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PEOPLE OF THE BIBLE
THE APOSTLES OF JESUS CHRIST
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
The men that made up the group called the Apostles are great to study.
Their calling, life, and experiences are what Jesus used to establish the New Testament church almost 2,000 years ago.
They are quite a group – fishermen, tax collectors, married men, and single – all doing one thing – following Jesus
An Apostle is different than a disciple.
The word disciple means “a learner or follower.”
The word apostle means “sent ones.”
The word “apostle” has both a narrow and a broad usage in the New Testament.
Three things are true of the apostle:
He belongs to the One who has sent him out.
He is commissioned to be sent out.
He possesses all the authority and power of the One who sends him out.
In Practical Application we could say that
An apostle...
is like an ambassador who is sent forth to represent the Person who called and appointed him.
is like a very special messenger who is called and sent forth to proclaim the message of the Sender.
is like a very special minister who is called and sent forth to serve as the Leader wills.
is like a very special servant who is called and sent forth to do the bidding of the Master.
Now, I want us to note three additional points:
1.An apostle is a man chosen directly by the Lord Himself or by the Holy Spirit (cp. Matthew 10:1-2; Mark 3:13-14; Luke 6:13; Acts 9:6, 15; Acts 13:2; Acts 22:10, 14-15; Romans 1:1). He was a man who had either seen or been a companion of the Lord Jesus.
2.Jesus called Himself an apostle (, John 17:3), and He is called the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (Hebrews 3:1).
3.Others were also called apostles (Acts 14:4, 14, 17; 1 Thes. 2:6; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25; Galatians 1:19; Romans 16:7).
However, there is a distinct difference between all these and the twelve whom Christ chose.
The first twelve were...
chosen by the Lord Himself while on earth.
chosen to be with Him during His earthly ministry (Mark 3:14).
chosen to be trained by Him alone, personally.
chosen to be the eyewitnesses of His resurrection (Acts 1:22).
chosen to be the ones who were to carry forth His message which had come from His very own mouth.
There are no more apostles.
As a matter of fact, there were only twelve, as seen by the twelve layers of foundation in the New Jerusalem
But the lives they lived, and the lessons they learned from our Lord are vital for 21st century Christianity to succeed
Over the next several weeks, we are going to look at the people that Jesus called to be Apostles – “Sent Ones”
By studying the apostles, I trust that God will be able to get us focused on OUR life purpose, by learning how that God takes ordinary clay, and makes something beautiful out of it!
I. IT ALL BEGINS WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. (Hebrews 3:1)
In John 15:5, the Lord Jesus said, “Without me, ye can do nothing.”
The Apostles were nothing without Jesus.
They learned this during the less than 3 ½ years that Jesus ministered with them.
All the successes they had came from Jesus being there in their midst.
All the victories they experienced came from Jesus.
All of their accomplishments (walking on water, feeding 5,000, paying tax money yet having no money, getting through storms, etc) came from Jesus.
They constantly were reminded that even though they were apostles, they were still only men.
It was Jesus Christ who MADE them into Apostles – patterned after Himself, THE Apostle.
A. He Called Them.
B. He Enabled Them And Empowered Them.
C. He Used Them.
D. He Saved Them.
E. He engraved their names for all eternity in TWO books:
1. The Lamb’s book of Life.
2. The Holy Scriptures.
II. WHAT MADE A PERSON ELIGIBLE TO BE AN APOSTLE? (Acts 1:13-26)
Understand that each of these men were called out of a world full of sinners.
Mark 2:17–“. . .I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
From those sinners, Jesus looked for Seekers – soft, and broken by the preaching of John the Baptist, ready for a Saviour. They were in desperate need and they saw that.
Out of those seekers, Jesus looked for Students – Disciples – Followers, willing to leave everything they had that they could be with Jesus.
Now these guys weren’t necessarily the brightest bulbs in the socket.
Acts 4:13–“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 1:26-30–“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
They still had their Galilean accents, and they weren’t very eloquent!
Acts 2:7–“And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?”
But disciples all start out the same way–Jesus said, “Follow me!”
Matthew 4:18-19–“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
From these disciples, special men were chosen and called by the Lord Jesus Christ to be His Apostles.
There were many disciples. But, only 12 were specifically chosen by Jesus to be with Him in a special place of service.
There are four places where all the apostles are listed.
(Matthew 10:2,3; Luke 6:14-16; Mark 3:16-19; Acts 1:13-26))
1. Simon, who is called Peter, and sometimes, Cephas
2. Andrew his brother
3. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, also known as the sons of Thunder
4. Philip
5. Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael
6. Matthew the publican (tax collector), also known as Levi
7. James the son of Alphaeus
8. Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus, and also known as Judas, the brother of James.
9. Thomas, also called Didymus, known as the Doubter.
10. Simon the Canaanite, known as the Zealot.
11. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, or Traitor.
12. Matthais who was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot.
13. Saul of Tarsus – who later becomes Paul the Apostle.
Out of these, there were three key men, that were the leaders – Peter, James, and John
We might call them the inner circle. They are seen together in several places, the two most notable being:
1) They Went With Jesus Up On The Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1,2)
2) They Were With Jesus In The Garden Of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33)
These three were in the forefront of all that was going on:
1) We see Peter, constantly interacting with Jesus.
2) James – gave his life in Acts 12 – picked out by Herod because of being a leader
3) John – leaned upon Jesus’ breast, wrote the Gospel of John, and Revelation
There are three levels of commitment:
a. The Inner circle – those who have close fellowship with Jesus.
b. The Normal, Nominal ones – they only do what is expected.
c. The Fringe group – always watching, and doubting, and looking for things to fail.
God Called The Twelve:
a. Twelve tribes of Israel
b. Twelve months in a year – Jewish
c. Twelve Apostles – that’s all
What was the Purpose for God having the Apostles. (Ephesians 4:11-12)
1. They had a special place in God’s program.
2. They were prophets that would speak the words of God, and write them down, and define just what Christianity would be (Acts 2:42)
3. They were the ones who would supernaturally establish the New Testament Church in this world in their life-time
Conclusion
1. Jesus has to be the core of the reason for your life
2. He first calls us to follow Him
3. He asks us to follow ONLY Him
4. He accomplishes the impossible AS we simply follow Him
5. Have you surrendered your old life to him so that you can follow Him?
Next week, Lord willing, we will look at Simon Peter
1. Fiery temper.
2. Cursing, swearing, brawler.
3. He was transformed by Jesus into a man of God, preaching to tens of thousands, and seeing thousands of them at a time repenting and getting saved
4. How did Jesus change such a person?
Home Page Contact Us Service Times Sermons Are You Going To Heaven?
NOTICE: THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!