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Welcome again to Harbor West. Great to see all of you guys and worship with you. My name is Justin.

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I'm one of the pastors here of our church, and we're going to continue worshiping Jesus by opening the Bible,

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studying God's word to us, and we're going to look to believe it together and live it out together.

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And so if you have a Bible, you can grab it now, and we're going to turn to John chapter 20.

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And so if you're using one of those Bibles under the chairs in front of you, John chapter 20 is on page 963 in those Bibles.

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So man, to me, college was such an interesting time because in college, in my college years,

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I felt like I was using my brain for such incredible things.

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Like I was taking these really difficult exams.

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I was writing 30-page papers.

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Like I was doing all this really difficult stuff with my brain.

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But I felt like it was kind of a brain that wasn't fully developed and ready to be an adult

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and make good decisions yet also.

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And this kind of exhibited itself one day my junior year.

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I was in the dorm room, and me and some of my buddies were, I was a Bible major, and so me and some of my buddies were studying Greek and Hebrew and diagramming verses and doing all this translation work.

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And I had a roommate named Brian who was an early education degree major, and he was over in his cubicle cutting out bananas for a bulletin board.

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And so I remember looking over at Brian, like, just, hey, dude, how are those bananas coming as we're doing our Greek?

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We used to give him such a hard time.

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And then my first job out of college was to teach fifth grade at an elementary school.

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And I remember a couple months into it, I was sitting in my apartment cutting out bananas.

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And I called Brian and I was like, I am so sorry.

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Like I repented

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in dust and ashes because no degree can prep you for 22 eyes looking up at you,

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22 fifth graders looking at you saying, I dare you to teach me how to add fractions.

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Like there's no degree that can do that for you.

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But Brian was my roommate and he was early education.

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And one thing we bonded on was that we both liked football.

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and so he had a football and so he used to throw the football around this tiny dorm room and so I

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used to play football. I was a quarterback for several years growing up and so I was really good

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at short passes. My teams would call a lot of slants and little button hooks and little short

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things. Anything within eight yards, I'm money. Anything over eight yards, hot garbage. Like I

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just can't throw far but if it's quick and short, I'm great. I'm super accurate and so Brian figured

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this out. He was like, dude, you're super accurate. And I was like, yeah, I got this as long as we stay

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in the dorm room. And so he used to like pick things out of the room and say, hit that, hit that,

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hit that. And so we had these marks all over our room. Well, one day he was super convinced, I guess.

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And so he took an Arizona green tea thing and stood over by the door about from here to this wall

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and put it on his head. And he's like, I believe, do it. And that's where that brain kicked in. It's

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not ready to be an adult yet, you know? And I was like, yeah, I could do this. So I grabbed the ball.

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I mean, it wasn't a lob.

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It wasn't a toss.

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I mean, I got into it.

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I planted the back foot and I threw it hard.

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And I nailed it.

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I nailed it.

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I didn't touch Brian's head at all.

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It knocked the can off and he turned around and ran at me and we hugged and jumped.

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And it was like we'd won the Super Bowl.

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It was the greatest thing.

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And so the legend started to spread.

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And so Brian started to tell people and like, man, you got to see Justin throw a football.

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And there was one day where a bunch of people were in the room several weeks later.

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And Brian was like telling the story again.

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Justin was sitting there and I was over here.

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And one of the guys, our buddy Jeff was like, okay, dude, I'm sick of this story.

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I believe you.

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I believe.

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And Brian reached under his chair and pulled out an Arizona green tea can and said, okay, here you go.

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Put it on your head.

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And Jeff grabbed it and was like, no, I'm good.

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Like I don't, I don't.

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And Brian was like, then you don't believe.

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And it taught me this really good lesson.

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We can say that we believe things.

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We can even be convinced in ourselves that we believe certain things.

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But when confronted with actually putting ourselves in the situation and owning it for ourselves,

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maybe we sometimes balk and sit back and say, oh, wait, I don't know.

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And it kind of shows that we can even say we believe and still live with some doubt.

