Finding God in the Doubt | Dr. Jerry Mason

Well, somebody say praise the Lord, isn't it good to be in

God's house this morning? Amen.

Why don't you turn in and greet someone this morning next to you

or close to you and tell them how good it is to be in the

House of the Lord with them today?

Amen. Before we move into the word of

the Lord this morning, I do have some announcements to make.

One, the sign up list that was posted last Sunday for special

singers will come down today. I will leave it up till this

evening service and take it down before I leave.

So if you haven't signed up, if you already seeing specials and

you're interested in continuing, please sign.

If you don't and you're interested in learning more

about that, please sign. That's the only way to learn.

Signing doesn't obligate you. It just means that you're

interested and then we see where that goes from there.

So that list will come down today.

So please make note of that. Couple of things here that are

upcoming on April the 6th we are going to have a Focus Sunday

service that is going to be focused toward our Ignite Youth

group. More information will be coming

on that very soon, but I wanted to go ahead and get that on your

minds and on your calendars. The April the 6th that we will

be coming to you with more information about our youth

group for this year, vision, finances, what we need God to

bless and what the direction is for our youth because they are

not the Church of tomorrow. Just a gentle reminder here.

They're now and we need them. Amen.

We need them developing into solid citizens and solid Saints.

And it's on us as the congregation to help support

that. So so please be in much prayer

about that. The Ignite youth class will be

staying in the sanctuary this morning this month in the month

of March tonight come back if you don't get anything out of

this morning, don't don't disregard church.

All right, I promise you you're going to hear from God.

Come back tonight are my son will be ministering and I am so

looking forward to that. The fifth Wednesday of this

month there will be a a special event happening on that

Wednesday night during the Bible study portion of service.

There will be called the Art of People engagement.

It will be an interview style format with Sister McGee that

will take place. Sister Don McGee don't want

Bishop's wife getting nervous here.

That will take place during the Bible study portion of that

service. So be looking forward to that

being much prayer. This Thursday is power hour from

7:00 to 8:00. Come pray, leave, pray 10

minutes, pray 5 minutes. Just pray.

I promise you that if you can make it, it's a power hour,

you're going to leave happy. I promise you.

You're going to leave feeling personal fulfillment and your

walk with God. Well, I'm tired.

I've worked all day. You, you got it.

That's why I need to pray. There are plenty of times I've

walked in on power hour night and I looked at my wife and

said, I feel like the Apostle Peter.

Some of you will catch that after lunch, but I left Brother

Fred feeling better than if I hadn't came.

So, so give that some consideration please, because it

will help you in your walk with God.

I promise you that we're going to move into the word of the

Lord this morning. One final announcement that I

want to make just personally, and if you haven't been on

Facebook or if you have, I'm going to say it regardless, but

my wife and I have the honor and distinction to be to take on new

roles in life. I'm going to be a Pops.

My wife will be a Gigi, and we're ecstatic.

Now I'm happy for my son and my daughter-in-law, but I'm really

happy for us. Let's just get that out there,

all right? And I'm not ashamed of it.

So bring it. Let's do it.

All right, We're going to move into the word of the Lord this

morning. I'm not going to have you stand.

We will get to God's word. I'm going to be teaching this

morning that is at the the edge of my physical capabilities

today. So I hope you'll bear with me

this morning, but I want to talk to you on this subject today

that I feel like God directed me toward, and that is finding God

in the doubt. Finding God in the doubt.

What do you do when you have questions about God, about

living for God, about church, and about Christian life, but

you don't have any easy answers? And I say easy this morning

because if it's not an easy answer, we often get very

frustrated. For example, you might find

yourself going through something that is very difficult.

You could be hurting. You could be wondering how in

the world could a good God love you and let you hurt this way?

Or what do you do when you want to believe in God and his Word

and his promises, but you face spiritual doubts?

Or what do you do when your faith feels fragile or God seems

distant, maybe even silent? Or what do you do when you

struggle with doubts about your abilities, your calling, your

giftings, or even your place? Now, I don't need to take a poll

and ask you this morning if any of you have ever felt this way

because I know. I know my questions.

I know the times that I have wanted to believe what he said.

