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#20260304 - Dealing With Doubt - Matthew 28:16-20 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Amen. All right, so if you have a
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Bible, we will be in Matthew 28, Matthew 28.
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But as you're going there, let's go ahead and jump in and kind of
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give a road map to where we will be.
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So tonight's message really comes to us from what the Lord
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has been doing in my life. Again, I, I have the privilege
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of overseeing the youth. So things that I've seen in the
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youth, but also during some counselling here at the church.
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And so I have a few questions before we jump in.
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And I want to ask you this, Do you ever wrestle with questions
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about the Bible? Do you ever wrestle with for
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God's will in your life? Do you ever wrestle with the
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circumstances or how your circumstances can get the best
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of you? Do you deal with uncertainties
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and struggles? I often and even in the past
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have struggled with some of this and perhaps maybe you too.
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But as we talked about tonight, we're going to give a little bit
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of context where we're going to be in Matthew 28 and here we're
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talking about the ascension of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus
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right right before he goes into heaven.
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But Jesus reminds us right before this ascension that he
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was doing life right. He, he came, he died, rose again
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on the third day. But in this picture right here
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before we get to Matthew 28, we see that Jesus is doing life
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with the disciples. He's walking with them, He
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stayed with them, He's talking with them, they ate, and he's
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reminding them that he was truly alive.
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Many scholars believe that throughout this time before the
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ascension, that Jesus, excuse me, that Jesus approached people
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in groups of people 13 different times, 13 different times, and
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to name a few, those times are the women at the tomb.
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He appeared to the disciples. He also appeared to the men on
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their walk to Emmaus. He appeared to 500 and these
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people come that we come to know as the the eyewitnesses.
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He shared meals. He even went fishing with the
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disciples. And then finally Jesus brings
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them to the mountain. And this is where we read in
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Matthew 28 and in Matthew 28, we see that, you know, these are
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the last recorded words before, you know, Jesus is preparing to
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to leave on a cloud. And I can't imagine that like
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this is just so remarkable, remarkable.
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And it's one of the questions I'm going to ask Jesus, you
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know, when I get to heaven is just how did you do it, right?
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Was it something like right, something where, you know, I
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just man, I can't even you know, but by faith, I'm like, man,
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what an extraordinary thing to see.
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And so even before he is sins, right, he gives the Great
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Commission and he's telling the disciples, hey, I'm giving you a
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command. These last words, they matter a
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lot. And these last words before we
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actually read it is to go tell the world what just happened,
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right? To go tell the world to go tell
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the Jews, to go tell the Gentiles of what just happened
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and what happened. The gospel happened, the good
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news happened that Jesus lived without sin.
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He died on a cross. God raised him from the dead so
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that anyone who believes in him can be forgiven and transformed.
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So let's go ahead and read Matthew 28, starting in verse 16
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through 17. It says then the 11 disciples
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went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had
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appointed for them. Verse 17.
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And here's where we're going to be with our study tonight.
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If we read it too fast, you might miss it.
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Verse 17. But when they saw him, they
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worshipped him. But some doubted.
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In that same moment, again, remarkable time, we see the
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risen Christ, we see Jesus, we see the miracle worker, some
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worshipped, but some doubted. And so tonight's message is
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titled dealing with doubt, Dealing with doubt.
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So while this is going on, right, we see those that are
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worshipping, we see those that doubt it.
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And a commentator by the name of David Guzik says this.
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When they recognized him, it was natural they worshipped him.
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But the whole experience was so mysterious and overwhelming that
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some doubted. And if you've ever studied the
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Greek, the Greek word is this thought so.
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And this is what it means. It does not denote A settled
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unbelief, but a state of uncertainty and hesitation.
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I'll say that again, a state of uncertainty and hesitation.
