Mark 3:13-19

 God calls whom He wills. The most unlikely people can be called. His grace allows us to seek and find Him.

There is no  one worthy but Jesus. All man, all God, in Him rest the whole of salvation.

John 5:39, Jesus says "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”

Our redeemer lived. Our redeemer lives. Nothing is beyond His ability to reverse. What a great comfort that is! First5 

Mother Teresa was asked where she found her strength, her focus, her fuel. The fuel, she explained, is prayer. “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.” 

Here are bits of Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s prayer at the Vigil tonight on the DC Capital steps…

“Lord, We come before you because we need your help. We need your help in these troubled times...We ask you now to help us. Help all those who are traumatized. Help all of those who have lost loved ones. Help those who are struggling.

Help us to be instruments of your peace. Instruments of your love and instruments of your healing…

Precious Lord please take our hand. Lead us on, let us stand.”

Paul entered Scripture as Saul, the self-professed Pharisee of all Pharisees. He was bloodthirsty and angry, determined to extinguish anything and everyone Christian. His attitude began to change on the road to Damascus. That’s when Jesus appeared, knocked him off his high horse, and left him sightless for three days. Paul could see only one direction—inward. And what he saw he did not like.

So God showed him a better way. Paul got grace…or grace got Paul. Either way, he embraced the improbable offer that God would make us right with him through Jesus Christ. Paul’s logic followed a simple outline: Our debt is enough to sink us, God loves us too much to leave us, so God has found a way to save us. Max Lucado

Mark 3:13-19

13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house. The New King James Version

Jesus had a large group of followers. John 6:66 indicates that even after the Twelve were appointed, He still had a large and continual following. Luke 10:1 notes that later Jesus sent out an additional 70 disciples. 

These twelve were Jesus’ apostles—a chosen group sent out to fulfill a particular mission. Christ gave power or authority to these twelve apostles (The apostle Paul called this authority “the signs of an apostle”.) Christ and the apostles authenticated their ministry through signs, miracles, and wonders. Jesus gave Peter a new name because it was the Jewish custom to rename someone who had experienced a life-changing event. The NKJV Study Bible

Christ calls whom he will; for his grace is his own. He had called the apostles to separate themselves from the crowd, and they came unto him. He now gave them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. May the Lord send forth more and more of those who have been with him, and have learned of him to preach his gospel, to be instruments in his blessed work. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Matthew 10:1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Luke 6:12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Luke 6:13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:

Luke 9:1 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.

John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).