Gtcotr/ws050119
Mark 3 NKJV
13 ¶ And He went up on the
mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to
Him.
14 Then He appointed twelve,
that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,
15 and to have power to heal
sicknesses and to cast out demons:
16 Simon, to whom He gave the
name Peter;
17 James the son of
Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that
is, “Sons of Thunder”;
18 Andrew, Philip,
Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus,
Simon the Cananite;
19 and Judas Iscariot, who
also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.
·
Simon Peter
·
James the son of Zebedee
·
John the son of Zebedee
·
Andrew, Peter’s Brother
·
Philip from Bethsaida
·
Bartholomew, aka Nathaniel
·
Matthew, aka Levi
·
Thomas Didymus, the Twin
·
James the son of Alphaeus
·
Thaddaeus, aka Lebbaeus, aka Jude, aka Judas the brother of James,
aka Judas not Iscariot
·
Simon the Cananite, aka Simon Zelotes
·
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
The
Book of Acts is commonly called “The
Acts of the Apostles”. Luke, the author of Acts, the beloved physician
as he was called by the Apostle Paul, was not one of the disciples nor was he
even a Jew by birth. Luke wrote this as his second letter to a man named
Theophilus, who was evidently a man of some prominence whom Luke desired to
influence for Christ.
Luke’s
first letter, the Gospel according to Luke, was written to this same
individual. Both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts have been accepted by
the Church in every generation without dispute as to the author or the
authenticity.
When
Luke wrote what we now commonly call the Acts of the Apostles, there is no
evidence that he gave this title to his letter or that it was somehow divinely
affixed. In fact, there is no reason to imagine he gave it any title. This
second letter written by Luke to Theophilus was written under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit concerning the things Luke was able to confirm from the
testimonies of those who were eye-witnesses of these accounts.
The Acts of the Apostles refers to The
Doings of the Apostles or “The Things Which Were Done by the Apostles”.
This title suggests Luke is going to give us at least some of the works and
accomplishments of all of the Apostles which is not what we find therein. While
the letter does contain some brief mention of each one of the Apostles, it does
not nearly account for, nor did Luke intend it to cover, all of the individual Acts
each one of them did. Luke primarily divides his time and his writings to some
of the things done by the Apostle Peter and by the Apostle Paul. There is a brief
mention of the Day of Pentecost, the martyrdom of James, the son of Zebedee,
and Stephen the Deacon, and some initial coverage of the birth of the Church in
Jerusalem. The Apostle John gets an honorable mention for showing up in Samaria
and praying with Peter for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
However,
Luke does not tell us what happened with Matthew or in John’s continuing
ministry or about him moving to Asia Minor with Mary the mother of Jesus. The
accounts of Acts leaves Thomas out as well as Bartholomew, Jude, Phillip and
the rest. Luke does not write about how the Gospel was received in Babylon,
Syria, Britain, India, Egypt, North Africa or how the Apostles died. Yet, in
all that the Book of Acts is not intended to cover, we must keep our focus on
what it is intended to cover. Every word is inspired by the Holy Spirit and
recorded by Luke as a trusted messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his
generation, as well as to ours. It is certain that the Holy Spirit called the
best messenger He could find and we should be forever grateful that Luke
answered that call.
Let’s
pick up now where we left off last week …
Acts 1 NKJV
1 ¶
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach,
2
until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit
had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3
to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many
infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
·
The
Kingdom does not come with observation. (Luke 17:20)
·
The
Kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)
·
The
Kingdom of God is righteous, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
·
Unless
you receive Christ with humility, as a child … (Matthew 18:3ff)
4
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to
depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He
said, “you have heard from Me;
5
“for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 ¶
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord,
will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
·
Once
again, even after His resurrection, those closest to Him continued to question
Jesus about restoring the kingdom to Israel.
·
They
were still expecting a physical kingdom to be established on the earth at that
time which would bring down their enemies, specifically the Romans at this
point in history.
7
And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which
the Father has put in His own authority.
8
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth.”
9
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken
up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel,
11
who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in
like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
12 ¶
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is
near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.
13
And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they
were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew
and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the
son of James.
14
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the
women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
It is evident when Jesus sat down
on His throne that He had finished His work on the earth through His own hands
and had to take the position of Commander and Chief of the Church. The work
Jesus continues to do today is done by the Church through the power of the Holy
Spirit. The greatest work of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to each generation. This is done today in just the same way as it was
done 2000 years ago by those who were first filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
as recorded in Acts chapter 2.
In only 40 years, one generation,
this one home group spread the Gospel and established Churches in Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, Antioch, Laodicea, Pergamos, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi,
Colosse, Thyatira, all throughout Asia Minor, Caesarea, Damascus, Crete,
Thessalonica, and Rome just to name a few places. These 12 boys led the Church
to evangelize virtually their whole known world in only 40 years and not one of
them even owned a bicycle.
This picture given us by the New
Testament is the incumbent call on every generation and each individual until
the Lord shall return. It is our calling and it is our turn. As yet, it is
still unfinished business …