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If you're taking notes tonight, we will have 3 points and I'll
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have some takeaways at the end, but point number one is doubt is
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part of the growth process. Doubt is part of the growth
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process. I want to raise something
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interesting to you guys, something funny in our human
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nature, and here it is. Why is it that when something
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bad happens in someone's life or a struggle happens, it's often
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encouraging to us? Have you ever noticed that,
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right? We see something like the
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disciples, right? They saw the resurrected Christ,
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but they still doubt. And I'm like, this is crazy.
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But it makes me feel the type of way because that weird nature
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also happens in our life. You know, we see people, you
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know, on social media or we see people, you know, the day-to-day
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or even while we're shaking hands tonight, right?
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We see people. Hey, how's it going?
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Oh, man, I'm doing great, right? While inside, you're not trying
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to cry, right? We also see people on social
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media, right? You know, with the perfect
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smile, the perfect filter, you know something, you know that
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you're just showing the highlights of your life.
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And if you know, and you see that, but behind the scenes,
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people are hurting, right? There's spiritual warfare
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happening and there's, there's also just, you know, the things
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that we don't see. But if I can be real with you
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guys lately with the high school youth, we've been talking about
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spiritual warfare. If you've dealt with some
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spiritual warfare, let me see your hand.
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OK, Well, well, there we go. Yes, most of you, right?
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Almost all of you. And if I can be real with you
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guys, my last few months have been pretty crazy.
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I've been pretty hectic. You know, like I mentioned,
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Family Fest, we have inflatables.
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We have, you know, candy we're giving out, we're sharing the
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gospel, we're doing all this cool stuff.
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And that's the day. And So what I'm talking about is
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the day before Family Fest, the day before family fest, my
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family's here. We're kind of putting some
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balloons together. We're hanging out, we're
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praying, we're laughing, we're doing some things.
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Then I get a phone call. Hey, your car got hit outside
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the parking lot. And I'm like, what?
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What just happened? So I go out there, got
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sideswiped. The Lord took care of it.
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We're fine. Couple months after that.
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OK, for some of you, you might know, this hurt.
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My furnace goes out, my furnace goes out and I'm just kind of
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stressing. My wife is like, hey, we got to
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figure this out what's going on. And it was right before the
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weird stuff of hey, the polar vortex.
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I still don't understand it. The polar vortex is coming.
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We're going to have negative weather.
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You know, I have a little 3 year old boy one on the way and just
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hey, I can't have my house, you know, being, you know, super
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cold, right? So my furnace breaks and then,
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you know, a couple weeks ago, I get sick.
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I get sick. I don't know if Pastor Ed got me
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sick or Pastor Ian, maybe Pastor Sean, you know, but you guys
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know what I'm talking about. When you get sick, man, it
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knocks you on your butt, right? And so especially as you get
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older, right? I'm, I'm, I'm starting to
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realize, OK, it takes a little bit more to go through that.
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And and so I'm sharing with someone, hey, you know, some of
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this warfare, right? And someone says to me, I didn't
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know that pastors had problems. And I kind of look at them and
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I'm like, man, the same Holy Spirit in me is the same Holy
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Spirit in you, you know, and and you know, maybe not Pastor Sean
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or Pastor Ian, but me, man, let me write this down, right?
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And I tell them, you know, well, you're welcome.
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I'm glad my pain blesses you. Apparently, you know, but we
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come back to this place, right? The disciples, right?
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Some of them doubted, some of them doubted.
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And sometimes doubt feels scary. Doubt feels scary because
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sometimes I can feel in life that I'm very close to God.
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I'm here, I'm worshiping, I'm listening to you guys, I'm
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walking, I'm watching, you know, even in my life, right?
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Things are going good, right? And then something may happen,
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and doubt can feel scary or an uncertainty or a struggle,
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right? Telling me about, you know, the
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Lord, right? I know God is good, right?
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I know God is real. I know that his word is alive
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and powerful, right? Someone tells me God's not real.
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That's like me saying, hey, your mom's not real, right?
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And so it comes to this place where we're just saying, hey,
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like, I'm in this place with the Lord, right?
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Circumstances don't matter, but there are some of you here
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tonight, and I've often even wrestled with this myself.
