Luke 6:12-16 - Choosing Of The 12 Apostles

And so, what Jesus was praying for is, 'Who can I count on to take this gospel forward?' I'm going to give you some history on each of these men because some of their names you'll recognize. So if I were to ask you, 'Who were Jesus' 12?' Most people go, 'Okay, Peter, James, John... oh yeah, Judas.' Well, there's more to that. Some of these men we don't know much about, but I'll tell you their stories as we go.

As he calls his twelve, these who are going to be sent as his ambassadors, it begins with Simon Peter. Of course, Peter is named first in this list of apostles, primarily as the spokesman. Here are some things we obviously know about Peter: he's the brother of Andrew, he was a fisherman, he's a bit of a hothead, and he takes action very quickly. He doesn't always think about his actions, and we see that throughout scripture. One of my favorite scriptures dealing with Peter is when Jesus tells him, 'Hey Peter, Simon wants to sift you like wheat, and when you've come back to us, strengthen your brothers.' Paraphrasing that, it means, 'Peter, you are going to mess up horribly. When you've gotten your head screwed on straight, come back and strengthen your brothers.' So Peter, although we see his flaws, had something more impressive going for him. What we learn from history is that he took the gospel to modern-day Turkey, to Italy, and into Asia. Between 64 and 67 AD, he was crucified for his faith by Emperor Nero. What history tells us is he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus, and he requested to be crucified upside down—an interesting way that he died. A man who at one point said, 'Yeah, I don't know Jesus, I don't know who you're talking about, I'm not one of His,' in the end said, 'Crucify me upside down; I'm not worthy to be crucified the same way.'

We move on then to his brother Andrew, also a fisherman. Here are some things that we know about Andrew: he took the gospel to modern-day Georgia, to Bulgaria, to Greece, and Italy. In 1860, he was crucified and hung from an olive tree. That was his demise for the sake of the gospel. We move on through this list and we come to James and John. They were called the sons of thunder; they were also fishermen. They were called the sons of thunder because they were a bit arrogant. There's an account in scripture where Jesus is not really being received as He should be, and they ask Him, 'Should we call down fire from heaven to consume those who are not walking according to your way?' 'No, boys, that's not the plan.' That was their story. Now, here's what's interesting with James and John: James went to Israel and then to Spain with the gospel, but he was the earliest of the martyred disciples because he was killed in 1844, about 11 years after Jesus had ascended. He was beheaded by Herod Agrippa for the sake of the gospel.

We moved through our list. John is the only one who actually died a natural death—with one exception: he was dipped in boiling oil and survived. Because they didn't know what to do with him, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Gospel of John, the Book of Revelation, and First, Second, and Third John. John took the gospel to Israel and to Turkey. One of the things that I love about the Gospel of John is he has time to look back and reflect, and he writes on how do I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Pretty amazing book.