Leadership Teachings
Biblical principles for Christ-centered leadership
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3 entriesWill they water the camels also?
Will they water the camels also?
That is the question leadership must keep asking. It is the difference between the minimum and a prepared bride.
Christ Himself did not expect the same from every circle that gathered around Him. He expected less from the multitudes than He did from the seventy. He expected more from the twelve than He did from the seventy. And He expected still more from the three than He did from the twelve. A desire for nearness to the Bridegroom always raises the standard. The closer the abiding, the greater the expectation.
Our focus should not be numbers. It is the desire of Christ to have a glorious bride—one who can be presented to Him without shame. Isaiah prophesied that Christ would see the outcome of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. That satisfaction is not found in a people that respond to the minimum and leave the rest undone. His satisfaction will only be met in those who, when asked for a drink, water the camels also.
The Test at the Well
Genesis 24 gives us the picture.
Time had passed. The long purpose of the father had not changed. The father had already surrendered the son that he loved. One passion still remained: a special bride for him.
He trusted his faithful servant with the incredible responsibility of finding a bride for the son. He placed the riches of his house into the hands of the servant. The mission was not ordinary. The servant stood by the well at evening and decided his only spoken request would be for a drink of water. Yet the requirement God put in his heart was much greater: she must also water the camels.
Envision it. Dust in the air. Ten camels kneeling, weary and thirsty after the long journey. The stranger asks only for a little water for himself from her pitcher. That is all.
She could have given the cup and walked away. Instead Rebekah said, “Drink, my lord,” and then, unasked, “I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.” Then she ran. Down the steps. Up again. Pitcher emptied into the trough. Back down. Up. Arms getting heavy. Feet getting tired. Ten camels. One pitcher. Trip after trip. She did not stop when it was convenient. She kept drawing until they had done drinking.
The servant stood silent and wondered at her.
That labor was the test. It was never about her outward appearance, though she was very fair to look upon. It was about what was inside. “The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” The extra mile revealed a willing heart—one that would go far beyond the request. That is why she qualified to be the bride of the bridegroom.
A Glorious Bride, Not a Minimum Response
Leadership should expect no less from those under their oversight if those people are to be presented as the chosen bride. The question is not whether they will give a cup when asked. The question is whether they will water the camels also.
Paul lived under that same burden. He was not content with carnal believers. His consuming passion was to present a prepared people, a people worthy of the Son. He was jealous with a godly jealousy, that he might present them as a chaste virgin to Christ. Quality mattered more to him than quantity. He would rather have a smaller company that had given themselves fully to the Lord than a multitude that only offered the minimum.
The Father still has one great passion: a glorious bride for His Son. The Spirit, the sent Servant, is still observing what will take place at the well.
Perhaps the Spirit still presents a smaller request. However, God still observes the heart of a people by what they do next.
That is why leadership cannot lower the expectation. We must first water the camels ourselves, then keep that call before those we oversee.
Will they water the camels also?
Aaron Beiler
The High Calling of Preparing The Bride
The High Calling of Preparing The Bride
What the work of elders is actually for
The question before church elders is not first, “Are the people being helped?” It is, “What are we helping them become?”
Lots of ministry work can appear to be successful while still aiming at the wrong end. A congregation can be established, needs may be met, the work growing, even known by what men call revival, and still the true work remain undone.
The issue is not whether we are busy with people. The issue is whether we are preparing a people for a Person—whether the labor is aimed at establishing a congregation that is focused on benefiting church members, or at preparing a glorious bride for the Bridegroom.
Paul’s measure of a finished work
The apostle Paul was not content that men and women had come into the kingdom. He wanted them perfected, so that he could present them to Christ as a people who were fully prepared for Him.
“that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
(2 Cor. 11:2)
“Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
(Col. 1:28).
“To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”
(Col. 1:22).
That was his focused purpose. Warning every man and teaching the whole counsel of God were not optional features of a Paul’s ministry. They were necessary if he was to be faithful to the charge he had received. He would not rest while the people remained carnal. He labored until they could be set before Christ prepared for that moment.
