I was reminded of this passage this week. Take a look at this account from the Gospel of John.
CSB17 John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” 46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered. 47 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered. 49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”
Our job as followers of Christ is to bring others to Christ. Many times, we overlook opportunities around us to simply invite someone to join us at church. Just this week I had the privilege to lead a gentleman to Christ. He and his wife had been attending our church for several weeks and they even came to our Discovery Class. It was after the Discovery Class that I had the opportunity to talk with them and found out that she had been a follower of Christ from her youth, but he did not grow up in the church and had never trusted Christ as his Savior and Lord. Just over a week later I was able to visit with them in their home and that day he prayed to trust Christ as his Savior and Lord! What a wonderful privilege it is to be with someone when they pray to trust in Christ!
In talking with them that day I found out that a neighbor had invited them to our church. One of our members was out mowing his grass when they were out walking their dogs. Our member stopped what he was doing to go and speak with them and invited them to church. Today, there is one more name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life because one of our members cared enough to stop what he was doing and invite a neighbor to church!
We can all be Philip, we can all open our eyes to the opportunities God places before us every day to simply invite someone to church. Do everything you can to be Philip in someone else’s life. Do everything you can to point people to Jesus. Eternity hangs in the balance and when over 70% of the people of our county don’t know Jesus, the opportunities are around us every day. Praise God for one of our “Philip’s” that helped bring a neighbor to Jesus!
