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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] today's scripture reading is taken from matthew 11 verses 1 to 24 after jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of galilee when john who was in prison heard about the deeds of the messiah he sent his disciples to ask him are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else jesus replied go back and report to john what you hear and see the blind receive sight the lame walk those who have leprosy are cleansed the
00:00:50 death hear the date are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me as john's disciples were leaving jesus began to speak to the crowd about john what do you go out into the wilderness to see a reed suede by the wind if not what do you go out to see a man dress in fine clothes no those who wear fine clothes are in king's palaces then what do you go out to see a prophet yes i tell you and more than a prophet this is the one about whom it is written
00:01:35 i will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you truly i tell you among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than john the baptist yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he from the days of john the baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent people have been raiding it for all the prophets in the law prophesied until john and if you are willing to accept it he is the elijah who wants to come
00:02:12 whoever has ears led them here to what can i compare this generation they are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others we played the pipe for you and he did not dance we sang a dirge and he did not mourn for jon came neither eating or drinking and they say he has a demon the son of man came eating and drinking and they say here is a glutton and a drunkard a friend of text collectors and sinners but wisdom is proved right by her deeds then jesus began to denounce the towns
00:02:50 in which most of his miracles had been performed because they did not repent woe to you corazon woe to you besider for if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed entire and sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but i tell you it would be more bearable for tyre inside and on the day of judgement than for you and you cappenium will you be lifted to the heavens no you will go down to hades for if the miracles were that were performed in you had been performing
00:03:26 sodom it would have remained to this day but i tell you that it would be more bearable for sodom on a day of judgment than for you this is the word of the lord good morning fbc and greetings in the name of our lord jesus as a teenager growing up in the 80s i used to watch the very popular tv series called ripley's believe it or not hosted by jack palance years later the series was revived and made more sensational in the early 2000s hosted by dean kane mr superman i'm sure quite a number of you would have watched
00:04:03 at least parts of the series before full episodes are even available free on youtube now the tv series sensationalize bizarre people real life events and relics so strange and incredibly extraordinary that it might still leave many viewers questioning or doubting his claims is it real or not of course these are merely entertainment and doesn't require any commitment or obligation on our part but when it comes to our faith and beliefs in the person of jesus christ it's a whole new level altogether isn't
00:04:39 it that's that's what we hope to learn from today's passage how do we deal with doubts and unbelief in our journey of faith we've come to almost a climax in jesus ministry in what is sometimes known as jesus year of popularity he had been preaching and performing miracles in the towns of galilee and had just finished instructing and sending out his 12 disciples with warnings of impending persecution and the cost of discipleship the divisiveness of jesus as preached by elder gideon two weeks ago
00:05:13 in fact it was the first time jesus was mentioning the cross and the cost of following him one wonders how much his disciples really understood what he meant or knew what they were getting himself into in the meantime the opposition to the message of salvation and jesus's works of miracle was on the rise not surprisingly there were a mixed reaction and questioning at least in the minds of the people of who jesus really is what is his identity john the baptist was no exception the passage we'll be turning to today zooms
00:05:49 into the question of john the baptist are you jesus the one who was to come or should we expect someone else it's like the famous movie the matrix you know the character neo played by keanu reeves who is believed to be the one to free and save the last refuge of men humankind in the underground city of zion they were trapped in the matrix waging war against the machines many doubted new being the savior including the oracle herself who is the prophet one except the great morpheus whose belief in you
00:06:29 as the one who didn't waver so in the passage of matthew 11 today we'll be delving into the topic of doubt versus unbelief i've entitled the sermon i believe help my unbelief from doubt to faith three main points number one doubt comes about when jesus doesn't meet our expectations two dog is contrasted with unbelief and three doubt when confronted and addressed leads to blessings but unbelief leads to condemnation but let us start with a bit of prayer asking god to speak to us this morning heavenly father as we look into your