But Bishop, I had doubt. I know the times that I've

questioned my abilities. I know the times I've questioned

my calling, my giftings, and even my place.

Maybe you have a friend that was church hurt because that's a

tool of the enemy today. Maybe you have a friend that was

church hurt and that's caused you to have questions.

This isn't in my notes this morning, but let me just say

this. If you are looking for the

church body, and when I say body, I'm talking about the

people of God. If you are looking for the

people of God to be perfect, I know we strive.

I know the Apostle Paul said we strive toward the mark of

perfection and I personally believe this is Mason Commentary

101. I believe he said we strive

toward it because we may not ever catch it, but at least if

we're striving for it, we're trying, and trying is better

effort than not trying. But if you're looking to the

church body to express perfection and you never get

your feelings hurt, you never misunderstand anything and you

never disagree with anything, I am sorry today.

You are sadly mistaken. And the reason I say that is we

serve a perfect God. We serve a divine God.

We serve a loving God, but we are humanity.

We're not perfect. That's right.

So it will happen. Maybe you were hurt by someone

in church. Maybe it wasn't in church.

Maybe you were just hurt by someone and it caused you to

struggle. It caused you to have questions.

Maybe you were the one that did something that caused hurt.

I've been in that club and I'm not proud of it.

In church and out of church, Bishop, there's still a couple

of things that I have personally done in the church environment

in my adult life that still haunt me.

It causes doubt. Sometimes it causes doubts that

God can forgive, heal and destroy and restore.

So what do you do when you have spiritual questions that you

can't find the answers to easily or quickly?

Because sometimes we want those answers right now.

Sometimes some of us in the surrounding environment try to

help, and sometimes when we try to help, sometimes we just make

things worse. I've been there.

I've been the one attempting to help and I've been the one

receiving said help. We'll be again.

But sometimes we break out our Christian platitudes because we

don't know what else to say. And I'm not trying to be

judgmental this morning. I just just help me make a point

here for just a second, but sometimes we pull out of our

arsenal of of Christian platitudes.

Hey, everything happens for a reason true statement and it may

be helpful in certain contexts. There's sometimes that just

doesn't help me or here's one of my favorites.

The Bible says it. I believe it.

That settles. That's been on bumper stickers

for decades. True statement.

Bible says it. We know that his word is forever

settled in heaven. So yes, technically that settles

it, but it may not settle it for me because I might have more

questions or what are you worried about?

God's got this. Yeah, he does.

But sometimes from my vantage point, and I'm using myself as

an example rather than you, you can insert you for I that's

fine, and we'll go to lunch and be happy.

But sometimes from my vantage point, it don't look like he's

got it. Can I be honest sometimes?

I didn't say he didn't have it. Sometimes it doesn't look like

it. Sometimes I'm just a little bit

of a mess. So.

What do you do when you find yourself with deep and sincere

questions? Because sometimes we just don't

understand our questions. Sometimes we don't understand

our situation or our circumstances.

We don't understand our why or our what or our when or our

where. Now, if you've never had these

questions today, if you've never had anyone with good intentions,

just make things innocently worse, you should be on your

feet having a praise break right now because I want to shake your

hand and I want to talk to you about whatever it is you're

doing right and I'm doing wrong because I need to learn.

But for those who have experienced this barrage of

questioning and searching, and then we've only scratched the

surface on examples this morning, and I won't exhaust you

with more of them, but you recognize that it is possible to

have a moment of faith and just a few minutes later have a

moment of doubt. It comes in like a wave.

It's like, oh, I believe. And it's like, oh, well, I don't

know. And then what happens next is

guilt sets in. Why am I doubting?

Why am I questioning? It's because you have questions.

It's because you have concerns. So the next question could be in

our own humanity is, is there something wrong with me?

Am I even a Christian at all? If I've got these feelings of

doubt and concern, What? Where is my Christianity?

Where is my faith? And then we might feel a little

bit ashamed and we might worry like, am I the only one?

Because we're sitting on praise row where everybody else is

lifting their hands and singing and clapping and saying Amen to

the preacher and they look like everything's great.

And now I'm, I'm scared to be transparent because everybody

else looks like they've got it together.

And I'm, I'm the only one. So we can't be transparent.

