Chosen By Prayer (Lk. 6:12-19)
Hear
Good morning BCC! And those who are watching online.
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I want to begin by reading our scripture for today’s message. Grab your Bibles and go with me to Luke six and let’s pick up at verse twelve.
The Word
Luke 6:12–19 NKJV
12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;
15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;
16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,
18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
Today’s message is a challenge. A challenge for us to move beyond the mediocrity of our Christian lives and to actually live as Jesus modeled for us. This mediocrity manifests not in outright sin or rejection of faith, but in a complacent settling for enough—enough prayer to quiet the conscience, enough Bible reading to feel informed, enough service to maintain an appearance of piety, yet far short of the abundant, Spirit-filled life Christ intended.
This morning, I want to focus on two key elements of our communion with Christ - prayer and the call to preach.
Prepared (Lk. 6:12)
Luke 6:12 NKJV
12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Prayer is a major theme in Luke’s writings. We can see it in the Gospel record with his name as well as in the book of Acts. Particularly with Jesus, Luke gives us a glimpse into the Master’s preparation through prayer for the work He had come to accomplish in our world. For example, Luke is the only Gospel writer to record that Jesus prayed at His baptism just before starting His ministry (Lk. 3:21). We also see Jesus fasting in the wilderness where He is tempted by the devil. His victory over Satan sets Him up for the many miraculous works He does in the following verses as He “returned in the power of the Spirit” (Lk. 4:1-5:16). In Lk. 5:16 Jesus withdraws into solitude where He prays. Following this, He heals a paralytic, calls Matthew as a follower, defends His disciples and heals on the Sabbath (Lk. 5:16-6:11). All that Christ does is preceded by prayer.
Today, He has withdrawn again. Luke tells us that He has gone “out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12).
How often do we long to be like Jesus, but we fail to pray like Jesus?
The late revivalist and preacher Leonard Ravenhill called prayer, “the Cinderella of the church of today.”[1] Cinderella was often disregarded, ill-treated, and overlooked. He says this is how many in the Church treat prayer. He states that “prayer is to the believer what capital is to the business man.”[2] Adding,
Friend, if you were as good at soul-cultivation as you are in developing your business, you would be a menace to the devil; but if you were as poor in business matters as you are in soul, you would be begging for bread.[3]
I noticed something in this verse that I hadn’t considered before now. It’s interesting that Luke adds how Jesus prayed to God. He hasn’t used this phrasing at any other time before now when speaking of Jesus praying. I think it’s always been assumed that He is praying to God. However, the addition of this phrase brings to mind the very real possibility that we can be praying to someone besides God.
Listen to me, this is why some of your prayers never get off the ground. I want to share with you three ways that we can always pray wrong prayers:
Pray Like Hypocrites (Mt. 6:5-6)
The first way that we can pray wrong prayers is by praying like hypocrites. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew’s gospel,
Matthew 6:5–6 NKJV
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Our prayers can totally exclude God as we focus more on the approval and validation of people than we do on the glory of our Savior. A huge, modern example of this is all over social media.
It's very common for people to post or repost prayers, not because they genuinely want to talk to God, but because it's a performance. These public posts are mainly to make others see them as spiritual, righteous, or devout, instead of just seeking God's approval. "Praying” in this way prioritizes looking good over having a relationship, swapping out God's closeness for human compliments.
And when we do this, our prayers can easily become all about us, which pushes God to the side.
Don’t be like the hypocrites.
Praying Selfishly (Jam. 4:1-3)
The second way that we can pray wrong prayers is by being selfish. It’s not wrong to pray for yourself, but if, when you pray, you only ask God to bless you and help you and change you and do for you that is wrong.
The apostle James asks,
James 4:1–3 MSG
1 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.
2 You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you?
3 And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
Folks, if that doesn’t sober you up, I don’t know what will. The motivation of your prayers matters more than the words you use in your prayers. You can have the most emotionally charged prayer life and completely miss the heart of God because you are only focused on yourself.