00:07:15 word today and reflect on our faith even our doubts in jesus our lord and savior may you open up the eyes of our hearts that we may see you for who you are then we may understand with our hearts and turn to you may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight o lord our rock and redeemer amen so first doubt comes about when jesus doesn't meet our expectations chapter 11 begins with john asking the question in verse 2 and 3 and i'll shall read from verse 2 when
00:07:52 john who was in prison heard about the deeds of the messiah he sent his disciples to ask him are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else i'm not sure about you but this verse had always come as a surprise to me i mean we're talking about john the baptist here the forerunner of christ if if there was a short resume for him it may look something like this forerunner of christ as prophesied in malachi 3 comes in the spirit and power of elijah as prophesied in malachi 4. the last of the prophets in the order of
00:08:27 the old covenant is the contemporary or even related to jesus lived a pious and ascetic life his clothes were made of camel's hair eight locusts wild honey he took his prophetic mental seriously have many followers and disciples fast and praised often preacher of baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sin resulting in bearing of fruit performs water baptism key vip customer jesus in the kingdom of heaven this would be a 100 match for a cpo a chief prophet officer position he is the one who was unmistaken when he
00:09:11 foretold jesus as the lamb of god who will take away the sins of the world in john chapter 1 verse 29 someone more powerful whose sandals is not fit to carry what made john the baptist doubt and ask if jesus was the promised messiah quoting from a from a sermon by a pastor named ken trivette he says what he what john bettis had preached as an exclamation point had now become a question mark but let's take a step back and remember john's state he was imprisoned by herod antipas for criticizing him for marrying philip his
00:09:50 brother's wife he had been there for more than a year in prison and was never released until we know later he was finally beheaded for a very outdoorsy person such as john he was probably at the lowest point in his life being confined in prison feeling discouraged disillusioned depressed despondent all the d words you can think of as it reflects upon the coming messiah who was to come he struggles with doubt where is the thunder of judgment as he as he foretold as he preached because jesus was supposed to come
00:10:32 baptizing with fire he's where is his winnowing fork that will separate the wheat from the shelf where is the axe at the root of the tree where is the rebuke and the punishment of of the wicked and he considers for example herod as being a wicked person who wrongly imprisoned him yes there's power over demons healing of the demon possess healing of the sake all good but why not power over evil man why feasting with sinners and tax collectors is jesus for real what about the hypocritical pharisees
00:11:08 and said you see it's the so-called brood of vipers what about me jesus will i ever be released from prison from the wickedness of herod and his cohort john was probably taking isaiah 61 literally 61 says he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim freedom for the captives to and release from darkness for the prisoners essentially what john is saying is this is not what i expected to be the messiah in my line of work in i.t we often need to keep abreast with emerging technologies one of the ways we
00:11:47 evaluate and adopt innovative technologies is a chart called the gartner hype cycle of course it's developed by gartner and some of you may be familiar with it as well the chart basically tells us that an innovation typically goes through what we call a hype cycle where after inception it goes through a peak of inflated expectations before plummeting into a trough of disillusionment and the only way for the innovation to successfully penetrate the market and reach the plateau of productivity is if it can surmount
00:12:22 the slippery slope of enlightenment so take 5g for example in most parts of the world including malaysia it's gone way past the peak of inflated expectations isn't it we've been waiting for 5g for the longest time but first in malaysia we are unfortunately a little bit at the bottom of the trough still struggling to get past the slope of enlightenment when is it coming you know you might you might say but as someone who works in the telco line i can tell you it's coming soon it's okay doubts due to expectations mismatches
00:12:59 happens all the time whether at home at work even in the church my wife and i have different love languages for her it's quality time words of affirmation whereas for me it's acts of service quantity more than quality so when we don't meet each other's expectations when she expects quality and i don't give a quality and i expect quantity and she doesn't give quantity one of us will get upset isn't it and made up each other the other day my wife asked me one of the most profound question she said do you sometimes feel the more
00:13:40 you know someone the more you don't know the person the more you know someone the more you don't know the person and she doesn't say hula you know just a person john the baptist was at the trough of disillusionment jesus was meeting his expect but wasn't meeting his expectations even to the best of his prophetic knowledge and experience if john the forerunner of christ could have such doubts of jesus identity it could happen to any one of us how many of us have asked questions at least in our mind such such questions at
