Mark 3:7-19

Well, and good morning to you, more officially.

Sometimes I hate that my introduction each morning of myself is being silly with the kids,

! but that's also okay. Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Mark chapter 3. We'll be looking together today at verses 7 through 19.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

And as you're getting there, I just wanted to publicly say that I'm really thankful for our musicians.

We have been just immensely blessed with musical talent in our little congregation, and I hope you can be as thankful for them as I am.

They get together and put together the arrangements of all of these songs on Sunday morning, usually about 8 o'clock, 8.30 they show up.

Get up a little bit earlier than the rest of you and get here and work really hard at making that happen.

And I love Christmas songs here, and I don't normally like Christmas songs too much, and so I'm thankful for them.

I'm also really thankful for Wes. I realized last night, Wes was telling me his little heads up on his voice failing him,

and he's been feeling really sick, and realized that Wes has a perfect attendance record.

He has never once called in sick on leading us in songs.

Sometimes he stands off to the side and lets somebody else sing more, but he's never actually said,

I cannot get on stage this Sunday, and I'm thankful for that as well.

Let's read together in Mark chapter 3, beginning in verse 7.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed,

from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Edumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.

When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him,

and he told the disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him.

For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out,

You are the Son of God.

And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.

And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,

so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.

He appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter,

James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James,

to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder,

Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus,

and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanian, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Let's pray together.

Father, we pray this morning that you will bless the reading, the preaching, and the hearing of your word.

That you will find us humble, submitting to its authority over our lives,

and finding it sufficient as a guide for holy living.

Father, we cannot accomplish any of this on our own.

We are not wise enough of ourselves to understand.

I am certainly not gifted enough of myself to properly speak what this has to mean for us today.

So we pray, Father, you work by your Spirit in us, and we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

So we've come through a number of different accounts of events that have happened,

and Mark, he moves.

Boy, does he scoot right along.

And he does it again to us here in 7 through 12.

Just really presses through stories quickly.

And I've said to you before, I've struggled a bit knowing,

what do we preach about?

What do we say?

I often read at the beginning of each week, kind of the next text as we work through this.

And I don't really know where to stop, because often I read, in this case,

I read all the way to the end of the chapter until I really felt like,

okay, that's enough to talk about on Sunday morning.

But then as I continue to meditate on it and re-read it and meditate on it some more

and pray about what it means for us, I'm able to back up a little bit and see more of the value

and see why it is that Mark's account is so punchy and he moves so quickly here through the text.

Recall recently we've been talking about all of these encounters that he had with the religious culture,

namely the Pharisees and the scribes.

And he gets us now here to verse 7, saying that Jesus withdrew,

which I think is rightly understood in light of verse 6.

That after all these encounters, the Pharisees went out immediately and held counsel with the Herodians,

or would have been a kind of a political party of the day, against him, how to destroy him.

And so he withdraws again to the wilderness to be by the sea.

And we see again a great crowd following him.

And it seems that he always in his ministry was walking a fine line between making himself known,

preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

and having people know that he was in fact the Son of God, and death.

And he did so because his time had not yet come.

It had not been fulfilled.

He was trying to perfectly complete his ministry.

John chapter 7, verse 30, we see he says,

John 7:30

excuse me, that it says,

they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him,

because his hour had not yet come.

And we see in our text here, verse 11 and 12,

this account of the unclean spirits,

or people who were possessed by demons,

falling down in front of him and proclaiming who he is.

You are the Son of God.

And he gives to them a strict command not to let him be known.

So it's interesting that we see this activity as it seems to be juxtaposed against the activity of all of those who were following him.

Notice these people are coming from all regions now.

It's an expanding area as he's been ministering in Galilee.

We see them coming from Jerusalem, which would have been the center of life for them.

From Edumea, which was south of Jerusalem, a whole region south of Jerusalem.

From beyond the Jordan, which would have been east of Jerusalem,

as Jerusalem lied to the west of Jordan.

And from Tyre and Sidon, which are far north, kind of northeast on the coast of the Mediterranean.

So people are coming from all over.

And I've said to you repeatedly that these people were not necessarily disciples of Christ.

Notice in our text, it says,

because they heard all that he was doing.

Verse 10,

For he had healed many.

So they came to press in around him to gain what they could from him for their benefit.

They were following him for what he could do for them, not for who he was.

So it's interesting that he records here that the demons, when they encounter him, recognize who he is.

