Sessions Include:

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #1
Common Men; Uncommon Results

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #2
Peter — The Apostle with the Foot-shaped Mouth

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #3
Andrew — The Apostle of Small Things

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #4
James — The Apostle of Passion

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #5
John — The Apostle of Love

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #6
Philip — The Bean Counter

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #7
Nathanael — The Guileless One

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #8
Matthew — The Party Guy

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #9
James—The Less; Simon—The Zealot; and Judas (Not Iscariot)

Twelve Ordinary Men, Lesson #10
Judas — The Traitor

Why Study Books?

My life has been profoundly impacted by books. Books are great source of supplementary, background material for Bible Study. (The Bible is always the main source of study.) Here are five reasons books make great curriculum.

1. Depth and Richness of Content

Books by Christian authors often delve deeply into theological topics, practical discipleship, and spiritual challenges. Unlike some lesson plans that skim the surface, books allow for a deeper exploration of issues that resonate with adults. Authors like John Ortberg (The Life You’ve Always Wanted), Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy), or Francis Chan (Crazy Love) provide rich, thought-provoking content that sparks deeper conversations.

2. Can Be Targeted to the Specific Needs of the Group

Books provide an opportunity to address the unique needs of your group. Whether your class is navigating grief, exploring discipleship, or seeking practical ways to live out their faith, there’s a book tailored to meet those needs. This targeted approach makes the material more relevant, ensuring the group engages deeply and personally.. This variety helps everyone engage at their own pace and comfort level.

3. Encourages Personal Growth Between Meetings

A book-centered curriculum encourages participants to reflect during the week. Reading a chapter before class helps them wrestle with the ideas personally before coming together for group discussion. This individual engagement fosters deeper transformation and accountability.

4. Great for Discussion-Based Learning

Books naturally lend themselves to a question-and-answer format, making them perfect for discussion-based classes. This approach encourages participation, allowing everyone to share insights and apply the content to their lives.

5. Accessible and Affordable

Books are easy to access and often budget-friendly. Many Christian titles are available in print, e-book, or audiobook formats, making them accessible to everyone in your group. Some authors even provide free study guides or discussion questions, making preparation even simpler.

Conclusion

Using books as curriculum for adult Sunday School blends the best of personal reflection, group discussion, and spiritual growth. It equips participants to think deeply, wrestle with real-life applications, and engage with Scripture in fresh ways. If you’re looking to spark lively, life-changing conversations in your class, start with a great book—you might be surprised at how it transforms your group.

More than twenty years ago, while preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, I gave a series of character studies on the twelve apostles. The messages were extremely well received, and we produced a tape album and study guide from that series, titled The Master’s Men. Over the years we have broadcast the entire series several times on the Grace to You radio broadcast. Each time it airs, it generates a greater outpouring of affirmative response from listeners. After twenty years, that album continues to be one of the most popular series we have ever produced.

A few years ago, I started teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of Luke’s Gospel in our church. When I reached Luke 6:13–16 (where Luke records Jesus’ calling of the Twelve) I preached a new series of messages on the apostles. Once again, the response was overwhelming and enthusiastic. While preaching the series I realized that an entire generation had been born and reached adulthood in the years since we had last studied the lives of the disciples. They identified with these men in the same way their parents had done more than two decades before.

Even people who had practically memorized the tapes from the earlier series said they still found the lives of the disciples as fresh and relevant and practical as ever. The new series quickly became another favorite, and people began urging me to combine all the material on the apostles in a book. I didn’t need much prodding for such a project. The book you are holding in your hands is the result.

I have always been fascinated with the lives of the twelve apostles. Who isn’t? The personality types of these men are familiar to us. They are just like us, and they are like other people we know. They are approachable. They are real and living characters we can identify with. Their faults and foibles, as well as their triumphs and endearing features, are chronicled in some of the most fascinating accounts of the Bible. These are men we want to know.

That’s because they were perfectly ordinary men in every way. Not one of them was renowned for scholarship or great erudition. They had no track record as orators or theologians. In fact, they were outsiders as far as the religious establishment of Jesus’ day was concerned. They were not outstanding because of any natural talents or intellectual abilities. On the contrary, they were all too prone to mistakes, misstatements, wrong attitudes, lapses of faith, and bitter failure—no one more so than the leader of the group, Peter. Even Jesus remarked that they were slow learners and somewhat spiritually dense (Luke 24:25).

They spanned the political spectrum. One was a former Zealot—a radical, determined to overthrow Roman rule. But another had been a tax collector—virtually a traitor to the Jewish nation and in collusion with Rome. At least four, and possibly seven, were fishermen and close friends from Capernaum, probably having known one another from childhood. The others must have been tradesmen or craftsmen, but we are not told what they did before becoming followers of Christ. Most of them were from Galilee, an agricultural region at the intersection of trade routes. And Galilee remained their home base for most of Jesus’ ministry—not (as some might think) Jerusalem in Judea, which was the political and religious capital of Israel.

Yet with all their faults and character flaws—as remarkably ordinary as they were—these men carried on a ministry after Jesus’ ascension that left an indelible impact on the world. Their ministry continues to influence us even today. God graciously empowered and used these men to inaugurate the spread of the gospel message and to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Ordinary men—people like you and me—became the instruments by which Christ’s message was carried to the ends of the earth. No wonder they are such fascinating characters.

The Twelve were personally selected and called by Christ. He knew them as only their Creator could know them (cf. John 1:47). In other words, He knew all their faults long before He chose them. He even knew Judas would betray Him (John 6:70; 13:21–27), and yet He chose the traitor anyway and gave him all the same privileges and blessings He gave to the others.

Think about the ramifications of this: From our human perspective, the propagation of the gospel and the founding of the church hinged entirely on twelve men whose most outstanding characteristic was their ordinariness. They were chosen by Christ and trained for a time that is best measured in months, not years. He taught them the Scriptures and theology. He discipled them in the ways of godly living (teaching them and showing them how to pray, how to forgive, and how to serve one another with humility). He gave them moral instruction. He spoke to them of things to come. And He employed them as His instruments to heal the sick, cast out demons, and do other miraculous works. Three of them—Peter, James, and John—even got a brief glimpse of Him in His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–9).

It was a brief but intensive schedule of discipleship. And when it was over, on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, “all the disciples forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56). From an earthly point of view, the training program looked like a monumental failure. It seemed the disciples had forgotten or ignored everything Christ had ever taught them about taking up the cross and following Him. In fact, their own sense of failure was so profound that they went back to their old vocations for a time. And even at that, it appeared they would fail (John 21:3–4).

But encouraged by the risen Lord, they returned to their apostolic calling. Empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they valiantly undertook the task to which Jesus had called them. The work they subsequently began continues today, two thousand years later. They are living proof that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. In and of themselves they were clearly not sufficient for the task (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:16). But God led them in triumph in Christ, and through them He diffused “the fragrance of His knowledge in every place” (v. 14).

John F. MacArthur Jr., Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You (Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group, 2002), xi–xiv.

If you would like to explore this new study, it is available on Amazon, as well as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking