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"Wise Sheep Among the Wolves"
All Christian disciples have one thing in common: as they carry the
gospel across the ocean and across the street, persecution will
become the norm for those who choose to follow Jesus. How believers
respond in the face of persecution reveals everything about their
level of faith and obedience.
"The Insanity of Obedience" is a bold challenge to global
discipleship. Nik Ripken exposes the danger of safe Christianity
and calls readers to something greater. "The Insanity of Obedience"
challenges Christians in the same, provocative way that Jesus did.
This book dares you--and prepares you--to cross the street and the
oceans with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Some of Jesus' instructions sound uncomfortable and are potentially
dangerous. We may be initially encouraged by His declaration, "I am
sending you out." But how are we to respond when He then tells us
that He is sending us out "like sheep among wolves"?
In light of the words of Jesus, how can modern day believers rest
comfortably in the status quo? How can we embrace casual faith in
light of the radical commands of Jesus which are anything but
casual? Ripken brings decades of ministry experience in some of the
most persecuted areas of the world to bear on our understanding of
faith in Jesus. "The Insanity of Obedience" is a call to roll up
your sleeves . . . and to follow and partner with Jesus in the
toughest places on this planet.
"We have the high privilege of answering Jesus' call to go," Ripken
says. "But let us be clear about this: we go on His terms, not
ours. If we go at all, we go as sheep among wolves."
Jesus gives us Himself. And He gives us the tools necessary for
those who dare to journey with Him.
"The Insanity of God" is the personal and lifelong journey of an
ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on
just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would
be anything but. After spending over six hard years doing relief
work in Somalia, and experiencing life where it looked like God had
turned away completely and He was clueless about the tragedies of
life, the couple had a crisis of faith and left Africa asking God,
"Does the gospel work anywhere when it is really a hard place? It
sure didn't work in Somalia.
Nik recalls that, "God had always been so real to me, to Ruth, and
to our boys. But was He enough, for the utter weariness of soul I
experienced at that time, in that place, under those
circumstances?" It is a question that many have asked and one that,
if answered, can lead us to a whole new world of faith.
How does faith survive, let alone flourish in a place like the
Middle East? How can Good truly overcome such evil? How do you
maintain hope when all is darkness around you? How can we say
"greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world" when it
may not be visibly true in that place at that time? How does anyone
live an abundant, victorious Christian life in our world's toughest
places? Can Christianity even work outside of Western, dressed-up,
ordered nations? If so, how?
"The Insanity of God" tells a story--a remarkable and unique story
to be sure, yet at heart a very human story--of the Ripkens' own
spiritual and emotional odyssey. The gripping, narrative account of
a personal pilgrimage into some of the toughest places on earth,
combined with sobering and insightful stories of the remarkable
people of faith Nik and Ruth encountered on their journeys, will
serve as a powerful course of revelation, growth, and challenge for
anyone who wants to know whether God truly is enough.
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