Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20231018 - Seasons of Doubt - Luke 7:18-30
Transcript
- 0:05Welcome to the Study of God's Word, recorded live at Calvary
- 0:09Church in Aurora, Co To learn more about the many resources
- 0:13available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our
- 0:16live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
- 0:21or download our free Calvary Church app.
- 0:25Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
- 0:30Amen. Well, I'm Pastor Bob Clay Camp.
- 0:34I'm one of the assistant pastors here at Calvary Church.
- 0:39And tonight we're going to be in the Gospel of Luke in Chapter 9.
- 0:47No, that's incorrect. Actually, it's Chapter 7.
- 0:49And why do I do this all the time?
- 0:53Chapter 7 if you don't have a Bible?
- 0:57We're going to be reading quite a bit of the chapter, so if you
- 1:00don't have a Bible, there are some Bibles behind this section.
- 1:04Here behind this section, please grab one turn to the Gospel of
- 1:10Luke Chapter 7 and we're going to be looking at verses 18 to
- 1:21verse 23, Luke. Chapter 7 verses 18 to 23.
- 1:29No, let's just say 18 to 30. Why not?
- 1:31OK, there are times that happen in our life where we enter dark
- 1:41seasons either from a phone call or we find out news as a friend
- 1:51tells us. And all of a sudden, everything
- 1:55that you thought was going to be normal has collapsed, and you're
- 2:01wondering what's next. And you can feel a sense of
- 2:08foreboding and darkness that seems to creep in.
- 2:11And you want to say, but I'm going to trust God, but I'm
- 2:14going to trust God. And yet things don't play out
- 2:18for the better, but they start getting worse.
- 2:22And as a believer in the Lord Jesus, we will have times like
- 2:28that and it causes us to sometimes question and what am I
- 2:34doing wrong? Or even those times where we
- 2:38start questioning our faith and we start questioning, is this
- 2:42really real? I remember sitting on a hospital
- 2:47bed of a. Of a lady who was had terminal
- 2:52cancer and she says, Pastor Bob please tell me that it's true.
- 2:56Please tell me that it's true. And I had to I had to say, you
- 3:01know I haven't been there and back I'm I'm just trusting what
- 3:05Jesus says here too. And I says all I have is, is
- 3:09what he has said. Let's read some of what we have
- 3:13recorded that he actually said. And so I read these portions of
- 3:18scripture to her because that's all we have.
- 3:23Jesus rose from the dead, but he did say blessed are those who
- 3:28have believed and yet have not seen.
- 3:31And so there are times where events happen in our life and
- 3:36they're dreadful events, they're difficult events, they're life
- 3:39changing, life altering events. And we say, God, please stop it,
- 3:45please intervene. And yet it keeps getting worse.
- 3:50And the enemy is right there to accuse God of evil and to try to
- 3:56destroy our faith. We can have times like that.
- 4:01And in our text, John the Baptist had times like this.
- 4:07Yes, the same John the Baptist that baptized Jesus and said all
- 4:12those wonderful things. There at the baptism site.
- 4:18And so tonight what we want to do is examine this situation
- 4:23from the Gospel of Luke that talks about when John the
- 4:27Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to say, are you the
- 4:31Messiah or do we look for another one?
- 4:36John was in prison when he sent his disciples to Jesus.
- 4:41And so we're going to explore that.
- 4:43And we also want to see how Jesus dealt with it, because it
- 4:48gives us a clue on how we're to deal with things when we come
- 4:53into seasons of doubt, when things don't seem to make sense
- 4:58in our Christian life, and how Jesus sees it, how he sees us in
- 5:04those seasons of doubt. So.
- 5:08It's a big section, Luke 8, Luke 7, verses 18 to 30, and so I'm
- 5:15just going to read through it and then we'll start with a word
- 5:17of prayer and we'll launch into this.
- 5:20I will need to give a little background showing John's life,
- 5:24his his birth, his life, his upbringing and things like that
- 5:29because I think it's important to the context of what we're
- 5:32reading. But follow along with me.