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Maybe there's something I don't understand.
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Maybe I have a question, you know, that maybe someone can't
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help me answer. You know, you come into the
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church, you come into a place, and you feel, am I the only one?
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If I ask this, what are people going to think of me?
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Does this mean I don't really believe?
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You might feel guilt, you might feel shame.
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You might feel like, is my faith fragile?
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So why do we doubt? We doubt because there is often
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there's these questions that we can't answer.
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I don't understand what this means.
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That's fair. There's situations that seem
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unfair that we see in the world. Things like maybe I prayed for
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healing and someone still died. Maybe I prayed for someone and
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nothing changed. Maybe you're hurting and you're
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wondering, God, where are you in my pain?
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Maybe you're saying, you know, how could God allow this to
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happen? Maybe you're saying, hey, the
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things I see in this world, right?
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God, do you see it? Another thing is there's hurts
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that we can't resolve on our own.
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Someone you looked up to falls into sin, someone that you were
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close to maybe hurt you, someone that broke trust, right?
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And it's hard to give it again. But again, do you ever battle
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with doubts or uncertainties? And some of the parents that are
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listening to me tonight, you might be thinking, well, not in
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my home. And as I've been the youth
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pastor, I've been, you know, been able to walk through some
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things with your students and sometimes, you know, But what
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happens when your child comes home and asks a question and the
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child asks a question that's hard and maybe you don't know
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the answer. The answer right there is don't
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panic, right? I've never met someone that's
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like, man, I'm so glad I panicked.
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Like that was so good, right? You made something up, right?
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You don't do that, right? You begin to process it.
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Your kids grow up to watch, right?
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Not just their friends faith, but whose faith, right?
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Who's at home with them? Your faith, Your kids watch your
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faith, right? The Bible says train up your
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child in the way they should go, right?
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That when they're old enough, they don't depart from it.
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They don't depart from it. And so where I'm getting AT, and
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the point is tonight with that, is that our church in our homes
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should be a safe place to ask these hard questions.
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You know, there was a time where, you know, you guys may
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not know this unless you're serving, but we do this thing
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called a rally, a rally where we meet in different areas, a part
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of the church, talk about, you know, hey, if someone's new or,
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you know, ministry, here's what's going on.
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You know, high school camp, junior high camp, men's
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ministry, women's ministry. So we meet as, you know,
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volunteers and we pray and, and we have all these things.
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But there was a moment where me and Pastor Ed, we were meeting
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in one of the high school rooms and someone left some notes that
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they had taken and they had, excuse me, some questions for
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the Lord. And a few of those were, if God
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is good, why are there bad things happening in the world?
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Why is there only one way to Jesus?
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How can I know the Bible is true world stuff?
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Innocent people being hurt, caught on the caught in the
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crossfire. And so here are the things that
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I want to encourage you guys, right?
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These are the things that our youth are going through.
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Your kids may be going through. Maybe you're experiencing some
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of that even tonight, but The thing is is that doubt does not
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mean that you don't believe in the Lord.
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Doubt means your faith is being stretched right.
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Many of those things of her or how can this happen things like
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that right The the Lord even tells us right.
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You will go through trials and tribulation, but take courage.
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I have overcome the world. You know when we see those maps
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in the sanctuary when we see the maps in the foyer and even the
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atrium. We see that our Lord has a
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missionary heart, right? Our Lord is with us and he's
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reminding us that hey, even these even though these bad
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things do happen, right. I have raised up people to come
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and to help and and even in the Lord in the midst right.
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He doesn't need us, but he moves in the way and often these bad
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things that do happen in the world is a result of someone
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else's sin. And so here are these things
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right. If if you go home with anything
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tonight is I want you to understand this doubt is not the
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enemy of faith. Your doubts handled properly can
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be a catalyst to a stronger faith.
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Your doubts don't have to take you away from God in the
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wrestling. Bring your bring this closer,
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right? Bring it to the Lord.
