God's Designs

"God's Designs" - Mark 3:13-19 To point out or allocate someone or something for a certain purpose. To choose, to appoint, to select; God's design. It is the "free will of God who has "a plan of love", which moves Him to create the world as the stage of human history and to act in it; thought or purpose of the understanding, accepted by the will. Doing something, a divine plan, are certain events that, in general, are difficult to understand or accept. Divine design, a phenomenon when it is the will and desire of God that corresponded in each step. Thinking, planning, project.

I. God's design for the apostles.

A. He called to Himself those whom He willed.

1. They're called; they've come to Him.

2. Jesus appointed "twelve" disciples.

3. There was nothing wonderful about the men themselves; "It was their relationship with Jesus that made them great.”

4. They were young men.

5. James E. Stewart has a splendid commentary on the youth of the disciples.

6. The Christian began as a youth movement...

7. It is quite certain that the original group of disciples were young.

8. It is not surprising, then, that Christianity entered the world as a youth movement.

9. Most of the apostles must have been in their twenties "when they went out after Jesus."

10. (Psalm 110:3) Jesus Himself, we should not forget, went forth into His earthly ministry with the "dew of (His) youth" upon Him.

11. When we study the history of the first Twelve, what we are studying is a young man's adventure.

12. We see them following their guide into the unknown, not knowing very clearly who He is or where He could lead them; but attracted in a magnetic way by Him, fascinated and attached (to unite something) and held by something "irresistible" (overwhelming) in the soul of their master ridiculed by friends, with enemies plotting against them, with doubts sometimes arising in a clamorous way (very great, noisy) with their own hearts, until they almost wished they were totally out of that matter; but yet clinging to it, passing through the ruins of their own hopes "to better allegiance and to triumphantly attain” the great name given to them by the Te Deush: The glorious company of the apostles.

13. They are worth contemplating; because we too can be infected by their spirit and set out on "the way of Jesus."

14. In their call there was a threefold purpose: a) First, they had to spend some time on instruction, of preparation in private before preaching in public. Here we have a basic principle of service. We are to spend time with Him before we go out as God's representatives. b) Second, they were sent out to preach. The proclamation of God's Word, its basic method of evangelism, must always be central.

c) Finally, they received supernatural "power." The act of casting out "demons" would bear witness to men that God was speaking through the apostles. The Bible had not yet been completed. Miracles were the credentials of God's messengers. Today, men have access to the complete Word of God; they are responsible for believing it "without" proof of miracles.

15. (19) The name of Judas Iscariot stands out among the apostles.

16. There is a mystery connected with the one who was chosen as an apostle and who turned out to be who handed over our Lord.

17. One of the greatest pains in Christian service is to see someone who was brilliant, fervent, and seemingly devout, then turn his back on the Savior and return to the world that has crucified Him.

18. Eleven of them proved faithful to the Lord, and through them the world was turned upside down.

19. They were reproduced in ever-widening circles of projection (throwing, pushing) and in a sense, "we are today the continued fruit of their service."

20. There is no way to calculate the extent of our influence for Christ.

21. For the one God calls, His designs are everything that He has chosen for our lives: plan, project.

22. What does Jehovah God want for my life? Beginning

a. And He called to Himself those whom He willed; and they came to Him.

b. (Luke 6:12-13) He spent the entire night in prayer to God.

c. The standard by which He was guided in making the choice was His free will. He called to Himself those whom He willed.

d. Not those whom we would have thought should be promoted, but those whom He thought "fit" to call, and whom He "determined to equip for 'the service' which He was to entrust to them."

e. Christ calls those He wills.

f. The efficacy (effectiveness) of this call.

g. He called them to separate themselves from the crowd and follow Him, and they "came unto Him."

h. To those He wanted to call, 'He made them want to come'.

i. The purpose of the call: "that they might be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach " (14); They were to be with Him constantly. (Acts 1:24) The chosen disciple would witness His doctrine, His conduct, and patience, thus being able to know Him well and receive the instructions from Him, necessary to be able to preach and instruct others.

j. Equipping them for such a design (purposes, designs) took time.

k. For this reason, being a minister of Christ requires spending enough time with Him to be useful in His ministry. Amen