- 5:34I'll read verses 18 to 30. We'll start with the word of
- 5:38prayer, and then we'll launch into it.
- 5:40And I encourage you to take out a pencil or pen or on your
- 5:44tablet or your phone, however you make notes.
- 5:47And just be ready to write down things that the Lord speaks to
- 5:51your heart about as we go through this.
- 5:53All right, Luke, Chapter 7, verse 18.
- 5:58Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all
- 6:02these things. And John, calling two of his
- 6:06disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, Are you the
- 6:10coming one or do we look for another?
- 6:14When the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has
- 6:18sent us to you saying, Are you the coming one or do we look for
- 6:23another? At that very hour he cured many
- 6:27of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits.
- 6:32And to many blind he gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them,
- 6:37Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard, That the
- 6:43blind sea, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
- 6:49hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to
- 6:54them. And blessed is he who is not
- 6:58offended because of me. When the messengers of John had
- 7:03departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John.
- 7:08What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
- 7:11A Reed shaken by the wind. But what did you go out to see?
- 7:15A man clothed in soft garments. Indeed, those who are gorgeously
- 7:19apparelled and live in luxury are in King's courts.
- 7:24But what did you go out to see? A prophet, yes, I say to you,
- 7:29and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
- 7:32written. Behold, I send my messenger
- 7:35before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
- 7:40For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a
- 7:45greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in
- 7:49the Kingdom of God is greater than he.
- 7:53And when all the people heard him, even the tax collectors
- 7:56justified God. Having been baptized with the
- 8:00baptism of John, but the Pharisees and lawyers rejected
- 8:04the will of God for themselves. Not having been baptized by him.
- 8:11Father in heaven, we're asking now for your ministry to us
- 8:14through your Word. Sometimes we come across
- 8:18portions that are a bit challenging and it's good for us
- 8:22to. Pull up a chair, as it were, and
- 8:25begin to ponder what's going on here and why things unfolded as
- 8:29they did. So tonight, Lord, would you
- 8:32speak to us? Because you know us and you know
- 8:36our seasons of doubt that have crept in at times that maybe
- 8:41we've never told anybody about. But here we are in this text, so
- 8:46speak to us tonight in Jesus name.
- 8:50Amen. So what I want to do is cover,
- 8:55first of all, John's life up to this point.
- 8:59And I'm not going to be reading major sections.
- 9:02I'll just refer to those chapters where you can read it
- 9:05yourself in your own time. But first of all, John's birth
- 9:10is recorded there in Luke chapter one.
- 9:15We know from the Gospel of Luke chapter one, John's birth was
- 9:19indeed miraculous. Because his father and mother
- 9:23were very old and yet had never given up on the idea of having a
- 9:27child, especially a son. And in that late season of their
- 9:31life, the Angel Gabriel came to Zachariah, a priest, while he
- 9:36was offering up incense in the morning sacrifice the morning
- 9:40section and he proclaimed the Angel proclaimed that
- 9:46Zachariah's prayers had been heard and Elizabeth.
- 9:50And he and Elizabeth would indeed have a child, a son in
- 9:55their super old age. And they were to name him John,
- 10:00which means Jehovah is gracious. Now some of you here are named
- 10:04John, so you can take that. Jehovah is gracious.
- 10:07That's your name. Just a reminder.
- 10:11John's birth would not be from an Immaculate Conception like
- 10:15what happened with Mary, but according to the natural course
- 10:18of things. Elizabeth conceived and bore a
- 10:20son in her old age. John's mission and calling were
- 10:24to be of divine origin even from before he was born, for in when
- 10:30Elizabeth was 26 weeks old and Mary showed up who was pregnant
- 10:36from Immaculate Conception from the Holy Spirit.
- 10:40The Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and the baby John in in her
- 10:46womb, and he was 26 weeks old and in her womb, and this made
- 10:52John six months older than Jesus.
