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Apr 24, 2022

Lasting Faith in the Hard Moments

Lasting Faith in the Hard Moments

Passage: John 20:24

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Stand Alone Message

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: worship, faith, jesus, sunday, god, sermon, gospel, hope, believe, bible study, live music, hard life, livestream, burnt hickory baptist church, is god real, struggling with faith, burnt hickory worship, how to believe, how to have faith

Once you become a Christian, life isn’t perfect. Everyone still has questions and struggles and luckily, God loves us through our struggles in our faith. As we look into scripture today, we can learn that even when we can’t see God’s hand, we can trust his heart because we remember what God is like. His character is always the same, and he is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. We can remember what He has done in the world and for us through his Son. As we wrestle with faith, we should ask God to strengthen our ability to believe, because He is a good father. Are you struggling with your faith? You are not alone, and we are a faith community who will walk with you through the hard moments in life with you. If you’ve got questions and want to connect with someone, them reach out – burnthickory.com/next. We’d love to answer any questions you have and take time to pray with you.

Well, good morning church and Happy Post Easter Sunday. Otherwise known in Christendom Land as National Associate Pastor Sunday. Normally what happens on this day, all the associate pastors preach because the pastor is like, That's it, Easter's over. I'm out of here. But not today. All right, you get second class, right? It's okay. Hey, no. Before we jump into the message, let me say this to you. For those of you that prayed for last week's Easter services, man, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. God was incredibly gracious to us. Literally split the sky. Amen. For us to be outside last weekend with not a drop of rain and the largest services in Burnt Hickory's history last weekend. And it was awesome. It really was incredible to be out on the front lawn. Let's just do that every week, right? Oh, let's no, let's not. Oh, that's a lot. Special shout out to all the facilities people. You don't realize how hard it is to dry 2000 chairs off until you've done it. All the technical, the greeters, the parking lot, people, nobody ran into anybody in the parking lot. And we know how that can go around here. Thank you for the childcare. Man, it was such an incredible day and many decisions for Jesus last week.

In fact, there was one moment at the end of the 11:00 service. I don't know if you were there at the service that the invitation was gave. I mean, I gave it all. I was sweaty. I mean, it was good. I mean, we were rolling, we prayed, and we had a decision tent off to the side. And all of a sudden, I said Amen, and there was like a hundred people walking over towards the decision tent. I was like Lord; this is the day we prayed for. And then all of a sudden, they walked right past that ten to the photo booth. It was awesome. It was awesome. I was like, Well, I don't know if that was what I wanted, but at least they're here. If that, was you, hey, I'm not judging, all right? I'm not. But we know who you are. We got you on camera. Oh, we got you. No, it's a joke. It was a great, great service. Look, if you got a copy of Scripture this morning, go with me to the Book of John, the 20th chapter.

The Book of John the 20th chapter. And today, what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at one of the post resurrection events, one of the post resurrection events. Last week and part of our Easter messages, we talked about a lot of these occurrences of Jesus after he rose. He didn't rise from the grave and just run off into obscurity to hide. He rose and showed up on the scene to see many people to prove to many people that he was, in fact, alive. This morning, we're going to look at one of the most famous one of those, and it's the one where Thomas meets the resurrected Jesus, the apostle Thomas, one of the guys that have been walking with Jesus, one of his disciples meets him. But here's what I want to say as we jump into this message, though. If you are a church person, which a lot of you are right, if you are a church person and you are familiar with this story, it is very easy to check out at this moment, right? It's easy to go, well I've heard that. I've read that. I've been a part of that. Maybe even I memorized that in the third grade and got my sticker on the chart, whatever it was for you. But let me just beg you this morning not to do that. In fact, never do that. Here's why. Because the Bible is an incredible, incredible, incredibly written and live document. Here's what I mean by that. I mean by that, that every time you read the Bible, no matter how many times it is, if you will approach it with an open heart, with a mind that is pre submitted to say yes to Jesus, and if you will approach it with the sovereignty of the Lord and the grace of the Lord in front of you, the Bible will meet you where you are. It will speak to you where you are. It will set you on a path to show you what you need to know. And here's the great part about it. Every time you read these stories over and over again, you were at a different place in your life with a different need in your life. And God will show up in the middle of that moment and say, This is for you. This is what I'm going to give you today. So, this story that we're going to read is one of those stories. In fact, we tell people all the time here that the Bible is the only book on the planet that the author's present every single time it's read. It's why we can say that the Bible is a live document that pierces to our souls down to the marrow of who we are, and it wants to change us. So please, please, please, let me just beg you. Let this story today, this event, speak to your soul and where you're living today. In fact, it's one of my favorites, favorite, favorite stories in the New Testament. I feel like I almost say that. Every week, but I really mean this time.

