A Revolution Without A Pulpit
The Bible is full of people who had no official pulpit. No positional authority, some were unsightly, bad orators, and some were what we would consider today completely uneducated. In fact, in most of the cases, we would probably consider them as individuals we would overlook. We certainly wouldn’t immediately place them in a position of influence or leadership.
The Bible also has a common theme. Those people were the ones God used to start a revolution. Sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.
Adam and Eve started a revolution by disobeying God. It radically changed their relationship with God and their environment.
Noah started a revolution by obeying the calling of the Lord and built an ark that would drastically change the environment of all humanity during his time.
Abraham through obedience started a revolution by which all of the Tribes of Israel were born.
Moses well we all know about Moses. A man who was considered a poor orator, a man who ran away to the wilderness is now credited with some of the greatest testimonies of the Hebrew people.
How about some you may not know as well.
Jabez- Chronicles 4 tells us that Jabez called on God to enlarge his borders and that he would be kept from pain and God granted His prayer.
King Josiah- He started his reign as King at the age of 8 and 2 Kings tells us that he did what was right by the Lord. Upon the High Priest finding the Book of the Law King Josiah realized how much Israel had disobeyed God and he tore his clothes and pleaded for the Lord to have mercy upon Israel. He then began to read the Law aloud publicly and made a covenant with God and started a revolution in His time throughout Israel. How many of us would listen to someone who is 8?
Sometimes we forget that revolutions start with extraordinary people who appear ordinary. Sometimes we forget the calling comes during the chaos.
I want to tell you a story about a slave in 1862. His name was Robert Smalls. He was a wheelman aboard a Confederate steamer. When his white crew took an unauthorized shore leave he took control of the Steamer and picked up his family who was also slaves and steamed towards a Union Naval ship. Defying Confederate gunships he was able to free many slaves and went on to purchase his former slave Master’s home and served several terms as a US House of Representative member.
Let us not forget that many of the Owners of slaves were Bible professing believers in Jesus. Let us not forget that many who have professed to believe in the Bible and Jesus as the Messiah have done unspeakable things to other human beings throughout history. We need to own the fact that other believers have done horrible things in the name of the God and Messiah we serve. We must strive to never replicate that behavior ever.
The revolution those people started was not a revolution that honored God. Yet the revolution of the people who were destroyed during that time did. To think that Jews could trust another German after the Holocaust is revolutionary. To think that African-Americans could profess God and Jesus now after the atrocities that occurred to their families by believers is revolutionary.
To think that Christians in the Middle East would profess Jesus as Messiah minutes before watching their families, friends, and ultimately themselves be killed.
That is revolutionary. No pulpit, no official positional authority. So what are you going to do?
Each of us interacts with hundreds of people weekly. Whether through physical, digital, or other means. What revolution is our walk inspiring? What testimony are you sharing?
If you want to extraordinary you can’t continue to walk in the ordinary.
Live’s healed, hope found, not in the past, not in the future but here and now. For there is one mediator between God and man. The son. Our salvation does not come by works, but by believing having Faith in a God who saves.
St. Francis is credited with a fairly well-known quote.
Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.
The problem is he never said it. This quote is often used to promote a lifestyle first and words
second approach.
The Apostle Paul stated in Romans 10:
1Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”a6But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ”b (that is, to bring Christ down) 7“or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ”c (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”d that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”e 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”f
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”g
Each one of us has the power to start a revolution. To utterly change the culture and society around us. You don’t need a pulpit. Your life is your pulpit, your words are your pulpit. God has sent you into the word to preach Messiah. What are you going to do? What life changes do you need to make so that others may join you in revolutionizing their lives? Radically changing how they approach God, their work, their marriages, their church.
We have too many ordinary ministries, believers, dying people, starving people, and neglected people to remain ordinary.
It’s time for you to spark a revolution of your heart and stop waiting on a pulpit.