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And that's the story we're going to kind of be looking at here in the life of Jesus.

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We're going to look at a story after he rose from the dead, after many people have seen him.

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but some of his closest friends still have a lot of doubts,

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and one guy specifically doubts a lot.

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And so we're going to look at how Jesus overcomes those doubts

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and transforms doubt into deep faith.

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So let's pray and get into John 20.

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God, we know you are the God who works miracles.

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And so we pray that you would work miracles this morning,

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that you would work miracles here in our church

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of overcoming some doubts that we've been wrestling through,

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maybe overcoming doubts that we've lived with for years

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about who you are and how you work and if you love us.

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And so we pray to you, the miracle-working God,

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that you would show up and work those miracles powerfully through your word today.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Okay, John 20, verse 19.

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When it was evening on the first day of the week,

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the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews.

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Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them,

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Peace be with you.

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Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

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So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

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So this is the band of guys who've been following Jesus for three years.

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The closest people to Jesus who've been watching him teach,

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watching him work miracles, watching him change lives.

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These guys are the guys who are now hiding behind locked doors,

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afraid for their own lives because they're Jesus' followers.

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But Peter and John, man, they've been to the tomb.

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They've seen that the stone was rolled.

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Mary Magdalene came back and told these guys their life-altering reality,

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that she talked with Jesus who'd been risen from the dead.

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But they're not buying it yet.

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Their doubts are too overwhelming.

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Their doubts are controlling their actions rather than their faith.

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I mean, they've had someone preach the gospel to them,

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and they could have and really should have believed,

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But now Jesus shows up to them.

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And some scholars think that Jesus just kind of miraculously caused the doors or the locks on the doors to unlock.

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And he just walked in through the doors.

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The text doesn't say that.

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The text just says the doors are locked and then boom, Jesus was there.

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And so I like to think that Jesus in his resurrected body, this isn't just me, others think this too.

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Jesus in his resurrected, 100% physical, but now divine new body has either the ability to walk through walls or to teleport or both.

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I'm here for both of them.

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Like I want both in my resurrected body.

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That would be awesome, all right?

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And so I'm hoping that that's a glimpse of what we see here.

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But regardless, by Jesus showing up, meeting them in this room, look at what their response is.

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It says they rejoiced.

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They worship.

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You see, Jesus is now transforming them.

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The doubt, the fear, the despair, it's starting to go away or by now it's gone.

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And now they're just worshiping.

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And all of these guys, all of these guys who are locked, scared in a room,

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they would all go on to live so boldly for Jesus

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that almost all of them end up being killed for their faith.

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They went from overwhelming, crippling doubt

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to living for Jesus as boldly as you can.

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They've been totally transformed.

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But not everyone just yet.

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Down in verse 24,

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But Thomas, called twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came.

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So the other disciples were telling him, we've seen the Lord.

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But he said to them, if I don't see the mark of the nails on his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and put my hand into his side, look at these words, I will, look, never believe.

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I will never believe unless Jesus shows up for me this way.

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Thomas didn't see Jesus for himself.

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He's heard Mary tell him about Jesus.

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He's now got his 10 close friends telling him about Jesus.

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But he wants Jesus to call his name like he did for Mary.

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He wants Jesus to show up for him like he did for the other 10.

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And so he gets the name that a lot of us know him now by as Doubting Thomas.

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But now before we rag on Thomas too much, man, let's just look at it for what it is.

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They all doubted, right?

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Mary showed up at the tomb that Sunday morning filled with doubt.

