Address—David Mearns
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Maybe we could sing this afternoon the 1St 2 verses of 224, the 1St 2 verses of 224. Maybe if a local brother could could get me some water, I'd appreciate that.
#224 Thank you, Austin. So let me please start that.
Way.
I forget what right now.
The soul where I can take God is being.
Oh.
My God.
And perhaps if we have time at the end of this meeting, we'll be able to consider that last verse. So a little frantic for me. I've never done this.
This subject I mean.
Jim always tells me don't try to.
Say everything that you know on the subject. He's gonna be looking at the ceiling here in a moment when he sees the the subject is.
Number of years ago, three years ago actually, umm, I had an exercise to umm have 12 addresses in our local assembly and to take up the subject of the 12 disciples. And we did it over a year's period of time. I trust it was for.
A lot of profit this afternoon. We're gonna do all 12.
Umm, we're not gonna, of course, umm, take 12 addresses and put them into one. But the subject has been really profitable to my own soul. And I trust that as we look at these blessed pages, that if there's even something that would touch each of our hearts, perhaps one thing that would touch a heart, each heart here this afternoon.
Then it'll be well worth our time to read from these pages.
So you think of of these 12.
What was it that made them go?
What was it that, that made them, uh, what was the fuel that, you know, we read about it in the Acts that umm, not just, not just the disciples, but other believers and umm, you know, as they, as they moved out from Jerusalem and as they, as, as they moved into Asia, if they moved, uh, into Europe, perhaps into Africa. And you know, the, the compensation that we read from Acts is that they turn the world upside down. So, So what is it that made them go?
00:05:08
You know it. It really should be exactly the same thing.
That makes us go same thing.
These were not influential men.
They weren't.
They weren't scribes.
No priests, no lawyers.
No important men, none that we read of that were great orders. They weren't.
They were men.
Like you and I.
We read about Timothy.
Umm, that's what they were like. That's what these men were like. So, So what? So what prompted me to take a look at this subject? You know, it's not something you, you can look at BTP and search down and try to find a volume that takes up to 12 disciples. It's not going to happen. There just isn't any. So, So what what prompted me? You know, I've appreciated at times in my life. I got a boy here. We like to fish down again. We don't get to do it much.
Once a year, Umm, used to do a little more. I, I, I've been, I've been greatly interested though, in, in watching in various different places fishing boats come in, commercial fishing boats and seeing them unload their fish. And I, you know, I was in Brazil a number of years ago and I was down in Florianopolis. And it was fascinating to me to see these fishing boats come in and they were so loaded with fish that the, the, the tops of the boats were just above the water.
You know, when they, they, they, they get to the shore and then all the, there'd be scores of people there in Florianapolis and they, they all line up like a tug of war that maybe thirty of them. And they pull these boats up onto the shore. And I'd, I'd watch the, all the merchants come down and they, they want special fish. And, you know, sometimes they clean them right there. Sometimes the, the, the people would buy the fish as they are. And it was fascinating to me.
I appreciate this. The thing in Florida, if you go to, if you go to Port Orange, where umm.
Our dear sister has just passed away. Umm, you see that? You see the boats there and they, they commercial fish for shrimp and it's fascinating to see that happen, umm.
I've umm.
I.
Seen at other places, I, I, you know, there's lots of incidents like I could tell, I'll tell one. It was fascinating to me and it really was, it was, it really struck my interest as to what the Lord came upon. Umm, you know, when there was 153 fish or when the, the next break and they had to call their buddies to pull all these fish up on the land or, or, umm, when Peter and Umm and Andrew were casting their net, net into the, the sea or when.
When John and and and his brother were were mending their naps, what did the Lord come upon in these instances?
Remember standing in Florida, uh, watching some of these commercial boats come in and there was also some, uh, sport fishing boats. And I watched one and they, umm, people all got out and, uh, and the buckets of, of fish that were caught, they, they, they brought them out to where they were gonna clean them. And it's interesting the way they go through, umm, as you catch fish in those boats, they, they mark something on the head.
Umm, you get a certain mark and this person gets another mark and third person gets another mark and everybody gets a different mark. So, umm, these people all standing around in a circle and umm, there's a guy that's going to clean them and he's going through the bucket and he's, he calls out, you know, a mark on the head. And this person says 1 mark on the head, it's my fish. And so they, he throws the fish down at that person's feet and another mark, he throws it at this person's feet. And by the end, if all these people standing around maybe 15 or 20.
