New Apostle of the Week Series / What is an apostle?

Moore's Corner Church

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So this week we're going to start a new overview study. So every

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Sunday, in order to learn more about the Apostles of Christ, we'll be doing an

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Apostle of the Week segment. So before we start with Peter, he will be first,

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Lord willing. We'll do that next week. But first, let's answer the question, what is an apostle?

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Well, the Greek word apostolos, translated apostle, means one who is sent.

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So basically, one who is sent as something like an official messenger, like a delegate or an ambassador.

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Jesus, as you may know, had many disciples, much more than just 12.

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At one point, he sent out 70. But out of that larger group of disciples,

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Jesus chose 12 to be apostles. So these men, the apostles, followed

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Jesus full time, and they were given the power to work miracles and speak authoritatively in Jesus' name.

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They are, just listing them in order, they are Peter, his brother Andrew, James, his brother

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John. These were the four fishermen. Then there was Philip, Nathanael, also called

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Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, also called Levi. There is the other

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James, sometimes referred to as James the Less, Thaddeus.

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His name was actually Judas, but you know, you didn't really want to go around being called Judas in the

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Christian Church, so they called him Judas, not Iscariot, but Thaddeus was sort of his nickname.

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There was Simon, known as Simon the Zealot, and then last, and certainly least,

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Judas Iscariot, who will always be known as the man who betrayed the

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Lord. So there were, or these were the original 12 apostles. And then there's the

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Apostle Paul, who we'll talk about, who is unique. So if you can remember this, not all of the disciples were apostles, but all the apostles are disciples.

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And again, Jesus had many followers, and some came and went. So what is a disciple?

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A disciple is a follower, one who learns from the teacher. But out of that larger group of disciples,

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Jesus chose 12 to be official representatives of his New Testament Church, and they, the apostles and their close associates, were the ones who wrote the

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New Testament. Now before we close, there is one other man that the Bible calls an apostle that we don't want to overlook.

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And some people are unaware of this, but this is very significant. Guess who is called an apostle?

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Jesus Christ himself is called an apostle. Well, how is that?

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Because Jesus was sent into the world by God the

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Father. So in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1, our Lord is called an apostle.

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Why? Because he is the official representative for God. Jesus speaks for God the