All right. It's one of my favorite stories because I feel myself in the story and I feel my tendencies in a lot of ways match Thomas's tendencies in this whole battle of faith, in this whole battle of God, what are you doing in my life right now? So, let's jump into the battle of Thomas in the mind of Thomas. And I want you to see Thomas answering this tough question of what do I do in my faith when life gets hard, when circumstances are pressing in, when it seems like God is a little bit quiet, or when everything's hitting the fan, what do I do to allow God to move in, to take my life, even in those moments of doubt? Now, I kind of crafted this message around this idea of doubt and hard and crisis, because the reality is that's where a lot of us live our lives. We live somewhere in the middle of totally losing it on this side and 100% in the holiness of God in this life. We're always kind of in this kind of ebb and flow of life, depending upon what the circumstances is. Don't look at your momma right now is not the time. We always just live in the middle of this idea of I want holiness to be a part of my life. But on this side, man, I just feel like it's crisis after crisis after crisis. It's debt or loss, job or sickness or relationships broken. And this is one of the top five questions that I get all the time of Matt, in moments of crisis how can I make sure that my faith is walking in a direction that honors God? I'm going to give you some tips on that. But just read the Scripture first. Walk through it. I'm going to give you four walkways. Here we go. John, chapter 20:24 says this. Now Thomas (also known as Didymus) One of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

Now put your finger there, because I feel like we're jumping into chapter two of a story here. Right. We're right in the middle of something going on. Jesus has risen from the grave. This is all we talked about Resurrection Sunday last week. All right. Now, unlike a lot of us that just kind of bounce out of Easter and life is kind of normal. If you were a disciple, your world was rocked. You didn't know which end was up. You didn't know what to do. You were still wondering how you were going to make it. And you still, in the back of your mind, thought that Jesus was going to overtake everything and be the supreme ruler of all Rome. And now you're living in this tension of what Jesus said, what you wanted Jesus to be, and all of this. Well, Jesus rises from the grave on Sunday morning and then Sunday evening He appears to the disciples in the upper rooms, one of the appearances. But the problem is, there's only ten of the disciples were there, right? Judas didn't end up so well for him. He's not there. Right. And what we're seeing here is Thomas is not there. Thomas is not there. To which most of us growing up in church would be like, see there, Thomas didn't even love Jesus. Right? He's not even in small group. He skipped this week. He must visit the ball game late night at the Braves game. He wasn't around. Whatever you fill in the blanks. But the reality is, we don't know why Thomas wasn't there.

We don't. Now we can read into the story. We can make some assumptions, but that's not needed. Okay, let's not go down that track. That doesn't make any sense. All we know is Thomas is not there. Personally, I think he's not there because he's just struggling a little bit. I think he's struggling in his faith a little bit. He is the administrator of the group, which means he was a type-A personality. And we all know how things go when their boxes aren't checked, right? We know what happens in their lives. Thomas, that was his personality. He's not there. It doesn't matter. Watch what happens. Verse 25. So, the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. But He said to them, Unless I see the nail marks in his hand, and I put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Now, stop right there for a minute, because that statement connects us to the story right here. You know, it's a little hard to connect ourselves to the disciples sometimes because we're like living in post resurrected an ascended Jesus. But that statement connects us with the disciples right here. Because what did Thomas say? Thomas said the same thing that many of us say in so many areas of our walk in with God in life. Thomas said, I'll believe it when I see it. That's great 12 of you. That was good. I'll believe it when I see it. Or another way to say it would be. I'll believe it when I see it with my own two eyes. You know, we live like this, don't we?

