Gospel of Mark wk 10

A Strategy for Ministry

This morning we are continuing in our walk through the Gospel of Mark.

We will be in chapter 3, verses 7-19 as we look at a Strategy for Ministry.

We live in the age of the mega ministry.

Televangelism has become a byword and the megachurch is becoming more and more commonplace.

And yet, the mega ministry is not something new.

It is very old.

It goes all the way back to a Galilean rabbi and a handful of disciples in a rowboat.

Jesus was a man with a plan.

From a humble carpenter’s village, and in a space of only three years, He would set into motion a ministry which would change the face of the world.

How did He do this?

I want to suggest that it was not without a plan.

Jesus had a very specific and God-ordained strategy for success.

It involved both a ministry to the multitudes as well as ministry to a small, selected group of disciples.

Mark 3:7–8 NASB95

7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.

Pray

I. A Ministry to the Multitudes

1. Withdrawal to the Sea

As we seen last week the opposition against the person and ministry of Jesus had begun to take on a new turn as the Pharisees joined forces with the Heordians in an effort to bring forth a plan to stop Jesus.

At the same time that this opposition was growing, so also the popularity of Jesus was escalating at a dramatic pace.

Whereas the ministry of Jesus had originally been confined to the localized areas around Galilee, now He was drawing people from as far away as Jerusalem and the Transjordan area and from the Phoenician coast lands.

What was the attraction?

Why were so many coming such a long way in order to see Jesus?

It was because of what He was DOING.

It was because they had heard of the miracles which He was performing.

They had heard the wonderful stories of this carpenter who could heal the sick, who could cast out demons with a word and restore the paralyzed.

The news was spreading like wildfire.

Jesus didn’t have to launch a publicity campaign.

People did it for Him.

Word of Mouth is always the best form of advertisement.

LifeWay Research said, Of all unchurched people, 82 percent would come to church this weekend if they were invited by a friend.

2. Ministry by the Sea

Mark 3:9–10 NASB95

9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; 10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him.

The word describing a “boat” is describing a boat that would have been of the size of a rowboat.

The purpose of the boat was that Jesus might continue to minister despite the great pressing crowds.

Apparently, He would sit in the boat, using it as a floating pulpit as people came to hear Him preach and to be healed.

3. A Command to Silence

Mark 3:11–12 NASB95

11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” 12 And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

Jesus had been willing to accept the testimony of the masses who had spread the stories of Him throughout the country.

He was more than willing to accept the testimony of John the Baptist.

But there was one testimony which He would not accept, no matter how dramatic it might be.

This was the testimony of the unclean spirits.

It was not that their testimony was inaccurate.

They were absolutely correct in saying that Jesus was the Son of God.

It wasn’t the content of the message that was the problem.

The problem was the SOURCE of the message.

These were unclean spirits.

They were demons.

They were messengers of Satan.

Jesus refused to have anything to do with them.

There is a lesson here.

It is that you need to take care with whom you associate.

Jesus took care with whom He associated.

That does not mean that He avoided sinners.

To the contrary, He was criticized for being with sinners.

What it does mean is that He was careful.

He met people where they were, but He did not leave them where they were.

He called them to repentance.

II. The Calling of the Twelve

The primary method of Jesus’ ministry was MEN.

The first thing we saw Him doing following His baptism and temptation was to call a few men to follow Him.

There were initially four: Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John.

Levi was called later.

Now there will be a total of Twelve.

1. A Sovereign Call

Mark 3:13 NASB95

13 And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

Just as Moses had gone up onto Mount Sinai to receive the Law, so now Jesus goes up onto a mountain to choose those to whom He will entrust His teachings.

He did not call all men at this time.

He only summoned “those whom He Himself wanted.”

Jesus was under no obligation to choose all men.

Neither is He under any obligation to save all mankind.

The fact that He freely offers salvation to all men is a matter of GRACE.

2. The Purpose of the Call

Mark 3:14–15 NASB95

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.

There are three aspects to the purpose of Jesus in calling these men.

He called them so that they could...

* Be with Him.

* Be sent out by Him.

* Have authority from Him.

The first step to being a disciple of Jesus is to “be with Him.”

This is a necessary part of discipleship.

True discipleship cannot be long distance.

This is why God became a man - to be with us.

It would not be until the disciples had spent time with Jesus and had gotten to know Him that they would be ready to go out from Him.

There is a principle here.

It is a principle of discipleship.

Disciples must be grown organically and through a process of absorption.

To state it in other terms, Christianity must be caught rather than merely taught.

Discipleship is more than merely sitting in a class, hearing a lecture or teaching.

As seen with the example of Jesus discipleship is taught by hearing teaching but also by observing it lived out.

3. The Twelve

Mark 3:16–19 NASB95

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.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts all record lists of the twelve disciples.

Simon Peter is always mentioned first.

Judas Iscariot is always mentioned last when he is mentioned at all.

Judas was initially attracted to Jesus.

He didn’t start off any worse than the other disciples.

The whole group of disciples were a motley group of sinners.

But something happened to Judas.

He turned from a disciple to a betrayer.

What we need to see from these Twelve Disciples is that Jesus will use anyone.

Another thing to see is the impact that these Twelve had, Acts 2:41

Acts 2:41 NASB95

41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

These wild, crazy, everyday men, were obedient, willing and available to God.

Because of that, God used those men in a powerful way.

There was twelve, that lead a hundred and twenty, that impacted the city of Jerusalem greatly because they were obedient, willing and available to God.

What we need to asks ourselves are we obedient, willing and available to be used by God.

God’s will, plan and purpose is to send His people out, He does call some to go to foreign places, like Paul did to be missionaries.

But what we need to see from the twelve is that God sends all his followers out to share the gospel message.

Luke 10:1 NASB95

1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

From this text we see how Jesus sent out His followers two by two, to go ahead of Him to the cities He was preparing to go to.

Have you ever wondered how Billy Graham would have such great altar calls.

Now I am not saying that he was not a great preacher/evangelist, but a pastor friend told me that he was part of a Billy Graham crusade.

What they did was months in advance Billy Graham’s people contacted the local churches around the area he was going to be going too.

He would recruit people from those local churches to go out into their community and share the gospel with the community and invite the people to the crusade.

Then the crusade would come, and all those that had been recruited to go out into the community would also come to help at the crusade.

A lot of the people that responded to the altar call had already been saved through the outreach of the local churches.

We must understand that if we are going to impact the community for God’s glory then we must be out in the community.

We must invite those that are not attending church somewhere.

We must share our Jesus story with others.

Our Jesus story is simply what Jesus has done in our lives, how He has impact us and changed us.

My Jesus story is different from yours, and yours is different then the persons sitting next to you.

Our Jesus story does not have to be full of Scripture, and a matter of fact, Scripture tells us that unbelievers do not understand Scripture.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB95

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

God has called us to reach the lost, therefore, we must do our part by sharing our Jesus story.

Remember the LifeWay research - it said that 82% of people not attending church would attend if a friend invited them.

We must be inviting others to church.

If Hammock First Baptist Church is going to impact this community for God’s glory, then we must be obedient, willing and available to God.

We must be available to God to use us for His glory, willing to do whatever God leads us to do, and obedient when He leads us to change things to impact His kingdom for His glory.

We must remember it is not about me, it is about magnifying the name of Jesus.

The way that we magnify the name of Jesus, is by being obedient to His calling on our lives, available when He leads and willing to do what He leads.