They lay prostrate before him and claim that he is the Son of God.

But it's not proper to think that they worshipped him in spirit and truth as they should have.

James 2.19, James is giving us a case for faith and works and how they function in together.

And he says, even the demons believe in shudder.

And he's setting that up against those who are of faith, who are disciples, who follow, are also obedient to his ways.

So I found that to be quite fascinating.

So we see this juxtaposition going on here between the crowd and the demons, as well as great crowds and true disciples.

Remember in Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out 72 disciples to begin advancing the kingdom work.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

We see here that he has 12 apostles, three of which were his close friends.

And after his crucifixion and the beginning of Acts, we see that 120 are gathered, trying to figure out what they should do next.

And so this seems to be the sum of the beginning of his ministry as he puts the wheels into motion for the gospel to advance amongst all peoples.

And that's where we find ourselves today, still in that process of preaching the gospel amongst all peoples everywhere.

So recognize that.

That Jesus in many ways was very narrow.

We live in a day of acceptance of all things.

And you seem to be a good person if you're open-minded and willing to wrap your arms around all things.

I have a very good friend that I kind of went through the college years with who was, by his own definition, very open-minded.

But if you weren't open-minded the same way he was, he didn't like you, which made him a very closed-minded, open-minded person, did it not?

Right?

But we see here that Jesus is very specific about who he comes to preach to and who he calls.

Verse 9 says that he has the disciples prepare a boat for him.

We can understand this, that what he was going to do was put some water between him and the crowd so they could no longer come to touch him,

so they could no longer come to be healed, but so that he could preach.

This is the primary thing that Jesus came to do.

That was to preach.

Remember that the signs that he was performing simply existed to validate the power of his message.

That's why they existed.

Remember the message.

Chapter 1, verse 15.

Jesus says,

This is what he's driving at.

So we can see chapter 4, verse 1.

He teaches behind the sea from a boat.

So it's likely that this is why he would have had them prepared.

Right?

Both to spare his life, but to separate himself from what they were coming for and to rather give them what they needed.

He steps away from this scene in verse 13.

And in the ESV he says he went up on the mountain.

And I spent some time this week trying to figure out what mountain this was.

I thought there could be some significance and some weight to it.

And had quite a time until I thought, you know, I really probably ought to check the original text.

Or to see what it really means.

And in fact, you could easily render this and he went up on a mountain.

There is no article in the Greek.

So he just went up on a mountain.

Likely to escape what was going on by the sea.

To step away.

To go to a place that was more reclusive.

And he calls out of the group that is with him, that are his disciples,

those whom he desired and they came to him.

And we see here at work God's elective purposes.

You notice that he does not go up on the mountain and post a job description and take applications

and choose amongst the applicants the best fitted for the job.

But he rather calls those whom he desired.

And then we see the poignant, short response of Mark.

And they came to him.

John chapter 6, verse 44.

John 6:44

Jesus says,

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

And the Greek for draw here is not a nudging.

Right?

Imagine a tug of war.

I hope that none of you get into a tug of war.

It's probably been years for most of you since that's happened.

Right?

And I hope that in your mind when you're drawing somebody in a tug of war,

you're not gently coaxing them across the line.

If you do that, I never want to be on a tug of war team with you.

Right?

You drag.

And the Greek word here means literally that.

To draw.

To drag.

Right?

We find often in Greek literature this word used.

The way water is pulled up out of a well.

Right?

You don't beckon the water to come,

but you rather put the bucket in and you bring it up by force.

And it comes out of the well.

So here we see God's good purposes in electing men to be his apostles.

These are no great men that he called.

You remember that some of these men are tax collectors.

They would have been viewed as the lowliest of individuals in the society.

They would have been seen as betrayers of the nation of Israel.

They were serving Rome by collecting taxes.

They were extortioners.

In fact, the way they made their money,

they were given permission to tax at whatever rate they wanted to,

provided that Rome got theirs.

Right?

They were typically very evil men.

They really weren't fair.

And we see fishermen who were not wise men by any stretch of imagination.

In this region, this was the commons man job.

The blue-collar work was to go and work on the fisher's boats.

We see some rebels, quite possibly.

Those who were of the nationalist party, so to speak.

I think they would have been tea party people in this day.

Simon the Canaanite, which did not mean that he was from Canaan.

You'll see in other texts him called Simon the Zealot,

which likely means that he was part of this party.

