Digging Ditches

Greetings from the North Coast of the Dominican Republic! We’re starting a new series today called, “Digging Ditches,” and we’ll begin in 2 Kings 3.

This is a message that is really intended for those who have an entrepreneurial spirit. What is an entrepreneurial spirit? What do you think about when I say that word? I might ask you, “Are you an entrepreneur?” You may respond, “Oh no, I’m in ministry.” The word “entrepreneur,” by definition means, “One who takes responsibility, oversight, and risks involved with an endeavor or an enterprise.”

In other words, an entrepreneur is someone who is willing to take some oversight and risks. The similarities are striking between being in business and being in ministry. A lot of people think that they’re worlds apart, but they are not. The person who is in business basically has the same attitude and outlook as the person in full-time ministry. Even those who are missionaries are of an entrepreneurial spirit, and they’ve already proven it by taking the risk. So let’s not be confused thinking that only those in business are entrepreneurs.

Now, I believe this message will speak to all of us. Every person who has this type of mindset will be involved with what I call, “Digging Ditches.”

Our biblical account begins in 2 Kings 3:1.

  3 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother; for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³ Nevertheless he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.
⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheepbreeder, and he regularly paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams.

In other words, the King of Moab was a type of vassal king, and in that role, he was required to pay tribute to the King of Israel. He was not a ruling/reigning king in his own right. He was forced to pay tribute to Israel in return for not being utterly destroyed and wiped out. That pay-off, or bribe, was paid to the true ruler.

  ⁵ But it happened, when Ahab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
⁶ So King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ Then he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”

So I want to draw the picture and make it plain. The King of Moab declared that they were not going to pay tribute to Israel anymore. Historically (and for quite a length of time), no tribute was paid. They owed Israel a lucrative amount of tribute from the wool of these rams. In fact, this particular king of the Moabites raised the best sheep and rams. They were renowned for the quality of their wool, and the people were heralded for their sheep-breeding skills. They also had the best pastures for raising them.

The Moabites said, “We’re not going to pay tribute to Israel anymore.” So the King of Israel said, “Okay, if you’re not going to pay us our money, then we’re going to come after you.” Please note that the Kingdom of Israel at this point of history was divided in two. The two kingdoms were Israel and Judah. The King of Israel went to the King of Judah (Jehoshaphat), and he asked him, “Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said . . .

 “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”  ⁸ Then he said, “Which way shall we go up?”

Basically, the King of Israel was telling Jehoshaphat that there were two directions from which they could approach Moab. They could go around the Dead Sea to the north, which would have been a bit of an easier journey, or they could go the southern route that was more difficult, but it would have made the attack of Moab easier. The great fortress stood at the northern border of Moab, and that’s where the armies of Moab were logically situated. The Moabites never expected an attack from the south because of the terrain, as it was much rougher. Nobody in his or her right mind would attack from the south.

Jehoshaphat, drawing on his own logic, said, “We will take the southern route, and we’re going by the way of the wilderness of Edom. They were going to go through Moab to Edom (Edom and Moab were separated by a stream). So the King of Israel went with the King of Judah to approach the King of Edom. They had recruited the Edomites to fight with them.

There is one thing that will bring two enemies together: a common enemy. Many covenants have been established upon the commonality of an adversary. We may have two people groups who hate each other, but they will join in an alliance in order to go after a common enemy. So, they recruited the King of Edom and marched on that roundabout route for seven days. We see that it was very circuitous. There was no water for the army or the animals that followed them.

  ¹⁰ And the king of Israel said, “Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

So the immediate response to the King of Israel was, “God has brought us together so we could all die together.” Isn’t that amazing how some people’s inclination is towards the negative? “We’re all gonna die.” Not only was he making the claim that they were all going to die, but he also blamed God. “God did this to us. He brought us together so we could die of thirst together.”

It’s amazing how often God’s people blame Him for adversity in their lives. They’re saying, “God did this,” when in reality, God was not even consulted. Up to this point, nobody had even asked God what He thought about the whole plan.

Now we have built our premise for the continuation of this series, “Digging Ditches.” Vickie and I pray for those of you who receive these emails! May God bless you mightily in all of your endeavors.

Grace and peace,
pg

Light 'Em Up! (Fox Tales, Part 4)

We wrapped up the last blog referring to Luke 19:13 wherein it speaks of the ten servants/stewards. The surrounding passage recounts the master telling his servants, “Occupy until I return.” We’re going to pick up right at that same point today.  

 

“Occupy” doesn’t mean that I’ll just take up some space and breathe some free air. It means that I’m supposed to do something. We’re not called to simply take up space. We’ve been sent here to set some fields on fire! Now, we have to have some fire before we can spread some fire!

 

For example, let’s just say it was my birthday, and Ms. Alexandra made me a birthday cake, as we all know that she bakes, right? You would proceed to light sixty birthday candles. I know many of you would wonder why we would need that many. Now let me ask you this: Are you going to take a match and light just one candle at a time, or are you going to light one candle and use that same candle to light others?

 

I have news for us today. We are those candles! God has lit us on fire so we can light other candles because there’s a great big birthday cake with a whole lot of candles that need to be ignited! It ought to be that we are so fired up that when our lives barely touch anything around us that it automatically blazes as well!

 

All it takes is simply one life touching another, one candle igniting another! God has sent us here to be torches and to set the world ablaze. Actually, that word, “blaze” comes from the Old English, and it was the word for “torch.” So God wants us to get fired up! “To get fired up” speaks of passion. Passion will fire you up, and sacrifice will depress you. Some of y’all think that you’re here on the earth to sacrifice. God didn’t call you here to sacrifice; He called you here to be obedient!

 

So get passionate about being obedient to God and that passion will transform into some fire, and it will bring life to those who are sick and dying all around us. God wants to set us on fire! He wants to see us burn with passion. Some of us need some fresh fiyah!

 

Hallelujah. God has sent us here to take care of business on His behalf . . . to advance the Kingdom of Christ. In order to do that, we’re going to have to be driven by passion, not simply motivated by a sense of sacrifice. I understand sacrifice, I do. When I spent five years in Haiti, people would come down from the States to visit or do some mission work. I lived very, very, very humbly back then. I was broker than broke. People would think I was suffering for Jesus because I was traveling on top of charcoal trucks or riding on tap taps everywhere I went. You know, even then, I never saw it as sacrifice. I was just doing what God called me to do. Come on, somebody! We should always consider it a privilege to serve the living God.

 

Do you know that out of six billion people in the world, He has called you to your specific mission? I would often tell my sons, “Do you know how few people in the world get to do what we’re doing right now?” In regard to my forty-year-old son, we’ve been through some stuff together—in ministry—in life. He’s always been by my side, during the hard times and many of the good times. So often I would say to him, “Josh, do you know how many people get to do what we’re doing right here, sleeping in this jungle? Do you know how many people get to sleep on a mat, in a jungle in Thailand, eating stuff that we don’t even know what it is? Praise God! Isn’t this fun?”

 

I’m going to close here with this simple message. Whatever it is that God has called you to do and be, simply go for it! The passion that you have burning on the inside of you WILL cause others to combust around you as a result.

 

This is the end of the Fox Tales series. I pray it’s been of value to you and that the light in you will burn so bright that you won’t even be able to control or contain all the fields that catch ablaze for God’s glory!

 

Grace and peace,

pg