Check your motives when you pray.
Praying to Self (Lk. 18:11, 13)
Finally, we can pray wrong when we pray to ourselves instead of to God. What do I mean by this? Well, if you look back at Lk. 6:12 you’ll notice that Luke specifies that Jesus prayed to God. He didn’t pray to be seen by men. He didn’t pray to get his own way. He prayed to the Father for His will to be done.
Many of us pray like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11.
Luke 18:11 NKJV
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
If we really want our prayers to be heard then we need to be more like the tax collector who didn’t even take notice of the Pharisee as he poured his heart out to God.
Luke 18:13 NKJV
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
We often hear that God answers our prayers in three ways,
1. Yes
2. No
3. Wait (Not yet)
It's easy to assume God is refusing our requests when prayers go unanswered. However, have we considered that we might be praying into an echo chamber—that perhaps God isn’t even in on the conversation? It's like someone talking to themselves in a room with another person, leaving the listener confused about who the conversation is for. What if God isn't saying "no," but rather, "Who are you talking to?" The reason why some of your prayers haven't been answered is because you are talking to yourselves instead of talking to God.
You can spend your entire life praying and be misdirected, never getting the answer that you actually need. Either because your prayers are performance based, or because you have the wrong motivation or, again, because God isn’t in on the conversation - you’re just talking to yourself. If we desire to walk in the Father’s will, then we should take a page from Jesus’ book and always direct our prayers to God.
Called, Chosen, and Sent (Lk. 6:13-19)
After spending the entire night in prayer to God, Jesus comes down from the mountain with direction and purpose.
Luke 6:13–19 NKJV
13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;
15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;
16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
The time that Jesus spent in prayer that evening prepared Him for the selection of the twelve. Those men would later follow the pattern Jesus modeled for them when they selected Judas’ replacement (Acts 1:23-25) as well as when the church in Antioch heard the Spirit of God direct them to
Acts 13:2 NKJV
2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
A rightly directed prayer prepares us to align ourselves with the purpose and plans of God. Without spending that time in prayer to hear from the Father, Jesus could’ve made the same mistake that you and I would make if it were up to us to choose. Given that same responsibility, without the consideration of God’s purpose, you and I would have selected the very best from among the crowd. We would’ve chosen men who were proven leaders, well-liked by society, savvy with money and creatives. What do we know about the men Jesus chose? We know that some were fishermen and one was a tax collector. We also know, from reading the Bible, that they were timid men. Often afraid. They were unsure about Jesus. They were inexperienced in ministry. Yet, they were sincere in their desire to follow Jesus.
They weren’t that much different than we are. These were ordinary people.
This matters a whole lot as we consider our own calling to walk in the footsteps of the Messiah.
We know from Matthew’s gospel that,
Matthew 22:14 NKJV
14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Luke tells us that Jesus called His disciples. Usually, when we hear the word disciples we think of the twelve, but Luke distinguishes the twelve from the rest of Jesus’ disciples. He called ALL of His disciples that morning and then from that larger group He chose twelve to send out as apostles.
I thought about something important as I read these verses this week.
It’s possible to be a follower of Jesus without becoming a disciple of Jesus.
Also, it’s possible to be a disciple of Jesus without becoming an apostle of Jesus.
This might seem like nitpicking or nuance, but let me try to explain what I mean.
Follower
Just like you can pray with the wrong motivation, you can also follow Jesus with the wrong motivation. Everybody that followed the Messiah didn’t believe in Him. A follower of Jesus can be a convert, but they can also be a critique or just a consumer. Some people, like the religious leaders, followed Jesus around simply to discredit Him or trap Him. Then there were others who followed Him just to get something from Him. There were multitudes that followed Jesus everywhere He went, but they were only looking for access to His power.
This shouldn’t be hard to understand, today. Social media is filled with followers. Have you ever received a notification that you have a new follower only to learn that it’s some influencer trying to sell you a dream? They’re not trying to have a real relationship with you, they just want to use you to pad their numbers and increase their “influence”.
