Baptist City Blog

When Faith Steps In

Luke 17:14

"And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed."

On the final journey to Jerusalem before the crucifixion, Jesus stopped in a village to hold a meeting. When He entered the village, there were ten lepers who met Him in hopes that He could heal them. Can you imagine the hope these men had? Their health condemned them to death. Without Jesus' intervention, they would live the remainder of their lives in loneliness as they could not come into contact with the general population. However, when Jesus passed by, they asked Him to have mercy upon them and heal them. Jesus responded by saying, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests." I can only imagine these men were slightly disappointed because Jesus did not immediately heal them. Yet, they trusted His Word and went to see the priests. However, as they went, they were healed. It was when their faith stepped in that they were cleansed.

The key element of the Christian life is faith. The Christian life is started by faith, for you cannot get saved without it. Likewise, God says in Hebrews 11:6 that you cannot please Him without faith. In the story from the verse above, you will find the progression of what is needed for faith to step in.

First, there must be a need. Verse 12 shows us that the leprosy these men had created a need. Their need was to be healed from this awful disease. Do you find an area in your life where you have a need? Maybe your need is for God to step in and heal you of your sickness. Maybe your need is a financial need. Definitely there is a need for a world to be saved from their sin. No matter who you are, there is a need for your faith. That need is that there are people who are dying and going to Hell who are in need of Jesus passing their way. You are the only one who can bring Jesus to them.

Second, for faith to step in there must be a command from God to you. The verse above shows us that God commanded these ten lepers to go to the priests. This command didn't really make sense, for they were only supposed to go show themselves to the priests if they were healed. When Jesus commanded them to go, they still had leprosy. Christian, God's command doesn't always make sense, but our job is not to make sense of God's commands, our job is to obey His commands. If you wait to understand the commands of God, then you will never see the miracles of God.

Years ago it didn't make sense when God commanded me to go into full-time evangelism. I was twenty-one years of age and only had four meetings booked. However, I knew that God called me to be an evangelist, and I also knew that I must step out by faith to have God's blessings on my ministry. I am so thankful that I didn't wait to understand God's command, for if I did I would still be waiting to go into evangelism. You cannot wait for God's commands to make sense, you just need to obey God with whatever He commands you to do.

Third, for faith to step in it takes action. Action is the key to faith. Action is faith stepping in. Notice that these men were healed "as they went." A person without action is a person without faith. Christian, God will never work in your life in a great way without action. It is the busy Christian who sees God work in a great way. The great stories of faith always happened to those who acted. Those who sit never see the great works of God. If you want God to work through your life in a great way, then you must act.

Last, results happen when faith steps in. The action of faith produced the healing these lepers desired. Likewise, when you step out by faith, you will see the results of God working through your life. Stop waiting for results and simply step out on God's command for your life. As you act upon God's command, you will see God's great results in your life.

Every City and Village

Luke 8:1

"And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,"

The life of Jesus Christ on Earth was an example for every Christian to follow. There is nothing that you encounter that Jesus did not give you an example of how to handle that situation. Every philosophy of life can be found in the life of Jesus Christ. Every purpose of life can be found in the life of Jesus Christ. Simply put, the life of Jesus Christ is the blueprint that every Christian should follow.

The verse above shows us the main focus of Jesus Christ. You will see that Jesus went into "every city and village." There was no place that Jesus felt that He was too big to go. There were no people whom Jesus did not feel that He should not reach. Jesus went into every "city and village" to show us what the New Testament Baptist church should do.

Notice that Jesus was concerned with cities of all size. The word "city" is talking about a metropolitan city. Jesus went to the large cities to reach the people with salvation. However, He also went into every "village," which was the rural areas of Israel. The size of the city did not matter to Christ, for every size city needs Christ. One of the mistakes we have made in Christianity is that we have forsaken the rural areas for the sake of reaching the masses. However, Jesus reached the masses by going into both the metroplex and the rural areas.

Why did Jesus go into the cities and villages? He went to both because every person in every size city has a soul that will go to Heaven or Hell. If we are not careful, in our attempt to reach the masses we will let those in the rural areas go to Hell. Though I am not against going to the larger cities, we need people who will go to reach the lost in the rural areas as well. 

My good friend, Gary Crawford, went to a rural area of Pennsylvania to reach the lost. He pastors in a town with a population of about 30 people. For close to thirty years he has followed the example of Christ by showing the good tidings to those in that area. Many lives have been touched in that rural area because he followed Christ's example of reaching people in a rural area.

On the other hand, another good friend, Brent Lenentine, went to the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to reach those people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While building a church on the outskirts of this city, he has trained young men to go reach the rural areas. He has done a fine job of reaching the cities and villages of the New Mexico area.

