To Be a Risk-Taker

July 7, 2023

When we look at the great men and women of church history, the missionaries, leaders, and Bible heroes who risked it all for the gospel, we can’t help but feel inspired. Consider Jim and Elisabeth Elliot who moved to South America to share the gospel with a dangerous tribe, the Waodani. Jim was almost immediately killed, speared through the heart, and yet Elisabeth returned after his death to offer forgiveness and a chance at salvation.

For most of us, this is a bravery we can not imagine. We look to Queen Esther approaching the King and asking for mercy on behalf of her people, knowing full well it could quickly result in her death. Even Jonah who initially ran from God and the danger that could come with what He had asked of him, ended up choosing obedience and facing the people of Nineveh head on.

Corrie Ten Boom chose to offer forgiveness in the face of unspeakable atrocities. Daniel refused to turn his back on the Lord and continued praying to Him despite the threat of the lion’s den. The list goes on and on of brave, risk-takers for Jesus.

Dangerous Obedience

But are these men and women meant to be the incredible exception for us all to applaud or the standard by which we should expect to live? Do they happen to just be superhuman and in a completely different category than the rest of us? Here at Global Catalytic Ministries we consider living in dangerous obedience to be a given from which the greatest fruit of our lives will flow.

We do not live recklessly simply for recklessness’s sake, risking our lives with no rhyme, reason, or wisdom involved. But we must always be prepared to obey whatever the cost, considering our lives, our safety, our comfort, our preferences worth nothing.

A Biblical Command

There is Biblical precedence. Apart from the countless examples of men and women risking it all for Jesus in Biblical history, we find the heart posture behind that bravery to be a Biblical command. After all, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul (Mark 8:36)? He hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, but of love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Therefore, we must join with Paul, counting all we had as loss for the sake of knowing Christ, and introducing others to knowing Him as well (Phil 3:8).

Eternal Safety

So why is it that so few of us are willing to give it all? Why do we consider those who do to be some form of super Christian, giving above and beyond what is required? Could it be because we have forgotten the greatest truth: we are safe and secure in the hands of the Father for all eternity.

Nothing can happen to our earthly flesh that can ever remove us from His covering (Romans 8:38-39). “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

No Matter the Cost

Do we not remember that we are in the middle of a war? A war in which we are key players, fighting for the eternal souls of those in a dead and dying world. When we consider what’s at stake for those around us and the ultimate safety we know because of Jesus, we can not look away from the needs of the world, no matter the cost.

This is why here at GCM we consider ourselves to be faith filled, multiplying, obedient, risk-takers for Jesus. We won’t insult God with small and safe living. Will you join us?

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We believe the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are inspired by God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct. (2 Timothy 3:15-17, 1 Peter 1:21)

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent who has revealed Himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Luke 3:22)

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us, in His present rule as Head of the Church, and in His personal return in power and glory. (Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:31)

We believe in the creation of mankind in God’s image, and the fall of man, resulting in universal guilt and total depravity; and the necessity, therefore, of redemption and restoration; that all men and women are lost spiritually and face the judgment of God, that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for regeneration by the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:17)

We believe salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God, according to the hope of eternal life. (Luke 24:47, John 3:3)

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life in the presence of our Lord, and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment. (Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43-48)

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and that all true believers are members of His body, the Church, which has the duty to preach the Gospel to every person. (Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 2:22)

We believe that we must dedicate ourselves to prayer, to the service of our Lord, to His authority over our lives, and to the ministry of teaching, preaching, the prophetic, the apostolic, and evangelism. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

We believe in upholding the ordinances of the church of water baptism and holy communion.

The ordinance of baptism by immersion is commanded by the Scriptures. All who repent and believe in Christ as Savior and Lord are to be baptized. Thus, they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life. (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, Acts 10:47,48, Romans 6:4)

The Lord’s Supper, consisting of the elements—bread and the fruit of the vine—, is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4), a memorial of His suffering and death (1 Corinthians 11:26), and a prophecy of His second coming (1 Corinthians 11:26), and is enjoined on all believers “till He comes!”