Overcoming Doubts with Faith (John 10)

In John 10 we read about the people in the Temple pressing Jesus to tell them if he is the Messiah. Jesus replies that he has already told them and then lists the evidence that should help them in their struggle to believe. Currently, there is a trend to “deconstruct faith” that often leads confused people to walk away from their religious beliefs. Like a bowling ball striking down all the bowling pins, solid faith bowls strikes down pins of doubt and disbelief. In this passage, Jesus says that those who are truly His do believe, follow Him, and are eternally secure in Him. Come to Rockwell Church this Sunday to be encouraged to find answers that will enable you to bowl over doubts with faith.

Notes:

Rockwell Church     July 14, 2024     Pastor Chris Teien
Bowling Over Doubts with Faith
John 10:22-42

1. How can I be CONVINCED Jesus is really the Messiah/Savior? (22-26)
2. How can I CONFIRM I am truly a follower of Jesus? (27)
3. How can I feel CONTENT that I am eternally secure in Christ? (28-29)
4. How can I be CERTAIN Jesus is truly God? (30-33)
5. How can I handle CONFUSING Scripture? (34-36)
6. How can I CONSIDER the evidence? (37-41)
7. How can I CONSTRUCT solid faith that bowls over doubts? (42)

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

So I'm going through the book of John, and sometimes that makes it easier to find a message, and sometimes it makes it more difficult. So here I am in John chapter 10, and I've already covered part of John chapter 10. I'm sure you remember February 26, 2023. We talked about the beginning of John chapter 10. You're probably like, oh yeah, I remember that. So, and which I said, how Jesus, the good shepherd, keeps you secure. One, God's sheep desire to follow the good shepherd's leading. Two, God's sheep want to obey the good shepherd's commands. Three, God's sheep feel confident when the good shepherd is near. And four, God's sheep are secure forever because of the good shepherd. And that's you could watch that or you could listen to that, but that's what I said in the beginning of John. So that was like for Jesus, that was like in the fall. So now fast forward a couple months to what would be for us winter, like Christmas time, in which we get to uh the passage that we're in now in John chapter 10 in your outline 22 to 42. So as I was researching the message, and that's that's what I do. So I wish that I just had all the stuff on. I wish I was like a walking Bible dictionary, and you know, I just was like, but no, I I do research. So the dental assistant, uh, she was very kind, she didn't talk to me while she had the stuff in my mouth, but uh she's like, What do you do? I said, I'm a pastor. She's like, Well, what is what exactly do you do during the week? I'm like, Well, I I call on people, we uh do church administration stuff, pray for people, weddings, funerals, memorial services, and I have to come up with like 4,000 words every week or more. And she's like, Well, what is that like? And I'm like, Well, actually I'm kind of used to it because I've been doing it for almost 30 years. But when you first started at church, you can just roll on with all your personal stories and stuff, and then after you've been there for a few years, then you start to go and rely on others. So, what you need to do is give me more sermon illustrations that I can share about you without you being mad at me. So uh, yeah, because sometimes some of the craziest experiences make awesome, wonderful sermon illustrations, but they also embarrass the person who was in the middle of it. And even if you hide their name, people are like, well, I know who that was, and then you know, someone's elbowing that person. So, yeah, happens with pastors' kids sometimes. But I was looking for um other messages and devotionals and commentaries and stuff, and I actually think that Ray Pritchard, um, who has a like a blog and used to have a radio show on American Family Radio, that uh his message on doubt was probably better than this one if your problem is that you die. So if you are afraid that you're sinning because you have doubts about your Christian faith or where you are in your Christian life, um, I think his message is probably better, and maybe we'll post that on the website, the link to it at uh www.keepbelieving.com forward slash sermon, forward slash if I believe, why do I doubt? So um, and he says, I don't know how a person could be a Christian and not have doubts from time to time. Faith requires doubt in order to be faith. If you ever try, if you ever arrive at a place where all your doubts are gone, you will know that you are in heaven. This is one of the hidden secrets of the church. We all doubt from time to time. Doubt itself is not sinful or wrong. It often can be the catalyst to new spiritual growth. Ray says this. As I have pondered the matter, I have concluded that our doubts tend to fall into three categories. First, there are intellectual doubts. These are doubts most often raised by those outside the Christian faith. Is the Bible the Word of God? Is Jesus the Son of God? Did he really rise from the dead? And second, there are spiritual doubts. These tend to be the doubts of those inside the church. Am I really a Christian? Have I truly believed? Why is it so hard to pray? Why do I feel so guilty? Third, there are circumstantial doubts, the largest category, because it encompasses all the whys of life. Why did my child die? Why did my marriage break up? Why can't I find a husband or wife? Why did my friend betray me? And these questions touch the intersection of biblical faith and the pain of a fallen world. And he