The Twelve Jesus Chose (part 6)

Look to your neighbor and say it's good to see you this week.

Look to your other neighbor say it's good to see you too.

Well, here we are.

The 12 that Jesus chose.

We've talked about a lot of the disciples.

Each week we have confronted why maybe Jesus chose who and their story and their history and their past and everything else.

And if you're new today, we say welcome to all of our guests and all those that are joining us online.

We say welcome.

But the reality is that Jesus chose people that you would have never chosen to run a company, a successful business.

You would have never chosen them.

And Jesus had this idea and this plan from the very beginning.

And that plan stretched back into the book of Genesis.

And it's in this moment that we see that Jesus is articulating and he is choosing.

And there are those that come with different stories and different packages.

In fact, in this room, you have a different story.

I don't have the same story as you.

You don't have the same story as me.

You don't have the same struggles that I have.

Some of you might.

Your struggle may seem worse than my struggle, but in the scheme of things, it is not.

The reality is that God has chosen you for a divine purpose, a place and time in history.

Every child that's born on this world, all 8 billion plus, are children of God, whether they realize it or not, whether they wake up every day and they bend a knee in Iraq to Allah, they are still children of God that have not yet had the revelation of who Jesus is.

And we have to live with that in mind.

That Jesus Christ started with 12 that no one else would have chosen to go and preach the gospel to the whole world.

And you and I get the opportunity of doing that.

And I feel like we're doing it really well here in our own community, whether it be outreach or the youth ministry or any other capacity.

But today I want to take you in a little bit of a different direction because today we're going to talk about a disciple named Thomas.

Thomas.

Not that Thomas back there.

Hi, Thomas.

But you are a good disciple, Thomas.

I love you, man.

He's walking toward the Lord.

Thomas has been reduced to a nickname.

Oftentimes throughout history, that nickname that everybody refers to him is doubting Thomas.

And it's quite annoying, if you ask me.

But it's true.

That label was too small for the man, though, in scripture.

See, Thomas was loyal, he was blunt, he was unwilling to pretend he believed something that he had not seen.

And when the other disciples were ready to stay safe, Thomas was ready to die with Jesus.

Thomas was anything but a doubter in the Lord.

Unfortunately, we see one snapshot in history of Thomas's life, and we tie that to him and equate that.

And when the other disciples said they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas refused to borrow their experience.

He wanted his own.

Let me ask you something.

Have you ever heard about a miracle?

You ever heard about a miracle?

Yeah, everybody's heard about a miracle.

Now, a big question.

Have you actually ever seen a miracle?

You have to, you have to, you have to ask yourself that.

Because what's happened oftentimes in our world is that we hear secondhand accounts or third hand accounts, but we never actually experience a miracle for ourselves.

At least not in the capacity of what we think a miracle is.

But the reality is, is if you woke up this morning, you, my friends, are a miracle.

I remember I was sitting on a flight with a woman next to me, and I remember looking at her, and um, I asked her this question.

I was I was bright-eyed in my faith, and and I looked at her and I said, What do you do?

And she looked at me and she said, Well, I'm a scientist.

And I was like, Okay, that's strange.

Flying out of Northwest Arkansas, you're a scientist.

All right.

What are you doing here?

And I remember she said that, and my next question was, So are you a believer?

And she said, Oh my goodness, yes, I'm a believer.

I'm like, You believe in Jesus?

She said, Yeah.

And I said, So you're a scientist, but you believe in Jesus.

I'm like, she's like, Yeah.

I said, How could I not?

I said, Well, I've heard a lot of other people that are really smart uh not profess their belief in Jesus.

She told me that in fact what she was doing scientifically proved everything of Jesus.

And she went on to tell me about how can you not believe in a Lord in which a baby is birthed?

And she she began to tell me how the heart is formed before the brain and how the signals to the heart are actually in operation before there's ever a signal from the brain to the heart.

And she says, we know this in science to be a divine uh thing.

She says it's a miracle every time a child is uh born.

I thought that was really incredible.

But miracles, we're talking about miracles.