- 10:57John was to be a Nazarite as Luke chapters Excuse me, Numbers
- 11:02Chapter 6 gives the detail on of the life of a Nazarite, one
- 11:05totally dedicated to God. He wasn't to cut his hair, he
- 11:09wasn't to eat anything from the grape or Grapevine and all, and
- 11:15nothing was to defile him. He was to to let his hair grow
- 11:19uncut. His mission was to be a
- 11:21forerunner of the coming Messiah.
- 11:24Just. Awesome, godly beginnings.
- 11:28What an amazing time. And then we consider John
- 11:34growing up, His father and mother were very old, and the
- 11:40Bible doesn't tell us how old John's parents were when they
- 11:45died. But you have to think this
- 11:48through a little bit, because think of the schooling that.
- 11:55Zechariah and Elizabeth gave to little John, knowing all that
- 12:01had happened and the word of Gabriel, the Angel regarding his
- 12:07ministry and and his future, calling again.
- 12:12We don't know how long they had that ability to have input into
- 12:16Little John's life, but there came that time.
- 12:21Likely before John was in his 20s that Zechariah and Elizabeth
- 12:27passed away and John was on his own.
- 12:34It was likely he was likely on his own for several years,
- 12:37although there's this unproven history of him joining up with
- 12:40the Essenes. Out in the Qumran until his
- 12:43ministry began. Now when you go on a tour of
- 12:46Israel and you visit the Qumran area when where the Dead Sea
- 12:50Scrolls were found, there's they put forth these facts that John
- 12:55was one of them. But yet, actually verifiable
- 12:59historical documents still need to be found to prove that.
- 13:06And then we see John at age. 3030 years, 31 years old.
- 13:12Remember, he's only six months older than Jesus.
- 13:17And we know that Jesus, when he was 30 years old, went down and
- 13:20he was baptized in water. And so somewhere along the line,
- 13:25maybe at age 30, John began his ministry.
- 13:29Of baptizing his fellow Jewish person in in preparation for the
- 13:34coming Messiah to clean up their life.
- 13:36To to say, listen, Repent of your sins.
- 13:40Confess your sins, wash them away.
- 13:44Prepare for the coming Messiah. The Jewish people were familiar
- 13:49with water baptizing. Of proselytes into Judaism.
- 13:55And they were familiar with the different ceremonial washings
- 13:58that was required in the commandments of man and then
- 14:02portions of the law. But John's calling was unique
- 14:06because he was calling Jewish people to come and be baptized,
- 14:11confessing their sin as a preparation for the coming
- 14:15Messiah. And so here was here he came
- 14:22into a view of of all of Jerusalem looking like Elijah
- 14:28with wild hair, just a a camel's skin wrapped with a leather
- 14:36belt, just a looking like a pretty Wildman.
- 14:39But that was what Elijah was described and in the Old
- 14:43Testament in King Ahab's time. And so here is John and the Holy
- 14:48Spirit. Now get this.
- 14:50The Holy Spirit was moving upon the hearts of the people of
- 14:55Israel, and there was something that was drawing them to John.
- 15:00There was a desperation in their life.
- 15:03They had the Roman oppression, the Roman occupation and and and
- 15:08things were so unjust and things were so wrong and and there was
- 15:12just no hope. And so going out to John was
- 15:16their sacrifice, you might say, of saying, I've I want to have
- 15:20my heart right, I want to be prepared for the Messiah's
- 15:24coming. And then Jesus shows up, and you
- 15:30read about it in John chapter one.
- 15:32Jesus shows up and he's baptized by John.
- 15:37And John witnesses the Holy Spirit come down out of heaven
- 15:41and lighting upon Jesus when Jesus came up out of the water,
- 15:45and then a voice from heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom
- 15:49I'm well pleased. And then from that time on,
- 15:53Jesus walks away and disappears and John doesn't see him for the
- 15:59next 40 days. Because Jesus is up on the mount
- 16:03of of temptation, being tempted by the devil for 40 days.
- 16:09And so that was an amazing time for John.
- 16:12This is him, this is absolutely him.
