May 7, 2025 • 50 mins
Ready to transform your relationship with doubt? Listen now to discover how your questions, when brought honestly before God, might become the very things that deepen your faith rather than destroy it. Discover proven pathways through uncertainty's darkest valleys and tangible tools you can use to navigate your doubt.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined again withPastor Tim and we are in week
two of our sermon series, theBenefit of Doubt, and man really
enjoying this series, I think,tim, it's having a tremendous
impact on so many people in ourchurch.
I think the response from weekone, as you and I were talking,
(00:48):
was just almost overwhelming.
How many people were respondingto that.
I know you had said that youhad gotten a few emails after
that sermon.
I think this is an issue peopleare dealing with.
Then, just this past Sundayagain, just how many people are
saying man, I am right here inthe middle of this thing, and so
(01:11):
it's been a great series tojust acknowledge man, we all
love Jesus.
But I still got some doubts.
I still have some questions.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
And that's important for us to acknowledge and not be
ashamed and I think a lot ofpeople do.
We read those passages ofScripture where Jesus calls out
the doubters.
He does it in a very loving wayand he doesn't chase anybody
away, but he says where's yourfaith?
(01:41):
And we feel like that's acondemnation when we lose our
faith in certain situations orwe're wondering what God's doing
.
And it's a very tough situationfor people to deal with because
there's really heavy things outthere.
(02:02):
My son-in-law lost one of hisbest friends.
It was his cousin.
He's only 44 years old, he'sgot three kids and now she's all
alone with those three kids andit's like god, what are you
doing?
yeah, what are you doing and uhI am a survivor of that same
(02:22):
situation.
My uh mom, my father, died whenI was three years old.
My mom was stuck with athree-year-old and a
five-year-old and all by herselfand, like god, what are you
doing?
What are you doing?
And that kind of thing'shappening all over the place and
it makes you doubt.
Lots of people run into.
(02:44):
Sorry about that, everybodythat's my fault.
And I don't even know how toturn it off.
But everybody runs into asituation like that.
It's like God, what are youdoing?
How are we going to navigatefrom here?
(03:05):
Job is probably the best topoint to a scripture and say
what about your doubts?
And that's what Job was doing.
He was struggling with hisdoubt.
God, what is going on?
I've done everything you toldme to do and then you're
(03:27):
allowing this to happen to me.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
What I love about Job's story is he never doubts
God's presence, his is-ness, youknow, like God is.
That's not even in question forJob.
It's.
How do I reconcile all that'shappened to me with this?
And so, yeah, if you've neverread the book of Job, I would
(03:51):
encourage you to take some timeto read it this week.
It is, I mean, just the depthsof despair that Job walks
through, and even the communitythat comes around him.
He's got some guys that show upand it's like a lot of times
they're more trouble than theyare a help, and then he has to.
I mean, he wrestles with God.
(04:12):
And God, were you there?
Who are you to really show Job?
This is who I am.
You thought this right.
This is who I really am.
Such a powerful story.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
And those real life situations.
Job lost his family this is whoI really am.
Such a powerful story and thosereal life situations.
Job lost his family, he losthis wealth and then he got sick.
He even got sick too.
So all those things arehappening around us as we speak,
as we're having this podcast.
It takes faith to confrontthese different trials in life.
(04:52):
We just had that faith,gratitude and hope thing on
Saturday, and it takes faith toconfront those things.
But also, at the same times,those things bring doubt.
And Jesus says I'm going totake your faith and we're going
to take your doubt and we'regoing to bring them together.
(05:13):
And I'm going to show you alittle bit more about who I am.
And he looks at questions as apathway to intimacy, and that's
one of our core values here at AFresh Wind.
Even since we started thisthing 18 years ago, we didn't
(05:34):
want to shy away from questions.
We wanted to jump in and that'swho we should be, but as doubt
the church grew up.
And this time, in this timeperiod, right now, doubt is the
enemy and you should be ashamedof your doubt.
And let's not be ridiculous.
Doubt is one of the best thingswe have to navigate this life
(05:57):
and without doubt we can get ina lot of trouble.
I look at our politicalsituation here in the United
States and I'm like where isyour doubt?
You can't believe all theseguys.
Come on.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
No, no, no, yeah, we'll doubt God's goodness,
we'll doubt scripture man.
Was there really a worldwideflood?
That seems ridiculous.
And then a politician gets onTV and we believe everything
they say.
What does Pat say?
How do you know?
A politician gets on tv and webelieve everything?
They say, yeah, um, what doespat say?
How do you know politicians islying?
Their mouth is moving, you know, but we're like no, no, no, I
trust that guy I thinkindependently.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
We all realize what's going on, but when it's our
team, right, right, a lot ofgroups they can yeah, it's it.
It's.
You know we're, we're the.
It's like us browns fans.
You know as bad a roster as wehave right now we're thinking we
might make it to the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
This could be the year.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's just come on, guys.
We've got to give up on that,and when you have a doubt, you
need to explore it.
Are they telling me the truth?
Am I being hoodwinked here?
At the stoplight you weretelling me that story.
A lady ran that red light andwhat it got you, guys, if your
wife wouldn't have doubted thatshe was going to stop or not?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I mean, yeah, if she just had faith.
My green light means go, herred light means stop.
I'm not sure I'd be sittinghere, because that lady went
through that light doing 50, 60,70 miles an hour, didn't even
look.
So thank God for Joy, whonormally doesn't drive, If I was
driving let's just say thisstory would probably be
different.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, I want to tell a story that Teresa reminded me
of, that happened to us andbecause there's a lot of little
nuances to the story.
We were out in Alaska and wewent to hike this trail that
goes up on top of this onemountain and there's a saddle
that runs from this mountain toanother mountain peak and we
wanted to cross over the top ofthat peak and there was a place
(08:03):
where you could sit and see theocean and the town underneath.
It was in Ketchikan, alaska,which is an island, and so we
drove out there and as we'regoing back, this dirt road
heading toward the, the parkingarea, about a half mile from the
parking area, we're drivingalong and there's a little baby
(08:26):
bear sitting in the middle ofthe road, just sitting there
cutest thing.
And um, first thing, uh, teresadid.
She goes, oh, and then shelooked at me and says where's
the mama?
Because Teresa has a bear thing.
She's's been trying to figureout the whole.
What do you do if a black bearattacks you?
(08:48):
And what do you do if a grizzlyattacks you?
And what do you do if a polarbear?
It's the run, fight, play dead.
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, you know I've been trying.
Every vacation I go on I'mtrying to find bears out in the
wild.
I love finding animals in theirnatural habitat, not at the
wild.
I love finding animals in theirnatural habitat, not at the zoo
.
So I've been to, like Tennessee, the Smoky Mountain area now a
few times and I'm always lookingfor bears.
I've still not seen one man.
We've run into cabin one timeand I was leaving food outside
Like y'all come on and nonothing.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Well, if you want to see bears go to Ketchikan,
they're all over the place.
So, matter of fact, they got abridge you can go out to and
they come out in the evening andpick up the salmon that have
flopped ashore and, gettingeverybody's garbage cans, you
can get all the bear watchingyou want there.
But we, so we, this thing runsoff into the grass and we drive
(09:42):
on down and then there's ourparking area and we're like
that's not too far from wherethat baby bear was, you know
where's mama.
And so we decided to hikeanyway.
So we, we, we started hiking upthis trail and it's a big, long
climb and we get to that saddle.
And it is, get to that saddle,um, and it is, I mean, in some
(10:11):
sections it was maybe two footacross.
It just was a complete drop offon one side, a complete drop
off on the other, and I wouldsay it's about 150 yards, maybe
200 yards long and there's justa narrow path.
It's a good path, it's a solidpath, just right down the top of
that saddle till you get tothat other mountain.
Then you got to climb back upand over the other side.
(10:33):
So, uh, right away we werecomfortable.
So we started out, uh, walkingacross that saddle and it's like
, wow, it's scary up here, youknow, and the wind's blowing a
little bit, but we're hiking onand we're not really thinking,
we don't have any doubt, we'recompletely confident.
And then um, we're comingthrough, uh, where it it's about
(10:57):
three foot wide most of thetime, and then it narrows down a
few times and um narrows down afew times and um, at a place
where it narrowed, teresa brokeher hiking pole she had two and
one snapped on her and she satdown right away and we had this
(11:20):
um, come to Jesus moment, youknow, and she's like I just
realized where I am.
You know, I'm walking down thisthing just as confident and I
broke my pole and I could havewent over and I just realized
where we are, and so we werestuck two thirds the way across
(11:42):
this span, stuck two-thirds theway across this span and she's
like I don't want to go back andI don't want to go forward.
And she just had doubt.
We were completely confidentwhen we when we started out, but
when that pole snapped, part ofher support system disappeared
and suddenly she didn't haveenough to go on.
(12:05):
So we sat down there and afraidto go back and afraid to go
forward, and we just had a cupof tea just trying to so and we
were wondering what are we goingto do if someone comes up this
trail and wants to get by us?
They're going to have to stepover us.
You know, can you guys move?
No, you're to have to step overus.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Can you guys move?
No, you're going to have toclimb over.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So it was a situation and she brought it up this week
and she said sometimes yourdoubts can paralyze you when
you're trying to decide whetherthat doubt is something good for
you that's telling you to stopdon't go that way or if doubt is
something that's keeping youfrom moving on.
(12:52):
And she said do you rememberthat time we were up in that
saddle on that little cross overto the other mountain and we
just got stuck there and Ithought, man, what a great
situation to bring up when we'retalking about doubt.
Because we were stuck.
