Spiritual Lessons from our Walk with God - Part 3: Truth Matters | Pastor Pablo Morales

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Do you remember the first

Bible that you ever got? I know, there was a

time in which the Bible didn't look like my phone.

I remember my first Bible. It was black leather

with gold, beautiful. And as you open it, fine

paper, beautiful print, and the words of Jesus

were all in red. And I was just seven years old.

That was a birthday gift that I got that time,

and I remember it. Because it was so beautiful.

I almost didn't want to open it because it looked

so fragile, you know. And I had the privilege

of growing up in a home where my parents followed

the Lord Jesus. They themselves were not Christians.

All their lives. They in fact grew up in homes

where the parents did not know the Lord. But

as teenagers, both of my parents came to know

the Lord independently. They met each other.

They married. And that's how our family began

from there. So I was born in a Christian home.

But it was a congruent one. My parents believed.

They followed Jesus. And they walked the talk.

So from the beginning, I was taught about Jesus.

I was taught about the Bible. I would read my

Bible. And I was fascinated by the world of the

Bible. I never had to question anything because

everybody around me believed the same thing.

Then when I went to college, I studied a bachelor's

degree in Bible studies and music. So I spent

four years of my life in my early 20s. studying

the Bible in the context of academia. And that

was so insightful. I learned so much, and it

was great. But after that, the Lord opened the

door for me to get my master's in theology at

an institution in the U .S. called Dallas Theological

Seminary. And it was a great place to go and

study theology. But something happened then that

I never anticipated. I had a faith crisis. And

to that point, I had never even thought about

questioning the Bible. But it happened then.

And it's because I was in a stage of having to

study much more in depth. I was studying theology,

not just Bible. And at that moment, What you

start doing is that you have to engage in so

many topics, read so many books, and then you

have to study Hebrew, you have to study Greek,

and you write what is called exegetical papers.

You take a passage from the Bible, you translate

it from the original language, and then you have

to start translating. And you realize that there

are some words that can be translated one way

or the other. And it depends on context. And

there are decisions that are made by people who

translate. That I did not know about. I thought

the text was what it was. And that's what the

Bible says. I didn't realize that there was an

element of human interpretation in the translation.

And then secondly, I never even had thought about

how did we get the Bible. I just had a Bible

and it looked nice. But I never had to spend

time thinking, well, but how did we get the text?

And that's when I discovered that there were

manuscripts, some manuscripts that had been copied

throughout centuries, and that some manuscripts

have variances. And it's like, what? Variances

in the text? How does that work? So in that moment,

I had to start looking at the Bible that I grew

up believing in. And for the first time, I started

wondering, how do I know this is true? How can

I trust this thing? Does God even exist? Or I

believe in these things because I just inherited

them, and I grew up in a Christian home, so I

just believed it because my parents told me.

Never in my life it occurred to me that in my

mid -20s, as I was doing my master's, I would

have that experience. So I remember that I talked

to a couple of classmates and professors and

said, you know, can you pray for me because I'm

going through a faith crisis. And I had their

support. It was a time of engaging in understanding.

Because I realized that doubt, as it's put in

theology, is faith -seeking understanding. So

going through that process of doubt, it was not

opposite to faith. It was just part of the journey

in my life of moving from belief to conviction.

What do I mean by that? The way I put it is like

this. Imagine that I'm given this gift of Legos.

For those of you that have kids, you know what

Legos are, right? So I have this beautiful toy

that is all made up of all these little parts

and I like it. It's so nice and my parents give

it to me. So I have it and I enjoy it. But one

day somebody came and took that beautiful toy.

threw it on the floor. And now all the pieces

are all over the place. And now it's my job to

have to figure out how the pieces go together

so I can build it. That will require understanding.

Before, I didn't need to understand anything.

I just had to enjoy it. But now, I had to understand

it in order to build it. And that is what was

happening in my spiritual journey at that moment.

