Calling you to discipleships. Discipleship, will you come? Can everybody hear me or is this thing too loud? Okay, it sounds really loud up here. I feel like I'm yelling at you guys. There's a small disclaimer underneath on your handout that says, we put a really small in case you didn't want to participate, but the question is, which apostle of the twelve best describes your personality? We're going to take a look at some pastors here tonight and And you know, God has a plan for us. And our present state as sinners, we are separated from God, aren't we? So God had to make a way to make us perfect again. And His plan involved Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. And the vision of Jesus Christ is this, right? The vision of Jesus Christ is the church. The body of Christ completed. To do this, Jesus had to make disciples, and commission them to go all over the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We know as believers it is our job to evangelize, right? 1 Corinthians 9.14 says, even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live the gospel. You know, is that the mindset that we have nowadays? Are we living for the gospel? I mean, is it a priority for us? You know, there are believers out there, I talked to a guy last Sunday, that feels that he knows his father's not saved. He's an Italian and he's Catholic, and he feels that it's not his responsibility to make sure that his father understands the gospel. It's somebody else's responsibility. There's people out there that also think that if so-and-so wants to find the truth, that the truth will come find them. And is that what the Bible teaches us? You know, in Romans 3, verses 10 and 11, it says, As it is written, there are none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. That's pretty clear to me that it's our responsibility then to go out and preach the gospel. And we know that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So we need to be schooled and tooled and taught how to spread the gospel. Lost souls cannot be saved unless someone goes and tells them. Evangelize them and then disciple them. And us as believers in Christ, we can't grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, can we, if we're not taught the Word of God? And that's where the church comes in. Without the local church, disciples would never be built, would they? If you just sit home and maybe read your Bible, the church is a way for us to be fed God's Word and to become stronger. That's we've been learning biblical distinctions on Wednesday nights and it's been a terrific study, terrific for me and I hope it's been good for you. And the only way for our church or any church up here that presents a clear gospel to survive in this liberal world we have nowadays is that folks need to be discipled and they need to be taught the Word of God and they need to be strengthened so that they can teach others. Second Timothy 2 says, and all things that you have heard from me, among many witness, commit to faithful men who are able to teach to other people also, men or women. Tonight, we're gonna take a look at the lives of, and the characteristics of the 12 men that were chosen to be the disciples, the foundation of the church. Let's turn over in our Bibles to John chapter one. We're going to start over in the Gospel of John chapter 1 in verse 35. John 1.35. John 1.35 says, Again the next day John stood with two of the disciples. And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, behold, the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. You know, this took place after Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. Here, John had been preaching, the kingdom of heaven is at hand to these people in the area. And as we notice in verse one, The disciples were following John. But John spoke of the Messiah yet to come, didn't he? So these guys were looking for the coming Messiah. We see the two men that were standing there were John and Andrew. And they knew that Jesus was the Lamb of God once they seen him, didn't they? This is the guy they'd been waiting for. When he heard his voice, they knew. So the question is, how did they know him? You know, you can only think, and as we study the Bible, we see like in Timothy about Paul, that these men probably were raised in families where mom and dad stepped up and taught them the scriptures from the Old Testament. They taught them with what knowledge they had. And so these people were told about the coming Messiah. And so they were looking for him. They were diligently seeking this coming Messiah. And also through the teaching of John the Baptist, they were looking for this coming Messiah. John, let's pick it up in verse 38. And then Jesus turned and seeing them said to them, what do you seek? And they said to him, rabbi, which is translated teacher, teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and see the first invitation, come and see. And they came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day. And the next verse says, he first found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah. He, meaning Andrew, oh, I'm sorry. Verse 40 says, one of the two who heard John speak and followed his name was Andrew. And Andrew, he went and found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ. Jesus asked them, what are they seeking? What are you guys looking for? And these guys were in the mindset, weren't they, that they were looking for a messiah. They