12 Ordinary Men: Nathanael

Posted on 11 Mar 2019, Pastor: Rev. Derek Geldart

Today we are going to continue the sermon series on the Twelve Apostles by examining the life of Nathanael. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that the book “Twelve Ordinary Men” by John MacArthur was used as the foundation for this sermon series. Imagine spending your whole life combing through the Mosaic Law and the Prophets to learn as much as you can about the coming of the Messiah and then one day your friend boldly declares He has arrived! How would you react? You would think that Nathanael would have been overwhelmed with joy, drop everything and run to the feet of his Master! And yet we find in John 1:43-51 that his initial reaction was one of skepticism. As soon as Phillip said Jesus was from Nazareth Nathanael’s prejudice kicked in and he found himself dismissing any chance that the Messiah had come because His home town had a reputation of being unrefined, uneducated, evil, corrupt, and full of sinful people! And yet after just hearing a few words from Jesus his prejudices melted away and he cried out “Rabbi you are the Son of God” (verse 49). In examining the life of Nathanael, we are going to learn how those who genuinely seek God will see their prejudice and skepticism give way to truth and faith in their Master.