Week 5 Overcoming Doubt to Believe
"Wash away doubt" by _scartissue is licensed under Creative Commons 4.0
Passage
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
27 Then He *said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus *said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."
John 20:24-29 (NASB)
Background
Quote- Larry Stevens "Steven" Furtick Jr. (born February 19, 1980) is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor, author, and award-winning songwriter of Elevation Worship. He is the founder and senior pastor of Elevation Church, based in Charlotte. After serving as music director at Christ Covenant Church in Shelby, North Carolina, he moved to Charlotte and started Elevation Church. The church had their first service on February 5, 2006.
In 2012, in response to a need of mentorship for 1,000 students in area schools, Furtick launched an outreach program at Elevation Church called the M1 Initiative. Furtick said, "We have always said we want to be a blessing to our city and support our leaders with a volunteer force they can count on." More than 1,600 members responded and committed to mentoring a child for the 2012–2013 school year.
Passage- The book of John is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Sermons, Parables, and a few Prophetic Oracles. It was written by the Disciple/Apostle John around 85-95 A.D. The key personalities of this book are Jesus Christ, His Twelve Disciples, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Lazarus, his sisters Mary and Martha, Jewish religious leaders, and Pilate.
It was written so that all may believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God who gives eternal life. John’s gospel uses the word “Believe” 98 times and the word “Life” 36 times, in an effort to embed the importance that one must believe in order to live eternally.
Opening Statement
One week later. OWL. That’s the amount of time that passed between Thomas stating his unbelief and doing a complete one-hundred-eighty degree change of opinion. A lot can happen in a week. We spend a week between classes, some of us between paychecks, or scheduled events in our lives. It is amazing what can happen in the span of seven days.
Ask: What do you believe?
Point: This is an open-ended question designed to bring to mind things with less tangible sources of support like 2+2=4 and more belief in things less substantial such as what is behind our faith.
Ask: Why do you believe those things?
Point: This question is also designed to bring to mind whatever you consider “evidence” that supports why you believe this way.
Ask: Can we believe the Bible?
Point: Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ documents very well why we can believe the King James Bible is a true recount of the events that occurred before, during, and after the life of Jesus Christ on earth.
First Reading (2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)
Ask: What does that word “…inspired…” mean?
Point: See the Greek word for inspired in the Definitions Section.
Second Reading (Job 38:1-3 (KJV)
Ask: Why was God angry with Job?
Point: Third Reading (Job 32:1 (NASB)
Ask: How does Job’s righteous pride and our doubt connect?
Point: We are building up things we believe and stand upon based only on things we know within ourselves as fact.
Ask: Why is this position a bad thing?
Point: It places our personal knowledge as divine whereas we should be placing God’s knowledge and wisdom as penultimate.
Fourth Reading (Romans 1:18-25 (NASB)
Ask: How do we overcome our unbelief, our doubt?
Point: Fifth Reading (James 1:5-8 (NASB)
Ask: That passage says not to doubt or we get nothing so how does this help?
Point: Sixth Reading (Matthew 7:7-9 (NASB)
Ask: What is it that we are instructed to do in the Sixth Reading?
Point: Pray.
Closing Statement
Ask and it will be given. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. Doubt is a real human failing but so is the absence of humility which we call pride when we think we know it all…like Job. Like Job, God is not happy with us when we raise our nose in the air and haughtily think we have all the answers. Prayer is the key to overcoming doubt. Ask and a demonstration is made, information imparted, or an example shown to reinforce God’s ways; but we have to be receptive to the message. Failure to being open to the voice of the Holy Spirit means we call it a coincidence, accept secular “reasons” for it, or just plain miss Jesus in the world around us.
24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again."
26 After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, "He is dead!"
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up.
28 When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could we not drive it out?"
29 And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer."
Mark 9:24-29 (NASB)
Questions for the Week
If you have not read it, consider getting a copy of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ and reading it.
Read what Job actually said that angered God read all of Job Chapter 31 either at the end of this lesson or in your favorite translation of the Bible.
After reading Job 31 list all the things Job says he did that was good or avoided that was bad…that you fail at.