(13:13):
She didn't want to go back, shedidn't want to go forward and I
was like you know, we're safehere because that bear probably
wouldn't come out on this thingyou know, that's what I was
thinking.
At least we're in a spot wherethe bear won't come out.
And this thing you know that'swhat I was thinking.
At least we're in a spot wherethe bear won't come out and get
us.
So who knows, that bearprobably ran up and down that
thing all day long.
But what do you think aboutthat?
What do you think about thefact that we're stuck in a spot
(13:35):
where our doubts is keeping usfrom going back and keeping us
from going forward?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
You know, I think, the providence of God and
sometimes how he orchestratesthings.
You know, I almost wonder if heput you in that spot just for
this sermon series, because whatan incredible picture of how
life works and how doubts comein.
And you know, you look off andyour mind instantly fills with
(14:01):
all these what if?
Questions.
What if I slip?
What if this happens?
What if a strong wind gustcomes in?
What if, what if?
What if I slip?
What if this happens?
What if a strong wind gustcomes in?
What if, what if, what if, whatif?
And our doubts do the samething.
Right, and then we get in thisspiral of what ifs and, man, you
can take that to the bottom.
I mean it's almost endless.
And man, we get there.
I joke with my kids all thetime, anytime they start to get
(14:22):
worried about something.
I heard this old Joyce Meyerquote and she said worry is down
payment on a problem you mightnever have?
Yeah, that's true, and I thinkwith our doubt man, we can get
stuck there and we start worry,the anxiety, you know all these,
the fear, and it all stems fromthat moment of doubt which
could be good, could be bad, youknow, and it all stems from
(14:44):
that moment of doubt which couldbe good, could be bad.
Joy's doubt about that ladysaved our lives a couple days
ago.
But then we have that doubtthat keeps us stuck.
But if we stay here, eventhough the bear might not come
out, we're not safe.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
No, we're not safe.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Try falling asleep on that little saddle.
You'll roll right down the sideof it you know, if it got dark
we would have been in serioustrouble and and so now you're in
this precarious spot where youknow maybe you even you know you
feel comfortable for a moment,we, we get to that spot where
it's just better here, it's,it's safer here than to move
(15:22):
forward or move back.
But then your vigilance.
You're on edge all the time,watching for the wind, watching
for the next step, and you'reexhausted, you're drained.
There's no life there.
And I've got to choose.
Do I stand up in faith and moveforward, or do I trust that
(15:44):
what's behind me was better?
But I've got to go one way orthe other.
I can't stay here.
There's no life here.
Right?
What an incredible illustrationfor for how doubt comes in and
affects us.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Well, let me throw another wrench into the machine
here.
Um, I was thinking, when I wasup on that saddle and we're
sitting there, I was thinking ifI wouldn't have went to Walmart
and bought those crappy polesshe normally didn't use that, I
(16:20):
use every type of hikingequipment that I can get on my
body.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, you're bringing them all with you.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
But she's always had good balance and all that kind
of stuff.
If that pole wouldn't havebroken, we would have marched.
I think we would have marchedright across that thing and
climbed up and got to the pointwhere we wanted to take pictures
and I just thought, man, if Iwouldn't have gave her those
poles, if that pole wouldn'thave broke, she wouldn't have
(16:50):
lost confidence and we wouldhave been across this thing
already.
And so that was uh.
And you know, I was like, well,here you can have my pole.
And she's like, well, no, thenyou wouldn't have a pole.
You know so, and I want you tohave a pole too.
I didn't, you know, I don'twant to.
Uh.
So we were stuck up on the upon that thing, all these things
(17:13):
running through our head.
And now we're talking aboutdoubt in life.
What happens when yourspiritual mentor falls, or
someone in your life dies, oryour church fails?
you or you know and suddenly man.
I was having this walk of faithand now I feel like I'm all
(17:33):
alone out here on this ridge andthe thing that I was trusting
in is broken.
It might be your spouse, or itmight be, you know, your sister
or your brother and your familythat has turned away, or you had
confidence in, and then youcaught them in the middle of
something that you never thoughtthey'd be, involved in and you
(17:55):
know it just breaks yourconfidence.
And then suddenly you lookaround and say what am I doing
out here?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
what am I doing out here?
Yeah, cause, whether we we knowit or not, I mean, I think,
unintentionally, as we walk thisfaith journey, we we kind of
pick up some crutches, you know,things that that are helping,
hold us up, and sometimesthey're not bad things.
We need a church family, weneed community, um, we want to
have strong relationships withour spouse and kids and even our
extended family.
Like we, we want all thosethings, um, and they're good
(18:29):
when they support you and holdyou up.
But we can get so dependent onit sometimes that, yeah, one of
those things break and nextthing we know we're toppling
over the side of this saddle, um, wondering what just happened.
And I don't think we realizehow much sometimes we're leaning
on those things.
And you know, on Sunday wetalked about the story of Peter
(18:52):
and the faith that it has ForJesus to say Peter, you have
little faith.
The dude just got out of theboat and you're like what is he
talking?
About that's huge faith.
Yeah, which one of us isstepping out of the boat.
But man, he was good, he wasrock solid and it says that he
walked towards Jesus.
So it's not like he stepped outof the boat, looked, saw the
(19:15):
wind and sank.
He was walking, we don't knowhow long, how far, but he was
taking steps in faith towardsJesus.
And then he started to sensethe winds.
He started looking at the wavesand, all of a sudden, that
crutch of man.
I'm leaning on Jesus, I'mtrusting him.
This is awesome, met with thereality of I'm on the middle of
(19:40):
the sea right now.
What is happening of the searight now, what is happening?
And now he begins to sink.
When those crutches break, isour faith in Jesus strong enough
?
Is that what we're leaning ontruly?
Or have we begun to rely onthese other things Because it's
(20:00):
going to happen?
Right, life is hard.
People are fallen and sinful,and so you're going to get let
down.
Even you and I and I think weare pretty great pastors Even
we're going to fail at sometimes and let you down.
We're not going to call youwhen we said that we'd call you.
(20:21):
We're not going to show up whenyou thought that we would, we
would show up that those thingsare going to happen.
And if, if you're leaning sohard on that crutch to to
maintain your faith and it goes,if, man, we're, we're building
our house on, on saying you know.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, I think.
I think sometimes we think ourfaith is stronger than it is and
when we get out, on the waterand start looking around, we
realize Whoa I'm?
I'm not where I thought I wasyou know, and um in uh, Teresa
and I's situation up on thatmountain um, we knew where we
(21:02):
were, but we had confidence insome things around us that were
going to hold us up.
And when that confidence wentand it wasn't the fact that that
one broke and I don't haveanother one to replace it it's
like I can't trust these thingsat all anymore, you know, even
the one that's still working.
So I think that's where we getin this pickle when doubt seems
(21:28):
to overcome us, and we need to,in those situations, keep our
eyes on Jesus and move ahead.
I think that's what thatstory's trying to teach us.
But we get excited, we getemotional, and Peter's the whole
thing was look what he's doing,I want to do that, let's go, I
(21:49):
want to do that.
And then he gets out of theboat and he realizes what was I
thinking?
This is not where I want to be,and the doubt come rushing in,
and we see that in our lives aswe move forward.
I mean, I ran into that truck,I got out there and I thought,
(22:10):
man, that is everything I want.
And Teresa was like just get it.
Your other truck's fallingapart.
And I'm like oh man, I can'tafford that payment.
I can't, and sure enough Ibought that.
Oh man, I can't afford thatpayment, I can't, and sure
enough I bought that truck and Ican't afford that payment.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
It's killing me.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
It is just it is killing me, you know, and it's
like in that situation I shouldhave looked around and retreated
instead of going forward, anduh so I don't know, man.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Man, I do like to borrow that truck.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Everybody likes to borrow that truck, but we have a
.
Definitely have a um decisions,decisions to make.
When we get in that situation,is it time to retreat and?
uh I, I told theresa, I said,let's just, it's shorter to go
back, let's just go back.
And uh, so we, so we went, wewent back after our beef, jerky
(23:02):
cheese and a cup of tea, andthen we said, yeah, we thought
about it, let's just go back.
And uh, and we did, uh, weretreated and and who knows,
that could have been, uh, whatGod wanted in the first place.
Uh, but yeah, we got, we gotscared and we stopped, and we
stopped in a bad place.
And so, if you're in thatsituation today, call out to
(23:27):
Jesus, because he's the onethat's going to grab your hand
and pull you back to your feetand give you the confidence
either to move forward orencourage you to retreat.
That's what we're looking foryou to do when you doubt.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Because it's easy to think I'm all alone in this.
If I express this to my lifegroup, what would they think of
me If I brought this up atchurch?
People would question myChristianity, my salvation, my
spirituality, my maturity.
And so we talk ourselves intothis whole thing where I man,
(24:02):
I've got to put on the face, Igot to have the look, and inside
man, we're, we're wrecked bythese things.
I, one of the guys that go here,posted on Facebook last night
so I'm assuming it's publicknowledge because he put it on
Facebook.
I won't give his name though,just in case, but just talked
(24:24):
about how he had lost his dad.
I think he said about 10 yearsago, and since that moment has
you know, had doubts about God'sgoodness and his faithfulness
and just talked about how thesermon on Sunday was like it was
for him.
He's like man.
This is where I've been and welearn to live in that place and
(24:44):
we go on like this is normal,I'm supposed to have these
things or I'm never going to getpast this.
Jesus wants you to bring thatto him, right, and we're not
saying to question when you havedoubts, to question it for a
lookout, right, job, greatexample, god, I'm not looking
(25:05):
for the out, I'm not trying todisprove your existence, and
sometimes we go there, right,culture, society, our college
professors, that's where they'regoing to point you.
