Knowing Jesus Christ Of Bethlehem

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

January 16, 2024

in Spritual Growth

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January 14, 2024
Readings: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
1 Corinthians 6:11-20
John 1:43-51

2nd Sunday After Epiphany 2024

Today’s Gospel gives instructions for us to know our responsibilities so that we may be able to share our knowledge of God to others. It should be that we are so secure in our lives that we would want others to know how they can be secure with their lives too. The Scriptures should make us realize how blessed we are.

We see Jesus here coming to Galilee and finding Philip. He said to him, “follow Me.” Philip knew about Christ. He had heard of Him, studied about Him. He was aware of the prophecies and was expecting things to happen. Because many of us do not read the Bible regularly, we do not know whether something is of God or of the enemy. Philip then went to Nathanael and said. “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law. About the one written in the prophecies- Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph the carpenter.” Nathanael replied, “can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip didn’t argue anymore with Nathanael but told him to go see for himself. Nathanael’s name means “gift from God.” When Jesus saw them coming, He said, “here comes a true Israelite, who has no guile.” He was referring to the word, “true” which meant this was a true follower.

None of us knows everything. We make a lot of mistakes, even with our knowledge of God. But it is the heart that God judges The Law will come from Zion and the Word from Jerusalem. In ministering to others, we should let them know the greatness of God. Both Philip and Nathanael knew the prophecies and were looking forward to the Messiah. In the same manner, we as Christians should know Christ and look forward to that day when He will come back and bring His church together. Nathanael’s fault was saying Jesus was from Nazareth when He was really originally from Bethlehem. When Philip knew that this was the Christ, he immediately went to Nathanael because he wanted him to know. This was the excitement he felt when he saw Christ.

The promises of God are all in the Old Testament. If we only knew all the prophecies then we wouldn’t be deceived today, being bombarded with so many different doctrines and beliefs about the things of God, which is why we have all these unnecessary divisions existing. May we all be encouraged to know what the fullness of life should be. If we know the promises of God, we will not be deceived by the enemy. Things may come our way but the purpose is for us to be strengthened and to overcome. James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Trials and tests are there to strengthen us. We should not run away but face them. God wants us to overcome and be strengthened in knowing who we are in Him.