were looking for the guy that John the Baptist was talking about. And they told him that we're rabbi, we're looking for a teacher. Even though they already knew this fellow was a messiah and they'd been waiting for. Jesus told them to come and see. This come and see was the first invitation to discipleship. He was telling them, come and learn more about me. When Andrew, seeing it was God, knew it was the Messiah, first thing he did was ran and got his brother. Hey, brother, Peter, come on. This guy, he's the real deal. And when Peter come up, Jesus looked at him and said, you're Peter, the son of Simon, or the son of Jonah. Your name will be called Cephas from now on, which will be translated the stone. You know, Jesus Christ is a foundation of every church. He is the cornerstone of every church. And in order to have a church, you need to have people like Peter. Peter was the rock that the church, the future church would be built on. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20 says, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fit together grows into a holy temple of the Lord. So the people, faithful men, are important for the foundation of the church. This church had faithful men, didn't it? It had people that stood up and gave land, gave time, did many things in order to see this church start because they wanted to see God's word preached here. Let's jump down to verse 43. In the following day, Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he found Philip and said, follow me. Now, Philip was from Bessaria, the city where Andrew and Peter lived. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him who Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of a Nazarene, a guy from there? What good can come from there? And Peter said, come and see. Now, Peter was challenging Nathanael to come and see. You know, the next day it says, Jesus found Philip. Do you think he had trouble finding Philip? Do you think Philip was in a spot where Jesus couldn't find him? I don't think so. That word found we see in Acts 13.22 says, And when he had removed him, talking about Saul, he raised up them David as a king, in whom he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my will. This word found here is a representation of more availability instead of just something that's lost and you got to found, be found. Also, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So this represents in a way If we can use the analogy of a rental store where you got a whole bunch of rental equipment and that needs service and this stuff is tagged and ready to go. These men were tagged and ready to go. They were ready to go to service. God didn't have to look very far for them, did he? Once they become available men, available men that could be used for the ministry that Jesus was about to do. Philip found Nathanael. So Nathanael must have been a follower of John the Baptist also. And Philip, having that skeptical attitude, which you're gonna learn more about Philip here. Philip, you can see there that Philip and Nathanael must have had a friendship, a bond here, and a friendship level, and a level of trust when Philip said, hey, Nathanael, come on, let's go. Nathanael listened. He was skeptical at first, but then he listened. Turn over in verse 47, it says, John 1, 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him and said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to them, How do you know me? Jesus said, Before Philip called you, when you were under a fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the son of God, the king of Israel. And Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under a fig tree, do you believe? you will see greater things in these." And he said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Oh, yeah, yeah, 1 Peter 3.12. Yep, 1 Peter 3.12. You know, Nathanael was blown away here, wasn't he, with the fact that That Jesus knew him. He didn't have to introduce himself. That Jesus knew him. And also, Jesus knew his heart, didn't he? He knew he was a man without deceit. You know, God knows everything about us, doesn't he? He knows what we're thinking. And Jesus, the Son of God, also does. 1 Samuel 16.7, I'll have to remember next time, Paul, to put that in darker colors, says, But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look, it appears, or at the physical stature because I have refused him. For the Lord does not look, or the Lord does not see as man sees. The man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Nathanael must have been taught the scriptures from a young age because he knew what he was looking for, didn't he? He must have had faithful parents and teaching children. That's what's so encouraging about our church here. Back in Awana and Cubbies, we have a whole bunch of kids back there being taught God's Word. And they're the future of the church, aren't they? They're the future of Itasca Bible Church. And it's up to us to teach them so that the next generation will be able to step up and also be faithful teachers also and teach others. Jesus told Nathaniel that he would show him amazing things. Just imagine. Knowing that he was the son of God to say hey, I'm gonna show you amazing things I mean talk about get excited and think boy. I'm a special person Jesus called himself here in verse 50 I Mean 51 he called himself the son of man the son of man is a phrase that's used some 83 times in the gospel and acts it's a title