We live like this in our faith. A lot of times we live in this moment of tension to where. Let me just translate it like this. If I can't see what God is doing, then he must not just be doing something. We live in this tension and here's where Satan wants us. He wants us to be in that moment. He wants us to live in this idea of If I can't see exactly what God is doing, that must mean that God is either taking a nap. He's gone on a vacation, as Elijah was, say, or he is out of commission and he's not doing anything in our lives. That's what Thomas said. Honestly, many of us live in crisis with the faith of saying, Hey, I'll believe it when I see what God is going to do. Well, thank goodness the story doesn't end there. Verse 26 says A week later, his disciples were in the house again. Small group time, right? Same time every week. And Thomas was with them, though the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.

All right, let's kind of catch up to the story seven days later, right? These guys had had an encounter with Jesus, right? They met Jesus the week before. They had told Thomas about what they had done. We saw Jesus, we met Jesus. He is alive. They're back together in the same spot. Thomas is with them. We don't know why, but he is back. And then there's this little side note in here that's so nonchalant. They just literally said, Hey, Jesus, no longer needs a door. Do you ever just kind of laugh sometimes when you're reading the Bible? It's like there should probably be some emphasis right here. That's one of those occasions, isn't it? It's like, I know you got a lot going on. And then Jesus appeared, look, Jesus appears in his resurrected state, and I don't know how he did it, but he's God. He doesn't need a door anymore. He just comes into the room. He comes into the room and notice his first words are, Peace be with you.

Why? Because I guarantee you one thing. Peace be with you is not the first thing on my mind if Jesus busted through here without using the door. Right? It's just not. Now, I know that's not the case. I'm not reading into it. That was a colloquial phrase of the day. Jesus was bringing peace to the house, so don't send me an email about my theology. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just making fun of it. All right, verse 27. Then he said to Thomas. Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in to my side. Stop doubting and believe. Now, look, you may want to underline that little sentence right there. Stop doubting and believe I love this phrase. And I think that's worth the price of admission today right there. Stop doubting and believe. You know, there's two reasons I love this so much. The first one is really just that, that so much of our faith, we've been taught that it's all about the facts. It's all about the facts. And look, I commit to you, and I admit to you that I'm a facts guy over emotion guy. Y'all know that. I love the facts. I love the proofs. I love the fact that there's a scarlet thread that runs all the way through the Bible. I love the prophecies being fulfilled. I love people's lives that is literally been turned over. I love how history has shown us all of this stuff. I love facts, but at some point, church, It takes every single one of us taking a step of faith to walk into the presence of Jesus. It takes us submitting to who he is, and it takes us stopping with whatever doubt that we have left when our carnal mind can't handle it, and saying, Jesus listen, I might not have all the answers. I might not be able to dot all my I's or cross all my T's.

But at this moment, Jesus, I am taking a step of faith and I'm submitting to you with my life. That is why I love that. Stop doubting and believe I've given you all you need. Believe. But there's a second reason I like this statement. And it's because Jesus answers a question that Thomas never asks him. Did you did you see that when we read it? Do you realize that? That Jesus steps into the room and nobody says a word. Nobody says anything right after Peace be with you. Jesus steps up and says, Hey, Thomas, we need to talk. Listen, this is amazing on one side, but it's really scary on the other side. You know why? It's because Jesus knows every single thought that you have. He knows every single emotion. He knows every single thing in your soul. He knows your thoughts. How? Because he's God, for goodness sakes. He knows you. He knows you. So, we can stop messing around and playing. Just because you have fixed your mouth does not mean your heart is fixed, is what that means. Just because you cleaned up your language does not mean that God doesn't know what is going on in our hearts. He looks at him. He says, Hey, Thomas, stop doubting. You know, Thomas was like, Oh, no, right? He's like, Man, I didn't say it God, come on, give me a break. But he didn't have to say it because Jesus knows it. Jesus, stop doubting I'm here. I'm alive, I'm working, and I am with you, Thomas. I'm with you. Verse 28, keep going. Thomas said to him. My Lord and my God.