And what I've often found in the church is that people will rely on other people's miracles to tell the miracle, or they'll rely on other people's faith to talk about Jesus.

And I think the biggest thing of what I want you to get today is that today, this is not about hearing what other people have to say about your God, but it's about encountering your God and your own personal relationship.

This is a really big thing because I gotta tell you, I saw a lot of miracles in my life, and and none more profound than when I visited other countries and what I saw firsthand right in front of me take place.

And you know that there was no coincidence with this.

But here's one thing that I do appreciate about Thomas as we get into this.

Thomas was not just doubting Jesus in a moment.

Thomas was refusing to allow someone else's experience determine his faith.

Do you understand that?

He was not allowing someone else to tell him something, but he'll never not have the experience for himself.

His story is not mainly about skepticism, it's about a man who brought his honest unbelief to Jesus and found that Jesus was not offended by it.

And I guess what I want you to understand this morning as we get going is that Jesus Christ is not going to be offended by your skepticism, by your questions.

My great-grandmother used to tell me all the time, don't question God, Tyler.

Never do that.

I'm gonna tell you the opposite.

Question God.

Controversial, I know, huh?

But guess what?

He's a good, good father.

What kind of father can you not come to with questions?

Let's just be honest.

If we're gonna sing the song, he is a good, good father.

If he's a good father, then a good father allows their children to come with questions.

With my grief.

In fact, we see it in scripture that it happens.

But one of the biggest things that as we get into this sermon today, that I want you to understand about Thomas is that he was blunt and he wanted to know that what he said and what he believed was really what was true.

He wanted to know without a doubt of a shout and or a shout of a doubt.

And and this is this moment in point one that Thomas was willing to die with Jesus before he fully understood him.

This is what the scriptures say.

John 11, 11 through 16.

It says, after he had said this, he went on to tell them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.

So now a little bit of context here.

Jesus was friends with Lazarus, all right?

We we see this in scripture.

Mary and Martha, they wanted Jesus to come, he didn't come in time, but this is the setting, all right?

And at this time, everybody wants to kill Jesus.

Everybody.

They want to kill him.

All right.

It is not safe for Jesus right now because they want to destroy him.

And we see that Jesus is saying that we have to go and he's going to wake him up.

And after he said that, or sorry, his disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.

This is this is the humor of the disciples.

Because they're kind of some of these guys are just trying to find a way of like, let's let's not go.

Like, let's just trust he's gonna get better.

You know?

It's kind of like when somebody has a need on Facebook and you just type prayers.

Yeah.

Not being a jerk, but I'm just saying, if someone has a need, sometimes maybe we actually do something instead of just, oh, anyways, we'll keep going.

All right.

Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.

But let us go to him.

So here he's saying, Look, for your sake, I'm glad that he's dead, that I wasn't there, because you wouldn't have done anything anyways, you wouldn't have believed.

And so in the next verse, he says, Then Thomas, also known as Diddy Mus, said to the rest of the disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him.

So he just kicks open the door in front of this whole situation.

Thomas is like, I know what your problem is, you're scared to die, but let's just go with him and let's just die with Jesus anyways.

Doesn't sound much of a doubting Thomas to me, does it?

Not in this moment.

And so Thomas is understanding, he's reading the elephant in the room, and he knows what's going on, and he's saying, Look, I'm willing to die with Jesus even when I don't fully understand him, because there's nothing greater in this life than I've experienced than a relationship with this man named Jesus.

And that is not a voice of a coward, that is a voice of a man who would rather walk into risk with Jesus than stay behind without him.

Thomas did not always understand what Jesus was doing, but he refused to abandon Jesus.

He refused to say, Jesus, you can go on, do your thing.

We'll stay right here and hope you make it back.

What kind of faith?

I want you to understand this right now, church.

You can have real loyalty to the kingdom of God and still have unfinished questions.

I'm gonna repeat that.

You can have real loyalty to the kingdom of God and love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind and still have unfinished questions.

Thomas was willing to die with Jesus before he fully understood him.