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Your faith is actually a journey and it's not a destination.
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Your faith is actually a journey and not a destination.
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Again, sin is destructful. Sometimes there's hurts you
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can't resolve, but we know who can, and that is Jesus Christ.
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As we're going through our faith walk, as we're going through the
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things that we've gone through, right?
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If you know there's some things right that that we've gone
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through, right? Elbow the person next to you and
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say, I've gone through some things.
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But during that time, right during that time, you get to a
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place, you know, maybe for some of you guys that have been
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walking with the Lord for a while, where you're like, man,
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Pastor Ed, guess what? Guess what, Pastor Ed, I've
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already done discipleship one O one.
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I've done evangelism one O one. I've read the first packet, you
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know, 3 or 4 times and Pastor Ed, I have come to this place
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where I feel that I have arrived, right?
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That sounds crazy. It sounds crazy, but sometimes
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we walk like that. Sometimes we think, you know, I
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don't have to read the scripture again.
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I've already read it. I don't have to.
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Do you know this XY and Z again, it's not, you know, these steps
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or works, but it's more of what is God doing in us?
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Anytime we ever open up the Word, God is ready to speak.
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And so that's why when we get to this place, when we're dealing
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with hard questions, when we're dealing with, you know, things
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for our children, when we're dealing with things in our own
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lives, we don't panic, but we start to process through it.
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And that process grows us. So point #2 tonight is God has
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always worked with doubters. God has always worked with
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doubters. You know the story of Abraham
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and Sarah, right? God comes to them and says, hey,
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I'm going to bless you and give you a son.
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I'm going to bless her richly, right?
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Speaking to Sarah before he changes her name, right, gets to
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Abraham as we know Abraham. And what does Abraham say in
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disbelief? He even laughs and he says he
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says this in verse 17. Then Abraham bowed down on the
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ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief, and he
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laughed right, and often read that right.
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But he was 100 years old. And I think, you know, Sarah was
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close to 90. And here's the Lord telling
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them, hey, you're going to have a kid.
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But we have to understand, right, as we were reminded, you
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know, even in our staff meeting this morning, is that God's ways
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are higher than our ways. Amen.
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We ought to understand that. You know, again, the Lord deals
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with doubters and he walks with doubters and he encourages
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doubters and he challenges doubters.
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I think of the Israelites, the children of Israel, they had
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seen God's miracles. They had seen this, the Red Sea
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being parted, right? They look forward and, and, and
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what's in front of them, they look to the hills and the
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mountains on the left and right, and who's coming after them,
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right, The Egyptian army, right? And then the sea is parted.
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They see this miracle. They also see manna falling down
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from the sky. They see that pillar, you know,
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blocking them for shade, right? We often relate to maybe even
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Gideon. Lord, show me a sign.
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Tell me that you're there, Lord. The Lord gives a sign.
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The Lord sends people. The Lord gives us his word.
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And you know, the Lord asks Gideon.
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He says, how can or Gideon ask the Lord, how can I rescue
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Israel? God, give me the sign with the
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fleece asking questions. Even in the New Testament we see
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that John the Baptist asked, you know, even when right after or
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right when he was in prison. It says in Matthew Chapter 11,
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verse 2, it says John the Baptist was in prison, heard
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about all these things the Messiah was doing, and so he
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sent his disciples to ask Jesus, are you the Messiah we've been
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expecting or should we keep looking for someone else?
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Jesus told him. Go back to John and tell him
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what you have heard or sorry to John and tell him what you have
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heard and seen. We also see the little demon
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possessed child and just you know this, this setting of of
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you know who can help, who can help and here comes Jesus right
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in and in Mark Chapter 9 verse 24, it says immediately the
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father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I
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believe but help my unbelief. You know, we see that also the
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then the story of Thomas. I won't believe until I see it.
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And in Matthew 28 verse 17, right, it says when they saw
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him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.
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We see in Scripture that Jesus, you know, he walked on water, he
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cast the demons out, he feeds the 5000, he raises the dead.