Them and they've all got this group of fish at their feet and the person that has the uh, least amount of fish, he's the one that gets his fish clean and there's fish there that are three feet long. There's fish that are this big and very, very fascinating for me just to observe. So this, this, this guy, he's cleaning fish as he's cleaning, there's a Pelican over there on the boat and all of a sudden he swoops down right into the middle.
Grabs one of the fish, opens up that big beak.
And So what was it? And, and the guy that's cleaning the fish, he just stops, reaches over, grabs the Pelican, opens up his mouth, runs his hand right down to the stomach, pulls the fish out, throws it at the man's feet, takes the Pelican, goes over to the side of the dock and throws it in as if it was all part of the skit. NE never even looked.
00:10:06
At, at the people watching. It's fascinating, fascinating to me. And I thought, you know, I wonder what the Lord came upon.
Uh, my, I was of interest that some of the folks here have just been to Israel. That was my interest in asking several of them, you know, what did you see in the Sea of Galilee? That was fascinating to me. So it's wonder what was happening there. And they told me all various things. Well.
The 12Th.
They all had a call.
As do you and me.
They had a personal call.
They had a public call.
I'm gonna have one call. Actually, we don't read them due to just having a call. I'm sure he was. Someone had three calls, some of them four calls.
So as we embark on this, I thought first of all, we would, umm, it's interesting. Umm, Nick said, uh, two days ago when he looked at the clock, he said as far as time, time is concerned, everything's just fine. As I look at the clock, I, I say as far as time concerning, it's not fine at all. However, whatever we get, let's, let's get. And so I want to look at.
The four times.
That they're listed because the disciples are listed four times and they're listed different ways. And then we're gonna turn and stay in the one portion where they're listed because I'd like to take that up. So the first, the first, umm, the first instance. Let's look in the book of Matthew, Matthew's Gospel.
And the 10th chapter.
Matthews Gospel chapter 10, Matthew 10, Mark three and.
Luke 6 and then the book of the Acts. So here in Matthew's Gospel, uh, the 10th chapter, we read this. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these notice as we go through Matthew and we go through Luke because they're listed.
In pairs, that's how they're listed different in acts, different in March. So we read here 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. Notice pairs the publican James the son of Alphaeus in Libya.
Whose surname was Thaddeus and who also had the name Judas.
Man with three names. So I'm in the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Let's go to umm, actually, let's go to Luke's gospel.
Where we have the same.
Scenario in pairs.
Luke's Gospel, Chapter 6.
I wonder if they called the famous disciples, and of them he chose 12.
Whom also he named apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother.
James and John, Philip and Bartholomew. Notice pairs Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon called Zolodes, Judas the brother of James and Judas Iscariot, which was the traitor. Let's go to look at the act.
Acts chapter one.
This is different because here.
They're in groups, a group of four, a group of three and two groups of two not only adds up to 11, of course there's one missing. Interesting because in this chapter we find the the lot is cast. There's there's two that are candidates. UH-1 draws a long straw. That's Malcolm. We never read them again. The one who draws.
The short straw who wasn't one of the apostles. We read of them again.
Couple times in the book of the Acts. So we find out that he has something to do that perhaps if he had been called an apostle, maybe that work would have been umm.
Not he wouldn't have been able to do that work, but here, as we look at the list, let let's read it now. Umm, when they were come thirteen one and 13 when they were come up into an upper room, they're abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew.
00:15:02
And then Phillip and Thomas Bartholomew.
And Matthew?
James, the son of Alpheus and Simon Zelodes and Judas, the brother of James groups. And I've appreciated that because we're going to go down to Mark's gospel where we're gonna spend the rest of our time because in in Mark's gospel we find them called individually. Sometimes the Lord has a work for us to do and it's with somebody. Sometimes he has a work to do and it's with a group.
Sometimes he has something forced to do.
And it's all by ourselves with the Lord. Well, let's look here now in Mark's gospel, where they're called in individually. We're gonna start. Let's look at the 16th verse. And Simon Eastern and Peter and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James and his surname, them bow energies, which is the sons of Thunder.
And Andrew. And Phillips and Bartholomew and Matthew.
And Thomas and James the son of Alpheus and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him, and they went into a house.
