Transcription

Chris
So, Jeff, have you ever watched The Chosen on the app?

Jeff
On the app or on the TV?

Chris
Oh, either one.

Jeff
Both. Yeah.

Chris
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Yes. It’s good. Well, today we’re talking about Jesus choosing the 12.

Jeff
Oh, that’s going to be cool. So he’s Chris and I’m Jeff and we’re the Bible guys. Well, if they already made a movie of it, why do we need to talk about it?

Chris
But the.

Jeff
Chosen. Yeah, just tell people. Go watch it.

Chris
Yeah, just go watch that. Okay. Goodbye, everybody. Yeah. Good night. Good night or good morning. That’s funny. Yeah. Hey, uh, so today it’s one of our favorite segments to sing. Oh, it’s mailbag. Mailbag. So this is, uh, somebody writing in which, by the way, you could wow, a new one. Yeah, a new tune.

Jeff
I found a new harmony spot.

Chris
That’s good. Um, so if you want to write in a question that you want us to tackle, uh, or just, you know, use and this, this particular question isn’t a stump the pasture question. It is just a fun question. So, uh, if you want to type in fun questions, we’ll be happy to try to, uh, put them in our segment of Mailbags.

Jeff
Fun question.

Chris
No. Mailbags. Okay. So here’s here’s the question. It’s written by Lauren B. Jeff
Hi Lauren B.

Chris
And she asks this question, what is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? Oof, not not you’ve given like you’ve given, but you’ve been.

Jeff
How about for you?

Chris
For me? Do you have.

Jeff
A great one?

Chris
Uh, yeah, I do actually. The thing that first popped into my head was when I was young. Um, I had, uh, Sarah, who’s now 30, almost 30 years old. Uh, she was, uh, probably six weeks old or something. And, uh, what they did was they went around the room in this in our little small church, and they said, hey, everybody, uh, what is, uh, a piece of advice, as parents that you can give to the young parents? And somebody said something I’ll never forget, and it changed my life. And I’m not even kidding. Oh, wow. It said, uh, your kids are going to go through a lot of stages, and a lot of stages may not be your favorite. And a lot of parents have have said, well, I can’t wait till my my kid gets through this stage, you know, the terrible twos or the I can’t wait till this this kid starts talking or whatever it is. And and they said never, ever, ever wish for the other stage because the stage that you’re in is just a phase. And it’ll it’ll go by so fast. So even if you don’t, don’t even if it isn’t your favorite stage, appreciate it because it’s only here once. And I remember, you know, watching my all three of my children go through all the phases that they went through, even when they were in junior high and they were fighting each other. Yeah. And I remember thinking to myself, it’s okay, because I this stage is going to come and go and it’ll be gone forever. So it was probably the best advice I’ve ever been given.

Jeff
Wow, that’s good advice. I’ve had so many good advice things, but, um, I think the, the one of the best advice things I’ve ever gotten is, um, uh, happy wife, happy life. Oh, sure. Yeah. That’s good. It saved my life several times, so. Oh, yeah. So there’s that. Um, but I was thinking about, um, you know, get wisdom, work hard. Don’t overestimate what you can get done in one year. And don’t underestimate what you can get done in five. I think from a leadership standpoint that those ideas have been really. Uh, life changing for me because you can get really frustrated as you’re leaning into an idea or leaning into growth, or leaning into building a thing that it’s just not going fast enough. And instead, you know, you want to build a healthy and strong. Uh, and then I had an old, old, old guy, an old marine. He said, I want to give you a tip.

Chris
Just how old was he? You used three old adjectives.

Jeff
Yeah, World War two.

Chris
Was he like he was 107?

Jeff
He was a World War two marine. So, yeah, he’s close to it. Right? Wow. So I was like maybe 30 something. And he said, let me give you a tip. He said. In his experience, life can be really tough. You lose a lot of sleep. Sometimes you get bound up inside. And he said, so I would encourage you, never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. Wow. Yeah. And you know what? Now that I think about it, that’s probably really great advice.

Chris
Yeah, well, you know what? I. I’ve never considered doing that. But if I ever do, I’ll remember the old, old, old old old marine, old old marine who once told you that.

Jeff
But he told it to me with a look in his eye, like from experience.

Chris
Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
Yeah. And and if somebody’s that old, they know about that. So. Yeah. Yeah. That’s really funny. Yeah. Well hey thank you, Lauren B. Yes. And, uh, again, if you want to, uh, you know, leave comments or leave us a review would even be better on Spotify. Uh, give us a, like, whatever it is, uh, to interact with us, we would appreciate it. Or if you ever want to email us, by the way, you can email us at info at thebible. Guys. Com and we will be glad to, uh, interact with you.

