I believed therefore I spoke

1) If we were not here last Sunday evening we missed some important information.

2) This congregation is in the process of offering a 13 lesson BCC to the people in our area.

3) We are making the course booklets available to members on Wednesday evenings one week at a time.

4) After Chstns. have the chance to review this material they are looking for a friend to take the first lesson.

5) If we do not know someone who would take a BCC, we are being asked to return the books.

6) There was one thing that was not mentioned last Sunday night.

a) A lot of people who use the Internet are on some type of social networking site.

b) Face book and MySpace are among the most well-known ones.

c) I recently saw an article that says face book has more than 200 million members.

d) Internet social sites offer Christians some prospective BCC contacts.

e) In some cases we can include in our personal information what this congregation is doing.

f) We can put on things like myspace that the place where we worship has a free BCC course.

g) Not only is this course completely free, a free book that is being offered in conjunction with it.

h) When a person completes the 10^th lesson, we give them a nice book that has several outlined Bible studies.

7) In 2 Cor 4:13 Paul said, “I believed, therefore did I speak.”

8) This statement did not originate with Paul; the apostle quoted from the Old Testament.

9) A characteristic of God’s people is that they believe and therefore they speak.

10) Today is a day when a lot of people are thinking about the resurrection of Jesus.

11) Others are hunting Easter eggs and eating a lot of candy the next few days.

12) Since we are here this morning, we probably “believe” and this faith is very important.

13) Is our faith “faith only,” or is it the type of faith which will cause us to also “speak”?

a) Will we let people know about the BCC program we are launching?

b) Ps. 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” This is what needs to be true for us.

c) There is a time to be quiet and a time to speak.

d) When it comes to people dying without God, this is not a time to keep quiet.

14) In tonight’s lesson we are going to look at some things related to having faith in God.

15) This is the subject of the first BCC lesson.

16) This morning we want to examine a related topic: belief.

17) Nearly 100 times in the New Testament we find the word “believed.”

a) As we think about the current holiday and our BCC program, “believed” is a good word to consider.

b) This single term has a lot of important lessons for us.

18) For instance, there is the point in Mt. 21:32.

19) Jesus said John the Baptist came and he preached.

20) John offered a “way of righteousness.” Tax collectors and prostitutes were among those who believed him.

21) Others chose not to believe. Today this is still true.

22) We find people who do not believe that Jesus lived; or if He lived, He was not raised from the dead.

23) Others believe Jesus did live and was resurrected, but we do not need to obey Him.

24) Or, they believe that we can only obey Him in the things that we think are important and right.

25) John the Baptist had an attitude like Paul in 2 Cor. 4:13 – he believed and therefore he spoke.

26) Even when people did not want to hear his message, he continued to be faithful to his commission.

27) This is also our goal—we want to express our belief to others in various ways, including the BCC work.

28) Whether people listen or not, their choice is ultimately irrelevant to us.

29) Our job is to sow the seed. Some of this seed will grow and some of it will die.

30) Mark tells us (16:14) some spiritual seed will not grow because a person has a hard heart.

a) I am grateful to God that it is not our responsibility to soften a person’s heart.

b) God does not hold us accountable for whether or not people obey heaven’s gospel.

31) Not long ago I had a conversation with a lady and she seemed to be religious.

a) Before we parted ways I tried to hand her a card and ask her to visit with us.

b) She rebuffed my efforts. God has given this woman free-will and I respected her right to choose.

c) Her choice did not please me, but she has (at least for now) exercised her free-will.

d) When others choose to disbelieve, that should have little to no effect on us.

e) They have not said no to us; they have said no to God.

32) It is important to remember this point especially as we deal with important people in society.

a) 2,000 years ago some Jews made a very bad argument.

b) This information in found in Jn. 7:48.

c) Some noted how the noteworthy members of Jewish society had not believed on the Lord.

d) If people “in the know” did not believe in Jesus, why would anyone else believe?

33) The world often looks to the elite in society for guidance.

a) When people have money, power or are well educated, they can set many standards.

b) The high and mighty often chart the course for the rest of the world.

c) Money is not the proper standard for truth or religion.

d) A brutal dictator may have absolute power, but that does not mean he is religious or right.

e) Education is no guarantee that people have the truth or can be a proper guide in the area of religion.

f) A lot of wealthy, powerful and well educated people do not even have faith.

34) I listened a woman this past week who seemed to have all three of these qualities.

35) She was well educated, she had money, and she was somewhat influential.

a) In an interview she said she was “recovering from religion.”

b) This woman and her elitist friends want to lead the way, but that way does not include God.

c) The wisdom of the world is not going to help us right our relationship with God. And:

d) The status of an unbeliever should not influence one way or another when it comes to divine truth.