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And what does Jesus do to the doubters?
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Jesus meets them where they're at.
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Jesus does not rebuke them. He does not shame them.
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He doesn't walk away and say try again.
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But instead in Matthew 28 verse 17, it says, and Jesus came and
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spoke to them saying all authority, excuse me, has been
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given to me in heaven and on earth.
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Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
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the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Did Jesus say, all right, doubters, doubters.
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I need you guys. All right, Everyone that
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worshipped on this side and all the doubters on this side.
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OK, so let's go ahead and do that in the church right now.
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No, I'm just waiting. No, no, but no, Jesus met
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doubters where they were at, right?
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Maybe someone struggling with something, someone that you
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know, just just had this uncertainty.
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But even doubters were sent, right?
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It doesn't say that Jesus separated them.
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He said go and make disciples of all nations.
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Even doubters were found in the hall of faith founded in
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Hebrews. Most of these that I've already
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named. And the great thing too is that
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Jesus does not reject people for questioning.
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He's a big God. He can take it.
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He wants to walk through with it with you.
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Point #3 Tonight is Jesus meets us in our doubt.
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Jesus meets us in our doubt. The point is here that the
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strongest faith isn't a faith that never doubts.
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The strongest faith is a faith that grows through your doubts.
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I'll say that one more time. The strongest faith is a faith
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that grows through your doubts. So who we're going to talk about
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tonight as well is Thomas. Thomas, help me out.
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What is he known for? Doubting Thomas.
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So I'm going to read a few scriptures in the NLT, but
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again, after the resurrection, right, Thomas gets his bad
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reputation, but sometimes some of you can relate to him, right?
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You have some questions in the NLT in in book of John chapter
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20 verse 24 and 25 it says one of the 12 disciples, Thomas
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nicknamed the twin we have seen the Lord or sorry verse 25 they
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told him we have seen the Lord. But he replied I won't believe
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it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers
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into them and place my hand into the wound on his side.
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The disciples say we seen Jesus in the Greek.
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This means that it's active, tense.
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It's basically like they're saying, we seen Jesus, we seen
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Jesus. They're so excited.
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We seen Jesus, we seen Jesus. It's kind of like my son when,
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when, when he's asking for applesauce, Daddy, daddy, daddy,
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daddy, right? He just really excited about it.
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But Thomas represents, you know, some things that are found in us
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that we have some questions. You know, in life we've gone
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through some things, right? For some of you tonight, you've
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gone through some disappointments, gone through
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some heart breaks, gone through some very real stuff.
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And sometimes you have questions.
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But just because you have questions, it doesn't mean that
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it makes you bad. Just because you have questions,
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it doesn't mean that it makes you bad.
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Questions make you human. Oswald Chambers said this Dell
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is not always a sign that a man is wrong.
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It may be a sign that he is thinking.
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Your doubts don't disqualify your faith.
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For some of you, you probably relate to the other disciples,
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right? Maybe like Matthew, Peter,
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right. A lot of I know for me, I relate
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a lot to Peter, right impulsive James and John, you know, for
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but for some of you, Thomas, but here's some reasons I want to
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just you know, bring us back to this place where Thomas does
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have faith. You know, there's there's some
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scripture found in the book of John Chapter 11, just, you know,
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right before all that's happening found in Chapter 11
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verse 14 through 16. It says this.
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Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead and I'm glad for
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your sakes that I was not there that you may believe.
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Nevertheless, nevertheless, let us go to him.
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Then Thomas, who is called the twin, said to his fellow
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disciples, let us also go that we may die with him, Speaking of
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him, Jesus. But even before that, right,
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they get news that Lazarus has died and and he's died and he's,
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he's been dead for four days. And, and often when I'm
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studying, I read it in different translations and I don't really
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read a lot of the King James because, you know, I didn't grow
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up really speaking English until I made it to grade school.
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But it says that he stinketh. He stinketh that, that Lazarus
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had stinketh. And sometimes the, the, the
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youth would say, man, he is stinky, right?
