Jesus Calls 12 Ordinary Men

Thank you for that. In your Bible, if you would look with me to Matthew chapter number 9, Matthew chapter number 9, we're going to read verse 35 down through chapter 10 verse 5. Matthew chapter number 9 verse 35 through chapter 10 verse 5.

We'll look at these 10 verses the Bible tells us here. Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and killing every sickness and every disease among the people. When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto the disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.

Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest. When he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the name of the twelve apostles are these, the first Simon who's called Peter and Andrew, his brother James the son of Zebedee and John his brother Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alphaeus and Labias, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of the Gentiles and into the city of the Samaritans, enter ye not. And we'll just read the next two, but go but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and as you go preach. Father we thank you for your word today. We pray that our hearts would be receptive and may you do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according the working of your mighty power in this service in the next.

We ask it all in Jesus name and God's people said, man, you may be seated this morning. This year there have been 60 million people that have been born into this world that were not here in 2022. In the same time there has also been 30 million people worldwide who have died. Every day there are 385,000 people born in the world and approximately 192,000 people who die every single day around the world. That's really an incredible reality, isn't it? I mean there may be what 300,000 people in Dayton?

It's like a Dayton being born every day. The Bible is clear that every one of these souls that comes into the world needs the gospel. Jesus is giving us the picture in chapter 9 that the harvest truly is great and when we look upon the landscape of our world, we would amen that. The Bible tells us in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 that if our gospel, the gospel of the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation, if we hide that it is hid to them that are lost. In Romans 10 13 the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? And so we see that the gospel is the hope of the world. Sometimes people say if people have never heard the gospel, will they be held accountable? Yes. If ignorance brought salvation, we would never send missionaries.

Right? If people not knowing the truth gave them salvation, then we would never tell them. Better to know send no one around the world, but that's a devil's lie. The Bible tells us except to repent you'll perish. That all will stand before God in Romans 1 20 tells us that everyone is held accountable and are without excuse based upon just the general revelation of God in creation.

But they must have the gospel in order to be saved. The purpose statement of Lighthouse Baptist Church why we exist is for this reason. To glorify God supremely in all we do, to love people sincerely the second great commandment where they are and to carry out the great commission with passion. The chief motive of the church is the glory of God, but the chief mission of the church is the Great Commission. Sometimes people ask what's the difference but about Lighthouse Baptist Church? Well, one of the key differences is we seek to carry out the Great Commission in sincerity and passionately. We believe that the mission is ours to bring the gospel to the world. I praise God for the thousands of souls who confess Christ as their Savior through these ministries at Lighthouse over these 13 years and the 60 missionaries that we support but friends the work is not done. That's one of the difficulties of ministry.

I used to love doing construction work because you could finish a project and be like man that's finished that looks nice but in ministry it never ends. You never it never you know, salvation is never accomplished enough. There's always more and then sanctification is a continual process as well, right? So the process always goes on and in the face of such a great task how do we respond?

I mean, what what do we do? And Jesus tells us what to do in verse 37. He points to a root problem. He says then saith he in verse 37 to his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but the labors are few.

What does that mean? Well, it means that very few are going to bring the gospel to those that are in need. Christians are not bringing the gospel like they should and why are so few going? Why are there so few pastors and teachers and missionaries and Christians that are faithfully bringing the gospel to a world that is in desperate need?

Well, hold your place there. You can flip over to John chapter 4. Last week we had a wonderful time with brother Tim Lee and if you were in this early service he preached a whole different sermon in the second service. He gave his testimony in the second service.

So if you didn't get to hear that ever before you can you can pull that up online and listen to that. But he preached on the woman at the well in the early service and Jesus brings the gospel of himself to her. She said we know that when Messiah comes he will tell us all things and he said I that speak unto thee am he. Verse 31 it says in the meanwhile his disciples prayed him saying master eat the woman had left she had come to faith in Christ she left they come and says master you need to eat and he said I have meat to eat that you know not of Therefore said the disciples one to another hath anyone brought him ought to eat Somebody brought him some food when we were gone. Jesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work in other words Jesus was more satisfied By doing the work of God than eating lunch. He would rather skip a meal It was more he had he had more of a hunger to fulfill the will of God than to fulfill his physical appetites And he says to them in verse 35 Say not ye there are four months and then cometh harvest behold I say to you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest Now, let me say one key reason One key reason so few are going is because they are not lifting up their eyes They do not look at a world that is lost and in need of the gospel People are more concerned about what they're eating for lunch than if their neighbor knows about Jesus They do they consider their meal. They miss the harvest of souls for the harvest of food or games or events Of course, you need to eat. Of course, you need to work Of course, it's fine to be involved in different activities, but it's not okay to miss the harvest.