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the ten they were hiding behind locked doors and their doubts didn't go away until Jesus showed up

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all right so Thomas I mean think about John the Baptist John the Baptist in Matthew 11 is called

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the greatest man to be born of a woman that's what Jesus says about him and John the Baptist got to

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baptize Jesus I mean John had some faith but then when he's in imprisoned in jail John sent his

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followers to Jesus to ask the question wait are you really the Messiah or did I get it wrong you

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know what that's called? Doubt. And here's what we see in the Bible. The Bible is filled with doubters

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and it teaches us this. We're all doubters. We're all doubters. We all have doubts. We all have low

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moments when we wonder if God is really there, if Jesus's life and death really mean anything to us,

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if any of this is really true or not. Maybe you've grown up in the church and so to be

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in this gathering and to hear churchy stuff is just kind of like you being a fish in water

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and all this feels very normal. But man, if you sit back and really think about it,

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everything we believe hinges on the reality that there's a loving God who created everything and

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holds it all together and created us special, but in his sovereignty and love allowed us to rebel

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and the consequences separate us from him. But he promised to deal with those consequences himself.

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And so he promised to become a man and he did it.

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The triune God, the one God existing eternally as three persons,

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sent one of those persons, the son, to be born completely and utterly as a human

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without losing his divinity so that that baby was the God-man.

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And he, Jesus, lived completely as a human just like we do,

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but in the power of God's spirit, never sinned at all.

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And so this first century homeless, miracle-working God-man Jewish rabbi

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murdered unjustly on two sticks.

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But actually what was happening there

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was that he was willingly laying down his life

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in our place to pay the price

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for all of our rebellion and sin against God

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so that we could have life and forgiveness forever.

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And to prove that it worked,

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God rose him from the dead

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and now he is alive today

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and he's promised to come back and rescue us

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and make it all right again.

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That's a lot.

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That's a lot of stuff.

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And that's heavy stuff, right?

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And maybe, maybe you're just in a space in life where you don't doubt any of that ever.

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And if that's you, praise God.

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He has given you an amazing gift of faith.

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But listen, be easy on others.

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Be easy on others who aren't there yet.

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This is some difficult stuff to think through, to figure out, to have faith in.

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none of Jesus' disciples believed it.

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None of even the heroic women at the tomb believed it.

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Doubt is so tied to the human experience.

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It's part of the fallout of our rebellion.

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We are all bent to not take God at his word

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and try to explain the things of God in some other way.

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But here's the first thing I want us to see from our text.

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Firstly, Jesus pursues us in our doubts.

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Jesus pursues us in our doubts.

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Jesus knew Mary's doubts.

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He knows the disciples' doubts.

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He shows us that because when he shows up for Thomas, he knew Thomas' doubts.

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That's what we're going to see in a second.

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He knows exactly what Thomas asked for.

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Jesus knows the ways that we doubt and struggle.

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Our doubts don't take God by surprise.

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If you're here this morning and you're doubting if Jesus is God or that any of this is real,

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man, that is not a surprise to God.

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God isn't disappointed in you

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he's not ashamed of you

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he's not ready to write you off

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he's pursuing you

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because you see Jesus didn't wait on them

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to work through their doubts

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and figure out how to overcome their fear

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they aren't going out looking for Jesus

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these disciples

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they're in this room behind locked door

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but Jesus is pursuing them

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meeting them where they are at

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and here's what I believe, Jesus is pursuing you as well.

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I mean, the fact that you're here this morning,

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do you know how amazing it is that you're here in church,

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gathered with a bunch of Jesus followers,

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especially if you're someone here

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who's wrestling through serious doubts about who God is

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and if he loves you and if Jesus can really rescue you,

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it is an absolute miracle that you are here.

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Just like it's a miracle that Thomas kept hanging out

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with these 10 guys.

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Thomas kept showing up

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he kept hanging out with his friends

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who were now totally sold out

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on the risen Jesus

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Thomas kept coming

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and that's a miracle

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that shows me this

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that God was still pursuing him

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and now in verse 26

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it says a week later

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his disciples were indoors again

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and Thomas was with them

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even though the doors were locked

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Jesus came and stood among them

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and said

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peace be with you

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then he said to Thomas just imagine him turning now and focusing on Thomas this one-on-one

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conversation in this group of people and he says this put your finger here and look at my hands

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reach out your hand and put it into my side don't be faithless but believe

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now you see Jesus didn't show up for Thomas right away Thomas has these serious doubts and you got

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to think Thomas has been praying asking God to show up for him Thomas's friends they got nothing

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else to do. They've probably been sharing the gospel with him, praying, asking God to show up

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for Thomas. They've probably been talking to Thomas every single day, begging him to believe.