Pastor, don't get so wrapped up in numbers that you forget the formula that Christ gave to reach the lost. Remember that His formula was to reach the large cities as well as the rural areas. Remember that people in every city have a soul. Don't let your infatuation with numbers cause you to let the masses go to Hell.

Christian, it is your responsibility to help reach people in every size city. Wherever you go, be a soul winner. Whenever you stop in a small town, be sure to witness to those people. If you live in a bigger city, then set time aside throughout the year to go soul winning in the rural areas. Every parent needs to raise their children for the purpose of sending them out to reach the cities and villages with Christ.

The answer for your country is to have churches in every city and village. We cannot start churches in these cities and villages unless you get involved in your local church and help it reach the masses in every city and village.

Leading by Following

Luke 2:51

"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart."

The greatest leader who ever lived was Jesus. When the world thinks of great leaders, rarely do you hear them bring up Jesus as a great leader. However, when you consider that Jesus is the Son of God, you will realize that He was most certainly the greatest leader. Yet, how often do you look at the life of Jesus for leadership lessons?

One of the greatest leadership lessons in the Scriptures is taught in the verse above. Jesus understood that He was the Son of God. However, though He understood at this point that He was the Son of God, He still subjected Himself to His parents. Though He should have led His parents because He was the Son of God, He still followed Joseph and Mary because they were His parents. Jesus exemplified in this verse that He was a great leader because He understood that great leaders will follow when they are not in their area of leadership.

It is often said that you don't deserve to lead if you can't follow. Before leaders ever had the opportunity to lead, they had the opportunity to follow. Following qualifies who deserves to lead. This is because when you lead, you are still following. Great leaders don't use their position to get their way, but they use their position to serve their followers.

Parents need to rear their children to be leaders. One of the reasons why children should obey is so they can learn to be better leaders someday. Obedience should be expected of children. When a child is out of control and won't obey, then they are showing that they will be a poor leader because if they had a position of leadership, then they would use that position for their own gain.

Moreover, you should always use a person's ability to follow as a measuring stick to determine their ability to lead. A person who can't follow their pastor in the church should never be given a position of leadership. An employee who cannot follow their supervisor should never be given a position of leadership. A citizen who cannot follow the laws of the land should never be given a position of authority in society.

If you want to be a better leader in the areas in which you lead, then you need to be sure to be a good follower. Stop being the one who always has to buck the system. Questioning those in leadership should not be your mantra. I am not implying that you should be a blind follower, but I am implying that you should learn to subject yourself to those who lead you, even if you know how to lead in that area. The greatest qualification for leadership is followship. When you have learned how to follow, then you have learned how to lead.

Things of God or Man

Mark 8:33

"But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men."

One of the things that every Christian must learn to be successful in is to discern whether something is of God or man. Peter was like most Christians in that early in his Christian life he had no discernment in this area. Jesus questioned Peter to teach him how to discern whether something is of God or man. Jesus asked Peter, "But whom say ye that I am?" After Peter answered, Jesus responded by telling His disciples that He would have to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. However, Peter took exception to Jesus saying He would die and rebuked Him. Yet, in the verse above Jesus began to teach Peter how to discern whether something is of God or man.

The first test of discernment is to determine whether it is about you or God. Verse 34 says, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Discerning whether a work is about man or God is to see who gets the glory for the work. If man gets the glory, then the work is of man. Every work should be about God getting the glory. Whatever you do, only get involved in works that will bring glory to God.

The second test of discernment is to see whether the work is trying to impact the immediate or the future. You will see in verse 35 that the future impact is God's main concern. You will find that there are many things that are only concerned with the immediate results. For instance, one of the biggest problems you will see in the political realm is how politicians are more concerned with the next election cycle than they are with the future of their country. This is a very dangerous way to live. God's Word was written with the future in mind. Most of God's works will not have an immediate impact, but all of His works will have a good impact on your future.

The third test of discernment is to see if the work will cause you to have to change your soul to profit. Verse 36 asks, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Your soul is who you are; it is your character. When you have to change who you are for the sake of profit, then this work is not of God. God never asks you to sacrifice your character for His work. If you have to sacrifice your character for a job, then the job is not right. If you have to sacrifice your character to marry someone, then that person is not the right person to marry. If you have to sacrifice your character to be successful in your business, then you are joining the wrong business venture. Always remember that God's works put character before profit.

The last test of discernment is to see if the work is being done for perception instead of right and wrong. Verse 38 makes it very clear that God does not want us to be ashamed of His Words. When you are more concerned with perception than you are with truth, then you are working for the wrong reason. Truth should ALWAYS be your major concern. Don't ever let your perception cause you to compromise truth.

Having the discernment to determine whether something is of God or man is imperative to your Christian life. Until you acquire this discernment, you will find your Christian life to be unstable. Start using these four principles to help you determine whether something is of God or man.