I Would ask the question this morning. Who is the last person that you looked on with eyes of Compassion because they didn't know Jesus Christ if you don't have eyes that see that you'll never tell them If you never see them as a lost soul in need of the gospel You will have no words in your mouth to tell them it starts with a burden. It starts with a burning desire and desperate need of their salvation and What should we do in face of such a great need and face of the void of labors? Well, what does Jesus say to do? Verse 38 and let me say this a lot of times people try to reason and come up with plans You just have to ask what's the Bible say?

Isn't that a good question? A lot of times I'll ask somebody I'll say read that verse and tell me what it means They'll read it and then they'll say something that has nothing to do with the verse and I'm like, did you hear what I asked? Like like look at the verse and tell me what it means not what you mean like, does that make sense?

It happens all the time and I'm thinking if we can't even base truth on the Bible when we're asked about the Bible How easy would it be not to base truth on the Bible when we're not thinking about it like that? And so what does Jesus say to do? Like like when I ask the question What should we do in face of such a great need people start coming up with ideas instead of saying well What does the Bible say about it? We need to be Bereans don't we like let's look into the scriptures verse 38 He says pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors in his harvest I can tell you nobody would have thought that Most people say, you know, we need to have signs when you go out when you go door to door We need to do all these things. Well, what's Jesus say to do?

He says it starts with praying that the Lord of the harvest that God would send labors into this harvest now Why? Why ask God to do that because no one will go unless God implants that into their depraved heart He implants the gospel and then he plants his burden Listen I'm not here because I chose ministry. I'm here because God chose me for the ministry. I Did not choose him he chose me You're not here today because you're such a good person you're here today because God graciously chose you saved you and he has given you his word into your soul and And we need to plead with God that he would burden us not only for the gospel for our own soul but also for the Lost world now. What does it mean to pray for labors? It means that for a soul to be reached with the gospel for people to be saved God has chosen to use normal everyday people like us to bring them the gospel The only way the lost will come to Christ is for believers to spread the seed Remember Matthew 13 the problem was never with the seed was it?

It was with the soil the soil represents men's heart and we are to spread that seed and it brings forth the harvest The problem is we don't have enough seed spreaders we have two problems in our culture one is the soils turning hard and Pete less are spreading the seed We must go forth. God has chosen the Bible says the foolishness of preaching to save them that belief How will they hear without a preacher? So who is the last person that you shared the gospel with? The last person you shared the gospel with would have been the last person you looked on with a burden Here's the last person that you looked upon and thought you know what they need the gospel more than I need to eat lunch Who's the last person you even invited the church and many of you do that on a weekly basis? Praise God for that. I had a guy I went out to lunch with this week He had some questions and and when I went out to eat with him the waitress came by said hey, this is my pastor that I've told you about this is the this is the pastor of the church that I go to I mean he he was so comfortable Having shared his faith with the waitress that we didn't know who the waitress would be and he had already talked to her I said praise God for that. So I was able to have a good conversation there and Be open about your faith. I Fear we can so often miss the harvest because we're looking at the lunch level priorities of life the common everyday things of the flesh and are causing us to miss out on the harvest that the Father's Pointing us to if the disciples Missed it.

Do you think we will? If they left everything to follow Jesus and their eyes were more on lunch Do you think we as Baptist sitting in this room would do the same? Doesn't matter if you're Baptist. I'm just saying we'd like to eat typically but Now today we need to cry out to God to get a hold of the hearts of labors Listen, if you love the lost you need to pray for labors plead with God to send labors into the harvest field Those who pray for labors will find that they cannot help but be a laborer themselves MacArthur was right when he said the believer who prays for God to send workers but is unwilling to go himself prays insincerely and hypocritically You cannot say with sincerity God send labors unless you're willing to raise your hand to be one and as we pray the result is chapter 10 as We pray the result is chapter 10 here. Do you see the Lord of the harvest? fulfilling his own prayer Jesus calls labors and sends them forth to preach the gospel of the kingdom Over the next few weeks. I want to look at both a method of preparation of how Jesus disciple trained men and sent them out This is his discipleship process. What kind of men did Jesus choose? I believe this will be extremely helpful I'm gonna break down the lives of these disciples with you over these weeks We live in a day when you have cathedrals built to the twelve disciples.