And there's some evidence, without getting into it,

that Judas Iscariot was actually a mercenary,

a hired gun for this party,

that he would have actually carried out assassination attempts for money.

And we see him later being tempted by money in the betrayal of Christ.

All throughout the Gospel of Mark,

we don't see the apostles presented as very holy men.

He's very clear to point out all of their faults,

and he does that for us here in verse 19 with Judas,

who betrayed him.

Never building up the men themselves,

but the God of the men, rather.

These men are called together,

and they are men who would have been in great opposition to one another.

Remember, fishermen were the ones being extorted by the tax collectors.

And those who were revolutionaries

would have hated the tax collectors for being loyal to Rome.

So, a hodgepodge of men,

all Jewish in descent to be sure,

but calls together a group of individuals

who would have never associated

if it weren't for the calling of Christ.

My mind was particularly drawn to the church in this day,

and that we should look this way.

We should be of different background and affinity,

different ethnicities.

We ought to be called together

with the great commonality

of what God has done for us in Christ.

I get a little bit burned up,

although it's in good motivation,

and I don't fault men for doing it,

but men who want to do things

like start biker churches,

who have a very narrow and specific group of people,

and they're going to tailor everything that they do

for that particular affinity.

And the binding thing for them

begins to be more about loud pipes and chrome

than Jesus Christ.

So, these men,

who would have hated one another,

go up on a mountain with Jesus,

and they become apostles,

and they spend the next three years together

ministering with one another.

And these ordinary men are called to do

absolutely extraordinary things.

We see two primary things that they are called to do.

Firstly,

and it's easy to miss this, I think,

so that they might be with Him.

See that in verse 14.

So that they might be with Him.

Jesus communed perfectly

with the Father

and the Spirit

in His Spirit.

He had great communion with them.

This was not something that was broken

when He came down from heaven

and became a man.

But He also communed

with men in His flesh.

He sets for us

the example

that while we need to commune

with the Trinity in our spirit,

we also need to commune

with the church

in our flesh.

We need one another.

And this seems to be the case

of Jesus Himself.

Not that these men

had particular gifts

to offer to Him,

but that He had a desire

for community

as a man.

Hebrews 10,

Hebrews 10:23–25

verse 23-25

exhorts us to this.

The writer says,

Let us hold fast the confession

of our hope without wavering.

For He who promised

is faithful.

And let us consider

how to stir up one another

to love and good works.

So He's giving us

this exhortation

to hold fast to our confession,

to remain true

in the faith

because He who promised

is faithful,

and to stir up one another

to love and good works.

To be operating

from faith

for faith.

Verse 25,

not neglecting

to meet together.

They seem to be

at odds with one another.

If we're to do these things,

we must meet together.

He says,

As is the habit of some,

so it's no new thing

that people don't meet together

with the church,

but encourage one another

and all the more

as you see the day

drawing near.

So as Jesus sets for us

an example,

we can learn from this.

Do we come together

on Sunday mornings

and at various other times

because it's the thing

that Christians do?

You're doing your

proper duty

if you show up

on a Sunday morning.

You've paid your dues

and you can go on

about your week.

Or do you do it

because you long

to be with God's people?

Because you know

that the mission

that God has set us on

requires community.

Because you have recognized

that true Christian ministry

can never happen

apart from the context

of the church.

That you have felt

your own weakness

and seen that you need

to be built up

by the body of believers.

I realize this

more and more

the more I mature

in Christ.

I'm not outgrowing community,

but I'm growing into it.

I need you.

The praises that you guys sing

on Sunday morning

have immeasurable encouragement

to my heart.

You have to know

I love that we do

two songs before.

I usually don't sing.

I'm just quiet

and listen to you guys

just belt it out.

From the back of the room

I can hear you.

I need that kind

of encouragement

to continue

in the faith

to love

and to good works.

So he sets these

men apart

to be with him

but also

to send them out.

In fact,

this little parenthetical

that Mark adds

whom he also named

apostles

means sent out ones.

That's what that word means.

And certainly

these were

specific apostles.

apostles.

These twelve

later,

some were added

to that number.

We know Judas

actually was not.

We added later

Matthias and Paul

get added to that

number of apostles.

But it means

to us

sent out ones.

We all have

an apostolic

calling.

It would be wrong

to call any of us

apostles

for our understanding

to properly give

these men

their specific

time,

their specific

authority that they had

to author

the word of God,

some other things.

But we must recognize

that as these men

were sent out

to preach,

so are we.