Select one, two, or three things from the above list and write down steps to improve on these over the coming year.
Read all of Romans 1 to see the consequences of unbelief.
Scripture
First Reading
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)
Second Reading
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Job 38:1-3 (KJV)
Third Reading
1 Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
Job 32:1 (NASB)
Fourth Reading
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:18-25 (NASB)
Fifth Reading
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8 (NASB)
Sixth Reading
7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
Matthew 7:7-9 (NASB)
Definitions
Greek Strong's Number: 2315
Greek Word: θεόπνευστος
Transliteration: theopneustos
Phonetic Pronunciation: theh-op'-nyoo-stos
Root: from <G2316> and a presumed derivative of <G4154>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 6:453,876
Part of Speech: adj
Vine's Words: Inspiration of God, Inspired of God
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
given by inspiration of God 1
[Total Count: 1]
from <G2316> (theos) and a presumed derivative of <G4154> (pneo); divinely breathed in :- given by inspiration of God.
James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2315".
Greek Strong's Number: 2316
Greek Word: θεός
Transliteration: theos
Phonetic Pronunciation: theh'-os
Root: of uncertain affinity, a deity, especially (with <G3588>) the supreme Divinity
Cross Reference: TDNT - 3:65,322
Part of Speech: n m
Vine's Words: God
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
God 1320
god 13
godly 3
God-ward + <G4214> 2
miscellaneous translations 5
[Total Count: 1343]
of uncertain affinity; a deity, especially (with <G3588> (ho)) the supreme Divinity; figurative a magistrate; by Hebrew very :- × exceeding, God, god [-ly, -ward].
James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2316".
Greek Strong's Number: 4154
Greek Word: πνέω
Transliteration: pneō
Phonetic Pronunciation: pneh'-o
Root: a root word
Cross Reference: TDNT - 6:452,876
Part of Speech: v
Vine's Words: Blow (Verb)
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
blow 6
wind 1
[Total Count: 7]
a primary word; to breathe hard, i.e. breeze :- blow. Compare <G5594> (psucho).
James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "4154".
Job 31
1 "I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin?
2 "And what is the portion of God from above Or the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
3 "Is it not calamity to the unjust And disaster to those who work iniquity?
4 "Does He not see my ways And number all my steps?
5 "If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hastened after deceit,
6 Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity.
7 "If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart followed my eyes, Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,
8 Let me sow and another eat, And let my crops be uprooted.
9 "If my heart has been enticed by a woman, Or I have lurked at my neighbor's doorway,
10 May my wife grind for another, And let others kneel down over her.
11 "For that would be a lustful crime; Moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges.
12 "For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon, And would uproot all my increase.
13 "If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me,
14 What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him?
15 "Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?
16 "If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the orphan has not shared it
18 (But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from infancy I guided her),
19 If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering,
20 If his loins have not thanked me, And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, Because I saw I had support in the gate,
22 Let my shoulder fall from the socket, And my arm be broken off at the elbow.
23 "For calamity from God is a terror to me, And because of His majesty I can do nothing.
24 "If I have put my confidence in gold, And called fine gold my trust,
25 If I have gloated because my wealth was great, And because my hand had secured so much;
26 If I have looked at the sun when it shone Or the moon going in splendor,
27 And my heart became secretly enticed, And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
28 That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.
29 "Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, Or exulted when evil befell him?
30 "No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking for his life in a curse.
31 "Have the men of my tent not said, 'Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat'?
32 "The alien has not lodged outside, For I have opened my doors to the traveler.
33 "Have I covered my transgressions like Adam, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34 Because I feared the great multitude, And the contempt of families terrified me, And kept silent and did not go out of doors?
35 "Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written,
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, I would bind it to myself like a crown.
37 "I would declare to Him the number of my steps; Like a prince I would approach Him.
38 "If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;
39 If I have eaten its fruit without money, Or have caused its owners to lose their lives,
40 Let briars grow instead of wheat, And stinkweed instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.
Job 31:1-40 (NASB)
Romans 1
1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake,
6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,
10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.
11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:1-32 (NASB)