling of control.”

— John Oswalt

Perhaps we described you today - you’ve been searching but you still haven’t found what you are looking for.

It is no accident you’re hear for ReConnect Sunday because you have been needing to reconnect with God and with others.

It is time to be done with lesser things!!

Prayer Cards

12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”