36) What should matter to us is truth. Truth exists, it can be found, and it is what the world needs.

a) In Jn. 8:31 John says there were some who “believed” on the Lord.

b) This belief is then immediately associated with the word of God.

c) We find the truth in the scriptures.

37) In life we can subject various things to a wide variety of tests.

a) We can see how fast something is, how far something travels, and how pure things are.

b) The Bible is also a book that can be tested and it has been tested for numerous years.

c) The scriptures have been tested for historical accuracy.

d) They have been repeatedly examined for contradictions or errors.

e) The writers have been judged on how historically accurate they were.

f) The thousands of manuscripts have been evaluated to see if the Bible is a reliable document.

g) Test after test has been run and the Bible continues to pass every single time.

38) It is because of this tested book (which Jesus calls “truth”) that we believe.

a) The Bible is one of the reasons for accepting the resurrection of Jesus.

b) It is one of the reasons why we believe the Lord will return.

c) It is also one of the reasons why we speak to others: I believed, therefore did I speak (2 Cor. 4).

39) Sometimes people would like to believe (or speak), but they are afraid.

a) The Bible recognizes this in places such as Jn. 12:42.

b) There were “rulers” who believed in Jesus, but they would not speak up about their conviction.

c) This same verse says there were “many” of these rulers but these men would not dare speak out.

d) They were not tongued tied and it was not a matter of knowing what to say.

40) John says these men feared the “Pharisees.”

41) The Pharisees could have kept these men from being part of the synagogue so these rulers kept quiet.

42) One of the challenges that some face with evangelism is fear.

a) Some would rather take a beating than knock on someone’s door.

b) Others are pretty uncomfortable asking someone to accept a personal Bible study.

c) We are now offering a brand new way to help share the gospel with people: a bcc.

d) Last Sunday night a suggestion was made in regard to finding prospects.

e) Many times someone will say to us, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

f) We may be asked this question when paying for groceries or getting a haircut.

g) These words might come from a waitress at a restaurant.

h) This is an ideal time to say, “The place where we worship is offering a free BCC.

i) “Would you like to enroll?”

j) If we believe, we do not want to be like the rulers in Jn. 12 – we want to be people who “speak.”

43) The word of God, whether in written or spoken form, is the God-given tool to reach people and it works.

44) Acts 4:4 says “many of them that heard the word believed.”

45) Acts 8:12 says people “believed” when they heard Philip preaching the gospel.

46) The belief in these passages is more than faith; it is a life changing event.

a) Acts 19:18 says some who believed “came and confessed their deeds.”

b) Some of these people had invested a lot of money in things like sorcery (Acts 19:19).

c) These people took their sorcery books and burned them.

d) Belief moved these people to action.

e) Faith moving people to action is not new. Rom. 4:3 says Abraham “believed God.”

47) Did Abraham’s belief cause him to do anything? Yes; this great man of God did several things.

48) He was willing to leave his home. He was willing to put his son on the altar.

49) He believed and therefore he acted.

50) When we days like Easter it is important to step back and ask ourselves a question.

a) The people thinking about Jesus and His resurrection today, where will they be tomorrow?

b) Will they be back in the bars they frequent and back doing all the other things inconsistent with Christianity?

c) Where will these people be next week and next month?

d) If we truly believe, we will be like Abraham and we will be a person whose faith leads to action.

e) Our faith will not be an “Easter Sunday faith” or a “December 25^th faith.”

f) We will seek, we will serve, we will believe and we will obey every single day of the year.

51) There are going to be times when this is not easy.

52) Rom. 4:18 describes Abraham as someone “who in hope believed against hope.”

53) Abraham was an old man and had never had a child with Sarah.

54) God said a baby would come through Sarah. The chance of that must have seemed absolutely impossible.

55) In spite of the fact that this situation looked utterly impossible, Abraham believed.

56) We will surely have some times in life when things look absolutely impossible.

57) It may seem like we are locked in a small room with four walls, a low hanging ceiling and a barred door.

58) How can we possible get out of such a place? For the Christian, God says “have faith. Believe.”

59) Like Abraham, we “hope against hope.”

60) If all we have is an Easter faith, we are not going to hope against hope.

61) A Christmas faith is not going to allow us to hope against hope.

62) All of our eggs need to be in God’s basket.

63) Christians do not “believe in vain” (1 Cor. 15:2) and Paul once expressed this point to a young preacher.

a) Paul told Timothy, “I know Him in whom I have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12).

b) “I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have committed to Him against that day.”

c) True believes are promised rest—Heb. 4:3.

d) That rest comes by being a faithful Christian.

e) It comes by believing and therefore speaking.

64) Today, do we have faith? Do we believe? If so, what type of belief do we have?

65) Is our faith a casual faith or a committed faith?

66) God requires a committed faith and that process begins by conversion (change).