Matthew 4:19
King James Version
19 And he saith unto them,
Follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men.
Who were the first apostles?
How did they become followers of JESUS?
Scripture has a lovely story to tell, from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John:
Matthew 10:2-4
King James Version
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these;
The first, Simon, who is called Peter,
and Andrew his brother;
James the son of Zebedee,
and John his brother;
3 Philip,
and Bartholomew;
Thomas,
and Matthew the publican;
James the son of Alphaeus,
and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite,
and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Mark 3:16-19
King James Version
16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
17 And James the son of Zebedee,
and John the brother of James;
and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is,
The sons of thunder:
18 And Andrew,
and Philip,
and Bartholomew,
and Matthew, and Thomas,
and James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus,
and Simon the Canaanite,
19 And Judas Iscariot,
which also betrayed him:
and they went into an house.
Luke 6:13-16
King James Version
13 And when it was day,
he called unto him his disciples:
and of them he chose twelve,
whom also he named apostles;
14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,)
and Andrew his brother,
James and John,
Philip and Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas,
James the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon called Zelotes,
16 And Judas the brother of James,
and Judas Iscariot,
which also was the traitor.
John 1:34-51
King James Version
34 And I saw,
and bare record that this is the Son of God.
35 Again the next day after John stood,
and two of his disciples;
36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked,
he saith,
Behold the Lamb of God!
37 And the two disciples heard him speak,
and they followed Jesus.
38 Then Jesus turned,
and saw them following,
and saith unto them,
What seek ye?
They said unto him, Rabbi,
(which is to say, being interpreted, Master,)
where dwellest thou?
39 He saith unto them,
Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelt,
and abode with him that day:
for it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two which heard John speak,
and followed him, was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother.
41 He first findeth his own brother Simon,
and saith unto him,
We have found the Messias,
which is, being interpreted,
the Christ.
42 And he brought him to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him,
he said,
Thou art Simon the son of Jona:
thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation,
A stone.
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee,
and findeth Philip,
and saith unto him,
Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael,
and saith unto him,
We have found him,
of whom Moses in the law,
and the prophets, did write,
Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him,
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip saith unto him,
Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him,
and saith of him,
Behold an Israelite indeed,
in whom is no guile!
48 Nathanael saith unto him,
Whence knowest thou me?
Jesus answered and said unto him,
Before that Philip called thee,
when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him,
Rabbi,
thou art the Son of God;
thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him,
Because I said unto thee,
I saw thee under the fig tree,
believest thou?
thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Hereafter ye shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of man.
We all know Judas betrayed JESUS.
Who took his place?
Who became the 12th apostle?
These verses tell us what we need to know:
Acts 1:23-26
King James Version
23 And they appointed two,
Joseph called Barsabas,
who was surnamed Justus,
and Matthias.
24 And they prayed,
and said,
Thou, Lord,
which knowest the hearts of all men,
shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship,
from which Judas by transgression fell,
that he might go to his own place.
26 And they gave forth their lots;
and the lot fell upon Matthias;
and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
The next post tells of what JESUS ordained the apostles to do.
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