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But it gets us to this place where basically it's setting up
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this map where, hey, we have to go back to Judea, right?
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Mary and Martha, they're there and we have to do this thing.
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But Jesus says, hold on, just wait.
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There's a plan. There's a plan.
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But what does Thomas show here? Thomas shows man, let us also go
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that we may die with him. That's not fear, that's courage.
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That's faith that I see, you know, in Thomas, you know,
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because what's happening is, you know, hey, they might kill us,
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you know, but but it just shows again this tremendous faith.
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There's another time in Scripture in John chapter 14,
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one through 6 that says this. Let not your heart be troubled.
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You believe in God, believe also in me.
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In my father's house are many mansions.
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If it were not so, I would have told you, I'm going to prepare a
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place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
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for you, I will come again and receive to you myself that where
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I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the
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way you know, or sorry, verse 4. And where I go, you know, and
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the way you know, verse 5. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do
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not know where you are going. And how can we know the way?
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Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life.
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No one comes to the Father except through me.
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And that's an awesome scripture right there, because sometimes
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we're like Thomas, we're asking a question, right?
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And Thomas is like, Hey, where are we going?
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Where are you going? I want to know, man, this is
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great. I've never had a mansion.
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Anyone here haven't mentioned because I'm I'm ready for the
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Lord when you know, when he's when he says he goes to prepare
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a place, right? But I think that's that common
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question of Lord, where are you going, Lord, how do I get there?
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Right? But Jesus says I am the way, the
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truth and the life. No one comes to the no one comes
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to the Father except through me. Some of you guys need details.
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Some of you guys ask sincere questions, right?
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But when we're being honest, you have questions, right?
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Maybe your kids have questions, your friends, your family, they
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have questions. But it's again, it's a reminder.
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It's not a time to panic. It's a time to process.
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Keep pressing into the things of God.
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How did Jesus respond to Thomas? So now we come back to John 20
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verses 26 back to where doubting Thomas right was established in
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John 20 and after 8 days his disciples were again inside and
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Thomas with them. Jesus came the doors being shut
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and stood in the midst and said peace to you.
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This was 8 days later right after being asked or told, hey,
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we have seen Jesus, right? And Thomas didn't let his doubt
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just stop him from showing up. Thomas had, you know, questions,
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but he shows up and says, hey, you know, I'm here to see Jesus
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myself or I'm here to, you know, just be present.
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And that may be some of you guys here tonight, right?
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You're going through some things, right?
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You've had a bad week, you've had something tragic happen.
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Your heart is heavy, you have questions, but you're here on
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the midweek Wednesday. And so Jesus doesn't shame
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Thomas, but look what he says in verse 2729.
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Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my
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hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side.
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Do not be unbelieving but believing.
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Verse 28 and 29 says and Thomas answered and said to him, My
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Lord and my God, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have
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seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not
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seen yet have believed. Jesus came and met Thomas where
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he was at. Thomas did doubt.
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Thomas did have questions. But sometimes we doubt.
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Sometimes we have questions. But what Jesus did is he gave
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Thomas exactly what he needed at that time.
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He didn't shame him. He didn't turn him away.
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He didn't say, you know, try harder, right?
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But Jesus meets you and meets me where we're at because God is
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not distant in your doubt. Psalm 77, verse one through 2,
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it says I cried out to God with my voice, to God with my voice,
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and he gave an ear to me in the day of trouble.
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I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the
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night without ceasing. My soul refused to be comforted.
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And what the Lord is reminding us that through these questions,
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through these doubts, bring your hurts, bring your pain, bring
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your life to Jesus Christ. Thomas served faithfully to
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Jesus. He had struggles, he had
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questions, but he also had faith and courage.
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Church history tells us this. Thomas, after preaching,
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preaching and preaching, had a missionary trip.
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Thomas had a missionary trip to India in the year 72 AD.
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Because Thomas would not back off in his faith.
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They drove a stake through his stomach.
