We are in need of some troublemakers; there's not enough of them around. A troublemaker is a person who either consciously or unconsciously causes trouble everywhere they go.
There is just something about them. Their presence shows up even before they do.
There is an air of expectancy when they are around. There's excitement!
You could never, and would never describe them as boring or just so-so,
They are what we mentioned last week in the Vision Poem; dangerously attractive to those people around them. You could even describe them as somewhat unsafe.
Why?
Because they trouble the people around them;
By definition – they agitate them, worry them and even disturb them mentally or spiritually.
They cause a physical reaction in those people that they are around, there's a tension, even bring upon the fight or flight reflex, they confuse their brains and their reactions – and they cause people to feel unbalanced and unsure of themselves and they don't know where it is that they are going.
They exhaust and inconvenience the people that they are around; never about making it easy on them. But they are NEVER BORING. Never dull, never ever the same old, same old.
Man, give me a troublemaker!
They are attractive. They are the troublemakers, the bad boys or bad girls.
And we like them…And God likes them too.
Take a look at Saul who was later named Paul. Here was a man who had passion and you couldn't doubt it…. He was out to kill Christians; he would chase them down and hound them to death… There's no better prospect for God to want to have on His team; because if he could want to kill them with such passion – then he could also want to save them with such passion.
There are some troublemakers out there right now walking the streets in our cities that God can't wait to get His hands on. They have chutzpa, a drive, a willingness to put themselves out – they stay up late and get up early just to wreak havoc. They take chances and they roll the dice; and they gamble it all away at the drop of a hat. And people flock to their sides……Man, there's no better person to have on our side.
Paul began using his powers for good and not evil and he accomplished many amazing things for the Kingdom of God.
He wasn't milk toast, what that means is that he wasn't easily dominated; he wasn't' mild or ineffectual; he wasn't namby-pamby or wishy-washy. He was a bad boy. He was willing to make a few if not a lot of enemies. He didn't care if people liked him, and he didn't care if they hated him; and when he did care he did what he could to put that part of himself to death because he knew that being liked by men would be his undoing…. In Acts 17:6 in the Message the bible says Paul and Silas were described as those who were out to destroy the world and there was a great fear of them because here they were now in their neck of the woods and they were attacking everything that they all held dear.
Paul and Silas were dangerous; they were changing things and people hated change then just as much as they do now. They were upsetting the applecart. They were making people's lives all topsy-turvy and off kilter. They caused people to worry.
Last night Shelby and I were watching an episode of the Bachelorette… and this really nice looking – actually quite attractive - science teacher was on a date with the girl Deanna but even though he had the looks; it was soon pretty evident that it wasn't going to be enough; he was just a little too safe for her – There wasn't a sense of not knowing what to expect while they were together, there was not enough excitement – so she sent him packing.
There is the saying that nice guys finish last and I hate to break it to you nice guys out there but there is some truth in it; because you're not causing enough action, there won't be a reaction.
This guy was nice ….. But for him and for this romance – it was his kiss of death.
People aren't moved by niceness. If it worked corporations would have jumped on it.
Remember a few weeks back, if you stayed for the theater and watched Andy Griffith; they were trying to set up Gomer with a date that wasn't very pretty… and Andy and Barney kept describing her over and over to him as nice.
Sometimes…being nice is NOT ENOUGH. As a follower with our friends who aren't followers – we fool ourselves with the notion that if we are just nice enough that they will surely want what we have and we waste a lot of time waiting for a change and then all of a sudden a troublemaker of the world who is exciting and dangerous shows up and steals them away.
You can't change your friends by osmosis; just hanging out with them all the time will not make them become a follower. It has to be done with their decision. And for a person to make a decision there has to be a conversation…. But sometimes we can talk, talk, and talk but still say nothing. We need to ask ourselves if what we are showing them and what we are saying to them is even eliciting a response. Action causes reaction. With Paul and Silas those troublemakers changed the world. It has been prophesied again and again that the youth in Chosen Youth Ministries were going to be world changers. I believe that with all my heart. But it won't happen unless we become a troublemaker.
To be a troublemaker – you have to have integrity.