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But day after day goes by a probably really slow week for Thomas, and God hasn't shown up yet.

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But here's what I love. The disciples didn't make Thomas feel bad or guilty about his doubts.

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They didn't kick him out of the group. They didn't say, okay, here's, we saw Jesus. You're not going

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to believe it? Okay, dude, then just stop coming. Go do something else. They didn't kick him out.

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They made space for him to live with his doubts safely among them, and they trusted Jesus to show

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up and win Thomas over in God's timing. Guys, God knows exactly what he's doing in each of our lives

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and in the lives of your friends and family. God has his timing, and we can trust that his timing

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is best. And look, he does show up for Thomas, right? Which means this, here's our second point.

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Not only does Jesus pursue us, I think this shows us this, Jesus is undefeated in his pursuit of us.

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Jesus is undefeated in his pursuit. The doors were locked again. Thomas's heart still filled

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with doubt. But Jesus says, man, I'm not going to let these locks stop me from getting to you.

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I'm not going to let your doubts stop me from getting to you.

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I'm not going to let seven more days drive you too far away from me.

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Jesus isn't letting anything stop him.

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He's the mover of mountains, the breaker of chains.

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And listen, guys, if death couldn't stop Jesus in his love of winning you and I back to God,

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then our doubts aren't going to stop him.

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Your and my doubts are not stronger than death.

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And Jesus had victory over death for us,

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which means he definitely can have victory over our doubts.

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maybe you always thought that you've gone too far

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that you've just lived too much of your life with too much doubt

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too much sin, too much running away

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and you're like I think at this point I'm kind of just too far from God

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my heart is too locked

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and I don't think God can get behind those locks

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God wants you to know this today

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nothing can stop his pursuit of you

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his love for you

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As deep as our doubt may go, God's grace goes deeper still.

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But why?

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Why?

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Well, why would Jesus pursue doubters so relentlessly?

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Like, why not find people who are just eager to have faith?

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People who are easy and ready to believe and who aren't going to ask hard questions.

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People who are just like, man, I'm a follower of Jesus and I'm just not going to doubt it.

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I'm just going to go my whole life full charge, full sin for Jesus all the time.

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Why would Jesus spend his time on doubters?

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Why are there so many doubters in the church?

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Because thirdly, and guys, listen,

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I really believe this is one of the most important sentences we could read,

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one of the most important sentences that is true,

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and one of the most important things we could spend our lives experiencing.

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Thirdly, because Jesus is on your side.

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Because Jesus is on your side.

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Jesus is on doubters' side.

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It's not Jesus against the doubters.

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It says that Jesus came to them behind these locked doors,

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and it says this, Jesus stood among them.

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Now, I would think that if this were Jesus

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and he'd been teaching them about his resurrection,

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he'd been teaching them about his kingdom,

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been teaching them about eternity,

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been teaching them about salvation and all that he would do,

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that Jesus would likely show up at this time,

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look at them and be like, I told you guys so.

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like here I am like why didn't you believe what is wrong with you why are you still fearful like he

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would just kind of lord it over them stand over them and they would need to kind of like bow at

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his feet and grovel and beg for forgiveness but this language that he came and stood among them

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this is the language of standing as a friend he just came and stood among them as a friend a couple

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verses above this back in like verse 22 or something it says he actually had an encounter

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where each of them where he breathed on them and that's this intimate personal thing he had with

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each of them. Jesus came back and stood among them as his friend. And look at the first word he says

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to them, not I told you so, not what's wrong with you, but peace. Peace. He wants their hearts to be

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settled. He wants what's best for them. He wants them to be at peace. And what we see here is that

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peace is not a set of circumstances, it's a person. Jesus gives them himself and says, you can now have

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real peace, the peace that you desperately long for. And then he invites them, look at this,

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he invites them to see his hands that were pierced for them, his side that was cut open for them.

