The Benefit of the Doubt

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.280 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.000 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.599 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.079 In Matthew chapter one, the record goes, this is how 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:22.720 the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother, Mary 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.000 was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:28.440 came together, she was found to be with child through 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.319 the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man, 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.440 and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.520 he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.960 But after he had considered. 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:46.440 This, because sometimes your first instinct is not God's will, 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.440 he had considered this, after he did the math, and 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.960 after he calculated his next move. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:54.880 God spoke. 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.760 It is often contrary to our logic. When God speaks, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.200 it often relates what we see when God calls us 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.080 to walk by faith. 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:04.280 But after he. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.520 Had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.520 him in a dream and said. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.600 Joseph, son of David. 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.840 Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.200 because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:21.920 She will give birth to a son, and you are 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.960 to give him the name Jesus. Everybody say that name. 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.959 You are to give him the name Jesus, because he 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.560 will save his people from their sins. I know you're confused, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.160 I know you're bewildered, and I know that you're hurt. 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.280 But verse twenty two, all this took place to fulfill. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.120 I know you're having a hard time making sense of 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:46.640 the situation right now, but all this took place to fulfill. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:48.000 It's not random. 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:52.840 There's a reason all this took place to fulfill. I 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.640 hear the apostle Paul all the way over from Roman 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.440 say he wants to get in on this. All things 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.639 work together for the good of those who love God 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.960 and are called according to his purpose. All this the 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.720 parts you like, the parts you don't, the parts you get, 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.960 and the parts that keep you awake at night, the 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.280 parts that feel good, and the parts that lead you 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:19.080 with tears on your pillow. All this took place to 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:20.960 fulfill what the. 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:22.400 Lord had said through the prophet. 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.480 The Virgin will be with child and will give birth 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.880 to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:34.080 means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.480 with the Angel of the Lord had commanded him and 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.800 took Mary home as his wife, but he had no 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:44.600 union with her. Just to make it clear, he had 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.720 no union with her until she gave birth. 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.359 To a son, and he gave him the name Jesus. 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:53.920 I want to speak for just a few moments today 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.600 on the benefit of the doubt. 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.160 Christmas is rightly celebrated. 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:06.600 As the story of new beginnings, but the story begins 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.440 at a dead end. By the time you get to 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:15.400 Matthew Chapter one. Heaven has been seemingly silent since the 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:19.360 time of Malachi the prophet for several centuries. And I 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.119 did not read you the whole of Matthew Chapter one. 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:24.959 If I had started with verse one, you might have 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.400 been asleep by the time that I got to the 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.320 part I wanted to read, because it's just a genealogy 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.440 of how Jesus came into the earth from a human perspective, 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:39.640 and Matthew gives us fourteen generations between Abraham and David, 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.560 fourteen more between David and the Babylonian exile of the 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.520 people of Israel fourteen more from the exile to the 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:49.640 Birth of Jesus Christ. 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:51.880 That's all in Matthew chapter one. 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.360 It's a list of names, really, but it signifies how 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.200 at this point in God's redemptive story, as told in 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:01.400 the pages of Holy. 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.520 Scripture, heaven has hit a dead end. 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.640 God has sent the law to his people, but they 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.960 broke it. Literally, when Moses came down the mountain with 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.040 the Ten Commandments showing the people how to live to 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:19.440 be a people, by the time he could get the 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.679 rules down to them, they were dancing naked around another 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:24.400 God that they made because they got tired of. 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.640 Waiting on the one they couldn't see. 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:31.080 So Moses, in his frustration, broke the tablets had to 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.880 go up and carve out some new ones. Not only 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.080 was their hope of keeping the law broken, like it 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.839 is every time we try to do God's will in 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.640 our own strength, but the prophets that God had sent 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:48.080 to his people were each turned away, despies, rejected. Many 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.120 of them died at the hands of the very people 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.040 that they came with a word to deliver. And so 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:58.160 now they've broken the law, disobeyed the prophets, and by 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.200 the time you get to Matthew chapter one, Heaven has 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.240 hit a dead end. And as man after man after 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.320 man after man comes into the earth, none of them 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.160 being the Messiah who is able to rescue and redeem, 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:12.880 it seems that we're at an impasse because the true 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.040 character of God cannot break through the frailty of humanity 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.239 to deliver this love message that has existed before time began. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.240 The beginning was a word, and the word was with God, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.479 and the Word was God. And the full preincarnate Word 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:27.880 of God was existing in Jesus Christ before he was 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.880 ever made flesh on Christmas Day. But it has not 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.560 yet found its way into the earth, not by the 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.200 time we have read Matthew chapter one. 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.840 So what we get is forty two. 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:45.920 Generations of frustration and suddenly Christ is born. Heaven has 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.320 hit a dead end, and humanity feels the same way. 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.080 No matter how they try to follow God, there seems 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:56.000 to be something in their hearts prone to wander. No 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:00.000 matter what commitment they make, they seem unable to keep it. 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.880 So now you have heaven at a dead end. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.200 Because God is perfectly holy and cannot violate his standard 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.159 to relate to unholy people and humans who unholy have 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.640 no way to God. And all of a sudden, here 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:14.799 comes a latter named. 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:20.200 Jesus, not from the earth to the sky, but from 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:25.880 the heavens to the earth, and it's the throne of 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.720 the rule and reign of a sovereign God is lowered 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:29.160 into the. 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.840 Everyday affairs of humanity. We see Joseph is also at 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:38.839 a dead end. Maybe he really looked forward to having 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.400 Mary as his wife, but he gets some bad news 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:49.279 when it comes to his attention that she's claiming that 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.200 she got pregnant by God. Now I want to say 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.200 something about that real quick, because in church we just 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.159 skip right over this stuff. But a lot of people 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.000 come to church on Christmas and don't come any other 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.799 time of the year, and they sit in listen politely 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:02.440 to stuff like this. But when we say that she 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.200 had a baby, but it was all wise no X, 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.800 they get kind of confused about this because you know, 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.440 this stuff doesn't just happen every day, and what we're 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:11.600 shouting about they're. 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:12.440 Kind of skeptical about. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.840 So let me talk about this for a minute, because 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.120 it must have been hard for Joseph to take the 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.000 Angel at his word when he saw no way forward. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.040 I mean, he wants to marry her. 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.440 He's looking for a way to go through with it, 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.160 but the law requires him to put her away. So 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.480 he's going to do it in the most dignified way possible. 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.360 He's not going to humiliate her. He's going to do 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.600 it in a righteous way. But he sees no road forward, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.480 no route past this indiscretion. And so the scripture says 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.960 that he had in mind to put her away. But 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.840 sometimes what you have in mind is not what God 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:48.800 has in store. 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.320 It's just that he can't see a way forward. He's 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.240 at a dead end. I was looking. 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:02.560 Forward to Mary. You know, Mary is a wonderful person. 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:06.040 We find out, very content, not a wife who's hard 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:06.520 to please. 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.280 She was gonna be such a good wife. 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.280 And I already put a deposit down on the venue 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.480 for the wedding and it's non refundable. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.120 But I don't see any way to go. 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.760 Through with this because she's got a baby and it's 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.000 not mine, and she says it belongs to the Lord. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.480 I don't see a way forward. Heaven is at a 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.200 dead end, humanity is at a dead end. Joseph is 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.240 at a dead end, and I just wonder are you. 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:40.640 I wonder is there anybody in this room, watching online 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.760 or on television who has found yourself. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.680 At a dead end this day. 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.960 In a relationship, you can find yourself having done all 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.440 that you know to do for someone that you love 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.120 and thinking to yourself, well if they don't love me 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:57.040 back by now. 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:58.080 You can find. 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.040 Yourself at a dead end with your children. You can 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.080 do everything that you can do for the very for 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.840 the very person that you would do anything for, but 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.120 it is not enough, and you find yourself before God. 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.480 Saying I don't know what else to do. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:18.120 You can find yourself at a dead end in your resources. 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.040 I'm out of I'm out of money. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.240 I put everything on every credit card. I stole a 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.920 credit card alive to get another credit card. I put 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.720 that balance on this balance, and I can't balance anything 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:33.559 else anymore. 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.760 I'm at an end. I don't know. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:39.920 I think this is it, because I really think I've 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:41.360 run out of room to run. 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:45.760 I'm at a dead end. You know, religion can leave. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.480 You at a dead end when you have made so 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:53.360 many commitments to change, but you never do, When you 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.480 have said so many times you know I'm gonna do 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.079 better now, you know I'm really gonna I'm gonna really 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.320 kick that. You know, that's the last time I'm gonna 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.840 do that. That's really the last time. This time is 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:05.320 the last time. I won't do it no more. And 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.640 then you do it again, and every time you do, 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.880 you feel a little more hopeless that you're ever going 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.600 to be capable of real change. I wonder, are you 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.640 at a dead end? And I wonder did you know 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.280 that dead ends are the perfect. 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:21.920 Place for new beginnings? 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.880 In Jesus Christ, this is the message that I came 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.640 to preach this Christmas, not about a tall baby lying 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.520 in a bassinet. I came to preach about new beginnings. 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.439 The Lord is come. Let earth receive her king. Let 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.960 every heart prepare his room. He is with us, and 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:42.559 anything is possible. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:44.080 This is not the end. 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.720 Seems to be the announcement of Heaven that this is 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.160 not the end. Touch somebody say this is not the end. 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:59.360 New beginnings often start when you find yourself at a 0:10:59.360 --> 0:10:59.839 dead end. 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.000 I admire Joseph. I admire Joseph. 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.520 Maybe maybe it's more appropriate to say you admire Mary. 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:14.199 Maybe that's sexist for me to preach about Joseph on Christmas, 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:15.560 because Mary did all the hard work. 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:17.600 You understand, I'm not trying to be that way. I 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:18.400 really I. 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:22.400 Really just think that I wouldn't have had the faith 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.200 to give Mary the benefit of the doubt on this one, 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:32.800 on this one. And so it says he had a 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.760 dream and he woke up and he was like, cool. See, 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:38.920 I wouldn't be cool. But just a dream unless the 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.880 angel was Maury Povich with a paternity task like, no, 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:48.240 I promise you can show this, then I'm good. If 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:52.560 we got some DNA on this divine baby in your belly, fine, 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.640 But I'm not so sure because I have crazy dreams. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.319 This might have been just a crazy dream. 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:05.240 But he did what the angel had commanded him. That 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.320 the angel said something that is simple on the surface, 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:10.520 but there's great depth to it. 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:11.800 I'd like you to consider it. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:17.800 In verse twenty, what is conceived in her is from 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:19.040 the Holy Spirit. 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.320 Simplify, what's in her is from Me. 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.720 And sometimes God wants you to know that what is 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.040 packaged as disappointment. 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.440 Is really destiny. Do you see it? What's in her 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:36.760 is from Me. 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.040 And sometimes when people cause you pain and when life 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.240 lets you down, it looks on the surface like God 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:47.080 has left you. But what's in her, what's happening in 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:51.840 your life, is from me, and he goes with it. 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.480 And I must have like a really bad version of 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:57.360 the Bible. This is a little older Bible that I 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.880 preach from. It's a great bible. It has Billy grahmsy 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.040 that you're in it. This Bible. He signed this Bible. 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:04.000 They told me he signed it. 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:04.559 I wasn't there. 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.120 I never met him, but could have been Larry Bry 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:08.160 with some good penmanship. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:09.040 Who knows. 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:11.959 I give him the benefit of the doubt, though, that 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:13.880 Billy Graham really signed the Bible. 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:14.880 And in this Bible. 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.520 I was struggling because I couldn't find anybody else got 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.160 a Bible. I just want to cross references because my 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.520 Bible must be messed up because in my bible, let's 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.080 see your bible. Your Bible might be better than Mine's 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:34.840 a smaller Bible's pointing that out. Oh this is the 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.000 good one. This this might be the King James version 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:39.880 or something like that. Yeah, this one will have it. 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.200 I see, I'm looking twenty two version. We've seen give 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.600 birth to a son cous name Man and Joe being 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.079 raised from sleep. Nope, your Bible's your bible's missing it too. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:51.920 I was looking for the part of the story where 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:59.959 the angel gave Joseph proof, and I couldn't find it 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.080 in my Bible or yours. Anybody else got a Bible 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.960 because our bibles are are missing stuff. It's disappointing. I 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.160 know they've got new translations. Surely it'll be in a 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.360 in this bible. What color do you call that, babe? 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:13.719 That's a. 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:16.040 Huh? 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.520 What color is his bible? Surely it'll be in your 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.720 pink bible. She's got tabs on her bible. 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:26.440 Surely it'll be. 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:32.800 We'll see this one. This one's problematic too. It's pretty, 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:37.720 but it's it's problematic because now I'm looking for the 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:45.840 part where it tells me how Joseph felt. I can't 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.880 find it. All it says is that God said to Joseph, 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:59.080 it's me go forward, and he did it. I can't 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:03.840 find the part where they wrote in the clouds, no, really, 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.520 this is God's baby, you know, at their gender reveal party, 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.960 because they also needed to have a divinity revealed party. 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:17.280 I can't find the clouds. I can't find the sign. 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.080 It was just the voice of God saying to Joseph 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:27.160 it's me go through, and I feel like that might 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.760 be the Lord for someone today. I know you don't 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.680 have the proof, I know you don't have the feeling, 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.440 and I know all signs point to stopping. 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.360 But it's me go through. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:47.400 He must have really trusted Mary. But he couldn't trust 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.880 Mary now, could he. This is an arranged marriage. They 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:54.040 didn't date three years. He didn't to get to choose her, 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:59.400 pick her based on her profile Christian Singles dot com, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:04.040 Christian Palestinians dot com. He didn't swipe for Mary. He 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:06.760 just that's the way it worked back then. You just 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:12.760 got her. He didn't know her like that. He must 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:18.440 have really trusted God enough to give him the benefit 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:20.320 of the doubt. 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:23.160 What is the benefit of the doubt? 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.640 I asked God how we should define that term, and 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.360 he told me to ask Wikipedia. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:29.680 Wikipedia says. 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.760 That the benefit of the doubt is a favorable judgment 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.720 in the absence of full evidence. 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.280 The benefit of the doubt. 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.400 It means that when it doesn't add up, the variable 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.080 is God for me. 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.000 And so it means that when. 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:56.960 I don't have evidence to support my conclusion that God 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.480 is good, that He is with me, and that He 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.400 is for me. Let's say those three things. God is good, 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:08.680 he is with me, he is for me. I want 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:10.080 you to say it again, and I'm looking all the 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:11.760 way to the back to the people with that little 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.160 Christmas attitude, say God is. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.240 Good, he is with me, he is for me. 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.520 Now I have reached that verdict, not by the process 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.800 of deduction and looking at my life to see if 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.000 it lines up with that assertion. I reached that conclusion 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.000 by revelation. And once I came to believe that God 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.800 is good, he is with me, and he is for me, 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.760 I now live by that verdict and I collect the 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.240 evidence to support the verdict that I have already come to. 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:47.800 This is not how you reach a conclusion in a 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.760 court of law, but in the realm of faith. It 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:57.679 works like this verdict. First evidence, Second, what. 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:58.240 Does that mean. 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.960 I don't look to my bank account or my doctor's 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.679 report to see if God is a provider or a healer. 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.520 I've already come to the conclusion that he is Jehovah 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:16.480 Chirah and Jehovah Rafica. He is my provider and my healer. 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.719 That's the verdict. So now, no matter what the evidence says, 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.959 I can find greater evidence in the death of Jesus Christ. 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.600 See when he hugged for me. That's settled it out 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.119 of court. I don't need to take it before a 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:32.760 judge or a jury. 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.040 I already know he loves me this much. 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:46.359 I believe it. Not on always see it, but I 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:52.399 believe it. I doubt it sometimes, but I believe it. 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:55.560 You can't say both. You can't say both. You're not 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:57.360 allowed to say both in church. You can't say that 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.080 in church. You can't talk about doubt in church. 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.239 Because James Jap says, let him not doubt, let him 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:01.560 leave me his. 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:02.960 Heart, he should have aways say if he doubts like 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:04.159 way to see he Thos driven with. 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.000 Let let that man thank you see anything for the 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:13.320 Lord and staiment. I know that Bible verse bro, but. 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:19.560 I think it's confusing for people who think that faith 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.480 is the absence of doubt. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.760 The Bible doesn't say that Joseph didn't doubt. 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.760 It just said that he did what he had to 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:34.040 do even with the doubt in his heart. 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.320 Means he didn't let the doubt stop him. Don't let 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:41.040 him stop you. 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.280 Of course you'll have doubts, just don't let them be dead. 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.800 Ends, and a lot. 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:49.960 Of people stand at the dead end of a destiny 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.000 that God is bringing them into because they will not 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:54.359 walk through the doubt to get. 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:54.880 To the promise. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.399 I meet these people and they say things to me 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.080 because of my profession. I guess they make assumptions about 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.440 me because there's a reve in front of my name. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.840 They make assumptions about me that I don't have real doubts. 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.760 One gentleman that I was doing business with, he put 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:20.280 it this way. He was like, I envy you because 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.520 I would love to have faith. I always wanted to 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.680 believe in God, but I just always am the kind 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.479 of person that doubts a lot, and I envy you 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:32.240 that you don't have those doubts. 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.080 Now here's what I should have said back to him. 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:37.639 It only took me four months to come up with this, 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:46.439 because he is assuming that faith is the absence of doubt. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:51.880 For me, faith has never been the absence of doubt. 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.080 Faith is not the absence of doubt. It is the 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:58.480 means to overcome it. Do you hear what I'm saying. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.240 We get in church and we just all go into 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:08.000 this walking, dead, willing suspension of disbelief, and we just 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:11.000 believe things that have no impact on our everyday life, 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.960 just like we're binge watching Netflix, like I'm just gonna 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:15.920 watch this for a little while and hear this little 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:19.119 comforting word. But then we go out into the world 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:21.280 and we doubt the stuff. 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:22.160 But we can't say we. 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.320 Doubt the stuff because doubt is bad, because isn't doubt bad. 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.320 One time, I even had a keptist pastor who was 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.520 giving an invitation like, we will give in a moment 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:36.200 for people who want to place their faith in Christ. 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:39.240 And when we do it at our church, we have 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.520 people repeat a prayer. It's just a means of allowing 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:44.639 them to express their heart to God so that they 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:46.960 can have a moment that they look back on and 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.240 say I placed my trust in Christ. And to me, 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:54.280 that prayer is a very sacred moment. It's not a 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.159 time for people to get their person get out and 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.080 beat the parking, and it's not a time for someone 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.760 who's preaching to start sharing their opinions. That is a 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:05.480 time to present the gospel and get out of the 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:10.960 way because only God can save a person. And now, well, 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:15.240 I believe this campus pastor mintwell, but what he said 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:16.680 I had to correct him on later. 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:20.160 And I'm not a mean guy, and I make mistakes. 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:21.640 Up here too, But to me, he made a really 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:24.199 big mistake when he was praying the prayer because he 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:25.840 was inviting the people to pray, and he said, if 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.119 you want to give your heart to Christ today and 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:30.600 know for sure that you have a relationship with him, 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:34.000 pray this. You know, Lord Jesus, I believe that I'm 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:38.080 a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe without. 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:42.240 A doubt that's the part he should have left out. 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:46.440 I believe without a doubt that Jesus Christ, the Son 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:46.920 of God and the. 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:49.680 Savior of the world. Today, I give you my life. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.320 All of it was good, all of it was appropriate, 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.560 and there is no other way to be saved but 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:56.919 to confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord, believe in your 0:22:56.920 --> 0:22:58.200 heart God raised him from the dead. 0:22:58.400 --> 0:22:59.520 You shall be saved. 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:05.640 But that one parenthetical insert, without a doubt, I told him, 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:07.520 never again. 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:09.480 When you stand in. 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.400 The pulpit at elevation, do I want you to put 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:15.160 people in a position where you're telling them to pray 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:20.040 something that they can't honestly pray. As a matter of fact, 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:23.040 don't put them in a position to pray something that 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:27.320 you can't honestly pray because there is not one of 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:30.440 you in the room, even with tabs in your pink Bible, 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:37.720 that can honestly say without a doubt, not a. 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:38.239 One of you. 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.560 And if you can hang on, you hadn't had teenagers. 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:45.800 Yet somebody to my backside backed me up on this. 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:55.840 The triumph of my faith is not the absence of doubt. 0:23:57.280 --> 0:23:59.760 The triumph of my faith. 