Fascinating, isn't it?
So let's embark on the first one, Peter.
I don't know how you take up Peter in a setting like this. Umm, just just for, for information. Uh. Andrews mentioned 13 times in the word Peter in excess of 220.
So how, how do I select, you know, Peter's thinking in the water, Peter denying the Lord Peter.
Uh, going up in the mount of Transfiguration, uh, there, there's, there's so many things about Peter that, umm, that we could look at. And it's interesting because Peter's the, the one that gives the boldest confession. Peter's the one that, umm.
That, uh, denies the Lord.
Peter is the only one that rebukes the Lord.
That's pretty songs, isn't it? And Peter began to rebuke the Lord towards us.
Peter is the only one.
That the Lord says, give thee behind me, Satan. You know what? And and yet, you know, Peter's the one that uh, in the book of the Acts says he had denied the Holy one and the just Peter's the one that writes, uh, to us and says, uh, be clothed with humility. You know, as I, as we punch in the word humility, Peter doesn't come flashing up on our screen.
And yet what? What was it that that worked with Peter?
To bring him to the point where he's such a blessing to ourselves. And so the, the, what I'd like to do with Peter is, is, is look at one scripture now and maybe one at the end, umm, to look at, uh, perhaps the change in Peter. Let's look at Matthew chapter 17.
Matthew chapter 17 and I'm going to ask you that you'll continually, umm.
Nick said in his address that there was gonna be a ray of scriptures. Umm.
That was kind of an understatement for what we have here. Umm, there's going to be a number of scriptures and you don't have to turn to them. Umm, you can perhaps just, umm, listen. And if there's something that you can glean, you know, I'm sure the, the marvelous, I, I, I'm just enjoying this as I've enjoyed my own soul. Matthew umm, chapter 17.
I I love this.
13.
Jesus came under the coast of Caesarea Philippi. He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, AM?
I'm sorry, Matthew 16.
Matthew 16. Thank you. Whoever it was that whispered, that was it. Appreciate that. You might have to do that again.
So Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13, when Jesus was come to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom? The men say that I, the Son of Man AM, And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist. Well, that's impressive.
00:20:02
And some Elias, yeah, that's that's impressive too. And others, Jeremiah, these are.
Men of note, or one of the prophets, and he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Oh, I love this. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. It's interesting that that comes in exactly the same chapter where the Lord says to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, as we just embark on this subject.
Do we have a sense in our soul?
As who it is that has called us, we have a sense in our soul. You know, I was reminded of an incident in in my life before I was married, and I was reminded of it just this week. My wife, uh, made arrangements with, umm, our brother Tony Kelly in Nassau to break bread with him in the month of February.
The last time I was in Nassau, and I don't know, it's still right, still here.
Maybe he's gone, but he's probably the only one here that was with us. There was a number of us that we got our own boat, umm, and we went from, uh, from Florida and we sailed across to the Bahamas and we did some of the islands there. We, we broke bread with, uh, Tony was actually this, the, the week after Tony was gathered. It was very interesting to spend the time with him and his, his grandmother enjoyed the time very much. I haven't seen him since then. Uh, I expect he's changed a bit. I expect I probably have 40 years ago.
Umm.
We were on the far side of Nassau.
We were headed back to Florida.
And we were kind of in a rush and we, we had to, umm, we were in a 40 footer. It's what we had rented. Umm, it had two Chrysler sixes in it. We were, we're using the power for some of the time we were sailing for some of the time. At this particular time we run out of fuel. So we were sailing, but we needed fuel because we were, we had a headwind and it was going to be a headwind all the way to Florida.
And we, we taxed because it was a head when we were talking back and forth, it was really time consuming. And we came into Nassau, came into the harbor there and, uh, it was nice. Everything was closed down and we couldn't get the fuel. And we were, some of us had some deadlines and we thought, oh, we've got to get fuel. And so we, we found someone that thought they might be able to get someone to help us out. And sure enough, in a little while, umm.
Umm, a man came down and sneakers and shorts and he said, you know, I'm gonna help you. And he kinda helped us out and filled us up with our fuel and uh, you know, this is, uh, it's a large harbor. There's ships in it. There's 200 foot yachts. There was.
A multiplicity of the size of the ones we had, probably 100 or more. And umm, this man, he filled us up with, uh, fuel. And at the end of it, umm, because of his kindness, we handed him 20 bucks.
