This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Day 3 of our look together through Mark Chapter 3 and Daily Drive
Time Devotions. We're going to look at verses 13 to 19 today. Let me begin by
reading those verses for you.

Mark 3, 13 to 19, "Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he
wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve, designating them apostles,
that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach, and have
authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed, Simon, to whom
he gave the name Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

To them he gave the name Boarjunes, which means sons of thunder, Andrew, Philip,
Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the
Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. " This is Jesus' calling of the
twelve apostles, and the reason that he called these apostles and the tasks that
he gave to them are all important because we're his disciples too. We can learn
much from what happened in the lives of these twelve, much about what you and I
are to do and how you and I are to live out the life of faith and the journey of
service that Jesus Christ has given to us.

Now let me just set the scene before we talk about what you and I can learn from
these disciples, these first apostles. Jesus already had a number of disciples
following him, far more than twelve. We saw him call Matthew earlier as we
walked through the book of Mark, but now he's going to call out twelve from that
larger number that's already following him to be his apostles.

These twelve will become the ones who carry on his message after his death and
resurrection. Now why twelve? I mean, why didn't he call nine apostles?

Why didn't he call fourteen? Well, one reason that many people have suggested is
that there are twelve tribes of Israel, and when you get to the book of
Revelation, you see that God has a plan here. There's the twelve tribes and the
twelve apostles and there's twelve stones in the eternal city that all these
things begin to match up, so God knows what he's doing.

But the reason for twelve, as far as God's plan, has more to do, when you and I
look at it on a practical basis, with the fact that God wanted to work through a
group of men to make a difference in the world. And Jesus set aside a large
enough group that they could go to the entire world. Now when you look at these
disciples, these apostles, why call, why set apart these disciples?

Who were these men? What specifically were they called to do? What resources
were they given?

When you get a hold of that, you begin to get a hold of the kind of life that
God wants you and I to live in everyday life. Why did he call disciples? He'd
been attracting a lot of people, he had big enough crowds, so why did he need to
set aside twelve?

Well, it was the best way to ensure a quality ministry, and it was also the best
way to ensure a quantity ministry. Jesus knew that he was going to die after
just three years of public ministry, and that someone else would have to carry
the message on. And he needed these people who would be close to him, who would
be true disciples, who would learn and be able to carry on the quality of life
and ministry after he left.

You see, in the end, you're committed to what you follow. Miracles seekers are
committed to seeing miracles in the end. People who love large crowds and being
in large crowds are committed to seeking out places where there are large
crowds.

Disciples are committed to Jesus. Jesus said to these disciples, "Follow me. "
And so their commitment is to Jesus.

And in the end, you're going to become like who you follow. He called them so
that they could become like him. Why call disciples?

Because it ensured the quality of his ministry after his death and resurrection,
but it also ensured the quantity of his ministry. Jesus' purpose in the end is
to reach the whole world with the good news of his love. His purpose is
evangelism, reaching out to everyone, not just these 12, but everyone.

Robert Coleman, long ago, wrote a book called The Master Plan of Discipleship.
It was a watershed book about the methods of Jesus in reaching the world. And in
that book, he talks about how he searched and searched and searched to find how
Jesus methods of discipleship and evangelism worked.

And he couldn't find any specific method of evangelism. And finally, he
determined that people were his plan, that women and men were his method, that
it was the method of working his truth, his life into people's lives, and then
watching that life work into other people's lives. As you and I look at the
ministry of Jesus today, we can see very clearly that the fastest way to reach
the world is by multiplication.

Not by having huge crowds of hundreds of thousands or even millions, but by
having one person tell another person, and then that person tells two people,
and those two people tell four people, those four people tell 16 people. It
doesn't take long that way until the whole world hears. Jesus wanted to make
sure that every person heard.

And so he told 12 who would tell others, who would tell others, who would tell
others. That's why he called disciples, apostles, to follow him. And what were
they called to do?

I don't know if there's any better expression of what these men were called to
do than here in the book of Mark. You notice it says here that he set them aside
to be with him and to be sent out from him. That's what we're called to do as
followers of Jesus Christ, to be with him and to be sent out.

You become, in the end, like the person with whom you spend the most time. And
so if I want to become more like Jesus Christ, I need to spend more time with
Jesus Christ. You become like the people you spend the most time with.

If I start to hang around a new group of friends, I'm going to begin to pick up
their pet phrases. I become more like them. I'm going to begin to become
interested in some of the things that they're interested in.

You become interested and you become like the people that you spend the most
time with. You look at a couple that's been married for like 50 years. Have you
ever noticed with older couples like that how they actually begin to look
exactly like each other even at that age?

You become like the people that you spend the most time with. I want to become
like Jesus Christ in my character, in my passions, in my interests. If I'm going
to become like him, I've got to spend time with him through scripture, through
prayer, through worship, through ministry to others.

By the way, ministry to others can be spending time with Jesus. Jesus says,
"What you've done to them, you've also done for me. " There are many ways to
spend time with him.

When I'm thinking about him, even in what I'm doing, I'm spending time with him.
You're going to become like Jesus as you are with him. This isn't some secret
complicated process of being a disciple.

The word disciple literally means learner. That's the literal meaning. It means
I'm learning faith.

The only way to learn the life of Jesus is by spending time with him in these
ways. But that's not all of it. It's to be with him, but it's also to be sent
out.

It's interesting. This word sent out is apostolo in Greek. It's where we get the
name apostle.

Apostle are the sent out ones. They're sent. They're going out under his
directions.

They're sent out. That's a scary word to some of us, out. No one likes to go
out.

It's a lot cozier to stay in, but out is where he's calling you to go, to a new
place, to a new person, to a new country, to a new people, to a new ministry,
someplace you haven't been before. That's where out is. And you don't know
everything about what's out there, but Jesus does.

That's why he's sending you there, because he knows you're the person who can
meet the need in that place. He calls you to be with him. He calls you to be
sent out.

Now before we talk to Jesus for just a moment and close this day, I want you to
notice one more thing about these verses. At the very beginning, did you notice
that Jesus called to him those whom he wanted? He wanted these disciples to be
with him, these followers to be with him.

And the same thing is true of you and I today. He calls those whom he wants.
Jesus enjoys, he takes joy in the fact that you're following him.

Now to me, that's grace. That Jesus Christ wants me, a sinner? That Jesus Christ
wants me, who stumbles?

That Jesus Christ wants me, who so often is selfish, he wants me to follow him?
But the truth is he does. Remember, he has chosen you as a disciple.

You're not one of these first 12 apostles, but he has chosen you as a disciple
and he wants you to be with him, to follow him. So let's talk to him right now.
Jesus, we spend some time with you right now.

Thank you for loving us. And help us to see your heart. Help us to understand
the way you see things.

As we spend time with you, we pray that we become more like you. And as we
become more like you, we pray that we would see that you're sending us out. Help
us to see the places to which you're sending us, the people, the opportunities,
the ministries.

Help us to see it, Jesus. We want to serve you and we know that you use us as
your hands and your feet in the world today. We are the body of Christ in the
church.

So help us to see where it is, exactly where it is that you are sending us. We
want to be with you and we want to be sent out. We pray this, Jesus, in your
name, amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to continue to talk together about what you and I can
learn about following Jesus from these first disciples.