Elder Ron Gannon - The Twelve Apostles

[0:00] Thank you, Gary. And thank you, ladies, for that song. They are marching on, and the men that we're going to be talking about this morning, we're definitely out there marching on with God's Word. And I want you to...

[0:12] I'll be speaking in the next couple of weeks on the 12 apostles, the 12 disciples, and then the 12 apostles, which they will later be called. So in the next two weeks, I'll be covering that, and I hope to answer these following questions in those two weeks.

[0:27] One, who were the original 12 apostles? Were the 12 called because of a special talent that they had? The 12 that lead, but did they really understand all the things that Jesus was saying to them?

[0:43] Jesus chose a traitor. Why would he, Jesus, choose a traitor? Were more called apostles than the 12 plus Matthias?

[0:54] Are there apostles today? Will Judas Iscariot or Matthias be among the 12 to rule the 12 tribes and have their names upon the walls of the new Jerusalem that we see back there in Revelation?

[1:14] The New Testament literally means the new covenant. Covenant means an arrangement made by one party, which the other party involved could either accept or reject. And you could either accept it or reject it, but you could not alter that covenant.

[1:33] The Old Testament primarily records God's dealings with Israel on the basis of an old covenant given to Abraham and often spoken through Moses there at Mount Sinai.

[1:45] It's about the law. This covenant revealed the holiness of God and his righteous standard of the law and promised a coming redeemer. The New Testament describes the new arrangement of God with men through Christ on the basis of this new covenant that we will see.

[2:03] The new covenant shows his holiness of God and the perfect righteousness of his son. Christ came to fulfill the Old Covenant to bring in the kingdom spoken of so often in the Old Testament.

[2:16] If you would turn to the book of Malachi. It's the last book there in the Old Testament. And if you would turn to chapter 3.

[2:46] And there it describes the fact that the priests Malachi is berating these priests because they have been backsliding.

[3:03] They have been doing all the things against God's God's will. And he's telling them that something is going to come that they will be punished and that he is going to send somebody coming.

[3:13] And I believe in verse 15 Well I think I may have got the wrong scripture because I don't see it here.

[3:28] Yeah 3.1 Right. If you do not listen if you do not take heed to heart to give honor to my name says the Lord of hosts then I will send a curse upon you and will curse your blessings and indeed I have cursed them already.

[3:50] Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you that my covenant may continue with Levi says the Lord of hosts. Down in verse 8 it says But as for you who have turned aside from the way you have caused many to stumble by the instruction you have corrupted the covenant of Levi says the Lord of hosts.

[4:08] Now if you were to go to verse 15 And it talks there about somebody that will be coming I have not got my Bible mark too good because I can't find it.

[4:30] Okay let's turn to 315 that's where it's at.

[4:53] Well I can't find it I'm not going to waste any more time looking for it here. Pretty obvious I didn't get that right. But what he's talking about is that somebody is going to be coming and he talks about somebody that would be leading the way and leading the way for what?

[5:09] Leading the way for this new covenant. Of course we know that is going to be John the Baptist as we get into the Gospels. He also talks about somebody coming for the temple the priest and of course we see this coming would be the son of God Jesus Christ himself.

[5:26] So we see that in Malachi and as we turn into the New Testament we see that we have the birth of John the Baptist and we also have the birth of Jesus Christ.

[5:42] The purpose of the New Testament is to reveal the gospel the good news that Jesus is the Christ the son of God that he died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried and that he was rose again and we're going to see that he passes this song to the twelve apostles and they will be the ones that will present this message to the nation of Israel.

[6:03] If you will turn to the gospel the gospel of Luke chapter 1 this is the only gospel to record the birth accounts of both John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ.

[6:15] verses 5-17 and it says there and an angel tells Zacharias that his wife would bear a son and that she would name him John he also states he will be great in the sight of the Lord and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God it is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the father back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of righteousness so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord make ready the people for the king.

