For example, when you get into an airplane, you believe that the engines will hold the plane up in the air. This is what Paul told the Philippian jailer. I think that can help them realize something is missing. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. And others may have believed in God at one time but then had trials in their lives that made it difficult for them to believe. It’s so simple, it’s almost too difficult to believe. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN. Believe! In a sense they are right. Maybe some people needed to believe in God but clearly there was no proof. It's Free! I know people bound to guilt and shame over choices they’ve made who do not believe God will offer them forgiveness. I know people who have been shunned by their families and labeled by society who do not want to hear about Jesus. Spend time alone with Jesus just listening to worship music, intentionally not trying to get closer but trusting you are already close. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Reply. If accurate, this means that nearly 40 per cent of people in our society doubt the existence of Jesus, a staggering indication of how pervasive such ideas have become. Science, other religions, simple definitions of proof and fact. For instance, in John 8, Jesus is talking to a group of Jewish people that includes the teachers, scribes, and Pharisees. Even after someone hears the Gospel, it might take more Christian influence to help them believe and embrace it. Jesus' message to the Jews was: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Humility toward the Lord enables you to ask persistently for His help and to believe He can do things you can't. In fact, I would further submit that when a person professes a belief in God apart from Jesus, they are not serving God at all, but only an imitation, an idol, which they have created of their own will and desire. They have made up a god who serves them, instead of serving the God who created them. If I'd just found the right words, pleaded the case differently, then they would have accepted Jesus. Romans 10:9-10 – “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Visit with a believing friend and ask for prayer. We have four books of the Bible filled with Jesus’ teachings. You are responsible to believe, but you can't believe. Right now, she doesn’t believe she has any need to have her sins forgiven – and therefore she doesn’t believe … For others, it’s a people problem. A: That depends on what you mean by “believe in God.”. Despite this, an overwhelming majority of American’s believe that they will head to the eternal afterlife with God. From the Pastor's Heart Read this month's letter from Dr. Charles Stanley. … You are commanded to believe, yes, you are. If I said to you: “I’ll forgive you when you have finally deserved my forgiveness” or … Jesus’ Words to the Jewish People. 27 After this [Jesus] went out and saw a … But make no mistake, people who refuse to believe in Christ’s deity, yet claim to believe in nothing at all, they will fight tooth and nail to prove they believe … Statistics project that at least 175,000 Messianic Jews in the U.S. alone believe in Jesus, while estimates worldwide range from 350,000 to 1.7 million.2 While it’s not new that Jewish people have been believing in Jesus since … well, Jesus … it’s certainly a rare thing to encounter. Build on common ground. It hasn’t.” But even a lot of young people, including teenagers and certainly people in their 20s, have already had a lot of disappointments. (Rev 7:14) I personally believe we are very close to this time. The New Testament urges us throughout to believe in Jesus Christ. Messenger Lab Many devices, one message. And I was hoping someone did! The idea is, Obey your Messiah! Someone once said, “The first duty of love is to listen.” We often think we … The answer can be found by watching Jesus himself. Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins. Paul received his gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 1:10-12). Perhaps later, they hear about God's love. Mark 1:15 That is what Paul has in mind in Hebrews 5:9 when he tells his Hebrew readers to obey. Topics; Get Involved. She takes pride in her goodness – but her pride is like a barrier that must be torn down. Pray that she will face her own spiritual emptiness, and that God will convict her of her self-righteousness and her need for Christ. The Bible says the Holy Spirit “will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). A: To believe in Jesus doesn’t just mean to believe that He existed, or that He was a great person whose life and teachings have made a deep impact on the world. Jesus makes it clear that when a person accepts Him as their Savior, they trust exclusively in Him to … Many people erroneously equate belief with intellectual assent to a certain body of facts: Jesus was the Son of God who died on a cross for the sins of the world and rose from the dead on the third day. Faith may be hard to explain to people who just don't believe in Jesus as there savior. How I would start is that I would pray to God for that person. God is the only one who can turn someones heart around. It is very diffuclt to explain how you feel about your faith. This is so simple! Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16). Rely on Him for your salvation. You can get a sense for her beliefs by talking about what inspires her and what really matters to her. Can you believe in Jesus but not religion? "I love Jesus", exclaimed a woman in the audience, "but He never wanted anyone to worship Him!" Before Jesus, people believed in a Messiah, which Jesus is. I know people who believe, truly believe, that Jesus has nothing to offer them. Obey Jesus! Or, say, if you send a postcard to someone in Swaziland and you`ve never been there nor seen it firsthand, you are believing that there is such a place as Swaziland. This is why the most important thing you can do for your neighbor is to pray for her. Talk like Jesus. Paul says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." The well-known scripture John 3:16 John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Because you can intellectually believe in God without trusting in him, without loving him or knowing him. We also know in reading the last verses of the book of John that these four books are a mere sampling of what he said and did…. Allow