Well Soul Podcast
Well Soul Podcast
Ep. 72 | Jesus Calls the 12 Disciples | Story of the Gospel
Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before calling his 12 disciples. He called them out, amongst hordes of followers clamoring for his attention and healing power. What can we learn about how Jesus made important decisions amongst noise—to guide our own decision making?
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Welcome to the Well Soul Podcast, where we pause to drink and scripture, reflect and pray. I am your host, Seana Scott, and sometimes life leaves our souls feeling parched, so come to the well of living water that never runs dry.
Last episode, we started the Life of Jesus series in our Story of the Gospel journey, where we meditated on Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan after his baptism. And we saw that the Word of God (Jesus( used God's word, (the book of Deuteronomy), to dispel the temptations of the enemy. The Word of God used God's word to dispel the temptations of the enemy.
God's word has power.
Today, we meditate on Jesus calling the twelve disciples. Now, I'd like us to remember there were many disciples that followed Jesus, and many women among them. In fact, Women with means financially supported the ministry of Jesus and the Twelve. See Luke 8:1–3. But the Twelve Disciples were a unique group of men, Ephesians later described as apostles or sent out ones, a part of the foundation of the Church for all time (See Ephesians 2:20). So, when we read the word disciple in our New Testament, sometimes, it refers to a mixed group of people who followed Jesus. And sometimes it means just the twelve, because the twelve have a unique place in the story of the gospel, as we will see. With this in view, let's meditate on scripture today.
Before I read, take a deep breath to quiet your mind to meditate on God's Word.
Luke 6:12–19.
12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
What did you notice as you listened to this passage? Meditate on this for a moment.
Many people followed Jesus. Who wouldn't?
A man who teaches with spiritual wisdom and supernatural power flows out of him to cure people.
How could the Son know which of these hordes of followers he was to pour into more intimately?
In prayer. The God of the universe made flesh, spent the night in prayer before he chose the twelve.
When we need God's guidance in decision making, how do we prepare?
Do we ask our friends, our pastor, Google?
Maybe we should spend extended time with the Father in prayer, like Jesus did.
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What is on your heart today?
What decisions do you face? Spend a moment in prayer with the Father through faith in Jesus and ask for his guidance or pray about anything else the Spirit brought to mind in today's passage.
Let's pray.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit one and only true God, we worship you. Father, thank you for your son and his example of how we need to go about making decisions in our lives. He spent time in prayer with you. So teach us, God, how to seek you in places of prayer for all the decisions we need to make on a daily basis.
Thank you for your word, God, and thank you for the 12 you chose who are part of the story of the gospel of our redemption. In Jesus's name, Amen.
Thank you for joining me today on the Well Soul podcast for our Life of Jesus series through our Story of the Gospel journey. Remember to download your free ebook, “Eight Steps to Creating Well Soul Rhythms” as you contemplate your goals for this next year.
See the link in the show notes.
In closing, I remember my late friend Brian Vasquez, who made this podcast possible. God bless you, and I pray that you have a wow soul.