Now look, that sounds really flat in our language, right? In English. But literally, at this moment, the Thomas just would have held his hands. He would have backed away. And he would have looked at Jesus and just said, Jesus, I'm yours. I'm wholly yours, I'm fully yours. I'm believing. I'm trusting. I'm giving my heart. I'm giving my life, and no matter what comes my way. History shows us that Thomas put his face toward his faith in Jesus. I'm yours. I'm yours. Verse 29. Then Jesus told them, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life and have it in His name. First of all, this is an incredible event. It's an incredible event. Just watch the resurrected Jesus just kind of move into Thomas's life and show Thomas how he can walk in the middle of this crisis, in the middle of the quiet of how he can trust Jesus. But secondly, I just want you to feel the event, and I want you to know that this event brings us hope. It brings us hope. You say Matt, how does this event bring me hope? It brings me hope to know that I can look at the disciples that walk with Jesus, talk with Jesus. So, every miracle of Jesus spent all the last three years camping out with the Messiah. Yet still they struggled. Still, they had times in their life where they're like, God, I don't know how to do this, or I'm struggling with this. They had hard times and they struggled in the hard time to see how Jesus was moving. And they even doubted. They even doubted. So, what does us have? What does all this have to do with us? Is the question, right? Because Jesus is not physically in this room in the flesh. I get that. But I also want you to see that Jesus spoke to you and me.

Look at verse 29. Jesus said, Because you have seen me, Thomas, you believed, right? But watch this. Jesus pronounces a blessing over all of us that know him. Watch what He says to us. Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed. You do realize that’s you? If you know Jesus. If you know the Lord. You are blessed on a level that the disciples were not blessed in. Why? Because they walked with the physical Jesus. But you have trusted in Him, and yet never walked physically with him. So, walk in that joy. We don't have the physical body of Jesus. No, no, no, we don't. Right. Why? He's ascended back to the father. We know that there's Scripture. But what do we have? We have the Holy Spirit. We have the one that Jesus says is better for me to go so that He will come. Why? Because Jesus could be in one place at one time, in one location. But the Holy Spirit that was given to us that we receive at the moment of our salvation is inside of all of us. It is guiding us. It is a guide for us. It is a convictor. It is a moment. It is a person that shows us the way. And what God is saying here is this, Hey, I've told you over and over and over through Scripture, keep going, keep living. Remember that I hold the future, but I don't just hold it from a lord of all sovereign point that spun the universe and left you. I hold the future in the fact that I am big enough to do all that.

But I am with you enough to be in you and to be with you. And I'm personal enough to look at you and go, I'm yours. Man, I love how this story shows us that. I love Colossians 1:17 backs it up where it says that he is before all things, and it says that in all he holds all things together. But to contrast that, Matthew 28:20, says, And surely, I am with you even to the ends of the earth. Do you see the kind of the dichotomy or the difference between those things that God is above all and sovereign, but he is with you? He's for you. He's inside of you. And much of the content of the Bible rests on this truth. But look, I know that we know that truth here. But I know that that truth right here is hard in times of crisis and in times of question and in times where it just seems like God is quiet. So, the question this morning is, how can I be a person of faith in times of trouble or in times where it just seems like everything is out of control? Because I'm just going to be honest with you in some varying degree, we all rest somewhere in the middle of holiness and uncertainty. We do. I get the question all the time, Matt. I just can't feel God moving. How do I know God's moving? How do I reconnect with what God is doing in my life? Let's watch what Thomas says. Well, Thomas says, Hey, it would be good for you to have Jesus show up in front of you at the house. Amen. Right. But we know that's not the case. It's a little bit different for us. It does take a level of faith for us, in fact. I love what the writer of Hebrews says when he defines faith.