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:04.359 Is the ability for the light to shine in the deepest, 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:07.120 darkest recesses. 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:07.560 Of my heart. 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:15.800 I got doubts, but I trust him anyway. So my 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:19.960 faith can say, even though I walk through the valley 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:23.240 of the shadow of death and the shadow of doubt. 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.159 And the shadow of dysfunction. 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:27.720 I will fear no evil. It's not that I don't 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:31.399 go through valleys. I don't die there, even. 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:32.160 Though I walk. 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:34.760 Through the valley of the shadow of death. This is 0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:36.000 Christmas preson people. 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:37.680 Even though. 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:42.719 Throw us in the fire, our God is able to 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:46.760 deliver us. But even if he doesn't, we will not 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:49.160 bow our knee to you, O King. 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:50.480 Never conness her. 0:24:53.840 --> 0:24:57.199 I know Lazarus is dead, but if Jesus is on 0:24:57.240 --> 0:25:01.760 the scene, every dead end is a destiny waiting to begin. 0:25:02.359 --> 0:25:14.160 Even now, I have my doubts. 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:18.960 I don't believe this because I don't doubt it. 0:25:20.840 --> 0:25:21.760 If you don't doubt. 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:22.720 It, you're not reading. 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:34.399 It, or you're reading it with no intent to live it. 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.600 My doubt is the evidence of my growth. 0:25:39.119 --> 0:25:39.560 Amen. 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:45.280 The closer I get, the more questions I have. 0:25:48.520 --> 0:25:54.439 I struggle to believe it that I'm forgiven, that he 0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:57.439 forgives me not only for what I did before I 0:25:57.480 --> 0:25:58.400 accepted him. 0:25:58.400 --> 0:25:59.720 But for what I still do. 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:02.880 Oh, y'all are gonna look at me like that on Christmas? 0:26:03.240 --> 0:26:04.720 That's what you brought me, that face. 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:12.600 Maybe he could forgive the past stuff, but what about 0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:13.479 the present stuff? 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:16.560 What about that? 0:26:18.760 --> 0:26:18.960 Yeah? 0:26:19.160 --> 0:26:23.000 I have my doubts. I have my faith, but I 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:23.880 have my doubts. 0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:28.199 My man thought he couldn't come to Christ because he 0:26:28.280 --> 0:26:32.800 had the doubts. He thought that belief was the absence 0:26:32.840 --> 0:26:33.280 of doubt. 0:26:34.920 --> 0:26:35.680 He didn't have. 0:26:35.640 --> 0:26:40.160 The revelation that real belief is the willingness to stand 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:43.000 on it even when you can't see it, feel it. 0:26:43.280 --> 0:26:44.119 Or explain it. 0:26:46.960 --> 0:26:48.200 I have my doubts. 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:51.000 I read that if any man is in Christ, he's 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:53.880 a new creation and the oldest gone and the newest come. 0:26:54.080 --> 0:26:57.000 But that versus still in progress in my life, there's 0:26:57.040 --> 0:27:00.840 still some old stuff in me comes down out in traffic. 0:27:00.960 --> 0:27:01.440 Hello. 0:27:03.240 --> 0:27:10.240 I have my doubts. I have my doubts. I have 0:27:10.400 --> 0:27:11.000 my doubts. 0:27:11.040 --> 0:27:14.560 I've read that whom the sun sets free is free indeed, 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:17.480 but sometimes I feel bound by stuff. 0:27:18.560 --> 0:27:21.760 I have my dows Is that all right? 0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:25.600 Do you need to find another church now that you 0:27:25.720 --> 0:27:27.160 know that the dude with. 0:27:27.200 --> 0:27:30.120 The mic has some dowts. I have my doubts. 0:27:36.680 --> 0:27:37.680 I have my doubts. 0:27:39.320 --> 0:27:41.960 And Abby is already doing the thing that we all 0:27:42.080 --> 0:27:43.800 do at some point in our life if we try 0:27:43.800 --> 0:27:44.600 to be religious. 0:27:45.000 --> 0:27:45.800 Where she's going? 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:48.840 Well, she said the other day, where did God come from? 0:27:48.920 --> 0:27:53.359 And I'm like, you're six? Can he just have always 0:27:53.400 --> 0:27:56.000 been there at age six? Do we really have to 0:27:56.040 --> 0:27:59.480 start this now? But that was about the same time 0:27:59.520 --> 0:28:01.280 I did it. She said it so funny. It was 0:28:01.320 --> 0:28:03.120 like she had me on a witness stand or something. 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:05.880 She said she was waiting for me to get home 0:28:05.880 --> 0:28:08.880 from work because she asked Holly, and Holly said, you're gonna. 0:28:08.720 --> 0:28:11.560 Ask your dad about that. He'll be home in a 0:28:11.680 --> 0:28:12.480 couple hours. 0:28:12.960 --> 0:28:15.520 And she said, Abby's got a question for you, And 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:18.000 Abby said, where did God come from? 0:28:18.400 --> 0:28:20.720 And who made him? And don't just say he's always 0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:26.160 been there? And I'm going. 0:28:25.960 --> 0:28:33.480 Already, yeah, already. This is the first gift of mystery 0:28:33.560 --> 0:28:38.239 that Heaven is giving to my daughter. It is the 0:28:38.280 --> 0:28:42.160 beginning of a lifetime of learning the art of. 0:28:42.120 --> 0:28:48.360 Faith, which Richard Roh suggests is patience with mystery, not 0:28:48.520 --> 0:28:54.560 the absence of it. Patience with it to take Mary home, 0:28:55.520 --> 0:28:59.040 even when you don't know where this is headed. So 0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:03.760 I did not give her a cookie cutter answer, partially 0:29:03.760 --> 0:29:04.880 because she's smarter. 0:29:04.680 --> 0:29:09.040 Than me and would have seen right through it. And said, 0:29:09.080 --> 0:29:10.880 I welcomed the mystery. And I said, I used to 0:29:10.920 --> 0:29:12.840 lay awake in my bed too thinking about that when 0:29:12.880 --> 0:29:14.800 I was a little boy. I was probably seven or eight, 0:29:14.800 --> 0:29:20.360 because boys are two years behind, but I had that 0:29:20.440 --> 0:29:22.320 same thing. I just couldn't never make sense of it, 0:29:22.360 --> 0:29:23.240 and I still haven't. 0:29:24.120 --> 0:29:28.040 I have my doubts, but I believe it. 0:29:30.560 --> 0:29:33.240 I believed that while I was watching my dad die 0:29:33.720 --> 0:29:35.680 and I had to preach my stuff back to myself, 0:29:37.280 --> 0:29:39.600 and I didn't have the protective insulation. 0:29:40.840 --> 0:29:47.680 Of this to stand behind or this to hold. Yeah, So. 0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:53.959 It's a real problem because a lot of people are 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:55.360 waiting for the doubt to disappear. 0:29:56.480 --> 0:29:58.720 Let's take the next step the faith. 0:30:01.320 --> 0:30:04.440 If the absence of doubt was a prerequisite for being 0:30:04.520 --> 0:30:07.400 used by God, Mary could not have been. 0:30:07.320 --> 0:30:09.880 The mother of Jesus. 0:30:10.800 --> 0:30:14.040 Over here, the Angel is talking to Joseph, but before 0:30:14.040 --> 0:30:19.040 he came to Joseph, he spoke to Mary. He spoke 0:30:19.080 --> 0:30:23.960 to them separately, because you have to experience faith for yourself. 0:30:25.440 --> 0:30:29.440 You have to make your own decision as to who 0:30:29.520 --> 0:30:32.680 God is and what he means to you. So while 0:30:32.680 --> 0:30:35.560 he was speaking to Joseph, who had to endure the 0:30:35.600 --> 0:30:38.320 embarrassment of walking through this. 0:30:39.680 --> 0:30:43.040 Next season, he was speaking to Mary. 