To Whatever End Part 2

I have a heart for Jamaica, I have been on two mission trips to Highgate and have fallen in love with the community. I want to share a story with you today about one of the leaders of the church. Each night after we finished hosting the Vacation Bible School, our team would have a debrief. In that debrief, we would talk about our day, what was good, bad, and funny, but also have the time to pour into each other. We were sitting in the pews of the church, surrounded by the church leaders during our debrief one night when one of the ladies said, "I will never understand why you would leave the comfort of your home, and come to a place like this, for people like us." That hit me hard. This is The Great Commission; we do this because God calls us to. It broke my heart that a leader of a church didn't understand that.

I tell that story because I believe that it is so important to know what God says and to be active in His word as we are open to His calling. This doesn't mean that you have to know every answer or every scripture, but it does mean that we have to come prepared and ready. The Lord will equip each and every person He calls to say the things they need to in order to reach the hearts of those He is pulling us towards. Never will there be a moment where God doesn't speak through you, if you are open and available for Him to do so.

I was listening to a sermon once that I think said it really well. It is not about our abilities, but about our availability to God. If we are available to God and what He calls us to, He will always give us everything we need to accomplish them. 

We had a pretty large team, eighteen members, so for all of us to be working on a room add on was a lot. A group of us went out into the community on a prayer walk. I loved having the opportunity to go out and to meet so many people, to pray over them, and talk about what was going on in their lives. That is the heart of the gospel, being in community with each other. 

We passed by this house, and once we came a little closer, we asked if we could come down the hill. The man on the porch invited us down and we stood outside for a little while. He asked us what we were doing and why we were in Jamaica. We told him that we were on a mission trip, spreading the word that God loves you. We asked Him if he knew that God loves him, and he said, "Yes I do believe that." At that moment, it would have been easy to walk away saying, oh he already knows about Jesus, but what came next yielded the importance of staying. We asked the man if he had anything he wanted us to pray about and he said yes and pointed to his brother in the back. We all kind of looked at each other for a second, we asked if the man was sick, and immediately he spoke up saying that he wasn't sick. What he did say was that he didn't believe in what we were saying, he didn't believe in Jesus. He went on to explain that he was Islamic. Something I hadn't quite prepared for on the mission trip was my knowledge of other religions. 

I remember being at a loss for words. I didn't know what to say, or even really what the Islamic belief was. One of the people in our group, thankfully, did know and took time to ask him questions about his faith, and to point him to Jesus. We explained the gospel, and why it is so important that we have the Holy Trinity in our lives. We went back to the man the next day and got to talk to him again, diving further into the difference between the religions. While he may not have given his life over to the Lord, the Holy Spirit used us to plant seeds. I tell you this story to show the importance of knowledge from other religions. This was something I took away from the trip, something I wasn't expecting, but something very necessary. Not every person you talk to will have never heard the name of Jesus. Most people that you will come across have heard about Jesus, but they don't believe in Him, or they believe in another god. That is why it is so important to have knowledge, so that we can guide them to how Jesus is the only God who loves, the only God who forgives and the only God who wants a relationship with His people. Being available to what God is calling you to is crucial in our response to the Great Commission. Leaning into the opportunities God gives you will allow God to pour into and change lives.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of sprit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12

"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." - Hebrews 13:20-21