[6:59] If you go down to verse 26 we see six months later another angel came to a virgin named Mary the angel said to her do not be afraid for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus verse 32 he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob and his kingdom will have no end verse 35 the angel told Mary the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will have the power of the most high and he will overshadow you and for this reason the holy child shall be called the son of God so we see here that the preparation has been made now we'll see the unfolding of this new ministry of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior also joining Jesus will be the 12 chosen men to help spread the gospel but first let's hear a little bit more about

[8:06] John the Baptist John is one of the most distinctive characters in the New Testament he had an unusual flair for fashion he lived in the desert and ate wild honey and locust and preached a strange message he knew his mission in life and understood that he had been chosen and set apart for God for a purpose John challenged the people to prepare for the coming Messiah by turning away from sin and being baptized as a symbol of repentance although he had no power or political influence in the Jewish political system he delivered his message with the force of authority many came to hear but he never lost sight of his mission and that was to point people to Jesus Christ if we will turn to Luke chapter 3 and here we will get the ministry of John the Baptist let's start at verse 2

[9:08] Luke chapter 3 verse 2 in the high priesthood of Ananias and Kephias the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness and he came into all the district around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the goodness of sins as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet the voice of one crying in the wilderness make ready the way of the Lord make his path straight every ravine will be filled and every mountain and hill will be brought below the crooked will become straight and the rough roads smooth and all flesh will see the salvation of God so he began saying the words to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him you broder vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham for our father for I say to you that from these stones

[10:11] God has been able to raise up children to Abraham indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire and the crowds were questioning him saying then what shall we do and he would answer and say to them the man who has two tunics is to share with him and who has none and he who has food likewise and some tax collectors also came to be baptized and they said to him teacher what shall we do and he said to them collect no more than what you would have been ordered to some soldiers were questioning him saying and what about us what shall we do and he said to them do not take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely and be content with your wages now while the people were in a state of expectation all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he was Jesus Christ John answered and said to them as for as for me

[11:14] I baptize with water but one is coming who is greater than I and I am not fit to untie the thongs of his sandals he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire his willy fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn but he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire so with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people but when Herod the tectric was reprimand by him because of Herodes his brother sister wife and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done Herod also added to this to them all he locked him up in prison so we see John the Baptist preached and he preached the repentance of baptism he repeats the kingdom of heaven is at hand and he kept that preaching until he was put into prison and it says here next in

[12:20] Jesus was also baptized and while he was praying heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in a bodily form like a dove and the voice came out of heaven you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased in our Sunday morning Sunday school class we've been going through this same thing here in the book of Matthew which started in the Sunday school class this morning and Les is emphasizing the fact about baptism so why was John preaching to these people the repentance of baptism and as you go back through the Old Testament we know that that's when the baptism started it wasn't called baptism at that point it was just called washing and if you go back in Deuteronomy that when God promised the nation of Israel that they would be a nation of priests and they knew what that required because they had the priest right in front of them doing the daily sacrifices the weekly sacrifices all these sacrifices and they knew what was required of these priests and it was washing it was washing and it was washing and this is the same word as baptimos and that's what of course the word of baptism come for these people knew what was required of the priest of what

[13:42] John was talking about now some would say then why was Jesus baptized he had no sin what was he to be cleansed from 1st Timothy 2 5 it says for there is one God and one mediator also between God and man what is a mediator that's what the priest was he was a go between between the nation of Israel and their God and that's what Jesus Christ between us and God it also says in Hebrews 2 17 he had to be made like his brethren to become a high priest to make propitiation for the sins of the people okay today we are not made clean by baptism we're made clean by the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ and of course his word and John where says he is the word and that's how we're made clean Jesus was baptized he was tempted for 40 days and then starts his ministry by teaching in the synagogues and you're going to see this repeatedly where did

[14:49] Jesus teach he went to the synagogues you're going to see that when we get into the book of Acts Peter John the apostle Paul even when they preached where did they go first they went to the synagogue to the nation of Israel Matthew Mark and Luke never mentions that John the Baptist had disciples but if you'll turn to the first chapter of John John the Baptist is telling his disciples to turn to Jesus verse 36 and John the Baptist looked to Jesus and said behold the Lamb of God so if we'll turn to John chapter 1 and let's read those verses verse 35 again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples they looked at Jesus as he had walked and said behold the