for both the excellence of God and and the humanity of Jesus. Jesus was God in a human form. He is a living connection. Jesus is from us to God, isn't he? So at the end of the day here, at the end of this first day, this first meeting, Jesus had six believing men that were disciples and they were following him. These guys didn't immediately throw down everything and forsake everything and follow Jesus. They would. They would eventually. But it took some time before this happened. While they were following Jesus, their faith would grow stronger and stronger. See, Jesus is looking for people that he can make as disciples. Believers in Christ and we're not automatically disciples when we trust Christ our Savior It's something we must choose that we want to learn more. We want we want to become a follower of Christ You think about how many people are evangelized at the fair? people that you see during the week co-workers that they may be trust Christ our Savior and you feel confident they do but you never see him again and So how do you know they're being discipled? How do you know they're being strengthened in their faith? You don't, and that's something we pray for quite often. Let's turn over to Bibles to Mark chapter one, and we're gonna pick up this story and see, we're gonna see these men come together and meet again. Mark chapter one, verse 16. Mark 116, we'll read 116 through 20, and it says, as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said, follow me, and I will make you, or you will become fishers of men, and immediately left their nets and followed him. When they got a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the boat, mending their nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with hired servants, and they went after him." And we said before, we studied in John chapter 1, that these men met before, so they knew Jesus, they knew who he was. So this time, sometime after, maybe a year after, or several months, when Jesus found these, or not found these men, but came across these men again, and told them, they followed, didn't they? You know, this obviously wasn't their initial call to faith, but this was their call to discipleship. This was their call to now forsake all and come. You know, half the disciples were fishermen by trade. We know that at least six of them were fishermen. So Jesus was talking about something that was in their wheelhouse, wasn't he? He was talking about fishing, how to, but instead of fishing for fish, we're gonna go fish for men. We're gonna go fish for men's souls. You know, fishermen have some traits that are, They're very courageous people. They're hardworking people. They're patient people. And they're also attentive people that really pay attention to their surroundings. You notice that if you go fishing on Winnie, if you catch a walleye and stick the net out, you see 30 other boats coming your way. I mean, fishermen are attentive people. And they also, fishermen, are team players. They can really work together. And in soul winning, these are really important traits. So Jesus took these men. And as we study through the gospels, he showed these men miracles and wonders, healing people, casting out demons, and most importantly, people being saved. Jesus taught these men also how to serve him. They taught him how to know him. They taught him how to trust him and to love him. And most importantly, they taught him, they taught, Jesus taught them how to put him first. He taught them the scriptures and how to pray. Jesus was able to preach to these men with the authority given to them from God, wasn't he? John 14.10 says, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words I speak, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me. works, does the work. Jesus was speaking on from the authority of God who lived in heaven. So who were these 12 men and why did Jesus call these guys? You know, these fellows still had to They had to trust Christ as their personal Savior. They still needed a Savior, just like each and every one here does. And just because they were called to be disciples doesn't mean that they're exempt from that. We're going to take a look here. This slide here, I'm going to show you a little timeline from the beginning of the Bible. You know, God lives in heaven, and He's holy, He's just, and He's pure. And here we are down in mankind. He created the world. We see in Genesis, beginning of Genesis, He created the world and He said that it was very good. He created Adam and Eve. They lived in a garden and they had a fellowship with God. They had a bond with God. They were perfect. They could fellowship with Him directly. And also He created a tree and He commanded for them, don't eat of this tree or you'll surely die. What man do? He was beguiled. Eve was beguiled by the serpent, Satan. And Adam, they ate of the tree. And so Adam and Eve, when they ate of this tree, they died spiritually, just like God said they would do. They died not physically, but they died spiritually. So they were disconnected with God. So they become sinners, didn't they? They become sinners that needed a savior. And now sin was passed on to all mankind. Evidence of the sin is Cain slaying Abel. many instances throughout the Old Testament you see of many, many sin. In Romans 5.8, it says, God demonstrates his love toward us, and while we had sinners, Christ died for us. But 5.12 says, therefore, just as one man's sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sin. So because of Adam's sin, this resonates through all through time. So every person born after Adam is in the same boat as Adam. They need a savior, right? So we need to reconnect with God. We're disconnected with God because of sin. Sin separates us from being connected to Him. So we're going to spend eternity in hell if we do not reconnect with God. And religion tries to reconnect with God through good works. But God says, the prophet Isaiah said, you know, all your righteousness is filthy rags. Religion just doesn't cut it. It leaves it short still, doesn't it? But then, here's the good news. We got God came down to mankind in the form of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins. This is the good news. God loved us. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For he hath made him, for God hath made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus came. He died on the cross. He rose again. proving that it was finished and he is alive today sitting on the right hand of God. He died and paid for your sins and my sins 100%. 100%. We don't have to try to rebind ourselves back to God because now God came down to us. And God says, believe in what Christ did on the cross in our place and we can have everlasting life. John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him as everlasting life. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, For by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. Nothing we could do. It's a gift of God. It's totally a free gift, not of works that any man should boast. And when we trust Christ as our personal Savior, Him and Him alone, He gives us everlasting life that never goes away. 1 John 5, 13, these things that are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know, present tense know, that you have everlasting life that never fades away. You know, the world needs a Savior. The world's guilty and we're part of the world. If we don't reconnect with God, if we don't trust Christ as our Savior, hell is gonna be our destiny. I messed up here, so just give me a second. I skipped over a slide. The word discipleship on your paper here, we're going to tell you what discipleship is. And some of these words are hard to read, but discipleship is the word mateteus. It's a learner, is to learn. In contrast to did a scholarless means a teacher. So discipleship means a person learning, and a discipler is a priest of people teaching the disciples. A disciple is not only a pupil, but is an adherent. Hence, that's why it's spoken, we are imitators of the teacher. So we're students of God's Word, is what we are. Now these men are, as we're going to study here pretty soon, are going to be commissioned to go out in all the world and preach the gospel. And so the apostleship is when they went from being disciples that were taught and tooled and ready to teach God's word, and now they're sent out as apostles. And apostleship is, it had some criteria to it where just anybody couldn't be an apostle. You had to have lived and walked with Christ. You had to have seen and resurrected Christ. And so that's why obviously there's no apostles today. And you know, apostleship, we talk about 12 men, but apostleship isn't just talking about men. In Acts 9.36, it says at Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, whose name is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did. She was a disciple. She was a follower of Christ. Get back on track here. This is really interesting. I'm going to show you a hypothetical resume that I found on the internet, and I thought this was so cool. It's a resume that in today's world would have went out to Jesus talking about these 12 apostles. And this was to Jesus, the son of Joseph, a woodcrafter's carpenter shop in Nazareth from the Center of Workers Evaluation. That sounds like a government agency, doesn't it? Dear sirs, thank you for submitting the resumes of the 12 men that you have picked for these managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have taken a battery of tests and we have not only run the results to our computer but have arranged personal interviews with each one of these with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. The profiles of all the tests are included if you will want to study each of them carefully for yourself. Part of our service, we make some general comments to tell you what we think about it and for your guidance. WATCH as an auditor will give some general statements. This is given as a result of the staff consultation and comes without any additional fee. It is our staff's opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in the managerial ability and proven capability. