JESUS CHOOSES HIS DISCIPLES

October 5, 2019

This Bible story series run about the life of Jesus Christ was adapted from the book Who Was Jesus, Really? (Book 1,2,3) By James Taiwo.

Jesus The Mystery Man – Episode 5

Our previous post discussed Jesus’ preparation to fulfill his ministry purpose and how Satan tried to derail him from the mission.

Satan tempted Jesus with different tricks with the hope that he might get confused and miss his purpose, but the enemy lost!

In the previous post, we also identified the clues that made Jesus prevail over Satan.

In this post, we are going to discuss the events of how Jesus was able to gather twelve men that he needed for his ministry.

(You can read the full story in the Bible- Mark 1)

The twelve men were also called the apostles. (Apostle – meaning one who is sent away).

It wasn’t news that Jesus is the Messiah, promised by God through the prophets. John the Baptist had proclaimed this fact to everyone who would listen, but few people had listened so far.

Jesus, while going around doing good, preaching the word of God and healing people, he refused to brag about the fact that he is the Son of God. Yes, you can call it humility, but that didn’t stop him from calling out to the people who will tell others – The disciples, which are also called apostles!

Perhaps what was more surprising is not the way Jesus called his disciples, but rather at the odd times he did it.

The Book One of “Who Was Jesus, Really?” in its fourth chapter shows that Jesus was walking one day along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the lake because they were fishermen.

Jesus was excited, and he said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men!” Without delay, they left their nets and ran to meet Jesus.

As they went a little farther, they saw the sons of Zebedee in a boat with their father, cleaning their nets and about to go for the next night of fishing.

Jesus quickly called them to follow him, and they happily left their father, Zebedee, with the servants and followed Jesus. He told them they wouldn’t be looking for fish any longer, but that he would teach them how to “fish” people for the kingdom of God.

Imagine that! They were still working when He beckoned unto them.

Imagine someone calling you to come right now regardless of what you are doing, asking that you leave everything you are doing and follow him. Would you answer?

You might object the call, but the sons of Zebedee left their father in the boat in the early mornings (while preparing for their fishery business) to follow Jesus.

Jesus Is Calling!

Jesus called his twelve disciples on different occasions.

The names of the disciples are Simon Peter, Andrew, John, James (sons of Zebedee), Philip, Matthew, Bartholomew, Thomas, James (son of Alpheus), Simon (the patriot), Thaddaeus, and Judas Iscariot.

Of course, there were some other men and women who later became Jesus’ disciples, but those twelve men were different because they were divinely selected. Jesus sent them out to proclaim the good news to others about God’s kingdom.

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Lesson To Learn

The action of the sons of Zebedee and others that Jesus called is indeed exemplary! Those people were eager to follow Jesus. They didn’t allow their private business to stop them from following the Master.

What else do we learn?

Jesus showed no discrimination whatsoever in his choices; instead, he let the Holy Spirit guide him about who to call.

Jesus can call anyone at any time.

Matthew, for example, was a tax collector, and yet Jesus called him. This shows us how Jesus can call anyone at any time. But the question is, will you answer him whenever he calls you?

The most important lesson from the process of Jesus’ selection of his disciples is that he is interested in everyone.

Jesus is still calling us now. Anyone who answers his call is another disciple added to the list.

Jesus is calling you!

Join us in the next episode to learn more about how good Jesus is.

Did you miss the previous episodes? Read them here >> https://biblearena.org/category/

This book series has them all >> Who Was Jesus, Really? Boxset