says, we approach this topic, there are several things we need to understand up front. One, many people think doubt is the opposite of faith, but it isn't. Unbelief is the opposite of faith. Unbelief refers to a willful refusal to believe, while doubt refers to inner uncertainty. Two, many people think doubt is unforgivable, but it isn't. God doesn't condemn us when we question him. Both John and David repeatedly, no, Job and David repeatedly question God, but they were not condemned. God is big enough to handle all of our doubts and our questions. Three, many people think struggling with God means we lack faith, but that is isn't true. Struggling with God is a sure sign that we truly have faith. If we never struggle, our faith will never grow stronger. He said, It helps me to think of doubt as a kind of immunization. When you receive a smallpox vaccine, the doctor actually gives you a tiny portion of the disease. That tiny portion is just enough to activate your antibody so that if you have the strength to fight off the disease later, that you have the that you have the strength, not if you have, that you have the strength to fight off the disease later. In the same way, doubts can actually end up developing a much stronger faith if we face our doubts. And they had, you know, a bunch of other stuff like that after that. That was good. So but doubts can be really helpful. So I've heard people in the church, well-meaning, but say to their kids or grandkids when asked, you know, why why why this? Or why do we do that? Or how do we know this about God? And I've heard the response is we just believe we don't ask questions. And that's not the kind of faith that stands on its own. That's not the kind of faith that overcomes doubts in difficult times. So it's easier to have a kid in your home and keep them in uh you know in check, doing Christian things, living the Christian life. But when they're out on their own and you're not there to reward them or discipline them, and they're doing whatever they want, you know, they go off to college and people say, Oh, Johnny lost his faith at college. No, Johnny didn't have the faith in this in the first place. Johnny just um mirrored your faith and said what you wanted to hear to keep the peace. It's better when Johnny learns to believe on his own what is true. And often people, whether they're teenagers or young adults or old people, um, will go through like a spiritual adolescence where maybe they'll stop and start to question what they believe. You know, why why do I do this? Is this really my conviction? Or is this, you know, what where in the Bible does it say that I need to do this or dress like this or cut my hair? Well, I don't have a problem anymore with deciding how to cut my hair. But back then, you know, how do I cut my hair? And, you know, what music do I listen to? And uh, you know, what movies are okay to watch, and you know, all this other stuff, you know, when you have sincerely held convictions and you're like, well, I know the reason that I don't watch this or I do watch that, or I do address like this, or I do, you know, to stand on the convictions that you have from Scripture and mature Christians are helpful, but it helps us to have faith. So, Jasper, click. All right, so as I thought about this message, I thought about bowling. Okay, so when we think about bowling, think about the pins as pins of doubt. And the ball of faith comes along, and it's supposed to be a video with a okay. Yeah, okay, it's not even showing on that screen, but the the this is this is gonna be interesting, Sunday. So, okay, so you saw the ball, hit the pin and knock it down. And I hope that you come to the point where when you have a doubt standing in front of you that you know with some skill how to get that ball of faith down without falling in the gutter or going so slow it doesn't even reach the destination, and you just knock that pin down, you just pull that doubt over and keep moving forward. So the first question I have is how can I be convinced Jesus is really the Messiah Savior? And you're like, who do you think we are? Are we kids here? We already we come every week, we already got this one covered. So, yes, you do. But other people around you don't. So if it's not for you, because you're already convinced, then think about it for other people. Okay? How can you help them to know that Jesus is really who he said he was? So let's go to the verse click. Then I then came the festival of dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's colonnade. So this is a section at the temple where um they think it was built on Solomon's temple, so that's why they call it Solomon's colonnade. But it was a place where Jesus could walk along and I mean talk and teach at the same time. So um Jesus, if you read in John 9 and 10, um, Jesus is constantly getting into these verbal altercations with the Pharisees and the scribes, and um, they're trying to trip Jesus up and trap him into saying something because they don't like what he's teaching and what he's doing. And so, anyway, like I mentioned, if you go from fall to um December, um, that's where we're at right now. So, in our journey of faith, doubt can often creep in, challenging our beliefs and shaking our confidence. And as we look in this passage, um, to just know that Jesus is trying to explain who he is and what he's doing. Let's look at the next verse. The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. Okay, so this probably wasn't a trick question. There were probably Jews around Jesus that wanted to know. We they're like, Hey, if you tell us you're the Messiah, we will follow you and we will do what