You see their images in stained-glass Windows with halos around their head and we think about them as being even more than human Sometimes in a false way that is not who they were These were normal everyday people like you and I the only special thing about them Was that a relationship with Jesus and what Jesus called them to do? We will see that just as God chose to use their life. So God Can and will use our life as we surrender to him? We will see how important it is for us to both be a faithful disciple and how to faithfully disciple others if you care about the world if you care about the lost if you care that 16-million new people were born into this world and 30 million have died this year already. You need to listen to these sermons And so the first thing we see here is Jesus calls The twelve in verse number one it says and he called unto him his twelve disciples again in verse 38 Jesus prays for labors and now he practiced what he preaches in Luke's gospel. You don't have it in Matthew's gospel here, but there is a Separation between verse 38 and chapter 10 verse 1 Luke 6 verse 12 and 13 highlight what happens It came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and what does he do all night? Yeah, he continued all night in prayer to God, you know what he did all night in prayer to God he prayed for labors When he said pray therefore the Lord of the harvest is sin labors.

He literally spent the whole night doing that We can't even get Christians to pray at their seats or at an altar or even once a week for these kind of things often Most Christians don't even know they're supposed to pray for labors the Christ was so Intentional about this it says and when it was day, what's it say there? He called unto him his disciples and of them he chose twelve whom he also named apostles So before he chose twelve specific men, he sought the will of the Father And you know what the will of the Father was to give him twelve of those guys The Father gave Jesus twelve men. That's why Jesus said in John 15 16 You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit It's why the John 17 6 Jesus says I have manifested your name father your name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world Thine they were they got saved they belong to you and you gave them to me and they've kept your word You need to understand it is the divine call of God upon the heart of people These men were sovereignly chosen by God to this work This was the plan and design of God to call them Jesus prayed and the Father gave Christ these twelve men Now up to this point you need to understand Jesus had been preaching and teaching alone. He was ministering Alone, although the disciples were with him. He was one doing all the work and so for the ministry to continue and to go into all the world this there had to be a Multiplication process that would begin to happen and it's critical for you to understand that whatever God Has done in you he wants to do through you.

Does that make sense? So if he brought you into salvation, he wants to bring the gospel through you to reach others with the gospel as You grow as a believer and as he works in you and sanctification and growth He wants to work through you to help other people to grow and the Bible rebukes those who do not grow and learn the author of Hebrews is Speaking about Jesus and says in Hebrews 5 11 of whom we have many things to say In other words, we have a lot to teach you about Jesus Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11 We have many things to say and he says and hard to be uttered seeing you are What kind doll of hearing now? What does that word mean doll is a Greek word? That means lazy sluggish a complacent listener One thing that will hinder the normal Christian Growth is to be dull of hearing the Word of God to be a lazy hearer to be one who doesn't pay attention Verse 12 he goes on and says for when the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principles of the oracles or the teachings of God and are become as need of milk and not of strong meat You should be at the stage of teaching others, but you you need to relearn things because you've here's What I've learned what you don't use you begin to lose You ever notice that if you don't pass it on you begin to lose it so you got to teach and as you teach you become a recipient and So the Bible tells us that there is a rebuke for those who only learn and never teach You know, there's two main bodies of water that are in Israel. One is the Sea of Galilee. The other is the Dead Sea I've been to both They both have the Jordan River that flows into them one distinction is the Sea of Galilee is just teeming with life It's the lowest fresh body of water on the planet and it just has a very heavy nutrients And there's a lot of fish great for fishing. That's why a lot of the disciples were fishermen The other is so the Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee out of the southern part of the Sea of Galilee Goes down and it flows into the Dead Sea The problem is in the Dead Sea. There's nothing living Nothing, you will find nothing when we were driving along Down to Along the Dead Sea is a beautiful body of water.

I mean just as beautiful as you could imagine and Our Jewish guide was there and I said man. Look there's a guy out there fishing. He's like really No Nothing living out there, man He was like looking out the window You know one of the main differences the Sea of Galilee receives water and gives But the Dead Sea only receives there's no outlets to it.

