Twelve Ordinary Men Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will

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Peter
send forth labourers into his harvest.
Matthew 10
10 And when he had called unto him his twelve 1. Call to Salvation (Conversion)
disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, 2. Surrender and Service
to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and 3. Sending Out
all manner of disease.
5 Problems
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The 1. Lack of Spiritual Understanding - Teaching
first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his
2. Lack of Humility - Example
brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother; 3. Lack of Faith – Mighty Deeds
4. Lack of Commitment - Prayer
3Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the
5. Lack of Power – Holy Spirit
publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus,
whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4
Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also
betrayed him. they’re just ordinary men.

Ephesians 2:20 No financial or academic background

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
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prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner There are four lists of these disciples in the New Testament.
stone; Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6, and Acts 1.
. Learners, sent, doctrine, patterns
Matthew 9:36-38 King James Version (KJV) Now listen, there are some marvelous similarities.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with
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In all four lists Peter is always first. And when Judas is mentioned he
compassion on them, because they fainted, and were
is always Last.
scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
In all four lists there are three groups
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is
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Peter, Andrew, James and John

plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew.
James the son of Alphaeus, Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus, Simon the
Zealot and Judas Iscariot.
Decreasing information and intimacy
Each of the three groups, the names will be mixed in the group in the
different lists, but always the first name is the same. In every list it’s
first Peter in his group; it’s second, Philip in his group; and it’s third,
James, the son of Alphaeus in his group.
Peter, James, John, and Andrew were sort of all interrelated; they were
brothers and they knew each other, and they were the fishermen in the
group
Peter was a man of action. He was impulsive
John wanted to do was be quiet, and meditate, contemplate, loving
heart, recline on the breast of Jesus.
Nathanael believed everything.
Thomas who didn’t believe anything unless he could see it, touch it,
feel it, skeptical.
Matthew, who worked for the Roman government extorting taxes.
Simon the zealot. And a zealot was one who was a radical
revolutionary, trying to overthrow Rome.
So, you had the political differences. You had the spiritual
differences. You had the basic emotional differences.
Peter, Simon Peter.
How does God build a leader?
Three Elements of Leadership Development
1. The right raw material
A. Inquisitive
does he ask questions?
In Matthew 15:15, “Lord? Will you explain that to me?”
The Lord was talking about forgiveness and he says, “How
many times am I supposed to forgive? 7 times?” The Lord
says, “No, 490 times.”
he rarely got the answer he expected.
In Matthew chapter 19:27, “Now, we’ve left all to
follow, what’s going to be our reward?”
Peter who asked about the fig tree when it withered
away, would You please explain that? Mark 11:21
It was Peter who asked the meaning of the things that Jesus
said about the approaching end in Mark 13:3, he wanted a full
explanation.
 And after Peter was told he was going to die as a martyr, he
said, “Well, what about John?” The Lord says it’s none of
your business if he lives till the second coming. John 21:21
B. Initiative
Leadership always takes initiative.
When the Lord asks a question, who answers it? Always
Peter.
Who touched Me? Peter answers, it was this lady here Luke
8:45
Whom do men say that I am? Thou art the Christ the Son of
the living God. Matt 16:16-18
Will You go away? Where we going to go? Always replying,
always taking the initiative. John 6:66 It is Peter who even
asks questions of the risen Christ in John 21, wants to know all
the details. That’s another mark.
C. Involvement
always where the action is, always right in the middle of the
action.
who jumped out of the boat and walked on the
water? Peter. People always say, oh, Peter, you have no
faith, you sunk.
Acts, for 12 chapters; everywhere he goes, amazing things
happen all over the place.
His name was Simon, a very, very common name.
He was a son of Jonas, or Jonah, or John. He was a fisherman by
trade. And he lived with his brother Andrew in a village called
Bethsaida. And later they moved to Capernaum.
He was married, because the Lord healed his mother-in-law.
Common name, common trade, common marital status.
But, because of his nature he tended to be so shifty
He turned his name into Peter which means what? Stone.
I’ve got to be solid, I’ve got to be firm, I’ve got to be a stone.
Now, he’s called Simon, he’s called Simon Peter, and he’s called
Peter. in the secular case. Now, Simon is also used when he is being
reprimanded for sin. Cast your net on a certain side of the boat and
bring the fish in, In John 21 when he came to Him and he had acted in
disobedience Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping?”
2. The right experiences.
A. Revelation
John 6:66
16th chapter of Matthew
B. Reward
Matthew 16: 16-17-, “
Who preached the first great apostolic sermon? Peter, the day of In Matthew chapter 17 the Lord said, “Now, Peter, you go
Pentecost. down to fishing,
To whom did he preach it? To the Jews. 1 Peter chapter 2:13-18
Who led the first Gentile to Christ? Peter. Who was it? Acts 10,
Cornelius. B. Self-control
He unlocked the Jews. He unlocked, as it were, the Kingdom to the The Lord had to put a bit in his mouth and teach him
Gentiles. restraint because he was so unrestrained.
C. Rebuke In John 18:10-11 he’s in the garden and the soldiers come
Matthew 16 :20-21- He taught him about the potential to be used by to take Jesus, you remember?
Satan. Malchus, and Peter cut off his ear.
D. Rejection Did he learn restraint? Yes he did. In 1 Peter chapter 2:21-
Matthew 26:33 “ chapter 26 verse 69, 24 he says this: “We have been called to suffer as Christ
suffered,leaving us an example that we should follow in
E. Re-commissioning His steps. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not
John 2115, 17, 19 again. When He suffered,threatened not.”