I was moving from belief, a system that I inherited,

To now having to put it together and realize,

do I believe this or do I believe that? Where

does this go? How does this connect? And that

process was disorienting. It was hard, but it

was worth it. Because when we have belief but

not conviction, we can't just work in this place

of just following God, but, you know, from a

comfortable place of distance. And we don't engage

with things because we don't know and it doesn't

matter. But when you cannot avoid it, and you

have to engage with it because you are in crisis,

and you need to know the answer because you want

to understand, then suddenly you start developing

conviction. And when conviction is born, it's

like a solidity, a foundation that is developed

that takes your journey with the Lord to another

level. That journey is what taught me this important

spiritual lesson that I want to share with you.

And that lesson is that the Bible is truth. And

that I am a follower of Jesus, not because I'm

religious, but because Jesus is truth. And until

we understand that, we will continue approaching

the aspect of following Jesus or identifying

as a Christian as a matter of opinion rather

than as a matter of truth. And what I discovered

in my journey of wrestling through these things

was a whole framework that has to do with what

we call epistemology, the study of what is true.

Let me take you, for instance, at the beginning.

Of the process of thinking through some of these

things. The very last chapter of the book of

Isaiah. He is the prophet that was telling us

everything about Jesus the Messiah that was going

to come. We studied those prophecies at the end

of the year, last year. In the Christmas season.

Well he finishes his book. The very last chapter

which is chapter 66. With this. This is Jesus

Isaiah 66 · chapter mention

and this is God speaking to people. And God says

something that is very significant for anyone

that is seeking God. God says, look, I created

everything, even you, so what do you have to

give me really nothing because I created everything.

But if you want to know what pleases me, let

me tell you what pleases me. And he says this.

These are the ones I look on with favor. Those

who are humble and contrite in spirit and who

tremble at my word. Two things that matter to

me, God says, are you humble? Are you teachable?

Or you think that you are the person with all

the answers and that you know better? And when

you encounter my word, do you take it seriously?

Or you disregard it? For God, it matters whether

we have a humble attitude and whether we engage

with his words seriously. That's why he says

this in this section. I love those who tremble

at my word, that take me seriously when I say

it, they hear it, and they take it to heart.

So God wants us to take his word seriously. But

one of the things that we discovered at the beginning

of the ministry of Jesus is that he found people

that were religious, but they were not taking

God's word seriously. And these religious leaders

that he encountered called the Pharisees. He

engaged with them one moment in conversation,

and he said to them, if you believe Moses, you

would believe me, for he wrote about me. The

problem here is that since you do not believe

what he wrote, how are you going to believe what

I say? These people were supposedly serving God,

but they were not believing the word that God

had given. Did you pay attention to what Jesus

said? Let me read it again. If you believe who?

Moses. You will believe me because he wrote about

me. What did he write? What did Moses write?

Do you know the answer to that? Well, he wrote

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

The first five books of the Bible. That's called

the Pentateuch. And Jesus says, look, Moses wrote

these first five books. And if you believe what

he wrote, then you will believe me. Because he

wrote about me. The Bible says that Jesus is

a God who became a human like us to bring salvation

for us. That he is the creator of the world.

Well, who wrote about God creating the world?

Moses. In Genesis. Jesus says, Moses wrote about

me. If you would believe Moses, you would believe

me. But you don't believe me because you don't

believe Moses. And he points out to the reality

that some people may be wanting to follow God,

but the problem that is holding them back is

unbelief. They may have the word, but they don't

believe it. And that is the stage I was in. I

was in a stage of faith crisis. Do I believe

this or not? And as you start engaging with interpretation

of different things, there are so many opinions

about everything that you experience something

that I call paralysis by analysis. It's like,

well, I believe this. And you start researching.

It's like, what, there are like 10 views about

this? Which one is right? All these arguments.