Let me, let me, let me be transparent for a little while

today. The moment you start to have

doubts, it starts getting really scary.

And I will admit to you having grown up in an Apostolic Church

that I think, and I'm going to be careful here, but I'm going

to be transparent with you being in a spirit filled church.

If you have doubts of any kind, it can be real scary because we

don't act like you should have doubt.

As a matter of fact, our typical church behavior is that it's all

faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith.

Doubt doesn't have any room in the room.

So if I've got that question, there must be something wrong

with me because everybody else is shouting, speaking in

tongues. They must be good and the reason

for this I believe again, this is me and if I am wrong, just

say thank you Jesus. Because we have been taught that

the disciple Thomas was a borderline Judas.

Because of doubt. We may not say those words, but

we ridiculed Thomas a lot. He's got a nickname.

Most of you, if not all of you, probably know it and doubting

Thomas. So let's start with this.

I want to show you today, hopefully, that doubt is not the

enemy of faith. Doubt can be a pathway to deeper

and more meaningful faith. Doubt is not even the opposite

of faith. There is what is known as the

relatability principle. It shows that you tend to

dislike, and you don't have to admit this publicly this

morning, I'll do it for you. But it It shows that you tend to

dislike or distrust people whose lives seem perfect.

You tend to dislike those who or you tend to trust and connect

with those rather who seem to have similar problems to you.

That's the relatability. For example, you don't like the

person at work whose desk is always organized and they're

always getting praised and their life looks perfect and

everything is great. But then you go to the store

that evening and you see them in the store with their kid and

their kid is having an absolute meltdown.

They are in the meat department and their kid is laying on the

floor licking the floor tile. God have mercy.

And there's something in you that says I think I like them.

Now I can relate to that because their life looks just as messed

up as yours. The imagery of perfection is now

not a turn off because I've seen behind the curtain they messed

up. So it makes us feel better.

What's interesting is when I hear somebody else dealing with

a doubt. It is strangely comforting to me

when I talk to people that I respect, or I hear certain

ministers be transparent publicly and that I respect and

I hold in high regard, and I walk away understanding that

they're having some of the same struggles that I have.

That, strangely enough, gives me comfort and it helps me push

through my own personal doubts because I realized, guess what,

I'm not alone. So let's look in the scripture,

some of the most faith filled people that we have in Holy Writ

who had some doubts, who had questions, who had some of the

same responses that you and I have in our typical daily life.

Similarly, we'll start in the Old Testament in Genesis 17 and

17. The Bible says Then Abraham fell

upon his face and laughed and said in his heart, shall a child

be born unto him that is an 100 years old?

And shall Sarah that is 90 year old 90 years old bear Genesis 18

and 2018 and 12. Excuse me, says Therefore, Sarah

laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I

have pleasure, my Lord, being old also, Abraham and Sarah are

pillars, pillars of Old Testament scripture.

Father Abraham is still the the fatherly pillar of Jewish faith

because they recognize that they serve the God of Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob. This grandiose man laughed at

God, told God, and I'm paraphrasing, but told God

that's impossible. Are you?

You've got to be kidding me. Never happened.

They had doubt that God was going to do what he said He was

going to do. Let me remind you today, age is

not a limitation to God. This might be the most important

key of the entire lesson this morning, but your humanity is

not a limitation to God. Asking questions does not limit

God. Watch this now.

God didn't alter his plan or change His mind about Isaac just

because of the response from Abraham and Sarah.

But the enemy. Of our soul likes to convince us

that if we have a question, we might as well be quiet and live

in the torment of not for not having full understanding.

Because if we're open with ourselves, between US and God,

with where we're at, somehow we'll make God mad and he'll

change his mind on us. God didn't change his plan.

Nor will your. Response be off putting to God.

Let's move to Exodus chapter 16 and verse 2.

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured

against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God, we had

died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt.

What an. Absolute smack in the face.

When we sat by. The flesh pots and when we did

eat bread to the full. All of this.

Because they're hungry. Now.

I'll be honest with you. I might.

I might. I'm not admitting to it fully.

I'm just telling you there's a probability I might be guilty of

saying a few things that I might not mean when I'm hungry may

have happened. I'm not.

