Bible Study: I Made Every Excuse Not to Go to Church. But God.
GROW with God · Bible Study
I Made Every Excuse Not to Go to Church. But God.
One invitation can be the whole reason someone finds their way home.
Maybe God’s been putting someone on your heart to invite, to church, to a conversation, to Him. And every time, you talk yourself out of it. You don’t need the perfect words for that invitation to matter. This study is about the excuse-making that almost kept me out of church, and what one simple “you should come” ended up doing to my entire life.
Need courage before you send it?
The CAST Prayer Guide
A simple way to pray through the nerves before you say the thing God’s been nudging you to say.
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Who has God been putting on your heart to invite, to church, to this podcast, to a real conversation about Him? What’s the excuse you keep using instead?
This week’s scripture
“Go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
“Go into all the world and preach the good news.”
Mark 16:15 (NIV)
“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.”
1 Peter 2:5 (NIV) · go deeper
Your progress
0 of 4 steps
You just planted a seed you might never see grow. That’s the job. ✨
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Ground yourself in His WordWhat does the passage actually say?
Right before Jesus left, He didn’t hand His followers a long list of rules or a theology exam to pass first. He gave them one job: go, make disciples. Mark 16:15 says it even plainer, go into all the world and preach the good news. That’s the whole assignment. Not “have all the answers first.” Just go.
Read Matthew 28:19-20 again. What has “sharing the good news” turned into in your mind: a simple invitation, or something bigger and scarier than Jesus actually asked for?
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Return to Him in prayerBring it honestly
I blamed my hesitation on social anxiety for a long time. It wasn’t that. It was fear, and underneath that, I was still believing in the wrong version of God, the one keeping score, the one to be scared of. Sometimes what looks like awkwardness is actually an old, inaccurate picture of who God is getting in the way.
What’s the real fear underneath your hesitation to invite someone, not the excuse you’d say out loud? Tell God the honest version here.
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Open yourself to His presenceTake your time here
1 Peter 2:5 says we, all of us, are living stones being built into a spiritual house. When you invite someone, you’re not filling a seat. You’re helping God build His house, one person at a time. And Romans 10 asks it simply: how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Someone. Not a pastor. Not a theologian. Sometimes the someone is just a mom holding a baby at the side of a pool.
Where has “I’m not qualified to talk about God” been an excuse for staying quiet? What would it look like to trust that showing up is enough?
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Walk it outOne small thing this week
Matthew 5:14 and 16 says you are the light of the world, so let your light shine. That job doesn’t stop when someone says no, or not yet, or nothing at all. You keep shining, you keep showing up, and you let God do what only He can do with the invitation you already gave.
Write the actual invitation you’ve been putting off, church, a conversation, a text. If you’re not ready to send it yet, write it here first so it’s ready when you are.
The heart of it
You don’t need the perfect words to be the invitation someone needed. Say yes to the nudge, and let God do what only He can do with it.
Carry this with you: “You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others.” (Matthew 5:14, 16)
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Peace of God for Stressed Out Moms is always there if you want to talk this one through with other moms.
— Ash