[15:50] Lamb of God the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus and Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them what do you seek they said to him Rabbi which translation means teacher we are where are you staying he said to them come and you will see so they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him the day for it was about the tenth hour one of the two who heard John speak and following him was Andrew Simon Peter's brother he found first his own brother Simon and said to him we have found the Messiah which translates means Christ he brought him to see Jesus Jesus looked at him and said you are Simon the son of John you shall be called Cephas which is translated Peter the next day he purposed to go into Galilee and he found Philip and Jesus said to him follow me now Philip was from Bethesda and the city of Andrew and Peter Philip found

[16:50] Nathaniel and said to him we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote of Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph Nathaniel said to him can any good thing come out of Nabbers Phyllis said to him come and see Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit Nathaniel said to him how do you know me Jesus answered and said to him before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you Nathaniel answered him Rabbi you are the son of God you are the king of Israel Jesus said to him because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree do you believe you will see greater thing than these and he said to him truly truly I say to you you will see the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man now after this meeting which we see there in

[17:56] John which is different than the other gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke we kind of evidently these disciples disappeared for a while he talked to them there but they were still John's disciples and later we're going to see that John was put into prison and of course these men evidently they went back to their feasting jobs and because later we're going to see in Matthew Mark and Luke if we follow that line of thought that after John was put into prison which is what Matthew Mark and Luke are going to state then he actually started calling the twelve disciples so now Martha never mentions that John had these disciples but we see that in John in Luke 5 1 let's turn to that and we'll start talking about the picking up of the twelve disciples and we'll see that the first four are fishermen and

[19:00] Jesus tells them to follow him and be fishers of men and let let down Simon answered and said master we've worked hard all night and caught nothing but I will do as you say and let down the nets when he had done this they enclosed a great quality of fish, and their nets began to break.

[19:50] So they singled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them, and they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

[20:06] For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

[20:17] And Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear, for now you will be catchers of men. So we see here that he calls the four disciples. And we also find later on that he'll pick up another one of his disciples, and that will be Matthew.

[20:36] And we see that in Luke 5.27. After that, he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me.

[20:50] And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow him. And Levi gave a big reception to him and his house, and there was a big, great crowd gathered of tax collectors and other people who were cloning at the table.

[21:02] Then the Pharisees and the scribes began grumbling at his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answered and said to him, It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

[21:17] I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So we see here that Jesus calls Matthew and makes him one of his disciples. And of course, we'll see later on that this will cause a great disruption among the Pharisees and all the Jewish leaders because these men were hated.

[21:36] The tax collectors were hated there in Jerusalem. We also see Jesus picking up Philip and Nathanael. But of course, that wasn't recorded here in Luke.

[21:46] But we saw that as we read the scriptures out of John that Philip came and he also brought Nathanael. It seems to be the last calling of his disciples.

[21:57] Now, we know he had 12 disciples and that's not 12 that we've talked about so far. We all know that there were many more. That is all that was recorded here in the Gospels as we'll go through the Gospels and we'll see.

[22:08] And as we go through the Gospels, some of the apostles are talked about and some are talked about in great extent like Peter and John. And the others really are not mentioned.

[22:19] But we have to understand that these Gospels were written after the fact. And Matthew wrote his account. Luke wrote his account. And what they're writing is what they remember. And of course, evidently, they remembered some of the things that Peter and John did and thought it worthwhile to put in the Bible.

[22:36] But all 12 apostles, as we're going to see, had the same authority, the same power. And he chose these all 12. And he will use them in the way that he wishes.

[22:49] Now, let's turn to Luke chapter 6, verse 12. And he went off to a mountain to pray. He went off to a mountain to pray.

[23:01] An important decision must be made for many followers or followers or disciples. From Galilee, Judith, Nazareth and Jerusalem.

[23:11] A small group of 12 must be chosen. Which 12 should he select? The right men must be chosen. God's choice must be determined. And as we can see from there, there must have been quite a few disciples there.

[23:25] And it doesn't say how many disciples that Jesus actually chose. And I have a feeling as he went off and started preaching in the synagogues and he was going out to the sea and other praises to teach, that those who believed became his disciples.