- 16:15And for the next 40 days, a month and a half, he's telling
- 16:19everybody that's there, He's here.
- 16:21He is here. He is here.
- 16:23The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
- 16:28Now why is this important to understand?
- 16:30Because that these are amazing things that John was a part of.
- 16:36Although he never did a miracle, but he saw a miracle and he was
- 16:42involved in that as the forerunner of the Messiah, such
- 16:46an such events that impact the soul.
- 16:53John was witness to this, and it confirmed to him that this Jesus
- 16:57indeed was the Messiah, the Lamb of God, who would take away the
- 17:01sins of the world. And John knew by the Holy Spirit
- 17:07that the ministry of Jesus was to increase and his ministry was
- 17:12to decrease because Jesus had come on to the scene.
- 17:18And John's ministry was supposed to more go into the sidelines
- 17:25and Jesus and his ministry was to be exalted.
- 17:28And you see that in John's words in John chapter 3, during the
- 17:35first year or so of Jesus ministry, the disciples of Jesus
- 17:39continued to baptize in water following the pattern of John.
- 17:44But after a while, the Gospels tell us that the disciples of
- 17:48Jesus were now baptizing more people than John and his
- 17:52disciples. And finally, after the notorious
- 17:57move of Herod to take and marry his brother's wife, Herodias in
- 18:01an unlawful marriage, John had to speak out concerning the sin
- 18:06of the king. Now in in the eastern part of
- 18:11the of the Jordan River, down north of the Dead Sea, that was
- 18:15an area that at the time that was called Perea.
- 18:18Today it was, it's called Jordan.
- 18:20But Herod, the king over Galilee was also in charge of that area
- 18:27called Perea. And that's where John was
- 18:30baptizing. And John called out Herod saying
- 18:34he's he's in sin, his marriage is unlawful.
- 18:38So he's speaking against the king, and of course Herod found
- 18:44out about it. And it's believed that John was
- 18:47arrested as being once suspected of raising a following and
- 18:51rebellion to Herod because Herod was so paranoid.
- 18:55And so he had John put in prison and stop John's ministry, you
- 19:00might say How? Talk about an injustice.
- 19:04John did nothing wrong. But life fell upon him because
- 19:11God allowed it to happen. John was caught in the backwash,
- 19:15you might say, of Herod's just maniacal mindset.
- 19:23And now he's in prison, up in the up there in the area of
- 19:28Galilee. Very likely.
- 19:33And as the months continued. There was no deliverance from
- 19:39John out of prison. If Jesus is the Messiah and he's
- 19:47raising the dead and doing all these things, shouldn't he at
- 19:50least deliver John out of prison because of how unjust it was,
- 19:55how wrong it was? And John's disciples were
- 19:59continuing to baptize because they were following John's
- 20:04pattern. But more and more people were
- 20:06going to Jesus, and they were hearing stories every day.
- 20:13And more and more we're going to Jesus disciples and less and
- 20:16less to them. And John is languishing in
- 20:21prison. And I I believe the doubts began
- 20:26to grow larger and larger and John going he he he frees the
- 20:33captives he does all the things the Messiah said and Isaiah that
- 20:40was going to take place but but but I'm stuck here I'm in here.
- 20:45And then to make matters worse the Gospels tell us that Herod
- 20:49would come down and and visit with John once in a while and
- 20:52and just ask questions and and just he liked he liked the
- 20:57interaction with John and then he'd take off again and John was
- 21:00stuck and by the way it wasn't Club Med you know in that prison
- 21:05it was terrible a dungeon like place.
- 21:12Then we pick up our text. That's about the longest
- 21:15introduction I've ever done. But it's important because here
- 21:22was a man that was used so greatly by God, and yet doubts
- 21:30came into his mind because things weren't happening like he
- 21:35expected. We can be pretty hard on John,
- 21:40but yet we need to be pretty hard on ourselves too.
- 21:43Because even walking with the Lord in years, you can have
- 21:48seasons of doubt that you haven't told anybody about.
- 21:52But behind closed doors you're going, Where was God?
