Invitation Question

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

WolfMan

New member
Aug 9, 2021
1
0
1
#1
Occasionally, various members at my church are tasked to give the devotion and invitation on Wednesday nights when the regular minister is out. There was an occasion once when someone responded to an invitation. The person that was doing the devotion/invitation was caught off guard as he had never had a response to an invitation. He managed to work through the event, but left me with the question of what questions should be asked of the person responding. I know that during the baptism they are asked if they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God as that is the public confession of acknowledging Christ. However, there is a private moment between the minister and person when the person responds to the invitation. Here is my question, are there required questions that the minister should ask at this time or are they simply asking how they may help them? Are they asked to repent and confess their sins at that point? In general, sometimes people just come forward just to ask for prayers and the simple response to that is we offer a prayer for them, but if one comes forward to be baptized, are there more pertinent questions to be asked?
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
56,299
26,340
113
#2
There may be some protocol your particular church favors, in which case, asking the elders or who
you call the regular ministers may be a good staring point to find out what questions they ask...


















Welcome! :)
 
Feb 16, 2017
1,037
285
83
#3
Occasionally, various members at my church are tasked to give the devotion and invitation on Wednesday nights when the regular minister is out. There was an occasion once when someone responded to an invitation. The person that was doing the devotion/invitation was caught off guard as he had never had a response to an invitation. He managed to work through the event, but left me with the question of what questions should be asked of the person responding. I know that during the baptism they are asked if they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God as that is the public confession of acknowledging Christ. However, there is a private moment between the minister and person when the person responds to the invitation. Here is my question, are there required questions that the minister should ask at this time or are they simply asking how they may help them? Are they asked to repent and confess their sins at that point? In general, sometimes people just come forward just to ask for prayers and the simple response to that is we offer a prayer for them, but if one comes forward to be baptized, are there more pertinent questions to be asked?
God does not require you to confess sins, to give you the new birth.
Why? Because confessing sins, does nothing, actually.
What God requires is that you have FAITH in Christ, and He receives this faith, accepts this faith, and "faith is counted as Righteousness", and you are become : "Justification by Faith"

Also, there is no verse in a real bible that says....>" ""get in the water and let us ask you if you believe in Jesus".
So, that is one more man made idea that has nothing to do with a Bible, or with begin born again.

The "Invitation" or the 'alter call"..... as it's known in Protestant services, is really simple.
You invite all the unbelievers to BELIEVE IN JESUS, = by preaching/explaining the "Gospel of the Grace of God".
The real repentance that can happen to a person as "faith comes by hearing" is that they repent of UNBELIEF..... TO BELIEF in Christ.
That's REAL Repentance that God is looking for in the heart = as FAITH.
See that?


So, what do you say to them?
You can find it here.... just in case you get called on to offer the invitation.
Go and learn these, and then you'll never have any issue with leading someone to God, through Christ.


Start here. : Titus 3:3-8


John 1:12 &. John 14:6 & John 3:16

Romans 4:5

Romans 5:8
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
56,299
26,340
113
#4
God does not require you to confess sins, to give you the new birth.
Why? Because confessing sins, does nothing, actually.
Hello Kidron :) I believe the main part of confessing sin is actually agreeing with God about our sinful nature/state before Him, so in that sense, it is part and parcel of repenting of our rebellion toward Him, coming to believe, and having faith in the shed righteous blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins :) I certainly agree that water baptism does not save :D
 
Feb 16, 2017
1,037
285
83
#5
Hello Kidron :) I believe the main part of confessing sin is actually agreeing with God about our sinful nature/state before Him, so in that sense, it is part and parcel of repenting of our rebellion toward Him, coming to believe, and having faith in the shed righteous blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins :) I certainly agree that water baptism does not save :D
Well,

If by confessing sin, you mean that you confess that you are a sinner in your own heart, as you are giving God your faith in Chirst........, then this would qualify, sure.

If im preaching the Cross to a group of unbelievers and 2 of them have this happen....>"faith comes by hearing''.....then God has performed this universal offer......>"If i be lifted up, i will draw all men to me"..........as this reality.....>"many are called but few are Chosen"...
The "chosen", are those who have given God faith when they 1st believed, and God took this Faith as...>"faith is counted as Righteousness"..
Being Chosen is when God sees faith in Christ in your heart, and accepts it.... You are then Chosen to become born again.

What happens then?

1. ) God redeems you of all your sin with Christ's Blood and Death

2. ) Now that you are spiritually made righteous, = God is able to JOIN Himself to your Spirit, "In Christ", and you become "One with God".. Spiritually., born again.

So, the act of BELIEVING, is the performance of faith that God requires to then save you......and the preaching of the Cross, explains that God is dying for your SIN.
So, to BELIEVE that is to confess before God in your own heart, that its true.
This is to leave the....>"never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth" unbeliever mind and make the Leap of Faith that God accepts to then give you "justification by Faith".
God sees this repentance in your heart, that is to agree before GOD that you are a sinner, who is now trusting in Christ.

God does not need us to climb the church walls confessing sins before the members, as God has already SEEN your Repentance where it matters to HIM.......and that is in your heart.
 

glen55

Active member
Jul 10, 2021
168
26
28
68
#6
Occasionally, various members at my church are tasked to give the devotion and invitation on Wednesday nights when the regular minister is out. There was an occasion once when someone responded to an invitation. The person that was doing the devotion/invitation was caught off guard as he had never had a response to an invitation. He managed to work through the event, but left me with the question of what questions should be asked of the person responding. I know that during the baptism they are asked if they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God as that is the public confession of acknowledging Christ. However, there is a private moment between the minister and person when the person responds to the invitation. Here is my question, are there required questions that the minister should ask at this time or are they simply asking how they may help them? Are they asked to repent and confess their sins at that point? In general, sometimes people just come forward just to ask for prayers and the simple response to that is we offer a prayer for them, but if one comes forward to be baptized, are there more pertinent questions to be asked?
Ecclesiastes 3:15:

“That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.”
The “natural man” cannot grasp that, for to him reality is based only on the evidence of the senses. The man of reason could justify the verse’s end, saying if it has any meaning then the writer must mean recurrence. The sun comes every day and the moon completes its cycle and the seasons come and go. If we took a picture of the universe today, the scientists can compute how long it will take to return to this point in the picture. So the intellectual man could justify the verse; but that is not what is meant, for it is addressed not to the man of reason or the man of sense, but to the man of Imagination. What is it all about? “That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been, and God seeks what has been driven away.”