3. The right lessons C. Humility

What does a leader need to learn?
A. Submission
You tend to be confident. You tend to be
outward, overt. You tend to be eager, aggressive.
The first lesson that a leader needs to learn is submission, and
so He taught Peter that.
“I’ll never leave You. All men may forsake You, but I’ll
die before I forsake You.”
1 Peter these words, “God, resist the proud but give
grace,” “To the humble 1Pet 5:5-6
D. Sacrifice
John 21 verse 19, “somebody is going to come and bind
you and take you where you don’t want to go and I’m
 speaking about the death you’re going to die for Me, you’re
going to be a martyr, Peter, you’re going to be a
martyr. Are you ready for that?” 1 Pet 4:16
1 Peter: “Blessed,” if you can imagine, “Happy are you
who are reproached for the name of Christ. If any man
suffer as a Christian,” chapter 4 verse 16, “let him not be
ashamed but let him glorify God. And let them that suffer
commit themselves to God’s care.” You learn sacrifice.
E. love. You see, leaders tend to be task-oriented rather than
people-oriented and they can just plow people under
Jesus said to him in John 21, “Do you love Me? Do you
love Me? Do you love Me?”
“Love one another as I have loved you.” He had given
them a great lesson on love and Peter got the lesson.
And later on in 1 Peter chapter 4 he repeats the lesson he
learned: “Above all things, have fervent love among
yourselves, for love shall cover a,” what? “Multitude of
sin.” He learned. 1 Pet 4:8
F. courage
In John 21, Jesus said, if you’re going to follow Me, it’s
going to cost you your life. Are you willing? By then he
learned.
In Acts 4, he goes in front of the Sanhedrin and he says, I
don’t care what you say, I’ll preach because I will obey
God not
them more boldness, and they went out and preached even
greater.Acts 5:29
Now, how does the Lord make a leader? He takes the right
raw material, puts it to the right experience with the right
teaching and He came out with Peter. Oh, what a leader he
was.
The first 12 chapters of Acts, he is the leader of the church.
He is the one who makes the move to replace Judas with
Matthias, chapter 1 of Acts.
He becomes the spokesman of the church on Pentecost, Acts 2.
He, with John, healed the lame man, Acts 3.
He defied the Sanhedrin, Acts 4.
He dealt with the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5.
He dealt with the problem of Simon the magician in Samaria, Acts 8.
He healed Aeneas and raised Dorcas from the dead, Acts 9.
He took the gospel to the Gentiles, Acts 10 and 11.
And he wrote two marvelous and glorious epistles in which he
repeated all the lessons that Jesus had taught him and passed them on
to us.
“O to grace, how great a debtor daily I am constrained to be, Let thy
goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to
wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the Lord I love. Take my heart,
O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” He was the wandering
heart that finally the grace of God captured.
How did it end for him? Tradition says that cruelty came his way in
his death. And tradition tells us that he was crucified,but before he
was crucified he was forced to watch the crucifixion of his wife. “He
stood at the foot of his wife’s cross and kept repeating to
her, ‘Remember the Lord, remember the Lord.’ And after she had
died, he himself was crucified and pleaded to be crucified upside down
because he was unworthy to die like his Lord.”
God wants to take the raw material of some of you, put it through the
right experience, teach the right lessons,make the right leaders. I
believe Peter’s life can be summed up in the last words he ever
said, they are recorded in the last verse of the last epistle that he
wrote, 2 Peter 3:18. Here is his word to you: “But grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to Him be
glory both now and forever. Amen.” He could tell you to grow
because that’s what he had to do.