- 21:55Where? Where were you?
- 21:58I thought you sent an Angel to protect me.
- 21:59You know, the guardian Angel thing.
- 22:01You know what happened there? Did he like, misses mission on
- 22:05that one or what? Well, let's read this.
- 22:09Let's jump into this. Starting in verse 18.
- 22:14Then the disciples of John reported to him all these
- 22:18things. All the things that they were
- 22:22hearing, all the things that they were seeing, all the
- 22:26reality of so many people now following Jesus and no longer
- 22:30following them. And John being in in prison, in
- 22:35Herod's prison and verse 19. And John called two of his
- 22:40disciples to him and sent them to Jesus saying, are you the
- 22:44coming one or do we look for another?
- 22:50For many years I used to think that John was just sending his
- 22:54disciples to Jesus because he wanted them to just focus on
- 22:58Jesus and not him. But as I read it this time, and
- 23:02as I began to ponder how Jesus dealt with him and also what the
- 23:08what the common expectation was of all the Jewish people
- 23:12regarding the coming Messiah and what he would come to do,
- 23:16especially in regard to crushing the Roman oppression, I believe
- 23:24that as I'm reading this, I'm seeing a season of doubt in John
- 23:27the Baptist. Why wasn't Jesus freeing John
- 23:34from prison? Because the scriptures clearly
- 23:37spoke of freeing the captives from prison, opening of the
- 23:41prison to those who are bound. Couldn't the one who healed the
- 23:46blind exorcise demons, raise the dead.
- 23:49Now free John from this in just imprisonment?
- 23:56And so it says in verse 20. And when the men had come to
- 23:59him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are
- 24:02you the coming one or do we look for another?
- 24:05And then I want you to consider that Jesus didn't answer them
- 24:10right away, and he did that on purpose.
- 24:15He wasn't ignoring them, but he wanted the witness of his life
- 24:21to speak louder than his words, because here's what it says in
- 24:26verse 21. And that very hour he cured many
- 24:30of infirmities and afflictions and evil spirits, and to many
- 24:33blind He gave sight. Then he answered them.
- 24:37Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things you
- 24:42have seen and heard. And I want you to underline
- 24:47that, because that's an important strategy.
- 24:54When a dark night of the soul comes upon your life and you
- 24:58don't have answers, you need to think back on the things you
- 25:04have seen and the things you have heard regarding the Lord
- 25:08Jesus in your life already. Those testimonies of how he made
- 25:13himself real to you, how how he came through in those other
- 25:18times and and just the way he did it and the surprise and the
- 25:23awe that was taking place. So this is how Jesus is telling
- 25:28John's disciples, I want you to go and tell John the things
- 25:32you've seen and heard. And that's why it's important to
- 25:37write down the testimonies of God working in your life so you
- 25:43can look back on them during those dark nights when the sun
- 25:48is not coming up. It's important that the blind
- 25:54sea, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
- 25:58dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
- 26:02And he's quoting from Isaiah, which we're going to read here
- 26:05in a minute. But in that portion of Isaiah,
- 26:08it does says, it does say opening of the prison to the
- 26:12bound, but that's not something that was going to be applied to
- 26:19John because of God's calling for John to endure affliction to
- 26:27the glory of God. Sometimes we think we have such
- 26:33a right to have it easy. We have a right God.
- 26:38I have a right. And you didn't come through.
- 26:41That's not fair. You know how many people have
- 26:44turned from God and gotten angry with God because he didn't come
- 26:49through like they thought he should?
- 26:52And after all, it's reasonable. And they got so upset they
- 26:56turned. And maybe that's some of you
- 27:00here, but I want you to look at verse 23 very closely.
- 27:05Highlight it, underline it. And blessed is he who was not
- 27:10offended because of me. Offences.
- 27:17How God works differently than we think He should.
- 27:25And we can become offended by God.
- 27:28Not coming through To be offended stirs up emotions.
- 27:35It stirs up anger it it, it clouds our reasoning.
