"Belonging to Jesus' Forever Family!" (Mark 3:28-30)

"Belonging to Jesus' Forever Family!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #22)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

June 26, 2011 ~ welcome to the summer of 2011!

Before we turn to our Scripture passage for this week I want us each to pull out our sermon notes included in your bulletin and turn it to the back page. You will see that I have included an overview of last week's sermon. I have done this for two reasons. First, because I didn't provide you with a written outline last week and I know some of you actually keep these and use them for ongoing study. God bless you and may your tribe increase! Second, because I wanted to make sure understand this very important teaching. And with learning repetition wins the day! We have to get this if we want to grow up in Christ…

Review from last week's sermon on Mark 3:28-30: We learned that the context for this passage starts in Mark 3:20 with Mark 3:30 serving as a bookend to Mark 3:22. That is important to understand because our focus was on verses 28 & 29, but we must keep them in context to properly interpret and apply the teaching to our lives.

Mark 3:28 "Truly [Amen] I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter" emphasizes to us Point #1: The heart of God is forgiveness! And we read three emphatic scriptures to make this point (Psalm 86:5; Micah 7:18-19; Psalm 103:12) demonstrating that from the Old to the New Testament this is true.

Mark 3:29 "but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" emphasizes to us Point #2: The plan of God is forgiveness exclusively through Jesus Christ!

And using numerous Scriptures we looked at the plan of God to fulfill the very intent of His heart and character—to forgive and restore all of His children to Himself. We emphasized 1 John 5:10-13; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 10:13; 1 John 1:9; and Psalm 51:17. I added John 14:6 & Romans 8:38-39 to the list as I wanted to include them as well, but did not have the time to do so last week. What did we learn that is so important?

We learned the greatest promise of God. This is the promise of God: if you, with a broken and repentant heart, confess your sins to Jesus Christ then God forgives you! Truly, the eternal sin (v. 39) is not the words of blasphemy or the committing of heinous crimes against God and humanity—the Cross is big enough for all sins committed and blasphemies spoken. The eternal sin is not an act, but rather the hardened state of one's heart that rejects and refuses God's invitation through the Holy Spirit to come to Jesus and confess one's sins. It is to never accept the full revelation of God that Jesus is the exclusive means of salvation through God's redemptive work of the Cross. You gain Christ and the assurance of Heaven through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit given at the time of conversion! Good works then must be understood as a consequence of salvation, not a condition for it!

The Word of God from the Gospel of Mark 3:31-35 (NAU). Let's read it together out loud. "Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. ³² A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.' ³³ Answering them, He said, 'Who are My mother and My brothers?' ³⁴ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, 'Behold My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.'"

To help us get into our story, please watch this drama that captures the unofficial and unrecorded response of Mary to Jesus' rhetorical question, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" [Debbie's drama and testimony]

It is amazing how casually and desensitized we can read through the Scriptures without being deeply impacted by the truths of what Jesus is doing and saying. When we truly fall in love with the Jesus Christ of the Gospels, and not our own idealized sterilized vision of Jesus, then we realize there are serious implications to becoming a part of His movement—the Kingdom of God! And it starts by each of us making a decision to become a part of Jesus' forever family—this means receiving eternal life, getting saved, being born again through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us and taking us from being dead in sin to alive in Christ. Let's explore this deeper…

First, BELONGING TO JESUS' FOREVER FAMILY IS ABOUT COMING TO JESUS IN FAITH!

Let's read again Mark 3:31-34 in the context of Mark 3:20-21 which provides the context for today's passage. The story starts, "And He came home [we are in Capernaum; most likely back in Simon Peter's house], and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal [we've seen a scene like this once before in Mark 2]. When His own people [an expression commonly understand as members of a clan or family] heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, 'He has lost His senses.' . . .[now today's text] Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. [They can't get near Jesus so they send a message through the crowd to Jesus.] A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.' [The crowd, and his family, would have expected Jesus to respond to this call because of the fifth commandment of "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12), as well as being a cultural expectation to respond to your mother's request. But Jesus is not the "good boy" we would expect him to be and drop everything at his mother's call. (Incidentally, the church for far too long has tried to make Christian men into good boys rather than empower them as the warriors God created us to be…and we wonder why so many men don't want to have anything to do with the church or the Jesus we have portrayed to them?!?)] Answering them, He said, 'Who are My mother and My brothers?' Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, 'Behold My mother and My brothers!'"