Hebrews 11:1 says now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Right? It's the conviction of things not seen. What does he say about faith? He says there's an assurance of hope that we build on that assurance. We build on the fact that it is coming. It is coming. It is coming. It is coming. But there's also a conviction of hope that we build our faith from and this idea of, I know that it is going to happen. So just because we don't see it doesn't mean that it's not there. Let me give you four quick ways that can build on your assurance and conviction of your faith. How do we do it when it seems like God is silent? Number one: Here's what I want you to know. These are super elementary, but they can change your life. Number one. When seems like God is distant, we need to remember what God is like. We need to remember what God is like. This is what we're seeing in Thomas's life, is it not? Thomas knew Jesus. He walked with Jesus. He saw the crucifixion of Jesus. He knew all the stories about Jesus. But for this week in time, it just seems like that He had forgotten what Jesus was like.

Look at verse 26. A week later, the disciples were in the house again. Thomas was with them, though the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Now look, this message that Thomas is hearing is the same message that the other disciples had given him. Right? Hey, he's alive. We've seen him alive. We know he's alive. But what did Thomas say? Hey, I'll believe it when I see it. And what happened? He saw it. And the moment he saw Jesus, something happened in Thomas and things begin to flood back into his mind on what the character of Jesus was. Now, this is important, and I want to camp on this for a minute because I think there's some tension in this that we need to see. In fact, Charles Spurgeon defines this kind of moment right here with a quote. Let me just read it to you, because he says it way better than I can ever say it. He says this When we can't see his hand, God's hand, we have to trust his heart. When we can't see his hand, we have to trust his heart. This is what I'm talking about when I say we have to remember what God is like. Why? Because the nature of God always supersedes our circumstances. Now, now, let me flesh this out for a minute, because I think this is what this point is getting at. The nature of God always supersedes our circumstances. Here's what that means. That means that our problem many times in our life is that we invite God into our circumstance rather than aligning our circumstances up underneath the character of God.

Now, I know that seems like semantics in some point, but let me read a verse and I'm going to talk about it just from at Psalms 103. Let's listen to what it says about the Lord, and I'll prove the point. Says, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities, for as high as the heavens are above the earth. So great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the East is from the West so far, has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children. So, the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust. Now, one of the hardest things in our faith, or one of the final steps of us becoming a mature believer is to begin with the character of God, to begin with the character of God, and then apply the character of God to whatever circumstance that I'm walking to. Not place the circumstances on to the character of God. You see, when we place our circumstances on to God, here's what we do. We literally look at him and say that I am God and I matter most and what I'm feeling right now, you should shape all the world around what I'm feeling. When I start with the character of God, what I begin to do is I know who God is, I know what God is like. And then no matter what comes at me in my life, it's not about me at all first, it's about me coming in alignment with who God is. You see, this is why so many people have a problem with saying, Well, my heart is just telling me to do this. Or My heart told me my heart draw me. I should follow my heart. To where no, your circumstances should always be underneath. Always be covered by the character of God. It doesn't work the other way. It never works the other way. In moments of questioned, doubt, clarity as to what God is up to.

Our role is to say, God, what is your character and how does this align with who you are? You say, well Matt, how do I know the character of God? Glad you asked the question. You study the life of Jesus. You learn about Jesus. You watch how Jesus. You look at Jesus's teaching. And there's an incredible freshness to our lives. When we begin to take our eyes off of us, put our lives in attention to who Jesus is, and begin to align everything up underneath it. Then when death happens, when sickness happens, when tragedy happens, we look at it through the lens of Jesus. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be sad, but it means that we still know what eternity is bringing. We still know what hope Jesus is bringing us, rather than thinking that today is all that ever matters. That's what happens when we put our circumstances above the character of Jesus. See, the question is, what does Jesus look like? Man, you've got to study the life of Jesus. And when you do study the life of Jesus, you begin to see through His lens and catch this. He's the same Hebrews 13:8 Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. What does that mean? It means when you learn the character of Jesus in the Word of God, his character is still the same today. What is he saying? Remember what God is like. Don't trust the circumstance. Trust what God is like, number one. Here's number two. Number one is always the longest. Number two is this. You need to see what God has done. You need to see what God has done when you're struggling, when it seems like God is quiet, when it seems like he's kind of disconnected a little bit. You need to see what God has done. Here's what God knows about us. We have incredibly short memories as to what God has done for us. We really do, don't we? If I was to ask you today to stand up right now. If I was to randomly point somewhere, I'm not going to do this, by the way, and just ask you to stand up and tell me five things God has done for you this week. It would be a struggle for a lot of us. Why? Because we just forget what God has done for us.