00:14:16 least in our minds lord why are you not answering my prayers i've been praying very hard but why did you not why did you allow bad things to happen and to good people what why didn't you stop the covet pandemic earlier isn't it about time did you intervene in a malaysian political situation no why didn't you why did you do this for so and so and you didn't do it for me lord are you able to help or not or should i look elsewhere and many other questions that could be on our minds charles persian once quoted i don't
00:14:51 believe that ever existed a christian yet who did not now and then doubt his interest in jesus i think when a man says i never doubt it is quite time for us to begin doubting him in a book by alistair mcgrath called doubt in perspective which i just read he says doubt is probably a permanent feature of the christian life let's look at the history of the the bible as well doubt is evident throughout the bible even by men of faith just to name a few right from genesis adam and eve who bought into the serpent's question
00:15:28 did god really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden abraham who doubted god's promise of a child in his old age moses when the israelites complained about food and wanted to eat meat and god said yeah okay i will provide but moses doubted god's providence of meat for six hundred thousand men for a whole month the disciple peter as we if you remember in his attempt to walk on water to jesus became afraid doubted and sank last but not least doubting thomas who said unless i see the nail marks on his hand
00:16:09 i will not believe now let me give an example closer to our time everyone knows the late billy graham the prominent american evangelist most of these this of what i'm going to say is taken from the article called the bible on the tree stump by decision magazine billy graham's faith came under siege in the summer of 1949 just before the los angeles crusade that propelled him onto the national scene as president of northwestern schools mr graham was invited to speak at the college briefing conference which was
00:16:44 held at this place called forest home is a retreat center east of los angeles also speaking with his good friend and fellow evangelist charles temperton whose views on the authority of scripture were quickly changing not for the first time templeton challenged mr graham billy you're 50 years out of date people no longer accept the bible as inspired as being inspired the way you do your faith is too shallow too simple alone in his room that night graham studied the scripture profusely he said i had no doubt concerning the
00:17:20 deity of jesus christ or the validity of the gospel he later wrote in his biography just as i am but what but was the bible completely true with the los angeles campaign galloping toward me i i had to have an answer if i could not trust the bible i could not go on i would have to quit the school presidency i would have to leave pulpit evangelism his heart heavy he went for a walk dropping to his knees there in the woods he opened the bible at random on a tree stump in front of him oh god he prayed there are many things
00:18:00 in this book i do not understand there's some areas in it that that do not seem to correlate with modern signs i'm sure most of us can identify with what billy graham went through and many junctures of our christian walk of faith whether in our own study of scripture or when we are being challenged by our friends so you're not alone we'll come back to john the baptist and the story of billy graham later but i want to move to point two which is that doubt is to be contrasted with unbelief so if we fast forward to verse
00:18:38 13 onwards we read for all the prophets and the law prophesied unto john and if you are willing to accept it he is the elijah who was to come whoever has ears let them hear to what can i compare this generation they are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others we played the pipe for you but you did not dance we sang a dirge but you did not mourn for john came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon the son of man came eating and drinking and they say here's a glutton and a
00:19:13 drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners but wisdom proved right by her deeds then jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed because they did not repent here jesus likened this unbelieving generation to children in the marketplace who played two kinds of games the first is what we call the wedding game we played the flute but you didn't dance referring to john the baptist who came fasting but they said he had a demon the second game is the funeral game we
00:19:48 we sang a dirge but you didn't mourn referring to jesus who came in who came fisting but they but they said he's a glutton a drunkard a friend of sinners either way unbelief deliberately continually even cynically rejects the truth even in the face of evidence or lack thereof which in this context is the hearing of the word and seeing the works and miracles of christ this was predicted in isaiah 6 and quoted in john 12 40 he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they can neither see with their eyes nor
00:20:29 understand with their hearts nor turn and i would heal them in case you think this is all god's doing ezekiel 12 2 puts it in another way that clearly indicates humans responsibility they have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear for they are a rebellious people what can we learn from the characteristics of unbelief from this passage at least three ways of looking at it right the first is unsatisfaction the feeling that christ is not good enough for me we want to have the kick and eat it