Saying she's laughing a. Little too much.

They had. Doubt.

Do we fully recognize the number of miracles that they had

already witnessed at this point? They're out of bondage, they're

free. They have already lived in

bondage. For.

Decades and the bondage wasn't just you.

You clock in at 7 and you clock out at 3:15 and you get a 30

minute lunch. Don't deviate from it.

The bondage was a whip to their back.

The bondage was. Slavery.

They'd lived. Through all of that and they had

seen God protect them through the 10 plagues.

They had seen. God hold true to every word he

had said. So much so.

That if the 10 plagues wasn't enough, you get to the border of

the Red Sea. Where we going?

Moses Waters part. Waters part is a miracle in and

of itself. Waters.

Staying parted wall of water on both sides.

That's a miracle. Dry ground.

Lord have mercy. That's another miracle.

Historians. Have tried to say that the Red

Sea at that time was less than two feet deep.

I wasn't there. I don't know if it was or it

wasn't. But what I do know is if it was

less than two feet deep, he drowned Pharaoh's army.

In two feet of. Water, another miracle.

And the passageway to cross was approximately 4 to 5 million

people. We're not talking about the the

Snake Pit or or the Ford Center in evidence.

We're talking about a massive number of people crossed.

Oh, and by the way, about the 40 years that they end up going

through the wilderness, the shoelaces on their shoes didn't

give out. Now we.

Know the end of the story so it's easy to get judge mental

and righteous and say well I just don't know how they

couldn't believe. Say that the.

Next time you go through something.

Because the. Next obstacle they faced in

their humanity because they didn't know.

The end of the story was we're in the wilderness.

God brought us out, but now, Moses, you've brought us out

here to die because I'm famished.

You can. Find God in the Dao, Judges 636

And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine

hand, as thou has said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in

the floor. And if the dew be on the fleece

only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know

that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou has said.

And it was so, for he rose up early on the Morrow and thrust

the fleece together, and wring the dew out of the fleece, a

bowl full of water. And Gideon.

Said to God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will

speak but this once. That's a bit laughable.

Let me prove, I pray thee. But this once with the fleece,

let it now be dry only up on the fleece, and up on the ground let

there be dew, and God did so that night, for it was dry up on

the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

Gideon saying. Hey, God.

If you're really. With me and you really said what

you said and if I really heard you correctly, prove it.

But don't. Just prove it, prove it again,

and prove it again. 47. Times later.

God, can you do it one more time?

I just want to make sure you know what that is.

Doubt, it's a question. It's a concern that how many of

us have said I have been guilty, you don't have to raise your

hand or say Amen. But I have been guilty of saying

I know he can do it. I just don't know if he'll do it

for me. Gideon was the.

Poorest of the poor, he wasn't the strongest.

Maybe. He wasn't the smartest.

I'm not sure. I don't know how good.

Looking he was or wasn't. He didn't have.

A good, strong public social status.

He was self. Critical.

Yet God. Answered him through his

questions. Now, I hope you're picking up on

a bit of a pattern here this morning that I think we're

unnecessarily hard on Thomas because Thomas wasn't by

himself. Matthew 11.

And two says Now when John had heard in prison the works of

Christ, he sent two of his disciples.

And said unto him. Art thou he that should come?

It's almost like poetry. We quote it.

Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for another?

Think about it. John the Baptist had devoted his

entire life preparing the way for Jesus.

Preparing the way. For the Messiah.

Even before. He knew Jesus was he.

And now he. Says I knew you were the one,

but just in case I'm not really sure, can you can you, can you

confirm? Did I get it right?

Is it really you or or should I be looking for someone else?

This is after he's preached. He's locked up.

In prison now because of solitude and silence.

See, that's why the enemy wants to get you by yourself.

Because if he can get. You away from God's people and

he can isolate you. That was the number.

One in that was the number one spiritual tool of the pandemic

was isolation. If he can.

Isolate you and get you by yourself.

He gets you asking questions that you cannot get the answers

to. Where if you're in the.

Presence of God and you're in the House of God.

You can get answers. So now, John.

The Baptizer, he's prophesied it.

He's by himself. He's an enemy in his own mind

already, because now he's starting to question.

