The Heartbeat of God
The following blog post is adapted from my Heartbeat Sunday message at C3 Church Oxford Falls. Watch the message here.
The church is God’s answer for the world. His heart beats in the church. Through us His salvation reaches lost people.
God’s heartbeat is to have communities all across the earth. The church is the hope of the world - it is where the blessing of God dwells and where the devil is defeated!
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, ‘...I will build My church’. As the church prays, serves, gives, unites, agrees and believes together the power of God dwells amongst us.
Isaiah 60:1-4 shows us the heartbeat of God for the church. God weaves new threads into our tapestry of community. He writes new pages within our storybook. These verses show us how He wants to guide us:
Isaiah 60:1 - ‘Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.’
His resurrection becomes ours. We are a resurrection church. We are positive and focused on life.
Isaiah 60:2 - ‘For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.’
Jesus came to redeem us from deep darkness. We are not in great shape when we first accept Christ, but His glory transforms us. In Christ we are saved. We thrive when we are a committed member of the community of GOd.
Isaiah 60:3 - ‘The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.’
When the sun shines things can grow and thrive. People are attracted to the light of Christ in us.
Isaiah 60:4 - ‘Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you…’
We need to lift up our eyes to get fresh perspective. Get our eyes off ourselves and see over the wall of the church. Stirring up faith we see people coming to Christ, see the church thriving, see our businesses grow, and see God blessing our relationships and all we are engaged in.
A new thread for the C3 movement will be many different nationalities coming from overseas. God is bringing people to Australia to be reached by the church. We will be a multi-national and multi-racial Church. We must be welcoming and embracing every race, age, culture and nation.
Matthew 16:18 - 'Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.'
God is building His church on you. In this scripture, Jesus is saying to Peter that upon Peter He will build His church. He was telling Peter and everyone listening that it's not on processes or systems or programs or organization will He build His church. Jesus builds His church on people. As members together we serve, give, help and agree together so that Jesus can build and grow His church.
Isaiah 54:1-2 - 'Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not laboured with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. 'Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.’
When you do not feel like you have anything to sing about, sing. Switch on faith and believe. Sing for the future that is yet to be visible. Singing turns barrenness into birthing.
Stretch yourself and prepare to be enlarged. Push out, stretch out, and reach out. Have ‘long cords’ for people. Have patience and longsuffering with one another. Have robust and strong relationships.
We are an empowering church. We are a generous church. This is in our genetic code. Each and every C3 Church we plant and create carries this code. We pursue excellence of heart and spirit in all that we do.
Find your local C3 Church by visiting c3churchglobal.com.
