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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends.
As I promised, here’s another powerful Old Testament Scripture that I hope will encourage you, where-ever you are, in these COVID-19 days of uncertainty. Psalm 18:
“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him into His ears.” (Ps. 18:1-6) Is this your story my friends, all around the world?
Have you had experiences in your life where you have been overwhelmed with the circumstances in which you found yourself, and you cried out to God in great faith, and you were confident He heard your cry because you are confident in the relationship He and you have? Did you find comfort in the assurance that Almighty God, your God, your heavenly Father, loved you and understood your fear, your pain?
Listen to how the psalmist continues, is this your story too? “God reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” (Ps. 18:16-19)
If Jesus Christ is your Savior, if Almighty God is your heavenly Father, if the Holy Spirit of God resides within you, then my friends THIS Psalm can be your experience today in the face of this pandemic of fear!
Do what David did… start with great statements of confidence as you praise God, then lift to God your anxiety, your concerns in this pandemic, pray for those who you know need God’s help and then rest in the certainty God has heard your prayer, loves you greatly and is working in this crisis to bring glory to Himself. When this is all over, how many people will finally have turned to God in their desperation and been rescued by HIM?
Now let’s rejoin Andrew, Simon Peter, and John with Jesus as they meet two more men whose lives change in their encounter with Jesus. John 1:43 says “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ Philip, like Andrew and Peter was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told 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.”
Here’s a map, my friends, which should help us as we walk along with Jesus and His new friends. You’ll notice Bethsaida, on the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee, and also Capernaum, Nazareth and Cana, all of which we’ll visit in the next few days. You see Galilee is the region or district, there.
John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan river which connects the Sea of Galilee with the Dead Sea to the south. Jesus, after being baptized, had gone into the desert in the Decapolis area, east of the Jordan, and then returned and we’ve picked up the story in John 1 where John identified Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) and “…the Son of God” (John 1:34).
We don’t know exactly where Jesus encountered Philip, but do you notice what Jesus said to him? “Follow Me.” Two simple yet life changing words. Jesus did this often.
Jesus had invited Andrew and John to come and spend a day with Him, and it changed their lives (John 1:39). Andrew had gone and brought his brother Simon to Jesus, and that encounter resulted in his name changed to Peter! Now do you notice what Philip does? We don’t know how long he’d been with Jesus that day, before he went and found his friend Nathanael, but I see a pattern, do you? People spend some time with Jesus, and they are so impacted, they go and find friends they believe will be helped by knowing Jesus!
That my friends, is God’s strategy for drawing the world to Himself. While it’s true He has used big crusades or TV or crowds at movies, the most effective strategy is simply satisfied people bringing those they believe will also find hope and help when they encounter Jesus. So may I ask, is that what you have done my friends? Have you found your relationship with Jesus so significant that you’ve invited friends and family to Jesus, and they have done the same?
Nathanael is believed to have been from Cana, only about 4 miles from Nazareth, and the two towns evidently had some resentment toward each other. Do you see Nathanael’s response to Philip? “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” And Philip’s simple response…“Come and see.” That’s the best thing we can say to people isn’t it? Come and meet Jesus for yourself!
Please notice Philip doesn’t yet know Jesus very well, for he calls Him ‘the son of Joseph.” Usually among the Hebrew people young men were referred to by being identifying by their father, so naturally most people knew Jesus as Joseph’s son. But Philip would come to learn, the truth. Joseph had nothing to do with the conception of Jesus, remember? Gabriel explained to Mary she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that is why He would be called the ‘Son of God’. (Luke 1:35).
Do you see what happens when Nathanael and Jesus meet for the first time? Jesus says “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” (1:48) This was a ‘defining moment’ for Nathanael. Jesus was saying He saw Nathanael from a far distance, and was able to describe some detail, even though He wasn’t there! Do you see Nathanael’s response? “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”
Now, we don’t know if Nathanael had been in the crowd by the Jordan when John the Baptist had declared Jesus to be the Son of God, or if he had heard it from someone else, but here Nathanael is now the second person to make this outrageous declaration about Jesus! His use of the word “Rabbi” is a respectful title meaning ‘Teacher or Spiritual leader’. Jesus had not yet begun teaching, so I am concluding that Nathanael is so impacted by Jesus having described where he was when Philip approached him, even though it was miles away… Nathanael was recognizing a miracle.
Jesus’ final comment to Nathanael is significant. “You believe because I told you I saw you under a fig tree. You shall see greater things than that…” Oh how true that is! As we follow Jesus and these His new friends, we too shall see amazing things, beginning tomorrow as Jesus and we presume these five men: Andrew, Peter, John, Philip and Nathanael, all attend a wedding feast. But the wine runs out… and they look to Jesus to fix the problem!
I wonder my friends, all around the world, what great things do we need Jesus to do TODAY, right now, in the face of this global health and economic pandemic of fear? Do you think God understands the stock market, and interest rates, and bankruptcies, and the loss of jobs and the spread of a virus no human yet fully understands? Do you believe the prayer answering God of Psalm 18 and miracle working Jesus of John 1 are fully aware of your situation and mine, and ready to help us TODAY?
Then I suggest we talk with God right now…where-ever you are in the world, please join me…
Lord Jesus as our world continues to wrestle with the fear related to the Coronavirus and its affect on our economies, our health, our travel, even our relationships… we know You see all that is happening in our world. How are You helping people cope, O God? We are so glad You are here with us in it, as Psalm 18 tells us!
I have another song that I think will encourage you today. Do you believe that whatever matters to you, matters to God? Then listen to The Collingsworth Family singing “If it Matters to you, it Matters to the Master”, and after it’s over, thank God for it’s truth!
And maybe like Philip, you have a friend who needs the encouragement of this “Walking with Jesus”? Go ahead and forward it to them, be a blessing to them today! If you have found some great songs that are helping you in these days, please send me a note with a link!
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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