[23:37] And of course, he does not record every one of those disciples. But here in Luke 5 or Luke 6, we see that he went off to a mountain to choose 12. Why was this decision so important?

[23:51] As we see in reading the Gospels, Christ would devote most of his time and attention to these men. And what was he doing with these men? And what was his time being spent? Why he was with these men.

[24:02] He was teaching them. Teaching them and teaching them. Because he would use them for that purpose. These men alone would be the select group known as the 12.

[24:14] The 12 apostles. These men were those whom Christ would name apostles. These men would be sent on an important mission to the nation of Israel. And we'll see that when we get to Matthew chapter 10.

[24:26] As he chose these apostles, he set them off on a special mission that they would go out and do. And we'll see what that's all done. These men would be first to observe the Lord's table.

[24:38] As we see when we get to the scriptures about the Last Supper. These men, with the exception of Judas, were among the first to see the resurrected Savior. And we see that in John chapter 20.

[24:50] As we see that. These men would receive important commandments from the risen Lord. And we're going to see that. Compare Acts 1-2.

[25:01] Chapter 1 of Acts. And we also go back and see the last chapters of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus is going to give his 12 disciples a special mission.

[25:12] The commandment to go out and to reach the lost. And baptize them in the name of the Son and the Father and the Holy Ghost. These men would provide the foundation for Christ's marvelous building.

[25:27] The church. We see that in Ephesians 20 when he talks about the church. The body of Christ. If we turn to that verse, Ephesians 2-20 says, Paul told the Ephesians, You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household.

[25:46] Having them built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Christ himself being the cornerstone. And that's what our church is built of. The foundation of Jesus Christ. And what these Christ and these apostles preached during this ministry.

[25:59] These men would give the church some of the New Testament books. And if we go through these apostles, you'll see which books that these men wrote and left us in the scriptures.

[26:11] These men will someday judge the 12 tribes of Israel. They will judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Matthew 19-28 Then Peter said to him, Behold, we have left everything and followed you.

[26:27] What then will there be for us? And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that you have followed me in my regeneration. And the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne.

[26:37] And you also shall sit on the 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. He had a special mission for these men. Finally, these men will be forever memorialized on the 12 foundations of the wall of Jerusalem.

[26:53] As we see in Revelation 21. So we see that the right choice needed to be made. God's wisdom was needed. The Son of Man went off to a mountain.

[27:06] Why did he go there? To pray. He was alone with God. He had an intimate talk with him. He had nothing. He wanted nothing from this conversation except for God's will in choosing these 12 men.

[27:21] Now can you imagine having all these disciples? I know one point in the scriptures he talks about sending out 70 disciples. So he had more than 70. How many disciples?

[27:33] We do not know exactly that he had. But he went to the mountain to pray. And that's what we need to do. Things in our life are very important. We need to take that time and find out what the will of God is.

[27:45] And that's what Jesus did. He went to the mountain seeking wisdom to know who these men would be. He spent the whole night praying asking, seeking, and knocking.

[27:57] And when the day came God's will was clear. The Lord called his many disciples to himself and out of this group he chose 12. God in answer to prayer gave him 12 men.

[28:10] In John 17.6 he says You have not chosen me but I have chosen you. So these men had nothing to do with it. This was God's choice. John 15 I have manifested your name unto the men which you have given to me out of the world as Jesus talks to God.

[28:28] They were yours and you have given them to me. The right choice was made. God makes. No mistakes. The names of the 12 men are listed in four places in the New Testament.

[28:39] We see that in Mark Matthew chapter 10 Mark 3 Luke 6 and Acts chapter 1 And if we will let's turn again to Luke we're still there on Luke chapter 12 or 6 verse 12 It was at this time he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God and when he came down he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them who he also named as apostles.

[29:09] Simon whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas James the son of Athias and Simon who was called the Zealot Judas the son of James and Judas a Cariot who became a traitor.

[29:33] Names at times names can be confusing because we use a variety of names even for ourselves. You know we have our official name and we have nicknames and sometimes we're just called a lot of things in our life aren't we?

[29:46] And it was no different back then. They had proper names they had the names that they were called and sometimes we see in the New Testament that these men were called different things by different people.