That's not what we're sayingand it's not helpful to point
you.
That's not what we're sayingand it's not helpful.
We're saying take a sincerelook at those things and bring
(25:26):
it back to the Lord.
And when Peter reached out andcried out for help Lord, save me
Jesus reached out and grabbedhim.
He was right there and he willpull you out of those doubts.
Um to if you'll just cry out tohim, reach out, he's, he is
there.
And, man, as a church family,we want to be there for you too.
(25:49):
Um, when you have those things,uh, I had a guy come up to me
and I mean, just crushed by somepast church hurt and it.
I think he didn't tell me whatchurch it was at, but a
different church that he hadattended.
Um, you know just all thisstuff going on in his life, and
he felt like man, nobody wasthere for me.
I was going to this church andnobody was there for me.
(26:11):
We can't be all things to allpeople, right, um, and the
reality of life is.
Even our church is limited bythe people time resources that
we have, right, but we can prayand we can do our best to
support you.
We want to be the Aaron and Herthat are helping to hold up
your arms so that when you gettired, you've got people here in
(26:34):
your wing supporting you,praying for you, cheering you on
in your wing, supporting you,praying for you, cheering you on
, giving you the guidance,pointing you back to Jesus.
At that day of faith, gratitudeand hope talked about those
guys who carried their buddy,who had been paralyzed, to Jesus
.
We want to be the kind ofpeople who carry you towards
Jesus, not pull you away.
(26:55):
And so we're here and this is asafe spot for you to wrestle
with those doubts and with thosequestions and, and I believe,
if you do that sincerely yeah,pursuing God's truth and his
goodness in those things you'llfind that he's faithful.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And I think a lot of times, um, when we, when we're
reaching out for people to leanon, we're like the person who's
drowning and the lifeguard getsup to them and they just go
(27:31):
crazy and climb up on his head.
When we were studying, I was alifeguard in my younger years
and as I was taking my test youknow they would say this is
what's going to happen as soonas they see you.
If you get close to them withouttalking to them, they will
drown you, they'll crawl up onyour head and they'll they'll
(27:55):
just pull you under and you'llyou'll both die.
You need to stop while they'redrowning and say, hey, hey, this
is what I'm going to do.
Um you're going to have to letme do it and, um, and if they
don't respond, they teach you togo underwater, grab them by the
feet and pull them under andthen lock them in your hold Good
(28:19):
night feet.
And pull them under and thenlock them in your hold and then
pull them because they'reflailing away and you're and
you're both in danger.
And uh, sometimes we, um, whenwe're looking for someone to
bail us out, you know we do thatwe try to crawl up on top of
their heads and and uh, andpeople, people get leery of that
(28:39):
.
You know how do, how do I dealwith this person?
You know, um, and and peopleare heavy and and when we, when
we're in doubt and we'restruggling, um, sometimes we're
going to have to to learn toswim a little bit to help the,
to help the person who's tryingto help us.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's um, that's somethinga lot of people who are really
(29:03):
hurt and don't want to hear, butthey know it's the truth.
It's just getting them torealize it in their panic.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
It's easy as soon as the help comes along.
Man, yeah, I'm so tired of thisfight and I've been drowning
and struggling.
Right, just take me right yeah,and that's.
You know, that's what I had.
I told that guy.
I was like man, we're we, wewant to help you and we'll do
whatever we can when someone inour church is hurting.
We want to be the kind ofpeople to do whatever we can.
Same time, we're limited to youknow, um, but we, we want to be
(29:40):
that place where you can comeand you can bring those
questions and, and if we can'tdo anything, what we'll do is
we'll, we'll pray and we'regoing to point you to Jesus and
we'll try to walk through thebest way that we can.
You know, and that's that's sopowerful to have a community
that does that.
Cause, if, outside of thechurch, where do you get that?
(30:00):
Um, you go to other people withdoubts and questions and, man,
they, our culture, will quicklypull you into, you know,
definitely away from the Lord,but into this, um, um,
individualizing, where I can'tsee anything but myself, and
it'll suck you inside and I'mtelling you there's no life
(30:21):
there.
That's sitting on the on theRidge there stuck.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Right, Because you lost that thing that might've
supported you.
And now you're looking on bothsides of the Ridge saying that
you know, I I need help.
Someone's got to get me out ofhere.
Teresa and I, we had to get upand walk out, and that's the
scariest thing, because you'regoing to go and you're going to
say why did God let this happento me?
(30:47):
Why did God?
You know, that's what the doubtis.
Is God good?
Why would he do this to me?
This doesn't make sense.
You know, sometimes, when we'rerebellious and we've been bad
and we automatically think thatwell, I deserve this.
You know I, if I was god, thisis what I would do to me.
(31:08):
But other times you're, you'relike what is going on, god?
And you're going to let thishappen to me.
And you're going to go to yoursupport team, you're going to go
to your church, you're going togo to your pastors, you're
going to go to your and you'regoing to go to your support team
.
You're going to go to yourchurch, you're going to go to
your pastors, you're going to goto your life group.
You're going to go to yourfriends and say why has this
happened to me?
And you know what they're goingto say.
I don't know.
(31:32):
And so when you're in that,somebody tell me something that
I can grab a hold of.
And you're stuck in that Idon't know what's going on.
I don't know why this happened.
I don't know why he did that toyou.
I don't know why she left.
I don't know why I don't.
I don't know why, but I, I knowwho you can reach out to, and
(31:54):
that's what we need.
Even when we're angry with himfor what has happened, he's the
guy you should be reaching forNow.
It's just like that lifeguardwho pulls you under, you know
and then he wraps his arm aroundyour chest and he gets complete
control of you.
And then you both climb up outof the water and he says to you
(32:18):
okay, I'm going to swim andyou're going gonna be on my hip,
don't fight me or you'll lose,because I'm just gonna take you
back down under the water again.
And uh, and what's happeningthere is your life is being
saved and you're in a battlewith the one who wants to save
your life, and that that is um,that is the Christian walk.
(32:41):
Right there.
We're going to have to learn.
We're going to have to learnthat this guy's got his arms
wrapped around me.
I, you know, I'm struggling, I'mscared.
I, you know, I want more thanhim, taking one little paddle at
a time, one little kick at atime.
You know, I want out.
Get me out, right, right, butwe have to.
(33:03):
That's how we build our faith,even when we don't trust him,
even when we think you know God,you're the one who let this
happen to me in the first place.
He's the one that's going toswim you out.
And are you going to make thatdecision?
Or are you just going to say,no, I got, I got this, and um,
and leave yourself out there byyourself.
(33:25):
And the lord's always.
He's always like I'm.
I'm gonna come get you um butit's gonna be a battle right and
uh, just relax, just relax,just relax into me and I can get
you out of this.
And it's tough on us.
I think it's tough especiallyin our culture, where we got to
(33:46):
do something to fix this andeverything we do doesn't fix it
Right.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I said on Sunday that we're intentionally or not,
we're building our faith,building our trust on something.
And we can try to build it onsome philosophy, some idea, our
cultural or religious upbringing, all those things, or we can
choose to build it on scripture.
(34:14):
Jesus said my word is truth.
He said I am the way, the truth, the life, and so you can
choose to build it on him.
And, yes, that takes faith, butyou're putting your faith in
this other thing to hold you upto.
And so today I want to give yousome, maybe some practical
tools to help you navigate doubtwith confidence.
(34:35):
When I'm in that moment, whenI'm up on that ridge or on that
saddle and I got to walk out ofthis thing, I got to stand up
and make a move.
How do I do that withconfidence?
I think number one we've beensaying in this series you got to
acknowledge your doubts.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
I think that's the most important thing.
A lot of times we try to.
A lot of times we try to.
Our faith is strong in God, butwhen we have doubts we try to
outrun them.
Yeah, or to just like I'm goingto put my head down and just go
(35:13):
forward.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
No, god, we need to deal.
And I briefly talked about thefather of that boy who was
possessed by a demon.
He brings him to Jesus and hesays I do believe.
Help my unbelief.
You're like?
Well, hold on.
I thought you just said he cameto that point where he
acknowledges those things and hesays God, I do believe, but I
need you to help my unbelief.
So, acknowledge those things,bring them to the Lord.
(35:37):
The whole point of the sermonon Sunday was God can handle
your doubts, he's not afraid ofthem.
Yeah, acknowledge those thingsand then next seek knowledge.
I talked about how do we, how dowe build a support system?
We do it through that old song,the B I B L E.
This is the book for me.
I stand upon the word of God.
That's what we do.
(35:57):
The problem, as I talked abouton Sunday, is we all come with
our own lenses and biases andfilters, and so I challenge
people on Sunday approachscripture through the lens of
God's love.
God is love.
So everything he does in yourlife, even when it's pulling you
under the water because you'retrying to climb on top and fight
against him, is love.
(36:20):
He does it because he's loveand because he loves you.
And so when you reach you knowthis passage of Peter Peter you
have a little faith.
Why did you doubt?
When you read that, not ascondemnation, not as
disappointment, but as love, itchanges the whole thing.
And could it be that God, whenhe looks at you and says man
(36:41):
why'd you doubt?
me.
He's not doing it like yourdisappointed coach who wonders
how many times he's going tohave to teach you to swing that
golf club.
Why are you still doing itwrong?
But he's doing it because heloves you.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
And another thing is that we live in a Christian
community.
There's nothing happening toyou that hasn't happened to
someone else.
That's right, and you need tolook out there.
Focus on the family, the gospelcoalition.
There's people out there.
There's divorce groups, there'sAA groups that focus on
(37:15):
scripture and they're out there.