The same thing happens in the church. You can find people in every church on the planet who show up just to get something from God without wanting a real relationship. They come to service because their lives are falling apart and think that just showing up on Sunday will fix what’s broken. That’s what happened in Luke six.
Luke 6:17–19 NKJV
17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,
18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
Most of those folks that day never surrendered their lives to Jesus. And we know that because many of this same group called for His crucifixion (Jn. 19:14-16). So again, you can follow Jesus your whole life and never yield to His saving grace and become a disciple.
Disciple
What is a disciple? Well, the strict definition of “disciple” is a student. Basically, these people followed Jesus in order to learn from Him. Do you realize that some people in the church never graduate beyond this level? These are what you call, lifelong learners. They study all the time and never practice what they’ve learned. They learn what Jesus says without ever doing what He taught.
2 Timothy 3:7 NKJV
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
I can read every book and watch every video and interview every professional on how the stock market works, but if I do not make an investment all of that knowledge will not benefit me one bit! In a similar way, you can spend your whole life learning about Jesus and never get off the starting blocks.
Jesus told the Pharisees,
John 5:39 NKJV
39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
The church has put a lot of emphasis on being disciple-makers. And that’s good, we need people who know the word of God. We need people who have spent considerable time with the Master, sitting at His feet, learning from Him, but, to a degree, I think we have done ourselves a disservice by hyper focusing on this one aspect of the Christian life. What we should be calling people to is apostleship.
Apostle
Luke 6:13 NKJV
13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
Mark explains what it meant to be an apostle.
Mark 3:14–15 NKJV
14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,
15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:
An “apostle” is someone who follows Jesus, learns what He teaches, watches what He does, and then practices what He preaches by going out to those who need to know Him as well. And there’s a sense in which every born-again Christian has been chosen to be an apostle.
Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
It’s my personal belief that the church is already filled with too many followers and too many disciples (learners) but not enough apostles. How many Christians attend multiple Bible studies every week for years on end and still haven’t shared their faith with anyone else? How many have sat in Sunday worship and Sunday school and small groups and Wednesday night classes learning what the scriptures say, but still can’t lead a small group or a meaningful conversation about the Word of God? We have too many “disciples”, people who are filled up with the knowledge of God’s word, and not enough apostles who will take the word out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.
Where are the Isaiahs of God today? Men and women who will answer the call of God to go!
Isaiah 6:8 NKJV
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Where are the men and women who will go in the power and Spirit of the Lord to this rebellious generation and call them to turn back to the Father?
Dr. Robert E. Coleman writes,
There can be no dillydallying around with the commands of Christ. We are engaged in warfare, the issues of which are life and death and every day that we are indifferent to our responsibilities is a day lost to the cause of Christ.[4]
You have been commissioned church. Now Go!
Respond
Are there any of you here this morning who do not know Jesus personally as Savior? You have been following Him around, listening to what He says, hoping for some access to His power, but you have not yet surrendered to His love and grace for you. If you’re here, I want to invite you to come and confess your need for Him as Lord and Master of your life.
Maybe you’re here today and you sense the Spirit of God calling you to go out with the Gospel to those around you. We want to pray for you. That whatever has been your hindrance would be broken today in the Name of Jesus.
You don’t have to be an expert in systematic theology. You just need to be obedient and rely on the Spirit of God.
In my Wednesday night class we are discussing the practice of sharing our faith. This past Wednesday Ali & Hedie joined us and Ali shared how the Lord used him in that detention center to lead other men from Iran to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I asked him, "How long have you been a Christian, Ali?” He said, seven months.
If the Spirit of God can work through Ali in seven months, He can work through you today. You just have to trust Him and go.
Tre Clark
Britton Christian Church
2/22/2026
[1] Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, 19
[2] Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, 26
[3] Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, 30
[4] Dr. Robert E. Coleman, The Master’s Plan of Evangelism, 58