It's like, paralyzed. I don't know what I know

anymore. And that place. Can lead people to saying,

I don't know and I don't care. But that's not

taking God's word seriously, is it? So I remember

that in that stage, I had to go through this

wrestling. And that wrestling is a healthy wrestling

because now you have to spend time understanding.

And you have to understand it. Because at the

core, what we are talking about is truth. And

Jesus said that truth was going to set us free.

Jesus is not interested in opinions or diversity.

Jesus is interested in truth. That's why when

he prays for us, his followers, from the very

beginning, There's a moment in which he prays

for the apostles and he says, I pray for them

that they will be one, that they will be united.

But in this section, he says this, I have given

them something. What did he give them? I have

given them your word. He uses the word logos

in Greek here to talk about the word, which means

the revelation of God. God, I have given them

your revelation. I have given them your word.

And the world has hated them, for they are not

of the world any more than I am of the world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the

world, but that you protect them from the evil

one. They are not of the world, even as I am

not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word

is truth. And this is what Jesus prays, and in

this prayer, he frames everything to this concept

of epistemology. It's an issue of truth. I don't

know if you've ever been feeling sick, but when

you feel sick, typically you go to the doctor.

Let me ask you something. Are you interested

in the doctor's opinion or are you interested

in truth? Yeah, I know you're interested in truth.

If you go to one doctor and he tells you one

thing and you go to a second doctor and she tells

you a different thing, now what are you going

to do? Which one are you going to choose? Most

likely you're going to get a third opinion to

see which one is accurate, right? If you go to

a third opinion, Is this person matching some

of the others? Because you want truth. You don't

want just opinion. And when we're talking about

believing in God, following Jesus, we're not

talking about religions as opinions. We're talking

about truth. And therefore, when we engage with

truth, we have to remember that truth is true

because it's factual. And it correlates with

reality. And one of the things that we find from

the very beginning of Christianity is not that

just Jesus framed following him as seeking truth

and believing in truth, but his followers, the

apostles, They wrote about these things and salvation

and the things that were going to happen in the

future and all of these things from a perspective

of conviction that this was true. And that's

why they were following. Let me give you an example.

The Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John,

and who also wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, three

letters to Christians, and he wrote the book

of Revelation. So this was one of the apostles

that wrote several of the books that we have

in the Bible. When he begins the first letter

of John, he writes it like this. That which was

from the very beginning, from the very beginning

of history, there's something that we're telling

you about. And that is something that we have

heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which

we have looked at. And our hands have touched.

We are telling you about this person. And this

we proclaim concerning the word of life. This

was a title given to Jesus. What John is saying,

look, we are telling you about Jesus because

we have heard him. We have seen him. We have.

Touched him. What we are telling you is true.

We experienced it. We are not making it up. So

you can see that from the very beginning. The

people that taught us and wrote about these things.

They wrote from a place of saying this is fact.

That's why I'm teaching you. And that's why you

need to believe it. Because it's true. If you

don't believe it you will be deceived. Believing

something else that is not true. Well, how do

you know? Because I saw it, I touched it, I was

there. There was a man who did not believe in

Jesus, who did not believe that God existed.

He was just a professional with his wife, both

of them agnostics. And he was enjoying his career

as a lawyer, as a journalist, and one day his

wife, proclaimed that she had become a Christian.

What do you do when you are an agnostic and your

wife says, I'm a Christian now? Well, he did

everything that any loving husband would do.

I'm going to try to rescue you so that you will

not be brainwashed because you're in a cult or

something. You know, and we know the truth that

God doesn't exist and all that Christian stuff

is nonsense. It's myth. So he decided to start

researching and getting involved as a journalist,

as a lawyer, with all the techniques that he

had learned. His name is Lee Strobel. And at

the end of this journey, of this process, he

started discovering that the things... that he

thought were just myth, did not happen, this

Jesus thing was not true. All of that actually

was verifiable through history. There were records

in history. There was archaeological evidence.

