Kingdom Come: Believe
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near;
repent and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1.15)
To repent is to reconsider your strategy for life; think about your thinking. It
is a change of thought that produces a change of life, a U-turn.
Result: you become childlike. [Jesus] Truly I say to you, unless you repent and
become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18.3)
What is reality? God and his kingdom, which is the range of God’s
effective will. It’s where what God wants done is done.
You have a kingdom, and you’re in a kingdom.
Faith is ___________ + ______________.
A believer: someone who ____________on what they decide is true. There
may be _________. In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe
and enough shadows to blind those who don't. (Blaise Pascal) A faith without some
doubts is like a human body with no antibodies in it. (Tim Keller)
A Christian believer acts with _______________ on Jesus. Faith is deliberate
confidence in the character of God, whose ways you may not understand at the
time. (Oswald Chambers)
Jesus and faith:
He ____________ Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the
truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’
and it will happen. (Mark 11.22-23a)
He _______________ Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven. ...Your
faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7.48-50)
What does it mean to “believe in Jesus”? TRUST
T
- I ________________________________
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10.9)
R I ______________________
“Nothing will ever be able to separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t.
The angels can’t, and demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about
tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we’re
high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able
to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)
U I _________________ to serve God by serving others
Give yourselves completely to God—every part of you—for you’ve been saved from
death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good
purposes.” Romans 6:13 (LB)
“God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us
for a life of good works, which he has already prepared for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
S I _____________________
“For you have been given not only the privilege of BELIEVING in Christ but also the
privilege of SUFFERING for him.” Philippians 1:29 (NLT)
“If you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t be afraid
and don’t worry.” 1 Peter 3:14 (NLT)
T I _________________________
“The word of the Lord always holds true, and everything he does is worthy of our
trust.” Psalm 33:4 (NLT)
“God can’t break his Word. So we who have trusted our very lives to God have every
reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go!” Hebrews 6:18
[To have faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There’d be no
sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. (CS Lewis)
“It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves
you.” (Tim Keller)
He ___________________ [having heard the centurion's response] Jesus said, “I
tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” (Luke 7.9)
Final thought: Faith is energized by love, ______________.
...faith activated and expressed and working through love. (Gal. 5.6b Ampl)
He ____________________ And because of their unbelief, Jesus couldn’t do any
miracles among them [in his hometown] except to place his hands on a few sick
people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. (Mark 6.5-6)
He made ________ the object of faith [the Jewish crowd] replied, “We want to
perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only
work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6.28-29)
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. (John 14.1)
And you?
Does your faith make you act in confidence?
Are you relaxed in his love?
Are you serving God by serving others?
Are you becoming captivated by Jesus?
And ROOTS?
Imagine ROOTS full men and women of faith, energized by love!
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