The Heartbeat of the Church

by Patricia Broyles

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. Luke 2:17

As a Christian the great commission is not an option. If you are staying close to home or going overseas, the Lord has already given the commandment. To go and tell.

You may ask how can I be a missionary? “I don’t fit the description”.

You may find that you don’t have much of the ability that others have.

You may notice that you have difficulty to learn a new language.

Maybe you are shy and your personality seems not to match.

Maybe your financial ability isn’t the greatest.

You may not have all the Bible college courses you think you need.

You may think that you don’t have the physical ability.

You may be just an average person that lives a simple life.

Or you may be a very influential figure and don’t have “time to lose”.

You may have a remarkable career, one you worked very hard to achieve.

These can be ways of excusing ourselves from this great mission we have as Christians.

Near home or far away, we ought to do more for the cause of Christ. There are still billions that never had a chance to hear the Gospel and are on a fast track towards hell.

The perfect Lamb of God has been sacrificed. It is finished. The tomb is empty. The ransom is paid. Now the world needs to know.

I believe the Lord is looking for:

1- Our availability to God’s will.

Are you available?

Life comes fast and our agenda easily becomes full and when we make ourselves available for one thing we are saying “no” to another. We make ourselves available for many things, people and tasks along our life. We make time for a coffee with a friend. We make a way of fitting one more class in our schedule, we make ourselves available to work, and even to relax.

The question is: are you available to God’s will for you?

If He wants you to leave your comfort zone and go, will you go?

We tend to start on the other end, like “I don’t believe the Lord wants me to go”, but how about give first the “go” a chance in God’s hands?

We all have dreams and plans. Many of us work hard towards it, but are they the Lord’s plan for you and me? Many times we mistakenly think that if this is a “good” thing to do and I like it, so it is God’s plan for me.

Have you ever been available for God to send you?

Be ready and be flexible. That means your plans aren’t yours and that if the Lord wants to change the plans you have, you should be ready: ready to leave, ready to pray, ready to give, ready to go.

2- Dependability in God.

If He brought you to it, don’t you think He will bring you through it?

He is capable. Not us. So with Him we can.

He is faithful. Not us. So trust His promises.

He is strong. Not us. So He will give us strength.

He is omniscient. Not us. So seek His wisdom.

He is all powerful. Not us. So with Him we are more than conquers.

He is gracious. Not us. So His grace will meet our needs.

He is love. Not us. So He will never change.

Like Paul, we too are debtors so it is not an option for this generation to fail the task of spreading the Gospel through the world in this generation. People on the path to hell cannot afford that we drop the baton. The Lord is the source, and provision of all our needs. By ourselves we can’t do anything. So our job here is to be available and then depend totally on Him. By His power, with His grace and in His name.

When we really want something we put effort into it, we work hard towards it and we spend time and money on it. We invest. We make ourselves available for anything necessary to accomplish that. We make arrangements. We take the risk. We sacrifice. The heartbeat of the Church is the mission of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ among all nations and all creatures. So the vision is to not just pray and support missions but also, simultaneously, to produce in each local church missionaries to go.

A few can do some, a bunch can do more, but if “all are in” we can accomplish the task for His Glory.

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Acts 4:20.