Paul had integrity: When he wasn't following Jesus – he was the best Christian hater around those parts. And when he became a follower – he showed great integrity to save them with that same deep passion inside of him. Integrity is a steadfast adherence to a strict code. Integrity can be dangerous – in this world where people throw around their so called Christianity; it can be unsettling to come face to face with someone who doesn't compromise and throw it all away. Paul was like that – he was dangerous!
D.L. Moody said that you can tell a person's character by what he or she does in the dark.
The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would NEVER be found out.
Lack of integrity = milk toast Christian. We don't seem to care or even know what integrity means anymore. It means the state of being unimpaired, having a soundness or wholeness.
A lot of Christians aren't dangerously attractive because they have NO INTEGRITY.
To be a troublemaker you also have to be intense.
Paul was intense. He caused a response wherever he went….Paul and Silas intensely believed this intense message. It was life and death and they believed it. I want to be intense…I choose to be. There used to be a lot of preachers way back who were mocked because of their fire and brimstone kind of preaching…telling people that they need to accept Jesus into their heart and turn from their sins to be saved and I choose to do the same. I'd rather it be intense for you today and have you either accept it or deny it than I would have you be intensely hot forever and a day. I intensely believe that the message of Jesus; Him dying for your sins and coming back to life and saving your souls is all that matters.
I am drawn to intense people. I love troublemakers….They challenge me, they may anger me from time to time BUT they definitely elicit a response. They sharpen me and frustrate me and they make you think about every decision that I make and how it will affect my outcome.
Too many people in churches today have no intensity; and the lack of a response causes NO ONE to want to visit. I want to be intense; I'd rather be labeled a train wreck because no one misses that. I'd much rather be a bad girl for the good cause, than a good girl for a bad cause. I choose to be dangerous. There are too many "happy where they are" Christians in our churches today. They are too cowardly and weak to speak up. They don't get involved in controversial topics. They don't take a stand politically. They are afraid to make waves; because if they do, then they won't be liked and then people would label them as troublemakers.
Troublemakers do all these things; because they get involved.
In chapter 17 of Acts the people of Thessalonica were unhappy with Paul and Silas being there – because they were telling the Jews, and the others who lived there that this Jesus was the Messiah that everyone was looking for. He spoke up.
How many times have you chosen to stay silent? He was sharing the Jesus who is the answer to all life's problems. Because Paul was such a troublemaker who demanded a response from the people that he came into contact with – others too became troublemakers. In fact in Acts 17:11 it's said that "they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Our job is to reproduce more troublemakers.
This is a war and this is a call to arms….My hope is that you are or will become a troublemaker and join with me to work in His army. But it's going to cost you something to be a troublemaker – to be one you have to be willing to upset your friends; to throw them off, and shake up their world. That's hard to take for some of you. What??? Oh, you're just their friend and you aren't here to judge them or to try to convert them.
To con·vert
Means to bring over from one belief, view, or party to another.
Really????
That's interesting because I want you to understand that your friends are judging you and they are most definitely trying to convert you. So, either you're a liar and you are trying to get them saved or you are just an ineffective milk toast Christian who is afraid to put a target on your back and not be liked - because you didn't grasp the battle cry.
Because Troublemakers, bad boys and girls – they pursue others.
The bad boys and girls tend to be more assertive than nice guys when it comes to a dating relationship. They seek out those they are interested in…they work hard at it.
And as far as women go… they WANT to have a man pursue them; it's appealing. It's breathless and exciting and it keeps it from going stale. Women look for and prefer men who seem to have purpose in life, and speak with knowledge and passionate experience. Nice guys need to learn a lesson from the bad boys… they need to allow the things that they are excited about to come out with emotion and passion – because it's really attractive. Bad boys get a lot of attention; because they pursue the girls around them that they like. They don't sit back and wait for things to happen on their own.
Christian (troublemakers) need to pursue their friends with the same purpose in their lives.
We are not allowed the privilege of keeping the seed that was planted inside our hearts… it's up to us to grow it and produce fruit and speak up, tell, and change others. Our message if we truly do believe it should make their hearts beat faster and it should raise their blood pressure, and stir them up! If you are truly saved that is why you are saved NOW. Let me end with Acts 22:14 in the NLT the God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. You are to take His message EVERYWHERE, telling the whole world what you have seen and heard. And now, why delay? Get up and be baptized and have your sins washed away, calling on the name of the Lord.
Go out and be a troublemaker.
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