He didn't know what was going to come down the pipe, he didn't know what it was, but I he was loyal even with unfinished questions.

And honest questions do not cancel courage.

Sometimes they travel together.

I can have true, honest questions and still have the courage in believing that Jesus Christ will meet me at the end of this.

I can still suffer and be wandering through things mentally and still believe that he is king of kings and gods of gods, that he is the Lord and he is who he says he is.

Thomas doubted the resurrection later, but he did not doubt Jesus when the road looked like death.

I want you to hear me.

He had a heart to know Jesus and he wanted to know the truth.

But one thing that he was not was that of a coward.

Some people talk like they have great faith until it cost them.

Thomas talked like a man who was willing to die for the kingdom.

That was Thomas.

Honest questions do not cancel courage.

Sometimes they travel together.

John 14 and 5 said it this way.

Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?

See?

Honest questions! Honest questions! Honest questions.

Thomas was the blunt one.

He was the one that's like, dude, listen, you're telling us you're going somewhere and that we're gonna be with you, but how do we know the way?

Because we don't know where you're going.

Have you ever just laid in your bed trying to talk with God, feeling like the questions are hitting the ceiling and bouncing back in your face and just asking God questions to which you don't know?

Have you ever done that?

Have you ever been in despair talking to the Lord and wondering, Lord, how do we know?

Can you show us?

Can you show me?

Can you hit me in the face with it?

Because I feel really dumb in this season of my life.

Everything feels uncertain.

Everything that I'm looking for, I can't find.

The question opened the door for one of the most important statements Jesus ever made.

I believe that we may not get this next verse in this statement without Thomas being so courageous in the fact of how he would question and question the Lord in this.

Ready?

Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one comes to the Father except through me.

You've heard this verse a million times.

I've preached it.

But you have to also look at the pretext of understanding why he said it.

Because how do we understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life without actually having questions?

And this is where I'm starting the sermon this morning.

Because you need to have a personal relationship with the Lord.

The Bible says you have not because you ask not.

And a lot of us are too busy.

We're just complainers.

We're like, well, this is never going to change.

This is always how it's going to be.

And instead of your complaining, how about you get one-on-one with God, cease about worrying, pray about everything, and begin to ask him questions.

And then shut up and listen.

Just be quiet.

Just allow him to fill your heart, fill your soul.

Let it be on his time, not your time.

Because it's in this moment that Thomas asked questions, and he got important answers.

Thomas did not hide his confusion to look spiritual.

This this is this is so big.

This is so big.

This is so big.

He didn't hide the confusion.

You know, you sit in the room.

You remember when you're in school?

Some of you, some of you young people in here.

You remember when the teacher would ask, anybody have any questions?

You're like looking around the room.

No, no.

Like you have no idea what they're talking about, too.

He's just lugging.

No, I'm good.

No questions.

I'm gonna fail this test, but I'm good.

Yeah, this is gonna suck.

That's the mindset, right?

You wanna know why?

Because it's sociology 101.

You always you don't want to be less than somebody else in the room.

You don't want to be the one that feels dumb.

You don't want to be the one that's pointed out.

Let me tell you something.

When your family's on the line, when your mental health is on the line, when your salvation is on the line, you better get over yourself, my friends.

Lower yourself before the kingdom of God.

Because I'm gonna tell you, there's nothing worse than being in the presence of the kingdom of God and not getting what he has for you because you're too prideful about what other people are gonna think about you.

At some point, you have to let go.

A honest question in the presence of Jesus is better than a fake certainty in front of people.

And man, I could preach that all day.

I gotta tell you, I don't have all the answers.

I wish I did.

I don't know everything.

I'm glad I don't.

I'm glad he does because I don't I don't know what I would do even if I knew everything, brother.

There's things that I've had to come to realize in my faith walk that I just don't know.

There's things and moments that I have no answer for.

In fact, there's times where I look at people and I say, Look, my answers are not going to suffice.

You've got to get alone with the King of Kings.

This is a personal relationship between you and him.

And that's not a cop-out.

