Oak Hill Church of Christ 10-16-22 Message: "Believe"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the simple but extraordinary image of God's grace received through faith.

John 3:16 is a simple, yet powerful, verse in the Bible. The idea that God shows His love to His children through His son Jesus expresses a fundamental truth of God's identity and the way in which He chooses to represent Himself to humanity. It also shares the way in which mankind ought to come to God in order to receive the great gift offered in Jesus.

Some people understand "belief" in a way other than that which God intended. They think too little of Jesus and the Gift of God because they take "belief" to mean "figuring everything will work out ok in the end" or "really really wanting it to be true."

Belief is an active word for a life lived according to God's revealed path in the Bible, a deep and abiding attention paid to God's Word. In short, belief is more than just intellectual hopefulness. It is a lived expression of an adopted way of being.

Those who find their faith-life to lack the desired reward ought to consider whether they have taken "belief" to mean something other than what God says it does. Let God bring renewal to your life and refreshment to your spirit by adopting your belief as a living, animated fulfilment of your nature as one of God's children.