Baptist City Blog

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.