[29:58] But we're going to start now just naming the 12 and of course Simon the son of Jonas or Peter or Cephas was the first. Peter was originally from Bethesda on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee he was a fisherman with his brother Andrew.

[30:13] And the name Peter is in the Greek language which means rock and of course that's what we know Peter as as being the rock. Peter was one of the three main apostles along with James and John who were chosen by Jesus to be present during certain important moments of his ministry.

[30:31] and we know that Jesus and Peter and Andrew and John was present during a lot of the things that Jesus did. One trait of Peter's character that stands out in the New Testament was his impulsiveness.

[30:45] It was very impulsive very quick to action. Peter was famous for many things for being at Jesus' transfiguration for walking on water at Jesus' bidding for rebuking Jesus for what seemed to him negative thinking prompting Jesus to sharply reply get behind me Satan for his statement to Jesus during the washing of feet during the last supper for his denial of knowing Jesus when Peter was in the courtyard of the high priest for drawing his sword when Jesus was being arrested and for being granted that singular privilege of an individual post-resurrection appearance by Jesus.

[31:25] When Jesus asked him who do you say I am in Matthew Peter said the most famous statement you are the Christ the Messiah the Son of the Living God and that's the thrust of that whole gospel is for the apostles to go out and to preach the kingdom of his heaven is at hand the Son will be here he will be the Redeemer and he's the one they were talking about the Son of God and that's what they wanted the nation of Israel to see and to hear he became the leader of the apostles after Jesus' succession is that Peter later traveled to Rome and was martyred there by crucifixion in AD 64 and we'll see as we get to the book of Acts that Jesus is the one of the main leaders that will come out of the twelve apostles of course we see him there at Acts at Pentecost in his great sermon there along with John that we'll see a lot of also in the book of Acts so Peter we see a lot of in the New Testament and we hear a lot of

[32:25] Peter in the New Testament Peter wrote two epistles called first Peter and second Peter so he is one of the apostles that wrote gospels for the scriptures today Andrew son of Jonas he was brother of Simon also a fisherman Jesus always named Andrew among the first of the four apostles Andrew was one of the four apostles who were Jesus on the Mount of Olives it was Andrew who inquired about the signs that would mark the end of times in Mark chapter 13 Andrew also was the one who called attention to the boy who had loaves and feces when Jesus fed the five thousand men in John chapter 6 we move on to James son of Zebedee nicknamed a brother with his brother sons of thunder he was the son of a man named Zebedee and the older brother of John the apostle James was a fisherman as was his father and brother Jesus gave John and James a surname the sons of thunder together with

[33:27] Peter and John James was chosen was close and is confident with Jesus being present many important events including the resurrection of the daughter of Jesus transfiguration and the agony at Gethsemane James was killed by King Agrippa during the persecution in Acts chapter 12 as we go through the book of Acts he is the first apostle to be killed John John of Zebedee called sons of thunder Jesus called John to leave his fishing career to become one of his apostles soon after he became part of an inner circle around Jesus with Peter and sometimes Andrew John was the beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus during the last supper who was known to the high priest who was entrusted by Jesus with the care of his mother Mary at the crucifixion of Jesus and who outran

[34:28] Peter to the empty tomb when they found out that Jesus was gone and after the resurrection John appears as one of the leaders of the early church with the apostle Peter tradition says that John spits some of his old age in Ephesus and was later excelled to the island of Patmos he is the artiller of the New Testament books the gospel of John 1st John 2nd John and 3rd John and the book of Revelations Philip Jesus invited Philip to become his disciple there in John chapter 1 Philip introduced his friend Nathaniel to Jesus who also became a disciple and again Philip we do not hear too much about after that so we don't know exactly what Philip did except that we know he was part of the twelve and he was also part of that ministry that Jesus gave to them when Jesus was about to form a miracle and fed the multitude of people with a small amount of food

