What does faith have to do with healing, and – more generally – how we live our lives? In this passage we see two examples of people who demonstrated their faith in Jesus. What lessons can we learn for today?
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
In this passage, the disciples receive a lesson in what it means to follow Jesus. Following him may be hard, but we need to choose the path of faith over fear.
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
Faith is one of the most important things in the Bible. Yet, a lot of Christians today are scared of talking about it for fear of being seen as irrational or foolish. So what does faith look like, and what difference does it make in our lives today? This passage helps us to understand.
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
There used to be an expression “These things are sent to try us”. But people rarely use it these days – it seems that people don’t think about God testing us at all. But it is clear from the Bible that God does test us. What does it mean, and what does God want from us?
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
The Passover is one of the most significant moments of the Old Testament – and it teaches us about Christ. Today we are thinking about what it teaches us about faith, how we are to have faith in Christ as our saviour.
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
How bad is sin, really? In this session we start out by looking at just how bad sin is, and then how God started his rescue plan through a man called Abraham. God’s promises to Abraham show what God was intended, and Abraham serves as an example for us.
Check out the “What is Christianity?” category for all sessions of this course.
A lot of people talk about having faith – but does it make any difference to their lives? In this session we look at what the Bible says about faith. It’s not enough simply to say that we have faith – it has to make a difference as well. But what kind of difference? And how?
Find out more about this course by watching the Introduction.
Over the last few weeks we’ve come across the two different ways – “faith” vs “works”, as Paul puts it. But what does it mean to live by faith? In this passage, Paul turns to the example of Abraham to see how he lived by faith, and how he is the example for us to follow. What does that mean?
** APOLOGIES FOR THE FOCUS ISSUE: As you will see, I am out of focus all the way through. I’m very sorry about this – totally my fault – I will try to get it right next week! **
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
In this session we look at faith. What is it? Does it matter how much of it you have? Is it something we’re born with? And is it about believing in spite of evidence and reason?
Find out more about the Firm Foundations course by watching the Introduction. The previous session (part 28, on Christ the redeemer) is here.
I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase “seeing is believing”. We often say that we need to see something with our own eyes before we can believe it.
That’s the subject of our Bible reading for the first week after Easter. It’s from John 20, the famous story of doubting Thomas. On the eve of that first Easter Day, Jesus appeared to his disciples while they were together – but Thomas was not present. When the other disciples told him what had happened, he said: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Thomas refused to believe the testimony of his friends, those he knew to be trustworthy and reliable. Instead, he chose to say that he would not believe unless he had seen Jesus with his own eyes.
Perhaps this is an attitude that we can sympathise with: as human beings we can find it hard to believe without the evidence of our own eyes. “Seeing is believing”, we say, and if we don’t see we don’t believe. Even if not believing means we have to distrust people we know well. Perhaps there is something of the “doubting Thomas” in each one of us.
So, how did things work out for our friend Thomas? Let’s look at what happens next in the story:
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus did not commend Thomas for his doubts. Thomas should have believed the other disciples, his closest friends. He should have listened to what Jesus had taught them before about how he was to be killed and then raised on the third day. Instead, Thomas made the conscious choice not to believe. I think this reflects a battle that we all face day by day.
We all face the choice every day to respond to our circumstances with faith or with doubt. We can choose which eyes to see with – eyes of faith, or eyes of doubt. We can choose to see the risen Lord Jesus at work in our lives and trust in his promises, or we can choose to deny him.
Jesus finishes by saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” It is a blessing to trust in the Lord, even though we do not see him. By faith we trust that our sins are forgiven. By faith we trust that he is able to care for us and provide for us. By faith we trust that he is able to direct our lives in the way that is best. By faith we believe that he is willing and able to answer prayer.
We cannot see the Lord Jesus with our eyes, yet with eyes of faith we believe and trust that he is there. And as we trust in him day by day, as we choose to see with eyes of faith, we come to experience that he is faithful, and that he is able to keep his promises to us.
I will leave the last word to the apostle Paul, from 2 Corinthians 4:
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
This was originally written as a ‘Thought for the Week’ for a local publication.