We forget. And God knows that he's okay. He forgives us for that. In fact, you know, one of the most used words in the whole Old Testament is the word remember. The word remember. How crazy is it that God has to keep telling us remember this? Remember this. Remember this. Remember this. Remember this. Do you know why does that he? Because he knows that we forget it. He knows that we do. This is what verse 27 is, right? Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do you know at that moment that Jesus experienced the resurrected king when he put his fingers there, all of the life, the teaching, the crucifixion, all of that stuff rushed back into his mind? And what did Thomas do? He remembered what he did for him. He remembered. You say Matt, that's unfair. He gets to see Jesus. I get it. But how do we see Jesus? How do we see God move? Let me give you four really quick ways you can look at this week.

Number one, we need to see God work in the world. We just need to take a step back and watch how God has worked in the world through creation, through holding everything together, through the mysteries of all the stuff that even though we're so advanced, we still don't know and still discovering stuff we see God work. Number two, we see God work in his people. We see God work in His people from the Old Testament prophets. And listen, these guys weren't like pure little dudes here. They were some rough guys. But we saw God work in them. We see God work in the disciples; we see God work in the New Testament church. We've seen God work throughout church history. You see God work in people's lives that is around you. That's how we see God work. We see people coming from death to life and meeting Jesus, coming from turning from addiction and pain and shame to knowing Jesus. We're seeing God work. We also see God work in the life of Jesus. We see Him work in the life and the death and the resurrection of who Jesus is and the appearances of Jesus. We get to examine God moving in all of this and seeing what He's done. And then lastly, we see God's work in our lives. We see him move in our own heart. Do you know that people can take from you any fact that you have until it is something that you have experience? Nobody can take that from you. And we see God move in what Jesus has done for us and how He's offered us salvation, abundant life, meaning and eternity. Look, when we get too shortsighted in the moments of struggles.

We need to draw back. And see exactly what God has done for us. We need to see it. You know, we were standing on the bank of the Jordan River three weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago, about to do a baptism service, like right where Jesus was baptized. And it hit me right there. Number one, Just the emotions of the moment were incredible. But it hit me that there should be a pile of stones somewhere, right? I should look for these stones. I should go and find these piles of stones. You say Matt, what does a pile of stones have to do with this message? Has everything to do this message. Do you remember in the Old Testament, every time it seems like God did something big in somebodies’ life, he would say something like, Hey, pile up some stones right here so you'll remember this, Hey, build an altar right here so you'll know this happen? Hey, put a monument here so that when you walk away from your faith, not if, when you struggle at some point, and when your families are generations to come comes past this moment in your life, you will remember the faithfulness of God and what he has done in your hearts. That's what I'm talking about in the story of Thomas. So, Matt, do I need to do that in my back yard? No, no. Not saying that's what you need to do. But here's what I'm saying.