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In his resurrected body, the other wounds must have healed, but Jesus decided to retain these scars.

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Why? Likely for this moment and all other moments like it. All the times when Jesus's followers

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would doubt, would question, does God really love me? How much does God love me? And Jesus says,

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let me show you. Let me prove it again and again. Let me show you how on your side I am. I love you

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to death. The most incredible reality in the world is this. God is for you. He is not against you.

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God is for you

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he is not against you

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Psalm 118 6 says this

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the Lord is for me

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and look at the follow up

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I will not be afraid

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that could also say I will not doubt

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the disciples were gathered scared

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but it was because of their doubts

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the fears feed the doubts

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the doubts feed the fears

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but what gives us courage

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what gives us certainty

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what allows us to stand

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knowing this

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Lord is for me, that Jesus is on my side.

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God is not against me.

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And now that Thomas sees this and knows this

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and starts to feel this, look at what he says in verse 28.

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Thomas responded to Jesus, my Lord and my God.

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You see, Thomas is done demanding explanation.

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Now he's just submitting to revelation.

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When Jesus shows up and calls your name,

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if you still demand explanation,

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it shows that you don't really want to believe.

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When people don't believe,

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it's not because the evidence for Jesus' resurrection

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isn't strong enough.

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It's because they have other reasons, motives, or questions

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that make them unable to believe.

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But Thomas here, man, he wants to believe.

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And so he doesn't pepper Jesus with questions.

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He doesn't say, okay, I see you, I see the scars,

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but why did you do it this way?

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What's going on?

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What's gonna happen next?

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He doesn't pepper him with questions.

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He just says this amazing statement,

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my Lord and my God.

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It's a statement of submission.

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his submission to Jesus comes before a deep scholarly understanding of what Jesus has done

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he doesn't go get a seminary degree and then say okay I get it now he just knows Jesus is my Lord

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and my God right now this is surrender this is personal this is worship what he's saying here is

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I trust you Jesus and I don't have to understand everything I don't have to have all of my questions

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answered. I just know this, you're my Lord and you're my God. I heard a story this week about

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someone in our church who's going through just a really difficult time. Like they're just,

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the kind of some stuff in their life is really strained and tough and difficult. And they were

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talking to someone else in our church about it, just kind of sharing and probably asking for prayer,

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different things, but they just kind of shared the thick of it, like what was going on in their life.

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but then they ended the whole story with this statement.

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They said, you know, God knows what's best

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and that's good enough for me.

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There it is.

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My Lord and my God.

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God knows what's best and that's good enough for me.

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Thomas looks at Jesus and he says,

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man, I don't have to know all the ins and outs

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of everything that just happened.

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I just know that this is good enough for me.

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Jesus is here in my life.

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and he's alive.

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What's interesting is that it never says

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that Thomas actually reaches out

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and touches Jesus' scars.

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That's what

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he said had

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to happen, right?

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He was nails on that.

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Unless I put my finger right there,

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what does he say?

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I will never believe.

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But it's not even recorded that he does that.

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It says Jesus shows up and invites him to do it

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and just instantly, my Lord and my God.

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And you know, I think that's kind of telling

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about us sometimes, right? We often tell God what has to happen in our lives in order for us to

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believe. But here's the question, what are you going to actually do when Jesus just shows up?

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What are you going to do when Jesus shows up in your life? Maybe you're thinking, man, I wish he

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would. I wish he would show up for me just like he did for Thomas. If I could just see the real

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physical Jesus, then I would believe. Well, in Matthew 28, Matthew writes about how the resurrected

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Jesus showed up to some of his followers and it says this, many of them worshiped, but some still

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doubted. See, not everybody who saw the physical resurrected Jesus believed right away. Some persisted

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in their doubts. And it might be that we tell God, God, here's exactly what I need in order to believe.