They're dealing with the samething that you're dealing with,
and sometimes, when you seekknowledge, you need to seek it
from someone who's been in thatpit and climbed out the other
side and said Jesus pulled methrough.
That's the person you need totalk to.
I remember when um, my nephew,passed away zach and um sharon,
(37:43):
um shimmy that's shimmy in ourchurch her name got changed when
my son was born, because hecouldn't say sharon, so he
called her shimmy.
And she says I'm taking it.
That's my name from now on.
I never liked sharon, so wecall her Shimmy.
But she kept asking Lord, howam I going to live?
I can't live, I can't breathe.
(38:05):
And she kept walking, andstruggling, and walking and
struggling, and now when someoneloses their kid, she's the
first one to call them.
We have a community of faiththat people have been through.
God has led them through somethings which we all experienced
on Saturday when we came to thefaith, gratitude and hope.
(38:30):
What?
Are we calling that Conference.
Event.
Conference.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Yeah Conference, who knows?
Yeah conference of day meetingconference of men meeting.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Yeah, it was great to see how God was faithful in
these people's lives.
And when you're doubting, youwant to seek that.
Seek not just the knowledge inthe scriptures but also seek
people who have experienced thesame thing and has made it out
on the other end.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Yeah, and I would say that's, you know, kind of
another one of those things weneed to engage in community.
Paul actually wrote to theCorinthians and he says that God
comforts us so that we cancomfort others in their time of
need.
And so you might be wondering,man, why am I going through this
?
And I just remember, as Ravondawas, you know, got her
(39:20):
diagnosis and was coming toterms with with that reality, I
had spoke to her or her andScott I don't know if it was on
the phone or if they came intothe church.
I think they came into thechurch, we had a meeting, um,
but you just said, I know thatGod has me in this, for for a
reason, in the whole event thathappened on Saturday was her
saying we want to providecomfort and encouragement to
(39:43):
others.
That God has brought us throughthis and they started planning
that event and had that idealong before they knew what the
outcome was going to be for her.
So, whether or not this endsthe way that we hope it does,
we're still planning this eventbecause we know that God wants
to use us to bring hope andcomfort to other people.
(40:04):
And man, we need to engage inthat kind of community and, like
I said, there's all kinds ofcommunity out there.
Most of them are going to pullyou away.
You want to engage with thecommunity that's going to pull
you and even like those guys whopicked up their paralytic
friend on that mat and carry youtowards Jesus when you can't
even get yourself up off thefloor.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
You know what you mentioned the guy in Mark 9 who
said I do believe, help myunbelief.
I think we discredit himbecause he knew these disciples
were casting out demons and hebelieved.
And he brought his son to thedisciples and they couldn't do
(40:50):
it.
And so it was like that polebreaking.
No, I'm where I'm supposed tobe, I'm doing what I think I'm
supposed to be doing, but, man,that pole has broken.
And they bring him to Jesus andhe says to Jesus, if you can,
(41:10):
will you heal my son?
And Jesus says, if you can.
And he says everything ispossible for the one who
believes, believes in whobelieves in jesus, everything is
possible.
And uh, and he says, you know,I did believe, I did believe.
(41:33):
And he reaches back to grab ahold of that.
You know, I brought my son herebecause I believed.
I'm not completely, you didn't.
You didn't chase me down, Ichased you down, right.
I brought my son here because Idid believe, but help my
unbelief.
You know there was a failurethere.
(41:53):
I, I do believe, but I'mstruggling.
Help my unbelief.
And that you know, when I wastalking about Thomas in the
opening of this series, I waslike I want to give some credit
to his doubt.
I want to dignify it.
And this guy, I want to dignifyhis doubt too.
(42:16):
He brought him to the disciples.
It didn't happen, you know, buthe brought him, you know.
So let's dignify that a littlebit for that guy, because that's
probably where you are and youneed to reflect on the past, on
the past, your past faith, whatthings have brought you through
(42:40):
to this point, and that's one ofthe practical steps for
navigating doubt.
Remember you had faith whensomeone else was going through
what you were going through, andit wasn't you.
You led them to faith that itwould work out.
You had faith.
So recall moments of your ownfaith is probably the number one
(43:03):
step.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Well, and what that does is, when we look back in
those moments of faith that wehad, what we find is God's
faithfulness, because there hasbeen seasons of your life when
you thought I can't get throughthis, I can't breathe, I don't
know how to go forward, I don'tknow what my next step is.
And now you're five, 10, 15years down the road.
(43:27):
Well, you did something, yougot through it.
God didn't leave you then.
He didn't fail you then.
He's not going to fail you now.
And I know this is new and Iknow the scenery isn't what you
thought.
And you're looked up and you'relike whoa, how did I get on
this saddle and why am Istanding here Right?
But he didn't fail you before.
(43:49):
He's not going to start today.
You know I joke with joy allthe time.
She doesn't think it's funny,but I do Anytime she tells me
I'm wrong.
I was like you think.
I picked a random Tuesday to bewrong for the first time.
If I'm going to be wrong, I'mgoing to pick a special day.
I'm just going to do it onTuesday.
You think God's going to failyou.
Now he just all of a suddentoday decided I'm done with this
(44:12):
whole God thing.
No, he has been faithful overand over and over again and when
we look back on those momentswe can see man.
He was with me there.
He was with me in the fire.
He was with me in the valley.
He was with me up on that ridge.
He's always been there and wekind of have that moment, like
Jacob had, when we look up andsay, man, surely the Lord is in
(44:35):
this place and I was unaware.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Yeah, when we acknowledge our doubts, we
should probably write them downjournal that you know, so we can
look back and say you know, theLord led me through this and
now this thing happens, eventhough it seems a whole lot
bigger.
He led me through that, he canlead me through this.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah, and I think the final one that we'll we'll
leave you with and I'm going totry to wrap us up here, cause we
went real long last week, sogive you a little bit of a
reprise, and our wives are goingto be like no, it was still too
long, um, but I want toencourage you don't discredit
this one.
We need to.
We need to pray, um, don't giveup on prayer, and even when you
feel like it's I don't know,this is working.
(45:20):
This is the last resort.
Keep bringing those things toprayer.
Paul said cast all of youranxiety upon him, because he
cares for you.
That's the kind of God he is.
So keep bringing those thingsto him.
And I know you've prayed aboutit a hundred times and I know
you don't feel like it's workingKeep bringing it to them, as
(45:43):
when we pray and I've done awhole series on this, so I don't
want to talk about it all herebut, man, we don't realize all
that we acknowledge when we say,when we begin to pray, because
when I do that, I'm saying thereis a God in heaven.
I acknowledge that I'm sayingthere is a God in heaven.
I acknowledge that and Ibelieve that that God hears my
prayer, how powerful.
(46:04):
And not only does he hear me,but I believe that the God of
the universe, who keeps theearth in motion and is still to
this day expanding the galaxy,he cares enough to listen to me
and that he's powerful enough toact.
Every time you pray, you'redoing those four things, and how
(46:25):
powerful.
That's why the devil tries toconvince us all the time that
prayer is ineffective, becausethere is so much power every
time we go to the Lord in prayer.
So keep bringing those thingsto him, god, I believe, but help
my unbelief.
Help me in this moment.
God, I need you to move.
I need you to show up.
Keep coming to him in prayer.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
And be honest, god, I know you're good, but it
doesn't feel like it.
And just keep bringing thosehonest thoughts.
God doesn't want you to comeand lay some platitudes on them
and you try to convince him todo something for you.
He wants your honest, heartfeltprayer.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Read the Psalms Right Watch David wrestle with that
Hopefully he did your homeworklast week of the psalmist who
was saying God man, I look outand I see all this going on.
Are you paying attention?
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Right, I love that Psalm 73, isn't it yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Be honest with them.
God knows what you're feelinganyway, it's not like you're
keeping it from them.
But, man, bring those things tothem and I believe that as you
do that, you're going to learnthat he is faithful even when we
are faithless, that he is good,that he is love, that his word
is truth.
And if you keep doing that,he's going to reach out, he's
(47:47):
going to grab a hold of you andI love how the CSB says he
caught hold of them.
He's going to catch hold of youand he's going to walk you to
sure footing.
Catch hold of you and, uh, man,he's going to walk you to sure
footing, um, and so, pastor Tim,will you pray for us?
Speaker 3 (48:10):
Father, I want to thank you for this study, um,
because I I think our doubtneeds to be dignified and not
just swept into the corner.
And, uh, father, I pray for allyour people who have doubts and
are letting those doubts pullthem away from you, looking for
an answer other than you.
And, lord, I pray that you'lllead them to reach out to you so
(48:33):
that you can grab a hold ofthem.
Grab a hold of them, and I know, lord, that, uh, a lot of them
are drowning and, um, you'rejust out of reach from them and
they're in a panic and they'relike, lord, do something.
And, uh, you're talking to themquietly.
I am going to do something, um,but I'm it might be a little
(48:58):
tough and the way out is goingto be, uh, a rough ride.
And, uh, I just, I just wantyou to know I'm going to love
you through this, even though itmight be tough.
Lord, I pray that we'll embracethat and, uh, and we'll let you
put your arms around us andswim us out of the mess that
(49:21):
we're in.
Lord, I know that a lot of lifehas nothing to do with us how
we live, what we do.
It's just, things happen in afallen world and it crushes us.
But, lord, I want you to reachout to your people, grab a hold
(49:41):
of them and give them thatlife-saving word and bring them
back closer to you through theirdoubt, not in spite of, but
through it.
In Jesus' name amen.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Amen.
Thanks again for joining us forthis episode of the Midweek
Podcast.