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Thomas would not surrender the Lordship of Jesus Christ proving
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to us that when you do have questions, you do have doubts.
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Your doubts don't disqualify your faith.
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Your faith produces courage and that's a tool for you to live
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and walk in your purpose on this side of eternity.
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Your spiritual enemy is going to try and drive you away with your
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doubt. You're not a real believer.
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This is this stuff is not real. Church doesn't care about you.
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God doesn't love you. But the devil is a liar and the
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devil is only good to kill, steal and destroy.
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But the enemy wants us to doubt God's word and God's nature.
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We've seen it even in the beginning of Genesis.
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But I have 7 takeaways for you tonight. 7 takeaways if you're
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taking notes #1 be honest with God.
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Stop pretending God is not intimidated by your questions.
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He's a big God. He's a big God.
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God, I don't understand God, this hurts God.
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I'm struggling. Faith doesn't mean silence.
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Faith means you can bring it to him #2 don't isolate, bring it
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into the light. Doubt grows in isolation.
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Doubt grows in isolation. Faith grows.
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Faith grows in community. God wants to heal it.
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So bring it out to the light. Talk to a pastor.
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Talk to a trusted believer. Talk to, you know, maybe your
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life group. Talk to a mature Christian
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friend. The enemy wants you to be alone,
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isolated. But God wants you connected #3
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separate your feelings from the truth.
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Separate your feelings from the truth.
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Feelings are real, but they are not reliable often our pastor
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says. Pastor Ed says that these
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emotions, these feelings you feel, they're there, but they
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don't often tell you the truth. You may feel abandoned, you
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might feel unsure, you might feel weak.
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But God says he is near. God says he is faithful.
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God says He is with you. Psalm 23 verse 4 says for I know
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you are. For I walk through the valley of
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the shadow of death. I will fear no evil, because
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who's with us? He's with us.
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His rod and his staff, they come for us.
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You don't build a faith on feelings you've you build a
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faith on truth. 4 Lean into scripture, not away from it.
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When you doubt your Bible is not the enemy.
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When you doubt the Bible is not the enemy.
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Read the gospels, life of Jesus, the disciples.
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Read the Psalms. Feel your emotions in the Bible.
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Read Romans. You see things even in our
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culture today. Read the book of Romans.
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Read Hebrews. It's so faith filled.
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Let God's Word anchor you, correct you, remind you, and let
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it rebuild you. Faith comes by hearing by what?
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Or faith comes by hearing by the word of God #5 Ask real
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questions, don't fear them. Questions don't destroy faith.
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Unanswered questions buried in silence do.
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God invites, seeking, knocking, wrestling, thinking.
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A faith that's never questioned is often a faith that's never
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owned. I think of Daniel or the book of
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Daniel with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right?
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That there was a fourth one in the fire.
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Number six. Obey what you already know.
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Don't trade what you what you know for what you don't know.
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Don't trade what you know for what you don't know you need.
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You don't need new revelation. You just need faithful
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obedience. Faithful obedience.
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Paul and Silas in the book of Acts, chapter 16, right?
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They're going through the book of or the city of Philippi.
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There's a demon girl. She's profiting some of the
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leaders there, her masters. And what does Paul do?
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Paul basically tells the demon, shut up, cast the demon out.
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Girl is there, right? Everything's really cool.
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But what is the what did the magistrates do?
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They beat him with rods, him and Silas.
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But then I often read scripture and I see, you know what
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happened next and they go to jail, right?
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They're beaten with rods, they go to jail, but they're praising
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him. They're praising the Lord.
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Praise reminds your soul who God is when your mind is
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overwhelmed. Praise reminds your soul who God
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is when your mind is overwhelmed, who God is.
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And the last one is, Remember who Jesus is and what he's done
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for you. Go back to the cross, the empty
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tomb, the promises, the testimonies.
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You don't trust your doubts, you trust the Savior.
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The cross was the payment and the empty tomb was the receipt.
