Tag: Lord of All – Kristian Stanfill

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. ¹⁷ But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. ¹⁸ You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me.^{[e] 19}When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. ²⁰ For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” v.16-20

Now let me help you understand some things here. Sheep are among the most helpless of all domesticated animals. They are also some of the most dumb and senseless animals on the planet.  Harmless noises can send them into a frenzy, and when they face danger, they have no defense mechanism.  All they can do is run, and unfortunately they are slow runners. So, the dumbest thing a sheep can do is to wander into a pack of wolves.

Basically, Jesus is telling His disciples to go into the danger! We don’t think like this. We say things like, “The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.” We think, If it’s dangerous, God must not be in it. If it’s risky, if it’s unsafe, if it’s costly, it must not be God’s will.

But what if these factors are actually the criteria by which we determine something is God’s Will? What if we began to look at the design of God as the most dangerous option before us? What if the center of God’s will is in reality the most unsafe place for us to be?

You see the real question is this: Are we willing, like the first disciples were, to be the first to go into danger and possibly even die there in order that those who come behind us might experience the fruit of our sacrifice? What if such sacrifice is exactly what it takes for many of the unreached people in the world who are presently hostile to the gospel to one day surrender their hearts to Jesus?

Today, will you go wherever Jesus tells you to go?