[35:29] Jesus asked Philip where they should buy the bread to feed the people and Jesus was just testing Philip at that point because he knew that what he was going to do with the bread when he fed the five thousand so that's really the only place that we see Philip mentioned again in the gospels Nathaniel who was Nathaniel now when you get into some of the gospels you're not going to see the word Nathaniel at all you're going to see Bartholomew who follows Philip but Matthew Mark and Luke you do not see Nathaniel only in the gospel of John do you see the name Nathaniel he appears in a list of the twelve apostles given in the books of Matthew Mark Luke and John and also in Acts usually his name is paired off with Philip he does appear in John's gospel however associated with Philip and he's known as the unknown Nathaniel in John chapter 1 this leads to the possibility that Nathaniel was Bartholomew his personal name so all we can assume is that

[36:38] Nathaniel and Bartholomew was probably the same person in John chapter 1 Philip names Nathaniel we have found the Messiah the very person Moses and the prophets told about his name is Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth in John 21 2 again going back to John Jesus manifested himself to some of his apostles and when he did that he named Nathaniel as one of his apostles so to indicate that Nathaniel was one of the twelve disciples or apostles of Jesus Christ so since the name of Nathaniel was not found in any other list which gives the name of the twelve apostles then we assume that these two would be the same person Thomas in John chapter 11 when Jesus finds out that Lazarus is dead and said I will go back to Judea where he had just escaped being stoned most of the disciples told Jesus not to go but Thomas said to the other disciples let us go so that we may die with him also we begin to see a little bit about Thomas on how his personality was and we're later going to see that well Thomas is the doubter isn't he on the evening of the day of resurrection

[37:53] Jesus declined to believe that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples as you see in John 20 hence the term doubting Thomas when Jesus appeared again after eight days Thomas was there also and seeing him confessed that he was Jesus Christ the son of God John 21 2 also mentioned that Thomas was among those who was at the sea of Galilee when Jesus came to them at the sea and when they fished again together Matthew also known as Levi he was a tax collector but he was called by Jesus to be an apostle known formerly as Levi son Jesus ate at his home with other tax collectors which angered the Pharisees and because they had reputation for extortion and were considered sinners and most people hated them and we know that Matthew wrote the gospel of Matthew and the book of Matthew is written for the nation of Israel the Jewish community and it talks about the kingdom is at hand the kingdom is at hand the kingdom is at hand his people

[38:59] God's message the kingdom the kingdom the kingdom and we see that in the book of Matthew it's also where we see the sermon on the mount we start to see in his parables and his miracles there in Matthew James the son of Apheus there's not much said in the scripture about him either he is named in the list of the apostles in Matthew Mark and Luke and also Vax his mother name was Mary and she was one of the women who went to the tomb of Jesus and found that it had been opened James was also called James the less and James the younger Simon the Canaanite and not much said about him he received the same authority as the rest of the apostles the name Simon means God was heard Simon is also known as Simon the zealot Thaddeus also called

[40:00] Judas or Jude son of James is believed that he was also known as Judas son of James not to confuse with Judas Iscariot and that some of the New Testament passages the name Thaddeus appears among the list of twelve but in others New Testament passages the name Judas son of James appears instead so we have to assume that those two names however are the same names also some mistakenly say that this Jude or Thaddeus was the one that wrote the book of Jude but I don't believe that is correct I think that might have been a half brother of Jesus at that time that wrote the book of Jude Judas Iscariot he was a treasurer of the twelve he's considered it a waste of money when Mary anointed Jesus feet with the expensive oil John states that Judas had often dipped into the funds for his own personal use so we see that he could not be trusted also when

[41:05] Judas cared little about using the money to help the poor as we seen there with Mary after Jesus disciples went to Jerusalem Satan entered into Judas we see there in Luke in all the gospels and Judas approached local community leaders to give up Jesus and they paid him thirty pieces of silver Jesus betrayed Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane after Jesus arrest Jesus was seized with remorse and we know that he tried to return the money and when they wouldn't take it the money was just later used to buy a piece of land which became known as the field of blood and we'll find out later what Judas of Carriot did after that who were these men these chosen ones were they men of great fame were they men of great power and position no none of these things were these men according to Matthew chapter 4 Peter Andrew James and John were common just ordinary fishermen Matthew was hated he was a tax collector so you couldn't