God to … Remind yourself that Jesus is ALWAYS there and always willing to draw close to you, and that this feeling of distance and difficulty is just a feeling. Ask Questions & Listen. In the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven, we have access to the Holy Spirit — the ultimate aim of God’s redemption of man through Jesus Christ. Still later, they find out how God sent Jesus to show us the Father’s heart, to die for our sins, and offer us eternal life. The optimism is great, but we have to remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” That’s it! (Hebrews 9:28) (1 Thessalonians 4:17) (Titus 2:13) (Rev 3:10) It has been over 37 years since I came to faith in Jesus Christ. Receive Jesus as you Savior. February 22, 2017 at 10:14 pm. In John 7, Jesus’ brothers urge him to “show himself to the world”. They sacrificed innocent lambs as atonement for their sins until Jesus made Himself the sacrificial lamb by dying an as an innocent man on the Cross. Pray to know how to help her. They thought that if people just saw Jesus—and in particular his miracles—they would believe … Subscribe Get Dr. Stanley’s devotions delivered straight to your inbox or mailbox. And we are to believe in Him for what the jailer asked, salvation (i.e., everlasting life). So I take texts like that and begin at the core—the death of Jesus. The Bible uses the word believe or the word faith hundreds of times to describe an act of trust. At Christmas, people are wont to sing, ‘Jesus is God’s gift to the world’. (Romans 10:9-10) “ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Try to understand where your friend is coming from. The Lord taught Paul that all who believe in Him have everlasting life. Some of the people who asked me questions never accepted Jesus as their Savior as far as I know. All this leads us to ask, “What does it take to bring people to Jesus?”. … I wasn't trying to be difficult. Today, let’s take a look at Luke 5:27-32, where Jesus calls Levi (also known as Matthew) to be his disciple and then hangs out with Levi’s friends at a party. When a person believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they accept in their mind, heart and attitudes the following things: 1. Not causing some believers to go to hell because they weren’t fruitful enough. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Freely Forgive. It is that simple. Isolate them from any ideas that might dispute your stories. When we talk about our faith in Jesus Christ, someone will inevitably remind us that what we believe is fine for us but not for them. All you must do is receive, in faith, the salvation God offers (Ephesians 2:8-9). How can someone “believe in Jesus for eternal life” and not “believe Jesus”? Jesus was not saying that we need to believe in Him the same way we believe in a historical figure like Abraham Lincoln. One of the first things they must do is confess to someone they have accepted Jesus as lord and savior of their life. See how God is working through your partnership to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Jeremy Myers says. In 2016, Barna's Talking Jesus survey reported that 22 per cent of people in the UK think Jesus was a mythical figure, while 17 per cent are unsure whether he was real or not. A: No matter how hard we try or how many arguments we present, ultimately only God can persuade a person that the Gospel is true. When this happened, I doubted myself. Only a spiritual relationship with Jesus can hold your life together just right! I've also had people tell me they know the story of Jesus, but they don't accept it or believe the Bible. American King James Version × explains that God loved the world and gave His Son so "that whoever believes in Him should not … Stress to them the importance of telling someone what they did. I suspect that this is impossible. If you are uncertain if you truly believe in Jesus but you desire to, or if you feel God drawing you to faith in Jesus, the next step is simple. Trust in Jesus! As I looked He told you to repent and believe … God is offering you salvation as a gift. After many months of this, I thought, "Here are the people who say they believe in God, but no one knows why!" The person we are to believe in is the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill their heads with fairy tales about your magical Savior and horror stories about what happens to people who dare to question or think logically. What does it mean to believe? You “believe in Jesus” in the biblical sense. It became obvious that God was completely fabricated. He says, "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved." God has already done all of the work. You're dead! And Jesus tells us: people don’t believe because they simply don’t want to believe. They don’t like the people … The answer of the Bible is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). For some it’s a problem with the Bible itself. Jesus Christ will appear and save those who have believed in Him and are eagerly awaiting Him before the earth is judged in "The Great Tribulation." You believe in aerodynamics even though you might not understand them. Humility helps people find Jesus even while dying. You know that better than anybody. You “believe in Jesus” in the biblical sense. If you are uncertain if you truly believe in Jesus but you desire to, or if you feel God drawing you to faith in Jesus, the next step is simple. Believe! Trust in Jesus! Rely on Him for your salvation. Allow God to turn you from sin to forgiveness and salvation. He says, “Before Abraham was, I am. We’ve been asking people why they don’t believe the Bible, and their responses fall into two categories. Julia: I heard this quote the other day: “Atheists don’t believe in God, but God doesn’t believe in atheists.” That clicked with me. It’s old, old-fashioned, big, hard to understand, and they don’t know where to start. Roy, the John 15 image is about Jesus pruning and tending to believers. God always hears our requests since He lives inside us, so don't give up asking; ask boldly in faith, and yet humbly, asking for mercy. But I certainly did not "just know." He died for our sins, which means I must believe I am a sinner. That's up for debate, but a lot of people do feel this way. Nor does believing in Jesus even mean that we acknowledge He was more than a mere man, but was the Son of God who came from heaven to save us from our sins.