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And So what I leave you with tonight is just what He says
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here in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20.
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We'll read it all the way through.
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And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, all authority has
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been given to me in heaven and on earth.
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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
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in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Verse 20, teaching them to observe all things that I've
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commanded, commanded you. And lo, and here's what I love.
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I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
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Amen. The last thing I leave you while
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I invite the worship team or pastor, here's this.
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I want you to hold on to this tonight, that the strongest
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faith is not faith that never doubts.
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The strongest faith is a faith that grows through your doubts.
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And so tonight as we're here in this room, I'm just reminded of
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you, of your life. Maybe you worship, maybe you
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doubt, maybe you're feeling between, right?
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There's days like that. But there are some of you here
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tonight, right? We see Jesus command go out
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there, go and make disciples of all nations, right?
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Jesus takes care of the details. But for some of you tonight,
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you're here in this place and you're just saying, hey, Lord,
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Lord, I'm seeking you. Lord, I've been wrestling.
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Lord, I have questions. Lord, I'm dealing with this in
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my life. And there are some people here
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tonight that you're following your own command.
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You're following things in your life that you're just thinking,
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you know, what is that? What does that mean for me?
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You're thinking about things about, you know, can God really
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save someone like me? Can God really do something in
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my life? Well, I'm here to tell you that
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I often thought that way when I first came to this church.
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I was sitting on that side and my girlfriend at the time, now
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my wife, right? But the pastor shared the
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gospel. I wrestled with it.
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I knew that I needed to change. I knew that I didn't have to
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come clean up, cleaned up. I knew that once the gospel
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right came and was presented to me, it was presented in a way
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that how could God love someone like me?
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And that might be you tonight. And I'm telling you, I know life
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separated from God and I know life with God.
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And even though it's not an easy life, right, we all go through
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some things right, as we told our neighbor.
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But I'm asking you that that hole in your heart is just like
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the same hole that I felt when I was sitting over there, that I
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filled it with drugs, I filled it chasing money, I filled it
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chasing just the things of the world.
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But just like Scripture says that this hole in my heart can
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only be filled by Jesus Christ. And so I, I want to offer that
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to you tonight. Maybe you've been dealing with
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struggles, maybe you've been dealing with anxiety,
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depression. You've been living a life
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knowing, just like the Word says, that we all fall short to
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the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, but that Jesus
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came, He who knew no sin became sin so that for you would have
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eternity with him. The Father says in the book of
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Matthew, he says this, you didn't choose me, but I chose
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you. Jesus says that he's closer and
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he's a friend to you. And so I ask you tonight if you
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want to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ, I ask you to
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stand to your feet right now and let me pray with you.
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Maybe you're online, maybe you're on the radio.
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But again, my, my, my heart for tonight.
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Again, it's for those, right? We all know, right?
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We're not asking for a rededication, right?
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Those that have come to the faith, hey, we're here and it's
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a reminder. Let's get back to the Lord.
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But for those tonight that you're struggling, you're
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wrestling with, you know, what does God have for me?
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Again, God takes care of the details.
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He just wants your heart. So if that's you tonight and you
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boldly and proudly and, and again just, you know, stepping
41:39
out in faith again, it's not standing up that saves you, but
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I invite you. But we just want to pray with
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you. So if there's anyone here
41:46
tonight that's standing, I ask you to stand right now.
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And it's OK if you didn't stand. The Lord knows your heart.
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The Lord knows that he's working things in and through you.
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And so let's just go ahead and pray and pray something like
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this if that's you tonight. Dear God, I admit that I'm a
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Sinner. I acknowledge my sin before you,
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a holy and righteous God. I ask you to forgive me of my
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sin. I accept the free gift of
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salvation through your Son Jesus Christ.
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And I believe in my heart. I confess with my mouth that
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Jesus you lived, you died and you rose again to save my soul.
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I give you my life from this day forward in Jesus name and
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everyone said Amen, Amen. Thank you guys so much.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
42:59
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
43:05
or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.