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And then that thing happens and we go, yeah, but that could have been chance or luck, or I could

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have been just dreaming. You see, if we dig our heels in on our doubts, Jesus may still show up

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in us still persist in our doubt if we're looking for reasons not to believe.

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And so what do we need? What do we need in order to believe? God's told us what we need. And he said

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this, that we have everything we need right here. We have everything we need. Look at what 2 Peter 1

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tells us. It says, God's divine power has given us everything required. That's everything we need

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for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

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We have everything we need. And where does it come from? From the knowledge of him. And where do we

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get the knowledge of him, the knowledge of Jesus? It's in the Bible. It's in God's word. It's how

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God inspired faithful men to write down everything that we see in the Bible, all of the poetry,

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the wisdom literature, the narrative, the history, the apocalyptic literature, all that we see God

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inspired and wanted it to be this way so that we could have in God's word everything we need to

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overwhelm even our deepest doubts. If you're in the spot where you're like, no, I need more.

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I need Jesus to show up in the flesh in front of me. You're saying you need more than what God said

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you actually need. God says we have everything we need. I think we need to be careful when we put

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conditions on God that go beyond what he said. And so man, as you dig into God's word, as you show up

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week after week and hear the gospel preached, as you go to community group and talk about the Bible

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with others, we have everything we need for faith and to see doubt dissolve. So the question is this,

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are you going to surrender your life to him? Let him be your Lord and your God. Mary, the disciples,

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Thomas, they all had this amazing experience of seeing the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes.

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Last week, we heard a story of a lady at Harbor Honolulu, how she saw God's face in the clouds.

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God could show up for you like that. He could show up and he will show up, I think, in ways behind

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whatever doors you've locked in your heart and deadbolted. But here's the question, what are you

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going to do when he does show up? Are you going to surrender your life to him and let him be your

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Lord and your God. That seems like a great place to say, let's go ahead and pray together, but I've

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got more, right? Bonus material, because many of you have already done that. Many of you have had

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that experience of Thomas and you've wrestled through some doubt and Jesus has shown up for

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you in his word or as you've been praying or as you've been sitting in a church service and heard

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God's word and you've said, yes, okay, he is my Lord and my God. And you've given your life to him,

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started following him, but something you've experienced over the last several years

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is that there's still some doubts.

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There's still doubts that creep up, even some intense doubts.

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Maybe you go through full seasons of doubt.

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And so the question is, as followers of Jesus, what do we do when doubts show up?

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What should we do in those times, in those seasons?

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How can we experience Jesus transform our doubts into deep faith?

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I want to give us four quick ways we can respond

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when doubt creeps into the life of a Jesus follower.

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And the first way is this,

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we've got to identify the lie.

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We've got to identify the lie.

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Doubt almost always exists in our lives

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because we're currently believing

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something that's not true about God,

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something that's not true about who he is

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or how he works.

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And so we need to identify what that lie is

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so we can start telling the truth to ourselves

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and rehearsing the truth in our own lives.

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Maybe we're believing that God isn't truly good

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or that God isn't really in control

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or that God isn't really on my side.

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When we first planted the church,

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this church, I was living way up in Makakilo

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and I liked going on walks back then,

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listening to podcasts and praying.

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And so I'd walk through this neighborhood

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that was a bunch of new builds,

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a bunch of really big, awesome, amazing houses.

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And I'd walk through there

462
00:28:11,220 --> 00:28:12,800
and I just look at these houses

463
00:28:13,020 --> 00:28:14,260
and each one I would see, I'd walk to one,

464
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:15,840
I'd just be like, oh, I'd see the next one.

465
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:16,060
I'd be like,

466
00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:16,800
oh, I'd

467
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:17,200
see this one.

468
00:28:17,860 --> 00:28:19,000
And they're like all my dream houses.

469
00:28:19,140 --> 00:28:20,400
And I'm like, I would walk it

470
00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,600
And I would get so covetous, sinfully covetous of these houses.

471
00:28:25,540 --> 00:28:27,420
And I remember like actually getting angry with God.