00:21:08 we're not willing to surrender our worldly passions and treasures unless christ fits into our mould our whims and fences that's what john preached a few weeks back about putting jesus into a box we expect jesus to act or not act in accordance to our ways our preconceived ideas of christ or how we see fit or how we feel the late rc spro the american theologian and pastor reminds us we have to determine our theology from the word of god not from what we feel we are sometimes also quick to judge the
00:21:44 book by its cover we are quick to criticize and judge fault-find this applies not only about judging christ but also our church leaders our fellow christians richard dawkin uh dawkins one of the world's most staunch 80s quotes i am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world and he goes on to say faith is a great cop-out the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence faith is the belief in spite of even perhaps because of the lack of evidence
00:22:22 but we know from romans 1 18 to 20 that this is quite the opposite romans 1 18 says the wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all godlin godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness since what may be known about god is plain to them because god has made it plain to them for since the creation of the world god's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse
00:22:58 the late norman geisler a systematic theologian and philosopher and apologist summarized it well in the in the conclusion of his book called i don't have enough faith to be an atheist he says god has made the evidence for christianity convincing but not compelling for everyone if you want to suppress and ignore the evidence all around you then you are free to do so but that would be a volitional act not a rational one you can reject christ but you cannot honestly say there's not enough evidence
00:23:30 to believe in him the second way of looking at unbelief is unwillingness to accept the gospel which we see in verse 13 and 14 for all the prophets the law prophesied unto john and if you are willing to accept it he is the elijah who was to come there is a willingness to accept the gospel that must come from within us c.s lewis said it best when he wrote there are only two kinds of people in the end those who say to god thy will be done and those to whom god says in the end i will be done and thirdly unbelief means also
00:24:12 unrepentance in verse 20 jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed because they did not repent just as doubt and faith are two sides of the same coin so unbelief and unrepentance are two sides of the same coin jesus himself says in mark chapter 1 verse 15 the kingdom of god has come near repent and believe the good news repent and believe now that we understand the difference between doubt and unbelief let's come back to the story of john the baptist in the in our third and final part of the
00:24:50 sermon today doubt confronted or addressed leads to blessings but unbelief or unrepentance leads to condemnation in both cases jesus responds in response to john the baptist question are you the one who wants to come or should we expect someone else jesus responds in three ways and for each response there's something to learn about how we should deal with the results jesus comforts or reassures john through fulfillment of scripture second jesus commands or defends john for persevering as his forerunner
00:25:31 and finally jesus posed a challenge and encouragement to john with a beatitude a blessing so the first john comforts jesus comforts john through the fulfillment of scripture jesus's immediate response was in verse 4 and 5. jesus replied go back and report to john what to hear and see the blind receive sight the lame walk those who have leprosy are cleansed the death here the date are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor jesus could have easily said but then of course it's me don't you
00:26:07 recognize me just trust what i'm doing but no instead he he quotes a series of prophecies from isaiah all of which the baptist would have memorized by heart although jesus never explicitly mentioned it all the passages referred to judgment in their immediate context take assaya 35 for example be strong do not fear your god will come he will come with vengeance with divine retribution he will come to save you and then the eyes of the blind be opened the ears of the dead on death and stop the lame lip like a deer a mute tongue
00:26:43 shock for joy there was a sense of judgment in these prophecies as well what jesus is essentially reminding the baptist is that the blessings promised at for the end time have broken out it has come even though the judgments are delayed so lesson number one here is when doubt arises return to god's word which will certainly speak to us god's word will assure us of his promises his goodness his grace his love for us and secondly jesus defends john the baptist for persevering as his forerunner it's like jesus is writing a
00:27:24 recommendation letter for for for john this is in verse 7 to 15. john jesus commands john in three ways he says in verse seven he is not a rich sweet by the wind in malay we call it swaying lalang you know he's not his weighing which means very fickle minded he's he's also not a man dressed in fine clothes not a soft tee with undisciplined weakness the word fine in greek is molokos it means soft almost effeminate right jesus says these softies are in king's palaces ironically john was in the palace just not in the
