Promoters and Exporters!
Back in my club days there were people who used to take flyers and pass them out on the streets, in parking lots, record stores, wherever in order to promote their particular nightclub. Club owners realized the power of promotion, so they would pay these people to get the word out! Similarly, and on a larger scale, corporations realize that certain products they manufacture will have international appeal and so these goods are exported world wide. Whether by plane, boat or train...in order to make the most amount of money and spread their brand name and fame globally, they will seek to export their products far and wide!
Promoters and exporters...both of them recognizing that some things are too good to keep to themselves! Some things need to be shared, need to be taken, need to be spread to others. And, the same is true of the Word of God!
While the motive of the former is greed and personal fame...the motive of the latter is love-filled obedience to God, love for others, and the desire to see Jesus' fame spread throughout the nations! But, promoters and exporters are needed for the Word of God to spread! And, this is what we find happening in Acts 12:24. "Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers."
So, the result of the early disciples seeing themselves as promoters and exporters, and spreading the Word of God wherever they went was that many people believed the Gospel! Many people, once having heard, also felt like this Great News of peace with God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, was too good to pass up! They wanted Him too! So, as God's people responded to their own salvation with a "promoter/exporter" mindset, they shared the Good News with others and Christianity spread like wildfire!
But, what if the early church saw their role as that of "spectator and consumer" rather than "promoter and exporter"? Would the Word of God have continued to spread with many new believers, as a result? NO WAY! And, that's exactly why the church is not growing in the West today! Who do you know that is actively "promoting and exporting" the Word of God? Pastors, missionaries, church leaders...ok. But, what about the Body of Christ? Do we know many people in the Body (in general) who are functioning practically as "promoters and exporters"? Wherever we do, we will find the church growing as God produces many new believers! This is the key to seeing the church of God expanding among us and all over the world (even in hard places). The church (as a whole) needs to see themselves as "promoters and exporters" rather than "spectators and consumers".
Where do you find yourself today? Are you and i content to just receive, or do we see that it is our calling to spread the Word of God to others today? What might it look like if the whole church saw themselves as "promoters and exporters" of the Word of God? What could God do as His people spread His Word to that extent?
I think that we have been given the answer already..."There will be many new believers!"
Created over 1 year ago
