The Training Of The Twelve Or Passages Out Of The Gospels Exhibiting The Twelve Disciples Of Jesus Under Discipline For The Apostleship

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII. FIRST ATTEMPTS AT EVANGELISM. Section I. -- The Mission. Matt. x.; Mark vi. 7-13, 30-32; Luke ix. I-II. The twelve are now to come before us as active agents in advancing the kingdom of God. Having been for some time in Christ's company, witnessing His miraculous works, hearing His doctrine concerning the kingdom, and learning how to pray and how to live, they were at length sent forth to evangelize the towns and villages of their native province, and to heal the sick in their Master's name, and by His power. This mission of the disciples as evangelists or miniature apostles was partly, without doubt, ' an educational experiment for their own benefit; but its direct design was to meet the spiritual necessities of the people, whose neglected condition lay heavy on Christ's heart. The compassionate Son of man, in the course of His wanderings, had observed how the masses of the population were, like a shepherdless flock of sheep, scattered and torn,1 and it was His desire that all should know that a good Shepherd had come to care for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The multitudes were ready enough to welcome the good news; the difficulty was to meet the pressing demand of the hour. The harvest, the grain, ready for reaping, was plenteous, but the laborers were few.1 In connection with this mission four things call for special notice: The sphere assigned for the work, the nature of the work, the instructions for carrying it on, the results of the mission, and the return of the missionaries. These points we shall consider in their order, except that, for convenience, we shall reserve Christ's instructions to His disciples for the last place, and give them a section to themselves. * (

One of Jesus' most important endeavors during His short ministry involved the preparation of His twelve disciples for the work they would need to accomplish. The importance of studying Jesus' methodologies cannot be overstated. While there is much we can learn from His words and deeds, it is His work in training the disciples that facilitated the promotion and growth of the Kingdom in the first century. If we would become His disciples, we must sit at His feet and be trained by Him as He trained the twelve. "The Training of the Twelve" was written in the face of growing doubt about the legitimacy of the Gospels as authentic witnesses to the life and work of Jesus. In "The Training of the Twelve," Bruce seeks to prove that the portrayal of Jesus and His disciples is authentic, and therefore their message is believable as revealed in the New Testament. Whereas the nineteenth century liberal scholars were saying that the disciples invented the story of Jesus, "The Training of the Twelve" provides sufficient proof that it is Jesus who transforms the disciples into the Apostles, and that their testimony is true. This compelling defense of the portrayal of Jesus and His disciples in the Gospel accounts is, if anything, even more necessary now than it was when it was first written. Scholars today continue to perpetuate many of the claims of the nineteenth century liberal scholars and have even gone beyond them in denying the legitimacy of the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a world that believes in a distinction between the 'historical Jesus' and the 'Jesus of faith, ' "The Training of the Twelve" demonstrates that the two are really one and the same.

Excerpt from The Training of the Twelve; Or Passages Out of the Gospels: Exhibiting the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Under Discipline for the Apostleship The subject of this book has occupied my thoughts more or less since the commencement of my ministry, twelve years ago. Turning up a manuscript volume of jotting for the pulpit in my possession, I find its title-page is as follows: "Brief notes of sermons on Christ's intercourse with twelve disciples, preached in Cardross, begun September 1861." These notes were the rude beginnings of this work; yet not the rudest, for in the previous year I had made the same passages from the Gospels the subjects of lessons in catechumens' class. I was led to transfer these lessons from the class to the pulpit in the following way. During an autumnal holiday, spent in the country-quarters of dear friends, to whom I have many reasons to be grateful, I was in such a distempered condition of body, that all thought and feeling were dead, and I dreaded the prospect of returning to pastoral duty, being sensible of mental vacuity. At length my perplexities shaped themselves into a prayer that I might be led into green pastures, as the old ones were all nibbled bare. Shortly after thoughts reverted to the lessons given to catechumens' class, and I at once resolved to make these the subject of a course of lectures. The studies on which I entered in pursuance of this resolution, proved to be green pastured to myself at least. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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