Amen, offering new resourcesthat equip you to discover more
(50:16):
in Christ.
Simply text any amount to thenumber 84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined again withPastor Tim and we are in week
two of our sermon series, theBenefit of Doubt, and man really
enjoying this series, I think,tim, it's having a tremendous
impact on so many people in ourchurch.
I think the response from weekone, as you and I were talking,
(00:48):
was just almost overwhelming.
How many people were respondingto that.
I know you had said that youhad gotten a few emails after
that sermon.
I think this is an issue peopleare dealing with.
Then, just this past Sundayagain, just how many people are
saying man, I am right here inthe middle of this thing, and so
(01:11):
it's been a great series tojust acknowledge man, we all
love Jesus.
But I still got some doubts.
I still have some questions.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
And that's important for us to acknowledge and not be
ashamed and I think a lot ofpeople do.
We read those passages ofScripture where Jesus calls out
the doubters.
He does it in a very loving wayand he doesn't chase anybody
away, but he says where's yourfaith?
(01:41):
And we feel like that's acondemnation when we lose our
faith in certain situations orwe're wondering what God's doing
.
And it's a very tough situationfor people to deal with because
there's really heavy things outthere.
(02:02):
My son-in-law lost one of hisbest friends.
It was his cousin.
He's only 44 years old, he'sgot three kids and now she's all
alone with those three kids andit's like god, what are you
doing?
yeah, what are you doing and uhI am a survivor of that same
(02:22):
situation.
My uh mom, my father, died whenI was three years old.
My mom was stuck with athree-year-old and a
five-year-old and all by herselfand, like god, what are you
doing?
What are you doing?
And that kind of thing'shappening all over the place and
it makes you doubt.
Lots of people run into.
(02:44):
Sorry about that, everybodythat's my fault.
And I don't even know how toturn it off.
But everybody runs into asituation like that.
It's like God, what are youdoing?
How are we going to navigatefrom here?
(03:05):
Job is probably the best topoint to a scripture and say
what about your doubts?
And that's what Job was doing.
He was struggling with hisdoubt.
God, what is going on?
I've done everything you toldme to do and then you're
(03:27):
allowing this to happen to me.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
What I love about Job's story is he never doubts
God's presence, his is-ness, youknow, like God is.
That's not even in question forJob.
It's.
How do I reconcile all that'shappened to me with this?
And so, yeah, if you've neverread the book of Job, I would
(03:51):
encourage you to take some timeto read it this week.
It is, I mean, just the depthsof despair that Job walks
through, and even the communitythat comes around him.
He's got some guys that show upand it's like a lot of times
they're more trouble than theyare a help, and then he has to.
I mean, he wrestles with God.
(04:12):
And God, were you there?
Who are you to really show Job?
This is who I am.
You thought this right.
This is who I really am.
Such a powerful story.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
And those real life situations.
Job lost his family this is whoI really am.
Such a powerful story and thosereal life situations.
Job lost his family, he losthis wealth and then he got sick.
He even got sick too.
So all those things arehappening around us as we speak,
as we're having this podcast.
It takes faith to confrontthese different trials in life.
(04:52):
We just had that faith,gratitude and hope thing on
Saturday, and it takes faith toconfront those things.
But also, at the same times,those things bring doubt.
And Jesus says I'm going totake your faith and we're going
to take your doubt and we'regoing to bring them together.
(05:13):
And I'm going to show you alittle bit more about who I am.
And he looks at questions as apathway to intimacy, and that's
one of our core values here at AFresh Wind.
Even since we started thisthing 18 years ago, we didn't
(05:34):
want to shy away from questions.
We wanted to jump in and that'swho we should be, but as doubt
the church grew up.
And this time, in this timeperiod, right now, doubt is the
enemy and you should be ashamedof your doubt.
And let's not be ridiculous.
Doubt is one of the best thingswe have to navigate this life
(05:57):
and without doubt we can get ina lot of trouble.
I look at our politicalsituation here in the United
States and I'm like where isyour doubt?
You can't believe all theseguys.
Come on.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
No, no, no, yeah, we'll doubt God's goodness,
we'll doubt scripture man.
Was there really a worldwideflood?
That seems ridiculous.
And then a politician gets onTV and we believe everything
they say.
What does Pat say?
How do you know?
A politician gets on tv and webelieve everything?
They say, yeah, um, what doespat say?
How do you know politicians islying?
Their mouth is moving, you know, but we're like no, no, no, I
trust that guy I thinkindependently.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
We all realize what's going on, but when it's our
team, right, right, a lot ofgroups they can yeah, it's it.
It's.
You know we're, we're the.
It's like us browns fans.
You know as bad a roster as wehave right now we're thinking we
might make it to the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
This could be the year.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's just come on, guys.
We've got to give up on that,and when you have a doubt, you
need to explore it.
Are they telling me the truth?
Am I being hoodwinked here?
At the stoplight you weretelling me that story.
A lady ran that red light andwhat it got you, guys, if your
wife wouldn't have doubted thatshe was going to stop or not?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I mean, yeah, if she just had faith.
My green light means go, herred light means stop.
I'm not sure I'd be sittinghere, because that lady went
through that light doing 50, 60,70 miles an hour, didn't even
look.
So thank God for Joy, whonormally doesn't drive, If I was
driving let's just say thisstory would probably be
different.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, I want to tell a story that Teresa reminded me
of, that happened to us andbecause there's a lot of little
nuances to the story.
We were out in Alaska and wewent to hike this trail that
goes up on top of this onemountain and there's a saddle
that runs from this mountain toanother mountain peak and we
wanted to cross over the top ofthat peak and there was a place
(08:03):
where you could sit and see theocean and the town underneath.
It was in Ketchikan, alaska,which is an island, and so we
drove out there and as we'regoing back, this dirt road
heading toward the, the parkingarea, about a half mile from the
parking area, we're drivingalong and there's a little baby
(08:26):
bear sitting in the middle ofthe road, just sitting there
cutest thing.
And um, first thing, uh, teresadid.
She goes, oh, and then shelooked at me and says where's
the mama?
Because Teresa has a bear thing.
She's's been trying to figureout the whole.
What do you do if a black bearattacks you?
(08:48):
And what do you do if a grizzlyattacks you?
And what do you do if a polarbear?
It's the run, fight, play dead.
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, you know I've been trying.
Every vacation I go on I'mtrying to find bears out in the
wild.
I love finding animals in theirnatural habitat, not at the
wild.
I love finding animals in theirnatural habitat, not at the zoo
.
So I've been to, like Tennessee, the Smoky Mountain area now a
few times and I'm always lookingfor bears.
I've still not seen one man.
We've run into cabin one timeand I was leaving food outside
Like y'all come on and nonothing.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Well, if you want to see bears go to Ketchikan,
they're all over the place.
So, matter of fact, they got abridge you can go out to and
they come out in the evening andpick up the salmon that have
flopped ashore and, gettingeverybody's garbage cans, you
can get all the bear watchingyou want there.
But we, so we, this thing runsoff into the grass and we drive
(09:42):
on down and then there's ourparking area and we're like
that's not too far from wherethat baby bear was, you know
where's mama.
And so we decided to hikeanyway.
So we, we, we started hiking upthis trail and it's a big, long
climb and we get to that saddle.
And it is, get to that saddle,um, and it is, I mean, in some
(10:11):
sections it was maybe two footacross.
It just was a complete drop offon one side, a complete drop
off on the other, and I wouldsay it's about 150 yards, maybe
200 yards long and there's justa narrow path.
It's a good path, it's a solidpath, just right down the top of
that saddle till you get tothat other mountain.
Then you got to climb back upand over the other side.
(10:33):
So, uh, right away we werecomfortable.
So we started out, uh, walkingacross that saddle and it's like
, wow, it's scary up here, youknow, and the wind's blowing a
little bit, but we're hiking onand we're not really thinking,
we don't have any doubt, we'recompletely confident.
And then um, we're comingthrough, uh, where it it's about
(10:57):
three foot wide most of thetime, and then it narrows down a
few times and um narrows down afew times and um, at a place
where it narrowed, teresa brokeher hiking pole she had two and
one snapped on her and she satdown right away and we had this
(11:20):
um, come to Jesus moment, youknow, and she's like I just
realized where I am.
You know, I'm walking down thisthing just as confident and I
broke my pole and I could havewent over and I just realized
where we are, and so we werestuck two thirds the way across
(11:42):
this span, stuck two-thirds theway across this span and she's
like I don't want to go back andI don't want to go forward.
And she just had doubt.
We were completely confidentwhen we when we started out, but
when that pole snapped, part ofher support system disappeared
and suddenly she didn't haveenough to go on.
(12:05):
So we sat down there and afraidto go back and afraid to go
forward, and we just had a cupof tea just trying to so and we
were wondering what are we goingto do if someone comes up this
trail and wants to get by us?
They're going to have to stepover us.
You know, can you guys move?
No, you're to have to step overus.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Can you guys move?
No, you're going to have toclimb over.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So it was a situation and she brought it up this week
and she said sometimes yourdoubts can paralyze you when
you're trying to decide whetherthat doubt is something good for
you that's telling you to stopdon't go that way or if doubt is
something that's keeping youfrom moving on.
(12:52):
And she said do you rememberthat time we were up in that
saddle on that little cross overto the other mountain and we
just got stuck there and Ithought, man, what a great
situation to bring up when we'retalking about doubt.
Because we were stuck.
(13:13):
She didn't want to go back, shedidn't want to go forward and I
was like you know, we're safehere because that bear probably
wouldn't come out on this thingyou know, that's what I was
thinking.
