L E S S O N L E V E L. The Apostles of Christ

Transcription

1 he postles of hrist

2 he postles of hrist id you know the number 12 is od s number for organized beginnings? ust as od established the nation of srael with the 12 sons of acob, e established the ew estament hurch using 12 apostles. s soon as esus hrist overcame atan in the titanic battle in the wilderness, e began selecting is disciples. he ld estament prophets and these men would form the foundation of od s ew estament hurch. esus imself is the chief corner stone of this foundation (phesians 2:19-21; 5:23; 1 orinthians 3:11). n this lesson, you will learn how hrist chose is original 12 disciples. ou will also learn about the special commission hrist gave to them when they became is apostles, and you will learn about hrist s chief apostle. e sure to get your ible and have a pen or pencil ready. ook up and fill in the blanks for all the scriptures as you study this amazing truth about the foundations of the ew estament hurch! esus hrist had the oly pirit dwelling in im from birth. n order to set an example for is followers, however, e chose to be baptized by is cousin, ohn the aptist, in the ordan iver before e began is ministry when e was about 30 years old. urn to ark 1:9-11 and fill in the blanks below about hrist s baptism: nd it came to pass in those days, that came from of, and was of in. nd straightway coming up out of the, he saw the heavens opened, and the like a descending upon him: nd there came a from, saying, ou are my beloved, in whom. mmediately after is baptism, hrist was led by the oly pirit into the desert. here e fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, eating no food and drinking no water. hrist had to draw spiritually close to od in preparation for is titanic battle with atan the devil. e had to qualify to reestablish the ingdom of od on arth, or the entire plan for human beings, and is eternal life, would end. hile hrist was in the wilderness, ohn the aptist spread the word that the essiah had come. ead ohn 1:32-34 to see what ohn said: nd bare record, saying, saw the from like a, and it abode upon him. nd knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, pon whom you shall see the, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the oly [pirit]. nd saw, and bare record that this is the. esus overcame atan in the wilderness, never once succumbing to sin. fterward, e came to the city of ethany, where ohn was baptizing people. hen ohn saw esus coming, he exclaimed, ehold, the amb of od! wo of ohn s disciples heard his proclamation and immediately went over to meet esus. fter esus invited these men to is house, they stayed with im the rest of the day. ne of the men, ndrew, ran to find his brother imon as soon as he left esus s house. hen he told imon that he had met the essiah, imon also wanted to meet im as soon as possible. hese men knew the criptures and were looking for the fulfillment of the prophecies of a essiah. urn to verse 42 and fill in the blanks to see imon s 2

3 istock.com/piola666 s fishermen, imon, ndrew, ames and ohn would have been adept at mending nets. first encounter with esus: nd [ndrew] brought [imon] to esus. nd when esus him, he said, ou are imon the son of ona: you shall be called, which is by interpretation,. his was a prophecy about a new name esus would give imon in the future. n the meantime, imon and ndrew went back to their fishing business, which was a partnership with two of esus s cousins, ames and ohn. fter esus met imon and ndrew, ohn the aptist was arrested for preaching od s message and esus returned to alilee and stayed in the town of apernaum (atthew 4:12-13). t was at this time that esus began to publicly preach the good news about the coming ingdom of od. hile esus was teaching by the shores of the ea of alilee one day, e saw imon and ndrew in their fishing boat. ead ark 1:17-20 and fill in the blanks: nd esus said unto them, ome you after me, and will make you to become of. nd straightway they their, and him. nd when he had gone a little further there, he saw the son of, and his, who also were in the ship mending their nets. nd straightway he them: and they left their father in the ship with the hired servants, and. esus was calling is first disciples so e could establish a hurch to help teach od s way of life to the world! fter e called these initial four disciples, e called a tax collector named atthew. urn to atthew 9:9 to see how esus called atthew: nd as esus passed forth from there, he saw a man, named, sitting at the receipt of custom [a tax booth]: and he said unto him,. nd he arose, and. ike imon, ndrew, ames and ohn, atthew did not volunteer to be a disciple. esus drafted each of these men into od s ork; they only chose to submit to im or to refuse im. esus later told them, ou have not chosen me, but have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit (ohn 15:16). esus called several other men to be disciples. hen e gathered all is disciples together for a special meeting. fter a night of prayer, e specially 9 2 3

4 selected 12 of them to be trained as apostles. he word disciple means one who learns ; the word apostle means one sent forth to preach. ead uke 6:14-16 and write out the names of these 12 disciples below: esus trained is chosen disciples for 3½ years, teaching them about the good news of the coming ingdom of od. hey would be sent forth to teach all nations this good news after esus hrist s death and resurrection. he disciple udas scariot betrayed esus to the ews and omans who murdered im. od chose another disciple to take udas s place as one of the 12 apostles after hrist s resurrection and ascension into heaven. ead the account in cts 1:16-26 and write this man s name on the blank: fter esus hrist rose from the dead, e spent 40 days with is disciples, giving them additional teaching and training. uring this time, e gave them their special commission as apostles. urn to atthew 28:19-20 and fill in the blanks to see the great commission of the hurch: o you therefore, and, them in the name of the ather, and of the on, and of the oly [pirit]: them to all things whatsoever have you: and, lo, am with you always, even unto the end of the world. men. he great commission of the apostles was to proclaim the good news of the coming ingdom of od to all nations and to teach and train the members in od s hurch (ohn 21:5-17) he job of the members was to pray for the apostles and support them in proclaiming od s message! efore the apostles and other disciples could carry out this commission, however, they needed the oly pirit of od dwelling in them. o receive the oly pirit, the disciples had to obey hrist s command and assemble together for a entecost service in erusalem. f they had not obeyed this instruction, they would not have received the pirit. ead cts 1:8 to see hrist s promise: ut you shall receive, after that the oly [pirit] is come upon you: and you shall be unto me both in, and in all, and in, and unto the editerranean ea tolemais hrist preached in the synagogue here, called is disciples, and gave the ermon on the ount. hrist performed his first miracle in ana: turning water into wine. apernaum ennesaret ea of alilee ethsaida ycaminum ana rbela agdala ergesa iberias ippos epphoris azareth aris ath-epher ennabris t the beginning of is ministry, hrist went from azareth to apernaum to call is disciples. 4

5 part of the earth. nly 120 people, including the 12 apostles, obeyed hrist s instruction. hen this faithful remnant received the oly pirit, the ew estament hurch began! hroughout the ld estament, od always worked through one man whose authority was directly under the ord (the od eing who became esus hrist). he examples of braham, oses, amuel, lijah and many others thoroughly prove this. ut what about the ew estament? hy did hrist ordain 12 apostles? hy not just one? o understand the answer to this question, you first need to know that esus hrist did ordain one of the 12 apostles to be the chief apostle. o find out who the chief apostle was, notice the four complete lists of the original disciples: atthew 10:1-4; ark 3:13-19; uke 6:13-16, cts 1:13. ne man s name appears first in all four lists. rite this name in the blank: hen esus hrist first met imon, e told him that his name would be changed to ephas which in the ramaic language means stone. he nglish translation of ephas is eter. n reek, the word is etros, which specifies a small stone. o the name imon eter means imon the ebble. o find out why esus changed imon s name to eter, turn to atthew 16:18-19: nd say also unto you, that you are, and upon will build my ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. nd will give unto you the of the of : and whatsoever you shall on shall be in : and whatsoever you shall on shall be in. he word rock in this verse isn t translated from the reek word petros. t is translated from the reek word petra, which means a massive rock. imon was a small stone, but hrist is the massive rock on which the hurch is built. e is the crucial cornerstone (phesians 2:20). imon eter was the small pebble chosen to be the chief apostle under esus hrist. n the ld estament, od worked through one man because srael was one nation in one location. n etra means massive rock, like the half dome in osemite. the ew estament, od worked through 12 apostles because the hurch existed in many nations. ince there were no airplanes, cell phones or nternet communication in the time of the original apostles, each apostle had to lead the hurch in the nation where he was located. ut when the 12 apostles were together, one of them was in charge of the others: eter. oday, od works through only one apostle because technology enables him to keep in contact with all the ministers in the world. he postle eter delivered his first sermon on entecost, une 17, a.d. 31. s a result of his preaching and of the miracles od performed that day, some 3,000 people were baptized. oon after, the postle eter received another opportunity to spread the gospel. hile he was walking with the postle ohn to the temple in erusalem, a crippled man asked him for money. urn to cts 3:6 and fill in the blanks to see eter s answer: hen eter said, and have none; but such as have give you: n istock.com/bill _ dally 9 2 5

