Mark 3:13-19
13 He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.
14 He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach
15 and to have authority to drive out demons:
16 (he appointed the twelve:) Simon, whom he named Peter;
17 James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
19 and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
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Sorry folks, I clicked send WAY too early on that message. This one is more coherent.
Mark 3:13-19
13 He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.
14 He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach
15 and to have authority to drive out demons:
16 (he appointed the twelve:) Simon, whom he named Peter;
17 James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
19 and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
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Recall the scene from yesterday. People had come to Jesus from all over the place, and the crowds were so large that he needed a boat just to protect himself.
Unclean spirits had confessed him to be the Christ, and he reprimanded them.
He retreats from the crowd and commissions the men that he DOES want to preach his gospel. Two specific parts of their job description are stated here -- to preach, and to drive out demons. For them to perform this work, they will have to spend significant amounts of time learning from him.
I see two important lessons here:
- It isn’t just the holy that proclaim Jesus as the Christ. From this passage, it is clear that demons do as well. Sometimes it’s very easy to identify evil, but it isn’t always. A lot of evil has occurred over the centuries that began in the name of Christ.
- We need to spend time with Christ and learn from Him to be able to fully discern the difference.
