Jesus is a Friend

Jesus and his disciples were tight! They were the inner circle of the Jesus crew-- they ate together, hung out together, traveled together, did ministry together--- basically anywhere Jesus was the disciples were sure to follow... kinda reminds me of the little lamb who hung around Mary in the nursery rhyme... wait- and Jesus is the great shepherd which makes us his sheep, hmm never thought of the connection between the two like that before....

anyway...

They were with Jesus because of his charisma and contagious personality that drew massive crowds... people just wanted to see what he would do next! He went everywhere and did miracles and caused people to think in ways they may never have been challenged to think before. And the disciples studied...

When you spend this much time with another person chances are you are going to start acting like this person--- its inevitable... and so the disciples began to act like Jesus. In Matthew 10 Jesus commissions the disciples to go and do the stuff they had been watching on the sidelines Jesus do for a while now. In verse 16 he says he is sending them out as “sheep among wolves”... that right there tells ya that he never said it would be easy.... it would be hard... but totally worth it and with God far from impossible.

We as modern disciples are commissioned with the same cause--- heal the sick, drive out impure spirits in the name of Jesus. Disciple simply means “christ follower”.. one who strives to be like Jesus and fulfill the mission he set before us.

We have been given a Bible with 4 whole books that follow and track the life of Christ giving us the tools to study who he is and what he was all about.... then as if that wasn’t enough we have been given an open connection with him through prayer....

in order to be a disciple we must first know him as friend....

then live like he lived on the planet...

spread the good news to all mankind!