Listen to Paul

in 2 Corinthians 5

beginning in verse 17.

If anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

If anyone.

So catch that.

That includes all of you

who are found in Christ.

If anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold,

the new has come.

All this is from God

who through Christ

reconciled us to himself

and gave us

the ministry

of reconciliation.

Notice that inclusive language.

He gave it to us.

That is,

verse 19,

in Christ,

God was reconciling

the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses

against them,

and entrusting to us

the message

of reconciliation.

Therefore,

we are ambassadors

for Christ.

God making his appeal

through us.

We've been given

this message

of reconciliation.

And it is therefore

now our responsibility

as ambassadors

for Christ

to make God's appeal

through us.

And to be clear,

he doesn't need us

to accomplish that.

Sit on your hands.

Go right ahead.

God will raise up

new people

to carry that message.

He does this

because he loves us.

The greatest thing

that God could possibly

give to us

is himself.

He has a mission

in this world,

and that is to redeem

his church.

To make all things new.

To restore things

back to the way

they should be.

And because he loves us,

he has decided

to use us

as the means

to that end.

He's given us

this message

of reconciliation.

Which is what?

The last half of verse 20

says,

We implore you

on behalf of Christ

be reconciled to God.

And here it is.

Verse 21.

For our sake

he made him to be sin

who knew no sin

so that in him

we might become

the righteousness

of God.

It's that simple.

He made him

who knew no sin

to be sin

so that in him

we might become

the righteousness

of God.

God owes

sin

eternal punishment.

And he therefore

had to punish it.

He had to pour

his wrath out

on it.

And he had to do

so eternally.

So only an eternally

perfect sacrifice

could die in our stead

for our sin.

This is the gospel message.

And this is the message

that these men

were sent out

to preach

the good news

of the kingdom

of God.

Don't let that be

too complex in your mind.

This is the thing

that they were meant

to go out

and to preach.

At the end of Mark

Mark 16:15

chapter 16

verse 15

we see Mark's account

of the Great Commission

recorded this way

and he said to them

go into all the world

and proclaim the gospel

to the whole creation.

Whoever believes

and is baptized

will be saved

but whoever does not

believe will be condemned.

And these signs

will accompany

those who believe.

In my name

they will cast out demons.

They will speak

in new tongues.

They will pick up

serpents with their hands

and if they drink

any deadly poison

it will not hurt them.

They will lay their hands

on the sick

and they will recover.

And here you see this

prediction of the things

that will happen

as he has said

he's going to send them

to go do this work.

Right?

For now

they were with him

later

he sends them out

to preach

in this way.

Now we're going to deal with

I believe

next week

the authority

to cast out demons

and everything I just read

at the end of Mark

that seemed fantastical

to you.

I think that's a made up word.

I just made up.

Right?

Well

we'll address these things.

There are whole

sects of our religion

that bank

on some of these

verses

at the end of Mark

Mark 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16.

I wonder if any of you

have ever been

in the hills

of Appalachia

and seen people

handle serpents

as a result

of these verses.

But primarily

I want to focus

on the fact

that they were meant

to preach.

Notice it's

ordered in that way.

Right?

And in Greek

things were always

ordered in that function.

Greatest to least.

Right?

So this is the

more important thing.

Right?

We've seen already

that this was the

major thrust

of Jesus'

ministry.

Right?

Was to preach

the kingdom.

The works just

accompanied it

to give validity

to it.

We've got to keep

that straight

in our minds.

Paul said in

Romans chapter 1

Romans 1:16

verse 16 and 17

the thesis statement

of the book of Romans.

For I am not ashamed

of the gospel

for it is the power

of God for salvation

to everyone who believes

the Jew first

and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness

of God is revealed

from faith for faith.

As it is written

the righteous

shall live

by faith.

Paul says

I'm not ashamed

of the gospel.

And I would ask you

this morning

how many of you

are ashamed

of the gospel.

You're sitting in your seat

you may not say that

but how boldly

do you proclaim it?

Given a situation

to speak

of the good news

of Jesus Christ

do you press into it

or do you shrink back?

The gospel itself

is the power

of God

for salvation.

You see that our religion

is a religion

of words.

Romans 10

17 says

so faith comes from hearing

and hearing

through the word

of Christ.

It was through God's word

that he created the world.

It is through God's word

that he sustained

the world

and it is through

his word

that he regenerates

souls.

