{"id":69783,"date":"2025-11-18T12:59:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/?p=69783"},"modified":"2025-11-18T12:59:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:59:46","slug":"herb-reavis-jesus-is-a-way-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/herb-reavis-jesus-is-a-way-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"Herb Reavis: \u2018Jesus is a Way Maker\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Success in ministry is not measured by visible results\u2014because God is working in places you never thought He\u2019d work,” Herb Reavis told pastors during the Florida Baptist State Convention gathering in Orlando.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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ORLANDO\u2014 Herb Reavis, pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church, delivered a stirring message during the second day of the 2025 Florida Baptist State Convention in Orlando. Preaching from the story of John the Baptist, Reavis proclaimed that \u201cJesus is a Way Maker\u201d\u2014a Savior who works even when His people can\u2019t see or feel it.<\/p>\n

He began by reminding listeners of John the Baptist\u2019s remarkable ministry. \u201cJohn was the greatest preacher of his day,\u201d Reavis said. \u201cHe had no facility, no staff and no social media. He preached in the wilderness, and yet people rushed out to hear him.\u201d Crowds gathered as John called them to repentance and pointed them to the coming Messiah, declaring, \u201cBehold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the passage found in Matthew 11:1-6, the scene was different. John was no longer preaching by the river but imprisoned by King Herod for condemning his sin. \u201cHe had confronted the king for taking his brother\u2019s wife,\u201d Reavis explained. \u201cNow, instead of crowds, he faced cold walls and darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that isolation, Reavis said, doubt crept in. \u201cThe greatest enemy of a Christian today is doubt,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cDoubt leads to discouragement.\u201d John, the same man who had baptized Jesus and seen the heavens open, sent word from prison asking, \u201cAre you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n

Reavis empathized with John\u2019s question. \u201cHis circumstances had changed,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was used to preaching under the open sky; now he\u2019s cooped up in a cell. The crowds were gone. He went from hundreds being baptized to silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reavis challenged pastors and ministry leaders who might be feeling similarly forgotten. \u201cMaybe you\u2019ve fasted and prayed, and still you\u2019re leading a church that feels like \u2018Night of the Living Dead,\u2019\u201d he said to knowing laughter. \u201cBut success in ministry is not measured by visible results\u2014because God is working in places you never thought He\u2019d work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shared a story from his own experience. Years earlier, he had pastored what he described as a \u201cdead\u201d church. \u201cI thought nothing was happening there,\u201d Reavis said. \u201cBut years later, I got a letter from a young man who told me I had baptized him in that church as a child\u2014and now he was serving as a youth pastor preparing for seminary. God had been working all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reavis was careful to make a key point: \u201cDoubt is not a sin,\u201d he said. \u201cThe difference is what you do with it. John took his doubts to Jesus\u2014and that\u2019s what we must do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then turned to Jesus\u2019 response to John\u2019s question. He told the disciples: \u201cGo and tell John what you hear and see.\u201d Reavis unpacked the depth of that answer. \u201cThe miracles of Jesus give us a foretaste of what\u2019s to come,\u201d he said. \u201cThey show that He cares, that He wants to relieve human misery, and they reveal the supernatural power of the gospel itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe miracles of Jesus,\u201d Reavis continued, \u201ccarry a message: Just because you can\u2019t see, feel or hear Me working doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not working.\u201d He urged pastors to hold on to that truth in discouraging seasons. \u201cBe encouraged. Keep sharing the gospel. Even if you can\u2019t see Him working, be assured that He is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing with a word of hope, Reavis reminded the crowd that Jesus still makes a way where there seems to be none. \u201cIn your doubt, in your discouragement, in your disappointment\u2014He is working. And one day, you\u2019ll look back and see that the Way Maker was there all along.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  ORLANDO\u2014 Herb Reavis, pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church, delivered a stirring message during the second day of the 2025 Florida Baptist State Convention in Orlando. Preaching from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":69784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2894,38,2617,19,45,25],"tags":[1058,143,571],"class_list":["post-69783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-annual-meeting","category-annual-meeting","category-featured","category-news","category-statewide","category-stories","tag-fbsc25","tag-herb-reavis","tag-north-jacksonville-baptist-church"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69783"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69786,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69783\/revisions\/69786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}