That's me telling you that as much as I love the Lord, I can't save you.

Only He can.

Only He can.

But we have to quit with the fake.

We have to be authentic.

We got to start asking the tough questions.

We have to start asking in the presence of Jesus.

And to ask in the presence of Jesus means that you make him a priority in your life.

So there is a presence of his spirit in your home and in your life.

It's a big deal.

It's a big deal.

So we see this how Thomas becomes and he asked a question, and the church received a confession.

Jesus is the way.

Okay?

No, no, no, no.

Let me ask you this.

Let's split that question that I just asked a little bit ago.

Have you ever been sitting in a place, maybe at work or maybe at school when you were younger, or some of you young people, have you ever been sitting there and the teachers say, Does anyone have any questions?

And you're just like, nope, nope, good.

Yeah, I'm gonna fail this test.

Have no idea what I'm gonna be doing tomorrow, but okay.

And then all of a sudden, little Thomas over in the corner is like, Yeah, I got one.

How do we know where you're going?

And you're like, man, I'm glad he asked that.

That's exactly the question that I needed answered.

When are you gonna start being that person for your family?

When are you gonna be that for your family?

When are you gonna be that for your marriage?

When are you gonna be that for your children in your home?

When are you gonna quit trying to just pretend that you have it all figured out and you hope you don't fail the task that you just ace it like somehow it figures itself out?

When are you going to begin to start asking the father how to fix what you can?

Because you have some answers to problems that you just stare at and you hope that they fix themselves.

Thomas gave us the example of what not to do and how not to be.

He gave us the example of asking the questions and what to do.

On both flip sides, we see it.

If you never admit what you do not understand, listen to me, church.

If we don't admit to what we don't understand, you may never hear what Jesus wants to show you.

This is big.

There are things that I do not understand.

But I'm still going to his throne asking him to show me.

You know what?

He may show me something that's totally irrelevant to what I originally asked for.

But he already knows what I need more than what I asked for.

And I want more of him and less of me.

My last point is this.

You know, I sit with a lot of people who look at me and they say, Pastor, I just don't get it though.

It doesn't make sense.

You know what?

There's a lot of things that don't make sense.

There's a lot of things.

Whether we're talking about micro things or macro things, there's a lot of things that don't make sense.

And Jesus met Thomas' doubt with evidence and an invitation.

And this is something that you and I have to lower ourselves and understand this morning.

The fact that the King of Kings, the God of God, literally left his throne to come be with you and I should be sufficient.

So be I know it sounds like another cop-out, doesn't it?

It's not.

Who are we that he should be mindful of us?

Who are we?

We can't even get it right on a day-to-day basis.

We can't.

We can't figure it out.

And we come in here with the audacity to say, I don't get it, so I don't believe it.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I need you to hear me.

I don't get it is an invitation to get closer to Jesus.

Because you may not get it right now.

But here's the thing: the thing that you're trying to get, what if it was the thing that led you to the place that you never thought you would be?

And I could go deeper on that too.

And it's in this moment that when we see Thomas, he doesn't get it.

He doesn't figure it out.

He doesn't see it at certain times.

He wants to be about the kingdom, but he also is one of those guys that's like, I'm not gonna believe it until I see it.

How many of us are like that?

I'm not gonna believe it until I see it.

Listen, I have lived this faith out long enough to know that God does not work that way.

That if you want to see it, you better start believing it.

If you want to see it, you better start building it.

If you want to see it, you better get in the prayer room.

If you want to see it, you better start fasting.

If you want to see it, you better start moving.

Because that's how the kingdom of God works.

I don't wait to see it before I believe it.

I do it and believe it and then we'll see it.

And it comes with every capacity of me in that.

And it has to be every capacity in you in that of believing that this is what the promise of God is from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Caleb, go take that land, go take those people, beat those people.

I've given you the promise.

We're afraid, they look like giants, we're grasshoppers in their eyes.

No, no, no, no.

I've already given you the promise in the Old Testament.

The New Testament.

That's the Old Testament, the New Testament.

