{"id":4498,"date":"2024-02-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/february-14\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T21:10:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T02:10:41","slug":"february-14","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/reading-plan\/february-14\/","title":{"rendered":"February 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from Mark 3<\/span><\/p>\n

The Apostles are not chosen because of their intelligence or their education or their giftedness or their holiness. They are very ordinary men. They become great men of God because they are called by Christ, because of Christ\u2019s death and resurrection, and because of their faith in Christ. Jesus, because of his victory on the Cross, pours out his Spirit on them, and they, in obedience to his command, proclaim the gospel throughout the earth (Acts 1:8).<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of the Apostles cannot be minimized. They are, with the exception of Jesus, the most important and influential people on the earth. This is true today. The words of the Apostles are true and they are binding. They must be obeyed. This is evident based on Jesus\u2019 words to the Apostles in John 14:25\u201326 and John 16:12\u201315. The Apostles have been given the task of rightly proclaiming the words and history of Christ and the ways of the kingdom of God. Their teaching, along with the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament, forms the very foundation of the household of God (see Ephesians 2:19\u201320). The church, both in the first century and today, is to base its teaching on the teaching of the Apostles (see Acts 2:42). If any local church departs from Apostolic teaching, it has departed from Christ, for the Apostles are the authorized representatives of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those within the church should consider the overall teaching pattern of the Apostles. What do they focus on? What don\u2019t they focus on? The church is in danger any time it doesn\u2019t embrace and emphasize teaching that is emphasized by the Apostles. Likewise, the church is in danger any time it embraces and emphasizes teaching that is not emphasized by the Apostles. The teaching of the Apostles forms a fence for the church. Inside the fence is eternal life, peace, joy, health, and safety. Outside of the Apostolic fence is eternal death.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is no accident that there are 12 Apostles. Israel, in the Old Testament, was comprised of 12 tribes. Jesus, the true \u201cIsrael\u201d of God, also has 12 \u201ctribes\u201d\u2014the Apostles. The reason Israel needed to be \u201cre-built\u201d was because of its disobedience. Israel, remember, was scattered among the nations because of idolatry. However, the prophets promised that Israel would be regathered (see Deuteronomy 4:30). The promised regathering of God\u2019s people began with Christ. He is the true Israelite\u2014the true Son of God. The 12 Apostles are the foundation of the new people of God. To depart from the Apostles is to depart from the people of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4498","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}