By: Pastor Ty Houghtaling

Jesus gave three invitations to the crowds that gathered to hear Him speak. He invited them to “come and see” for themselves who He was. He invited them to “come and follow” Him because of who He was. And lastly, He invited them to “go and tell” others about Him. We just celebrated Christmas, and, in that story, we got to see at least two of these invitations accepted.

The wise men from a foreign nation come and see the newborn King of the Jews and the shepherds both come and see and left to go and tell. Churches across our community have Sunday morning services where anyone can “come and see” for themselves what Christianity is all about.

Different churches with different routines and traditions each point out what church looks like and what church people think and do on any given Sunday morning. The invitation to “come and see” is important. This invitation comes from the conversation Jesus had with some followers of John the Baptist. John’s disciples hear their teacher proclaim, “behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” and they ask Jesus where He is staying, and His reply is “come and see”. (John 1:29-39).

Preachers of our era have seized on this invitation to “come and see”. Preachers emphatically invite curious “seekers” to come to church and see what it is like and maybe, just maybe, discover Jesus. Jesus invited the crowds to see for themselves if He was all that He proclaimed to be and still today Christians invite their neighbors to find out for themselves if Jesus can heal them and extend to them eternal life. We also see Jesus inviting the crowds to “come and follow”. Actually, this invitation is referenced more in Jesus’ public ministry than the other two invitations combined.

Jesus constantly calls the crowds, and individuals as well, to come and follow Him. Followership requires commitment. I am convinced that for most of us today, our most prized possession is not money or things but rather our time. The invitation to come and follow invariably will require us to sacrifice our time. Jesus will demand a wholehearted commitment of time and resources. When we accept the invitation to come and follow, we commit ourselves to no longer live for ourselves but to live for Him from now on. The Bible is clear, God wants our whole heart, and nothing less will do.

The last invitation of Jesus is to “go and tell”. Churches today urge their members to be missional. Churches today find it very important that they go and tell the world that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Jesus gave His followers the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20), basically the “go and tell” command. We at First Baptist like to say “we (the church) are Plan A for spreading the good news, and there is no Plan B”. Jesus gave three invitations. I have accepted all three, have you?

Ty Houghtaling is the Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Artesia.