Three groups of people are mentioned in this passage: The Pharisees who hated Jesus. The large crowds who followed Him wanting His healing touch and to see miracles. The inner circle of Jesus, His disciples.
“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” Mark 3:13-15 NIV
The disciples, the ones closest to Him, His friends are described as the ones “he wanted”. He appointed them “that they might be with him and that he might send them out…”. What a privilege to be one of the ones to walk and talk with Jesus to learn from Him and to be used by Him! The disciples were blessed!
We are blessed!! When we follow Jesus and have the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are His disciples too. We are the ones He wants! We are the ones He is with and He sends out!
When the Kingdom of God comes near healing and restoration occurs. Everywhere Jesus went lives that were broken were fixed, lives that were occupied by evil were set free, unclean lives were made clean. The people were amazed. Yet in all this activity, Jesus took time to get alone with His Father.
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”Mark 1:35 NIV
Why? Jesus was God and there was so much to do? Why would He need time to pray? He was One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit. He was in relationship with them. He still is! Out of this relationship God’s Kingdom love and power flowed!
We are invited to enter into this relationship and be One with God. Then God’s Kingdom flows through us! As Jesus ambassadors of the Kingdom, we are a part of His plan to restore and heal. This was Good News then. This is the Good News now. The Good News that goes on and on!
(This month I’m going back to the gospels, the books that tell about Jesus’s life- the Book of Mark)
Mark starts his book by proclaiming that Jesus and His coming is Good News! It is Good News indeed! John the Baptist testified of this Good News in his ministry before Jesus came. John said this:
“And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”” Mark 1:7-8 NIV
In the first 12 verses of Mark, the Holy Spirit is mentioned three times. Why is this important? Jesus came as God with us! He walked in our world. Jesus came so that He could baptize us or fully immerse us with the Holy Spirit, who is God in us! As we come into that relationship we will find the Holy Spirit to be such a precious friend.
This same Holy Spirit that fills us is the same Holy Spirit of whom John the Baptist spoke. The same Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove at His baptism. He is the same Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness afterwards.
Jesus offers us Good News as well today! The Kingdom of God has come near! We can be a part of that Kingdom! He wants us to follow Him just as He called out to Simon and Andrew.
“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:16-18 NIV
And as we follow Him others will want to follow as well! Empowered by the Holy Spirit and sharing the goodness of God we receive. Good News for all!
(I write these devotions as a daily text to my nieces. I began to share them on my blog. There is a reference to Grandma and Grandpa, my mother in law and father in law. They believed and received the gift I wrote about.)
Happy Pentecost Sunday! At Christmas we celebrated God with us. At Easter we celebrated God restoring relationship with us. Today we celebrate God in us!!
I want to encourage you today to reflect on the precious presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He is the comforter, the teacher, the intercesor, the one who empowers us. The promise of the Holy Spirit’s infilling is for today.
Your Grandma and Grandpa testified frequently to the difference they experienced when they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that we read about in Acts. They also practiced daily praying in tongues or praying in the Spirit. This is a part of your rich heritage. This gift of a prayer language that we read about in Ephesians:
“praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication…” Ephesians 6:18 ESV
This Builds us up in our faith. I have experienced its benefits in my life as well. I pray often in the Spirit. It is a daily practice that has helped me in my walk with the Lord.
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,” Jude 1:20 ESV
I mention all of this because I know how hard it is to live victoriously in this world. This is one of the tools that God has given us to help us to overcome sin. I would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and to desire all that He has for you.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
The Apostle Paul spoke of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. That is spending time with Him as a friend. I know only a small portion of what this is and I want to know it more. May we all desire to know Him as our dear and closest Friend. Love you all!
The final chapter of Acts tells of Paul’s time on the island of Malta and the miracles that happened there and his arrival at Rome. No matter what the circumstances or possible opposition, Paul preached to everyone and anyone who would listen to him.
The final verse of Acts says this:
“He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” Acts 28:31 NIV
He lived a life that experienced the promised power to be a witness. He knew how to receive comfort in hard times from the Holy Spirit. His life is an example of what being full of the Holy Spirit is like.
Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday. It is a time to remember the wonderful promise fulfilled in the upper room years ago. We have an invitation to not only remember, but to receive Him into our lives and to pray for Him to fill us and overflow us. We can know the Holy Spirit and experience His fellowship, His closeness.
