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Savior and Lord. We are not told what happened later in the day between John, Andrew, and Peter. It was not important to the Holy Spirit to tell us. But the next thing we are told is that Jesus went into Galilee to find Philip.
The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. (NASB) John 1:43-44 It was Sunday. We do not know who was with Jesus. John, Andrew, and Peter might have been with Jesus because they were all together later at the wedding in Cana. But we are not told. Jesus went searching for Philip, found him, and commanded him to follow. Philip was from the city of Bethsaida. Once again, no one would just follow Jesus unless they had spent time together or unless Philip had seen Jesus before and knew Him. Even if that were true, no one just follows a stranger! Scripture does not give us all of the details, but these two men must have spent some time together before Jesus called him to follow.
That is the way God works with all of us. He does not expect us to just blindly believe. That is stupidity. Jesus gave them reason to believe in Himself. These men spoke with, walked with, and asked questions of Him. In response, they believed.
When Jesus saw Peter, He changed his name to Cephas. Now stop and think for a minute. How would you feel if some stranger told you that he was changing your name? Most of us would not like that very much. I do not know of anyone who would allow that to happen, but Peter did. Why? The answer is found in the white spaces of your Bible. That is, Peter and Jesus must have had a significant amount of time together before Jesus did this. The Bible does not record everything for us. We do not know what Jesus ate for breakfast or lunch. We are not told what they talked about all day or who else Andrew saw. Peter and Jesus spent time together, and Peter found his Messiah, Lord, and Savior just as John and Andrew had.
. . . that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved . . . (NASB) Rom. 10:9 When a man or woman believes in Jesus, Jesus is looking for more than just a simple “I believe!” One who really believes will also yield his or her will to Jesus at least a little. The man or woman who will not submit to Jesus is not really a Christian. Both of these men believed, and Jesus tested their willingness to yield and submit. Have you yielded to Jesus? |
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | ||||||
