Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Are you seeking a consistent way to serve the Lord effectively?
The journey always begins at the same starting point. Join us as we explore the Disciples Fellowship in the concluding part of our series, Called to Be a Disciple. On the Word, we talked about many facets of discipleship, the ministry of the disciple, of committing to faithful men those truths that have been committed to us that they in turn might commit the same faithful truths to others. We say that a disciple is one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, yielded to Jesus Christ as Lord, and one through whom Jesus Christ is making himself available and transforming the lives of others out there whose lives we are touching.
A reproduction of the life of Christ within us in the life of someone else. Now when you think about discipleship and what's involved in it, as you read the Scriptures, there are so many facets of it that are here that most of us have never discovered. And in reading this third chapter of Mark, there's a little phrase here that is the heart and the core of the effectiveness in any life of discipleship, and it's in verse 14. The Lord Jesus Christ having escaped the throngs because they were about to crush him, wanting to be healed and to be strengthened and so forth, the Scripture says in verse 14, And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach. Now the key that says something about discipleship that probably you've not thought about, and that is that he ordained twelve that they should be with him.
Now, what is he talking about? He's simply referring to his fellowship with those twelve apostles and their fellowship with him. Fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely essential if discipleship is to be effective. Now, the 32nd chapter of Genesis is an account of Jacob, along with the Lord, wrestling with him. And I think the promise that God gave to Jacob is the promise he gives to every single one of his children who will believe him and obey him. Genesis chapter 32, you remember, in verse 24, that Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him all night long to the breaking of the day. And he just refused to let God go until he blessed him. And notice, if you will, in verse 28, Now, where did he get his power with God? Where did he get his power with men?
He didn't get that running up and down the land. He received that power in quiet, intimate fellowship, wrestling with God all night, having God search his heart, expose his heart, convict him of his sins, show him what his needs were, and then in quiet serenity, just the Lord Jesus Christ giving himself away to Jacob. He says if you're going to have power with God and power with men, that must be true. Now, you remember also in Matthew chapter 17 when the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking with his disciples, and turn that just for a moment, if you will.
Let me show you something interesting. You remember that they'd been up on the Mount of Transfiguration. They had come down and the disciples had been serving the Lord, ministering, and a father brought a son to the disciples for him to be healed and they couldn't heal him. And they had seen hundreds and thousands of people healed.
But here was a little lad and they had approached this kind of problem before. He needed to have demons cast out of him. And the scripture said that they tried and they couldn't do it.
Now watch this. They tried and they couldn't do it. And they were so embarrassed after Jesus had rebuked the devil that verse 19 says, Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, that is, privately, and said to him, Why couldn't we do it? We've done it before.
Why couldn't we do it again? And listen to what Jesus said. Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, But verily I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you, howbeit that is.
This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer. Here's what Jesus was saying too. Here's what had happened. They'd been healing and preaching and proclaiming the gospel, and they made the tragic mistake of trusting in yesterday's fellowship for today's power, and they came upon a situation and they couldn't heal him. It was not that God had not given them the power.
They had run out of steam, run out of power, run out of authority, run out of energy, and they were trying to do God's work today in yesterday's energy. The disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who's going to be effective for him understands that every day he needs a fresh new energizing from God. He doesn't get that from reading books. He gets it from fellowship, from being quiet, from being alone with him. And Jesus said preparation for ministry, prerequisite to that, part of the preparation is fellowship with him. The second thing I want you to notice is that we have misdirected our priorities. Not only have we misunderstood that our number one priority is fellowship, we've misdirected our priorities. Now a beautiful example of this is found in Luke chapter 10. You'll remember, beginning in verse 38,
