JESUS CAME OUT OF NAZARETH - NOW ITS TIME FOR HIS CHURCH

I was recently pondering about how I saw things when I was first 'born again' and became a Christian. This happened in 1995 after a radical encounter with Jesus after the death of my grandmother. As a young christian I began to write down and journal what the Holy Spirit was speaking to me... today I was reminded of an article I wrote almost 10 years ago and the message I believe is still the same.......

JESUS CAME OUT OF NAZARETH TO SAVE THE LOST

NOW ITS TIME FOR HIS CHURCH

1) When Phillip found Nathanael, he had been actively searching for him to tell him “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John1v45). So Phillip obviously felt that he had something worth sharing.

2) When Nathanael heard the message, it wasn’t the fact that Jesus was the son of Joseph that troubled Nathanael, but it was more the fact that he had come out of Nazareth.

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked (v46).  Nathanael wasn’t taking offence at Jesus, as the people of Nazareth themselves did when they realized Jesus was ‘only the carpenter’ (Mark 6v3). He was however, questioning whether anything good could come out of Nazareth. He asked not with the heart of a Pharisee that would try to undermine Jesus, but he asked with a desire to get a truthful answer, he hadn’t already decided the answer in his heart, this wasn’t a trap, this really was a question.

We know this because Jesus himself later said “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” v47.  Phillip also recognised Nathanaels sincere heart when he invited him to “come and see”v46.

Nathanael was so amazed Jesus knew him, he then wanted to know “How do you know me?”v48. Jesus’ simple reply impacted Nathanael so much that he became one of Jesus’ first disciples.

What was it in the words Jesus spoke

that touched Nathanaels heart?

It was the words “I saw you….before Phillip called you”v48. Similarly when the Lord called Jeremiah he said to him “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart……”Jeremiah(1v5). There was something reassuring for both Jeremiah and Nathanael to know all that was happening wasn’t a fluke! The Lord knew everything about them.

 When we come to Jesus with a pure heart we are open to receive the answer whether we like the answer or not. This is made more evident when we read about the Samaritan Women in John 4v39. She stated “He (Jesus) told me everything I ever did” This ‘telling’ was the raw exposure of the sin in her life, but once again she didn’t take offence or become offended she rushed off to tell the people in the town that Jesus knew all about her sin!

This woman was so amazed at Jesus she didn’t focus on the sin, but she focused on the Truth and his name was Jesus.....