Paul sails to Rome, but along the way his ship ends up in a terrible storm and the lives of those aboard are in peril. Those aboard the ship “gave up all hope of being saved.”But God continues to speak to Paul about the situation. Paul told those aboard the ship with him:
“For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’” Acts 27:23-24 ESV
What God spoke to Paul eventually came to pass. The ship was dashed to pieces on rocks, but everyone on the ship survived.
This story may seem like a horrible detour, unfair to a man that desired to live his life only for Jesus. But, God had a purpose in it!
We go through things we do not understand, hardships… As we have yielded our lives to the Holy Spirit and trust God, we will see that God does work all things out for our good and for His glory.
Paul was brought before King Agrippa to plead his case. He once again tells his testimony of how he had an encounter with the living, resurrected Jesus. In that encounter, Jesus told Paul what his mission in life would be when he met him on the road to Damascus.
“But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” Acts 26:16-18 ESV
He was testifying of the power of God that enables us to turn from the darkness of sin- anything we do that is against God’s laws and separates us from God. He told everyone he was in contact with about what he had both physically and spiritually experienced, a God who could take eyes that are blind- unable to see God’s ways and truth- and make them see. He spoke of forgiveness from God for the wrongs we have done and being set apart for God’s purposes through faith.
This is all still available to us today. The Holy Spirit continues to move our hearts to desire to know all of what Paul was telling King Agrippa about. We have a choice. King Agrippa did too. But his response was truly a sad one.
“And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind…In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”” Acts 26:24, 28 ESV
Paul’s desire was not simply to be free of his chains. His desire was that everyone he came in contact with would know the Jesus he knew. Paul wanted them to experience the relationship with the Holy Spirit he was experiencing. His response was this to the Kings question.
“And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”” Acts 26:29 ESV
This is why I write these things to you. I know from experience the power of God who broke off the chains of sin by which I was held captive. I can tell you the difference of walking in the darkness of my own ways as opposed to walking into the light of God’s path- His ways. Do not be “almost persuaded” to surrender your heart entirely to God! King Agrippa walked away from Paul’s testimony of Jesus that day unchanged. May we see the value of what he spoke and seek out the relationship he described. It is the only way!
Paul stood on trial before the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of the Jewish people. He knew some were Pharisees and some Sadducee’s. These were two different groups of the leaders. One of the differences was their belief in the resurrection of the dead. Paul knew this so he stated his belief in the resurrection. This caused an uproar between his accusers, and once again they wanted to kill him. They were about to tear him into pieces. Even so, the Holy Spirit gave Paul boldness to continue to testify. Jesus even came to Him in a vision, telling him he would go to Rome to testify.
Once again difficult circumstances surrounded Paul: accusations, beatings, imprisonment, death, etc. He could have recanted his stories, told his accusers he was a liar and he was sorry. He could have denied what he was proclaiming as truth. It would have all stopped and he more than likely would have been free. Perhaps they would have even made him a hero.
Why did Paul continue? He had a personal, face to face encounter with Jesus. He was changed. The Holy Spirit dwelled within Him. He was not the same man that was on the road to Damascus years before.
It is a known fact that out of the twelve disciples that followed Jesus before His death, eleven of them died as martyrs. Something they saw and experienced made them willing to die for what they believed. People do not die a martyr for a lie willingly. They had experienced truth!
John described it this way:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—” 1 John 1:1-2 ESV
God wants us to experience Him. This is why the Holy Spirit came to live within us. So we could see and touch. We can feel Him. Then we are able to testify to what we know!
May we experience the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives!
There is power in the testimony of what Jesus had done for you. Paul was not afraid to tell the people his testimony, even though it was controversial and unacceptable to testify that Jesus, God’s son wanted Paul to go to the Gentiles to proclaim God’s favor towards them. Paul knew God had chosen him years before on the road to Damascus to do just that. Ananias told Paul shortly after his encounter with Jesus himself:
“…The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.” Acts 22:14-15 ESV
We have been called too. The Holy Spirit has been given to us as well empowers us to testify. We are to know this is His will. We are to “be a witness for him to everyone of what we have seen and heard.” Our testimony of God’s goodness in our lives will point others to the truth we have found. Lives will be changed!
Come Holy Spirit make us witnesses! Let us share our testimony!
Paul went from town to town and from house to house declaring Jesus. He even stated:
“…I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,” Acts 20:20 ESV
Paul did not hesitate to preach anything that he thought would be helpful to the believers he knew. Especially the importance of faith in Jesus:
“testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21 ESV
That is how we need to live our lives. There is only one answer to the circumstances of life that we find ourselves in. There is only one truth! May we declare this to those we know. It is the only thing helpful in a world that is confusing and full of hurt!
Your Love 