And so thank you very much. We appreciate you. All right, it was a holiday, umm, late and on a holiday. We appreciate you doing this. He looked at the 20 and he said, umm.
I probably don't need that.
I own this harbor.
You know, our deportment changed.
Drastically. We've been laughing and chatting with them, you know, thinking this clerk could come down to fill our boat here. He left his mansion, left his family behind.
And came down to the the Wharf to.
Fill these. Fill up the both of these.
7 scallywags you know, and we, we were as we spoke, as we spoke with them, you know, we were Canadians and Americans and we were way above him.
When we realized who he was, our deportment changed.
I would just like to suggest as we embark, Peter, who says thou art the Christ?
The Son of the living God. Do we have a sense in our soul as we go through the day, that that's the one who has called us? That's the one who has called us?
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Let's move on to.
James and John, which is the next one in the list here in Mark chapter 3.
00:25:01
Maybe we'll do them together.
James uh, it's sort of interesting.
He's never mentioned alone, never ever accept when he loses his life, and he's the only disciple that we have his death recorded. James.
John his his brother and that's another thing. How how do you umm.
How do you select that a portion with regards to John, whether it's in the epistles, whether it's in, in Revelation, whether it's in the Gospel, uh, how do you select, uh, do you know the disciple whom Jesus loved? There's so many things that we, we could, umm, we could glean here in relation to John. I thought though of, umm, of, uh, there, there's, there's a, there's a portion, it's in, umm, it's actually in, umm, it's in Matthew's Gospel.
Umm, in Matthew 20? It's in Mark 10. It's in Luke 10. Let's look at it in Matthew's Gospel, the Matthew 20.
Where we read umm?
In, in Mark's Gospel and Luke's Gospel, we have umm, we have uh, James and John coming to the Lord Jesus and they wanting a special place in, umm, in Matthew's gospel we, we find that umm, it has to do with Mrs. Zebedee, which we'll read here in, in Matthew 19 and verse 20.
Uh, then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? And she saith unto him, Grant the thieves, my two sons may sit, the one on the right hand, the other on the left, in thy Kingdom. And Jesus answered and said, You know not what she asked, Are you able to drink of the.
Cup that I shall drink of be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. And they said unto him, We are able. And so far verse 24.
You know what's interesting here?
The 10 here of it.
The 10.
And they're furious. They're absolutely furious.
Because they wanted that spot.
You know, I, I thought of this, this portion, you have a number of portions where the disciples are squabbling and grumbling amongst themselves as to who should be the greatest. Uh, we can't turn them all. There's a multiplicity of them. But I thought, you know, probably the best way to look at it is to go back to First Corinthians chapter 10. I'd like to do that for a moment.
First Corinthians chapter 10, you're going to say, where are you going with this?
Well, there was a comment that was that was made.
With regards to the division of the chapter in First Corinthians 10 and how there was.
A There was a a vivid change from what we have in the first part of the chapter to when we get to the 15th verse 16 the community of the blood of Christ and the fellowship we we spoke about.
We spoke about the five things in verses 6 to 10. We didn't really touch in too much on the 9th and 10th verse. And I want to just point those two verses out because they make it so vivid, the change that we have in this chapter. And it's this, if we're to go back to the Book of Numbers, those two portions.
They have to do with the people of God speaking against Moses and Aaron.
You know, I, I think these things are mentioned and, and, and that's mentioned, we have a, a portion, you know, actually the only Old Testament, umm, failure of them, uh, failure of an Old Testament prophet that we have in the New Testament is Elijah. And it says he was interceding against his brother.
You know it's.
To be found with with hard thoughts and and negative things said about our brethren just does not go along with what we have in the next part of the chapter. You know, you think of the word fellowship. We, we love the word. We love the word communion. It just can't be married with speaking against our brother. You can't take those things and put them together. You can't do it. And that's why it's so vivid here in first Corinthians chapter 10.
And that's why it's so vivid that we have it so often with the disciples. Let's go back to, umm, to, uh, Mark's gospel.
00:30:03
Uh, James and John, umm, we could take a look at the umm, at the uh.
Portion that, uh, where they call fired of heaven. But I'd like to go to Mark's gospel chapter one and just take a look at this scenario with James and John.
Because here's one of the scenarios where the Lord Jesus comes.
