Night Whispers - Dynamite For The Darkness: May | 29 | Dragon’s Den and The Shark Tank

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Dragon’s Den and The Shark Tank

Romans 15:20-27
And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, but as it is written: "To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand." For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

The church is not proactive enough. Mostly its members are ‘nesters’, nice people happy for some comfort and some empathy and willing to pay for Pastors to make that state of affairs continue. The proactive mission minded can still be sent away. Out of sight, out of mind and one less pain in the backside for the rest of us.

The church, however, for it to grow, for it to expand its borders, widen its tent pegs, must have proactive people pushing things forward. These are spiritual entrepreneurs, ‘chancers’, Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets of the truest kind. Without these people, these proactive gifts of Christ’s spiritual entrepreneurs the church is dead. Safe, but dead. I speak to these people today.

Now, in considering the forgotten and neglected entrepreneurial and proactive side of the Christian worker, it was Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission who said "It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home." In other words, the general command and great commission to ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel’ has been given to the church. We must therefore either find a greater reason not ‘to go and do this’ or find a million other ways in which we can obey this command. This means we must go and find ways to go.

Now, some would charge people like this with presumption rather than faith, with self-glory rather than God’s glory, with building their own kingdom rather than God’s kingdom and a maybe a few other accusations besides. Sometimes they are correct, for I have observed that there is not a fine line between these things, but rather, faith and presumption overlap and intertwine, as does self-glory and God’s glory, as does personal kingdom building and God’s Kingdom building. Spiritual pro-activeness and spiritual entrepreneurship, obeying God’s commands to go, is a demanding and messy affair. But rather, the mess and better the great demands, than to deny the command and to die in comfort.

I have observed that for the truly proactive Christian, the hyper active Christian, approaching God sometimes feels like entering the popular T.V. program’s ‘pitching scenario’ in ‘Dragon’s Den’ or ‘The Shark Tank’ and making a presentation to get some backing and some helpful support for the project to begin and successfully complete. Well, I have news for you. Often times, it is just like that.

I wonder if our pitching to God is a pleasurable experience for Him. I think it is. For better an obedient son with a bag of ideas than the indolent and the silently insolent, sat smiling and waiting for the call they know will never come. Oh and yes, listen up my friends, when God says “I’m out”, you had better go find another project. Meanwhile, press on brave hearts, press on.

Listen:- “it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. Acts 15:25-27

Pray: - Father, let us always bring our ‘it seemed good to us’ to You! That you might vlidates the throughts and intents of our heart. Train our arms for war and wings our arrows for flights in the direction of Your desires that You would be glorified, Your purposes fulfilled and that we would be happy in You. Amen and amen!