you want us to do because we really want the Messiah to come. And so if you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. It's interesting that Jesus didn't run around and say, I'm the Messiah, I'm the Messiah. He didn't have business cards printed that says, you know, Jesus the Messiah. Instead, he was trying to avoid that term. He was trying to avoid that term because what Jesus came to do was to show us how to live, die on the cross for our sins, and rise again so that we could be made right with God. What they wanted the Messiah to do is come be a military hero, overthrow the Roman occupation, and help them to be like number one in the world. That was their expectation. So Jesus is going to come back in the future and do that, but that's not what he was doing here. And I think that's why he was avoiding the term, because it's like, well, I am, but it's not. It's not what you think. So, next verse. Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you did not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me, but you do not believe, because you are not my sheep. So again, in John chapter 10, from verse 1 until you know, all the way up to this passage, Jesus is constantly talking about the sheep, and hopefully you are one of Jesus' sheep. And like I said, I had a message about that before, which I referenced in the beginning. And so if you think about you know who you are in Christ, and you think about, okay, um, who are his sheep? If you are a believer in Christ, then you are one of the sheep. It is not a bad thing to be, I mean, sheep, I had mentioned this in the past, uh, you know, aren't uh the most, aren't the smartest animals that God ever created. So they need to be protected, they need to be guided, they need to be fed. I mean, it is so bad for a sheep full of wool that if he goes down to the creek and gets a little too wet, the weight of his wet wool can pull him down and he could drown if a shepherd didn't rescue him. Sheep will graze in the wrong place. Um sheep are real skittish when they're in the wild. Um, but when they are led by a good shepherd, then they're at peace. Um sheep who are afraid always have their head up as they eat, they have their head up looking around, afraid of danger, where sheep who are well cared for, um, Jesus' sheep, are full of comfort. And so the sheep who are well cared for will look down and graze and sometimes look up, but there's just a difference between those who are the sheep and who aren't. And there could be a long discussion about um predestination and everything else when it comes to who are sheep and who aren't sheep and who becomes sheep and and whatnot. But trying to focus here on doubts instead of sheep, and so they didn't hear from Jesus plainly that he was the Messiah because it would have been a misunderstanding. But instead, uh he told the woman at the well that he was the Messiah, and then John the Baptist repeatedly proclaimed who Jesus was, and then Jesus did all of these miracles, Jesus did all of these things to show he was um from God in all of that, and that should help them overcome the doubt. So can you go to the next verse? How can I confirm I am truly a follower of Jesus? How can I confirm I am truly a child of Jesus? So we have to look back on scripture and see what Jesus did and what Jesus taught. So there is the historical evidence that backs up scripture. There is the evidence of people's lives who have been radically transformed when they came to Christ. Um, but we have to, by faith, you know, since we haven't seen these miracles with our eyes, um, we weren't there. We have to trust by faith that what scripture says is true. So as we think about, you know, who Christ was, we look back at, you know, what he taught and what he did and the miracles that he did. And so we read that, and it should lead us towards faith. The Holy Spirit helps us even more to understand that and to walk forward in faith. Faith is more of a spiritual thing than an intellectual thing. So Jesus' sheep get that. So they understand. Um, there's more going on than just head knowledge. There's something coming from the heart, and it makes a difference in their life. The Spirit testifies in their heart, hopefully, in your heart, they're truly a child of God. So when you're truly saved, when you're truly one of Jesus' sheep, you have a love for other believers. You are interested in the things of God and God's word. Um, the kind of stuff, you know, just gets you. And what you want to you want to serve and you want to live in Christ. So, how can I confirm I am truly a follower of Jesus? Well, one, look at your life. You know, who are you when no one's looking? What are you excited and passionate about? What do you think of Jesus? How is Jesus at work in your life? So Ephesians 1 4, Paul wrote, just as he chose us, Jesus, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us to be to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. So has that happened? Have you been adopted as a child of God? It is a very good thing to question where you are in your faith. It is a good thing when you're coming to the end of your life to question, am I truly saved? If not, what do I need to be truly saved? And that is one of the things I focus on when I have opportunity to talk with people when they're in hospice or when they're been diagnosed with a terminal illness. And I always try to get there earlier before they're drugged up, which is often what happens towards the end of hospice, is people get really drugged up and they sleep a lot until they die, until they go to be with Jesus. So my sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me. Do