I'm locked up here in prison by myself, and now I just don't

know. Here's the fact, ladies and

gentlemen. Sometimes we wrestle with very

real questions. It is not.

A demonstration of lack of faith.

It's because in. Our humanity.

It can often be difficult to grasp or understand the weight

of the greatness that is found in God in His Word.

And how could He love me enough to demonstrate that to me

personally? I can't.

Comprehend it all. So sometimes.

The things I have believed in all of my life will surface in

an emotion or a moment that'll make me think.

Is this right? Do I understand?

This right now, here's the beauty of it.

Now you can, you can choose to look at this half.

You can choose the the the glass is half empty and you can choose

to look at it negatively if you want to.

But the way I see this is once I have affirmation that what I

thought was right is right, it gives me a greater grip.

Because now. I've I've lived through the

question. I've lived through the doubt.

I've lived through the hesitation.

Now I have answers. Before I.

May have just believed by faith. Now I have answers.

Now I understand the question. Whatever the question, the

question is not the problem. The moment of.

Doubt is not the problem. The method in.

Which we go about finding the solution is often the problem.

Don't go. To the world looking for

spiritual answers, Go to the Word.

Go to your Bishop, go to your pastor.

Get the Word. That's where the spiritual

answers come from. We have to find.

Our answers at the Source and the Source.

Thank God today the source is not intimidated by our humanity.

He likes to. Embrace us and give us the

answers we need to process. To help.

Us grow. Because here's the thing, God's

not fighting against you. God didn't.

Call you to something and set you up for failure without

equipping you process is what is often painful.

John 20 and verse 24 reads. But Thomas, here we are, our

favorite. One of the 12.

Called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came.

The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the

Lord. But he said unto them, Except I

shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger

into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I

will not believe. And after 8 days again his

disciples were within, and Thomas with them.

Then then came Jesus, the door being shut.

He just came on. Through the wall anyway, and

stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Then saith he. To Thomas, reach, hit her thy

finger, and behold my hands, and reach, hit her thy hand, and

thrust into my side. And be not faithless, but

believing. And Thomas answered and said

unto him, My Lord and my God Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,

because thou has seen me, thou has believed.

Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Now we find Thomas the doubter who says to Jesus after the

resurrection, Jesus is raised from the dead and Thomas says, I

won't believe until I see it with my own eyes.

Strangely. Comforting.

We'll come back to Thomas in a little bit, but it's strangely

comforting today to see people in the Bible that were so full

of faith. Yet also.

Occasionally battling faith questions.

Can you imagine? Thomas was one of the 12.

Yet we could mistakenly just assume that those 12 guys were

perfect. And I think if you study the

disciples deep enough, you'll find out that they were so far

from perfect. Some of them might.

Be it might have been worse off than some of you.

Let me rephrase some of us. Peter was a hot.

Head. Peter had anger.

Management problems. Peter didn't know when to keep

his mouth shut. He also didn't know when to keep

his sword holstered. He was a hot head.

Plain and simple. But he was a disciple.

God didn't call. The perfect.

He still. Doesn't call the perfect.

So I'm sorry today if this offends you, but all of this, it

really makes me feel good. It's us.

It gives me an incredible amount of comfort in my walk with God

regarding some of my own insecurities and doubts and

hesitations that I think I can't do XYZ for God because of ABC

and God says no, that's not the right formula.

Doubting. Doesn't make you bad.

It doesn't make you sinful. It makes you human.

We. Are flawed humanity broken and

tainted by sin? But thank God we are covered by

the blood of Jesus Christ. Think about this.

Example. After.

Jesus was crucified, died on a cross, rose from the dead right

before he ascended into heaven. He's on a mountain.

He's appeared at least 10 times or more to his disciples.

They ate breakfast with him, spent time with him, walked with

him, with the risen Christ. They're standing right in front

of him on this mountain. In the Bible makes a reference

to the 11 disciples. Now we're -1 now because Judas

got cancelled. So we're down to. 11 disciples,

of which let me remind you, Thomas is still part of the 11.

Only one's out is Judas. Thomas is still there.

So the 11. Disciples went to Galilee.