There were all of these different things that

suddenly led him to believe that what the Bible

said about Jesus was true. And he became a follower

of Jesus just like his wife. And eventually he

wrote many books. One of the famous ones was

The Case for Christ. One of the latest ones that

he wrote is God Real. It's written to help teenagers

that are going through asking questions. They

want to know if this is really true or not. Or

I believe it's just because my parents told me.

An agnostic person From the U .S. Thinking that

none of these things really happen. And realizes

that actually, after all, they are true. And

because they are true, I must believe it. Let

me tell you the story of the Apostle Paul. Because

the Apostle Paul was not a follower of Jesus.

He persecuted Christians. But the reason why

he became a follower of Jesus, he says, is because

Jesus appeared to him. The resurrected Jesus

appeared to him. And that's what turned his life

around. He thought that Jesus was a fake. And

there's a moment, as he's teaching people about

Jesus, that he realizes there are some people

that are saying that Jesus did not resurrect.

That that's fairytale, that those things don't

happen. So as he's engaging in that conversation,

he says, okay. Just for the sake of argument,

let's say that Jesus really did not resurrect

and all of that is made up. If that's true, he

says these words. If there is no resurrection

of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching

is useless. And so is your faith. You are wasting

your time. If Jesus is not real. And if Jesus

did not resurrect. Then we are wasting our time.

And not only that. But let the world have pity

on us. Because we are the most deceived people

in the world. Believing a lie of something that

never happened. If only for this life we have

hope in Christ. We are of all the people must

to be pitied. But then he says, but the resurrection

did happen. And Jesus is alive because I saw

him. So I don't believe in the resurrection because

it sounds cool. I believe in it because it's

true. And because it's true, I believe it. During

the 1800s, there was a whole movement in the

Christian... colleges and academia and universities.

Because remember during the 1800s, the area of

Israel was not open for archaeological digs.

It was a political time of empires. Therefore,

during the 1800s, they didn't have any much archaeological

discoveries or things, information, data that

corroborated the Bible. So many people started

Thinking maybe that didn't happen. Maybe this

Jesus thing, the resurrection, angels, miracles.

We know that that doesn't happen. Miracles don't

happen. But the Bible is full of all this stuff.

So what started happening is that there was a

movement in theology called liberal theology.

It's called liberal theology not as an insult

to the people. Oh, you're a liberal. It's not

that. Liberal theology in those terms meant that

people that consider themselves Christians did

not believe that the Bible was historical. And

therefore, they thought the Bible was myth. They

still wanted to believe in it, but now they had

to reinterpret everything. Maybe it's metaphorical,

maybe symbolic. And from that way of thinking,

There was a whole movement that started reinterpreting

the Gospels. And there was a way of thinking

that Jesus was a real person, but then he became

Christ through the myths of religion. So this

phase from Jesus to Christ was a phrase used

much later by a group of academicians that were

liberal academicians, don't believe the Bible

was true. And they created something that is

called the Jesus Seminar. If you're in the U

.S., typically during Easter season or Christmas

season, places like PBS, Discovery Channel, and

all of these places are going to show one of

these videos. And the moment you see from Jesus

to Christ, you know, oh, those are those guys.

What they thought was Jesus was a real person.

But all of this is mixed with myth. So you have

to remove the myth in order to find the real

Jesus. And that was the academic way of thinking

in the late 1800s. And there was a guy at the

beginning of the 1900s, his last name was Morris,

who was an agnostic, an academician, but he was

fascinated by the life of Jesus. So he decided

that he was going to research in his academic

work the last seven years of the life of Jesus

because he wanted to prove something. And he

writes it later. Let me tell you his words, what

he said. He said, I wanted to strip it of its

overgrowth of primitive beliefs and dogmatic

suppositions. Like, I wanted to remove all the

mythology out of this Jesus so I could really

find the real Jesus. Because I wanted to see

this supremely great person as he really was.

He was approaching it from that perspective.

This cannot be true. Resurrection doesn't happen.