6 istock.com/lincolnrogers od s people still support the ministry through prayer, just as the brethren did in the first century. the name of of azareth and. hen eter said this, the man immediately stood up and started walking. hen he started leaping and praising od. e went to the temple, and all the people saw that this well-known handicapped man had been healed. s word of this miracle spread, thousands flocked to eter for answers. eter preached a sermon, and 2,000 people were baptized. he priests and adducees saw what was happening. hey were afraid that the people would start following eter and the apostles instead of them. hese ewish leaders had status, authority and wealth under the rule of the oman mpire. ince the people had been awed by esus s teachings and miracles, the ewish leaders had feared they would rebel against the omans and try to make esus their king. he ewish leaders had opposed esus, and when they could not discredit im, they eventually had im killed. ow the apostles were preaching that esus hrist had been resurrected from the dead and that e would return to establish the ingdom of od. hese leaders did not understand that the ingdom of od would not be established for thousands of years. hey thought the apostles were trying to establish a new kingdom right then and there. he harisees and adducees did not want to lose their positions of authority, or have the omans accuse them of treason, so they arrested eter and ohn and threw them into prison. he next morning, eter and ohn were brought before the council headed by the high priest, nnas, and his son-in-law aiaphas. he elders asked the apostles, y what power, or by what name, have you healed this man? illed with the power of od s oly pirit, eter answered, ou rulers of the people, and elders of srael, f we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; e it known unto you all, and to all the people of srael, that by the name of esus hrist of azareth, whom you crucified, whom od raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole (cts 4:8-10). hen the high priest and his elders heard this, they marveled that an uneducated fisherman could speak so eloquently. hey chose not to punish the apostles because they feared that the people might turn against them. hey obviously could not deny that the crippled man had been healed. he elders let eter and ohn go free, but they commanded them to stop teaching about esus hrist and is message! nce they were free, eter and ohn went back to the brethren in erusalem. hen they told the brethren about all that had happened to them, the brethren rejoiced. esus had told them to rejoice and be glad when they were persecuted, for their reward would be great in the ingdom of od (atthew 5:11-12). 6

7 he brethren then prayed that od would continue to give imon eter and the other apostles strength and boldness (cts 4:29). ne of the main purposes of the hurch is to support od s apostles with their prayers. he hurch of od is like a human body. ven though it is one body, it has many different parts with different functions. esus hrist is the ead of the hurch. nder the direction of hrist, apostles preach the gospel message. nder the direction of the apostles, evangelists help proclaim the gospel to the public. astors and elders are teachers over local congregations. he lay members play a supporting role by praying for the ministry, encouraging each other, and giving tithes to the ork (1 orinthians 12:12-28). urn to phesians 4:11-13 and fill in the blanks to see the different roles in the ody of hrist: nd [od] gave some, ; and some, ; and some, ; and some, and ; or the of the, for the of the, for the edifying of the of : ill we all come in the of the, and of the of the on of od, unto a man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of hrist. wo members in the erusalem congregation were a man named nanias and his wife, apphira. s persecution against the hurch intensified, many members made great sacrifices and sold their homes to support the ork of od. nanias and apphira also sold their home, and they made a show of donating all the money from the sale to the hurch. ut they had lied. hey had kept back a portion of the money for themselves, but they claimed they gave it all so that the other members of the hurch would think they were generous. ead cts 5:3-6 to see what happened to nanias: ut eter said, nanias, why has filled your heart to to the oly [pirit], and to keep back part of the price of the land? hile it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? you have unto, but unto. nd nanias hearing these words fell down, and [died]: and came on all them that heard these things. nd the young men arose, wound him up, and him out, and him. nanias did not have to sell his house and give the money to the hurch. e could have kept it, or he could have sold it and then honestly admitted that he was only giving part of the money. ut he chose to lie to od s apostle. hree hours later, apphira came looking for her husband. hen the postle eter saw her, he gave her a chance to tell the truth and asked, ell me whether you sold the land for so much? apphira didn t know what had happened to her husband. o she said, es, for so much. ead verses 9-10 to see what happened to apphira: hen eter said unto her, ow is it that you have to tempt the of the? behold, the feet of them which have your are at the, and shall carry you out. hen she straightway at his feet, and [died]: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, her by her. he deaths of nanias and apphira taught the erusalem congregation an important lesson about honesty, and they learned to fear and respect od even more. od performed many miracles through imon eter and the apostles, and thousands were baptized. od did these miracles to draw attention to is hurch so people would hear the gospel. eople started laying the sick and injured on cots in the streets, hoping they would be healed when the shadow of eter passed over them (verses 14-16). he popularity of the apostles greatly angered the harisees and adducees. hey had commanded imon eter to stop teaching in the name of esus, but eter had told them he ought to obey od rather than men (cts 4:19). few years earlier, a harisee named icodemus had met secretly with esus hrist and told im that the elders of the ews knew e was a teacher sent from 9 2 7