Jeff
Yeah, that’d be great. Yeah. Well, hey, we are talking about, uh, Jesus choosing the 12 disciples. Yeah. And this shows up in two passages. So now he’s already, if you remember, he’s already individually changed Peter’s name, Simon’s name to Peter.

Chris
He’s already interacted with several people.

Jeff
He’s already asked them to follow him. Right? Right. But. And so what was happening was there was kind of intermittent following. Follow him for a little while, while they have a couple days off and then go back to fishing, follow him a couple days and then, you know, it’s going back and forth. Well, then here it goes. Um, in Mark chapter three and then also in Luke chapter six, same thing it says. Afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him, and they came to him. And then he appointed 12 of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons. And these are the 12. He chose Simon, who he named Peter, James, and John the sons of Zebedee. But Jesus nicknamed them sons of Thunder Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him. And then in Luke says basically the same thing one day. Soon afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak, he called together all of his disciples and chose 12 of them to be apostles. And here are their names Simon, who he named Peter, Andrew, Peter’s brother. James, John, Philip. Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus. Simon, who was called the zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him.

Chris
Yeah. So you say, Alphaeus, I. I’ve always read it as Alphaeus. But. But it reads probably better. Alpheus. Potato.

Jeff
Potato.

Chris
Tomato. Tomato.

Jeff
There you go. There you go. Do you know the song? Did you know the Sunday school song?

Chris
No. This is a Sunday school song about the 12 disciples.

Jeff
There were 12 disciples. Jesus called to help him.

Chris
Oh, I’ve heard people reference it.

Jeff
Simon Peter. Andrew. James’s brother. John. Philip. Thomas. Philip, Thomas, Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus. Thaddeus, Simon, Judas and Bartholomew. Oh, my! You don’t know that one?

Chris
No, I do not know. It’s hilarious. It’s all 12. Well, I mean.

Jeff
How do you remember the 12 disciples?

Chris
I didn’t when I went to Sunday school. I was already like 15.

Jeff
So was I. No, I’m.

Chris
Like, I never I never do Sunday school below that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So the only time that I experienced like kids Sunday school is when I taught it.

Jeff
Yeah. So. So my mom taught junior church in in the church I went to. And so I would volunteer with her. So really, to be honest with you, that’s why I learned it.

Chris
That’s so funny. Yeah. So, um, hey, there’s there’s several things. First of all, that I want to get out of the way. The very first thing is this Jesus gave nicknames, and I love it. And good nicknames. The Sons of Thunder. Come on. Yeah, I mean, come on. I mean, you know, uh, the other day, we you had a former staff member that worked for you. Uh, uh, in his last name was Savage. Savage?

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, Jimmy.

Chris
Savage, Jimmy Savage. And he actually started a company. What did you say? It was titled Savage Media. Savage media. And you said. You said it’s the coolest name ever. Yeah, and I said whatever he puts his name on is going to be the coolest thing ever, right? Yeah. And, uh, and so the Sons of Thunder, it’s just James and John, you know, they were just fishermen. And so the.

Jeff
Greek for that is boyajian’s, which is a cool name.

Chris
Too. Yeah.

Jeff
Right. And Giannis means Sons of Thunder and, uh, so how cool was James and John’s dad?

Chris
Oh, yeah.

Jeff
Right where Jesus is like, you know, the creator of Thunder.

Chris
Yeah. Zebedee. Right. Zebedee. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
But how cool was he that Jesus is like, yeah, your dad’s thunder man.

Chris
Yeah. That’s so great. So was he a yeller? That’s right, sons of Thunder. I always looked at it as they are sons. Meaning brothers of thunder. Thunder replied to them. Oh, you’re saying that that Zebedee was Thunder? Thunder? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh oh.

Jeff
Because they were all working together on the boat when he called them. They were working with with their dad.

Chris
Then I wonder, I’m going to get to heaven. We’re going to have a debate about this.

Jeff
No, there’s no debate.

Chris
We’re going to sit down with Jesus and we’re going to be like, no, you were referring to his sons, and you called them the sons because they were the sons in the group, and they were the sons of thunder. They were the sons of thunder.

Jeff
Zebedee was thunder.

Chris
It makes more sense that Zebedee was thunder.

Jeff
So you know what that means. So they’re fishermen, and you know how how sound carries across the water. Sure. And so probably Zebedee was a yeller.