00:28:06 posh attacks places you know but he was locked up in some dungeon below right and thirdly jesus commands him by saying john is more than a prophet in fact he is the greatest man prophet ever lived because he pointed and pointed he was the one who pointed most unambiguously to jesus jesus confirms john was the elijah who was to come john the baptist played a pivotal role in redemptive history as prophesied in malachi and jesus commanded john for it in the presence of the crowd who were listening
00:28:47 in verse 11 there's almost a bit of a contradiction as to what jesus really meant when he said yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he most commentators agree to the theme of privilege like a benefit of hindsight just like moses who viewed the promised land from mount pisgah but never really entered it so so it's john who faithfully foresaw and foretold christ but never saw the fruition of christ's work or the judgment that was to come but we are greater in privilege compared even
00:29:21 to john the baptist in the sense that we have the bible whether it is written and we have the whole story of of the new testament with us lesson number two is therefore seek and please god not men seek and please god not man it is god's recommendation and commendation that we want not men hebrews 11 6 says without faith it is impossible to please god because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him finally jesus responds to john the baptist by challenging him or
00:30:02 encouraging him with a beatitude yeah that's right in the middle in verse six he says blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me the word fall away in greek is candelizo where the english word scandalize comes from it means take offense again this is a fulfillment and allusion to the isaiah passages in chapter 8 and chapter 28 jesus was referred to as was prophesied to be the stone of stumbling or the rock of offense the this theme carries through the new testament in romans nine in first
00:30:43 corinthians chapter one in first peter chapter two verse seven to eight but i think first peter's first summarizes it best he says for in scripture it says see a layer stone in zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame now to you who believe the stone is precious to those who do not believe the stone this builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall they stumble because they disobey the
00:31:19 message which is also what they were destined for so this is both a gentle warning and encouragement to john to say stay on the course i know you have questions and doubts stay on the course trust in the reliability of the word that you have been prophesizing that was being fulfilled by christ the late uh vance hefner the an american baptist preacher and writer paraphrased it in a rather witty way this beatitude says blessed is he who he blessed is he whomsoever shall not get upset by the way i run my
00:31:59 business blessed is he whomsoever shall not get upset by the way i run my business so lesson number three is to trust in the faithfulness and the wisdom of god when doubt arises proverbs 3 verses 5 to 6 goes on to say lean not on our own understanding but in all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight but the rock of offense is to those who are scandalized and falls away on account of christ to those who refuse to believe nor repent of their sinful pride and self-sufficiency despite the privilege
00:32:42 of having heard the message and seen the miracles of christ to this jesus doesn't mean his his words condemnation will fall upon them so in verse verses 22 24 jesus compares the three jewish cities of korazin bethsaida capernaum in increasing privilege to the three gentile cities tyre and sidon and sodom increasing wickedness jesus compares them side by side the jewish cities who had increasing privileges and gentile cities with increasing increasing wickedness and pronounces more severe judgment to the
00:33:22 jewish cities who had the greater privilege or opportunities to respond and believe in christ so in closing we return to the story of billy graham and his fellow evangelist charles temperton let's talk about temperature for a while as he may not be as familiar to us as billy graham templeton professed his faith in 1936 at the age of 21 very young age and became an evangelist the same year within two years he had toured the us and preached in 44 states becoming one of the top evangelists internationally renowned
00:33:58 he started a church in 1941 studied at princeton theological college and later received an honorary doctorate from lafayette college he was probably at the peak of the gardner-hype cycle you know in 1940 1945 templeton met billy graham and became friends he was rooming and ministering together during a youth for christ's evangelistic tour in europe but by 1948 templeton templeton's christian worldview began to change doubts about the christian faith were solidifying as he entered princeton and he began to believe that
00:34:38 the bible was was flawed and that academy and not jesus was the answer to life's problem the more the more he sought academia the more he distrust his trust distrusted christ his faith took the nose dive to the trough of disillusionment less than a decade later in 1957 he publicly renounced his faith declaring he had become an agnostic in 1996 in his 1996 memoir his his book caught farewell to god my reasons for rejecting the christian faith templeton recounted his reasons most of these relate to the origins