To understand this story, I want to hold in contrast with a very similar situation found in Mark 2:1-5. Flip a page back in your Bible and let's read this story. "When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'"

It's interesting how similar the physical contexts of the situations are. They are in the same home in Capernaum with so many pressing in on Jesus to hear Him teach that the primary characters of the story cannot get to Him. It's also very interesting to note that both stories also include a controversy with the Scribes. I think that was always a byline to Jesus' ministry. Let's look at how Jesus responds to the two different approaches of those wanting to get His attention.

First, the stretcher-bearers had the faith to see that God had made a way for them to get to Jesus and they were so desperate to get to Jesus that they were willing to climb to the roof, dig a hole in it, and lower the paralytic down to Jesus so that He could heal him. And Jesus seeing their faith, offered forgiveness of sins healing the man's paralysis.

The second group, Jesus' mother and brothers, did not approach Jesus with this same faith desperate to get to the One who could forgive them of their sins and heal them, but stayed on the outside and expected Him to respond to their call because of their family relationship.

I believe in looking at these stories side by side, we learn something deeply true and core to the Gospel: We must come to Jesus Christ in faith; there is no other way to be a part of God's forever family—we are not entitled to salvation because of family name, religious affiliation, community identity, or worldly accomplishment. Who are you putting your trust in for salvation?

It's only through faith we are saved; this is God's grace! The Bible proclaims in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Are you desperate to be in Jesus' forever family or are you comfortable staying on the outside with the appearance of relationship? Do you belong to Jesus' forever family?

Second, BELONGING TO JESUS' FOREVER FAMILY LEADS TO A LIFE OF RADICAL OBEDIENCE!

Our Scripture lesson ends with Mark 3:35, "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."

The words of Jesus in this same situation are recorded in the Gospel of Luke 8:21, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."

Jesus is expanding his declaration in verse 34 and moving from a statement bound to the local context, to a futuristic declaration of what it means to be a member of Jesus' forever family. This is more than a descriptive verse capturing a historical occasion; rather it is a prescriptive verse for all who would claim to be members of Jesus' forever family! It is critical to understand that just like we learned last week with good works (Good works must be understood as a consequence of salvation, not a condition for it!), one's separation from earthly allegiances and identities can only come as a consequence of discipleship, not as a condition for discipleship.

With this in mind, let's use one of Jesus' own brothers to understand what this call to radical obedience looks like in our lives. Remember, at this time Jesus' brothers did not believe (John 7:5 states, "For not even His brothers were believing in Him."), but listen to the radical obedience in the life of one of his brothers, James, after he becomes a part of Jesus' forever family. James was moved from a place of not believing and being kept on the outside due to this lack of faith. But, it is amazing to me that the half brother of Jesus, James, would respond to Jesus' words from this specific occasion with such conviction that he would go on to be a great leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem and be the writer of the book we call James found in the Bible.

This is one of the earliest written (approx. 49 AD) and to me personally one of the most challenging letters in the entire New Testament whose overarching theme is that a person of faith must demonstrate their conversion with works; we must not only hear the Word of God, we must do it! Listen to the brother of Jesus after He became a member of Jesus' forever family. James 1:22-24 teaches, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was."

Talk about a complete life transformation that could only be caused by the movement of the Holy Spirit who convicted James of his sin and brought him to submission to the Lordship of his own brother, Jesus Christ. How difficult to submit to your brother!?! Another powerful example of a former blasphemer who became a leader in the church; I very much relate to this as I once was a blasphemer and a very sinful man indulging myself in the world's pleasures and philosophies. Good thing the Cross covers all sins for those who come humbly to the Lord and ask for forgiveness! Thank you Jesus!

