By Charissa Veal
CLEVELAND, Ga., (TMNews) – Dr. J. Robert White, Executive Director of the Georgia Baptist Convention, encouraged students to allow their love for Christ to rekindle their hearts for missions in Truett-McConnell’s weekly chapel service, April 16.
Reading Luke 24:13-49, White shared the ‘Road to Emmaus’ story and pointed out four distinct heart conditions which the two disciples had as they journeyed from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The first condition was heartbreak, demonstrated in verse 21. “Their hearts were breaking because they didn’t think they had a redeemer anymore,” White said. “My heart is breaking for the millions of people in Georgia who are walking in darkness and need to see the great light of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Speaking directly to the hearts of the students, White asked: “[I]s your heart breaking? If our heart is not breaking for the lost who are in Georgia today…there is something wrong with the passion of our hearts as believers,” he said. “Our greatest desire should be that everyone who does not have a redeemer would come to know the Redeemer that we love – Jesus Christ – as our Savior and Lord.”
“It’s a fruitless journey if our hearts aren’t breaking for people who are walking in darkness,” White added.
Citing the second condition, White shared how our hearts ought to burn with passion. “We don’t have the right to cool off. No one has done for us what Jesus has done for us, and we should never ever get over it,” White said. “Our hearts should burn within us with a great passion to declare the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
White called the third condition heart-joy. “[I]f you remember the heartbreak of not having a Redeemer and then the wonderful heartburn of having a Savior, you ought to also be able to put together what great joy comes in pouring yourself out for the Savior—giving of your possessions, giving of your life, going out in service to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.”.
White concluded with the fourth of the heart conditions: Heart-mission. This condition was demonstrated when Jesus sent out the disciples to spread the gospel, starting in Jerusalem.
“God has called us as believers to be passionate missionaries for Him in our Jerusalem and in our Judea and in our Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, and we ought to be about it with all of the enthusiasm that we can muster in our hearts as we serve the Lord with gladness.”
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Charissa is a senior English major and freelance writer for TMC.
Photo/Adam Roark
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