And in Matthew. 28 and 16 the Bible says Then the 11 disciples

went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had

appointed them, and when they saw him, the 11.

All of the. 11 I'm trying to make a point here.

They worshipped him. But some doubted it doesn't.

Say, but Thomas doubted. It's talking.

About the 11th they worshipped, but some when they saw him, they

did two things. They worshipped, but.

Some. Doubted.

Some doubt it, Say it to yourself.

But some doubt that makes me feel so good.

I'm sorry. That brightens my day.

Because they weren't. Perfect creatures.

They weren't angels on any on Earth.

They were flawed humanity, just as flawed as we are.

And they're standing right in front of him, in the flesh.

Now I can. Understand a little bit in the

21st century how it might be a bit easier for us to disregard

some things because we're totally walking by faith.

We don't see him. Now we do feel.

Him. And that's an undeniable

experience if you allow yourself to become part of it.

But we don't see him in the flesh.

They did. Now, pardon me for being

critical or judgmental for a moment, but how messed up is

that? They see.

Jesus and still can't believe. So let's be careful.

Of our measuring stick today on how self critical we are in our

walk with God, or when we think we've messed up, or when we

think we can't do something that God's called us to do because of

a past mistake. God doesn't care about your

past. My.

Inability and my doubt about my calling with God is not about

God, because once he has said forgiven, covered.

Once he has. Said that the struggle is on me

to forgive myself. And the only.

Reason why I can't forgive myself is because I doubt that

I'm worthy enough. But God's already said covered.

And once he. Has said covered and forgiven

the doubt is what I need to work on.

I'm not suggesting that's easy. I'm not making light of that

today. I'm just trying to in reference

in point today that we need to be careful of our our self

measuring, measuring stick because if the guys who were

called by him by by word in the flesh, Peter, Thomas, John, pick

whichever 1 you want. All right, I'm not giving you a

label, but whichever disciple come follow me, he don't get any

more called than that. To verbally.

Hear him in the flesh. Call you by name and say hey,

hey, Peter, If you'll follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.

I know you struggled last night with your catch, and we fixed

that. Now your boat's full.

But if you'll follow me, I'll teach you how to fish men in.

The flesh and then they get to. See him perform miracles.

They get to be a witness at the house when the house is so full

that they they had to let the the the lame man down through

the roof. And they see Jesus forgive his

sins and cleanse his problem. They get to see.

It they get to witness it first hand, so much so that they get

to go back to their Hut and they get to write about it.

Those guys had doubt. Those guys, as part of a group

of 11 in the early Church of church leadership, they

worshipped and some doubt. Dear God, that makes me feel

great. Because I know.

I'm not alone and I know that God didn't count them out or

discredit them because of their doubt.

If he had. There would be no book of Acts.

Think about it. Because one of the 12 wrote the

book, one of the 12 preached the message.

If God. Had discredited them during the

Gospels era. Because they had.

Doubt and they didn't believe. Without any any variance,

without any interference of humanity whatsoever, there'd be

no acts. He would have to figure.

A different way to give us the Holy Ghost.

Maybe there would be acts, but it wouldn't be from those 11.

It was. The word sum is defined as just

a way of saying several. So not to beat a dead horse

here, but not just Thomas Thomas Thomas has gotten a bad rap, bad

nickname. Because we we we paint this

image that there were 12 disciples. 1.

Betrayer. All right, he's cancelled.

There's 11 disciples, and now in the 11 there's one doubter.

That's not what the Bible says. Thomas happened to be the

doubter who was vocal. He happened to be the.

One to say. What perhaps?

Some within the other eleven were already thinking, or

otherwise they wouldn't have doubted too.

But he was bold. Enough to say.

You guys got? To see it, what I hear is Thomas

saying, you guys got to see it. It's not fair.

I want to see it too. In the world of.

Personality psychology. I would say that Thomas was a

sensor. I like him.

He's a good guy because he needed to get his hands on, he

needed to see, he needed to feel.

It was more than. Just what he could see in his

mind. He needed the the reality of the

moment. These were the guys.

That saw Jesus walk on water, they saw him multiply loaves of

bread and fish, they saw him cast out demons, raise the dead,

and now they're looking at a risen Savior.

