The crisis of belief:  An encounter with God requires faith….What you do in response to God’s revelation reveals what you believe about God.  True faith requires action (Henry Blackaby in “Experiencing God” page 135). 

Believing in God makes all the difference in life.  Faith shapes our worldview.  Faith shapes our values.  Faith shapes our attitudes.  Faith surrounds the birth of our children and carries us through the death of our loved ones. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

            I believe in God because the evidence supports faith.  Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.”  The teleological argument, or the argument from design, says that if a design is present in an object then there must be a designer.  Few can see the world without admitting that design is present.  Even those who deny God admit that it appears as though some design exists. 

            Hebrews 3:4, “every house is built by someone and the builder of all things is God” also demonstrates the existence of God from the cosmological argument.  Since something cannot come from nothing, then something must come from something.  Since we are here, there must be a cause for us being here.  What could explain the existence of the cosmos?  Only eternal God is great enough to explain our existence.

            Deuteronomy 18:21-22 gives us the test of a prophet:

 “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that Is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” 

If what a prophet says comes to pass, then he is a true prophet.  We can apply this same test to the Scriptures and God who revealed and inspired them.  If the prophecies of the Bible are true, then the God of the Bible is true.  What about the prophecies concerning Jesus (Ps. 22; Is. 53)?  What about the prophecies of Jeremiah 25:8-11, was Judah in Babylonian captivity for 70 years (Daniel 9:2)?         

            The evidence for faith is overwhelming.  There is a God.  He is alive.  “The righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). 

WHAT GOD DO YOU BELIEVE IN?

            I believe in God the Father.  I believe in God the Son.  I believe in God the Holy Spirit.  The concept is described as godhead, or trinity, or deity.  It is impossible for us to understand the 3 in 1 nature of the Father, Son, and Spirit very well.  However, this is the reality which the Bible has revealed—there are three who are equal, one, and separate. 

            I believe in God the Father.  Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” My Lord prayed to the Father before his crucifixion in John 17 and during his crucifixion saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” and “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Lk. 23:46).

            I believe in God the Son.  John 1:1-4, 14 displays the deity of Christ, his equality with God and his incarnation into this world.  Hebrews 1:13 shows us that Jesus was not an angel.  He is greater than the angels.  Hebrews 1:5 again emphasizes the equality between God the Father and God the Son.

            I believe in God the Holy Spirit.  Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, who was described as a Comforter, to the apostles in order to teach them all things in John 15:25.  The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, he is the third member of the Godhead.  In Acts 5:3 & 4 Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit and then of lying to God.  The Holy Spirit is God, or he is divine.  The Holy Spirit is listed as an equal with God in Matthew 28:20.  2 Corinthians 3:18 describes the Holy Spirit as “the Lord.”    

HOW DOES IT CHANGE YOU LIFE? 

            Because I believe in God, I value myself and others.  Mankind is created in God’s image.  Each individual is knit together by God in the womb.  Therefore, every individual has value, and that includes me.

            Because I believe in God, I value my home.  Homes are to begin with marriage.  Marriage is when God joins a man and woman to each other making them one flesh.  I value children.  Children are a heritage from the Lord.  They are arrows in the quiver of their father. 

            Because I believe in God, I value his church.  The same God who created the worlds with his word also created the church with his death.  Therefore, which is more valuable?  The church of Christ is the bride of Christ who is God.  The church is the eternal plan of God.  Because I believe in God, I value his church in the same way that he does. 

            Because I believe in God, I value salvation.  A group of scholars were once debating what makes Christianity different than other religions.  C.S. Lewis said that was an easy question—grace makes all the difference.  The God of heaven is the judge of all the earth.  Yet he is willing to forgive my sins by pouring his wrath on his own Son.  I value salvation. 

            Because I believe in God, I value heaven.  Heaven is not just an idea to get me through the day.  Heaven is a real place and one day I will really be there with my God.

APPLICATION

            Everyone is going through something.  There are joys and heartaches in your lives.  The Bible tells us that the just shall live by faith.  Your belief in God will be your life.  Your belief in God will sustain you.  Your belief in God will keep you in the right way.  This type of faith requires action.  What does your belief require of you today?