You need to remember that moment that Christ delivered you. The day of your salvation. Matt, I don't remember that there was a long time ago. Okay. That's fine. How about putting a stake down today, writing out a proclamation to the Lord and saying, from this point forward, this is where I'm going because this is what you have done for me. So, what do we doing when we struggle? We remember what God is like. We see what God has done. And here's number three. This one's a little bit out there but stay with me. I want you just to consider your alternatives. Consider your alternatives. You say Matt, what does that mean? I want you to think through what are the alternatives of trusting Jesus and what do they offer you? Here's what I mean in that. On this side of the fence, you trust Jesus, you give him your life. You know, there's eternal hope in him. But on this side. This world is all you got. This is as good as it will ever get for you. So, think about this for a minute. What does a life of faithlessness look like? Is it really better just to label ourselves a product of chance or lump everything into a system of randomness? But because here's the deal. Where is the peace in that? Right. Where is the hope? Where is the satisfaction? Here is my hope. I mean, here's the deal. If this is all we got. Man, I'm not sure I'm making it till tomorrow. I'm just really not sure. I mean, but here's the deal. To know that Jesus has a plan for me. To know that Jesus love and life and forgiveness and satisfaction has all been poured into me. Man, that seems like such a better alternative, doesn't it? Seems like such a brighter hope for tomorrow. And look, I know it sounds like heresy, but listen, God is okay with you considering the options.

Do you know why? Because he knows he's worth it. And he knows that whatever you chase after will be momentary in time and it will not fill the gap in your heart that you are trying to fill. College Student Look at me. Whatever you're chasing right now, you'll never find it. Young adults. Listen. Whatever you're chasing after right now, you will never find satisfaction in it unless it is in the person of Jesus Christ. It just won't matter. Matt, that sounds like heresy. Okay, well, let me give you a biblical backing, because I know what it is. Where God tells us to consider options. John, Chapter six. Biggest crowd that ever-followed Jesus or walking with him. He looks back at him and he realizes that they're just really following him because he's feeding them, right? Amen. He's just given some miracles. He's doing some stuff for them. He gives them some hard theology to consider. You can read it later on. And then basically the Bible tells us many of them leave and then they're standing there looking at the disciples and listen to what Jesus says in John 6:66 From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. That's the bigger group of disciples. Now he speaks to the Twelve. Listen to this. Verse 67, you do not want to leave too, do you? In other words. Hey, you want to go. Go. You want to see if there is anything out there better than me? Give it a shot, boys. You're not going to find it. Jesus asked the Twelve in verse 68. I love this, Simon Peter answered him. Lord. He always answers. You realize this right? Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. I love Peter's response.

He's like, Hey, I got the boys together. We talked about this Jesus. And here's the deal. Nah, we're with you, right? We are with you. Why? Because, Jesus, you hold the keys to the kingdom. You hold the keys to the kingdom when you're looking at your options of what you're going to have faith in, good luck finding another messiah that will give his life for you and forgive you of your sins. That’s what it says. Here's number four. When life gets crazy when we don't know what's happening or struggle in our faith. This is the easiest one. Number four, ask God to strengthen your ability to believe. Just ask him. Just ask him. God. I need to. Do you know, we don't we don't talk about this a lot, but? Do you know it's okay to not be okay? Does that make sense? I know that it's so countercultural, right? That is so taking our pride off the table. That is not what we're trained to be like. We're always trying to hold ourselves together, right? Just keep yourself. Hold yourself together. Don't make a fool of our family, right? Don't be that person. But did you know that it's okay to confess to God that you're struggling? It really is. It's okay not to have it all together. It's okay to not have it all figured out. What did this story show us about God? We mentioned it earlier. He already knows your heart. He already knows that you're not okay. So why keep putting a show on for him?

Now, I'm not saying just fall apart everywhere and just woe is me to all things on this earth. That's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is that those times in your life where it's you and the Lord and you're struggling, you don't know what He's doing, you're having a hard time connecting. It is okay, to be honest to God, to say, God, I need you. To help me be okay. I need you. He knows your heart anyway. And sometimes greater clarity as to what God is doing only comes when we confess to God that we don't know what's next. We don't know it. One of my favorite stories is just after the moment of the transfiguration. In the book of Mark, the disciples were healing people. They had all this ministry going on. And I'm sure Thomas was involved in the story. And this. This young boy has a demon spirit in him, and the disciples tried their best to heal this boy, They tried to cast this out of the boy. It had been happening his whole life and they failed miserably. I love it when the disciples fail because it tells us we still have hope, right? They bring the boy up to Jesus. Jesus, we can't. We can't do this. What do we do? And Jesus looks at him and the way He always does is what you need to have more faith. You can't do this because you don't have enough faith. And then Jesus says, I'll handle this one, I'll handle it. Jesus looks at the boy, looks at the dad and Mark 9:24 He looks at the dad and he says, Hey, Dad, do you want your boy to be healed?

