For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Watch Session Four: The Turning Point
In Acts 8, we find an Ethiopian eunuch reading a portion of Scripture found in the book of Isaiah. He is confused about who the Scripture is referring to, so God directs Philip, one of the seven deacons, to join the eunuch. Philip then explains the good news of Jesus with the eunuch. The eunuch is so moved and convicted by the gospel that he insists that Philip baptize him.
We know that we need a savior. Now what do we do? We believe.
In today’s Scripture reading, we see that salvation involves both confession and belief. We must believe the truth about Jesus, that he is the Son of God who descended to earth to die for our sins and that he rose from the dead.
Our world thinks of Jesus’s resurrection as a hoax, ridiculing and rejecting those who believe. But in today’s Scripture reading, God promises that everyone who believes in Jesus will not be put to shame. When we accept the truth about who Jesus is and believe in him for salvation, God accepts us.
Salvation is available to anyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in him. Before Jesus came to earth, Israel enjoyed a special relationship with God that other nations (the Gentiles) did not. But when Jesus died, he provided access to God for anyone who will come to him. Neither our nationalities nor our ethnicities gain us special favor in God’s eyesight. We are accepted only because of Jesus.
The eunuch and Philip were from two different countries, one from Israel and the other from Ethiopia. When Philip shared the gospel with the eunuch, the Ethiopian believed and was not denied salvation. As our Scripture today insists, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
A virgin gave birth to a special boy. That boy grew into a man who claimed to be the Son of God. The Son of God died for your sins and was resurrected three days after his death. Now he offers salvation to all who will believe in him. Are these facts hard for you to believe? What thoughts keep playing on repeat mode in your mind? What would it take to make you believe Jesus’s claim as the Son of God?
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It took me years of searching for fulfillment on all earthly plains. I believed in God for 10 years before I committed myself to Jesus as my personal savior. I hope others don’t have to search as long as I did. Because Jesus shows me the way to live and the way to His father.
I do not have a hard time believing these facts. It’s a wonderful mystery, that in time we will come to understand deeper than we do now. All the what’s, why’s and how’s will be answered by and by. A tender heart and faith are key to accepting these facts. And, unfortunately, so is destitution.
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunch is one of my favourites. If only it were that easy for me to share the gospel and see my friends and family come to faith in God Almighty, as it was for Philip. Boldness may be what I need to pray for.
Although I do believe and trust in my faith, something with holds me back, or gives me pause, is: if I was alive while this was all happening, I don’t think I would have believed. Maybe I discredit myself and I would have, or I would have just been on the fence, or I wouldn’t have unless I met Jesus or until after the resurrection.
Maybe the answer is just "I don’t know." But it makes me feel… weird.
Thomas had a similar problem.In John 20:24-29 he expressed doubt. Jesus shows up, doesn’t berate him, shows Thomas evidence. Thomas was given enough to believe. 1 Corinthians 15:6 says there were other 500eyewitnesses at the time Paul writes. Then Jesus says " …blessed are those who do not see and yet believe. " Lean hard on God. Trust Him, not your own understanding. If you want to look deeper into the evidence, check out defenders like Ravi Zechariah or HEather Wallace,etc.
I believe that God is the father. I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe he rose again. I believe in his promises. I believe I am who he says I am. I believe in the trinity. I believe he was born to a virgin. I believe he offers salvation to all who believe. It is miraculous and at times, hard to believe but it’s the truth.
These facts are not hard for me to believe. The thought that kept playing on my mind is that a king dies for me. I do not deserve his affection at all. I already claim Jesus is the son of God. I do not deserve his love and death on the cross for me.
It is so unbelievingly gratifying that the Son of God died for me, only to be resurrected and let me know that I can take the salvation that he offers. In some ways, it’s crazy to believe. In other ways, it would be stupid not to believe for the stories are true!!
Do I believe this? I want to so badly but it can be hard to believe that the God I worship died for me, broken, sinful, damaged me. Do I doubt that he died for humanity out of LOVE, never. So I guess I believe that he died for me because he loves me, but I do not feel deserving just eternally grateful and joyful that he did.
I’ve always that believed Jesus was son of God.
I’m being very vulnerable here, so I’m likely posting this anonymously. But because I want others to know it’s ok for hard things to challenge our faith, I wanted to share some of my thoughts. I am a pastor’s wife, but I struggle with some things especially in my living out my faith. I have things in my head and heart but practicing what I think offend falls short.
I do believe, but what has challenged me the most in my belief—making me question if I wholeheartedly believe—are two main instances. The first, having someone I dearly love die who I knew had not had a relationship with Jesus and who logically could not grasp Jesus as being the Son of God. It makes me question: how deeply do I really believe? It rocks me to my core and there’s a lot of crying out to the Lord. Here’s part of why it bothers me so much: because I am more quiet in my sharing. I struggle with people-pleasing and dealing with conflict so I am very cautious about being an in-your-face proselytizer. But then I question: how deeply do I REALLY believe…boldly enough to possibly hinder relationships I have with someone by saying something I know will make them push me away in the hopes that maybe the Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts and maybe they’ll come to saving faith? Thinking back on these moments in my life brings me to tears again. I know my heart believes but my actions often fall short of what I believe. I think I may need to go through the Bible and study those (like Moses) who were weak and doubted how God would work in them but yet still went and God spoke boldly through them. For me, I’m not so sure for me what is lack of faith in God or what is lack of faith in myself that He would move through me.
The second thing that challenges my thoughts the most is when talking to little children about the concepts behind Christianity. They ask hard questions! My child is trying to wrap her head around the trinity and she is giving her father and I some thinking about how to best explain things. I can only contribute my trust of some things to the Holy Spirit because my brain can’t fully process some of the “hard” things. I see why unbelievers struggle with believing these facts and reason why it’s all nonsense or whatever—it seriously has to be a change of the heart not a change of the mind.
Growing up in a Christian home and attending schools where the word of God was taught, I believed every word that was shared with me. Eventually it wasn’t just a story, but it became my truth; how I viewed life. The challenge is that I often want to convince others of this truth but find it difficult, especially when they want tangible proof. I often wish I could teleport them back in time! Yes, a silly idea, but having something they could touch or see makes it easier to get them to believe. But even those in Jesus’ day had a hard time believing even when they saw the countless miracles or listened to Him speak. And so, I’m often left sharing what I know and praying that it’s enough; praying that the Holy Spirit would allow others to cross their paths, continuing to care for the seeds that have been planted in their lives. Praying that they would believe, living the story as their truth.