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits the temper and who has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, son of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates an attitude of a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Elpheus and Thaddeus, definitely have radical learnings and they both registered a high score on the manic depression scale. However, one of the candidates showed great potential. He is a man of Ability and resourcefulness meets people well and has a keen business mind. He has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All the other profiles are self-explanatory. Isn't that the way we interpret things as from the humanistic viewpoint? We look at these people and say, God, what are you doing? I think God looks at us and thinks, boy, I got some work to do with that guy. But God knew what he was doing, didn't he? He knows what he's doing, and he is in control. And that's the exciting thing about this whole thing is that he is in control. Let's take a look at Peter. We're going to take a look at each 12 of these guys, time permitting, and give you some of the characteristics. His name means rock or stone, as we read. He was one of the original disciples. His original name was Simon, which means the hearer. He was a son of Jonas. He was brought up in his father's occupation. He was a fisherman. He and his brother, Andrew, were part of James and John, the son of Zebedees, who had hired servants. Peter was not a mere, just a fishing guy that lived on a hut in the Sea of Galilee. He was at a house in Capernaum. Peter's first call was in John, as we talked about before, and his second call we've seen in Mark, where he was called. And Peter's life changed after that, didn't he? Okay, you got the answer to the first question. Peter, whose God-given name means Rocky, was a fisherman by trade, and he was quick-tempered and prideful. Quick-tempered and prideful. I've got some verses to go with each one of these. I think they're underneath the answers here. I'll go through these if time's permitting. We'll look at some of them. Let's take a look first at... Let's look at this prideful feature that Peter had. Turn over in Mark chapter 14, Mark Chapter 14. You know, we're prideful people, ain't we? I know I am. It's one of the traits that naturally comes to man, I think. John Chapter 14. I'm sorry, Mark Chapter 14. In verse 27. Or let's pick it up in verse 27. And Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you in Galilee. Peter said to them, even if all are made to stumble, Lord, yet I will not be. Jesus said to him, surely I say to you, even today, even this night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. Peter said, not me, Lord. He spoke more vehemently and said, if I have to die with you, Lord, I will not deny you. And they all Said likewise here peter said there's no way lord that i'm going to deny you And as we know peter did peter did deny christ So this prideful pridefulness certainly got in his way, you know, jesus loved peter greatly, uh, we see in john chapter 21 that In a way of restoration. This was after uh, the christ had been resurrected jesus been resurrected and walked again with the disciples that Jesus asked Peter three different questions. He said, in John chapter 21, he says, do you love me more than these, Peter? And Peter said, well, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said, then feed my lambs. And once again, Jesus asked Peter, do you love me? Peter said, you know that I love you, Lord. And Jesus said, then tend my sheep. A third time, Notice this, the third time Jesus asked Peter, do you love me? And the Lord responded, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. And Jesus said, feed my sheep. Once again, this is part of Peter's restoration process. And this was kind of the launchpad. It gave Peter the confidence for his ministry going forward. We know about Peter's death. It was foretold in John chapter 28. It talked about him being put to death in a way that he would not want to be, signifying that he would glorify God in whatever he did. He died about 64 AD. Remember, Christ was crucified in that 29 AD. So this was some 34 years later. Next, let's take a look at Andrew, Peter's brother. Remember, we met Andrew back in John chapter one. He was one of the disciples that were running along with John. that Jesus found, and Andrew went out and found Peter, and John brought James, his brother. What's really interesting is, I studied this, is that whenever you find Andrew in the Gospels, he's bringing somebody to Christ. He's always bringing somebody to Christ. You know, no sermons were ever recorded for Andrew in the Bible, but his actions and his soul-winning ability must have been triumphant for years, He died about six years after Peter did also. Andrew was Peter's brother, and he was his brother's keeper, bringing many to Christ. Brother's keeper. In Genesis chapter four, you'll read that Cain said that about Abel, am I my brother's keeper? Andrew, he had a loving heart that wanted other people to be saved, and he knew that if he couldn't get them saved, he would get them to Christ or to a place where they could get saved. Next, let's take a look at James, the son of John, or brother of John, son of Zebedee. So James, John, Peter, Andrew, the two pairs of brothers. He was the older brother of John. We hear about him about 27 AD. He became one of the disciples, and he had a nature of being short-tempered, judgmental, but deeply committed to Christ. James, the son of Zebedee, with his younger brother, were called the Sons of Thunder. We see that in Mark 3.17. If we're in that Mark list, let's skip over there and look at Mark 3.17. James, the son of Zebedee, and James, his brother, to whom he gave the name, born of Jeruz, that is the Sons of Thunder. A lot of these guys have nicknames. They had nicknames. How would you like to have the nickname, The Sons of Thunder? Tim and Jack, The Sons of Thunder. I mean, that's the name I would want to have. And you wonder, you know, where did that come from? And where did they get that name, The Sons of Thunder? You turn over in your Bibles to Luke chapter 9. in verse 54, and we'll see