James' letter is an example in itself of how a life is radically changed when we have been captivated by the love of God through Jesus Christ! The Bible declares in 1 John 5:3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

When we are called into radical obedience through the extravagant love of Jesus Christ, then God gives Himself to us through the presence of His Holy Spirit to empower our lives and lead us to do His will. There should be no burden on our part; you must trust in the Spirit!

The radical obedience called forth by the Master Himself and demonstrated by His Apostles and the early church are the fruit of a life adopted into Jesus' forever family through the Holy Spirit! Friends, we too, cannot expect ourselves to live such a life before we are truly a member of Jesus' forever family (filled with the Spirit) and that only happens through faith. Have you been captivated by the love of Jesus Christ? Does your life reflect your family allegiance?

Love compels us to act! Remember this key point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—radical obedience and all the good works that may flow out of this obedience are the consequence of your salvation, not a condition for it. You are saved by faith alone; now let the world see your true family allegiance by doing the will of God—this is the message of Jesus Christ that is emphasized by his own brother who went from blasphemy to radical obedience once he was captivated by love!

If you are working hard to try to win favor with God or to "tip the scales" in your favor, then you are burdened with religious motivations which have nothing to do with Jesus Christ or the full revelation of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! You've missed the whole point! You are not free yet!

As men and women who are adopted into Jesus' forever family, adoption comes with its costs, but I am here to declare that the costs are eternally outweighed by the privileges and rewards. The earliest followers of Jesus confronted Jesus with the cost they had born to be in His forever family and I want you to listen to Jesus' response. This is as true today as when Jesus first spoke it to Peter. From the Gospel of Mark 10:28-30, "Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You.' Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.'"

Respond today by casting down your selfish ambitions and self made aspirations. Respond today by leaving behind your allegiance to all this world has to offer and come to Jesus in faith.

Time to get back to Jesus!

Jesus Christ is the wild Messiah of the Gospels. Jesus is not the tame and docile, perfectly parted blond hair, manicured nails, blue eyed Jesus you see in so many icons that attempt to ensnare the Lord into our own culture's image. Jesus came to restore us as the image bearers of God, but instead we have continued to make God in our own image! In doing so, we have moved farther away from Jesus and His Gospel as His truths have been put in submission to our cultural values. We need to flip this and submit our culture to the Spirit of God! The Jesus of the Gospels is not the buddy Jesus that so many modern American Christians have made Him to be nor is the Holy Spirit our personal self-help life coach. Jesus is not that master who would never do anything or ask you to do anything that would upset your happy comfortable life of middle class mediocrity in the USA! These icons of Jesus are idols that need to be cast down because as long as WE follow a Jesus so far removed from the Gospels then WE will never make room in our hearts for the Jesus who breaks cultural expectations and revolutionizes religious anticipations. The Jesus who came to set us free is the wild Messiah of the Gospels! Read the Gospels and follow this Jesus—He will set you free of your disillusionments and lead you into the real abundant life that is far greater than anything this world or our culture can provide. I am praying for each us to be led by the Spirit...May revival start here in this heart!

"A Father's Day Gift..." (Mark 3:28-30)

"A Father's Day Gift…"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #21)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

June 19, 2011 ~ Happy Father's Day!

I dedicate this message to my daddy whom I love and respect so very much. Dad, my prayer is that you would open your heart to the Gospel before it is too late! I love you and commit myself to pray for your salvation daily until the day I no longer need to. Happy Father's Day!

The Word of God from Mark 3:28-30 (NAU), "'Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin'—because they were saying, 'He has an unclean spirit.'"

The context to Jesus' words is found in Mark 3:20-27 which reads, "And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, 'He has lost His senses.' [Jesus' family is questioning His mental capacities—'He's a lunatic!'] The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, 'He is possessed by Beelzebul,' and 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.' [The religious leaders are saying He's a liar in league with the devil!] And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables [now we see Jesus' response to an attack on both His person and His works; first He address His works:], 'How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.'"