you follow Jesus? So in the Living Insights commentary, it says that if you are one of God's sheep, here's four qualities you can look for. First, God's sheep are sensitive to his leading, sensitive to his leading. They you have an inner prompting from the Holy Spirit. So the author says it's amazing as you travel the world and you talk to Christians from different cultures, they speak different languages, they live in different environments. Maybe they've had different teaching. They can all, many of them, can share the same inner experience of being prompted by the Holy Spirit. Second, God's sheep are eager to obey his commands. Sheep follow their shepherd because sheep without a shepherd die. They fall prey to wild animals, they wander into danger, they fail to find food and water, and they succumb to the elements. Obedient sheep live. A genuine believer in Christ wants to obey, wants to follow, wants to say, you know, Lord, what is it that you want me to do? How am I supposed to live? What do I need to change? Is there any sin in my life that is getting in the way of my relationship with you? Help me to see what that is. Third to God sheep are confident. So I already mentioned how the sheep that are safe with a good shepherd are comfortable in the field, not always looking around to see if they're about to be attacked. Domestic sheep graze with their heads down. Believers rest in the confidence that Christ has done everything to secure their eternal safety for them because he is completely faithful. We may rest in the confident assurance that we will be preserved from evil until evil no longer exists. And then finally, fourth, God's sheep are secure, a fact, not a feeling, regardless of how insensitive, how disobedient, or how fearful the sheep choose to be, their place in the flock is secure. So this is not to suggest the sheep's behavior is irrelevant or unimportant. People who willfully resist spiritual growth and who evidence no change in their values or behavior need to seriously question their spiritual condition. However, eternal security, like salvation itself, is not based upon the goodness of the believer. So which actually leads to the next how can I feel content that I'm eternally secure? How can I feel content that I am eternally secure? So that old radio host Larry King was asked years ago when he was on TV all the time by Barbara Walters during an interview through the 20th anniversary of the Larry King live show. Barbara Walters interviewed him. She asked two of the most, let's see, she asked him direct and revealing questions. Two of the most telling responses came when she probed about fear and faith. Walter asked King, what's your greatest fear? And he immediately replied, Death. So this interview occurred in 2005 when he was at the very top of his career and had much to lose, but none of that mattered compared to the fear of death. Her follow-up question was, Do you believe in God? So, next verse. Jesus says, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. So faith is not just an intellectual ascent, it's a relationship of trust and recognition. When we truly know Jesus, we find assurance and peace knowing that he holds us securely. You know, children want to know that they're secure, and you know, their parents usually make them feel secure. Sometimes parents can make their kids feel insecure, and then that kid does everything they can to go out of their way to try to earn their parents uh love and trust. And it's kind of sad. Children should know that they are eternally secure. God wants you to know that you are eternally secure. And some people get upset about that because they're like, wait, you know, if you tell someone that Jesus forgives them of their sins of the past, the sins of today, and the sins in the future, then they're just gonna commit sin and say, hey, you know, whatever it's forgiven, I'm just gonna do this and have fun. But that is that is not a good thing. There's many Christians that teach that Christians can lose their salvation if they sin. Now, if you constantly sin, according to 1 John, um, you need to check and make sure that you're truly a Christian. Because if you're truly in Christ, Paul says in Romans, you won't continue in sin. But it's interesting that Charles Spurgeon, the uh Prince of Baptist preachers, who uh one reason that we remember him so much is because he put everything that he preached. In writing, and what he would do is he would preach from what I read. He would preach the sermon, and then he would go home and he would write down what he said, the good parts of it. You know, usually people like write down what they're gonna say and then they preach the sermon, but he did it the other way and published it. And here is something that he preached and then shared about eternal security many years ago. He says, Shall I come to your house and tell your children that if they do wrong, you will cut their heads off? Or that if they disobey you, they will cease to be your children? If I were to propound that doctrine, your children would grow angry at such slander upon their father. They would say, No, we know better than that. Far rather, would I say to them, My dear children, your father loves you. He will love you without end. Therefore do not grieve him. Under such doctrine, two true children will say, We love our ever-loving Father. We will not disobey him, we will endeavor to walk in his ways. So understanding the biblical doctrine of eternal security will lead to a holy life that we can stand firm in. Another question people ask is next slide. How can I be certain Jesus is truly God? How can I be certain Jesus is