- 27:43And how often we can secretly accuse God of dropping the ball
- 27:50or not caring deeply or why didn't you stop this?
- 27:58It's not fair that that they died at such a a young age and
- 28:02then you look at all that's happening in the world today.
- 28:05Where is God? What's going on?
- 28:07Why doesn't he just stop it? But Jesus said blessed is he who
- 28:13was not offended because of me. We don't understand fully all
- 28:21the ways of God. It's not that he is the author
- 28:27of evil. He is not the author of evil.
- 28:31And yet we will judge him as evil because he didn't step in
- 28:36like we thought he should. And what was what would be
- 28:39reasonable. And but there are times we will
- 28:44not understand or know God's reasoning at the moment.
- 28:51But God doesn't change who he is because of the event of life in
- 28:56the world. He is consistent.
- 28:58He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
- 29:05So here's John now sending two of his disciples.
- 29:08Are you the coming one? Or do we look for another?
- 29:10I mean, really a season of doubt when we as believers in Jesus,
- 29:22have deep expectation on how God is supposed to come through for
- 29:26us. And then when we found that he
- 29:28didn't, and we've been deeply disappointed.
- 29:32We've prayed. We've fasted.
- 29:34We've begged God to be true to his promises and yet he didn't
- 29:37step in and answer your prayer as you expected or even demanded
- 29:42and the non answer can raise doubts and and sometimes you
- 29:49don't even want to admit that you actually doubt.
- 29:53And you think what kind of a Christian am I?
- 29:55Well you're you're a born again Christian that's working through
- 30:00life because there's so many things we don't know why God is
- 30:05doing what he's doing. I think of those believers right
- 30:09now this very second, are being tortured for their faith because
- 30:15they're being tortured to give up names of those in their
- 30:18church so that the other persecutors can go and get get
- 30:22them, but they're holding tight and they're going through
- 30:25heinous treatment. Why doesn't God deliver them?
- 30:33I think you need to read Hebrews Chapter 11.
- 30:36Not everybody ends up victorious outwardly, but they're
- 30:40victorious inwardly because they looked for a better
- 30:45resurrection, because their their hope wasn't in this life.
- 30:50Their hope was in Jesus and the life to come.
- 30:58How did Jesus answer? John's disciples go and tell
- 31:03John the things you've seen and heard, That the blind sea, the
- 31:08lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
- 31:11dead are raised, the poor of the gospel priests to them, and
- 31:14blessed is he who was not offended because of me.
- 31:18You tell John that. Trust me, trust God.
- 31:26Tell John that. Here are those two scriptures,
- 31:34especially in Isaiah that the Jewish people were looking to to
- 31:39as proof of this would be what the Messiah would look like.
- 31:43Isaiah 61 verses one to three. The Spirit of the Lord God is
- 31:49upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good
- 31:54tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the
- 31:58broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the
- 32:03opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the
- 32:08acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.
- 32:14To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion.
- 32:19To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy, for mourning,
- 32:24the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
- 32:28may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of
- 32:31the Lord that he may be glorified.
- 32:35And then in Isaiah chapter 35, verses 3 through 6, strengthen
- 32:40the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.
- 32:44Say to those who are fearful, hearted, be strong, do not fear.
- 32:48Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense
- 32:54of God he will come and save you.
- 32:58Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the
- 33:04death shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a
- 33:09deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing for water shall birth for
- 33:15burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
- 33:20And so Jesus was doing all these things, and plus his His word
- 33:25had authority like they had never heard before.
- 33:29Is this indeed the coming Messiah?
- 33:32And yet why isn't he raising up a rebellion against the Romans?
- 33:37Why isn't he freeing John from the prison?
- 33:43Blessed is he who was not offended because of me.
- 33:49In our life, God has called us to submit ourselves to His
- 33:55overall will in our life, saying not my will but yours be done.
- 34:04It's difficult when you come into a hard time in your life
- 34:08and it's a dark time, dark night of the soul as some say what is
- 34:15God doing and he's not talking. But I just want to say in in my
- 34:22life over my many years of walking with the Lord I can
- 34:25count on eight years eight different years where it was.
