Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Bob Peden

Jesus finds Phillip who immediately recognizes Jesus for who he is. He goes to find Nathaniel to tell him that he has found the Messiah, Jesus

the son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nathaniel responds, “Nazareth, that God forsaken place, can anything good come from there.” Phillip says

“Come and see.”



That is God's call to us, “Come and see.” But our prejudices affect our willingness to go and see. We say, “that God forsaken part of Meridian,

can anything Godly be there.” We would prefer to find God in the safety of our Sanctuaries, and worship is important, God is present there,

but that is not the place from which he is calling. We would prefer to find God in Bible study, and he is in his word, Bible study is important,

but God is not calling us to study the Bible. God is calling us to come and see Him in the Nazareths, the God forsaken places of this world.



The very places good people would never be found. The astounding thing is that when we go to those places thinking we are taking Christ

with us, we find that Christ was already there in Nazareth.