truly God? So let's go to the verse here. Jesus says, I and the Father are one. So again, they're not the same, but they are in the same, unified in the Trinity. So the Father is different from the Son, but they're the same as far as their purpose and unity. And so anyway, um I and the Father are one. And again, his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus said to them, I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me? So there's this challenge of you know what Jesus is trying to teach and what the Jews have for their belief. So belief often requires us to confront and dismantle our preconceived notions. Jesus calls us to look beyond our limited understanding and to see the bigger picture of God's plan. You know, there are some people that are deconstructing their faith, but it's not in a good way. So I had a period in my life where I went to a really strict Bible college for a bit of independent Baptist fundamentalism. And so I had kind of thought that their way was a good way. It was really rules-based, rules-focused. Uh it was how you how you looked. Um, yeah, there's just a bunch of rules. They would lead someone to Christ and then run them to the barber shop to get them a haircut. And they just had all these extra rules. And so at this university, they actually had a book about why they don't support Billy Graham and what's wrong with Jerry Falwell and all this other stuff, and it was just so legalistic. And so I kind of rebelled against God for a short period of time and started to rebuild my faith, what on scripture said and what I believed to be true, instead of those rules that I had taken on from my step-grandparents who were godly and kind and everything else. Um, but I needed my faith to be built on what I believe so that when the storms of life come or when a child dies or hard things come, that I can still move forward in faith and say this is a hard thing, but I still am following Jesus. I still trust the Lord. God is still good, even though this, these situations or whatever isn't good. And so Jesus is trying to tell them, Jesus is trying to help them, and so let's go to the next verse. They say, We are not stoning you for any good work, they replied, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God. And so Jesus claimed to be God, Jesus um rose from the dead and came back and said that he is God, the Messiah. So we can look through scripture and we can see that Jesus is God. And there's not enough time to cover each one of these in a fair way. So I'll have to move forward. But next, how can I handle confusing scripture? So in this same passage. So confusing scripture, okay, let's see what the confusing scripture is. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law? I have said that you are gods with a small g? If he called them gods with a small g to whom the word of God came, the scripture cannot be set aside. So when I first looked at that, I'm like, what are we, Mormons? So the Mormons come to your door, and what they really want to tell you is, as God once was, man can become. If you do all this stuff right, you can be the God of your own planet. It's like, one, I can't even keep my desk clean. I surely don't want to be responsible for a planet. And two, that's not the way that it works. So when you look at this passage, like, what do you do with this? A lot of people, they just skip over it. They're like, I don't have a clue. And they just keep moving on. Uh, some people take their pen or whatever and they put a big question mark in their Bible and say, I don't know what that is. I'll have to get back to that. So we find study Bibles, we find Bible commentaries, we find things that help us to figure out what exactly is being said. What's the next verse say? Is it stock? Okay. Technology fun. Ah, let's see here. What about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent him into the world? Why then do you accuse me as blasphemy? Because I said I am God's son. And if you look into this scripture and you look into the commentary, over 2,000 years, Bible scholars have had a chance to piece it together and figure it out. And probably in this time, the disciples probably were able to go back and say, I know what that is. That's Psalm 82. Psalm 82 that says, God presides over heaven's courts, he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings. How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? Give justice to the poor and the orphaned, uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute, rescue the poor and helpless, deliver them from the grasp of evil people. But these oppressors know nothing. They are so ignorant. They wander about in darkness while the whole world is shaken to the core. I say, You are gods with a small g. You are children of the Most High, but you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler. Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you. So the psalmist is pointing out that these people, these religious leaders, were standing in the place of God as they gave out judgments, as they made decisions, as they guided and directed as small gods. So Jesus is like, hey, you know, um, if they could be referred to as gods with a small Jeep because of what they were doing, why are you so mad at me? Because I am saying that I am God's son. All right, uh, let's get to the next one. How can I consider the evidence? How can I consider the evidence? So let's go through the verses here, Jasper. Don't believe me, Jesus says, unless I carry out my father's work. But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don't believe me, then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.