Paul’s measure will not let elders settle for the usual signs of a healthy church.
Conversion is not that proof. It is the beginning of the stewardship. Church growth is not that proof. A congregation can grow and appear successful while the people are not being transformed and remain unprepared. Paul knew churches that were real churches and still carnal—“babes in Christ,” walking as men. He did not treat that condition as an acceptable normal. He warned, taught, and labored so that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
An eldership content with increase, or at peace with unchanged members, has already abandoned that measure. The name of Christ may be confessed. The work may be admired. And still there may be no bride to present.
The gospel brings people in. Oversight exists so that those people are not left carnal, shallow, and unready. Paul was not gathering a larger church. He was preparing a people he could set before Christ.
Christ’s own purpose for the church
This aim did not begin with Paul. It is Christ’s purpose for the church He loved:
"Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25–27).
The Son gave Himself to obtain a bride, and to present that bride to Himself in glory. The Father desires a glorious bride for His Son. If this desire does not constrain the elders, the ministry will settle for something less than a bride. The Father’s desire will judge our work. We will not be asked whether the church was impressive, but whether she was made ready.
The subtle exchange of missions
A ministry can begin in obedience, with this vision clear, and then settle into a lesser mission.
It happens without being recognized. It happens when the aim becomes to make people feel helped rather than to make them ready. It takes place when peace is preferred rather than the whole counsel of God, when the appearance of health is preferred to the challenging work of presenting men and women mature in Christ. We still talk about preparing a bride. We just stop laboring to prepare one. What we call revival must become reformation in the people themselves, or it is not the work Paul labored for.
Elders feel pressure to produce visible results: attendance, activity, and reputation. That pressure makes it easy to aim at those instead of a bride. The danger is not only that the church has clearly gone wrong. The danger is that it looks sound, and yet no longer asks if the people are being made ready for the Lord.
Questions worth asking
If the church was organized and respectable, yet only a few were ready for Christ, would we even recognize that as failure? Are there a people passionately in love with Christ?
If the numbers increased while the people remained shallow, would we still call the work pleasing to the Lord? Do we look for men and women passionate for Christ and being formed into His likeness, or only for people who function well as respected citizens? Do we measure the ministry by how helped the congregation feels, or by whether they could be presented to Christ without shame?
These questions are not meant to despise churches. They are the difference between watching over souls and merely keeping the church running. John the Baptist was sent “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). He would not baptize people who lacked evidence of genuine repentance and then call them prepared. “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matt. 3:8). The prophet and the pastor function differently, but they must be passionate for the same end: a people made ready for a coming Lord.
What we will answer for
We will not give account for how impressive the work appeared. We will give account for the people entrusted to us—what they became, not only that they came.
The coming of the Lord is the point of the ministry. Every part of the work is aimed at one day: when the Bridegroom appears in glory. That truth must grip the heart, not remain a sentence we confess and leave unused.
We are men charged with making ready a people for a Christ Jesus.
Christ is worthy of a spotless bride. The question before every minister of the gospel is whether we are actually laboring for one.
Praying for a revival that will result in a people prepared for the King of kings.
Aaron Beiler
Is There Not a Cause?
Is There Not a Cause?
When God Assigns a Work Higher Than Elon Musk’s Endeavor to Reach Mars
There is a cause greater than any vision the world can offer. It is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus — not a calling that ends on another planet, but a calling that reaches into eternity. This calling is to walk with God, to be the friend of God, to become a man or woman after God’s own heart. It is a very high endeavor and an extremely high calling of which there is none greater. This article exists to put that cause before you with clarity and urgency, so that you may see how vital you are in His purpose and decide to walk in it with intention. The question that once came from David’s mouth is now coming to us.
“Is there not a cause?”
David’s own brother heard those words and exploded in anger.
“Why did you even come down here? I know your pride and the wickedness of your heart. You only came to watch the battle.” David looked at him and answered with the same piercing question:
“What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”
He turned away and asked others the same thing—until the report reached the king. Then David stood before Saul and declared, “Let no man’s heart fail… thy servant will go and fight this Philistine.”
