Bring Your Friends To Jesus by Eric Elder www.theranch.org Do you have some friends who could use a touch from Jesus?  I’d like  to encourage you to bring them to Him today. Whether they need healing, a change of heart, a change of lifestyle,  or a change in their eternal destination, Jesus can do it.  I know,  because He did it for me when I was reading Matthew chapter 9, twenty  years ago.  Now I want to bring as many people as I can to Jesus so  He can do the same things for them. Look with me at what Jesus did in Matthew chapter 9 when some people  brought their friends and family members to Jesus: First, we have the men who brought their paralyzed friend, lying on a  mat, to be healed by Jesus.  The Bible says that “when Jesus saw  their faith,�?He healed the paralytic and forgave him of his sins.   The man took up his mat and went home, and the crowd was filled with  awe and praised God (Matthew 9:1-8).  Note what it was that triggered  Jesus�?action in this passage:  it says that He did these things for  the paralytic “when Jesus saw THEIR faith.�?BR> Next, we have Matthew, the author of this book of the Bible, who had  Jesus over to his house for dinner.  It seems that Matthew also  invited many of his fellow tax collectors and other “sinners�?to eat  with him and Jesus and the disciples.  Even though Jesus was  criticized by some people for going to the house of someone like  Matthew, Jesus made it clear that these were exactly the people He  came for.  In response to these critics, Jesus said, “It is not the  healthy who need a doctor, but the sick...For I have not come to call  the righteous, but sinners�?nbsp; (Matthew 9:9-13).  Jesus wants us to  invite Him over to meet our unsaved, and perhaps unwholesome, friends! Third, we have the father, Jairus, who couldn’t bring his dying  daughter to Jesus, so Jairus brought Jesus to her.  When Jesus got to  his house, the girl had already died.  Those in the house told  Jairus, “Your daughter is dead.  Why bother the teacher [Jesus] any  more?�?nbsp; Ignoring what they said, Jesus told Jairus, “Don’t be afraid;  just believe.�?nbsp; Then Jesus walked into the house, took the girl by  the hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!�?nbsp; Immediately  she got up and walked around (Matthew 9:18-26 and Mark 5:22-43).   Even though the girl wasn’t able to come to Jesus herself, her father  was still able to bring Jesus to her. Do you see the influence each of these people had on their friends  and family?  By bringing their friends and family to Jesus, or  bringing Jesus to them, their friends and family were healed,  changed, forgiven and given a new life! How would you like to be used by God like that?  You can!  Even  today, this week, this month!  Bring your friends to Jesus, or bring  Jesus to them.  With Easter just around the corner, you’ve got a  perfect opportunity to invite your unchurched friends to church.   This is a time when they may be most likely to attend, if at all.   It’s a time when they can hear the story of the resurrection, and  begin their journey with the Living God. One of the people who played a crucial role in my own salvation was  my cousin who invited me to her church when I moved to her city.   Within a year of attending her church, I put my faith in Christ. Maybe that’s what God wants to do through you, too?  He’s looking for  people to join Him in His work.  As Jesus said at the end of this  chapter:  “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the  Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest  field�?(Matthew 9:37-38).  Want to be one of those workers?  Bring  your friends to Jesus! -------------- Prayer:  Father, help me have the courage to step out and bring my  friends to Jesus, so He can touch their lives as He’s touched mine.   In Jesus�?name, Amen.   A Bee Bg