I absolutely love participating in the small-group ministry at our home church. In fact, I love it so much, this semester, I am leading two different groups, one on Wednesday mornings and the other on Friday mornings AND attending another group with Vickie on Tuesday evenings.
Let me tell you about the groups, and then I’ll get into the reason for this post. For the last four years, I’ve led a Wednesday morning men’s group and used many books, which have included the Robert Morris book The God I Never Knew, and in another 13-week semester, Dr. David Jeremiah’s book The Great Disappearance, and then this semester John Bevere’s The Bait of Satan. In the Friday morning combined men’s and women’s groups, we have focused on the subject of divine healing and used books like F.F. Bosworth’s Christ the Healer, A.A. Allen’s God’s Guarantee to Heal You, Denise Renner’s Jesus is Your Healer, and, in this 13-week semester, Norvel Hayes’ Divine Healing.
Here’s the reason for this post. In the Friday morning divine healing groups, I’ve come to recognize so many unsung heroes whom I had previously never heard preached or taught about. Ready for this? It was the person or persons who told the needful person about Jesus and His miracle-working power. Take, for example, the two miracles in Mark 5: the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead and the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. For Jairus to have sought out Jesus, he first must have heard someone or several someones tell him of what they had seen or heard. This hearing prompted him to seek out the Healer for his dying daughter. With the woman who had suffered for twelve long years, it wasn’t by chance that she discovered Jesus. Verse 27 of Mark 5 tells us “When she had heard of Jesus…” it created a curiosity and desire to locate the One who had previously healed the incurable, chronic, and impossible. Skip over a couple of pages in your Bible to the account found in Mark 7 of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter being grievously vexed with evil spirits. Verse 25 says, “For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him…” Again, someone or someones had told the woman about the great Liberator, which led her to search for Jesus. In John 4, hearing of Jesus and His miraculous power led a government official to travel from Capernaum to Cana to seek the One who could heal his sick son. Again, the unsung hero was the one or ones who told the official about Jesus.
Need I share more New Testament accounts of these unreported, unnamed heroes? They are scattered throughout the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. To me, each of these miracles came because someone told about Jesus. Pardon the lightheartedness of the following. If you see a turtle resting on top of a fence post, know that someone put it there. They didn’t do it on their own. The miracles mentioned in the previous paragraph and those written of in the gospels happened because someone told of our Savior.
Here’s the reason for this post. Not everyone will stand on the platform to preach or teach. Not everyone will participate in ministering at altar services on Sunday mornings. But everyone can tell someone about the Savior, Healer, Deliverer, Restorer, Provider, Encourager, and Friend. Everyone can tell a story of what He has done for them personally or for someone that they know. It’s not a sermon. It’s not a hard sell. It’s just a brief, maybe just in passing, story. Know that with the enablement of the Holy Spirit, you will say what is needed, just how much is needed, to whom it is needed, and that it will send them to look for Jesus. Your opportunity for a “let me tell you a story” is waiting throughout your day today. Go make/allow it to happen!
Hi Billy, I never thought about this before and I am so glad Holy Spirit brought it to your attention. God uses us all. At the prompting of Holy Spirit we just need to say a few words and He does the rest. Praise the Lord!