Giving an Evangelistic Invitation by Roy Fish

Preaching evangelistically is woefully incomplete without an invitation to come to Jesus. In the New Testament it is obvious that evangelistic preaching and compelling invitations were virtually inseparable. The nature of the message preached compelled the herald of the message to appeal for response. It is true there are no instances of invitation without proclamation in apostolic preaching, but it is also true there are also no instances of proclamation without invitation.

The message of Jesus is of such a nature that an invitation to respond is the logical outcome of its declaration. Though the word come might not be the precise word of the invitation, the invitation for response was always a part of apostolic preaching.

After a sermon at Pentecost, Peter clothed the word come in terms of “repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). He did essentially the same thing in his second sermon: “Repent therefore and be converted ” (Acts 3:19 ). A loving God makes sinful humanity a concrete offer of forgiveness on the basis of the saving acts of His Son. Such an offer demands a call for decision. The good news of Jesus demands a verdict.

Roy Fish, “Chapter 5: Giving an Evangelistic Invitation,” in Preaching Evangelistically: Proclaiming the Saving Message of Jesus (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006), 76–77.