A Father Believed in His Son

April 12, 2026

Do you know how many Christians there are in the world today? 2.5 billion! Then how many Christians have there been over 2000 years? From about 30 A.D. to now? 9 billion! How did that happen? If you think about it, it all started when a father believed in his son!

First, God believed in Jesus and sent him to be born and live a human life. Then, we see when Jesus was grown and ready to start his ministry, in our gospel reading today, Mark 1:9 says, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” It’s a powerful thing when we are baptized, and when we affirm it for ourselves in confirmation: we die to self and sin and rise to live for Christ! And Jesus was also baptized! Even though John the Baptist thought he shouldn’t be baptizing Jesus, it should be the other way around. But Jesus insisted. Jesus did what His Father wanted, living a human life. People need to be baptized, die to self and live for God, so if we need it, Jesus would get baptized too, to be a model for us.

Verse 10 says, “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.” God is tearing open heaven and sending the Holy Spirit. Next comes a very emotional verse where God speaks to Jesus. Verse 11 says, “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” God wanted Jesus to know I love you, and I am pleased with your faithfulness. I believe in you!

Imagine God saying that to you: “You are my child. I love you; I am pleased with you! I believe in you!” I would love that! If God said that to me, I would want to record it so I could listen to it over and over! “I love you, I believe in you!” I think in his mind Jesus must have gone back over and over to that moment when God spoke those words. Because we all need encouragement!

Notice God affirmed Jesus, not because he got good grades in school, or won a tournament, or got a good job. He affirmed Jesus for doing something spiritual.

God believes in you too! And he especially affirms you spiritually! We all need to hear that God believes in us, and that other people believe in us. It was so important that God share those tender words with Jesus: “You are my son, I love you, I’m pleased with you!” Because right after this the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness to fast and pray and be tempted by the devil. The devil didn’t just tempt Jesus just one time, he kept going, a second time, then three times. When God affirms you, the devil is going to try to talk you out of doing what God wants. We need a lot of spiritual affirmation!

The reason believing in someone is a topic that is very important to me is because I am doing what I do today, I am a pastor, because a few people believed in me. A few people invested in me and they changed my life. My parents got me to church, mom talked about faith with me, and Sunday school teachers talked about believing. And at a point where I especially needed someone to believe in me, a stranger believed in me!

I grew up Catholic. After college, I entered the Mennonite Voluntary Service for a year and a half working in homeless shelters in Seattle, WA. A friend there was going to a UCC seminary to be a minister. And my friend said I could do the same! I could be a minister! I felt like God was tapping me on the shoulder. I applied to a UCC seminary in St. Louis to study to be a minister, and I was accepted. But I needed to also be a member of a UCC church, but I wasn’t.

When I went home to Ohio, where I’m from, that Sunday I went to the local UCC church. I was walking down the hallway to the sanctuary, when a man stopped me and said, “I’m Rev. Hajarian. Do I know you? Do I know you?” I said no, I told him I’m from here in Vandalia, I want to be a UCC minister, I’m going to start seminary soon. He just took it from there! That Sunday in worship he announced, “This is Maureen! She’s from Vandalia, she’s going to join our church. She is starting seminary to be a UCC minister. And we’re going to help her!” He did help me. He was on the committee of the Association, that would meet with me regularly and determine if I was fit to be a minister. Even though I don’t think he was supposed to, he would tell me everything the committee said about me. He told me, “They don’t like the suit you wore. They thought it was old fashioned and made you look like a nun!” Ok, my suit came from a thrift shop, so I went and got a more modern looking suit!

I think now, what if Rev. Hajarian had made things harder for me? What if he discouraged me from being a minister? I might not be here now. When you’re trying to do something for God, having someone who believes in you makes a huge difference! I’m doing what I’m doing today because someone believed in me!

I want you to know how much I believe in you! We all need to believe in others and encourage them. We all have our flaws, but God can use us anyway. To believe in someone is not to know. Instead, it’s about faith. It’s saying, I don’t know for certain you will do something great for God. But I believe you will. I trust that you will. You give someone the benefit of the doubt. You encourage them!

Jesus said in Mark 9:23, “All things are possible for the one who believes.” There’s nothing better than knowing you believed in someone and played a part in them serving God and growing spiritually. Believing in someone is more than liking them or helping them. It’s demonstrating that they are worthy of your time and attention. It’s encouraging them and giving them realistic feedback when needed.

It’s important that we listen to God, believe in ourselves and what God can do through us. But we need something more: we need someone to say, “I believe in you!” I’m so grateful for Rev. Hajarian who believed in me right away! He didn’t know for certain I could become a minister. But he believed in me anyway.

There are people God calls to do something, and they don’t believe they can do it. They think I’m not old enough. Or I’m not young enough. I’m not talented enough. I’m not brave enough. They need someone to believe for them. To say, “I believe in you. I know you can do it. You may not believe that yet, and that’s ok. I’m going to hold that faith in you until you’re ready to believe it yourself.”

We can all do amazing things, because it’s not just us, it’s God working in us that makes it possible. We can’t wait to step out in faith until we feel prepared or fully equipped. Because seriously, is anyone ever completely prepared for reading the Scriptures in worship for the first time or teaching a class? So, we need to just ask people to serve too soon. Or when they’re “too young.” Because serving in God’s name makes your faith bigger. If you want to grow someone’s confidence in God, put them in a volunteer position before they feel fully ready!

My challenge for you this week is to tell someone “I believe in you!”

Jesus had a great help to start his ministry. His Father opened up the heavens, and shouted to Him, “You are my son, I love you, I am so pleased with you!” His Father believed in Him! Because of that, Jesus didn’t give in to the devil’s temptations. He went out and preached, healed, taught, and was faithful to die on a cross. 2000 years and 9 billion Christians later, it meant everything that a father believed in his son.  So, encourage someone in the Lord, and be amazed at what they and God can do! Amen.