It just hoards everything it has And you know water that doesn't flow out turns stagnant, doesn't it? And then as a Christian we need to learn a lesson from that We need to be those who not only receive the truth but give the truth Jesus said in John 15 8 here it is. My father glorified that you bear much fruit Now you need to understand there are four general phases to the Lord's calling of these men There's four general phases. The first was he called them to salvation John 1 you see many of them coming to Christ phase 2 was his call to follow him to Leave their professions and to be a full-time follower of Jesus Christ That this is what you could call organic teaching. They would now live with Jesus all the time The part of their training was just being around him He was imparting his life unto them his daily disciplines daily habits daily prayers how he ministered to people They saw firsthand his miracles heard all of his teachings There is much you can learn in the classroom and there's much you cannot learn in a classroom You You you need on-the-job training and that's what he gave them There was a third phase and that's what we come to in chapter 10 He begins to send them out two by two They're not yet on their own but they're given assignments To preach the gospel of the kingdom the kingdom of God is at hand to do miracles to authenticate their message with those miracles They would come back report to him. He would do further teaching this went on for a while and then the fourth phase is what you find after he resurrects in Acts chapter number 1 verse 8 This is when he sends them out permanently verse 8 in Chapter 1 says but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem that would be like in In your hometown in Judea would be like so if Jerusalem was like Xenia, Judea would be like Greene County Samaria would be like the enemy territory. That'd be like unto Michigan And Then unto the uttermost part of the earth that's like California.

No, so all right. We got people from California today. I forgot But they went out they preached they led people to Christ they baptized them. They disciple them. They trained men They ordained men to preach they started churches and they just kept reproducing this process And you see this happening in the New Testament They prayed for people they trained them. They sent out preachers to start churches and do missions work Acts 13 verse 1 says now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and mania and and they which were brought up with Herod the tetragarch and Saul and as they ministered to the Lord and fasted as they ministered and Fasted the Holy Ghost said see what they're doing. They're they're ministering. They're learning their training They're in stage one two and three all that's going on They're fasting they're praying and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work We're into I have called them and when they fasted and prayed and laid their hands upon them This is the ordination of the church of these men. We just had a formal ordination for Braden just a couple months ago it's going to be starting and planning on starting a church and And it says in day and they sent them away So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost the church sent them out But it was the Holy Ghost who sent them out Departed unto Seleucian from thence they sailed to Cyprus and this launched one of three great missionary journeys They would go preach the gospel see people saved baptized disciple them They would train them men like Timothy and Titus and then they would take the churches and then they would go ahead and continue to reproduce that That's what I've done for the last 20 years of my life Graduated college went help my brother start a church with eight people that group to 600 people and then they launched us out We launched another church out. We sent another guy out here. We training guys. We sent a missionary out. We're training other guys We have a ministry training class We we train guys even in-house guys who take online courses or courses that we're taking them through here at the church and training young men for the ministry to be pastors and Missionaries and teachers and and that's the God ordained process You don't learn ministry by going to a Bible college you don't I've done that I've been a part of two church plants that group to 600 plus.

I've been a part of multiple church launches You learn it you can learn information in a college, but you learn application on the field right big difference information application It's like the guys who've been on the job for 30 years a 22 year old comes in with his Degree and starts telling everybody what to do. They're like listen young man. You may have information You don't even know what you're talking about Or is that right? It's right.

There's wisdom. It's different knowledge and wisdom So here Jesus calls 12 disciples now, why 12? Well, there's 12 tribes of Israel, right? 12 tribes that laid the foundation to build the nation of Israel upon these would be 12 apostles That would be the foundation of building the church Ephesians 2 20 says in our built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone Revelation 21 14 talks about New Jerusalem in the Foundation of that city and it says and the wall of the city had 12 foundations and in them the name of the 12 apostles of the Lamb Their names written there Jesus said in Luke 22 29 and 30 that They would be judges over the 12 tribes at that time in the kingdom So 12 men were chosen now.

Secondly. What kind of men did Jesus call? What kind of men did Jesus call? What kind of men were these 12 men that shook the world for the glory of God? What kind of incredible guys were these Well, they were a device diverse group of people different backgrounds Peter Andrew James and John were brothers and they were all fishermen They were two sets of brothers Matthew was a tax collector. The other men were At different professions. We're not quite sure what all of their professions were Baba doesn't speak to it.