Now, in verse 28, Jesus responds to their attack to His person starting with the Hebrew word Amen. This is an expression of absolute trust and reliability and for Jesus to start this thought with Amen is to say with great direction and intensity that you better pay attention to what I am about to say because it is very important and trustworthy! Jesus declares, "'Truly [Amen] I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin'—because they were saying, 'He has an unclean spirit.'"

Verse 30 bookends this passage so we know that verses 28-29 fit as part of the local situation. We must properly interpret and apply such a dramatic universal declaration as Mark 3:28-29. Such Scriptures must be handled with the greatest of humility and care! I believe Jesus is saying directly to both his family and the Scribes, "I am not a lunatic and I am not a liar; I am the Lord and there are serious implications on who you say I am so be very careful with the current course you are walking down—the consequences are eternal!"

I want to say to my dad and to so many other good people in our world today: be very careful on your current course of what you say about Jesus because the consequences are eternal! Mark 3:28 is one of the greatest declarative statements of forgiveness in the Scriptures, "'Truly [Amen] I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter…'" Let me summarize to make this clear: "All sin (evil deeds) and blasphemies uttered shall be forgiven all humanity…" All means all…

THE HEART OF GOD IS FORGIVENESS! From Old Testament to New Testament, we experience God's heart of forgiveness. Psalm 86:5 proclaims, "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You."

The Prophet Micah 7:18-19 makes it very clear, "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

This is a powerful image: God casts all the sins you have ever committed into the deepest ocean. Psalm 103:12 declares, "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us." To what depths and to what extent will our God go to offer forgiveness for His creation!?!

Jesus captures the heart of God in Mark 3:28 and He then declares the plan of God in Mark 3:29. Mark 3:28-29 declares, "'Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin'"

With the heart of God in mind, knowing that forgiveness and reconciliation are always in His heart, how did Jesus respond to his family calling Him a lunatic and the religious leaders calling Him a demon-possessed liar?

Jesus declares the heart of God to them with a stern and very clear warning attached—that every act and every blasphemy shall be forgiven, except one! Jesus is taking this opportunity to warn the Scribes that they are in a very dangerous situation and if they do not confess and repent they will find themselves having committed the eternal (unpardonable or unforgivable sin!). This is the most loving and compassionate thing Jesus could possibly do—telling the truth always is even if that truth isn't easily accepted by the person you need to tell it to! And on this Father's Day will love prevail and the truth be told to those we love the most?

This promise of forgiveness is proclaimed by Jesus Christ with the Cross before Him still, yet it is with the Cross—the center of God's redemptive activity on earth—that we hear and interpret these declarative words from Jesus. This is the heart of God and the divine purpose for His leaving Heaven and condescending to become a man—to live a sinless perfect life yet to die a criminal's death so that He may defeat death to secure for humanity the resurrection from the dead through the forgiveness of sin. Jesus, the Son of God, did all of this to fulfill the plan of God which answers every promise of God Yes in Jesus Christ.

THE PLAN OF GOD IS FORGIVENESS EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST! Forgiveness exclusively through Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God's redemptive activity on earth and to reject this plan for your life is to be guilty of an eternal sin—how can you ever expect to be forgiven if you reject the only means of forgiveness established by God for all humanity?

Listen to 1 John 5:10-13, "The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."

In Mark 3, Jesus is dealing with His family members and the Scribes who are (in a unique time and space in history) looking at and experiencing the full revelation of God—Jesus, the Son of God in flesh, filled with the Holy Spirit, teaching with authority, casting out demons, healing lepers and the lame—and they are claiming that He is not of God, but of the devil. This rejection of the full revelation of God is the specific blasphemy of the Holy Spirit Jesus speaks to. He warns them that to continue on this path of hard heartedness and spiritual blindness will lead to their inability to receive the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ, and without forgiveness exclusively through Jesus Christ they will be eternally separated from God!