Oh, for there is no condemnation for those found in Christ Jesus.

The oldest done, the new has come.

Listen, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom for the promises unto you and to all those are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call.

That's the promise.

So I believe it before I see it.

We got what 60 plus kids at you think could be it's gonna To be even greater than that.

Why?

Because we believe it.

We pray.

Nothing shall come against the kingdom of God.

We're taking back the territory.

This is his land, his people, his kingdom.

That's what you got to believe.

And at some point, Jesus is calling us to a personal relationship with him and believing that greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world.

And what he was trying to tell Thomas in this moment is I know you want all the answers, and I know you want it all figured out, but you're gonna have to understand that it is a personal relationship with me that's going to determine everything from within you and who you are.

Because you're looking out here for all the answers, and all the answers begin right here.

And see, this is what happens, this is where we get doubting Thomas from.

Because he says, So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord, but he said to them, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

How many of us have been like this, guys?

How many of us have go through this life?

Unless God does this, I'm not going to give.

Unless he does this, I'm never walking back into that church again.

Unless he does this, I'm never giving again.

Unless he does this, I'll never be in there worshiping him.

Unless he does, we have this idea.

We have this idea that we are bigger than the kingdom.

We have this arrogance about us sometimes that our condition for this life must be based on what we consider his goodness.

But we have to be reminded, as I said at the beginning of this, his goodness is not predicated on our situation.

For Job said, naked, I came into this world, naked, I'll go out.

He he understood it.

I'm only gonna be here according to science, maybe 67 years, if I'm that blessed.

I don't know.

I'm not the creator of this story, and I'm sure not the author of it, but guess what?

I know time's ticking, and I know I don't have long, and I'm okay with that.

You wanna know why?

Because he's good, he's got the plan, dude.

1983.

What were you doing, brother Randy, in 1983?

Uh farming.

Farming?

You know what I was doing in 1983?

You might have been born.

No, no, no, no.

I don't even know.

I was born in 92.

That was 11 years before I would either breathe oxygen.

He was still good then.

He was good in 1983, he was he was good in 1950, he was good in 1800, he was good in 1600, 1500, he was good when Jesus came into the world on a Bethlehem night.

He was good.

And guess what?

The same God that formed me before I was even in the womb is the same God that's going to take care of me after this is all said and done.

That's what he does, and that's who he is.

I do not have to see the scars to believe it.

I do not have to see him on the cross to believe it.

I know it because it's in me.

It's in me, it's in me, it's in me, it's in me by the fruit and the evidence of the Holy Spirit.

His blood runs in me.

And for you that are believers, it runs in you too.

But here in this moment, we have a moment of doubt and situations, and I don't know what your moment of doubt are, but I want to tell you this.

I want to tell you this.

Your moments of doubt are okay.

Your moments of doubt are okay.

Verse 27.

This is what Jesus said to Thomas.

He said, Put your fingers here and see my hands.

See, this is what I love about this portion of Thomas's story, is because Thomas didn't say this to Jesus.

See, go back.

Thomas didn't say this to Jesus.

This was Thomas didn't take time to say this to Jesus.

And there's some of us here, can we be honest with ourselves, real quick?

There's some of us here that have said some things, some hurtful things, some wrongful things, and we really didn't say them to Jesus.

We said them to other people.

Because we're so busy believing that the substance that comes out of our mouth to other people is more authentic because you can actually get a response in real time.

But I want to tell you a secret.

You ready for this?

While the people that you tell it to might be your friends, they don't care for you the way that Jesus does.

It's a truth.

It's a truth.

And when you speak things to other people, they can't do for you what Jesus can.

And there's these times in our life that we go through seasons, and I'm not saying it's bad to tell your friends or talk to people.

That's not what I'm saying.

It's good.

Counselor's great.

I'm good with it.

But here's what I here's what I am telling you.

There's no one that can satisfy your soul like Jesus.

And I need you to know one more thing.

That he already knows what you're saying to everybody else, even before you say it.

And this is what happens with Thomas.