They had different political points of view You Levi was a tax collector who would have aligned himself with Rome Simon was a zealot who aligned himself with Judaism in such a fierce way that zealots were known to kill people like Matthew and if it weren't for the gospel, it could have been possible for Simon to murder someone like Levi That's how that's how great the contention would have been They were very common. They were not some special elite group. They were not highly educated They weren't educated in any high degree They were not wealthy prestigious famous. They didn't have political power. They didn't come from religious leadership They would have been considered in that day the non-privileged group. None of them came from high social status They were just plain ordinary blue-collar guys Who did the greatest of works that has ever been done on this earth? They Were the catalog of who Paul describes in 1st Corinthians chapter number 1 Verse 26 when he says for you see your calling brethren How not many wise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world To confound the wise God has chosen the weak things of the world that could found the things that are mighty the base things of The world and that which is despised hath God chosen.

Yea the things that are not to bring to not the things that are why? I read verse 29 with me That no flesh should glory in his presence So when it gets done, they'll never say the only way that could have happened is because that guy was in charge No, they would have to conclude boy. God must have been involved because there's no way they could have done that on their own It's always been the design of God to use the week to confound the wise hasn't it I Mean Moses who's spoken of like 800 times in the Bible was an absolute coward to the call of Christ to the call of God Exodus 3 I Mean Moses is like I Can't get him to speak right God.

I mean this is the kind of guy he would have been He's stuttering along. He's nervous scared five different excuses between Exodus 3 and 4 he couldn't he tried to get out of it as As much as you and I try to get out of stuff God Uses the David's to defeat the great giant Goliath God carved down the armies of Gideon right down to 300 men You know when God called Jeremiah to preach God said to him in Jeremiah 1 5 listen to this. This is fascinating to me He says to Jeremiah and Jeremy do we have that verse Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5? He says before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou came as forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and ordained the a prophet unto the nations You remember when I said God chose us not us choosing him This starts in the womb here. So he says I've chosen you for a plan There's a plan I have for your life and you're gonna be a prophet to the nations Listen We read verse 5.

We're like man. This is Jeremiah must have been like a Born as a lion This guy must have been as bold and courageous as any man. We would have ever known natural courage powerful speaking abilities charisma outgoing personality, I mean this guy everybody I mean this guy's gotta be like Listen to what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 1 verse 6 then said I ah Lord God behold I cannot speak for I'm a child This is a grown man saying this So God ordained him from the womb To be his prophet to the nations and when he tells him he's like are you kidding me? No, I can't I can't speak You ever feel like that You feel like that? Oh, I could never be a pastor.

Well, I could never be a teacher Oh, I could never be you know, I could never be a mission. Oh, I could never be involved in that I could never win so I could know really You it may be exactly what God has called you to do, but you feel Unincapable and that is exactly where God wants you to be because guess who you'll rely on And listen to what God said to Jeremiah Verse 7 but the Lord said unto me say not I am a child Don't say that for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee and whatsoever. I command thee thou shalt speak Be not afraid of their faces.

Why? Why You see how you ask the question you answered from the Bible What for I am with thee to deliver these saith the Lord then the Lord put forth his hand and what did he do? Well who enables the preacher who enables the teacher who enables the evangelist who enables the soul winner who enables you? It's the Lord who touches our mouth and the Lord said unto me behold I have put my words in my mouth and once God put his words in the mouth of Jeremiah Look what verse 10 says see I have set thee this day over the nations and over the kingdoms To root out and to pull down to destroy to throw down to build in the plant. That is you're the most powerful man on the planet Jeremiah and What makes you powerful because you're just a clay pot? You have this treasure in earth and vessel that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of who not of us We are not sufficient to think anything is of ourselves our sufficiency is of God The power of God is in the Word of God, isn't it? So for us to have the power of God in our life, what do we have to have in our hearts?

See you're answering it. It's answering it all biblical. That's it's good It's a Bible. It's just what it is Perhaps one of the most incredible and confounding truths about these 12 men that Jesus called Jesus did practice some Exclusivity he wasn't totally inclusive There was some exclusivity to Jesus in calling them Among the group there was not one man who was a priest no scribe no lawyer No, doctor of the law none were elders. None were religious leaders There was no Sadducees. No Pharisees. The one group Jesus excluded from the 12 were all Religious leaders it like if you were involved as a religious leader, you are now exempt or you're not able to be involved in Jesus's 12 Now why no religious leaders Because sometimes the things you have learned will hinder you greatly from the things you need to know You ever find out to be the case with people? The religion of the Jews in fact did not bring men closer to God in that day It actually took them farther away from God People say as long as you're sincere in your faith.

