BELIEVE: Enemies of Believing | Overflow Church Grand Prairie, Tx | Notes
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BELIEVE: Enemies of Believing





An introduction to believing.

John 6:22–31 (NIV) 22 The next daythe crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. 
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed 
but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” 
28 Then they asked him, 
“What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” 
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, 
but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” 
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. 
Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

1. The crowd was asking for a sign, yet he already provided signs. 

2. The crowd was asking about the works(plural) God required; Jesus gives them the work (singular)God requires. 

Believing is the work God requires.

What does believing mean?

πιστεύω Pisteuō; (verb) to believe, entrust. 

A. To be convinced.

“If you are not convinced, you won’t live with conviction.”
"Biblical Believing is the act of trusting based on the basis of its truthfulness and reliability."

B. To place ones trust in.
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1. Faith is 
substantive.
2. Faith is 
evidential.

To believe is to actively trust.

1. Believing is the beginning. 
You have to believe Jesus to receive Jesus.
Believing is how we are reborn
Genesis 15:6 / Rom 14:3(NIV) Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Romans 4:18 (NIV) Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed
Acts 16:31 (NIV)“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

John 3:14–15 (NIV) 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”  

John 3:16–18 (NIV) 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

2. Belief empowers life in the Spirit.
John 7:37–39 (NIV) “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.


Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.