Angels, forget it. God becoming man. Jesus born

of a virgin. Come on, that's fairytale. We are

rational people here. We know those things don't

happen. So in the process of doing his research.

He became a Christian. He became a follower of

Jesus because the evidence that he found was

so overwhelming that he realized, wait, this

is not myth. This really happened. And that's

when he wrote this famous book, Who Moved the

Stone? And this is the book that he wrote to

share what had convinced him that the resurrection

actually had happened. And Paul says, yeah, it

did. That's why I believe it. Because it's true.

Not because it's nice. Let me tell you about

the life of the Apostle Peter. Because the Apostle

Peter was not a follower of Jesus at the beginning.

He was a fisherman. But then he became a follower

of Jesus. And his understanding of who Jesus

was grew with time until the time of the resurrection.

And he became one of the key leaders in Christianity.

He writes to Christians in 1 and 2 Peter. And

he starts telling them about salvation, about

who Jesus is, what it means to follow Jesus.

He tells them about the future, how the world

is going to be destroyed by fire. He talks about

all these different things. But just like John

and Paul, he also speaks about these things as

factual, as like, I'm telling you because it's

true. But there's a moment. in which he points

us out to Moses again, to origins, and to eschatology

all at once. And he says this, guys, you have

to remember that in the last times, there's going

to be many people that will stop believing the

word. And they deliberately will forget something.

What will these people forget? That long ago,

by God's word, the heavens came into being, and

the earth was formed out of water and by water.

Wait, wait a second. Are you talking about the

writings of Moses? What does the Bible say that

God created by speaking, and that he separated

the waters from the waters? What does that say?

Which book? Genesis. Which chapter? Peter is

saying, look, I want to tell you something that

Genesis 1 says. In the future, people won't believe

it. And not only that, then he says, by these

waters also the world of that time was deluged

and destroyed. Wait, what are you talking about?

Are you talking about the flood? Which book says

that? Genesis, the writings of Moses. They are

going to forget and stop believing that the world

of that time was destroyed by water. And by the

same word that destroyed that world by water,

the present heavens and earth are reserved for

fire being kept for the day of judgment and destruction

of the ungodly. The same word. It's telling you

that the past happened and the future is going

to happen. And it happened because it's true

and it's going to happen because it's true. But

people are going to stop believing it, Peter

says. Imagine, he wrote this at the very beginning

of Christianity. And when I read that, it's like,

wait, Peter, you are telling me that I need to

believe what Genesis says? Because, no offense.

Apostle Peter, but we live in a time of science.

You didn't. So you were more likely to believe

myths, but we know better today that those things

didn't happen. Or did they? There was a Chinese

scientist who studied science in China. and then

went to the U .S. to get his Ph .D. His author

name is Li Cheng. His actual real name is Bing

Cheng Feng. And he wrote a book called The Song

of a Wanderer. It was originally written in Chinese

and then translated into English. And it was

fascinating because as a Chinese scientist, he

was an atheist, and when he moves to the U .S.,

To do his Ph .D. He himself is an atheist scientist.

But the difference in the U .S. is that he starts

meeting all these Christians. And they start

befriending him. They start talking to him about

Jesus. They give him Bibles. He says, no, I don't

believe in those fairy tales. You know, all that

stuff. I'm a scientist. We know that Christians

believe in myths. It will be ridiculous for me.

As a highly educated scientist, to start believing

the Bible and becoming a Christian? Of course

not. So he spent years collecting the Bibles

that people would give him. And one day he started

attending a Bible study with his wife. And slowly

he started realizing, wait, I never knew that.

I never heard that. So he started engaging in

his research as an atheist scientist. And he

realized he had never read the Bible because

he assumed all of this was wrong. But he started

discovering that the history of science, most

of the original scientists were Christians. And

he couldn't understand why Christians would be

smart like that. How could a scientist be a Christian?

