“Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him” (Matthew 10:1-4).
After spending an extensive amount of time with them over a period of three years, Jesus sent His apostles into all the world to preach the gospel. These men were chosen from various backgrounds. We do not know what all of them did before Jesus called them, but we do know this for a few.
For those whose backgrounds are known, there are some lessons we can learn. We can also see that Jesus offered them (and us) something far better than any earthly employment.Continue Reading
At the end of John’s first epistle, he mentioned two different kinds of sins – one that leads to death and one that does not lead to death. What was he talking about? Is there a certain class of sins that God permits or tolerates and, therefore, allows them to go unpunished? Or does John mean something else? Notice what he wrote:
People sometimes have questions about sin and forgiveness. Are some sins unforgivable? If so, and they commit those sins, are they forever lost without any hope? These are important questions, and we need to examine the Bible to answer them.
