"Disciples or Apostles"

     While having lunch with a friend the other day, we began talking about apostles. I was oblivious to the fact that there was a distinct difference between the terms disciples and apostles. I was told what the difference was and took it upon myself to find out a little more.
     The word disciple(s) is defined as a follower or student of some doctrine. Apostle(s) is defined as a messenger or the sent ones. What does this actually mean? How are we to respond to this in our day and time?
     I know that I'm not the only one who thought that disciples and apostles were one in the same. Now that I know what the difference is I know which I would rather be called..... but I'll save that for later. Jesus had hundreds of people follow him from place to place to listen to him teach. Out of these hundreds of people Jesus chose twelve to be called His Disciples. These twelve were to learn from his teachings and grow in the faith and obedience to Jesus. This was the students following their teacher looking to Jesus for guidance. Jesus was preparing them to be the messengers for Christ.
     Why did Jesus choose twelve to follow?
 Jesus said "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matthew 19:28 (NIV). Jesus chose twelve to represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
     So...when people of our time decide to follow Christ and become believers, we are disciples. We attend church regularly, listen to the sermons, and grow in our faith to Christ. But then we become complacent and this is were we need to change. We as Christians need to get off the pews and begin venturing out into the communities in which we live. It should be our desire to become apostles for Christ, sharing the knowledge that we have with others. We should break the mold and branch out into uncharted waters.
     So, I ask again. What would you like to be considered...a disciple or an apostle? It is my desire to be an apostle.
     I challenge each of you to find  other scriptures were  Jesus trains the disciples to become apostles. The majority of His teaching was done through parables.

"Instead of living a black-and-white existence, we'll be released into a Technicolor world of vibrancy and emotion when we more accurately reflect His nature to the world around us." Bill Hybels