Just finished watching the funeral of Billy Graham. It was a simple yet glorious send off that focused on Jesus not Billy.

And it reminded me of why so many of our churches are dying.

Franklin Graham gave the closing eulogy. Over and over he issued an invitation for people to accept Jesus as their savior, and he didn’t pull any punches: Jesus is the way, truth, and life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. He concluded by asking, “ If this were your funeral would you be in heaven?”

Too many pastors pull punches when it come to Jesus. Too many end their message without inviting people to accept Jesus as their savior. Some pastors think inviting people to accept Jesus is out of date, or worse yet, theologically inept. And that’s why so many churches are dying. They are dying because Jesus isn’t the focus of all our messages. It doesn’t matter the subject, our message must end with an invitation to accept Jesus as our Lord. Otherwise, why preach?

Folks, Christianity isn’t about anything other than surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ. That’s the reason God sent Jesus – to save us from our sin.

It’s time for more pastors to start ending their message by inviting people to give their life to Christ.

I wouldn’t be a Christian today except that someone invited me to accept Jesus into my life and clean up my sin. What about you? Is it time for you to start ending your messages by inviting people to accept Jesus Christ?