That's all that matters. No, it's not truth matters Truth is much more important than sincerity. Let me say that again Truth is much more important than sincerity It is obviously important for you to be sincere and genuine but you can be sincerely wrong The Religion of the day was supposed to point them to the true God, but instead it got infiltrated with man's traditions Man's thoughts man's teachings and as a result the most religious people in that day were the furthest away from God Jesus rebuked the great doubt and disbelief and the religious leaders this way he said in Matthew 21 31 He gave a parable and he concludes the parable by saying this to the most religious like preachers of his day, he said the harlots and Publicans go into the kingdom of God before you Like the the tax collectors who are the worst people in society and the The harlots the prostitutes, I mean they're going to get saved before to you guys I Mean you think that was offensive What did that just tell everybody in society you don't want to listen to your religious leaders these guys are a mess Now, why would they enter before the religious leaders because they were willing to humble themselves repent and trust in Christ If you're in great sin and God's heart word comes and convicts you it will crush you and you will repent But when you're religious you can cover all of that up with a religious self-esteem There's worldly self-esteem. That's just another word for pride and then there's religious self-esteem, which is even worse There's nothing worse than religious pride.

You cannot have a greater sin It is the grossest kind of sin Today it doesn't matter how religious you are your religious Upbringing your religiosity could actually be what's keeping you from God religion with pride leads to spiritual ruin your faith should always produce a deep internal humility a a desire of repentance true religion is built on a relationship with Jesus Christ not just intellectually, but It causes humility in you you you turn from sin. You're ashamed of your sin And so God calls these 12 now what kind of men were these for first of all, these were imperfect men Let me tell you some of their imperfections. They often lacked faith They often like faith as a group during a storm at sea that Jesus intentionally allows them to go into They feared for their lives.

Jesus is sleeping on the back of the boat. They wake Jesus up Scared for their lives and he wakes up while the water is coming over. I mean, this is a severe storm Matthew 8 26 He says why are you fearful? Oh ye of little faith? They were known as the little faith group Peter sank after he gets out of the boat starts walking on water and Jesus says oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt in Matthew 16 he rebuked them again for their lack of faith Matthew 17 when they could not cast a demon out of an individual They said why could we not cast? The demon out and Jesus said in Matthew 17 verse 20 Jesus said unto them because of your unbelief You don't have enough faith, you know the the phony false Healers today with they if somebody doesn't get healed they don't blame it on their faith They always blame it on the person's faith. Don't they Jesus said the reason they didn't get healed is because of your faith because of your faith But they don't go by the Bible anyway, so why would they ever come to that? But their greatest lapse of faith and then was seen after Jesus rose from the dead Even though he told them over and over and over again.

They just couldn't believe it. I Mean the women come and tell G tell the disciples of Jesus Jesus tells them like six different times at the end of his life He said I'm gonna go up to Jerusalem be killed and three days later rise again You ask the question. So what's gonna happen to Jesus and and then they would be like, well, you know I think we're gonna go to Jerusalem. Well, you know, we'll hold the feast and no didn't you just hear what he said What do you say quit thinking like yourself and start thinking about what the scripture says like what's he going to do? Well, you know, I think we're gonna go to no he's going to Jerusalem. He's gonna be crucified three days later rise again Did you hear that?

They just they just missed it. It's incredible to me After Jesus rises from the dead he uses a humble means in that day women were not seen to be credible witnesses in that culture and God chose to use women to be the first eyewitnesses and the women come and tell the disciples that Jesus rose from the grave and listen to how they respond to Luke 24 11 and Their words seem to them as idle tales and they believe them not they're like you guys are just this is a fairy tale Jesus appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus and Remember what Jesus said to them? He says Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not Christ who have suffered these things And enter into his glory Those two men after they knew realizes Jesus they go back and they tell the other disciples How the other disciples received that listen to mark 16 13 and they went and told it into the residue neither believe they them Afterward he peered under the leaven as they said it meet and abraded them with their Unbelief in hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. They just couldn't believe it Thomas I mean the the ten of the disciples saw Jesus They tell Thomas and Thomas is like unless I see his head and put my finger his hand and thrust my hand It's like I will not believe I Want you to listen what I'm gonna say How is a person saved by grace you're safe through What's your faith in your faith is in the death burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ These guys are commissioned to reach the world with that gospel and they didn't even believe it when Jesus was with him. I Mean you'd have been like this whole thing is not gonna work. I I mean they if they don't believe it when they lived with him for three years and Their own people come back and say he's risen and they're like, ah, we don't believe that These guys are agnostics or atheists.