8 reese zoellner/iabl od is fulfilling the great commission today through is end-time apostle erald lurry. od. et they still feared that hrist would overthrow the oman government and give their jobs to is own disciples. ow they feared that people would follow the apostles in a rebellion against ome. o just as they had debated on how to best kill esus without angering the people, they now debated on how to best get rid of the apostles. he high priest ordered that the apostles should be arrested and thrown in prison. ead cts 5:19-20 and fill in the blanks to see what od did for the apostles: ut the of the by night the, and brought them forth, and said, o, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. he apostles did as the angel commanded. eanwhile, the high priest ordered the prison to bring the men before the council. he officers reported that the men had escaped, though they did not know how. he high priest commanded the officers to arrest the apostles again. hen the apostles were brought before the council, the high priest scolded them, id not we straightly command you that you should not teach in the name of esus? ut you have filled erusalem with your doctrine. hen eter and the other apostles again replied, e ought to obey od rather than men. hen the elders heard all the apostles had to say, they took counsel to kill them. ut an elder named amaliel spoke up in the apostles defense. ead verses to see amaliel s advice: nd now say unto you, from these men, and : for if this counsel or this work be of, it will come to : ut if it be of, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to. he council agreed to release the apostles, but first they beat them and warned them to stop teaching the message of esus. ut esus had told the apostles they would be persecuted for doing the right thing, so they knew their beating was a sign that they were on the right track! 8

9 ven though amaliel advised the elders of the ews to stop persecuting the apostles, it was a student of amaliel who started the most savage persecution against the hurch yet. his student, a harisee name aul, went house to house looking for hristians to throw into prison. any members of the hurch were killed for their beliefs, including a deacon named tephen, who was stoned to death. aul helped the people who killed tephen by holding their coats for them while they threw the stones. ead cts 8:3-4 to find out more about aul: s for aul, he made of the, entering into every, and haling and committed them to. herefore they that were went every where preaching the word. n a strange way, aul was actually helping spread the gospel by persecuting the hurch in erusalem. s hristians fled erusalem to escape aul, they did not stop talking about the truth. hey took od s message with them and spread it to other cities. s the brethren spread out from erusalem, a deacon named hilip went to the city of amaria and preached hrist unto them. any people were interested in what he said, including a man named imon the sorcerer, or imon agus. his man was a abylonian whose ancestors had been moved to amaria after the ssyrian mpire carried away the northern 10 tribes of srael as slaves. e was also a priest of the pagan abylonian mystery religion. hen imon saw that the oly pirit gave people power to perform miracles, he wanted this power for himself. ore than this, he wanted the power to be able to give the oly pirit to his followers. o, along with many others, imon was baptized. he apostles eter and ohn soon came to amaria to pray that od would give the oly pirit to those who had been baptized by hilip. hilip was a deacon and did not have the authority to perform the laying on of hands so od could give the oly pirit to those baptized. eter quickly realized that imon agus was baptized for the wrong reasons. e had never truly repented or converted to od s way of life. e selfishly wanted the power to give the oly pirit to whomever he chose. urn to cts 8:18-23 and fill in the blanks to see eter s encounter with imon agus: nd when imon saw that through laying on of the apostles hands the oly [pirit] was given, he offered them, aying, also this that on whomsoever, he may receive the oly [pirit]. ut eter said unto him, our perish with you, because you have thought that the of may be with money. ou have neither part nor lot in this matter: for your is in the sight of od. therefore of this your, and pray od, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. or perceive that you are in the of, and in the of. imon agus did not repent. nstead, he fostered his own religion, taking the name of esus hrist and applying it to the abylonian mystery religion. atan moved this man and used him as his instrument to persecute and all but destroy the true hurch of od. efore the end of the first century, atan managed to suppress the message hrist had brought from od. e replaced the message esus brought from od with a gospel about hrist. his false gospel recognized that esus hrist had come and had died for mankind s sins, but it suppressed the rest of is message. lmost 10 years after his confrontation with imon eter in a.d. 33, imon agus moved to the city of ome and became the bishop of a false church. enturies later, after many people had come to accept the paganized hristianity of imon agus, historians confused imon agus for imon eter. hey believed that the postle eter was the first bishop of ome, when in fact, that man was the enemy of eter and of od s hurch! fter confronting imon agus, the postle eter traveled throughout udea and amaria visiting the brethren and teaching them about od s way of life. n the city of oppa, od worked another mighty miracle through eter. faithful woman named 9 2 9