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:47.840 And you're familiar with the story, but just put it 0:30:47.880 --> 0:30:52.320 on the screens real quick. This is Luke one where 0:30:52.360 --> 0:30:55.560 he said to Mary, greetings, you who are highly favored. 0:30:56.320 --> 0:31:00.560 The Lord is with you. That's the verdict. 0:31:01.360 --> 0:31:06.720 Before I give you the particulars of the situation, I 0:31:06.760 --> 0:31:08.280 want to bring you back to the thing that you 0:31:08.320 --> 0:31:10.400 can always know in every season of your life, if 0:31:10.440 --> 0:31:11.040 you choose to. 0:31:11.000 --> 0:31:11.480 Believe it. 0:31:13.440 --> 0:31:17.680 Your verdict, should you choose to accept it, God is 0:31:17.720 --> 0:31:22.120 with me. God is for me. You are highly favored. 0:31:22.760 --> 0:31:26.040 God is for you, and He is with you in 0:31:26.080 --> 0:31:28.680 this moment. Now, I got something I got to tell you. 0:31:29.600 --> 0:31:33.280 The angel starts off by reminding Mary of his presence, 0:31:33.440 --> 0:31:36.880 and it says that Mary was greatly troubled at his words. Now, 0:31:36.880 --> 0:31:39.160 what's there to be troubled about? All he said was Hello, 0:31:39.240 --> 0:31:46.080 God likes you. It seemed like YadA high fived him fistbalm. 0:31:46.120 --> 0:31:50.760 But she wondered what this greeting might be. Often the 0:31:50.800 --> 0:31:54.080 first impulse when God really shows up in your life 0:31:54.240 --> 0:31:57.920 is fear, and it is only in pushing through the 0:31:57.960 --> 0:32:01.080 fear that you find the love of God on the 0:32:01.120 --> 0:32:02.800 other side of your fear. 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:07.400 What's this all about? But the Angel said to her. 0:32:07.320 --> 0:32:13.520 Don't be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 0:32:14.920 --> 0:32:18.840 You have found favor with God, and I got an 0:32:18.840 --> 0:32:20.560 assignment for you. Because I find favor with God. You 0:32:20.560 --> 0:32:22.040 will be with child and give birth to a son, 0:32:22.160 --> 0:32:24.960 and you are to give him the name Jesus. And 0:32:24.960 --> 0:32:26.560 he will be great and will be called the Son 0:32:26.600 --> 0:32:28.360 of the Most High. And the Lord God will give 0:32:28.400 --> 0:32:31.040 him the throne of his father David, and he will 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:33.400 reign over the House of Jacob forever. 0:32:33.720 --> 0:32:36.040 His kingdom will never end. 0:32:36.200 --> 0:32:39.760 Now watch Mary's response, well, praise the Lord, and glory 0:32:40.120 --> 0:32:42.480 to God in the highest, and peace on earth, and 0:32:42.520 --> 0:32:44.680 good will to men on whom his favor rest. 0:32:44.760 --> 0:32:47.480 And your words to me are like drops of gold assurance. 0:32:47.680 --> 0:32:49.520 In a heart of no Mary said first thing out 0:32:49.560 --> 0:32:56.160 of her mouth was, how I know how pregnancy works? 0:32:56.520 --> 0:33:00.840 How am I pregnant? I promise God? And Joseph been 0:33:01.000 --> 0:33:04.000 keeping it clean? I promise God. We have nothing in 0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:06.920 the back seat of a camel ac, I promise God. 0:33:08.880 --> 0:33:14.160 How her first. 0:33:13.880 --> 0:33:18.360 Instinct is not yes, it's how. 0:33:19.360 --> 0:33:24.280 That is always the response when God really knocks. How 0:33:25.320 --> 0:33:28.760 how can I really be forgiven by someone who died 0:33:28.960 --> 0:33:31.520 on a cross before I was ever born? How can 0:33:31.600 --> 0:33:34.080 somebody else's death really affect my life? 0:33:34.200 --> 0:33:36.880 How that's a good starting place? 0:33:37.720 --> 0:33:41.120 How can you really use me? Look at me? I'm nobody, 0:33:41.360 --> 0:33:47.240 I'm nothing. How How how can I move forward after this? 0:33:47.640 --> 0:33:51.080 How can I believe that I still will see the 0:33:51.120 --> 0:33:54.360 goodness of the Lord in the land of the living? 0:33:54.640 --> 0:33:56.000 How? How? 0:33:56.040 --> 0:33:59.960 How see the greatest gifts that God ever gives? Are 0:34:00.080 --> 0:34:03.280 on the other side of your How on the other 0:34:03.440 --> 0:34:06.600 side of your question, on the other side of your 0:34:06.920 --> 0:34:09.200 I don't get it. On the other side of your 0:34:09.400 --> 0:34:12.319 I don't understand, on the other side of who me, 0:34:12.719 --> 0:34:15.080 on the other side of what now, on the other 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:16.160 side of why. 0:34:16.080 --> 0:34:17.960 This, that's where the gift is. 0:34:18.280 --> 0:34:22.160 And you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes 0:34:22.480 --> 0:34:26.080 and lying in the manger. God wrapped his son in 0:34:26.200 --> 0:34:29.239 something that looked so common that you would walk by 0:34:29.320 --> 0:34:32.520 it if you weren't looking for it. Because the greatest 0:34:32.600 --> 0:34:47.440 gifts that God gives are wrapped in doubt. And the 0:34:47.520 --> 0:34:51.719 promise is wrapped in doubt for a reason, because if 0:34:51.719 --> 0:35:00.520 He gave you proof, you wouldn't need faith. So he 0:35:00.600 --> 0:35:04.239 hides it. He hides his promise in the darkness to 0:35:04.320 --> 0:35:08.440 protect you. And this will not make sense in an 0:35:08.480 --> 0:35:11.759 Instagram generation. But sometimes God needs to work on the 0:35:11.760 --> 0:35:17.759 big picture of your life in the dark room to 0:35:17.840 --> 0:35:23.920 let it develop. Doubt is where faith develops. Doubt is 0:35:23.920 --> 0:35:28.319 where faith matures. Doubt is where faith gets hardened past 0:35:28.440 --> 0:35:31.520 Christian cliches that fit on a bumper sticker or a pinterest. 0:35:35.040 --> 0:35:38.920 Let it develop, Let patience have its perfect work in you, 0:35:39.000 --> 0:35:41.000 that you may be perfect and complete, lacking not. 0:35:41.000 --> 0:35:45.239 That it's the dark room. In fact, Isaiah, who was 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:47.360 quoted to Joseph also said. 0:35:47.120 --> 0:35:50.520 In Isaiah chapter nine, verse one, Nevertheless, there will be 0:35:50.560 --> 0:35:54.319 no more gloom. I want to write a song one 0:35:54.360 --> 0:35:57.520 day called nevertheless. It's one of my favorite Bible words. 0:35:58.160 --> 0:35:59.879 It means it looks one way, but it's really another. 0:36:01.360 --> 0:36:03.360 It means give it time, let it unfold. God is 0:36:03.440 --> 0:36:08.360 up to something. It means that the that the verdict 0:36:08.440 --> 0:36:11.479 has already submitted, Just give the evidence time. 0:36:12.200 --> 0:36:12.960 You will see it. 0:36:13.320 --> 0:36:16.360 Nevertheless, no matter what you see right now, it means 0:36:16.360 --> 0:36:18.719 that the ruling on the field can be overturned at 0:36:18.760 --> 0:36:21.960 any time. It means that there is a review booth 0:36:22.000 --> 0:36:24.319 called Heaven. Y'all didn't come to have church today. Y'all 0:36:24.360 --> 0:36:26.480 come to just check it out the list and stock 0:36:26.560 --> 0:36:31.960 us stuffing with some cute little stuff. Nevertheless, there will 0:36:32.000 --> 0:36:34.640 be no more gloom for those who were in distress. 0:36:35.600 --> 0:36:38.279 In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulin in 0:36:38.320 --> 0:36:40.520 the land of Neftali. But in the future he will 0:36:40.520 --> 0:36:44.839 honor Galilee of the Gentiles by the way of the 0:36:44.840 --> 0:36:47.719 sea along the Jordan. Oh. I need to insert this 0:36:47.840 --> 0:36:50.879 because Galilee means valley of shade. 0:36:51.560 --> 0:36:53.600 Now watch what happens in the darkest valley. 0:36:54.160 --> 0:36:58.080 The prophet says, the people walking in darkness have seen 0:36:58.120 --> 0:37:01.200 a great light. And I would confused at this point 0:37:01.239 --> 0:37:03.319 because I thought he was talking about something that would 0:37:03.320 --> 0:37:08.400 happen seven hundred years later. The prophet Isaiah prophesied seven hundred. 0:37:08.120 --> 0:37:09.720 Years before the birth of Christ. 0:37:10.360 --> 0:37:12.600 But now he is speaking about something that has yet 0:37:12.640 --> 0:37:15.479 to be, as if it already happened. This is called 0:37:15.480 --> 0:37:18.640 the prophetic perfect. You see it often in scripture. It's 0:37:18.680 --> 0:37:22.560 when God, who stands outside of time, knows exactly what 0:37:22.600 --> 0:37:25.399 you're going through, how long you're going to go through it, 0:37:25.560 --> 0:37:28.239 and what he's going to do. On the other side 0:37:28.520 --> 0:37:31.200 is the God who spoke, Let there be light, and 0:37:31.360 --> 0:37:36.400 molecules and particles rearranged themselves to spread out into the universe, 0:37:36.640 --> 0:37:38.239 to talk in every corner. 