The Life of Jesus Christ - Chapter 5 - Jesus tells people the good news and cures people in *Galilee - Part 1
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An online Bible Study course by Barrie Wetherill about the life of Jesus. This book is in EasyEnglish Level B. Use the links below for other online Bible Study books and commentaries that will help you. Or go to the Word List, which explains words with a *star.
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Jesus taught people. He cured people who were ill, often in a wonderful way. He also chose some people to help him. There is a limit to how much one man can do. And Jesus had become a man. He could not do everything by himself. He appointed 12 disciples to do a special work for God. (A disciple is a person who believes in Jesus and obeys him.) He called these 12 men *apostles. The word *apostle means: a person whom God sends with a message. Of course, God sends all Christians to take his message. But these 12 men were special, because they had been with Jesus. Jesus often taught them by themselves. Later he sent them to work for him. So, Jesus prepared them for their future work. Because of these men, the history of the world changed.
Before Jesus appointed the *apostles, he prayed all night. This is very important. Luke tells us that Jesus often went to a quiet place to pray, (Luke 5:16, and 9:18). Jesus was always very busy. Often crowds of people were with him. But still Jesus spent time in prayer. After Jesus had fed 5000 people, he sent the crowd away. He went up a mountain alone to pray (Matthew 14:23). Mark writes about a time when Jesus woke very early in the morning. It was still dark. He went to a quiet place to pray. Jesus prayed much before his *crucifixion (Matthew 26:36-44).
The prayer of Jesus was special. The letter to the Hebrews says this. When Jesus lived on earth, he prayed ‘with loud cries and tears’ (Hebrews 5:6). And his prayers had great power. It does not surprise us that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1).
Certainly, before this important decision, Jesus prayed – all night.
The *apostles could not have known what was going to happen. As we have learned, they had wrong ideas about the *Messiah’s *kingdom. But Jesus asked them to be with him and they obeyed. They trusted him. He taught them and he prepared them for their work. They were working men. There were men who caught fish. One man collected taxes. We do not know the other men's jobs. They left their other work to go with Jesus. They obeyed him and they went with him.
Soon, Jesus sent them to the villages (Luke 9:1-6). He gave them authority to do their special work for God. This was the *apostles' message: people should be sorry for the wrong things that they had done (Mark 6:12). And then, people should trust God. The *apostles also cured people, with the authority of Jesus.
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