Dear
Friends and Family,
We previously looked at the story of Jesus' baptism
when Jesus was anointed by God's Spirit and the heavenly voice
confirmed that Jesus was Israel's true king (Matthew 3, Luke 3). After
this Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan in the
desert to face the equivalent of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness (Matthew
4, Luke 4). Jesus succeeds where both Israel and Adam had
failed. Now we look at two stories where we see Jesus beginning to gather
a 'new people of God' around himself (Mark 1, 3).
1) Watch and or Listen to the Story. Repeat
as necessary.
Then 2) read the Commentary below.
Jesus
Calls His First Disciples (Mark 1:14–20) Audio
John
came in the spirit and power of Elijah and was the one Isaiah foretold would
call people to prepare for the ‘coming of the Lord’. John, however,
was imprisoned and later martyred for his efforts. After John’s arrest,
Jesus went into Galilee announcing the ‘good news’ that the ‘kingdom of God’
was near. The time for God to restore His reign had come and people should ‘repent and believe’.
They were to ‘give up their sins’ and embrace Jesus and his way of being king.
Jesus calls to two brothers, Peter and Andrew, who were fishing by the lake. At once they leave their nets to follow
Jesus. Continuing on, Jesus calls two more brothers, James and John. They leave
their father, Zebedee, in their fishing boat with the hired men to follow
Jesus. James and John give up their predictable lives running their
family fishing business to follow Jesus.
When
called by Jesus these men respond by leaving what they knew to follow Jesus
into what God only knew. This reminds us of God calling Abraham to ‘leave his country, his
father’s house and go to a land the Lord would show him. This wasn't easy for
Abraham or for Peter, Andrew, James and John, and it isn't any easier for
those who hear Jesus calling them today.
Jesus
went up a mountainside away from the authorities to call those he
wanted and they came to him. By choosing twelve in a nation built on twelve patriarchs Jesus was
clearly gathering a new people of God to launch his restoration
movement. Away from the religious authorities who opposed him, Jesus appointed his twelve apostles. He called them to be
with him, to preach the kingdom and to exercise
Jesus’ authority over demons.
Jesus chose a diverse group to be his twelve apostles. The list begins with
two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, and James and John the
sons of Zebedee (who Jesus called ‘Sons of Thunder’ Lk 9:54)’. He
chose Philip who was from Peter's hometown. He also chose
Bartholomew (likely Nathanael John 1:44-45), Thomas, James (the son of
Alphaeus) and Thaddaeus. Jesus chose Matthew, a tax-collector, and he also
chose Simon the Zealot, a revolutionary. Lastly, Jesus chose
Judas Iscariot who would betray him but, this was God’s plan and would serve God’s kingdom purpose.
Prayer Requests:
With many thanks in Him,
Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine and Lauren StomsPrayer Requests:
1) Please pray
for the 'International Students Ministry' at Christ Church Stellenbosch. We
would like our Thursday afternoon gathering to be a place where international
students feel welcome and where they can rediscover the ‘Story of Jesus’ by
hearing and discussing stories from the gospels.
2) Please pray
for the health and growth of our 'story group' in Kayamandi. Kayamandi is a
township in Stellenbosch where lower income South Africans and immigrants from
other African countries live. Pray for regular attenders to be consistent and
for God to raise up leaders who can eventually lead their own story groups.
3) For connecting
with international students through hospitality (having them over for dinner)
to deepen friendships and show Christ’s love.
4) That we can
organize a 'School of Storying' in Malawi. We have reached a kind of roadblock
to holding the SOS in Malawi but we would like the training to take place in
God’s timing as God wills. Pray that we can find the right accommodations for
the 5 week training at the right price.
5) We praise God
for some very generous individuals and for our main partnering churches. Please pray for consistent giving and for three new partnering
churches.
6) We have a
friend who is asking that I (Jay) go with him to go South Sudan for two weeks
to train Anglican Pastors. He is very experienced and familiar with traveling
throughout Africa but we also have relatives that don’t like the idea of going
to such a troubled country. 