At least we're in a spot wherethe bear won't come out.
And this thing you know that'swhat I was thinking.
At least we're in a spot wherethe bear won't come out and get
us.
So who knows, that bearprobably ran up and down that
thing all day long.
But what do you think aboutthat?
What do you think about thefact that we're stuck in a spot
(13:35):
where our doubts is keeping usfrom going back and keeping us
from going forward?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
You know, I think, the providence of God and
sometimes how he orchestratesthings.
You know, I almost wonder if heput you in that spot just for
this sermon series, because whatan incredible picture of how
life works and how doubts comein.
And you know, you look off andyour mind instantly fills with
(14:01):
all these what if?
Questions.
What if I slip?
What if this happens?
What if a strong wind gustcomes in?
What if, what if?
What if I slip?
What if this happens?
What if a strong wind gustcomes in?
What if, what if, what if, whatif?
And our doubts do the samething.
Right, and then we get in thisspiral of what ifs and, man, you
can take that to the bottom.
I mean it's almost endless.
And man, we get there.
I joke with my kids all thetime, anytime they start to get
(14:22):
worried about something.
I heard this old Joyce Meyerquote and she said worry is down
payment on a problem you mightnever have?
Yeah, that's true, and I thinkwith our doubt man, we can get
stuck there and we start worry,the anxiety, you know all these,
the fear, and it all stems fromthat moment of doubt which
could be good, could be bad, youknow, and it all stems from
(14:44):
that moment of doubt which couldbe good, could be bad.
Joy's doubt about that ladysaved our lives a couple days
ago.
But then we have that doubtthat keeps us stuck.
But if we stay here, eventhough the bear might not come
out, we're not safe.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
No, we're not safe.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Try falling asleep on that little saddle.
You'll roll right down the sideof it you know, if it got dark
we would have been in serioustrouble and and so now you're in
this precarious spot where youknow maybe you even you know you
feel comfortable for a moment,we, we get to that spot where
it's just better here, it's,it's safer here than to move
(15:22):
forward or move back.
But then your vigilance.
You're on edge all the time,watching for the wind, watching
for the next step, and you'reexhausted, you're drained.
There's no life there.
And I've got to choose.
Do I stand up in faith and moveforward, or do I trust that
(15:44):
what's behind me was better?
But I've got to go one way orthe other.
I can't stay here.
There's no life here.
Right?
What an incredible illustrationfor for how doubt comes in and
affects us.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Well, let me throw another wrench into the machine
here.
Um, I was thinking, when I wasup on that saddle and we're
sitting there, I was thinking ifI wouldn't have went to Walmart
and bought those crappy polesshe normally didn't use that, I
(16:20):
use every type of hikingequipment that I can get on my
body.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, you're bringing them all with you.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
But she's always had good balance and all that kind
of stuff.
If that pole wouldn't havebroken, we would have marched.
I think we would have marchedright across that thing and
climbed up and got to the pointwhere we wanted to take pictures
and I just thought, man, if Iwouldn't have gave her those
poles, if that pole wouldn'thave broke, she wouldn't have
(16:50):
lost confidence and we wouldhave been across this thing
already.
And so that was uh.
And you know, I was like, well,here you can have my pole.
And she's like, well, no, thenyou wouldn't have a pole.
You know so, and I want you tohave a pole too.
I didn't, you know, I don'twant to.
Uh.
So we were stuck up on the upon that thing, all these things
(17:13):
running through our head.
And now we're talking aboutdoubt in life.
What happens when yourspiritual mentor falls, or
someone in your life dies, oryour church fails?
you or you know and suddenly man.
I was having this walk of faithand now I feel like I'm all
(17:33):
alone out here on this ridge andthe thing that I was trusting
in is broken.
It might be your spouse, or itmight be, you know, your sister
or your brother and your familythat has turned away, or you had
confidence in, and then youcaught them in the middle of
something that you never thoughtthey'd be, involved in and you
(17:55):
know it just breaks yourconfidence.
And then suddenly you lookaround and say what am I doing
out here?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
what am I doing out here?
Yeah, cause, whether we we knowit or not, I mean, I think,
unintentionally, as we walk thisfaith journey, we we kind of
pick up some crutches, you know,things that that are helping,
hold us up, and sometimesthey're not bad things.
We need a church family, weneed community, um, we want to
have strong relationships withour spouse and kids and even our
extended family.
Like we, we want all thosethings, um, and they're good
(18:29):
when they support you and holdyou up.
But we can get so dependent onit sometimes that, yeah, one of
those things break and nextthing we know we're toppling
over the side of this saddle, um, wondering what just happened.
And I don't think we realizehow much sometimes we're leaning
on those things.
And you know, on Sunday wetalked about the story of Peter
(18:52):
and the faith that it has ForJesus to say Peter, you have
little faith.
The dude just got out of theboat and you're like what is he
talking?
About that's huge faith.
Yeah, which one of us isstepping out of the boat.
But man, he was good, he wasrock solid and it says that he
walked towards Jesus.
So it's not like he stepped outof the boat, looked, saw the
(19:15):
wind and sank.
He was walking, we don't knowhow long, how far, but he was
taking steps in faith towardsJesus.
And then he started to sensethe winds.
He started looking at the wavesand, all of a sudden, that
crutch of man.
I'm leaning on Jesus, I'mtrusting him.
This is awesome, met with thereality of I'm on the middle of
(19:40):
the sea right now.
What is happening of the searight now, what is happening?
And now he begins to sink.
When those crutches break, isour faith in Jesus strong enough
?
Is that what we're leaning ontruly?
Or have we begun to rely onthese other things Because it's
(20:00):
going to happen?
Right, life is hard.
People are fallen and sinful,and so you're going to get let
down.
Even you and I and I think weare pretty great pastors Even
we're going to fail at sometimes and let you down.
We're not going to call youwhen we said that we'd call you.
(20:21):
We're not going to show up whenyou thought that we would, we
would show up that those thingsare going to happen.
And if, if you're leaning sohard on that crutch to to
maintain your faith and it goes,if, man, we're, we're building
our house on, on saying you know.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, I think.
I think sometimes we think ourfaith is stronger than it is and
when we get out, on the waterand start looking around, we
realize Whoa I'm?
I'm not where I thought I wasyou know, and um in uh, Teresa
and I's situation up on thatmountain um, we knew where we
(21:02):
were, but we had confidence insome things around us that were
going to hold us up.
And when that confidence wentand it wasn't the fact that that
one broke and I don't haveanother one to replace it it's
like I can't trust these thingsat all anymore, you know, even
the one that's still working.
So I think that's where we getin this pickle when doubt seems
(21:28):
to overcome us, and we need to,in those situations, keep our
eyes on Jesus and move ahead.
I think that's what thatstory's trying to teach us.
But we get excited, we getemotional, and Peter's the whole
thing was look what he's doing,I want to do that, let's go, I
(21:49):
want to do that.
And then he gets out of theboat and he realizes what was I
thinking?
This is not where I want to be,and the doubt come rushing in,
and we see that in our lives aswe move forward.
I mean, I ran into that truck,I got out there and I thought,
(22:10):
man, that is everything I want.
And Teresa was like just get it.
Your other truck's fallingapart.
And I'm like oh man, I can'tafford that payment.
I can't, and sure enough Ibought that.
Oh man, I can't afford thatpayment, I can't, and sure
enough I bought that truck and Ican't afford that payment.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
It's killing me.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
It is just it is killing me, you know, and it's
like in that situation I shouldhave looked around and retreated
instead of going forward, anduh so I don't know, man.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Man, I do like to borrow that truck.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Everybody likes to borrow that truck, but we have a
.
Definitely have a um decisions,decisions to make.
When we get in that situation,is it time to retreat and?
uh I, I told theresa, I said,let's just, it's shorter to go
back, let's just go back.
And uh, so we, so we went, wewent back after our beef, jerky
(23:02):
cheese and a cup of tea, andthen we said, yeah, we thought
about it, let's just go back.
And uh, and we did, uh, weretreated and and who knows,
that could have been, uh, whatGod wanted in the first place.
Uh, but yeah, we got, we gotscared and we stopped, and we
stopped in a bad place.
And so, if you're in thatsituation today, call out to
(23:27):
Jesus, because he's the onethat's going to grab your hand
and pull you back to your feetand give you the confidence
either to move forward orencourage you to retreat.
That's what we're looking foryou to do when you doubt.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Because it's easy to think I'm all alone in this.
If I express this to my lifegroup, what would they think of
me If I brought this up atchurch?
People would question myChristianity, my salvation, my
spirituality, my maturity.
And so we talk ourselves intothis whole thing where I man,
(24:02):
I've got to put on the face, Igot to have the look, and inside
man, we're, we're wrecked bythese things.
I, one of the guys that go here,posted on Facebook last night
so I'm assuming it's publicknowledge because he put it on
Facebook.
I won't give his name though,just in case, but just talked
(24:24):
about how he had lost his dad.
I think he said about 10 yearsago, and since that moment has
you know, had doubts about God'sgoodness and his faithfulness
and just talked about how thesermon on Sunday was like it was
for him.
He's like man.
This is where I've been and welearn to live in that place and
(24:44):
we go on like this is normal,I'm supposed to have these
things or I'm never going to getpast this.
Jesus wants you to bring thatto him, right, and we're not
saying to question when you havedoubts, to question it for a
lookout, right, job, greatexample, god, I'm not looking
(25:05):
for the out, I'm not trying todisprove your existence, and
sometimes we go there, right,culture, society, our college
professors, that's where they'regoing to point you.
That's not what we're sayingand it's not helpful to point
you.
That's not what we're sayingand it's not helpful.