00:35:19 or into the origins issue and thus the accuracy of the genesis account but he had issues also with the authority of the bible on multiple occasions he challenged billy graham's thinking casting doubt in his mind too in his autobiography he recounted the conversation where he said billy you cannot do that you don't dare stop thinking about the most important question in life do it and and you begin to die it's intellectual suicide and so templeton chose the path of unbelief billy graham on the other hand
00:35:57 confronted his doubts head on the biggest difference being that he was still holding fast to god's word continuing continuing the story where we left off billy graham still on his knees praying with his bible open on a tree stump as he struggled with doubt he paused and then he continued father i'm going to accept this as thy word by faith i'm going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts and i will believe this to be your inspired word when he stood up from his knees that
00:36:36 august night his eyes stung with tears he said i sense the presence and power of god that i have not sensed in months not all my questions were answered but i knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won a major bridge had been crossed the resulting change did not go unnoticed the next day billy graham spoke at forest home 400 people made a commitment to follow christ the founder of forest home henry enter mears remarked that he preached with authority that she that authority that she hadn't
00:37:19 seen before from him so my friends let's summarize just like the father of the the boy possessed by the impure spirit who responded to jesus saying i do believe help my unbelief in mark chapter 9 24 all of us will face doubts of many kinds throughout our journey of faith especially in this vuca volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous world we live in there will be many cycles of peaks and troughs like the garden hype cycle doubts about authentic about the authenticity the difficulties and seemingly
00:38:01 contradictions of the bible talks about christ love and god's love for us doubts about our own salvation talks about unanswered intellectual questions often these are triggered when things don't go as expected isn't it sickness illness when we lose a job and we're being wronged and betrayed by others and other trials that we go through in life and many a time god may appear silent as well and without dear brothers and sisters doubt cannot be neglected and left to fester into unbelief as to what as to what happened
00:38:40 to charles tamperton instead like billy graham doubt needs to be confronted and dealt with only with the author and perfecter of our faith jesus himself who hebrew for tells us is our high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses one who is tempted in every way yet without sin when in doubt come to him with your questions and honest doubts in fervent prayer and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus i like to add that if there's anyone in
00:39:18 our midst who have yet to put your faith in christ and believe in your heart that he can save you from your sins jesus is calling you to come to him because he loves you and if you confess your sins to him the bible says he is faithful and just to forgive your sins he is fit friend just to purify you from all unrighteousness leading to the abundant and eternal life he promised to give lastly i'll leave you with hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 to 3 let's say that reminds us therefore since we are surrounded by such great cloud of
00:39:55 witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance to raise mark doug for us fixing our eyes on jesus the pioneer or the author and perfecter of our faith for the joy set before him he endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down in the right hand of the throne of god consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart let us close in prayer heavenly father thank you for your word
00:40:31 that is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path but yet we acknowledge and confess that more often than not we struggle to see the light or that we don't understand your word fully or just like john the baptist when jesus doesn't meet doesn't quite meet our expectations we start to doubt and look for alternative solutions or even rely on our wisdom and understanding forgive us lord for the times we misplace our trust and faith in you help us in every moment of doubt and uncertainty to come to you in prayer to
00:41:07 search the scriptures for answers to our questions or doubts for you promise that if we seek you with all our heart you will be found by us forbid it lord that we should turn away from you or waver into unbelief but draw us nearer and nearer to jesus the author and perfecter of our faith the high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses our cornerstone and sure foundation on which we place our trust and hope may your kingdom come and you will be done in each of our lives in our generation
00:41:42 we pray this in jesus precious and holy name amen this sermon may speak differently to each one of us for we're at different phases in our journey of faith if you're currently struggling with any doubts about your christian faith and would like to pray with someone please type pray in the chat and there'll be church leaders who are waiting and would love to pray for and with you otherwise if you have heard the gospel and have yet to accept christ as your personal lord and savior and jesus has convicted your heart and you've decided
00:42:18 to follow him or you would like to attend alpha to learn more about christianity or attend a live group or you have any prayer requests kindly scan the qr qr code to respond and we will get in touch with you
