A look at the book of Mark will give the casual reader a sense of excitement and purpose. Words like "immediately," "straightway," and "forthwith," relate the sense of urgency and the purpose of each word and act of the Master.
He was a Man with a mission. He had but a short time to gather, train, and send those who would cause the Church to grow and prosper. The future of the ministry was in the balance. His brief time on earth would be fruitful, or unfruitful, depending upon how well He did His job.
After His Baptism He was "immediately" driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He vanquished the devil with the Word of God and came out and began His ministry saying, "...repent ye, and believe my gospel."
He then began gathering those that He would train. One by one He called them to follow Him and "straightway" they left what they were doing and obeyed.
We see Him teaching "as one that had authority" and He demonstrated His authority as "commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him."
He taught by example as He went about teaching, healing, delivering and setting the captives free. Those who followed Him learned by what they saw, as much as they learned by what they heard, perhaps even more.
Then He sent out those who had been taught to do the works that He did. They were to demonstrate what they had seen him do. This was the graduation exercise. This was the Church being propagated.
Send One!
Jesus is very purposeful in everything He says to us and does in us. Nothing is done by happenstance. No action is taken, no word spoken, without there being careful thought given it first.
A look at the book of Mark should give us a fresh sense of excitement and purpose. Our lives should begin to be filled with the "immediately," or "suddenly" of God. We should take on a sense of urgency and purpose as we respond to the Master.
We are men and women with a mission. We, too, have a short time to gather, train, and send those who will cause the Church to grow and prosper. The future of this ministry is in the balance. Our brief time on earth will only be fruitful as we do our job with the same zeal He did His.
We should not be surprised if, after our salvation, and after our baptism, that we are confronted by Satan. "The servant is not above his master." We can emerge from the fray in victory because we have the same Word of God that Jesus had—and more.
We should begin gathering those that we will train. One by one we should invite others to follow us in our quest to know Him and to expand His kingdom. Some will follow "straightway" and some will not.
Now, others should see us teaching "as one that had authority" and we should demonstrate our authority as we command unclean spirits, and they obey.
We teach by example, as we have been taught by His example. We go about teaching, healing, delivering, and setting the captives free. Others will learn about Jesus by following along with us, watching what we do and listening to what we say.
Then, we too, send out those who have been taught to do the works of God. As we demonstrate His resurrection power, so will those we send. This is what we are called for.