We're saying take a sincerelook at those things and bring
(25:26):
it back to the Lord.
And when Peter reached out andcried out for help Lord, save me
Jesus reached out and grabbedhim.
He was right there and he willpull you out of those doubts.
Um to if you'll just cry out tohim, reach out, he's, he is
there.
And, man, as a church family,we want to be there for you too.
(25:49):
Um, when you have those things,uh, I had a guy come up to me
and I mean, just crushed by somepast church hurt and it.
I think he didn't tell me whatchurch it was at, but a
different church that he hadattended.
Um, you know just all thisstuff going on in his life, and
he felt like man, nobody wasthere for me.
I was going to this church andnobody was there for me.
(26:11):
We can't be all things to allpeople, right, um, and the
reality of life is.
Even our church is limited bythe people time resources that
we have, right, but we can prayand we can do our best to
support you.
We want to be the Aaron and Herthat are helping to hold up
your arms so that when you gettired, you've got people here in
(26:34):
your wing supporting you,praying for you, cheering you on
in your wing, supporting you,praying for you, cheering you on
, giving you the guidance,pointing you back to Jesus.
At that day of faith, gratitudeand hope talked about those
guys who carried their buddy,who had been paralyzed, to Jesus
.
We want to be the kind ofpeople who carry you towards
Jesus, not pull you away.
(26:55):
And so we're here and this is asafe spot for you to wrestle
with those doubts and with thosequestions and, and I believe,
if you do that sincerely yeah,pursuing God's truth and his
goodness in those things you'llfind that he's faithful.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And I think a lot of times, um, when we, when we're
reaching out for people to leanon, we're like the person who's
drowning and the lifeguard getsup to them and they just go
(27:31):
crazy and climb up on his head.
When we were studying, I was alifeguard in my younger years
and as I was taking my test youknow they would say this is
what's going to happen as soonas they see you.
If you get close to them withouttalking to them, they will
drown you, they'll crawl up onyour head and they'll they'll
(27:55):
just pull you under and you'llyou'll both die.
You need to stop while they'redrowning and say, hey, hey, this
is what I'm going to do.
Um you're going to have to letme do it and, um, and if they
don't respond, they teach you togo underwater, grab them by the
feet and pull them under andthen lock them in your hold Good
(28:19):
night feet.
And pull them under and thenlock them in your hold and then
pull them because they'reflailing away and you're and
you're both in danger.
And uh, sometimes we, um, whenwe're looking for someone to
bail us out, you know we do thatwe try to crawl up on top of
their heads and and uh, andpeople, people get leery of that
(28:39):
.
You know how do, how do I dealwith this person?
You know, um, and and peopleare heavy and and when we, when
we're in doubt and we'restruggling, um, sometimes we're
going to have to to learn toswim a little bit to help the,
to help the person who's tryingto help us.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's um, that's somethinga lot of people who are really
(29:03):
hurt and don't want to hear, butthey know it's the truth.
It's just getting them torealize it in their panic.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
It's easy as soon as the help comes along.
Man, yeah, I'm so tired of thisfight and I've been drowning
and struggling.
Right, just take me right yeah,and that's.
You know, that's what I had.
I told that guy.
I was like man, we're we, wewant to help you and we'll do
whatever we can when someone inour church is hurting.
We want to be the kind ofpeople to do whatever we can.
Same time, we're limited to youknow, um, but we, we want to be
(29:40):
that place where you can comeand you can bring those
questions and, and if we can'tdo anything, what we'll do is
we'll, we'll pray and we'regoing to point you to Jesus and
we'll try to walk through thebest way that we can.
You know, and that's that's sopowerful to have a community
that does that.
Cause, if, outside of thechurch, where do you get that?
(30:00):
Um, you go to other people withdoubts and questions and, man,
they, our culture, will quicklypull you into, you know,
definitely away from the Lord,but into this, um, um,
individualizing, where I can'tsee anything but myself, and
it'll suck you inside and I'mtelling you there's no life
(30:21):
there.
That's sitting on the on theRidge there stuck.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Right, Because you lost that thing that might've
supported you.
And now you're looking on bothsides of the Ridge saying that
you know, I I need help.
Someone's got to get me out ofhere.
Teresa and I, we had to get upand walk out, and that's the
scariest thing, because you'regoing to go and you're going to
say why did God let this happento me?
(30:47):
Why did God?
You know, that's what the doubtis.
Is God good?
Why would he do this to me?
This doesn't make sense.
You know, sometimes, when we'rerebellious and we've been bad
and we automatically think thatwell, I deserve this.
You know I, if I was god, thisis what I would do to me.
(31:08):
But other times you're, you'relike what is going on, god?
And you're going to let thishappen to me.
And you're going to go to yoursupport team, you're going to go
to your church, you're going togo to your pastors, you're
going to go to your and you'regoing to go to your support team
.
You're going to go to yourchurch, you're going to go to
your pastors, you're going to goto your life group.
You're going to go to yourfriends and say why has this
happened to me?
And you know what they're goingto say.
I don't know.
(31:32):
And so when you're in that,somebody tell me something that
I can grab a hold of.
And you're stuck in that Idon't know what's going on.
I don't know why this happened.
I don't know why he did that toyou.
I don't know why she left.
I don't know why I don't.
I don't know why, but I, I knowwho you can reach out to, and
(31:54):
that's what we need.
Even when we're angry with himfor what has happened, he's the
guy you should be reaching forNow.
It's just like that lifeguardwho pulls you under, you know
and then he wraps his arm aroundyour chest and he gets complete
control of you.
And then you both climb up outof the water and he says to you
(32:18):
okay, I'm going to swim andyou're going gonna be on my hip,
don't fight me or you'll lose,because I'm just gonna take you
back down under the water again.
And uh, and what's happeningthere is your life is being
saved and you're in a battlewith the one who wants to save
your life, and that that is um,that is the Christian walk.
(32:41):
Right there.
We're going to have to learn.
We're going to have to learnthat this guy's got his arms
wrapped around me.
I, you know, I'm struggling, I'mscared.
I, you know, I want more thanhim, taking one little paddle at
a time, one little kick at atime.
You know, I want out.
Get me out, right, right, butwe have to.
(33:03):
That's how we build our faith,even when we don't trust him,
even when we think you know God,you're the one who let this
happen to me in the first place.
He's the one that's going toswim you out.
And are you going to make thatdecision?
Or are you just going to say,no, I got, I got this, and um,
and leave yourself out there byyourself.
(33:25):
And the lord's always.
He's always like I'm.
I'm gonna come get you um butit's gonna be a battle right and
uh, just relax, just relax,just relax into me and I can get
you out of this.
And it's tough on us.
I think it's tough especiallyin our culture, where we got to
(33:46):
do something to fix this andeverything we do doesn't fix it
Right.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I said on Sunday that we're intentionally or not,
we're building our faith,building our trust on something.
And we can try to build it onsome philosophy, some idea, our
cultural or religious upbringing, all those things, or we can
choose to build it on scripture.
(34:14):
Jesus said my word is truth.
He said I am the way, the truth, the life, and so you can
choose to build it on him.
And, yes, that takes faith, butyou're putting your faith in
this other thing to hold you upto.
And so today I want to give yousome, maybe some practical
tools to help you navigate doubtwith confidence.
(34:35):
When I'm in that moment, whenI'm up on that ridge or on that
saddle and I got to walk out ofthis thing, I got to stand up
and make a move.
How do I do that withconfidence?
I think number one we've beensaying in this series you got to
acknowledge your doubts.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
I think that's the most important thing.
A lot of times we try to.
A lot of times we try to.
Our faith is strong in God, butwhen we have doubts we try to
outrun them.
Yeah, or to just like I'm goingto put my head down and just go
(35:13):
forward.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
No, god, we need to deal.
And I briefly talked about thefather of that boy who was
possessed by a demon.
He brings him to Jesus and hesays I do believe.
Help my unbelief.
You're like?
Well, hold on.
I thought you just said he cameto that point where he
acknowledges those things and hesays God, I do believe, but I
need you to help my unbelief.
So, acknowledge those things,bring them to the Lord.
(35:37):
The whole point of the sermonon Sunday was God can handle
your doubts, he's not afraid ofthem.
Yeah, acknowledge those thingsand then next seek knowledge.
I talked about how do we, how dowe build a support system?
We do it through that old song,the B I B L E.
This is the book for me.
I stand upon the word of God.
That's what we do.
(35:57):
The problem, as I talked abouton Sunday, is we all come with
our own lenses and biases andfilters, and so I challenge
people on Sunday approachscripture through the lens of
God's love.
God is love.
So everything he does in yourlife, even when it's pulling you
under the water because you'retrying to climb on top and fight
against him, is love.
(36:20):
He does it because he's loveand because he loves you.
And so when you reach you knowthis passage of Peter Peter you
have a little faith.
Why did you doubt?
When you read that, not ascondemnation, not as
disappointment, but as love, itchanges the whole thing.
And could it be that God, whenhe looks at you and says man
(36:41):
why'd you doubt?
me.
He's not doing it like yourdisappointed coach who wonders
how many times he's going tohave to teach you to swing that
golf club.
Why are you still doing itwrong?
But he's doing it because heloves you.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
And another thing is that we live in a Christian
community.
There's nothing happening toyou that hasn't happened to
someone else.
That's right, and you need tolook out there.
Focus on the family, the gospelcoalition.
There's people out there.
There's divorce groups, there'sAA groups that focus on
(37:15):
scripture and they're out there.
They're dealing with the samething that you're dealing with,
and sometimes, when you seekknowledge, you need to seek it
from someone who's been in thatpit and climbed out the other
side and said Jesus pulled methrough.