10 ystery hrase ook up the scriptures on the left and draw a line to the description on the right that best describes the scriptures. hen you draw the line it will intersect a letter and a number. ill the letter in to the corresponding numbered blank on the bottom to reveal the mystery phrase. phesians 5:23 1 orinthians 3:11 ames 1:1 cts 4:29 1 orinthians 12:12-28 atthew 4:12-13 atthew 5: hief orner tone hrist, ead of the hurch nly one foundation hrist leaves azareth e glad at persecution peak with boldness ifferent jobs in the hurch alatians 2:8 phesians 2:19-21 cts 4:19 cts 12: he hurch prays for eter e ought to obey od rather than men etter to the 12 tribes aul, apostle to the entiles abitha from this city had died. hen eter arrived, everyone was crying and mourning her death. ead cts 9:40-42 to see what eter did: ut eter put them all forth [out of the room], and down, and ; and turning him to the body said,,. nd she : and when she saw eter, she. nd he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows,. nd it was known throughout all oppa; and many in the. od had used eter to raise a woman from the dead. he brethren were amazed at this miracle and people 10

11 flocked to hear eter preach wherever he went. ut the harisees and adducees grew even more afraid of the apostles and started persecuting them even more. he governor of udea at this time was erod grippa, a grandson of erod the reat. n order to gain popularity with his subjects, he started persecuting the hurch of od. urn to cts 12:2-4 and fill in the blanks to see what erod did: nd he killed the brother of with the. nd because he saw it the, he proceeded further to take also. (hen were the days of.) nd when he had apprehended him, he put him in, and delivered him to four of to keep him; intending after aster to bring him forth to the people. (ote: he word aster in this verse is translated from the reek work ascha, which actually means assover. ) ne of the 12 apostles, ames, had been martyred, and now the chief apostle, eter, was in jail. et the hurch banded together and prayed without ceasing for eter s safety (verse 5). erod grippa had no doubt heard how eter had escaped jail before, so he took no chances. e bound eter in chains, put him in a jail cell, and stationed 16 guards outside the cell. ead verses 7-9 to see how od freed eter before he could be executed: nd, behold, the of the came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote eter on the side, and raised him up, saying, rise up quickly. nd his from his hands. nd the said unto him, ird yourself, and bind on your sandals. nd so he did. nd he said unto him, ast your garment about you, and follow me. nd he went out, and followed him; and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. eter thought he was dreaming, but an angel had caused the guards to fall asleep, opened his cell door, loosed the chains from his hands, and led him to freedom. hen the erusalem brethren saw eter, they knew it was a miracle, and they praised od!? fter the postle ames was killed, little is mentioned in the ible regarding the whereabouts of the other 11 apostles. o find out where these apostles went, read atthew 10:5-6: hese twelve esus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, o not into the way of the, and into any city of the enter you not: ut go rather to the of the house of. hrist commanded his original 12 apostles to preach only to the tribes of srael, not to the entiles, the nations that did not descend from acob. fter the apostles had preached the gospel to the tribe of udah (and the tribes of enjamin and evi, which were part of the ingdom of udah), they traveled to the lost tribes of srael. otice the way the postle ames (not the ames who was killed by erod grippa) introduced his epistle: ames, a servant of od and of the ord esus hrist, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting (ames 1:1). ames did not address the entiles. is audience was primarily the tribes of srael that had been scattered abroad during their ssyrian captivity eight centuries earlier. hese lost 10 tribes were living throughout the ritish sles, northwestern urope, northern alatia and the arthian mpire. fter the death of ames, the 11 apostles traveled to these lands and preached the gospel to the lost tribes of srael. o spread the good news of the coming ingdom of od to the entiles, od called another man to be the apostle to the entiles (omans 11:13; alatians 2:8). he man od called for this special mission was aul the same harisee who had gone house to house looking for hristians to throw in jail. ou will learn how od called aul into is hurch and made him an apostle in the next lesson

12 ord earch he welve postles imon eter ndrew ames, son of ebedee ohn, son of ebedee hilip artholomew homas atthew ames, son of lphaeus ebbaeus haddaeus imon the ealot udas scariot ublished by the hiladelphia hurch of od and produced in cooperation with mperial cademy. editor in chief erald lurry cover itock.com/bocero1977 opyright 2017 ll rights reserved.