Jeff
Right. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, I would imagine that’s it. Yeah.

Chris
And so it’s.

Jeff
A cool name.

Chris
Sons of Thunder. And then. And then, of course, he nicknamed, uh, Simon, who he called Peter. And, uh, by the way, that that nickname in the Greek translates actually into stone. Uh, it’s, you know, we know it as rock, but it’s really it’s really referred to as a stone that you hold in your hand. Uh, and so what’s interesting about that is, you know, that passage later on where Jesus says, on this rock on this I will build my church, right? And, and, uh, and the Greek word there that he uses is like, uh, on this rock I will build my church is a different word. Right? And it’s actually, uh, refers to as a mountainside, right. Or like a cliff. Right. And so, uh, and so, yeah, it’s it’s a little bit confusing without the Greek. But anyway, the point is, is that nobody else has nicknames.

Jeff
Yeah, right. Well, the zealot.

Chris
Uh, yeah. Well, he was a zealot before he joined, so he was just like.

Jeff
But he was called the zealot.

Chris
Yeah. You’re right.

Jeff
He was called calling him Simon.

Chris
Right, right. Well, Matthew was probably called the tax collector. Yeah.

Jeff
And it doesn’t say.

Chris
By the way. By the way, he was probably called a lot of things.

Jeff
He’s called that dirty rotten.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Chris
So anyway, yeah, I was just going to say this, uh, remember I said there were several things about this, um, is that, uh, uh, whenever you ask somebody to name the 12 disciples, they always say Peter, James and John. And if you think about it, uh, you know, people today that are named Peter, James and John. Right. Uh, but you probably don’t know too many named Thaddeus.

Jeff
No, not many or Bartholomew or Bartholomew.

Chris
Right. Although, you know, there’s a few. Bartholomew. Um, Bart’s.

Jeff
Bart’s. Barney’s. Yeah.

Chris
Right. And you don’t know. You don’t know too many judas’s.

Jeff
No. Not many. Yeah, I know a few. Judas’s. That’s just not the real name.

Chris
Right? Right. And right. But, um.

Chris
That’s really great.

Jeff
And you know who you are.

Chris
Yeah. So here’s another thing that stands out is that, um, it says that he went to his disciples and he asked 12 of them to be apostles. And there’s a lot of people that are confused about this, because even just a moment ago, you sang a song and you said, the 12 disciples.

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
Right. And, um, uh, but what’s really interesting is that disciples, uh, every apostle is a disciple, but not every disciple is an apostle.

Jeff
That’s correct.

Chris
So there’s a lot of times in the scriptures where it’ll say Jesus was, you know, among all his disciples, it doesn’t always mean the 12, right? It means everybody who’s following him, everybody who’s following him could be a disciple. So, uh, you know, the disciples was a generic terme. And then he asked the 12 to be apostles, which is interesting because the song says name Jesus had 12 disciples. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, right. He had way more disciples.

Chris
Yeah, certainly.

Jeff
But they’re inappropriate to call them the disciples. As a matter of fact, multiple times in the Gospels, it just it refers to the first disciples.

Chris
The 12 disciples. Yeah. But technically their title was Apostle.

Jeff
Yeah, the bigger title is the 12, right? Not the disciples. Right. So it might call them the 12 disciples or the 12 apostles, but really the bigger one was the 12 those that Jesus called out of the rest of the group. Yeah, but yeah, there was a there was a larger group. So remember, there was huge crowds. Yeah. Then there was this kind of, this assembly, this group of disciples that were following him regularly, not perpetually, but regularly. And out of that, he asks these 12 to say, hey, would you would you come with me and let’s make this your full time gig, right? Yeah. So this is maybe a third of the way through Jesus ministry right at this point. So there’s a couple of notes in the Life Application Study Bible and, um, the, the one for 14 says from the hundreds of people who followed him from place to place, Jesus chose 12 to be his apostles. Apostle means messenger or authorized representative. Because remember, the differentiation here is you’re going to preach on my behalf. You’re going to have the power to do miracles, cast out demons. Right? So that’s a whole other level that he’s inviting them to. Um, the number 12 corresponds to the 12 tribes of Israel, according to Matthew 19, uh, showing the continuity between the old religious system and the new one based on Jesus message, many people follow Jesus, but these 12 received the most intense training. And then here’s the note that I really wanted to highlight. Jesus did not choose these 12 to be his close companions because of their faith. Because their faith often faltered. He didn’t choose them because their talent or ability no one stood without, uh, stood out with unusual ability. Jeff
These are just normal guys. They’re dockworkers. They’re fixing their nets. They’re fishermen, they’re tax collectors. They’re political zealots. There’s no nothing that goes, oh, wow, that guy was going to be a superstar anyways, right? Um, and so it says the disciples represented a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences, but apparently they had no more leadership potential than those who were not chosen. The one characteristic they all shared was their willingness to obey Jesus. Right. So to be you, I think that the greatest ability and you’ve heard this, the greatest ability is availability, right? Right. And they were willing to obey. Jesus said, come, follow me. They said, okay. Jesus would send them to do things and they would do it. They just obeyed what he had to say. And that’s the differentiation. We tend to set them up on pedestals. We call them saints, all this stuff. But the reality is these are normal guys who just chose to obey. Which means then you and I can do the same.