unknown 29:50

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Chris T 29:52

Once again they tried to arrest Jesus, but he got away and left them. So Jesus isn't gonna be arrested. Jesus isn't gonna be harmed until it's time. So he is working out God's plan, and they can try to get him, but he's always gonna get away until it's his time. Uh verse 40, he went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there for a while. And next verse, and many followed him. They said John did perform miraculous signs, they remarked to one another, but everything he said about this man has come true. So they believed what John taught, and they believed the miracles that they saw or heard about in Jesus. And so they considered the evidence. We have an opportunity to consider the evidence before us, and we have many resources to help us in those doubts. As we come up with questions, maybe sometimes you don't know exactly where to find the answer, and you can ask a pastor or a Christian leader or whatever for some resources or for the short version of the answer to the question. Sometimes there are mysterious questions, and how can you have a God who created the universe and is doing all of the things that he does without actually thinking about the fact that you might not understand everything? Isaiah 55 says God's mind isn't like our mind, his ways are higher than our ways, his mind is greater than our ways. So you can be okay with some mystery of things that you don't understand about God. Next slide. How can I construct solid faith that bowls over doubts? You can go to the next slide. Solid faith that bowls over doubts. So we have these opportunities to grow in our faith by uh spending time in God's word. So as we spend time in God's word, we can knock down the pin of doubt. And it says, and many who were there believed in Jesus. So I started in the beginning with Ray Pritchard uh talking about doubt. Um, at the end of this message on doubt, he says that when he was like a teenager, he prayed a prayer that said, Jesus, if you're real, come into my life. And so that was a pretty simple, not full of faith prayer. But he's like 54 years later, he's still at work in my life. And we need to reflect on areas of doubt in our life and bring them to Jesus in prayer. We need to look for evidence of God's work in our life and the lives of others. We need to strengthen our relationship with Jesus through regular reading of scripture and prayer and share our journey of faith with others, encouraging them to trust in Jesus. So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So as we grow in Christ, we have many resources. So a life application Bible, that would be a good Bible for you to get. It's got lots of notes as you read through that will help you. Um, a book or audiobook, it's kind of long, by Millard Erickson, Intro to Christian Theology. That's a good read for questions and answers. If you like to listen to audible audiobooks, there's one called Christian Theology for People in a Hurry by Daryl Aaron, who's actually a professor of biblical and theological studies at the University of Northwestern. He's been there for like 20-some years. Right now Media is the video library service that you can get to when you go to rockwell.church forward slash right now. You can get an account for that. So uh if you watch stuff by Jay Warner Wallace, that's pretty good. Chip Ingram has a series on there called Culture Shock, that's helpful. William Lane Craig has one on apologetics, that is really good. Uh Kyle Eidelman has one called Grace is Greater, which is good. If you like workbooks, the Navigator 2-7 series is big. Alright, so there's so many things that I could say, but think about where you are in your Christian life. Think about how you've grown and how you have built up your faith based on what scripture says and how you've been taught and what you believe and what Christ has done in your life and how sure you are of your faith. And think about how you can then invest your life in others. So you might be the only person that can reach your neighbor or your coworker or your classmate. God might have you there as the ambassador. Jerry, you want to grab the lights? I've got a little video clip, and then the worship team is gonna come up saying, I need you. So, and next week, Jacob from Youth for Christ will be here. But watch this video. Well, let me just pray real quick. Lord, I thank you that we have this opportunity. I pray that whatever I said would stick and be good. I pray that we would build up our most holy faith and that we become powerfully effective and strong, able to withstand the storms, able to give answer to people who question us, able to give praise in difficult times. So we just commit ourselves to you in Jesus' name. Let's watch this.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

There are moments in your life when God intends to bring a blessing through you to someone else, but it has to come uniquely through you because there are some things only you can do. There are some things only you can take, some hands only you can hold, some prayers only you can pray, some tears only you can cry, some gifts only you can give, some meals only you can cook. There are some people only you can reach. Some moments only you can take. Think about it. God placed you in your specific family, in this generation, in this time in history, in your unique demographic situation, in this specific geographic location, so that you can make a difference there. What your difficult step of obedience is right in front of you. A great God made you to be great, so act like it. Don't miss your moment.