7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea
8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him,
10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.
11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."
12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.
14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach
15 and have authority to cast out demons.
16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);
17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);
18 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.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. https://esv.org/Mark3.7-20
Setting the Foundation for Kingdom Growth
Mark 3:7-20
I. Jesus exposes the brokenness and need of the World
A. Jesus exposes Corrupt Religion
1. God’s Invitation to Rest: CORRUPTED
See Matthew 23:23-24.
2. God’s Invitation to Rest: RESTORED
3. God’s Invitation to Rest: RESISTED
B. Jesus exposes the brokenness of this world
1. Wide-Spread need
2. Desperate need
3. Spiritual Darkness
II. Jesus calls ordinary people to represent Him in the World
A. Christ’s Incarnational Ministry
See Genesis 3:15; 12:1-3 and Mark 3:14-15 and Acts 10:38 and 1 John 3:8.
B. Christ’s Ascension Ministry
Christ continues His work through His Body, the Church:
Total Christ! See Ephesians 2:19-21; 1 Peter 2:5
1. The Character of the Called
a. Ordinary, broken men
b. Character issues (Boanerges, “sons of Thunder”)
2. The Call of the Called
a. Sent (Apostles)
b. Be with Jesus
i. The Apostles:
