THE HEART OF JESUS: The Mission Driven Heart

The heart of Jesus is always on mission. He came with a purpose: to seek, to save, and to send. This wasn’t a side project; it was the focus of His life. And it’s the heartbeat of the Church today. The same Spirit that raised Christ now empowers us to reach the lost, heal the sick, cast out demons, and proclaim the Gospel. We are not called to be spectators in the bleachers, but in the game, on the frontlines, robbing Hell of its power and populating Heaven.

In the next section, we will focus on the Great Commission. Jesus said, “Go into all the world” He never said, “Go into all the church”. The call to action isn’t necessarily to become a missionary in Tanzania, but if He calls you to do that, go for it! The call to action is to realize that it’s quite difficult to want to share the Gospel in Tanzania if you haven’t even shared the Gospel with your own family or friends first.

Jesus’ final words to His disciples in Acts 1:8 He says, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. There was a process for how to evangelize and spread the Gospel: local, regional, national, then international.

Jesus modeled for us how to be a witness in action and in word. He did it in tandem. It’s not enough to just “live” the Gospel without words to match for fear of being “preachy”, because if we’re honest with each other, an atheist can look like a Christian in action too. Kindness, gentleness, patience, loving, peacefulness, goodness, faithfulness, joyfulness, and self-control are not exclusive to Christianity. We don’t have the patent on that. The difference is we know where it comes from. Our anchor is in the resurrected Savior that helps us. That’s why Peter instructs us to always be ready to give a reason for our hope that we have.

FOUNDATION PROMPTS:

• Are you living on mission or living in convenience?

• How can you get out of the comfort of the sidelines and into the game you’ve been equipped for and to?

• Who is God calling you to reach this week? Write down their name(s). Text them, call them.