Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?

With Just six days now until I fly out to Nairobi I wanted to share a few thoughts about our upcoming conference.

The theme of our three day Nairobi conference is 'Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?' and is taken from John's gospel chapter one and verse 46.

Nathaniel was a man of sincerity. He was also a man who knew the town of Nazareth didn't have a great reputation. Where he was told the Messiah had been found in such a place, Nathaniel was skeptical. Here a just a few points as a taster for the conference.

Come and See
Philip's answer was so simple. It was come and see. It wasn't to wrestle in a theological debate with Nathaniel {Although there is clearly a time and place for theological discussion}. Neither did Philip play the race card and give Nathaniel a lecture about prejudice. Philip's answer was straight to the point, simple and effective. It was 'Come and see'

2000 years later with regard to Jesus we invite people to 'Come and see'. In England, in one major denomination it has been said by one of it's leaders "There is a crisis of confidence in our churches in the gospel". In England many think they have to intellectually persuade people. Many Christians feel they are on the back foot, even embarrassed for fear modern man will hold him to account for such seemingly uneducated and unscientific, primative beliefs. To those, we say 'come and see'.
I don't believe there is any insecurity in the heart of God for a moment with regard to whether people believe in him of not. I do believe that there is great sadness that many are far from him {and some of them even in the churches} and a desire to draw close to them. God tends not to respond to our arrogant intellectual grandstanding or demands. Instead he looks at the heart. He is looking for those who would genuinely seek after him. Nathaniel was such a man. Our job is to trust that God would lead us to such people and give us the courage to introduce them to the Jesus. Where there are questions {and there are inevitably will be} thr best answer is to 'come and see'. Jesus is the best defender of himself.

Jesus knows you
God may appear to come as a distant and uncaring deity but He knows every one of us and he cares so much he came to this earth as a man to die for every wrong we have done. We totally underestimate the seriousness of sin. We call them foibles, indiscretions or something else. God calls it sin. It grieves him and it is the cause of man's separation from God. God's answer to this problem was to come to earth and take the penalty upon himself. That's why Jesus died 2000 years ago. It was so all our sins could be forgiven and we could enter into a relationship with God once again. Jesus makes a holy God accessible.

In short God is not distant. We are. God cares far, far more than we think but do we care enough to reach out to him?

Spiritual gifts. Inside or outside the church?
When Nathaniel encountered Jesus, the first thing he heard was what we call 'a word of knowledge'. That is a knowledge of something we could not naturally know. Jesus began to operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Spiritual gifts are so important to the church and it's mission to make Jesus known. They are so important that Jesus told his disciples it is 'expedient for you that I go for if I do not go I cannot send the Spirit to you'.
It begs the question, how can Jesus going from then be advantagious to them? The answer is simple. Everything that Jesus did was under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Every Miracle, every healing, every word of knowledge and wisdom. All by the Holy Spirit working through him. The great news for us is that Jesus promised to send the same Spirit to us so that we would continue the work {or rather that the Holy Spirit would continue the work through us}.

So often when Christian experience the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit their experience is mainly kept within the confined of the church or to a prayer language during private devotions. I want to say to you that the Holy Spirit wants to break out. He is desperate to break out. He was send by Jesus to speak to the world. He works in us and through us. Let's change that old mindset. The things we call spiritual gifts can indeed be used in the congregation but in the life of Jesus they were almost always used in public. He sends us into the world so that the Spirit, through us may touch the world. Nathaniel's skepticism was turned around when he encountered the power and working of the Holy Spirit.

There is so much more to share here. This is just the start. There is so much of prophetic significance. Suffice to say that the encounter between Nathaniel and Jesus was one he {and the gospel writer, John} never forgot. Let's believe God and step out for life changing encounters.

shalom...Steve Johnson