where they got that name, Sons of Thunder. Luke chapter 9, verse 54. Luke chapter 9, verse 54. And when His disciples James and John saw this, what they seen was the people of Samaria not receiving Christ, they said, they said to Lord, do you not want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? So that's where they got the name Son of Thunder. They wanted to lower the boom on these Sumerians. And Jesus said, hey, we're here to get these people saved. We're not here to consume them by fire. James was the first apostle to die. He died by the sword of Herod in about 44 AD. Next, we take a look at John, the apostle John. John, son of Zebedee, also he was the fisherman of Lake of Galilee. He was a fisherman by trade. Remember the brother of John. Peter, James, and John were part of the inner most circle of Christ. Christ did something important like the glory of the transfiguration or the chamber of death or the agony of the cross. John, Peter, James, and Andrew were always part of that inner circle. John had a special quality about him. He was a very loving and caring man. We notice in John 1927 how before the cross, before Jesus went to the cross, that Mary was in pretty rough shape, and John actually took her into his house and he took care of Jesus' mother, Mary. John, by the inspiration of God, was an author of the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and also the Book of Revelation. And he was probably the last disciple to die of old age. John, along with Peter, Andrew, and James, were part of the inner circle of Christ. These verses are all underneath these answers. And time permitting, we probably aren't going to be able to go through each one of them. We'll see if we get some time to get them all. The next person we're going to talk about is Philip. Philip's name means a lover of horses. He lived in that area of Bassadia, the same city that Andrew and Peter lived in. So you would assume that he was a fisherman. But he lived in an area of the Galilean peasants, He might not have worked too awful much. You know, he was also part of probably the John the Baptist ministry where when John the Baptist was proclaiming the kingdom of heaven in his hand, he was one of the ones that were listening to that. And he's always listed in the groups of the 12 apostles. There's the first four, which were part of the upper eschalon, which were always with Christ. In the next group of four, there was always Philip's name was mentioned first in the second group of four. And Philip had a little problem though he did. He always had an attitude of questioning. Turn over your Bibles to John chapter 6. Let's take a look at this, John chapter 6. This is important because we have that attitude sometimes too, don't we? You're like, God, what's going on here? What's happening? Why are you doing this to me? Or what do we do here now, God? John chapter 6, pick it up in verse 5. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes, and seeing a great company coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread that we may eat? But this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. And Philip said to him, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little. Philip said, there's just no way, Lord, we can do this. This ain't gonna work. What are we gonna do? And God knew the answer to that question. He had a plan. He knew that he was gonna take this bread and this fish and multiply it to feed many, many people. Isn't that just like us? We want Jesus, God, to show us the proof. You know, show me, tell me, talk to me. And the proof is right there in front of us. The Word of God teaches us and tells us, walk by faith, not by sight. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 8 says, Whom having not seen your love, though now you do not see Him, yet believing, and rejoice with joy, impressionable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. We can, without seeing something in front of us, we can still believe because we know God's promises are true, don't we? Next we see Nathaniel. Nathaniel would be about number six. Nathaniel name means a gift of God, a gift of God. He was a disciple of Jesus Christ. We don't know a lot about him. We know that he was from Cana, which is in Galilee. We do know that he was a simple, very truthful in character. His name does not appear in the first three Gospels, but it's commonly believed that the name Nathaniel and Bartholomew were the same person. Remember back in John chapter 1, Jesus told us that Nathanael was an Israelite with a heart of no deceit. His personal characteristics of honesty and straightforwardness were impeccable. The name Bartholomew is not mentioned in the other three gospels and the name Nathanael is not. So the person that they talk about in One of the gospels, not the other three, Nathanael and Bartholomew, are believed to be the same person. And we see Philip's name always connected to Nathanael or Bartholomew, meaning they were probably paired up and they were teamed up and they evangelized together because it wasn't, in that time, it was common that he sent the people out by two to evangelize in the area. Nathanael or Bartholomew was told by Jesus that he would see wonderful things. He would see wonderful things. John 1.51 says, and he said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Man, what a tremendous sight that would be, wouldn't it? Someday we're going to see the Son of Man come back for us at the