He said, Then he said to Thomas, put your fingers here.

See my hands.

Reach out your hand and put it into my side.

Stop doubting and believe.

Jesus met Thomas in the moment of his doubt.

And then Thomas said to him, My Lord, my God.

And Jesus told him, Because you've seen me, you've believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen me yet and believed.

I don't know what the situation is that you're going through this morning, but you'll be blessed if you believe even though you haven't seen.

Can I tell you that?

From the anointing of the Holy Spirit over this place this morning, I can tell you, you will be blessed for believing even when you haven't seen.

Jesus did not meet Thomas with the scolding, he met him with the scars.

I want you to know that.

I want you to know that this morning.

He's not going to hurt you.

He's not here to condemn you.

He's here to love you through the questions that you have.

And for some reason, in 2026, we can get all this religious hypocrisy of don't bring your questions.

Don't bring like he doesn't want to hear it.

He's too busy.

There's more important things.

Do you not believe that he created you?

And if he created you, he loves you.

Why do we say that if you were the only one, he would have still gone to the cross?

If you can't bring your questions and concerns to him, then why are we even doing this?

Why are we doing it?

To act and believe like we can't be authentic in our day-to-day.

To ask someone, how are you doing?

And they say good, even though we know that they're not.

And even though, even though I struggle on days, and even though I deal with things, and even though I go through anxiety and sometimes even hit a little bit of a depression scale, there's moments in my life that I have to look at him and say, God, help me with my unbelief.

Help me with my unbelief.

Thomas refused to fake a faith he did not have, and Jesus gave him a faith that he could not deny.

What do you think about that?

What do you think about that?

These are the scriptures of Thomas that are laid out about his life.

Doubting, questioning, wondering, all these moments.

And you know, I I've done so many funerals.

I've done over 50 of them now.

Brother Jeff, you've man, I don't even want to know.

Do you have a count?

No?

I didn't think so.

I mean, you could probably go back and look.

But there's this, there's been this nagging.

If I don't bring something.

Yep, there we go.

If I don't break something, there's been this nagging at my soul like the last three days.

And I wasn't gonna do this, and I said I wasn't gonna do it this morning.

And then of course I put it on Riley and Darla like 30 minutes before service, and they hate me.

But you know, Thomas refused to fake a faith that he did not have.

How many of us are faking a faith that we don't have because we refuse to ask the questions and have a personal relationship with the Lord.

This song that I'm gonna sing to you.

You know?

I could have had Jackson sing this.

He would have been better.

I love you, Jackson.

But the Lord asked the Lord asked me to do it.

And I'm gonna do it.

I I want you to know that I think of this song as a Thomas song.

I think of this song as the moments of my doubt and despair.

The moments when I feel like I can't do it.

The moments when I don't understand.

See, is Brett here?

Is Bret here?

Is Brad here?

Not Brett in here.

Hey Brett.

We had a football player this week, and we could tell he wasn't he wasn't himself.

You know, he went through a tragedy last year, and I can't explain it, and I don't even have the words to say it.

But it bothered me all week.

And the song kept coming to my heart every night.

And I call this the Thomas song.

Because if we're not authentic and real, then why are we even here?

I want a Jesus that I can always run to, amen.

I'm gonna sing this song for you, and then the worship team is gonna come.

Sometimes marriage is still work.

Sometimes babies die.

Sometimes we have turns to relax, and you let's just ask him why.

Max is like this.

Here we go.

And for all the cares I pray, I still wonder if he's real.

And if he is, how is he choosing?

He doesn't do this, got it all the one, add the fish away, and the tip with my street.

I leave seven minutes.

I leave seven I look at that's what I need around for teachers, got a whole nother face to it, taking down the notes, most I don't have it, but he never changed it.

Lord, I just thank you for being kind.

I thank you for your presence.

Lord, that I can come with questions.

Lord, that I can yell at you sometimes and it's not right.

Who am I that I would yell at you?

God, I thank you that you see through all the fluff.

You see through all the lies that we tell ourselves or we tell others.