Some. Doubt.

I want you to ask yourself this morning where your doubt lies.

It's obvious where. Your faith lies or you wouldn't

be in the House of God today. But where's your doubt?

Likely about you? Likely about your giftings, your

callings? Likely that you can't do certain

things for God because. Dot dot.

Dot and I've come to declare today that God's got an answer

for that doubt. And the answer is not that

you're right. What do you think Jesus response

was to the 11th? You think?

He rebuked. Them.

You think he called them? Out put them on the carpet.

Said you're wrong. No, he kept loving them.

He kept loving. Them right after the next text

where the text says, but some doubted right after that the

next verses in your Bible, Jesus gave what was perhaps then the

most important assignment in the history of the world.

And he gave that. Assignment to some who doubted

it was a precursor to events that would take place on the day

of Pentecost, Matthew 2818. And Jesus came and spake unto

them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.

Verse 19 Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing

them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy

Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have

commanded you, and lo, I am with you alway even into the end of

the world. Some worshipped, some doubted,

but all of them were called. I I.

Want you to hear that this morning.

Some worship, some doubted, but all 11 of them received the same

call of God. To go.

To teach, to preach, to minister, to be called of him,

to do what he has called you to do.

Well, I can't. Do this because no, that's not

what the Bible says. They had already made some of

the same mistakes, full of doubt and full of hesitation, and

Jesus said go. Do why?

Because. My past is redeemed.

My mistakes are covered by his blood.

Now if they're not. Then that's a problem that needs

solved. But we know the.

Answer to that. Jesus looked.

At those who worshipped. And he looked at those who doubt

it. And he said go into.

All the world and preach the church and the home should be

the safest place for us to ask our questions.

This should be the. Safest place?

If we can't. Ask the hard questions here in a

safe space. Where can we ask them?

If I can't. Wrestle with my own insecurities

and doubt in a worship service with God and give Him everything

in my mind and say I just don't think I can.

I'm worried about this. I'm nervous about this if I

can't have the hard conversations in His presence.

Then where? Can I have them?

And if we can't have those card questions in this place?

Then we have to. Ask ourselves, do we really love

as God loves? Because he.

Allowed the questions. We've been given.

This notice we're coming back to Thomas here as I land the plane

this morning. We've been given this.

Notion that doubting Thomas was a bad guy.

Because he wanted. Clarity about the one thing

standing in front of him. This has shamed.

Us into thinking that we're wrong for asking questions, or

we're wrong for seeking to understand, or that we're wrong

for not understanding to begin with.

As though understanding should just be automatic.

Doubt and faith are. Not opposites.

Doubt is not the absence of faith.

Now I'm taking my time intentionally because I want

that to sink in. Doubt is not the absence of

faith. If you've ever.

Struggled with your I have seen people, let me put it this way.

I have known people in my walk with God growing up in the

church that that were that struggled to admit they just got

the Holy Ghost. It's a big step.

Something something unique just happened to them that they can't

explain. So they struggle to confess and

admit, yes, I got the Holy Ghost.

Because of doubt. But doubt is.

Not an absence of faith. They need clarity.

They need understanding. Just telling them to have more

faith doesn't fix the problem. Doubt is a.

Lack of certainty or a hesitation.

And if I am hesitant with where God has brought me and what He's

done for me, the only way I can solve that hesitancy is to stay

in His presence. And to keep.

Letting him know God, I think, but I'm not sure.

I need you to give me clarity. Oh, I feel my help now.

It is not. God's will for you to continue

to live your life in the torment of hesitation.

But we need to. Understand today that we got to

stop fighting against doubt, and understand that doubt doesn't

mean you don't have faith. Doubt means you've.

Got some questions you need some answers to and I've come to

introduce you to the man that has the answers today.

Let me show you Thomas. The scripture says this one of

the 12. Thomas was not with the others

when Jesus came. So Jesus.

Shows up. Thomas isn't there.

He doesn't see it, the disciples tell Thomas later.

Hey. We've.

Seen the Lord, We saw Him. Matter of fact, the way that

it's phrased, if you research it, it implies that they said it

over and over and over again. Maybe they were rubbing it in, I

don't know. We saw him, Thomas has said.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Wait just a second.