- 34:33The sun is not coming up starting in 1973 when our our
- 34:40second child 2 weeks later got spinal meningitis and is God
- 34:47going to heal him? Where are you?
- 34:48And he was in intensive care for five weeks until they could kill
- 34:54off the beta strep bacterial infection in his menages.
- 34:59And then in 1978, when the whole youth ministry that was so much
- 35:05a part of our life just collapsed through jealousy and
- 35:09selfishness of people in the board, and then all of a sudden
- 35:13we were thrown into what, what do we do?
- 35:17Life. We've got nothing.
- 35:20And that's when we moved to Arizona from Oregon.
- 35:24And then in 1980, when it was the worst year financially we'd
- 35:29ever had, no matter how hard we tried to put the income together
- 35:35to meet the needs, it was like we we just never had enough on
- 35:40the verge of bankruptcy and how the Lord sustained us.
- 35:44And yet there was no answers in 1992 when another Calvary Chapel
- 35:54came in a mile and a half away and everybody in our church,
- 35:58well, let's just say 60% of the people moved to that church and
- 36:04we went from like 700 to 180 and nobody was mad.
- 36:10They just wanted more excitement.
- 36:12And it was happening at this other church and and I had to
- 36:16lay off all my staff and I had to start thinking, OK, I'm going
- 36:18to have to get a job and keep the secretary so she can answer
- 36:21the phones. But the problem was the
- 36:23secretary was answering the phones for this other church as
- 36:26well. And because people were calling
- 36:28our church thinking we were them and and it was insane and
- 36:32everything was just imploding and there's no answers.
- 36:40And so we we ended up moving the church and all of a sudden it it
- 36:45was the right thing. But at the time, there was no
- 36:49sun coming up, and it was the time of the new moon, where
- 36:54there's no light either from the moon.
- 36:56Spiritually, it's a dark night, and all you can rely on is what
- 37:04you've seen Jesus do and you've heard him say in the past.
- 37:11In those seasons of doubt, where are you?
- 37:17And then in 2010 when we turned the church over and we started,
- 37:22what are we going to do? How are we going to do it?
- 37:25How are we going to live? How's this going to work?
- 37:29And then watch God begin to unfold it. 2014 over in England,
- 37:39our visa gets cancelled and we're already out of the
- 37:43country. And they said you can't come
- 37:44back in and all of our stuff is there.
- 37:47I'm pastoring 2 churches, Exeter and Plymouth, and it's like,
- 37:51well, what are we going to do? And then in 2018, I had a heart
- 38:00attack and everything kind of collapsed and all of a sudden
- 38:03was a major shift and you can't control it.
- 38:07Those times you can't control things, you're brought to the
- 38:10end of yourself. Listen, having a season of
- 38:14doubt, Jesus doesn't condemn you for that.
- 38:21I want you to see how Jesus deals with John after the
- 38:26disciples leave. And it's fascinating to me that
- 38:30he, He didn't say these things while the disciples were there,
- 38:34so they could take it back to John, because he wanted John to
- 38:38focus on the fact that he was indeed the Messiah and let God
- 38:44be the affirmer. It says in verse 24 quickly
- 38:49here, when the messengers of John had departed, he began to
- 38:52speak to the multitudes concerning John.
- 38:54What'd you go out in the wilderness to see read shaken
- 38:57with the wind just pushed around?
- 38:59No. What did you go out to see?
- 39:01A man clothed in soft garments like he's some royalty?
- 39:05No, he's a wild man. But what did you go out to see?
- 39:08A prophet? Yes, I say to you.
- 39:11And more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written.
- 39:14Behold, I send my messenger before your face.
- 39:17Who will prepare your way before you?
- 39:19And I want you to notice verse 28, because this is God
- 39:23Incarnate giving his view of John.
- 39:31For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a
- 39:36greater prophet than John the Baptist.