It didn't make any sense. So he writes, since

I claim to be a scientist and scoffed at Christianity,

it never dawned on me that the scientific method

itself practiced today was actually developed

by Christians. They believed that the one true

God created the universe and that it had order

and could be understood. And he realized that

many of the scientists that shaped his understanding

from past history, they themselves were Christians

and that's why they became scientists. He had

assumed that true science was atheist. So it

was through that journey that eventually, just

like the other guys, the evidence became compelling,

compelling, compelling, and he himself became

a Christian. And that's why he wrote the book,

The Song of a Wanderer, to summarize his research

as a good academician, you know, very systematically.

This is what I discovered and this is what convinced

me that Christianity was true. And then he shares

his story of how he came to believe in Christ.

Fascinating. There's another story that is even

more fascinating to me. And that's an Australian

academician as well, Dr. Ron Neller. He has a

PhD in fluvial geomorphology. If that sounds

like a mouthful, you never heard that title before,

I hadn't until I learned about him. He is a scientist

that specializes on studying how water affects

the ground. That's basically it. There's a whole

career for this. So he spent 30 years of his

life in this career as an agnostic. He was a

man that was taught to believe that the earth

was billions of years old, that everything happened

through slow erosion, and that God didn't exist,

and that Darwinian evolution was true. That was

his worldview as a scientist. So for 30 years

of his career in research, He had the privilege

of traveling the world. He was in Europe, he

was in Asia, he was in Australia, he was in different

places. So he got to experience the study of

the geological record and the effect of water

in all of these different countries during a

season in which the satellite technology was

being developed. So he was not only able to see

lots of places in the world, but he was able

to start seeing big sections from satellite imagery.

And through that, he started realizing that the

data that he was discovering did not match the

worldview that he had been taught. And he started

realizing that the data showed that there had

been a catastrophic worldwide event damaged by

water. And he started bringing up some of these

things that he was discovering and the incongruency

that this data was showing. In his academic context,

and his friends would say, okay, that's all fine,

but please don't go that route too much because

you're starting to sound like a Christian. And

then he read the Bible, and then he read that

the Bible said that there was a global flood

that had happened. And at that moment, he started

realizing that, wait, this matches the evidence

that I see. So he became a believer in the global

flood and in the historicity of Genesis, but

not a believer of Jesus. He was still an agnostic.

God might exist. And he says that the resistance

to follow Jesus was because he knew that going

the extra mile and now becoming a Christian meant

committing academic suicide. You cannot be a

well -respected scientist. in the academia and

be a Christian at the same time. So it was safe

to remain an agnostic. So one day with a friend

from university, they decided both, she was an

atheist, they decided that they needed to disprove

that Christianity was true by going to a church.

So they decided to visit the church that day

together to disprove Christianity. And at that

moment, they come out of that service as Christians

followers of Jesus. He says, I don't even remember

what the pastor was preaching that day, but I

had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that transformed

my life. And from that point on, not only I became

a Christian, my friend became a Christian, and

not only that, but she became my wife. And today

he works. now after his years of career for his

career, he works part of a ministry called Creation

Ministries. You can find their information in

creation .com. But it's a group of scientists

from lots of different fields that through scientific

research and evidence started pointing them to

the fact that what they read in Genesis was congruent

with reality. And every one of these scientists

have their own journey. But the journey is the

same. They had a worldview that was challenged

by the evidence. And the evidence corroborated

what the Bible said. And that led them to eventually

follow Jesus. Why? Because it is true. It was

a group of geologists that came together. These

were Christian geologists. So we need to let

people know about the data that is on the geological

record that shows the evidence that there was

a global flood, a catastrophic event that shaped

the landscape of the world. And they created

this documentary called It's Genesis History,

Mountains After the Flood. You can actually find

it in YouTube and watch it for free. The reason

why these things matter It's because in the search

of wrestling with things and engaging with the

Bible and taking it seriously, it's an invitation

of engaging with truth. And truth is not an issue

of opinion. Truth is about epistemology. It's

the study of what is really true. Is this true

or this is true? How do I know? Well, the way

we know is because truth Is congruent with reality.

