Messenger: Brian Hopkins

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.

Recall from our previous study that the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, and that God therefore relented from the destruction of the city that Jonah had foretold in his brief prophetic message. Here in Jonah 4 we see that Jonah was highly displeased with the compassion God showed toward the Ninevites, forgetting the compassion God had shown to Jonah himself by rescuing him out of death through His sovereign provision of the great fish that swallowed and preserved him. God’s mercy upon Nineveh is not at all what Jonah expected, and he didn’t hesitate to tell God exactly how he felt about it.

Our information from scripture about Philip is limited, so we need to infer what we can about Philip from these few mentions of him taking care not to read anything into the scripture. We see that Philip was called directly and individually by Jesus to be one of His apostles…. read more

In our study of Jonah so far, we have seen God’s relentlessness in His pursuit of Jonah when the so-called “Reluctant Prophet” tried to run away from God’s call for him to go to Nineveh. Then we saw God’s faithfulness in rescuing Jonah out of death, and Jonah’s gratitude for… read more

John – who refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” – was the human scribe who wrote five books of the New Testament. John was part of Jesus’ inner circle of chosen apostles who was present at the Mount of Transfiguration along with his brother James, and Simon… read more

All of the events that took place during Jonah’s mission to Nineveh occurred in accordance with God’s will and by God’s power. When Jonah tried to run away from God’s calling, God relentlessly pursued Him, and made it possible for Jonah to be redeemed out of death by His provision… read more

Jesus gave the two sons of Zebedee – James and John – the nickname Boanerges meaning “Sons of Thunder.” Although this name is found only once in scripture, we are intrigued by it because we can imagine several reasons why Jesus might have tagged the brothers with it. James (sometimes… read more

The story of the prophet Jonah gives us a classic example of God’s relentless pursuit of His children no matter how long or far we try to run away from His calling and no matter how stridently we rebel against His commands. God mostly draws us gently and lovingly to… read more

We can and should pray fervently for revival, but revival is ultimately a work of God’s Spirit alone. We see this demonstrated in Ezekiel 37 when God led the prophet out into a valley full of dead, dry bones and asked Ezekiel pointedly whether those bones could ever live again…. read more