Can we find ourselves in the same state of hard heartedness and spiritual today? Absolutely! With the full revelation of God available today through God's Word and with the Holy Spirit having been sent to humanity with the mission to convict of sin in order to draw all people to the risen Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation, it is very possible to reject this full revelation of God and blasphemy the Holy Spirit by saying that which is of God is either a lie or lunacy. As the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

There is no half way—there is either rejection or acceptance. Having the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior is entirely dependent on you turning toward God and asking for the forgiveness made available through the Cross. The Bible says in Romans 10:13, "for 'WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.'"

The Bible promises in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

This is the promise of God: if we confess our sins He will forgive us! Truly, the eternal sin is not the words of blasphemy or committing heinous crimes against God and humanity—the Cross is big enough for all sins and blasphemies spoken. The eternal sin is the state of one's heart that refuses to come to God and confess one's sins.

The Bible teaches in Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."

The bottom line: a person with a heart that has not been broken and is unrepentant cannot inherit the Kingdom of God! Dad, all evidence points me to believe that you have this kind of heart and that if you were to die today that you would be guilty of this unforgiveable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, but I am not your judge and I do not know the true state of your heart. But as a Father's Day gift I plead you to examine your own heart and get right with God. God is the Judge and it is to Him that you must stand before and receive final eternal judgment! Whether you believe that is the case or not does not change the reality that Judgment comes for all.

I feel that Jesus is saying to you today what He said 2000 years ago "I am not a lunatic and I am not a liar; I am the Lord and there are serious implications on who you say I am so be very careful with the current course you are walking down—the consequences are eternal!"

Dad, there is always hope! You are not hopeless! Please humble yourself before God and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin and His Spirit will do the rest.

"Chosen for a Mission!" (Mark 3:13-19)

"Chosen for a Mission!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #19)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

June 5, 2011

We are on an epic journey through the Gospel of Mark. Last week, we discussed how Jesus Christ knew that after five direct confrontations with the religious leaders of the Jewish Synagogue (Mark 2:1 – 3:6) it was time to withdraw from Capernaum (Mark 3:7). He withdrew because He had to fulfill the entire will of God for His life. Not part way; all the way! Before the final confrontation with evil through the Cross of Calvary, Jesus needed to call the twelve apostles and prepare them to advance the Kingdom of God for which Jesus Christ came to usher in through His life, death, and resurrection.

Our study today is from Mark 3:13-19 (NAU), "And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ¹⁷ and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, 'Sons of Thunder'); ¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him." [Prayer]

Let's learn from this story how Jesus called the Twelve nearly 2000 years ago and how He continues to call today. First, JESUS CHRIST SUMMONS YOU TO BE WITH HIM!

Mark 3:13 describes, "And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came [aperchomai] to Him." We learn from the immediate context of our passage that a huge crowd from all over the region followed Jesus to the sea (Mark 3:7-8). Now, Jesus selects and summons twelve men to break away from the multitudes to be with Him. Jesus withdrew on purpose and this is that purpose!

Jesus summoned those whom He Himself wanted. What is a summons? A summons is a call by an authority to appear, come, or do something. When we hear the word summons, we commonly think of a legal summons, like you have been summoned to appear before a judge. When Jesus Christ summons you to be with Him, you have the Judge of all humanity calling you to be with Him. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and the consequences are real on whether or not you accept this summons. To accept or deny has implications when Judgment comes!

From what authority did Jesus summon these men to Himself? This is a key question because anyone can ask us to do something or to be somewhere, but not everyone has the authority to summon us. Jesus' authority rests in who He is! In the Gospel of John 17:6 Jesus prays, "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word."

Our Scripture lesson says that Jesus summoned those He Himself wanted and when we put that in harmony with John 17:6 we do not find a contradiction of who called who, but rather we see that God the Father and God the Son are one in heart and purpose.