God, I I don't know why things happen the way they do sometimes.

I have no answers that suffice, but I trust you.

And I know that you are good and you are Lord and you are sovereign.

So God, I just pray right now for every person in this room that's dealing with the questions that they've never asked you, or maybe they're in a season of waiting.

Maybe they've been asking the questions, God, and they they haven't heard from you.

God, I just pray for them right now.

Lord, I pray for those that have gone through trauma.

Lord, who have gone through situations, Lord, and there is no good explanation.

God, I just pray that they would be with you.

I pray that they would believe in you even when they haven't seen.

So that Father, you could show them something greater.

Lord, I pray that their faith would increase, that it wouldn't be a fake faith, but it would be a true faith.

God, I pray for their homes and I pray for their marriages, and I pray for their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren and all the generations that come.

God, I just pray for an anointing up on their life, up on this room.

God, I pray for every legal battle, every struggle, every Lord, every thought.

Lord, I pray that you would take captive of those that are just struggling in the process of life.

God, everyone that's so busy, or everyone that's just not content, like they hate their job.

Oh Father, they just feel like they get up and do the same thing every day.

Or every day, or maybe they don't feel valued.

Maybe they don't maybe they don't feel worthy, or maybe they don't feel appreciated.

I I don't know.

But Lord Father, I pray that they would begin to talk with you and that they would find Lord, they would find it in you, and Lord that they would taste and see that you are good.

Lord, we love you and we thank you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

I'm gonna invite the worship team back up here.

And I remember one of them came up to me and they they looked me in the eye and they said, You know Jesus, right?

I was like, I do.

I do.

He's my friend.

She said, Why would Jesus take my mama?

I didn't have the words.

There are no words that will suffice in those moments, and I believe that was such an important question for this young man that I was not going to give him a cliche answer.

Let me give you some advice.

Sometimes the best answer you can give is not an answer at all, but a hug of love to let them feel the miracle of itself, and that's life.

And the cost of life is pain, the cost of love is pain in this world because of the evil one.

But praise be to God that he loved you and I so much that he came upon this earth and flesh to give you an answer.

And the answer was born on a cross 2,000 years ago when he took every pain, every insecurity, every struggle, and everything.

Will there be trouble?

Absolutely, but take heart, for he's overcome the world.

That's the joy that I have.

And when I looked at that little boy, I looked at him and I said, I want to tell you, I'm so sorry.

But I don't have an answer that's going to satisfy you.

But I told him, I said, I want you to know this.

I want you to know this that in this very moment I love you, and I believe God loves you, and God has your mother in the palm of his hand, just like he's gonna have you in the palm of his hand for all the days of your life.

And I'm gonna pray over you and I'm gonna anoint you, and I'm gonna believe right now what we're saying is true.

I want you to know that it's okay to ask questions, it's okay to be frustrated, it's okay to be angry.

God says, Bring it to me.

For with Thomas, he didn't meet him with scolding, he met him with his scars, and every time you come to Jesus, let him remind you with his scars.

For I've said it times before, when the devil gets historical, you get biblical, you get biblical.

God is for you, he's not against you.

Let's pray one more time as we stand.

God help us, Lord.

Help us in all that we do and all that we are, Lord.

We don't understand everything, and I won't pretend to.

But Lord Father, I just pray right now for every home and every every life and every situation.

But as we begin to sing and worship you, God, let us give everything that we have to you because you're the only one that understands.

There is so much that doesn't make sense, and to Thomas it didn't make sense either.

But he came.

And let it be reminded, Lord, that I still have questions, I still have struggles.

But Lord, thank you for walking with me in it.

Thank you for saying that it's okay to be weak, because when you're weak, you can be you can be strong, God.

You have every part of me that I that I don't have.

I wish I could be better.

I wish I could understand better.

But Lord, I just crawl back to you every time, every time.

Because I need you, I need you more than my next breath to be a dad, to be a husband, to be a friend.

God help me.

Lord, bless our people.

Help all of them, help all of us.

We need you desperately in Jesus' name, amen.