THE 12 APOSTLES | ABOUT THADDEUS OR JUDE

1. Who Are the 12 Disciples of Jesus Christ?

a) We find the names of the 12 apostles in Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:14-19, and Luke 6:13-16:
And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.  
a) Jesus Christ selected 12 men from among his early followers to become his closest disciples. After an intensive discipleship course and following his resurrection from the dead, the Lord fully commissioned the apostles (Matthew 28:16-2, Mark 16:15) to advance God's kingdom and carry the gospel message to the world.

b) These men became the pioneering leaders of the New Testament church, but they were not without faults and shortcomings. Interestingly, not one of the chosen 12 disciples was a scholar or rabbi. They had no extraordinary skills. Neither religious, nor refined, they were ordinary people, just like you and me.

c) But God chose them for a purpose—to fan the flames of the gospel that would spread across the face of the earth and continue to burn bright throughout the centuries to follow. He selected and used each of these regular guys to carry out his exceptional plan.

d) Take a few moments now to learn a lesson or two from the 12 apostles—men who helped ignite the light of truth that still dwells within our hearts today and calls us to come and follow Jesus Christ.

2. THADDEUS OR JUDE

a) Listed together with Simon the Zealot and James the Less, the Apostle Thaddeus completes a grouping of the least known disciples. In Twelve Ordinary Men, John MacArthur's book about the apostles, Thaddeus, also known as Jude, is characterized as a tender-hearted, gentle man who displayed childlike humility.

b) Scholars believe Thaddeus wrote the book of Jude. It's a short epistle, but the closing two verses contain a beautiful doxology, one of the finest expressions of praise to God in the entire New Testament. 

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