- 39:39Yeah, but he had doubts. But listen to what he said about
- 39:43him. You know when you have doubts.
- 39:47The Lord doesn't judge you because of your doubts.
- 39:50He knows who you are. He knows what he wants to do.
- 39:54He knows how he's used you. Your treasure in heaven is safe.
- 40:00How does he see you? He loves you.
- 40:03He cares for you. He understands you.
- 40:10But then he says he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater
- 40:14than he. Because John.
- 40:16Was during the last of the Old Testament.
- 40:20And then Jesus would die and rise again and a new covenant
- 40:23would come in. And we're part of that new
- 40:25covenant, part of the Kingdom of God under the new covenant.
- 40:29That's how we're greater, because we have, we have greater
- 40:32understanding, greater perspective.
- 40:40Sometimes we just think that because we doubt, because right
- 40:48now I think of maybe some of you are in a real season of doubt
- 40:51because God didn't come through or stop something and you have
- 41:01questions. But I want to bring this
- 41:04scripture back to you. And that's Matthew 12, verse 18.
- 41:10Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my
- 41:13soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him.
- 41:18He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
- 41:21He will not quarrel, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his
- 41:25voice in the streets. A bruised Reed he will not
- 41:30break. And some of you feel like a
- 41:33bruised Reed. You're just broken.
- 41:39You're not standing strong. You're broken, A bruised Reed.
- 41:45He will not break. He has no intention of breaking
- 41:47you and casting you off. But he does want to come near
- 41:51you and strengthen you. And then he says a smoking flax.
- 41:56He will not quench. He's not interested in putting
- 42:01out your flame. He's interested in fanning your
- 42:03flame. And so that you the light is
- 42:08brought back. And I would guess that some of
- 42:12you need to have your candle fanned into a flame by the Lord
- 42:19Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, because you feel like you're
- 42:24just smoke and no light. You're broken and you can't
- 42:31boast that you're so victorious in God.
- 42:35How does Jesus see you, man? He loves you.
- 42:42You have responded to the work of the Holy Spirit.
- 42:47You've come to Him. You've believed on Jesus.
- 42:52His heart is so blessed that you're his.
- 42:56He loves you and he's not going to let you go.
- 43:02But he wants you to get back on track in your dark night of the
- 43:08soul, Cry out to him because he is your hope.
- 43:16He is your light. He is your life.
- 43:24He understands your pain, your confusion, your anger, your
- 43:29frustration. Yet he still desires you to
- 43:32trust him and hide yourself under his arms.
- 43:40Lay your head upon him and say, God, I I don't know what to do.
- 43:47He will not reject you. Let's pray, Father God, we're
- 43:55we're looking now at your word and we're getting insight to how
- 44:01you see us in our seasons of doubt and God.
- 44:06I I ask those that that you would take those who are
- 44:09watching online and you'd reason with them.
- 44:14Maybe they're arguing with me right now and saying you don't
- 44:18understand, Pastor Bob, you don't understand what's
- 44:20happened. Well, I don't understand, but
- 44:23God does and His word is true and He will prove His word to
- 44:29you in due season. His timing is his timing.
- 44:35His ways are his ways, and he brings healing and comfort in
- 44:42his way. God of heaven, we're asking you
- 44:49to do a special work of healing here tonight.
- 44:53That you would bring peace and comfort deep in the soul, and
- 45:01that you would light a candle, so to speak, light, bring light
- 45:05into their dark situation. And that light is the presence
- 45:10of the Lord Jesus. You are a very present help in
- 45:17time of trouble, Lord, make that known tonight.
- 45:24And so, Father, we thank you for this time and your word.
- 45:26And we're asking that you would prove yourself even as you've
- 45:32shown us in your word tonight. In Jesus name, Amen.
- 45:39We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
- 45:42delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
- 45:45For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace.
- 45:50That's 877304. 7223 To listen to this message in its entirety or
- 45:57to join us for our live stream services, visit us online at
- 46:01Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary Church
- 46:06app, Be Blessed as You Worship Jesus this week.