472
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:29,720
I had to stop going on walks, guys.

473
00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:32,540
I had to stop burning calories because I was angry with God.

474
00:28:32,860 --> 00:28:36,020
Because I'd look at these houses and think, man, God, you don't know what's best for me.

475
00:28:36,540 --> 00:28:37,760
Like I need to be in one of those.

476
00:28:38,540 --> 00:28:40,940
And I'd start to doubt God's goodness in my life and just different things.

477
00:28:41,220 --> 00:28:44,720
And so I started sharing this with another pastor I was on staff with.

478
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,020
I think he noticed that there was some angst in my life.

479
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:48,320
He was like, what's going on, man?

480
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:49,400
Like, why are you so angry?

481
00:28:49,980 --> 00:28:51,120
And so I was talking with him.

482
00:28:51,140 --> 00:28:52,760
I was talking about these walks and these houses

483
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,900
and my desire for things that God doesn't seem like he's ever going to give me.

484
00:28:57,380 --> 00:28:59,100
And he was like, oh, so you've started to believe

485
00:28:59,260 --> 00:29:00,460
that God doesn't know what's best for you.

486
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,060
And it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

487
00:29:04,140 --> 00:29:06,920
And I was like, yeah, I have been believing that.

488
00:29:07,900 --> 00:29:10,400
I have been believing that God doesn't know what's best for me.

489
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,640
And I was able to address that and bring that to God and say,

490
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,880
God, this is what I've been believing, but I know it's not true.

491
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,160
I know that you know exactly what's best for me.

492
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:20,340
And I want to trust that.

493
00:29:21,050 --> 00:29:23,640
But listen, to identify the lie, a lot of times it takes being,

494
00:29:24,380 --> 00:29:26,340
most of the time it takes being in community with other people

495
00:29:26,620 --> 00:29:29,220
who are going to be honest with you and open with you.

496
00:29:29,340 --> 00:29:31,420
Because a lot of times in our own lives we put on blinders

497
00:29:31,650 --> 00:29:34,520
and we can't identify the lies that we're believing.

498
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,800
And so by being in a community group here at our church,

499
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:39,940
by women's Bible study, men's Bible study,

500
00:29:40,060 --> 00:29:42,920
by calling someone that you have a relationship with and going out to coffee

501
00:29:43,140 --> 00:29:46,320
and opening yourself up to say, man, here's the things I'm struggling with.

502
00:29:46,580 --> 00:29:49,580
Here's the doubt that I'm feeling deep in my soul.

503
00:29:50,380 --> 00:29:55,640
That could give somebody a clear window into saying, man, here's the lie that maybe you've been believing lately.

504
00:29:57,060 --> 00:30:00,100
And when you identify that lie, the second thing is, man, bring it to Jesus.

505
00:30:01,220 --> 00:30:01,860
Bring it to Jesus.

506
00:30:02,190 --> 00:30:06,440
In none of these stories that we read this morning is Jesus put off with his friends' doubts.

507
00:30:07,740 --> 00:30:14,640
He meets them gently, patiently, and gives them exactly what they need for their doubts to be transformed into deep faith.

508
00:30:15,300 --> 00:30:18,260
And so man, confess it, pray it.

509
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,960
Jesus is never surprised or disgusted by our doubts.

510
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,920
He always draws near to us when we draw near to him.

511
00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:29,540
And then thirdly, man, remember his love.

512
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,440
That's what he invites his disciples to do, right?

513
00:30:32,540 --> 00:30:33,440
When he meets with his friends,

514
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,480
he invites them to see his scars,

515
00:30:35,820 --> 00:30:37,880
to remember how much he loves them,

516
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,000
the price he paid for their rescue.

517
00:30:40,180 --> 00:30:43,200
He's inviting them to remember how blessed they are.

518
00:30:44,260 --> 00:30:46,540
And that's a great thing for us to do when we doubt,

519
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:50,700
to remember how blessed we are, to remember how loved we are.