This is an amazing

thing.

The power of words

is phenomenal

in this way.

The readers here

of Romans

would have had

their minds drawn back

as Paul talks about

this being

the power of God

for salvation

to all of the things

that God had done

on behalf

of his people.

Think of all the

wonderful things

that God has done.

magnificent things.

Splitting red seas

leading by pillars

of smoke

and fire

defeating armies.

Walls of Jericho

coming crashing down.

And certainly

the hearts of men

have great

stronghold walls

around them

of sin

but it is the power

of God

to break those walls

down and change

men's hearts.

This

is the gospel

that we have been

entrusted with.

the message

of reconciliation.

And it is a

simple message.

A powerful

but simple

message.

Jesus sums it up

here in one verse.

The time is fulfilled

in the kingdom of God

as a hand.

Repent and believe

in the gospel.

Charles Spurgeon

once said,

never lose heart

in the power

of the gospel.

Do not believe

that there exists

any man

much less

any race of men

for whom the gospel

is not fitted.

We have been

entrusted with this

and I know

many of you

don't feel adequate

for that task.

Good.

But the spirit

that dwells within you

is fully adequate.

Completely sufficient

to accomplish

that task.

Many of you

may not feel

smart enough

to take on

the debates

of this day.

You're probably not.

And that's okay.

Just preach

the gospel.

Let God

be powerful

in it.

You can trust

that he will be.

That he will accomplish

his good purchase.

That he will draw

to himself

those whom he

desires

as you go

and you speak

and you preach.

In Paul's first letter

to the Corinthian church

turn here with me

chapter 2

verse 1

of 1 Corinthians.

Paul helps drive

this point for us.

And I am amazed

that numerous times

in Paul's writing

he claims to be

a man of

simple speech

and low understanding

and his writing

is so phenomenally

complex.

Maybe in the

Greek day

it was actually

simple.

To kind of

set the stage

for you

Paul arrived

in Corinth

for the first time

in AD 50.

Corinth was a

highly cultured

town.

Possessed

the best

of Greek culture.

And the Greeks

really valued

high learning.

It was incredibly

important

thing to them.

And in fact

Corinth possessed

a really famous

outdoor theater

that could seat

20,000 people.

One of the things

they possessed

that they

honored

higher than other

things

was lofty speech.

It was an incredibly

important thing

to them.

In fact

here from

I just lost

the spot.

Here we go.

From Stephen J.

Lawson's book

The Kind of Preaching

God Blesses

for the citizens

in Corinth

public rhetoric

was something

lofty and noble.

Something almost

godlike.

It was a refined

form of artistic

expression that

replaced the

savage violence

of gladiatorial

fights and

barbaric sports.

It was worshiped.

Imagine in your

own mind we have

lots of different

things that we

as a culture

worship.

But what is most

highly worshipped

in our culture?

Football players,

baseball players,

celebrity,

things that we

highly, highly

worship those

things.

These men that

were these fine

orders that would

deliver these

rhetorical speeches

to drive somebody

to think a certain

way were the

great men that

were praised

in this day.

And this is

Corinth that he

goes and visits.

He had encountered

many troubles

up to this point.

Both physical

things and

spiritual things.

There were a lot

of closed doors

to him as he

had entered into

Greek cultures

before he gets

to Corinth.

And I would

imagine for him

there would have

been some

temptation to

change the

methodology.

To in some

way think,

okay, I've

entered into

now these

arenas of

these highly

educated people

who really

desire this

high and lofty

speech and

have not gained

any ground.

What could I

do to better

reach people?

Oh, good

motivation in

that.

We see people

all over this

day doing that

very same thing.

Many slick

tongues watering

down the gospel

in the desire to

introduce people

to Christ,

but they

therefore forsake

the gospel

altogether.

Spurgeon also

said, I'm going

to see if I can

get this right

in my own

head, that if

God does not

save people with

the truth, he

will certainly

not save them

with a lie.

Isn't that

true?

Listen to what

Paul says to

the Corinthian

church.

1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians 2:1

verse 1,

And I, when I

came to you

brothers, did

not come

proclaiming to

you the

testimony of

God with

lofty speech

or wisdom.

That's the

cultural context

for you to

understand what

he's saying.

For I decided

to know nothing

among you except

Jesus Christ and

him crucified.

And I was with

you in weakness

and in fear and

much trembling.