And listen to the father's response. He teaches us this lesson. Mark 9:24. Immediately, the boy's father exclaimed. I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. Can I just say there's a whole lot of prayers in the Bible? There's a whole lot of confessions in the Bible. But I think based on what we're talking about this morning, that right there is probably one of the healthiest cries for help for probably most of us in this room. God, I believe. I know you from a distance. I trust you. I've been walking with you. Man, I want to be fully with you. But. God. I need you to help me with my unbelief. Because I'm struggling. I'm struggling. What did Jesus do in that moment? You can read the story later, but did you come down on the guy? It's just like, What are you doing, you fool? No. Jesus wouldn't say that. But you get what I'm saying, right? Did Jesus rebuke the guy for saying that? No. Jesus healed the kid. Healed him. Why? The honesty of the father. That the heart of Jesus. And Jesus said, I'm yours. I'm yours. Let me just ask you as we close this morning. Have you ever asked God to give you a greater capacity to believe? A greater capacity. I know it sounds a little bit weird, but man, I believe. No, no. That’s not what I'm saying. Have you ever looked to God and said I'm kind of there? But God, would you give me an even greater capacity to be there? Honestly, that's what Thomas was asking when he reached out to touch Jesus. I need you. I need you. And I want to believe. Would you pray with me?

Lord, God this morning. I know that we all come from so many different walks of life. God literally, there are giants of the faith in this room that would floor all of us with the faith that they have. But God also know there's people in this room that are living in the same situation that Thomas is in right here. That God they believe. But God, they're just struggling right now. They're wondering where you are. They're wondering how you're working. They're wondering what to do. God this morning. I just pray that this message touches them. God, it gives them an action plan of to remember who you are, to remember what you have done. To consider their options and God just to. To ask you to help them believe. God, I pray that during this next couple of minutes that that would be on all of our hearts. God, I believe. Gove me power to belief. Help me with my unbelief. Or God stop doubting and believe. We've got to also know there's another group of people here that they don't necessarily know you. They may know about you. They may have heard the stories about you. They may have sung the songs about you or may have read even the whole Bible. But God, they've never come to a point in their life to where they have literally said, My Lord and my God, come into my heart, forgive me of my sins, forgive my life and be mine. God, I know there's people here that need to meet you today. God, in these next couple of minutes. I just pray that you move in hearts. That either. They'll step out from their seat and walk down the aisle and look at myself or these counselors and just say the simple words, Hey, I need Jesus today. What do I do? Or God, they would just jump on the app and hit the next steps button, and somebody will reply back to the text as they walk through it. Before lunch is over. Because God, I just know If we get away from this building and we get back in a normal life, sometimes all that you're dealing in our hearts just gets a little bit flushed out and gets a little bit crowded. God, may you move in our hearts. God for those that do know you. They just be made me cry out today. God help me. I believe. Help me in my unbelief. Thank you, Jesus. It's in your name.

Let's stand and sing.

 

 

Follow Along with the Message

Lasting Faith in the Hard Moments

April 24, 2022

John 20:24–25
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 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.”
John 20:26
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
John 20:28–31
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:29
Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Matthew 28:20
“…and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
When We Are Struggling in our Faith:

1. Remember what God is .

John 20:26
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

“When we can’t see His Hand, we have to trust His Heart.”
— Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 103:8–14
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
Hebrews 1:1–3
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

2. See what God has .

John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
See God’s Work in:

1. The .

2. His .

3. His Son .

4. Our .

3. Consider your .

John 6:66–69
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

4. Ask God to strengthen your ability to .

Mark 9:24
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Ephesians 16–21
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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