What are they? right They're acting literally like atheists They would only be persuaded by physical evidence well, that's not faith Thomas Now let's go the whole world and preach the gospel of salvation by grace through faith Talk about a failing mission here. How on earth is that gonna work? You understand that's how powerful the gospel is through the whole work of the Holy Spirit. You think men can open people's eyes They struggle to see it with the truth when Jesus was with them Do you think you can talk your neighbor into salvation really? You need the power of the Holy Spirit to open their eyes does that make sense You see that? So, how did Jesus overcome their lack of faith? He kept speaking truth into him He kept speaking scripture on the road to Emmaus when they didn't believe You know what Jesus did in Luke 24 27 beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself Instead of showing them his physical body which he veiled from them at that time. He just pointed them to the scriptures It's not a miracle that people need to believe it's the Word of God that opens their eyes up Romans 10 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing by what so Word of God, that's what brings salvation to hearts So if the disciples lack faith do you think you ever will you know, sometimes I struggle with doubt preacher.

Oh really Really? Who is it in the Bible that said this? Um Are you the one or should we look for another Jesus?

Is that was that? John the Baptist If John the Baptist had bouts of doubt do you think you and I might I could talk about John that I don't have time to go into details of why he asked that but but If they had doubts listen, we're gonna have doubts, you know how you remove those doubts How do you remove those doubts what's the Bible say faith comes by Hearing and hearing by the Word of God you want to increase your faith Romans 10 17 you get into the Word of God Show me a person who struggles all the time with their faith and I'll show you somebody who isn't spending enough time here You fill your heart up with this and your faith grows. This is like air and oxygen if air is what produces a fire to be Healthy so the Word of God is the oxygen to your soul.

God fill it up That's why the more you're in church. The more you study the more you read to get in small groups learn Secondly, they often lacked humility. These guys struggled with pride it's incredible once they were in Capernaum and Jesus says what are you guys talking about and And mark 934 says but they held their peace for by the way, they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest.

I Mean it's like toward the end of their training. They're like who's the greatest you're gonna do that Matthew 18 1 at the same time the disciples came to Jesus saying who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? So don't you guys worry about James and John? He even had their mom go and say hey Could my son sit on your right hand or on your left in the kingdom and the other disciples were mad Why were they mad because they didn't get there first In the upper room, this is so incredible Listen to Luke 22 21. I mean they're in the upper room the next day Jesus dies But behold the hand of him that betrays me is with me at the table. So Jesus is like with 12 disciples he says one of you will betray me and that truly the Son of man goeth as it's determined but won't to that man by whom he's betrayed and and and and they you know, they begin to inquire among themselves which of them it should be like which one is it who is It who is it and there was also a strife among them of which of them should be accounted the greatest what? How did it get there? You know how it started Lord. Is it I is it I well, it can't be I did more miracles in John last month You know, I raised more people from I did you know, no, I'm better than you It has to be Peter. He's a mess.

He's always saying stupid stuff. You know, they they would have this it would have done We'd have been doing the same thing. I Mean Jesus like one of you guys you're gonna betray me it Deteriorates into them arguing then about who's the greatest among themselves. This is unbelievable. And these are the guys you're gonna use God To bring the gospel to us like 2,000 years later. Like we're going to hell like there's no hope is there Is this seem hopeless?

I mean if we read this and we were like 2,000 years in the future Like everybody's an atheist in the world It'll never get here. These guys are a wreck. Don't you have a better plan God? Do you have no one else? This is ridiculous is insanity.