I haven't seen him. I won't believe till I see that

doesn't mean he didn't have faith that it was real.

But for his. Own personal clarity and his

desire to truly buy in to what was happening in front of him.

He needed to see Jesus for himself.

And it's. Probably the reason why we call

him Doubting Thomas. It's a moniker.

It's a nickname that has stuck with him ever since I've come to

believe that it was. It was unfair to Thomas.

Very unfair. I can relate to Thomas today.

Thomas was a. Realist that doesn't make him

wrong, doesn't make him better than those who aren't so makes

him different. It makes him human.

My dad used to tell me whenever I was growing up that I, I was

from the Show Me state because I wouldn't believe something

unless I saw it. I needed that essence of reality

to see. It's not a matter of faith, it's

a matter of understanding. You say, well, I don't need

understanding in order to believe.

I have faith. That's good for you and I.

Don't mean that. Sarcastically today that's good

for you. That could if that works for

you, great. But let me tell you what the

Bible says, because the the word is found, the word understanding

is found 156 times in the Bible. So getting understanding is

apparently fairly important. Here's two of them, Psalm 11.

Psalm 111 and 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of

wisdom. We quote that a lot.

But it the the. Verse doesn't stop there.

It says a good understanding have all they that do his

commandments. Psalm 119 and 34 says give me

understanding and I shall keep thy law.

So if understanding is what is needed in order for me to truly

grasp what God is saying, and I've come to say today that that

doesn't make you bad, that makes you human.

And we can stop letting our enemy of our soul abuse us.

Yes, I. Know that Jesus told Thomas.

Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.

Maybe they get a better blessing, but that does not say

that. Those who doubt never says that

Thomas was excommunicated because he didn't, because we

see in his word that he wasn't. He remained part of the 11

Watch. This Thomas was called by Jesus

bold enough to tell Jesus what he didn't understand because he

wanted to understand it. And when he received

understanding, he believed. He was part.

Of the group that went into the upper room in Acts chapter 1, he

Acts 1 · chapter mention

was there when Peter preached the Apostolic message of the

infilling of the Holy Ghost. He was there when the Holy Ghost

was poured out. History records that Thomas

travelled to India in 52 AD and started preaching the Gospel and

that he started churches from 52AD to 72AD.

According to tradition, the enemies of Christ came up to

Thomas and said stop preaching Jesus, stop preaching the

resurrected Christ. And according to the history,

Thomas refused to do so. So they took a spear and they

drove it through his body. Think about this as the

musicians come and we close this morning.

Think about this Thomas the disciple that didn't believe

until he saw the spear wound in Jesus side.

Was taken out of this. Life by a spear not much

different than his Lord. Possibly because his questions

were answered. His doubt was resolved because

Jesus resolved it for him. Stayed with me this morning if

you would please. God is not distant in your

doubt, Brother Mason. I I I I.

I've made too many mistakes. I don't see any biblical

evidence that that's the truth. You might feel that way.

Study the disciples. Study how.

Bad. They really were.

They weren't the. Cream of the crop, Not for that

day's society. I'm not trying to taint their

image to you or anything, but if we're honest, they weren't the

best of the best. They were guys who had real

problems and they had real questions.

And Jesus said follow me. That worked for a little over

three years. Follow me and for three years

plus, he's teaching and he's pouring into them.

And then at the end, standing on a mountain, when Jesus is about

to ascend into heaven, his teaching is now over.

Follow me is now transitioning to a new chapter.

Follow me has now become go and teach, go and preach, go and

sing, go and teach Sunday school class, go and greet at the front

door, go and teach Bible studies, go and clean the

church, go and whatever. What I've come to.

Say in the presence of the Lord today is that we can find God in

our doubt. Let's let God settle our doubt.

So that we. Might be used by him.

Because there. Is nothing any of us have in our

past that precludes us from the calling of God?

Once He says you're forgiven and you're covered.

Find God in the doubt today. Let's lift our hands and praise

Him today. Would you lift your hand?

This altar is open. If you want to pray, you can

pray at your seat. You can pray here.

You can pray online, joining with us this morning.

But let's find God in our doubt today in a season of worship.