The Good News is that Jesus Christ takes full responsibility for who He summons because who He calls to Himself is from within His own sovereign will (from within the heart of God). In other words, Jesus does not make mistakes in who He summons! God does not make junk and He wants all of His children to come to Him when He calls, just like any loving parent would expect his/her children to come to him/her when they call for them. When you are summoned, your response is to yield to the call. Are you yielding? Listen to the response of the twelve. When Jesus called, 'they departed to Him'; the Greek word is aperchomai and it means "to go away in order to follow; to depart from one way in order to go another" This words implies a change of allegiance; they departed from their former allegiances to follow the authority of the One who called them. Have you departed from the old life to answer Jesus' summons to be with Him?

Jesus explains in the Gospel of John 15:16a, "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain."

Remember, that it is not you who chooses God; it is God who has summoned you to be with Him.

This is more than a Facebook friend request. To refuse to answer the summons has judicial implications on your eternity. This is a legally binding reality according to the established covenant between God and humanity. Just as a citizen of a sovereign nation must submit to the laws of the legally established authorities, so we, as men and women created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) must submit to the covenant between the sovereign authority of the Creator and us, His creation.

The second teaching point, JESUS CHRIST APPOINTS YOU FOR A MISSION!

Jesus summoned the Twelve and they departed from their former allegiances to follow the authority of the One who called them. The story doesn't end there for the Twelve nor does it end there for us today. Mark 3:14-15 continues to tell the story, "And He appointed [poieō] twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send [apostellō] them out to preach, and to have authority [exousia] to cast out the demons."

We are summoned according to God's sovereign will and when we respond to this invitation we are appointed with a purpose—for a mission!

What is the mission we are appointed to? These two verses answer this question for us. It's a two-part mission:

1. To be with Him in a special relationship!

2. To be sent out in a special service!

The key word of verse 14 is poieō which is translated "He appointed", but more literally means to make, to create, to form something. We saw this word used when Jesus Christ called the fisherman to follow Him in Mark 1:17, "And Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.'"

In this verse too we see the call to the two-part mission of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. First, we follow Jesus. We are with Him in a special relationship! Second, He will make us become (poieō) fishers of men. We are sent out in a special service! Jesus appointed the twelve as apostles, which comes from the original Greek word apostellō, which means "ones sent out" as heralds (messengers, envoys) of the Kingdom of God. From this two-part mission, we realize that Jesus is calling us to the abiding life (John 15) that requires of us to remain in Him as we are sent out as messengers of the Good News.

That is why Jesus appoints them to both preach and have the authority to cast out demons. As official heralds or envoys (ambassadors!) of the Kingdom of God, the twelve are sent out in a special service which comes with the authority of the Master, the One who has the legal authority to summons and appoint. We see the same Greek word for authority, exousia, again in the commission given to the disciples of Jesus Christ. We are each called out to be sent out ones in Matthew 28:18-20, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'"

You can here the two-part mission of the abiding life again in this commission upon all followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus has not stopped appointing apostles—sent out ones who have the authority of the King to be heralds of the Kingdom of God. When you answer the summons to be with Jesus, He appoints you! You have been appointed by God for a two-part mission! 1) Are you spending time with Jesus in a special relationship? 2) Are you responding to His appointment to be sent out as His ambassador to the world?

You are called with a mission—to be with Jesus and to be sent out for Jesus. This is not an impersonal call. We learn from the Bible that when God calls you JESUS CHRIST PERSONALLY CALLS YOU BY NAME!

Listen to Mark 3:16-19, "And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, 'Sons of Thunder'); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him."

When God summon and appoints, He calls you by name! What an amazing reality; the God who is Creator and Redeemer knows you by name! This is the way that God has always worked when He summons people to be in relationship with Him and appoints them do a special service for Him. Listen to Exodus 3:4-6a, "When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then He said, 'Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' He said also, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'"

God is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and He is still calling people by name today. Listen to the words of Jesus Christ from Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me."

Jesus is at the door of His church and at the door of your life knocking. The Bible says "if anyone hears My voice" and this implies He is speaking, possibly even calling out. What is He saying? Could it be that our Lord Jesus Christ is standing at the door, knocking, and calling out your name?

God is personally pursuing you by calling you by name! Will you open the door to a relationship with Jesus Christ?

Let us pray together and listen for the voice of God calling us to be with Him by name.