And there's a fishing experience.
Versus Mark chapter one and verse 16. Now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew's brother casting an end of the sea for their fishers. He said unto them, Come ye after me, I will make you to become fishers of men. Straight away they forsook their nest and followed him. And when he had gone a little further fence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship.
Mending.
Their Nets, interesting expression. I've watched that. I watched it in Florida. I watched the mending Nets. Uh, one of the things I did just before I came here, uh, I mended my socks. My wife can't do it anymore. Umm, so I, my mom actually taught me how to mend my socks. And if there's a hole in your socks, umm, can mend it. My, my daughter thinks it's ridiculous because a couple of years ago when I turned 60, she gave me.
60 little wrapped up bundles and there was 60 pairs of socks. She thinks I could probably throw them all out but no.
As most of the men here know, you've got favorite socks, you've got favorite sweaters, we've got favorite socks. And some of my favorite socks, They need to be mended.
These two disciples were mending their Nets. Interesting word. Interesting word. Very, very much needed individually.
Very much needed in our families.
Very much needed in our assemblies vendors.
Galatians 6 and one.
So ma'am, be overtaken in a fault. Ye who are spiritual restore such an one the word there is ye who are spiritual mend such an one same word. You have it in in first Corinthians 1, umm, that she'd be perfectly joined together. You read that scenario in first Corinthians, you think, wow, a lot happening there, but that's what it says perfectly joined together, the word, same word.
You'd be perfectly mended.
Have to work. Let's pick it up, umm, uh, in uh, let's go to the Old Testament. Pick it up in in First second Chronicles. Rather just read a verse there.
Second Chronicles, chapter 2024.
Second Chronicles 24, the King and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the House of the Lord, and hired Masons and carpenters to repair the House of the Lord, and also such as Ross, iron and brass to mend the House of the Lord. Brethren, we need members the menders in our families.
The menders in the assembly. The Lord saw these two.
We look at some of the things they did and we think it's a bit of a stretch for them to be vendors that as life progressed, I believe they came. They became members of the people of God. Let's go on to Andrew.
Mark Chapter 3 Andrew Andrew, as I mentioned earlier, mentioned 13 times.
He's, umm, he's the first one called.
Phillip is the first one the Lord says follow me. But Andrew is the first one called umm, we have the Lord saying to him, uh, come and see. You know, we don't read much about Andrew. No sermons, uh, don't read of them once in the book of the Acts.
It's just not there. He's a, he's a behind the scenes person. That's where Andrew is behind the scenes. He's a whole missionary, brought his brother to the Lord. Where am I gonna pick a spot for Andrew? I thought probably the best thing to look at in connection with Andrew.
Is the feeding of the 5000 the feeding of 5000? Is umm, something that we find in Matthew, we find in Mark, we find it in Luke and we find it in John, Umm.
I'm not sure which one to look at. Maybe look at Matthew 14?
So Matthew 14 to mark six. It's in Luke 9, and it's also in John's Gospel chapter 6.
00:35:03
It's interesting that in each of the synoptic gospels.
We read this.
Matthew, Chapter 14.
Verse 15.
When it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, This is a desert place. The time has now passed. Send the multitude away. Have that Matthew, have that mark, have it Luke, Send them all to do the way. Get rid of them. And in each case the Lord says this.
Give ye the end of verse 16. Jesus said unto them, They need not to part. Give ye them to eat says it, Matthew says it, Mark says it. Luke, give ye them to eat. This is a challenge to my own soul.
After the, the, the, the meetings we had yesterday and the day before, uh, it's kind of hard to conceive that perhaps we wouldn't have got something to eat ourselves spiritually by ourselves, isn't it? But maybe there's someone here and you haven't gotten some feats. Let me just ask the question. Did every one of us get something to eat today by ourselves along with the Lord? Did we? I'm not going to look for a show of hands.
But now I'm going to ask.
Have any of us or all of us shared something?
That's what the Lord said here. You give them thieves, you give them something to eat. Have we done that? Have we done that something that I've enjoyed today? Have I shared it with something? I think, oh, well, you know what? What I have to share is such a little bit, you know, it doesn't matter how little bit it is. You think of Boaz thing to to to Ruth, He says bring up your morsel and dip it in the vinegar. Just a little morsel, you know.