Chris
Yeah, right. That’s great.

Chris
You know, it’s interesting I mentioned before that when whenever you ask people to name the 12 disciples, they usually say Peter, James and John. So Jesus had his 12, but he really had the three, right? And then and then really he you could argue and say he had the one, which was, I think, Peter. Right. Yeah. But. The three was Peter, James and John, and John referred to himself as the one whom Jesus loved. Remember that? Yeah. You know, that’s really funny, but, uh, but I but I did a study of this of this when I was in college, in Bible college, actually, and I started to wonder, why was it that Jesus played favorites? At least it seemed on the surface that he played favorites. So I started to notice, like when he went up to pray, uh, up on the mountain and he. And there was a Transfiguration. He called it Peter, James and John. Uh, when he went to go heal the little girl and raised her from the dead, uh, everybody laughed at him because he said she was sleeping, and he said, everybody out except for Peter, James and John, uh, when they were in the garden. And he said, I’m going to go to pray a little bit further, he said, come with me, Peter, James and John. And there was, there was there were moments where Peter, James and John, uh, got to experience Jesus in a way that nobody else got to experience him. And it was it was it was like the next level. And Jesus invited them to be a part of those things. And I started to think, why would he do that? Is he playing favorites? And then when I did, was I sort of, uh, was reading through and I started to notice that there were, uh, certain people referenced in the Bible who who pulled him aside and asked him to know more like, for instance, when he was, um, teaching about the, uh, you know, the the seeds that are scattered some among thorns, some among rocks, some among weeds. Chris
Uh, he was telling that parable and it said he taught the disciples. And he said, then they all went away. And he said, Then Peter, James, and John. And in this case it was Andrew also who came to him. And they said, tell us more, uh, on how to know these things. And then Peter and then Jesus gave the whole entire meaning of the parable, but he didn’t give the meaning of the parable to the masses. He only gave it to those who wanted to know more. And then, like Peter, pulls him aside and says, you know how much, how often should I forgive, right? Peter, James and John pull him aside and ask him, why couldn’t we cast out demons, you know, and all the way through the scriptures, when whenever he was pulled aside and asked something personal by somebody who wants to know more than the crowd, it was most often almost exclusively actually Peter, James and John, except for, I think, one reference of Andrew. And so, you know.

Jeff
And we had Thomas too. So you had Thomas saying, we don’t know where you’re going, Lord.

Chris
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
14 I guess what I’m saying is.

Jeff
The majority of his teaching, the ones that were coming and asking for clarity on teaching, it was. Yeah, it.

Chris
Was, it was teaching is what I’m referring to. Yeah. And so uh, and so, uh, so anyway, I started to make this connection and I started to believe that it wasn’t Jesus who played favorites. It was actually Jesus responding to their willing heart. Yeah. And so these guys showed initiative. These guys pursued God more. They wanted to know more than the crowd. And so there’s a sermon in there somewhere. So, you know, for us, we go to church and what do we do? We we sit down with the crowd. Right. And we just we hear a message or whatever. If we if we do go to church and then we walk away. And for those people who, like, consider that their entire spirituality. Yeah. Uh, they’re not going to go to the next level. Yeah. Right. But when you, when you listen to a podcast or when you read the Bible, when you pray, when you do your devotions, uh, I believe that God honors those kind of, uh, you know, pursuits, uh, that discipline, that heart, uh, and what he’s going to do, he’s going to respond and you’re going to experience Jesus in a way that that those around you may not because you are wanting to know him more.