0:37:37.960 --> 0:37:39.600 Of this splode. 0:37:42.000 --> 0:37:44.239 My faith gives me the ability to stand in the 0:37:44.320 --> 0:37:51.160 darkest valley believing that the light has already come. If 0:37:51.200 --> 0:37:58.200 I let it develop. Faith is developed now. Faint always 0:37:58.239 --> 0:38:02.680 develops in doubt. If faith learns to depend. 0:38:02.440 --> 0:38:06.520 On God because of doubt. If you never doubted God, 0:38:06.560 --> 0:38:09.239 you would be him. Before long. 0:38:09.239 --> 0:38:12.600 You would start worshiping yourself and singing, how great Thou 0:38:12.680 --> 0:38:14.440 art in your full length mirror, and God is not 0:38:14.480 --> 0:38:16.440 going to allow you to become so arrogant that you. 0:38:16.440 --> 0:38:17.760 Never have doubts. 0:38:18.560 --> 0:38:20.680 If he removed the doubt, he would remove the need 0:38:20.719 --> 0:38:23.239 for him for you to know that He is God 0:38:23.280 --> 0:38:25.839 and you are not. That's why you doubt. There are 0:38:25.880 --> 0:38:29.799 benefits to the doubt. There's a benefit to having to 0:38:29.840 --> 0:38:32.680 wrestle with God and wrestle with where you are, and 0:38:32.760 --> 0:38:35.600 wrestle with yourself and wrestle like Jacob did. 0:38:35.880 --> 0:38:38.279 That's where you find the revelation of. 0:38:38.239 --> 0:38:42.840 The goodness of God, not in your self confidence, but 0:38:42.960 --> 0:38:44.000 in your self doubt. 0:38:45.200 --> 0:38:47.320 Mary said, how will this be? I am a virgin. 0:38:47.920 --> 0:38:50.319 The angel said, the power of the most High will 0:38:50.320 --> 0:38:55.760 overshadow you. But you must make the decision to believe 0:38:55.920 --> 0:39:01.000 God in the face of evidences. SEMs to contradict his 0:39:01.600 --> 0:39:04.240 promise to believe God. 0:39:04.280 --> 0:39:05.320 That every dead end. 0:39:06.040 --> 0:39:09.080 Is a doorway if you decide to go through it, 0:39:11.400 --> 0:39:13.200 and there is someone here who is standing at a 0:39:13.239 --> 0:39:18.200 doorway today called doubt, and if you will walk through 0:39:18.200 --> 0:39:21.840 it and make the decision to trust God in this situation, 0:39:22.040 --> 0:39:25.280 you will find on the other side a greater glory 0:39:25.320 --> 0:39:27.279 revealed to you than you have ever known. 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:31.839 But if you stop here. If you stop with how 0:39:32.840 --> 0:39:35.960 and why and when and what? 0:39:37.080 --> 0:39:38.960 If you wait till you have all the evidence to 0:39:38.960 --> 0:39:43.839 trust God, you will never take Mary home, and you 0:39:43.880 --> 0:39:47.880 will never see the promise of God come to pass. 0:39:49.880 --> 0:39:54.240 All of the greatest faith is on the other side 0:39:55.280 --> 0:39:58.880 of your deepest out. I want to ask, with no 0:39:58.960 --> 0:40:02.320 one leaving, please don't leave in this moment. 0:40:03.760 --> 0:40:05.399 This is that invitation moment that. 0:40:05.400 --> 0:40:08.960 I spoke about earlier that is so sacred to us, 0:40:09.440 --> 0:40:11.000 and I want to ask at every campus that you 0:40:11.040 --> 0:40:14.200 would stand to your feet right now, because this is 0:40:14.200 --> 0:40:25.280 a moment of decision for many, for those who say 0:40:26.200 --> 0:40:29.560 what one man said to Jesus, who needed the gift 0:40:29.600 --> 0:40:35.920 of healing. I want to believe. Help my unbelief. I 0:40:36.000 --> 0:40:41.600 want to believe, but I feel unworthy. I want to believe, 0:40:41.640 --> 0:40:47.360 but I have my doubts. God has a grace that 0:40:47.480 --> 0:40:51.319 is greater than every doubt, and all he requires is 0:40:51.360 --> 0:40:53.120 the next step in the light that you do have. 0:40:53.840 --> 0:40:56.520 I believe there are many here today who need to 0:40:56.520 --> 0:40:58.920 receive the gift of salvation, but you can't receive it 0:41:00.520 --> 0:41:05.920 uppear You can't receive it with these and you can't 0:41:05.960 --> 0:41:07.160 receive it with your own effort. 0:41:08.080 --> 0:41:11.400 It is by grace you are saved through faith. I 0:41:11.440 --> 0:41:12.600 know you have your doubts. 0:41:13.520 --> 0:41:16.920 When Peter walked towards Jesus on the water, he had faith, 0:41:16.960 --> 0:41:18.880 but it flipped so quick. The next thing you know, 0:41:18.960 --> 0:41:22.520 he was sinking, and Jesus asked him a question, why 0:41:22.560 --> 0:41:24.280 did you doubt? 0:41:26.080 --> 0:41:27.879 And when he asked him that question, he didn't push 0:41:27.920 --> 0:41:29.840 him back under the water to teach him a lesson. 0:41:30.719 --> 0:41:33.000 He reached out his hand to bring him back to 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:36.800 the boat and to show him who he was all along. 0:41:38.200 --> 0:41:42.000 So this message is for the doubters. We often sing 0:41:42.040 --> 0:41:46.319 it Christmas, Oh come all ye faithful. Today the invitation is, 0:41:46.680 --> 0:41:52.879 come all ye doubtful, with questions and dysfunctions and conflicts, 0:41:53.960 --> 0:41:58.160 to place your faith in the God who is the Great. 0:41:58.160 --> 0:41:59.959 I am with you. Bow your head and close your eyes. 0:42:00.080 --> 0:42:00.920 At every location. 0:42:01.760 --> 0:42:03.440 I want to pray a prayer right now for those 0:42:03.480 --> 0:42:07.200 who want to come into a relationship with Christ. Receive 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:10.440 forgiveness by faith because of his finished work on the cross, 0:42:11.160 --> 0:42:13.000 and live a new life in his name, because of 0:42:13.040 --> 0:42:16.680 his resurrection from the dead, and make a decision of 0:42:16.719 --> 0:42:20.600 faith today to put your hope in him. 0:42:20.800 --> 0:42:22.720 We're going to pray a prayer right now out loud. 0:42:24.200 --> 0:42:26.320 Our whole church family will pray it for the benefit 0:42:27.160 --> 0:42:29.080 of those who are coming to God for the first 0:42:29.160 --> 0:42:32.759 time or are coming back to God. And if this 0:42:32.800 --> 0:42:34.440 is the prayer of your heart, God will hear you 0:42:34.480 --> 0:42:37.839 from heaven and will save you from your sin. Let's 0:42:37.880 --> 0:42:42.200 pray together right now, repeat after me, Heavenly Father. I 0:42:42.280 --> 0:42:47.600 believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and 0:42:47.640 --> 0:42:52.240 the Savior of the world. And today I make Jesus 0:42:53.160 --> 0:42:57.560 the Lord of my life. I believe he died for 0:42:57.680 --> 0:43:03.080 me to forgive my sin. I believe he rose again 0:43:04.000 --> 0:43:09.560 to give me life. I receive this new life. I 0:43:09.560 --> 0:43:14.800 will follow you from this stay forward. I received your grace. 0:43:16.160 --> 0:43:21.160 This is my new beginning. Had still bowed, eyes still closed. 0:43:21.160 --> 0:43:23.080 If you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand up 0:43:23.120 --> 0:43:25.919 in the air on the count of three, one two three, 0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:27.359 no hesitation. 0:43:27.440 --> 0:43:29.520 All over this room and all of our campuses. 0:43:29.600 --> 0:43:33.239 God, bless you, God, bless you, God, bless you. 0:43:33.760 --> 0:43:36.719 What a wonderful thing. Come on, I think we can 0:43:36.760 --> 0:43:41.440 celebrate better than that. What a wonderful thing to witness 0:43:41.480 --> 0:43:42.799 souls being reborn. 0:43:43.880 --> 0:43:47.240 Come on, Church, can we celebrate the goodness of God. 0:43:48.320 --> 0:43:50.359 I think we ought to sing with the angels a 0:43:50.360 --> 0:43:53.920 little while. If the angels in heaven rejoiced when one 0:43:54.040 --> 0:43:58.600 senter repents, let the people of God proclaim Christ is 0:43:58.600 --> 0:44:02.760 born this day in your mind, in your mind. 0:44:10.440 --> 0:44:11.560 Thank you for joining us. 0:44:11.880 --> 0:44:14.319 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:44:14.400 --> 0:44:15.120 this ministry. 0:44:15.480 --> 0:44:17.880 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:44:18.320 --> 0:44:20.839 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:44:21.400 --> 0:44:25.280 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:44:25.840 --> 0:44:28.400 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:44:28.880 --> 0:44:30.200 You can share it with your friends. 0:44:30.480 --> 0:44:32.759 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:44:32.800 --> 0:44:34.920 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:44:34.960 --> 0:44:35.799 Elevation Church. 0:44:35.880 --> 0:44:37.520 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.