“The Gospel Pioneers”

(Matthew 10:1-15)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

May 19, 2019

The Passage

Matthew 10:1-15

1 Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: 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 tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

5 Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. 6 Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 9 Don’t acquire gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. 10 Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food. 11 When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 Greet a household when you enter it, 13 and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it; but if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Introductory Comments:

When I say the word pioneer what do you picture?

Many of us picture the pioneers in American history who moved out west to unexplored territory. Perhaps we picture folks who took the Oregon Trail. 

You might picture a wagon train moving through the mountains, like this picture [show picture]

A pioneer is someone who is the first to explore something or the first to do something.

Today, we’re going to talk about the Gospel Pioneers. 

We are continuing our series through the Gospel of Matthew. Today, Matthew will shift his attention to discussing Jesus and His disciples, specifically the twelve apostles. 

Let’s pray together before we get started. 

(prayer)

Jesus had many disciples. As we’ve heard many times, disciple simply means, “follower.” 

However, today we’re going to learn about some special disciples. These disciples are different than the other disciples. 

Let’s dive right in. Let’s learn first . . .

I. Who were the Gospel Pioneers? [on screen]

First of all, we need to point out, again, that we are speaking of the twelve disciples. These are the specific twelve whom Jesus chose to follow Him and do His work. 

These are those whom we also refer to as the apostles. Apostle refers to someone who is sent as a representative of someone; sort of like an ambassador. Apostle can also refer to someone who is sent. 

These twelve men were called, taught, equipped, and sent as representatives of Jesus. 

It’s significant that there were twelve of them. “Why,” you ask? Well, there were twelve tribes of Israel, and Jesus came first for the people of Israel. So, He chose twelve men to first take the message to the people of Israel, and later to the world. We’ll learn more about that in just a minute. 

This passage gives us the specific names of these twelve men. 

Look at verses 1-4. 

1 Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: 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 tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

So,