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TRANSCRIPT: “MY ANSWER: THE INVITATION”

Billy Graham: To me, that is the—that is the work of the Holy Spirit, and an
answer to prayer. And that's the moment that I do not understand, is when
the physical drain and emotional drain goes out of me. I don't get tired
preaching so much as I get tired when the invitation comes because I'm going
for a verdict and that verdict—going for that verdict should start in the very
beginning of a sermon. You're asking for people to say "yes" to the claims of
Jesus Christ. Now that's the part that I'm driving for.

And then when we come to the invitation, you know, I've seen people who will
say—first of all, they raise their hand; and then the second thing is, you stand
up; and the third thing is, you come forward. I was felt that was a little bit of a
gimmick, and I’ve just asked them to get up out of the seat and come straight
forward—then to make their commitment to Christ. I think it needs to be clear
as to what they are coming for. In the Soviet Union, they told me, for example,
that people would come forward if they were offered literature. So, we decided
to give them literature before the meeting began that each one, as they came
in the hall, would have literature and we asked them to bring that literature
with them so that they're not going to get anything when they come forward.

I think anything that strikes of being a gimmick is wrong and I think many
times people have been turned off by that sort of thing. I have—we have tried
to avoid it. I'm sure, we have made many mistakes and many failures in it and
struggled with it, but the invitation is an all-important thing. Sometimes the
people who arranged the meetings don't arrange it with the invitation in
mind. Sometimes you don't have enough steps coming forward or you don't
have enough preparation for the people down in the front and we have
television.

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke
and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. 1
2 Timothy 4:2 (NIV)
I'm always concerned that the television puts people off. For example, I
remember in one of our recent Crusades, I saw—it wasn't one of our people—
but I saw a photographer and he was right—and he had a camera. He was
right in front of people's faces as they were standing there and the person who
was supposed to watch that was too far away. He didn't see that, but I could
see everything right from the platform all that's going on. This just, oh,
something in me just boiled out. I didn't do anything, couldn't say anything.
But I just felt that this was something that should never be, that this is as quiet
a moment as we can possibly make when you have a large group of people
responding to the invitation.

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Last modified: 3/20/2020 5:11 PM

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke
and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. 2
2 Timothy 4:2 (NIV)