Mark 3:13-19
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Mark 1:29-34
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
Luke 24:1-12
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Acts 9:1-16
Saul's Conversion
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way,whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Thirty or forty years ago there was basically one type of phone with a cord and you rotary dialed it...It was a main way to communicate with others...Today the world seems inundated with phones, cell phones, smartphones, I-phones, Android phones -all different kinds of phones...Communication devices are everywhere...I-Pads, tablets, I-Pods, let alone regular computers, which I have read are now starting to go by the wayside...They will be eventually replaced by some sort of light mobile device -they are now out of date...And all these devices are tied to the internet (with all the vast number of websites) and GPS, with all the latest technology and apps and gadgetry...There is a gadget here, a cellphone there, a computer here, and the day after you buy it -it is out of date...I would venture to guess that there are a billion words spoken, and text, and typed, and pictures taken -all in just one day now...
Jesus did not have a cell phone with a GPS, or an internet site that His followers could read...Instead, God had the Messiah come at a very slow time for communicating to a nation, let alone the world...How did He get the word out to a world that had no mass communication?...Had He come today He have blogged and/or had a website (and what an interesting website it would have been or be)...How He chose to get His word and His teachings out to me seems a short process...First He recruited Twelve, very common men, that He hand picked...He would be a Teacher and Mentor to these Twelve men, so they would know Him better than anyone else in Israel or the world...Somehow, He knew that these men with their different personalities would keep His word going for over two thousand years now...He personally taught these men and they later would go about the nation and other nations spreading what they had been taught by Him...
While teaching these men, He was always helping by mostly healing other people...These healings got out so quickly that one of His disciples said early in His ministry that the whole town gathered at the door -basically to be healed of various ailments and diseases...Then Jesus is tried and hung from a cross and dies...Then He resurrects from His death...After His death He continues to teach His disciples for forty more days...Then He recruits a tough, bold Pharisaic minister named Saul, who changes his name to Paul to teach the Gentiles and the rest of the world about Jesus...And this process works...Jesus gets known throughout the entire world, and two thousand years later people are still gathering together to talk and hear about Him...The Bible is the number selling book of all time...While on earth His process was centered around His Father as He helped, He healed, He forgave, and He loved...
Jesus brought us this message of His Father, the Truth, Love thy neighbor, and one of forgiveness...Somehow that message has never become obsolete or out of date...And, what is most interesting about these things and getting His message out -He did all these things without a gadget, a website, or a cellphone...And His message remains timeless...