Called, Equipped, and Empowered

 

 

Gordon Robertson – President and CEO, CBN

There’s an interesting parallel between the Israelites building a tabernacle for God in the wilderness and CBN’s mission. The wilderness today is the world, where we are building tabernacles—one life at a time. We are telling people in other cultures and languages that they can be dwelling places of the Lord.

As Jesus commanded,

“This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” (Matthew 24:14, kjv)

That scripture is engraved over the door of CBN’s Studio Headquarters. When we dedicated that building in 1979, Billy Graham gave one of the most inspiring sermons I’ve ever heard. He said that for the first time in history, we have the technology to preach the Gospel to every tribe, every tongue, and every nation.

Whenever God calls people, He equips them for the task. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt; how could they build a beautiful tabernacle? Exodus 35:30-34 gives the answer:

“The Lord has called by name Bezalel … and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, … to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. And He has put in his heart the ability to teach.”

Torah scholars say it was a miracle for all of these different skillsets to be placed in one man—including the desire to teach.

While I was in Manila with CBN Asia, we had “the slash team.” This meant that one day you may run the camera, while the next day you may direct, or archive, or edit, etc. You did it all because we couldn’t afford to do it differently—and it became a badge of honor to be on the slash team.

A slogan I’ve adopted is, “When I’m willing to learn, a teacher will appear.” If we admit that we don’t know what we’re doing—but God does—we are ready to learn.

As Jesus was teaching the disciples, He modeled how to do what He taught. He doesn’t hold these gifts to Himself; He imparts them to us by His Spirit.

So pray about what the Lord wants you to do right now. Ask Him to equip you with His wisdom and understanding. And boldly pray that He enables us together to preach His glorious Gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation.