Talk

Don’t Waste Your Invitation

Louie Giglio

February 26, 2017

Continuing in our current collection of talks, Nothing Wasted, Louie Giglio talks about the invitation God extends to us by knocking on our door. What does it look like to open that door and step into a relationship with Him?

Key Takeaway

Don't waste your invitation. Start fully engaging now with what you expect to finally experience forever.

The God who spoke the universe into existence currently is standing outside your door.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Revelation 3:20

He means if ANYONE opens the door, He'll come in. God's Word has the power to change how you see yourself, and everything hinges on that. Why is Jesus standing on the other side of the door?

Colossians 1:15-16 answers both questions: who am I, and why am I here?

Your life matters because there are no accidental people. You were created by Jesus. God is in the equation. You are here for God, created for God.

We have done a great job of inverting this and making ourselves the center of the story. Your highest value is to give yourself to the God who created you for Himself.

You are purposed, valued, and wanted.

God sees something attractive about you that compels Him to invite you to be His friend.

We think God can't see us, and we're unnoticed, but He's on your porch knocking on the door.

Don't water your invitation to have dinner with the King. This isn't something to miss.

We don't need to feel guilty and say to ourselves, "Oh man, I've blown it. I need to be spending more time with Jesus." We need to awaken to the fact that Jesus wants to spend more time with us. That's mind-blowing...you are desired by God.

In Genesis 1-3, God created Adam and Eve for curation and walking with Him. They had a close enough relationship with God that they knew what it was like to walk in the Garden with Him in the cool of the evening. God had a mission for them and wanted a relationship with them. Then they sin and become ashamed.

Micah 6:8 shows us that it is the same for us today. Walk humbly with God. Why? Because He wants to walk with us.

What do we learn from Genesis 5?

When God created man, He made Him in the likeness of God. What He loves about you is that He's woven into you. What He's pursuing in you is Himself in you.

Six generations away from the couple that had wrecked the plan, Enoch lived 365 years and walked faithfully with God. He walked with Him and was no more. Hebrews 11:5 says Enoch pleased God. He didn't waste his invitation to walk with Him.

Enoch figured out that yes, God can make him feel amazing, but he can make God feel amazing because he was made by and for Him and walked all his days in that truth.

Why don't we answer the door?

We can't hear because it's too loud. 2 Timothy 3:1-4 says people became lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Christians included. It's ironic that we look forward to an eternity with Jesus, but we spend no time with Him now. We've lost our appetite for intimacy with God.

We're too busy working for God than spending time with Him. Revelation 3:15-18 states that God wants us all in or all out. It's not useful or helpful to be lukewarm. It doesn't work in the middle. We think we have what we need because we are rich, but we need Jesus to cover all we've done. We think we're good enough for God, but no one is. We're too busy being at church, but not walking with God in every area.

Things are such a wreck. There's no way you can let someone in and see the mess. But the thing is, Jesus can see through the door. He still wants in. His scars on His hands and feet purchased the right to be at the door. The hinges on it are mercy, grace, and the blood of Jesus. The door can open because Jesus has already paid the price for you to welcome Him in.

Don't waste your invitation by beginning to fully engage now what you expect to finally experience forever.

Let walking with God on earth be a seamless transition when you walk with Him in heaven.

“

"Even though God is sovereign and unchanging over the centuries and the eons of time and eternity, somehow your relationship with God means something to Him, and does something for Him."

”

Louie Giglio

Discussion Questions

Have you ever thought about how God spoke the universe into being, but He is standing at your door knocking? See Revelation 3:20.
What does Revelation 3:20 promise to the one who opens the door? What is the significance of that?
Read Colossians 1:15-16. How does this answer the question of why Jesus is standing at the door?
We often resist opening the door because we don't want God to see our mess. Why is that ironic?
What is the mission that God had for Adam and Eve? What was their relationship with God? How did it all go wrong? See Genesis 1-3.
Read Genesis 5:25 and 11:5. What did Enoch do that so pleased God? How can we do the same?
Pastor Louie gave reasons for not answering the door when Jesus is knocking. One of them was it's simply too loud and we can't hear it. How have we succumbed to the world around us in this way? Reference 2 Timothy 3:1-4.
What is the main point of Revelation 3:15-18? Why does Jesus use these descriptions?
Overall, do you have a hard time believing that God wants to spend time with you? Why?
What can you do this week to intentionally spend time with God? Not because you have to, but because He delights in being with you.

Scripture References

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of the Son of God

15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Paul’s Labor for the Church

24Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

From Adam to Noah

1This is the written account of Adam’s family line.

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

3When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

6When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. 7After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

9When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

12When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

15When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

18When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

21When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

25When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

28When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the

Lord

has cursed.” 30After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

32After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.