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The Twelve – Thomas

Brian Hopkins

March 23, 2025

Thomas gets a bad rap and the common nickname "Doubting Thomas" due to the well-known stories from the gospel of John in which Thomas first refused to believe the other apostles' report about the resurrected Jesus appearing to them, and then a week later Jesus' mild rebuke of Thomas saying, "Be not unbelieving, but believing." But does Thomas really deserve our scorn and ridicule. After all, the other apostles refused to believe the report from the women to whom Jesus appeared at the empty tomb until He appeared to them later. Furthermore, once Thomas touched and saw the resurrected Jesus for himself, his faith in the Gospel was fulfilled as he fell down in worship declaring, "My LORD and my God!"

Will You Go?

Brian Hopkins

March 23, 2025

On the evening He was betrayed, Jesus gave a new commandment to His disciples - that we are to love one another, saying that all people will know that we disciples of Jesus by the love we show toward one another. Later in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for all of those who would come to believe in His Gospel through the words of His disciples. We who are followers of Jesus have a sacred calling from our LORD to go forth and share the Good News of salvation in Him with the lost and dying world all around us who desperately need to hear. Therefore, Pastor Brian asks simple yet critical question. In response to our call from Jesus, Will you go?

The Twelve – Nathanael Bartholomew

Brian Hopkins

March 9, 2025

The name Nathanael isn't found in the Biblical listings of Jesus' twelve chosen apostles. Most likely, Nathanael was the given name of Bartholomew - son (Aramaic "bar") of Tolmai. From the story of his calling we find in John 1:43-51, we can safely infer that Nathanael was a close friend of Philip. From that story, we also learn that Nathanael was from Cana in Galilee where Jesus transformed the water into wine - the first miracle Jesus performed during His earthly ministry. Nathanael was also present with six other disciples of Jesus at the Sea of Galilee on the day Jesus took Peter aside to restore him after his denial on the night Jesus was betrayed.
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