Encountering Genuine Faith

Why doesn’t everyone believe and follow Jesus? Maybe you’re the only Christian in your family—why do you believe in Jesus and others reject Jesus? You’ve invited your neighbors to church and tried to engage in spiritual conversations but to no avail…why is that? Someone you’ve known for years claimed to be a Christian but all of a sudden they publicly reject Jesus and begin openly living a life of rebellion against God…why?

Perhaps one of the reasons these scenarios perplex us is because of the nature of faith itself…John has shown us throughout his Gospel that faith as an idea has to be nuanced and clearly defined. This morning we will look at this idea of faith and my prayer is that as John clarifies faith we will be able to do some inward examination and ask ourselves—Do I believe in Jesus??