We've got a little more so share the more so with someone. The Lord can take that and as we find in the book of Ruth, she was satisfied and there was other satisfied from a little more so give ye them to eat. Oh how I love that exhortation in connection with Andrew. Let's go on now to Philip.
Mark chapter 3.
Verse 18 and Andrew and Phillip.
As I said, you know umm, Philip was the first one and we won't look at some of these, we can't possibly, but he's the first one that the Lord Jesus says to follow me. I'd like to look at 2 portions in connection with Philip. The first one is in UMM, in UMM.
John chapter 12. Let's look there. I, I, you know, this is, uh, this is very helpful for me. This, this, uh, portion in John chapter 12 because we don't do well with this.
In in John chapter 12 and verse 20, there there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same there came therefore to Philip, which was a Bethea of Galilee and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. No, I love this because Phillip could well have taken the Greeks to the Lord Jesus, but he didn't do that.
He thinks in his mind, who's good at bringing people to Jesus? Who's good at that? Ah, Andrew brought his brother.
He brought the lad with the lunch to the Lord. He'd be the 1:00 to be able to get to bring these Greeks to Jesus. And what does it say?
Philip, come us and tell us Andrew verse 22. And again Andrew and Phillip tell Jesus, you know, I would just like to encourage our hearts.
To capitalize on each other's strengths. We can have a we can tend to be lone wolves and want to do everything by ourselves.
You know, there are our brethren that are good at things and they're far better at them than we are. So could have taken, taken, uh, these ones for the Lord, but he didn't. He went and got Andrew, somebody he knew was good at this. And together the two of them take the Greeks to Jesus. Now let's go to John chapter one, and we'll look at another scenario in connection with Philip.
I I I really enjoy this.
John, Chapter one.
Just a phrase in connection with Phillip.
00:40:09
This has to do with.
With Nathaniel, which maybe we'll look at, but he makes a comment here.
In verse 45.
Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him.
Just that phrase. We have found him now. I love that little word. I think of a Luke 15 of the woman sweeping the house until that coin popped up. She found the coin. Think of the the sheet that's lost. What does it say?
She was found.
You know, we read about solid assets they were found. Think of, think of Isaac's day as the servants or, or or thinking for water. What is it says that they come to Isaac and they say we have found water, we have found water.
You know this little statement. We have found him.
Do we find that's less than one our Lord Jesus in each of the details of our life?
Do we do that when we get up in the morning just today?
We depended on the Lord as to who we should eat lunch with, and we found the Lord showing us who to eat lunch with or to who to share something with.
Or all the little details, oh if we could, in all the details of our life.
Doom for Phillips says here we have found him. That's what the Lord desires for us. He wants us to see him in all the details of our life. I I love that about, about Philip here. We need to move on though to umm, to Nathaniel, which in our chapter is Bartholomew.
You know, I, I just, umm, we don't read them much. He's umm.
He's in, in John, We know that he, he went fishing with Peter and in John 21 umm, we find him in here, though, in the, in the first, umm, the first part of John's Gospel chapter one. Let's look at that and just to pick up what the Lord Jesus says about him.
John, Chapter one.
And this is a little searching to me. I was thinking of this in connection with the scripture that I read yesterday at the prayer meeting. So here in John chapter one.
Well, 43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, find the Philippines. 17 Follow me. That's the first time we have that of a disciple. Philip was was a Bethea, the city of Andrew and Peter, Philip finest Nathaniel and saith unto him, We have found him, who Moses in the law and prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip saith unto him, Come and see Nathaniel coming to him, and see out of him, Behold.
Jesus, Psalm, Daniel coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile.
No facade.
With Nathaniel, you know, he goes on here and he speaks to Nathaniel about the time that he was under the fig tree.
And I would like to connect that with the 6th chapter with what I read yesterday at the prayer meeting where it says John's Gospel Chapter 6.
And verse 3.
Where it says and Jesus went up into the mountain and there he sat with his disciples. I love that.
The Lord desired that.
You know, one of the things I didn't read.
It looks gospel in Mark's gospel, you don't have to turn to it. It's in that third chapter, though, is the 14th verse where it says any ordained 12. Why did he? Why did he ordained these 12? Why did he call these 12? Mark 314, it says that they should be with him. That's why he called them. He called them so they should be with him and that's why he's called you and me.
So that we should be with him very simple. That's why we can have everything we have.
