November 26, 2020

Today’s Reading
Mark 3:13-15

It’s pretty clear from the passage that Jesus here is appointing His twelve inner circle apostles. Jesus had a lot of followers, and disciples. Here He takes 12 of these men that had been following Him and makes them apostles (Vs 14) He then gives them their role in His ministry, and I think that role applies to each and every one of us as followers of Jesus today. What did Jesus say they should do? First He said they should “be with Him” that speaks of relationship. We first see in verse 13 the invitation from Jesus for fellowship, notice it says He called unto Him who He wanted to. This wasn’t a command by Jesus or a demand that they meet with Him. That word calleth means invitation. We see the response by the 12, it says they came unto Him. They came to Jesus of their own free will. I see the picture of our relationship with Jesus pretty clearly here. The invitation has been given to each of us, I love the wording in the KJV it says the invitation was to “be with Him!” How beautiful is that thought? Jesus just wants us to be with Him, spend time with Him, have sweet, personal fellowship with Him. The invitation is open, but do we accept, and take advantage of the opportunity? Second He tells them to preach. I’m not saying everyone needs to be a preacher, but I do think it is all of our responsibilities to proclaim the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Third He says to have power to heal, and to cast out devils. We should each have our own healing and devil casting out ministries…..obviously that’s not true. How does this apply to us? Focus on the word power there. In the apostles case that power helped them to perform miracles. Where did the power come from? For you and me that power comes from the Holy Spirit, it comes from point number one spending time with Jesus, it comes from obeying His Word and submitting to the Holy Spirit. That power may not manifest itself in our lives with miracles, but that power will accomplish what God has called us to do in our own lives. Are you carrying out your role as a disciple? Are you spending time just being with Jesus? Are you proclaiming the message of Jesus? Are you accessing the power of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Frank Newsome