520
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,540
In the midst of doubt, the temptation is to withdraw,

521
00:30:55,220 --> 00:30:58,960
but we remember his love by pressing in, by showing up,

522
00:30:59,180 --> 00:31:01,780
by hearing of his love for us again and again,

523
00:31:02,220 --> 00:31:04,780
by singing it sometimes even when we don't feel it,

524
00:31:04,940 --> 00:31:08,820
by taking the meal even when we're struggling to feel that it's true.

525
00:31:09,900 --> 00:31:14,280
We experience it again and again and remember his deep love for us.

526
00:31:14,750 --> 00:31:16,420
And then fourthly, lastly, here's what I'd say.

527
00:31:17,420 --> 00:31:21,180
If you're struggling with doubt, a good way to maybe jolt our hearts

528
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:22,560
and

529
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:22,980
have some

530
00:31:22,980 --> 00:31:24,860
deep faith woven into our lives is this.

531
00:31:25,090 --> 00:31:25,820
Get busy serving.

532
00:31:27,020 --> 00:31:27,700
Get busy serving.

533
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,300
Right after Jesus meets with his disciples and confronts a lot of this doubt

534
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,500
and then pursues them and shows up for them and makes sure they know he's on their side,

535
00:31:36,700 --> 00:31:38,340
you know what he tells them right after?

536
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,160
right after the resurrected Jesus meets with his friends,

537
00:31:41,690 --> 00:31:42,900
he says this, Matthew 28,

538
00:31:43,340 --> 00:31:46,420
now go, go into all the world,

539
00:31:47,660 --> 00:31:49,980
make disciples and teach them and baptize them.

540
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:52,500
Go serve me.

541
00:31:53,540 --> 00:31:55,460
Go serve me and my kingdom.

542
00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,900
Listen, serving Jesus with your God-given gift

543
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:01,300
for the building of his church

544
00:32:01,530 --> 00:32:04,400
is part of our new purpose as Jesus followers.

545
00:32:04,580 --> 00:32:05,800
Look how 1 Peter 4 says it.

546
00:32:05,910 --> 00:32:07,560
It says, just as each one,

547
00:32:07,700 --> 00:32:09,600
That's each follower of Jesus in here in this room today.

548
00:32:09,900 --> 00:32:18,880
Just as each one of you has received a gift, use it to serve others as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

549
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:23,740
So that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ and everything.

550
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:28,060
Look, if you feel like you're in a season of doubt or struggle, I would say this.

551
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,900
Get busy serving and you'll connect with community with others.

552
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,900
Get busy serving and you'll experience God work through you.

553
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:38,940
Get busy serving and you'll see other people blessed because you've been blessed.

554
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,160
And look, get busy serving because look at what it says.

555
00:32:41,620 --> 00:32:45,540
God will be glorified through Jesus Christ as you serve.

556
00:32:48,340 --> 00:32:50,740
Maybe you're here this morning doubting the existence of God.

557
00:32:52,580 --> 00:32:55,860
Or you're doubting that if he really exists, if he cares about you at all.

558
00:32:57,700 --> 00:33:03,360
Or maybe you're doubting here today the decision you made years ago to give your life to Jesus.

559
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,740
if it was really real and if it really meant anything.

560
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,260
Whatever your doubts are here this morning,

561
00:33:11,580 --> 00:33:14,120
whatever doubts you have about God, about Jesus,

562
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,220
whatever your doubts are, know this.

563
00:33:18,500 --> 00:33:19,920
They're safe here at this church.

564
00:33:22,060 --> 00:33:24,580
And your doubts are safe with Jesus.

565
00:33:28,060 --> 00:33:28,760
Bring them to him.

566
00:33:31,020 --> 00:33:31,800
He can handle them.

567
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:34,540
he loves you

568
00:33:35,799 --> 00:33:37,160
he's on your side

569
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:39,540
he's pursuing you

570
00:33:40,860 --> 00:33:42,060
and he is relentless

571
00:33:43,620 --> 00:33:44,580
let's pray together