rapture. He's going to come and we are going to ascend to Him. Let's take a look at Thomas. Thomas seems like one of them people You got the nickname, the Doubting Thomas, so it seemed like everybody knows who Thomas is. But Thomas had a personality of very strong and courageous, you know, but he was a very pessimistic guy. He was not with the disciples at the time of the resurrection because he didn't think that it was going to happen because he was pessimistic. So he sat around that time period and not knowing that Christ had arose or he did not believe it. So the following week, Thomas, when he did finally see Christ, then he become a believer. You know, Thomas helps us understand the difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt tells us we cannot believe because we do not understand. And unbelief says, I will not believe unless you give me proof. There was a difference between the way he felt and doubting to unbelief. Thomas' character. of unbelief reminds us that we can be robbed of blessings and opportunities, can't we? We can be doubtful and skeptical. It's very easy to do today in today's generation because we have evolutions and scientists saying that none of this is true, none of this is real. The Bible is just a fairy tale, but yet we know that that's not true. So it's very easy to become doubtful. But God tells us he's in control, walked by faith. And faith is only as good as the object that we're placing it, isn't it? If we were putting our faith in Buddha or Muhammad or any of the other prophets that are dead and didn't rise again, that would be very doubtful. But our faith is in Jesus Christ who did die and who did rise again. Thomas was called the Twin. Again, this is a nickname, Twin. He doubted Jesus until he put his hand in Jesus' pierced body. Let's turn over to John chapter 20 verse 25. We'll take a look at the real quick of Thomas. John chapter 20 verse 25. Try to get through all these guys. There's a lot of good information here and it's hard to cram it all into that amount of time. John 20 verse 25. First, let's start in 24. Now, Thomas called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. And the other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. So he said to them, Unless I see the hands, the prints of the nails, and put my finger in the side of the nails, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe. Eight days later, the disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came through the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be to you. And then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it in my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord, my God. And Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me and you have believed, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Thomas, once he seen Christ, he was a believer, wasn't he? Next, we take a look at Matthew. Matthew's name means a gift of God. His original name was Levi. He was also, he was not also a fisherman, but his father's name, he was from the family, his father's name was Alpheus. He lived in the Capernaum area. Matthew, as we know, was the tax collector. His business was a collection of taxes for the Roman government, so he was really a bad guy. He was collecting money from the Israelites, the Jews in the area, to give to the Roman government. And he collected the taxes from people and goods that were crossing the Sea of Galilee and on the road to Damascus, which was all kind of in the same area. I had a map up here, but I don't think we'll have time to look at it. wrote the book of Matthew some 20 years later after this. He had one of these jobs that were, he was the most hated person probably around. He was a tax collector. He was a modern day IRS agent. And he was apparently a man of wealth because we know that he brought Jesus to his house along with some of the other tax collectors and they all gathered together and had a big feast. Matthew's name means a gift of God. Because of his business background, he was able to witness to a particular class of people. not otherwise easily reached. You guys hanging on, tracking with me here? Am I going too fast? Let's take a look now at James, the son of Elpheus. James, the son of Elpheus. This is now a different James. Very little is known about James and his character other than that he was a follower and a disciple. Most of the commentaries I read about James is that because he was the son of Alphaeus, that he was probably brothers to Matthew. Don't confuse him with the other three James in the Bible. We have James, the other disciple, brother of John. And then we have James, the father of Judas. And then we have James, which was Jesus' half-brother that actually wrote the book of James. So this is not none of them, but he was one of the disciples. Not much is written about James, the son of Elpheus, but he was involved in the gathering of the disciples. Whenever the disciples did something, his name was always mentioned with that group of people. The next one is Thaddeus, Judas. His name was also called Lebitas. Thaddeus, Judas. His name means warm-hearted. Having the name Judas with Thaddeus would be easily confused with Judas Iscariot. In John 14, 22, Thaddeus questioned Jesus by saying, how is it you can manifest yourself to us and not the rest of the world? He was asking Jesus, why aren't you showing yourself to everybody? He had a questioning attitude. And after he witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he knew the answer to that question. Thomas, Philip, and now Thaddeus wanted Jesus to show him proof. He had that same doubting attitude. Jesus simply went back, as we see in John chapter 14, 22, Jesus went back to the perfect law of love. Instead of having proof for everything, just look at me, I'm coming to you in perfect love, love, and want you to be my son. That is whose name was Judas, was called the son of James, so his name would not be confused with Judas Iscariot. Imagine if you had the name as a person that was a traitor, named Judas. That would be kind of the wrong name to have in that area, wouldn't it? That's John 14, 22. It says, Judas. And specifically says in the text, not Iscariot said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the rest of the world? He was questioning Jesus. He had that questioning attitude. So you see, all these men, there's a whole lot of Negativity about them is there but they were followers of Christ Next we see Simon the zealot Simon the zealot Simon Was from a ancient Jewish sect that resisted the Romans they fought the Romans They were radical and they had uncompromising desire in the pursuit of their religious freedom, and their political freedom, and they were fierce in their patriotism. I mean, you can't think of anybody in today's society that you can compare to Simon the Zealot, huh? Simon's eyes were opened after he seen the resurrected Christ, and it said that Simon had become a zealot of the gospel. He'd become a zealot of the gospel. Simon, the zealot, preached the gospel with great zeal and desire. He became on board, totally in with Jesus Christ, and he spread the gospel throughout the world. Getting to the last one now here, let's take a look at Judas Iscariot. Judas, we know very little about him prior to his appearance with the apostles. His name, Judas of Iscariot, which is a town in Judah called Keredith. We see this in Joshua 15, 25. You know, the book of John shows us a lot of negative warnings about Judas. We could see this building up and seeing this coming. One of them was that he asked Jesus, why are you using that oil on feet when we could be sold for good money and given to the poor. He was questioning Jesus, now what are you doing this for? You could be helping the poor with this money instead. And he didn't care about the poor. He actually was stealing the money. God did not institute the Lord's Supper in the Upper Room discourse until Judas had left the room. We know that Judas was also not a believer in Christ. After the betrayal of Christ, he actually went to a priest and confessed his sins instead of coming before our God and saying, you know, God, I'm wrong. He hung himself soon after that. Judas was not a believer in Christ and was indwelt by Satan. I think that's spelled wrong. Indwelt by Satan. John 6, 70, John chapter 6, verse 70, says, Jesus answered, them and said, Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he knew he would betray him, being one of the twelve." You know, so these men were all special men, weren't they? So the question always comes to your mind is, why did God choose these twelve guys? Why did He choose them? What is the key to discipleship? This is the key to discipleship. It says in John chapter 15 verse 7-9, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall come to you. But this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. For as the Father loved me, I have loved you. Abide in my love. You know, apart from abiding, there's no way for us to ever learn more about him and follow him and grow a relationship and find out just what he has to offer us and love him even more so is there. Abiding in him. If we're not abiding in him, if we're going off our own way, we're not learning more about him and we become further and further away from him, don't we? Lastly, turning the Bibles over to Revelations chapter 21. I want to show you a real neat thing about the disciples, these 12 disciples. Revelations chapter 21 and closing verse 14 This is talking about the future kingdom It says now the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb These men in a future Are going to reign they're going to be heads of the 12 tribes of Israel You know, this can inspire us seeing what these men did with what qualities they had. I mean, none of us are that bad, are we? We're not doubting people or uncourageous people. So we can do so much for Christ and we someday have the opportunity to reign with Christ. When we trust Christ our Savior and become a child of God, we now can become disciples. We can learn more about Him. learn to love him more, learn to serve him more, and someday we can reign with the King. I hope that made sense. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time we can open up your Word and learn more about you, Lord. I'm just so thrilled that we have the Word of God, that we can learn from, teach from, and we know that you're speaking to us through this word. We're just thankful for these 12 men. We think of other men that went before us, Lord, and people that discipled us, and we thank you for them. We just pray that we would have the mindset and the willingness to want to learn more about you and teach others, Lord. so we can keep this ball rolling, this tremendous thing we have, the church, until you do come back for us someday soon. We just thank you and in Christ's name we pray. Amen. That's it. You're dismissed.