That's the person you need totalk to.
I remember when um, my nephew,passed away zach and um sharon,
(37:43):
um shimmy that's shimmy in ourchurch her name got changed when
my son was born, because hecouldn't say sharon, so he
called her shimmy.
And she says I'm taking it.
That's my name from now on.
I never liked sharon, so wecall her Shimmy.
But she kept asking Lord, howam I going to live?
I can't live, I can't breathe.
(38:05):
And she kept walking, andstruggling, and walking and
struggling, and now when someoneloses their kid, she's the
first one to call them.
We have a community of faiththat people have been through.
God has led them through somethings which we all experienced
on Saturday when we came to thefaith, gratitude and hope.
(38:30):
What?
Are we calling that Conference.
Event.
Conference.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Yeah Conference, who knows?
Yeah conference of day meetingconference of men meeting.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Yeah, it was great to see how God was faithful in
these people's lives.
And when you're doubting, youwant to seek that.
Seek not just the knowledge inthe scriptures but also seek
people who have experienced thesame thing and has made it out
on the other end.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Yeah, and I would say that's, you know, kind of
another one of those things weneed to engage in community.
Paul actually wrote to theCorinthians and he says that God
comforts us so that we cancomfort others in their time of
need.
And so you might be wondering,man, why am I going through this
?
And I just remember, as Ravondawas, you know, got her
(39:20):
diagnosis and was coming toterms with with that reality, I
had spoke to her or her andScott I don't know if it was on
the phone or if they came intothe church.
I think they came into thechurch, we had a meeting, um,
but you just said, I know thatGod has me in this, for for a
reason, in the whole event thathappened on Saturday was her
saying we want to providecomfort and encouragement to
(39:43):
others.
That God has brought us throughthis and they started planning
that event and had that idealong before they knew what the
outcome was going to be for her.
So, whether or not this endsthe way that we hope it does,
we're still planning this eventbecause we know that God wants
to use us to bring hope andcomfort to other people.
(40:04):
And man, we need to engage inthat kind of community and, like
I said, there's all kinds ofcommunity out there.
Most of them are going to pullyou away.
You want to engage with thecommunity that's going to pull
you and even like those guys whopicked up their paralytic
friend on that mat and carry youtowards Jesus when you can't
even get yourself up off thefloor.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
You know what you mentioned the guy in Mark 9 who
said I do believe, help myunbelief.
I think we discredit himbecause he knew these disciples
were casting out demons and hebelieved.
And he brought his son to thedisciples and they couldn't do
(40:50):
it.
And so it was like that polebreaking.
No, I'm where I'm supposed tobe, I'm doing what I think I'm
supposed to be doing, but, man,that pole has broken.
And they bring him to Jesus andhe says to Jesus, if you can,
(41:10):
will you heal my son?
And Jesus says, if you can.
And he says everything ispossible for the one who
believes, believes in whobelieves in jesus, everything is
possible.
And uh, and he says, you know,I did believe, I did believe.
(41:33):
And he reaches back to grab ahold of that.
You know, I brought my son herebecause I believed.
I'm not completely, you didn't.
You didn't chase me down, Ichased you down, right.
I brought my son here because Idid believe, but help my
unbelief.
You know there was a failurethere.
(41:53):
I, I do believe, but I'mstruggling.
Help my unbelief.
And that you know, when I wastalking about Thomas in the
opening of this series, I waslike I want to give some credit
to his doubt.
I want to dignify it.
And this guy, I want to dignifyhis doubt too.
(42:16):
He brought him to the disciples.
It didn't happen, you know, buthe brought him, you know.
So let's dignify that a littlebit for that guy, because that's
probably where you are and youneed to reflect on the past, on
the past, your past faith, whatthings have brought you through
(42:40):
to this point, and that's one ofthe practical steps for
navigating doubt.
Remember you had faith whensomeone else was going through
what you were going through, andit wasn't you.
You led them to faith that itwould work out.
You had faith.
So recall moments of your ownfaith is probably the number one
(43:03):
step.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Well, and what that does is, when we look back in
those moments of faith that wehad, what we find is God's
faithfulness, because there hasbeen seasons of your life when
you thought I can't get throughthis, I can't breathe, I don't
know how to go forward, I don'tknow what my next step is.
And now you're five, 10, 15years down the road.
(43:27):
Well, you did something, yougot through it.
God didn't leave you then.
He didn't fail you then.
He's not going to fail you now.
And I know this is new and Iknow the scenery isn't what you
thought.
And you're looked up and you'relike whoa, how did I get on
this saddle and why am Istanding here Right?
But he didn't fail you before.
(43:49):
He's not going to start today.
You know I joke with joy allthe time.
She doesn't think it's funny,but I do Anytime she tells me
I'm wrong.
I was like you think.
I picked a random Tuesday to bewrong for the first time.
If I'm going to be wrong, I'mgoing to pick a special day.
I'm just going to do it onTuesday.
You think God's going to failyou.
Now he just all of a suddentoday decided I'm done with this
(44:12):
whole God thing.
No, he has been faithful overand over and over again and when
we look back on those momentswe can see man.
He was with me there.
He was with me in the fire.
He was with me in the valley.
He was with me up on that ridge.
He's always been there and wekind of have that moment, like
Jacob had, when we look up andsay, man, surely the Lord is in
(44:35):
this place and I was unaware.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Yeah, when we acknowledge our doubts, we
should probably write them downjournal that you know, so we can
look back and say you know, theLord led me through this and
now this thing happens, eventhough it seems a whole lot
bigger.
He led me through that, he canlead me through this.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah, and I think the final one that we'll we'll
leave you with and I'm going totry to wrap us up here, cause we
went real long last week, sogive you a little bit of a
reprise, and our wives are goingto be like no, it was still too
long, um, but I want toencourage you don't discredit
this one.
We need to.
We need to pray, um, don't giveup on prayer, and even when you
feel like it's I don't know,this is working.
(45:20):
This is the last resort.
Keep bringing those things toprayer.
Paul said cast all of youranxiety upon him, because he
cares for you.
That's the kind of God he is.
So keep bringing those thingsto him.
And I know you've prayed aboutit a hundred times and I know
you don't feel like it's workingKeep bringing it to them, as
(45:43):
when we pray and I've done awhole series on this, so I don't
want to talk about it all herebut, man, we don't realize all
that we acknowledge when we say,when we begin to pray, because
when I do that, I'm saying thereis a God in heaven.
I acknowledge that I'm sayingthere is a God in heaven.
I acknowledge that and Ibelieve that that God hears my
prayer, how powerful.
(46:04):
And not only does he hear me,but I believe that the God of
the universe, who keeps theearth in motion and is still to
this day expanding the galaxy,he cares enough to listen to me
and that he's powerful enough toact.
Every time you pray, you'redoing those four things, and how
(46:25):
powerful.
That's why the devil tries toconvince us all the time that
prayer is ineffective, becausethere is so much power every
time we go to the Lord in prayer.
So keep bringing those thingsto him, god, I believe, but help
my unbelief.
Help me in this moment.
God, I need you to move.
I need you to show up.
Keep coming to him in prayer.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
And be honest, god, I know you're good, but it
doesn't feel like it.
And just keep bringing thosehonest thoughts.
God doesn't want you to comeand lay some platitudes on them
and you try to convince him todo something for you.
He wants your honest, heartfeltprayer.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Read the Psalms Right Watch David wrestle with that
Hopefully he did your homeworklast week of the psalmist who
was saying God man, I look outand I see all this going on.
Are you paying attention?
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Right, I love that Psalm 73, isn't it yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Be honest with them.
God knows what you're feelinganyway, it's not like you're
keeping it from them.
But, man, bring those things tothem and I believe that as you
do that, you're going to learnthat he is faithful even when we
are faithless, that he is good,that he is love, that his word
is truth.
And if you keep doing that,he's going to reach out, he's
(47:47):
going to grab a hold of you andI love how the CSB says he
caught hold of them.
He's going to catch hold of youand he's going to walk you to
sure footing.
Catch hold of you and, uh, man,he's going to walk you to sure
footing, um, and so, pastor Tim,will you pray for us?
Speaker 3 (48:10):
Father, I want to thank you for this study, um,
because I I think our doubtneeds to be dignified and not
just swept into the corner.
And, uh, father, I pray for allyour people who have doubts and
are letting those doubts pullthem away from you, looking for
an answer other than you.
And, lord, I pray that you'lllead them to reach out to you so
(48:33):
that you can grab a hold ofthem.
Grab a hold of them, and I know, lord, that, uh, a lot of them
are drowning and, um, you'rejust out of reach from them and
they're in a panic and they'relike, lord, do something.
And, uh, you're talking to themquietly.
I am going to do something, um,but I'm it might be a little
(48:58):
tough and the way out is goingto be, uh, a rough ride.
And, uh, I just, I just wantyou to know I'm going to love
you through this, even though itmight be tough.
Lord, I pray that we'll embracethat and, uh, and we'll let you
put your arms around us andswim us out of the mess that
(49:21):
we're in.
Lord, I know that a lot of lifehas nothing to do with us how
we live, what we do.
It's just, things happen in afallen world and it crushes us.
But, lord, I want you to reachout to your people, grab a hold
(49:41):
of them and give them thatlife-saving word and bring them
back closer to you through theirdoubt, not in spite of, but
through it.
In Jesus' name amen.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Amen.
Thanks again for joining us forthis episode of the Midweek
Podcast.
Amen, offering new resourcesthat equip you to discover more
(50:16):
in Christ.
Simply text any amount to thenumber 84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
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