I. Who were the apostles?
A. Mark 3:13-19. The apostles were twelve men whom Jesus specially selected
to preach and gave special powers to.
B. Judas betrayed Jesus and hanged himself. Matthias was chosen in his place
(Acts 1:16-26).
C. Paul also was an apostle "born out of due time". 1 Cor 15:7-10, 2 Cor 11:5.
D. The apostles walked with Jesus, heard His teaching, and were witnesses of His
resurrection. Acts 1:21-22, Acts 2:32, 1 John 1:1-3.
E. We may not have seen Jesus, but we believe because of the testimony of His
witnesses (1 Cor 15:15).

II. The apostles were promised the Holy Spirit
A. Jesus made a special promise to the apostles that He would send His Holy
Spirit to instruct them.
B. John 14:15-18. The Spirit of truth would come and be a "helper" to them.
C. John 14:25-26. The Holy Spirit would teach them all things and bring to their
remembrance all things Jesus had said. When the Holy Spirit came, the apostles would have full and complete knowledge of all the things of God.
D. John 15:26-27. The Spirit and the apostles would testify of Jesus, because
they had been with him from the beginning.
E. John 16:7-13. The Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. Today we are
not miraculously guided into all truth, but the apostles were! They were
promised the Holy Spirit in this special way!
F. This promise was repeated after Jesus' resurrection. Luke 24:45-49.
G. Jesus again repeated it shortly before His ascension. Acts 1:4-8.
H. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit (1:5) on the day of Pentecost (Acts
1:26-2:4, 33).
I. Jesus had fulfilled His promise to His apostles. He had sent them the Holy
Spirit.

III. The apostles had the ability to transmit the Holy Spirit
A. In New Testament times, these miraculous gifts and indwelling of the Spirit
could be transferred, but only by these apostles.
B. Acts 8:12-18. Philip had to wait for Peter and John to come down and lay
hands on the Samarians because Philip wasn't an apostle. Only "through
the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given"(v. 18).
C. Although clearly others could have the spiritual gifts (Acts 8:6), only apostles
could transmit the Holy Spirit, through the laying on of their hands.
D. Acts 19:1-6. Paul came, asking them if they had received the Holy Spirit
because he could give it to them if they had not (v. 6). Realizing they had
not even properly believed and been baptized, he taught them, baptized
them, then laid hands on them.
E. The reason this is important is because it explains to us what happened to
those spiritual gifts of the first century. Why can Christians today not
speak in tongues, touch deadly things, raise the dead, or do other miracles?
F. The answer is that when the apostles died, this transmission of the Holy Spirit
ceased. Paul told the Corinthians this would happen. 1 Cor 13:8-12.

IV. The apostles' words and practices are inspired
A. The reason the apostles are important to us today is that they saw Jesus
resurrected and had the Holy Spirit's inspiration.
B. Gal 1:11-12. Paul asserted that what he taught didn't come from man, but
God.
C. 1 Thess 2:13. The Thessalonians received Paul's message not as the word of
men, but the word of God, "as it is in truth"(v 13).
D. 1 Cor 11:1. Paul encourages us to imitate him because in doing so we imitate
Christ. Although the apostles were not perfect, we can trust that their
practices in God's things, as recorded by God, are what God wants.
E. When the apostles decided the matter of circumcision, they said "it seemed
good to the Holy Spirit, and to us"(Acts 15:28). They were speaking for
God!
F. Phil 3:17. Paul and the apostles are our pattern. We follow them because they
reveal God's will to us!

Although the apostles made mistakes (Peter quite often), they were the men God used to reveal the message after Jesus' ascension. By following their words, we can be certain that we are following Jesus' desires and learning how to serve Him acceptably. To reject their words is to reject Christ (Luke 10:16).___Jacob Hudgins