The same call still goes out today. In a generation when many hearts are failing, God is looking for men and women who will courageously rise up and say, “Thy servant will go and fight this Philistine.” The giants of our day — fear, compromise, distraction, and spiritual lethargy — still defy the armies of the living God.
Who will answer?
Those who answer a high calling will be misunderstood. They will be accused of pride.
Yet the question still stands. Is there not a cause?
A Lofty Vision… and a Higher One
Consider a man in our own day whose life is organized around a single, towering ambition.
Elon Musk wakes up every morning knowing exactly what the day is for. Every meeting, every setback, every hard calculation is aimed at one goal: making it possible for people to live on Mars. He walks through the factory or across the test site with steady, purposeful steps. Sometimes he lifts a hand and traces an invisible path in the air, as if he can already see the rocket’s flight. He stops for a moment to think through a problem, eyes looking past the people and equipment around him, working out the physics, the costs, and the possibilities in his mind. Then he starts moving again. That single goal shapes every decision he makes. It gives him energy when the work is hard and keeps him going when things go wrong. He isn’t just trying to get to Mars himself—he’s working so that others can go too. That vision is extremely lofty. It demands total focus, steady hard work, relentless execution, and yes, the willingness to be misunderstood.
Now set that beside a higher calling.
The Apostle Paul was apprehended by the living God on the Damascus road. The risen Christ said to him, “I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness… delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:16-18).
From that day forward Paul measured every mile, every imprisonment, every letter by that commission. Chained in a Roman cell he still wrote, still pressed, still declared, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. Paul’s greatest ambition was not only to preach Christ, but to know Him, to walk with Him, and to be found in Him. He knew he was among “them who are the called according to His purpose”. The desired outcome was never personal achievement. It was friendship with God and the recovery of souls for His glory.
One man organizes his days so that people may leave Earth for Mars.
We are called to organize our days so that people may leave the power of Satan and be seated with Christ in the heavenly places — and, even more, so that we ourselves may walk with God as His friends and become men and women after His own heart.
The vision of reaching Mars is lofty.
The calling to walk with God and finish His work is higher—because God Himself gave it. It is a calling of which there is none greater.
Gird Up and Walk It Out
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind.
You have a journey to go, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish, and a great work to do.
Gather in every loose affection. Restrain every extravagance. Disengage from all that hinders.
Go on resolutely—not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time.
A person loses time not only by doing nothing or doing wrong, but by doing something other than what he ought to do—even if that something is good.
(François Fénelon)
“Now is the time.”
The things we do must be intentional.
It’s high time to awake.
If we wait until everything is figured out, we will never accomplish the plan God is setting before us.
Ideas are 5%. Execution is 95%.
The high calling of God is not finished by those who only see the vision. It is finished by those who gird themselves and walk it out — first with God, then for God.
You Are Vital
God wants you to understand more clearly how vital you are in His purpose.
Do you have the vision of what God wants to accomplish through your life?
You are not a spare part.
You are not an afterthought.
The same calling that apprehended Paul still apprehends men and women today—and you are part of it. The highest part of that calling is to walk with God, to be the friend of God, and to become a man or woman after His own heart. From that place of intimacy the work of opening eyes, turning hearts from darkness to light, and delivering people from the power of Satan to God flows naturally. It is the shared assignment of every believer who will walk awake, girded, and intentional.
Live, then, with a due sense of responsibility—
not as those who do not know the meaning and purpose of life,
but as those who do.
The foolish wait until revival breaks out to get ready.
The wise prepare now.
Every revival in history has been brought about by a dedicated few—
visionary, revolutionary people who first walked with God as His friends, saw the greatness of the cause, and were willing to make whatever sacrifices were necessary.
They were misunderstood.
They were accused of pride.
Yet the question still stands.
Is there not a cause?
If you will live in the daily awareness of this higher calling—knowing how vital you are in His purpose, and choosing first to walk with God as His friend—your ordinary days will carry eternal weight.
The work God has placed in your hands will be finished, not delayed.
And it will be for His glory.