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Now, so we can do great things, He wants our company. That's what we did here. He sat with his disciples, just sat with them. One of the.
One of the greatest things in my day and it happened two or three times. Uh.
I live a busy life like many here. Uh, I run a couple crews, uh, office in the house. My wife does the paperwork, I do some paperwork. I, I come into the house probably three or four times a day.
Usually my wife is sitting on the couch.
If it's already, if it's sometime in the morning, she's reading and praying. Sometime after, she's maybe on her computer. She might be doing paperwork. I come in the door, I go over the couch. I flopped down on the couch beside her and just leaned up against her.
Don't say anything.
We just sit there and we love it. We both love it.
The Lord desires that with us. And let me ask you this, let me challenge you on this. When was the last time you spoke with the Lord and you didn't ask Him for something?
When was the last time? It seems that every time we address the Lord, we ask Him for something. Every time, except maybe on Thursday morning.
You know, if every time my wife communicated with me, she asked me for something.
It started it was start to get wearing and every time my children spoke to me, they asked me for something you know it would get tired of it. Think of our blessed Lord who just desires our company just to be with us, just to enjoy that that that fellowship that company would have to say anything. I just love that the Lord Jesus.
Sat with his disciples. Do we do that?
Seems like we don't even have the capacity to do that. We have to ask the Lord for something every time we speak with them. Oh, you know, I, I love this. I love Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree and I, I want to take up the concept of the, the ladder there with the.
Jacob's platter, probably what he was meditating on, and the Lord brings that out here. Uh, it's beautiful to see, but manual Nathaniel's deportment of simply seeking to be with the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus saying about him, Oh my, there's no facade here whatsoever.
Let's go on now to Matthew.
Matthews an interesting individual. We read them eight times, not many times.
It doesn't say very much.
About himself? Just about nothing.
Matthew.
I don't know what umm.
Nick, you talked about your pedigree or lack of it. I enjoyed that.
Umm. I don't know what Matthew's background was, but he quotes from the Old Testament about 100 times. That's more than Mark, Luke, and John put together.
Where that came from, I don't know.
I I I really don't know, but Matthew.
He he was a, he was a publican. Just to, to give a little scenario as to the Republicans, it seems that just about every time we read about Republicans, we read them with either sinners or harlots just about every time.
Matthew.
Was the tax collector the scenario of collecting taxes? Then you bought this franchise from the Romans for so much and you started collecting the Jews taxes. Now it's interesting when the publicans come to John the Baptist and they say, you know, what are we supposed to do? John the Baptist says unto them, don't take any more taxes than you're supposed to because it characterized them.
So Republicans they were. They were ostracized. They were hated. They were hated by the Romans.
Because they're Jews. They're hated by the Jews because they collected their taxes.
Isn't it beautiful that the Lord selects Matthew Japan, the Gospel that portrays the Lord Jesus as the rejected Messiah, the rejected King? Who would be able to conceive of those feelings better than Matthew? It's beautiful to go through the book of Matthew and and to see that.
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I'm like, I just love that. But what I really love is his call because if you look at we won't turn to it. If we, if we look at umm, his call.
In Matthew, where he calls it just says.
Umm, Lord Jesus called him and it says umm.
He followed the Lord Jesus.
If you go to Luke's cost, well, that's where you have to get it. Luke says and he forsook all and follow Jesus. You know, Matthew, he didn't think it was worth anything anyway. So why would you even pen that in there? I'd love that. But we have to get that detail from from the book of Luke that he left all. But he did that and you know, he just dropped it like a hot potato. I I, you know, it's amazing. I think that's what affected Zacchaeus actually, who is chief of the publicans.
He wanted to see Jesus. He had this under Republican that somehow took this franchise that he had and he dropped the whole thing and followed Jesus. I'm sure that was perhaps one of the things that affected Zacchaeus. He wanted to see what was it that made this man Matthew turn and follow the Lord Jesus. Matthew, what a wonderful scenario you read in connection with him. Well, let's now go to.
Umm, you know, just before we do that, I'd like to umm.
Make a comment in connection with all the times that we read of Matthew's quotations. Somebody instills in Matthew a love for the Word of God.
