SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/16/2021 10:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Intro
to Philip Bartholomew”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 10:3a
Message of the
verse: “Philip and Bartholomew”
In today’s SD we begin to look at the next two disciples that
Matthew names, Philip and Bartholomew who is also called Nathanael. This introduction will take some time but as
we continue to look at the characteristics of these disciples we may continue
to see some traits that we ourselves have, and thus remember that the Lord used
these men, and so the Lord can use us as well.
What we are beginning to look at is the second group of
four disciples and as mentioned it begins with Philip, which is the same way
that it is mentioned in Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14; and also in Acts 1:13, which
probably indicates that Philip was its leader.
Now we don’t want to get this Philip mixed up with the deacon with the
same name, and became a prominent evangelist in the early church as seen in
Acts 6:5; 8:4-13, and 26-40.
Each of the disciples were Jewish but in some cases they
used both their Jewish names along with their Greek names, as was common during
that time period. Philip is a Greek name
that means “lover of horses” and is the only name used of him in the New Testament. This was possibly due to his name that the
Greeks who wanted to see Jesus came to Philip first as seen in John 12:20-21.
Philip came from the same northern Galilee town of
Bethsaida where Peter and Andrew also lived.
We believe that Philip was also a fisherman and knew Peter and Andrew,
along with Bartholomew, as they were not only close acquaintances but were
close friends even before Jesus called them.
It is true of Philip like Andrew that the only mention of
these two men in the synoptic gospels is seen in the lists like we see in
Matthew, so that means that all that we see about them is in the gospel of
John.
MacArthur writes “It can be surmised from John’s account
that Philip was already a devout man.
The day after Jesus called Peter and Andrew, ‘He purposed to go forth
into Galilee, and He found Philip, and Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me’ (John
1:43). Although John, Andrew, and Peter
had taken up with Jesus as soon as they realized He was the Messiah (vv.
35-42), Philip was the first person to whom the Lord expressly said, ‘Follow
Me.’
“God had already given Philip a seeking heart. Salvation is always on the sovereign Lord’s
initiative, and no one comes to Jesus Christ unless God the Father draws him
(John 6:44, 65). But God planted the
desire in Philip’s heart to find the Messiah even before Jesus called him. Philip therefore said to Nathanael (or
Bartholomew), ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets
wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’ (1:45). From the perspective of divine sovereignty,
the Lord found Philip, but from the perspective of human understanding and
volition, Philip had found the Lord.
Both the divine and human wills will be in accord when salvation takes
place. Jesus came to seek and save the
lost (Luke 7:7-8; cf. Jer. 29:13). God
seeks and finds the hearts of those who genuinely seek Him.”
We can see that from the comments that Philip made to Nathanael
that he must have been diligently studying the Scriptures to learn God’s will
and His plan. Perhaps he had an
understanding of the 9th chapter of Daniel as that surely gave the
time period when the Messiah would arrive, as it tells when the Messiah would
die and so by knowing this then the time period of His life could be
understood. At any rate God’s promised
Messiah was central on his mind, and when he was introduced to the Messiah, he
immediately acknowledge and accepted Him.
By using the written Word, God had prepared Philip’s heart. MacArthur adds “From the scriptural record we
know of no human agent who was instrumental in Philip’s calling or
commitment. Jesus simply walked up to
him and said, “Follow Me.’ Philip’s heart and eyes and ears were spiritually
attuned, and when he heard Jesus’ call he knew it was from God. We can only imagine the excitement and joy
that filled his soul at that moment.”
On a personal note this was sort of what happened to me
before I became a believer as the Lord had brought things into my life that
made me begin to think about God so when I began to listen to the sermons on
the end times then this was when the Lord called me with an effectual call that
I could not say no to. I can only praise
the Lord for his longsuffering that He gave to me in order to give me that
call.
The same thing that Philip did is what most every
believer does when they first become saved, and hopefully will continue to do
throughout their Christian life while on planet earth, and that was to go and
tell someone else about what happened to him.
Philip want and found Nathanael and told him he had found the Messiah.
We know that Philip cared for Nathanael so it was a
natural thing to communicate to him the most profound and joyous discovery of
his life. We see that in every listing
of the Twelve, Philip and Nathanael are together, and it’s very likely they had
been close friends for many years before they both met the Lord.
We will continue looking at things we learn from John’s
gospel about these men in our next SD as we will begin with the second thing we
learn about these men from there.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It was great for
me to look back and remember what the Lord did for me right before He saved me
in Jan. of 1974, and then to remember that I went and told others of how kind
and loving the Lord was to me by saving me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I continue to trust the Lord that He will
bring people into my life to tell them the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ.
8/16/2021 11:27 AM
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