Nope. There's no plan B Boy God you use the weak things of the world who can found the wise These are the foolish to and I'm gonna use these guys like a fire and what you see in weakness Now you wait till the Holy Spirit comes in and well dwells within them and you wait till you see that little coward Peter who couldn't even speak of me before a woman stand up in front of thousands You wait till you see what James becomes you just wait till you see the faith of Thomas You wait till the fire of God gets placed inside of them I'm gonna put them over the nation's To root out and pull down You may feel incapable today. You may be feeling weak You may be feeling like man. I just I don't feel like God could really use my life I feel like my faith wavers. Sometimes I feel like I struggle with pride Join the group of the twelve disciples Right a couple other things I'm not gonna be able to get through this whole sermon The disciples they struggle to understand they struggle to understand the simplest of things I Mean they couldn't understand a lot of things. Jesus said they just they were afraid to ask him It often says they were afraid to ask him. They didn't know what he's talking about He would give a parable and they're like, what does this mean? And Jesus said in Matthew 15 16 Are you also yet without understanding? He says beware the leaven of the Pharisees and they're like he's mad cuz we didn't take any bread He's like I just fed five thousand and then four thousand over here.

How do you why do you think I'm talking about bread? Don't you understand that I'm talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and then they understood it's like they just couldn't get it When he talked about his death and resurrection mark 9 10 says and they kept that saying in themselves Questioning one with another what the rising of the dead should mean. What does he mean the rising of the dead? You just couldn't get it They just couldn't get it in the upper room They're sitting with Jesus or I'm sorry after after Jesus risen from the dead He's with them after his resurrection Listen to what Luke 24 44 says and he said unto them These are the words which I spake to you while I was yet with you that all things should be fulfilled Which were what written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me read the Bible It is what testifies of me verse 45.

How do they ever get it? Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. It's divine enabling Do you see that? It's turning it on for You know who has the light turned on for them those who take their weak faith and cast it at the feet of Jesus those who take their Their frailty and they just keep following They keep pursuing it is God who reveals reality to us You would never be here today if it wasn't for the grace of God It's not your goodness that brought you here.

It's not your wall. You're just so diligent. You're just so faithful really You think you're all that right? You may be religious and lost if you have that mindset You're only here because of the mercy of God and extra cause you every morning to fall on your knees and face before God and say Thank you for being merciful to me a sinner How could we not? The disciples were dull of hearing Friend if the twelve disciples struggle to understand the Bible. Do you think we ever will? Do you think we'll ever struggle yeah You know, sometimes people use excuse.

Well, you know, I just don't understand the Bob. So oh, so you're not gonna read it You wait till the rebuke that's coming to you when you stand before God Because he rebuked them when they were seeking it and didn't understand it Well, if you're just lazy, then you're gonna get a double rebuke Because you'll never pass on what you don't receive You'll never teach because you've never learned You find more value in going home after church instead of plugging into a life group or plug into a class to learn the Word Of God, do you know all the answers that's being taught there? Do you know all those Bible teachings is your time? So valuable have you put the things the bread of this life above the bread of God's Word? I Say that and that may be convicting for you by another sinner saved by grace But what do you think God feels about that? I think we have taken God's Word so lightly these days.

It's embarrassing. I Am tired of trying to get Christians to read their Bibles It just wears my soul out like don't and then sometimes The prayer lives of our own lives our prayer lives are reading our memorization people. I can't memorize the Bible so that you never try I Have a lady in our LBI our lighthouse Bible Institute. She's in her 70s and she can quote about every verse that I ever turned to I'm like, what's the rest that verse say and she's over telling us?

Like her mid-70s I Hope I got that right. I might get in trouble if it's wrong Her husband's like 110 but No He's fun to tease So, how did Jesus overcome their lack of understanding he gave them the Word of God they struggled with commitment at times They struggle with commitment, you know how in the garden all will never deny you never and then they then they fall away Don't they and how does how does Jesus overcome that? You know, he prayed for them in Luke 22 31 He says Simon.

I've prayed for you that your faith fell not When you're converted strengthen your brethren so much I could say But I need to be done. The fields are wide into harvest friends, but the labors are few. How do we reach this world? How do we reach this world? We don't invent methods.

Do we we ask the question? What's the Bible say we begin to pray for labors? Pray for people to go and labor to bring the gospel to the world And as you pray you'll find yourself willing to go you cannot sincerely pray for labors without being willing to be a laborer Realize God uses normal everyday people to do his work. They showed weakness of faith pride jealousy envy. They lacked understanding They struggled with their commitment They reflected doubt in the resurrection, but God used them to reach the world with the gospel God's plan to reach this harvest World this great harvest is to use normal everyday simple people like you and me