You know, Nick, you were talking yesterday, I thought, you know, pedigree is worth nothing. It's worth nothing. My great, great grandfather was saved through Mr. Wolfson. It's worth nothing. He had a family. Only my great grandfather went on. He had a family. Only my grandfather went on. He had a family. Only my dad went home. I don't even know if my uncle was the Lords, we think.
What a huge heritage to go back all those years, you know?
On the other side, my mother.
Who used to burn candles?
Used to go to cathedrals on our knees.
Used to pray to Mary to save her soul.
The Lord reached down and picked her up.
Her dad was an alcoholic.
She never saw her mom smile. At grade six, she went to work so she could provide for the family.
My mother, I was just up at the graveyard just before I came here, stood on my parents grave and thank the Lord.
For what they instilled in my heart, my mother instilled in my soul a love for the word of God. I did something I don't usually do. I brought a Bible with me.
My mom, after she instilled in my soul up for the word of God, she sewed inside all my jackets a little pockets where I could put this very volume. Not one like it. This hygiene jacket had one. Wasn't a big thing.
My ski jacket had it a windbreaker. They all had a little pocket where this little Bible, if you open it up the first time that I read it, my dad challenged me once. He said save what are you going to say to Ezekiel when he says to you, how did you like my book? I was 20 and so I had read most of it a number of times, but July the 19th, 1976, I read this all the way through this very volume and it was my mom.
But instilled that into my soul. Not the heritage factor, Mr. Wolf. My mom got an old drunk for a father.
You know, young parents that are here.
And still in your children, a love for the Word of God. I really believe Matthew had tremendous love for the Word of God. Let's go on to Thomas.
I see we're gonna have to skip some here, so that's alright. Let's look at Thomas and I'd like to look at.
John, Chapter 20.
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John, Chapter 20.
Thomas was always the.
The most piece of the disciples when they were despondent.
They're saying the Lord Jesus, you know, if you go to Jerusalem, uh, they're going to kill you. Thomas says, hey, let's go up with them and die with them. We always touch into doubting Thomas, but all there's so much more.
Not too long ago I was in an airport. Some of you heard me tell this, but it fits here and umm, I was in a rush to get a plane. I was in the washroom and umm, I was washing my hands. Right beside me, washing his hands, was a big black guy, two of us washing our hands. There was someone over here who just finished washing their hands.
And they pulled some paper towels out of the dispenser and a whole bunch of them fell on the floor.
And the man immediately says, Oh my God, that's probably the most quoted scripture in this world.
Oh my God, what a solemn thing as we recognize the place that that comes from the holy ground.
Oh my God, I cry in the daytime.
My God, my God, we had this morning, who has thou forsaken me? This man, he said that the big black guy beside me, he seized an opportunity and he turns to me and he said, I prefer to say, Oh, my Lord, and proceeded to tell me why. You know, to hear this man so fervently present the gospel to me, I just let him go.
You know, before I finally cut him off and said, you know, I know the Lord Jesus as my Savior too.
It just did my heart good to see this man so earnestly presents the gospel to me. Seizing an opportunity, this man headed out the door and he just took that opportunity to change what the man had said and and said. I prefer to say, Oh my Lord, there are four people in the New Testament that say, my Lord Elizabeth.
She says it to Mary, the mother of my Lord. The Apostle Paul says it in Philippians.
Mary says it in John chapter 20, and here we have Thomas also saying it. Let's look at it.
After eight days, verse 26, verse 27. Then he says to psalmist, verse 2028. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Is he your Lord?
Is he my Lord?
I'm not asking if you're saved.
If he's not Lord of all.
He's not Lord at all.
Thomas said.
My Lord, beautiful.
Our time has come. I'm sorry. There is Judith and there were some things about Judas, there's things about Simon Zelodes. You could, you could think, you know, how can you, umm, how can you give a whole address on Simon Salodes? Well, you'll have to get the, the CD. And then the last one is Judith Iscarius. Quite a, a scenario in connection with Judith. I'd really appreciate it because that time comes in Judith's life.
We read about the disciples that it says about them.
And many of his disciples turned away at that time. John six chapter verse 66. You know, Judas stuck it out the whole time. He stuck it out all the way to the end. And he wasn't real.
Well, let's just, we won't. We should maybe read this, sing this last verse of this hymn. I was thinking of Peter and what Peter brings to us in his epistle.
Second theater, he says, what manner of persons are you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Let's sing this last verse of hymn #224 Somebody please start that.
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