Jeff
Yeah and I wonder if there’s any of them that Jesus would not have gone. I mean, he chose them to be part of the 12, but I wonder if there was. I wonder if Thaddeus. Yeah, Jesus thought, man, that guy’s got it together. Yeah, but Thaddeus just didn’t push forward. And, you know, because I know in my life as a leader, I look for other people who have high potential to invest in. I look for them and on occasion, try to pull them in. But I also know there are a lot of people in my life that I wind up being around. Um, that maybe I wouldn’t have reached out and grabbed, but they just keep being where I’m at, doing what I’m doing. Yeah, and getting in on the thing that I’m doing and and that seems to be a little bit of it. That’s and that’s why I said I think some of the, the greatest ability is availability. These guys are there. And then they have a curiosity that the others don’t seem to have. Right. So they they’re aware that there’s, you know, what was it uh, last week we talked about that whole kung fu movie thing. You know, there’s this other level, there’s this new plane to go to. Yeah. It’s like these guys had an awareness that there was more to it than just the words Jesus said. Yeah, right. And so they had this, this curiosity that that caused them to lean in a little bit more, which then gave them more access to Jesus because they were asking about the thing that was important to him. Right?

Chris
Yes. Uh, do you, uh, last night, last night, you and I and our wives. Yeah. And Chad and his wife, Debbie and his wife, we all went out to dinner.

Jeff
Debbie and her husband, Chris
yeah. Debbie and her husband, uh, we all went out to dinner and we had dinner with another couple. Yeah. And, uh, we were there till late. So you guys headed out, and then we all stayed and and we were there till, like 1030 or whatever it was, so. At 10:18 p.m. last night. I get a text from, uh, a friend of mine who’s probably 40 years old, and his name is James Loggins. And he was, uh, one of my very, very, very first, uh, when I was a youth pastor. Um, he was actually, like, in, like, the sixth grade. And I remember he was my neighbor two, two doors down, and, uh, and I pursued him and I was like, hey, buddy, how you doing? My name is Chris. At the time, I was only 21, right? He started coming to my youth group, and he was in my youth group all the way through. I saw him until he graduated high school. Right. And then, uh, he went into the ministry himself. Uh, that wasn’t really for him after a few years and all these kind of things. So he texted me last night, and here’s what he says. To to Liz and I. So my son went to his first night of youth group tonight as a sixth grader. Brings back so many memories. Thank you guys for pouring into my life. Um, so the benefit of, you know, being around for a long time in ministry is, uh, when you see that. And here he is now, like 40 years old, and he’s got a son going there, and it’s like, wow, that is just incredible. Yeah. So we have kids who we poured into 40, you know, 30 years ago that are still saying these kinds of things. Chris
And and by the way, that is nothing more than a form of discipleship. Right, right, right. So he was sort of my disciple, and he grew up and I tried to pour into him. And then he went into ministry and, and, uh, and I was just trying to give him advice the entire time through. And again, he stepped out of it. But, uh, it has served God his entire life, which is amazing.

Jeff
Yeah. That’s awesome.

Chris
I’m sure you have dozens and dozens of people like that as well, right? Yeah. Because when you’re in, especially if you’re in one area. Yeah. Like that long right. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Which is absolutely.

Chris
So. Well it’s a good message on discipleship. So I think that’s a good place to end. Uh, any last final thoughts.

Jeff
Yeah so I had a conversation with a guy, uh, great pastor, incredible influence in, uh, a nation in Southeast Asia. And, uh, 75,000 people have been led to Jesus through his ministry. Just incredible. And, uh, they asked him, uh, what is a disciple? And he started laughing and said, oh, that’s controversial because all Americans with him. And then he they pushed and he said, okay, I don’t mean to be offensive, but in America, you think discipleship is, uh, one more DVD, another book. Uh, let’s go through this lesson or this Bible study. And he said it’s because there’s a massive multibillion dollar publishing system in your country. He said, but in my country, there is no Christian publishing system. All we have is the Bible. And he said, so we’ve had to really define what a disciple is. If you’re going to try to determine what disciple, how to do discipleship, you have to first determine what are you trying to get out of it, right. What should the disciple look like when you’re done? And he said, I’m not sure that you know, more DVDs and Bible studies is the answer, he said. So we determine, here’s what a disciple is. A disciple is somebody who hears Jesus and obeys Jesus. That’s it. Oh, right. So then how do we teach people to hear Jesus and obey them? Because if they hear him and obey him, they’ll learn to love him. And I went, oh, there you go. That’s it. So on the simplest level, that’s what these guys are. He said, come follow me. And they did. Not only did they follow him, they obeyed him. And he chose these 12 out of that whole group. That’s what he did.

Chris
Yeah, that’s great. Yeah. Awesome. Well, I think that’s our time. So we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.