[42:09] Acts 4 3 Peter and John like the other disciples were described as uneducated and untrained men which means they had received no formal education most likely in the world's eyes these men were nobodies they were just a group of ordinary uneducated unknown Galileans why did Christ choose such an unlikely unimpressive men Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 26 consider your calling that there were not many wise according to flesh not many mighty not many noble and some despised Matthew certainly would have been among one of those God could take common ordinary men and make them great and godly men and women just to give us hope and encouragement as we know from the Old Testament God chose a teenage boy a slave boy and made him ruler of all over Egypt that being Moses God chose a little shepherd boy made him Israel's greatest and godliest king king

[43:11] David God chose a Jewish captive and made him the chief advisor and administrator in the kingdoms of Babylon and Persian and we know that that is Daniel so God uses common men for his jobs it doesn't matter who or what we are it's God that makes these differences the twelve men chosen there in Luke chapter five were called by two different names they are called the twelve disciples and then in verse two they are called the twelve apostles the word disciple means one who learns that's a pupil somebody is a student a learner some who is taught by a teacher it's true that the disciples were unlearned and ignorant men but these men had the best education that anybody could have sitting under the feet of Jesus Christ the word apostle means one who is sent someone who is sent forth and set away on a special mission in

[44:15] Matthew chapter 10 the twelve apostles were sent forth on a special mission to the lost sheep of Israel and we know that these apostles were sent by Jesus for a special function and they were to go to the lost sheep of Israel and pronounce the kingdom of heaven is at hand the Messiah Jesus is here so in Mark if you turn to Mark chapter 3 verse 14 we're going to see that we discover why the Lord appointed and chose these twelve apostles Mark chapter 3 verse 14 number one that they should be with him the first thing that the Lord wanted for these men was their constant companionship he wanted to be with him to enjoy his presence to sit at his feet and learn to show fellowship with him and to accompany him wherever he might go to that he might send them out to preach and we see that before the twelve could be apostles they first had to be disciples being with the teacher must proceed going forth to teach others

[45:28] Jesus gave them wisdom and authority when the apostles finally went forth to preach their message came forth in power because everyone knew even their enemies that they had been with their teacher in Acts 14 or Acts 4 verse 13 when John and Peter went to the temple the Sadducees the rulers the scribes and the elders they all observed the confidence of Peter and John and they were uneducated and untrained men they were amazed and they began to recognize them as having been with Jesus and they knew that they could not dispute the word that these men were describing there as we go into the book of Acts what were the marching orders of the twelve when Jesus set out to build his kingdom on the earth there were many different strategies which he could have used he could have just raised his hand and erected a giant city with streets of gold and mighty ramparts he could have sent forth his holy angels to announce the news in every tongue and in every land he could have written his message upon the clouds for all to see but he did none of these things he had a different strategy using men as his method common ordinary men he will use the twelve selected men to choose and call apostles as disciples the twelve had been traveling with

[46:53] Jesus as he was going to the synagogues he was going all over the country of Galilee in that area they were going and they were being taught by Jesus and now that they were getting Jesus had called them apostles it was now time for them to take the knowledge that they had received through Jesus Christ and his teaching and he was sending them out now to the house of Israel and we see that Jesus had an important job to do and he had a lot of territory to cover and at this point he chose twelve men that he could send out and do the same things that he was doing and as we well we're running out of time here today but as we get into next week we'll see what these apostles their main job was and the authority and the fact that they did miracles they healed and they did the same things that Jesus was doing and it was all for one purpose and that was to get the nation of Israel ready for this kingdom and they used the twelve men mightily and we'll see that and continue that next week and hopefully we'll be able to answer all the questions that

[48:00] I discussed there at the beginning so we'll close for the day and we'll pick that up next week so we close in a word of prayer father we just thank you we thank you today father for who and for what you are and father that for your word about these apostles on how that you chose these men father and you chose that they were chosen through prayer through dedication to you seeking your will seeking your wisdom and father as we do things today we just pray that we can also use this concept and when there's something important that needs to be done that we come to you father and that we just pray for your will in our life and all the things that happen to us and there's a lot of things that come into our life that's good and bad and we know that you're a sovereign God and you will take care of us through your word so we thank you for these apostles and what they stand for and what they've done father we ask it this morning in Jesus name amen you you you