Dan Willis returns to the Iron Saints Podcast to discuss Luke 5:12 and Jesus healing a leper. As Jesus' ministry grew and more people sought him out, he retreated to desolate places to rest and pray. Willis urges listeners facing increasing trials to do the same: take seasons of rest alongside your God-given work.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis.
Welcome back, Saints. It's great to be back after a brief hiatus. I did take a bit of a break, had some personal family issues to deal with as well as Canadian Thanksgiving. So, uh, that is out of the way, and I am very excited to get back at it, to continue our journey through Luke. We're gonna get right back down into that today. Thank you again to everybody who's been supporting and listening. I did pop in to take a look at the numbers and we are getting real close to 500 downloads already. I'm very excited about that, guys. Thank you again to anybody that has taken the time to share this out. As always, guys, you guys sharing this out to other men in the churches that you're at, in the clubs that you're at, is so greatly appreciated. But without further ado, let's get down to it. So today we are continuing in Luke. We had finished off last time Luke 5, chapter 11. So we're going to pick it up at Luke 5, chapter 12. As always, guys, I am reading from the ESV. You're welcome to follow along in whatever translation you prefer. But if you're at work, you're on the drive and you're not able to, don't worry about it. I'm going to be reading the scripture for you so you'll have that for you. Okay. So while he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will, be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him. He charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. So a little bit of a shorter reading this morning, guys, but I did want to get back to it slow and steady here. This still is an amazing chapter, and there's a couple of things that I really like from this. And one is the understanding of Christ's authority and power that you would show up and say, here's an impossible thing that cannot be done from all logical understanding. This cannot be done even today, guys. Leprosy can be treated, but not just completely healed as we see Christ do here. I think that this is a really amazing acknowledgment by the person who is in desperation. They see Christ, they recognize Christ, they know his power, and they don't say, Christ, heal me or else. They say, if you will it, it will come to be, whatever that is, not just on my illness, but whatever it may be. And Christ recognizes this and says, I do will this. This is something I wish it to be. And then on top of that, Christ shows the humility of, please don't spread this everywhere. Now, of course, good deeds are going to spread and that's going to be the way it goes. You just can't control people. As far as that aspect goes, whether it was this man specifically who did it, I somewhat doubt that. If Christ gave an instruction, he probably followed it. However, the priests and the people that knew this man most likely were going to talk about this and spread this. What I really love about this passage, though, and men really take this to heart, Christ was becoming more known. He was doing the work of God. It was becoming more burdensome. There were— and when I say burdensome, I don't mean bad. I just mean that there was more put on his plate each passing day. More people with illness, more people coming to see him, to talk to him, to ask him who He is. This was happening more and more and more, and this is going to happen when you cling to God. Your plate's going to get fuller. It's just the way that it is. We're promised trials. We're promised hardships. It's going to get harder. What's so crucial and so important, and I think is a great way to pick this back up, is after my time of rest, I'm reading this passage and realizing the Lord's saying it's okay to go away. It's okay to take a time of rest if need be. Just make sure that you continue to do the work that I've given you. But if you need to, Pull away if you need to pray for a time. If you need to take a season of rest, please, please, please do that. Christ himself needed to do that. He needed to go away and be alone with the Lord. He needed to pray. He needed to take that time, and I encourage you to do the same. All right, saints, let's close this up in prayer today. As always, guys, if you have prayer requests, make sure to shoot them to me either via email or on social media. I do like to pray for you guys. It's always done under first names only or pseudonyms, so that's there for you guys. Please, please, please just if you have a prayer request, if you have something that you want to celebrate, a blessing, anything, just feel free to send it to me. I do make a point of praying at the end of every episode. So Lord, thank you so much for this time. Thank you for all the saints that are listening to this. Thank you for the the season of rest that you allowed me to have, Lord. I I just pray for those out there, Lord, that aren't able to have that season of rest right now. They find themselves under burden and trial. Please be with them, Lord. I lift up John to you. He continues to struggle medically, Lord. The doctors are not sure what it is. I just pray that you would be with them and be with him. Help him to To feel healing and respite in you. Lord, thank you so much for all that you do as a healer. I lift up Jacob to you. He's a young man, Lord, facing a possible risk of meningitis. I just pray that you would work with him, bring comfort to his family. His parents are, are hurting and grieving over this. I just pray that you would be with that family, Lord. Bless them. Continue to be with them. In your name we pray. Amen. That's it for the— for today, guys. I'm looking forward to being back daily with episodes, though. Have an amazing day, and I will catch you guys tomorrow.
Thank you for listening to the Iron Saints Podcast. If you are looking to share your prayer requests, check the description for social media or email to contact the show. Blessings on you all until next time.