And because the Bible is congruent with reality.

Because Jesus is congruent with reality. Then

we follow him because it's truth. There was an

author that wrote a whole book on this topic.

Total truth is the name of the book. Her name

is Nancy Percy. If you are someone that is. If

you consider yourself more like an intellectual,

someone that is more in the academic world, someone

that is into philosophy and concepts, history

of ideas, this book is a must. It's the best

book I've read. She does an amazing job of bringing

the development of thought. It's a book of, I

would call, like Christian philosophy, how the

thought of worldview has developed. And to the

point we are today and how Christians have to

wake up to the fact that Christianity is not

just an opinion about myths and potential religions

that are all the same. Christianity has always

been and remains a topic of truth. It's a worldview

that we believe in because it is true. There's

so much more to say. But this study will end

here. Because what I wanted to share with you

is this. In the spiritual journey of following

Jesus, it requires that we engage with truth.

That's the invitation of Jesus. And in that invitation,

you at some point will wrestle with things that

you don't understand. And that is okay. But in

my journey, what I have discovered through my

personal research, through the lessons of all

the people that I have learned from, is that

the Bible, I can trust it because it's true.

I may not understand everything. There may be

different interpretations about details here

and there, but the Bible is not a myth. It's

a record of history that you can trust. And you

can build your life upon. And the Bible says

that you and I are sinners. That God created

us. He loves us. Jesus became a human so that

he could pay for our sin. And give the way for

us to experience salvation and freedom and relationship

with God. And that to follow Jesus is the only

way of walking in truth. Because Jesus is the

truth. And therefore if you are seeking God.

If you are in a journey of wanting to understand

more. You are in the right place. Because here

we want to walk with you. Creating safe spaces

where you can engage with the wrestling. Because

what we care about is truth. Truth that will

set you free. If you are a child of Christian

parents. Where you have grown up. Learning about

the Bible and Jesus from birth. At some point

maybe. You will question things. Maybe you will

never question anything. But I'm here to tell

you as someone that went through that journey.

What you have received. Is truth. And you will

have to engage in your own journey. But don't.

Let go of the truth. You will meet people that

will make you think that to be a follower of

Jesus is to commit intellectual suicide. That

you cannot be truly an intelligent person and

be a follower of Jesus at the same time. And

believe in the Bible at the same time. They are

wrong. So here I am. telling you, encouraging

you, grow in your relationship with God. Make

the belief that you received your convictions.

And whatever that journey takes you to, and whatever

crisis you may experience, Jesus is with you

through it all. And if we can help you in any

way in that journey, we are here to walk with

you. Not from a place of superiority, but with

a place of humility. We know what it's like to

wrestle. So I'm going to invite you to stand

up with me. And I want to ask you, if you're

in a place where you perhaps are facing doubts

about God, about the Bible, about following Jesus,

pray to the Lord what this man told Jesus. I

believe, help my unbelief. Meet me in this place

of doubt Lord. And lead me into all truth. Because

I know you care about truth. And that's what

I want. Lord I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus.

That you will guide us. And protect us from the

attacks of the enemy. That you will also protect

us from deception. That you will protect us from

falsehood. But lead us into truth. I ask you

Lord for my friends. Who are in that place of

wrestling. Help them wrestle. Don't rush their

journey. Let them wrestle for as long as they

have to. Until that journey brings conviction.

Because it is conviction Lord. That will bring

the power for the future you have for them. And

for those of us. Who have children. Help us lead

them in a way that invites understanding. Give

us wisdom to know how to teach them your ways.

Thank you for your truth that has set us free.

We love you and we pray in the powerful name

of Jesus. Amen. If God is calling you to support

our ministries, you will find giving options

on our website. And remember to join us next

week. God bless you.