And my speech

and my message

were not in

plausible words of

wisdom, but in

demonstration of the

spirit and of

power, so that your

faith may not rest in

the wisdom of men,

but in the power

of God.

You hear him

driving that very

point that I've been

making to you,

right?

The message that

Paul brought was

Jesus Christ and

him crucified.

Nothing more and

certainly nothing

less.

This is the power

of God to

salvation.

The gospel of

the coming kingdom

of God.

We live in a

culture that's

really has a

great deal of

aversion to

this.

type of

teaching.

And I think

possibly because

we're the Bible

Belt, I saw a

map yesterday of

all the counties

of the United

States and the

predominant, at

least claimed

religion in each

of those.

I was blown

away that the

entire southeast

was solid red,

which was

Southern Baptist.

Not evangelical

Christian, but

Southern Baptist.

We've seen

people reject

the church for

all kinds of

reasons.

And I think

in that

process,

well-intentioned

people have

begun to

portray the

gospel of

Christ.

In Paul

Washer's book,

The Gospel's

Power and

Message, he

wrote this.

Listen carefully.

Lamentably, in

recent decades, it

seems that salvation

has lost something

of its value.

This is in

people's

perception.

In the opinion

of many, the

promise of salvation

is no longer a

strong enough

motivation to

move the sinner

to repentance

or the saint

to true

devotion.

So we must

add many other

promises to

make the gospel

call appealing.

Health and

wealth, purpose

and power, and

getting the most

out of this

present life are

the real drawing

cards of

contemporary

Christianity.

In fact, the

very things the

pulpit now promises

and people in the

pews seek the

most are often

the very things

that Jesus warned

could be lost in

the course of

true discipleship.

See Matthew

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16 on

that.

According to

him being

Jesus, a man

may have to

lose the

whole world

in order to

be saved.

And yet, in

Jesus' estimation,

it was a

bargain to

get salvation

at such a

small cost.

It seems that

we this day

don't really

understand sin

and the great

atrocity it is

against a

holy God.

So grown up

in this culture

of morality that

just seems a

little thing to

sin, when it

is a vast

thing.

Your one

objection to

the law of

God sets you

up as a

God yourself

and an enemy

of the Most

High.

And it is

through this

gospel message

that we don't

have eternal

punishment.

You can wrap

your mind around

eternal punishment,

misery, forever

and ever and

ever.

Take the most

miserable moment

of your life.

Oh, I've had

some miserable

moments in my

life.

Times when you're

frustrated beyond

belief, when you're

in extreme pain,

when the kids

are driving you

nuts.

And magnify that

and do it for

eternity.

We are saved

from this and we

are saved in the

presence of the

Most High.

The one in whom

we can find joy

and blessing

forever and

ever and

ever.

And this is the

gospel message.

This is it at its

core and this is

what we have been

called to preach.

We must preach

a pure gospel.

And when I say

we, I mean every

single one of us.

We all are

ambassadors of

Christ.

We have all been

given this message

of reconciliation.

Here we speak

specifically of the

apostles, these

ordinary men called

to do these

extraordinary things,

but in the same

way we are sent.

We must preach

a pure gospel.

I pray for us as

individuals in this

church that we

would be like

Ezra.

In Ezra chapter

Ezra 7:10

7 verse 10 we

see the record.

Ezra had set his

heart to study the

law of the Lord

and to do it

and to teach his

statutes and rules

in Israel.

You see that he

had set his heart

to be a disciple,

to study the law

and actually do it,

to actually follow

God in his law

and to teach it,

to make disciples.

And this is how

we are all called

to be disciple-making

disciples.

And understand that

the two cannot exist

apart from one

another.

If you are a

disciple of Christ,

you will necessarily

make disciples of

Christ.

But to clarify for

you, we are all

called to be

disciple-making

disciples.

That is the great

point of Mark's

book.

He's trying to

drive his readers

to that, to see

that those who are

going to follow

Christ will also

bring along others

who will follow

Christ.

And he does that

in his very punchy

way.

He keeps driving

at that point.

And I find here

for us again today,

he does the very

same thing.

We are ordinary

men and women.

And I would say,

in fact, in a lot

of ways, we are

less than ordinary

men and women.

I know that's true

of myself, but we

are called to do

extraordinary things.

That is why

Christ's family

church exists.

To experience,

to proclaim,

and display

the supremacy

of Jesus Christ

in all things,

to all peoples.

And one day,

Christ will

return when

that work is

finished.

Let's pray

together.