Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Beyond The Message is a weekly podcast that dives deeper into the weekend’s teaching. Released after each Sunday service, it offers thoughtful conversation, added insight, and practical reflection to help our community process and apply what they heard. Whether you're revisiting the message or catching up, this podcast is designed to help you go deeper throughout the week.
Welcome to Beyond the Message,
the weekly podcast
where we break down the weekend
teaching at Christ Community Chapel.
We go a little bit deeper.
We apply it to our lives.
My name is Jimmy Kosi.
I'm part of the staff here.
If you did not see the sermon
this week, it's linked in the episode
description below.
So just scroll on down there and click it
and watch the sermon.
Listen to the sermon, then come back.
We'll be right here waiting for you.
But I'm here with my friends and
some of our ministry leaders here at Seek.
And to start,
I want you to introduce ourselves.
I need you to pull out your phone. Okay.
So we're gonna have a moment of honesty
and great courage.
And what I'd like you to do is simply
to share the last thing that was playing
through your phone into your headphones
and tell us about it.
So go ahead.
You get you don't have to play this game.
All right.
Well, I'll play to,
My name is Brooks Montgomery.
The men's ministry team here.
The last song I was playing
in, was called, little instrumental
Lo-Fi called Brazil Roots.
By that.
A coffee roasters that a song
I couldn't. Tell.
I'm not a little, just a little
that the band is Nebula waves.
I think this is the first time
I've heard them.
They were just on a playlist, but,
it's the exception of that.
It was a calming, commute into. Work, so.
So, yeah, could
there could be a game that we could play.
Is it a, the name of a beer,
a craft beer, the name of a coffee roast
or some music that Brooks is listening to?
Yeah. More all the. Above.
Okay.
I'm Sarah, kid's a students director.
And, the last thing I was listening to
is the big boot cast.
The what?
Sorry.
Say that again.
Are we
allowed to say that on this podcast?
Yeah. Yes.
This podcast is.
We're going to get a rating now.
Yeah. You guys it's it's good.
It's it's fun.
It's to win.
What is good.
Tell you about it
I feel like it's lying around.
It's fun.
It's not very descriptive.
It's it's like a super random podcast,
right.
Of like two southern women
who are just talking about any can happen.
So what's the episode about that
you were like,
But nothing about
they're really into college sports
and in the South,
I think that's super common.
Yeah.
So they were talking about the college
baseball finals.
Okay.
And then they both have kids
who are in college or have graduated.
So they were talking about
that. They were the one,
big mama,
her husband is really into fishing.
And so he was talking about the tilapia
he caught.
Okay.
What a morning I did.
Yeah, that's.
This is what I need to do.
My name's Jimmy Stewart, and I.
I guess I'm
all in, on Christ Community Chapel,
because the last thing I was listening
to was wake up, look up. Wow.
That's play you in Dallas.
Congratulations.
Congratulations, Jamie.
I am that guy.
My. Last thing was,
I had a Y2K pop playlist going.
The song was Genie in a Bottle
by Christina Aguilera.
Can I see that?
Is that real? Yeah. That's legit.
Yeah. That's a great time.
Buddy, you look, I'm not together.
I'm a man.
That's what we call her when we're fans.
That's great.
Hold on a second. There, Christina. Hook.
One more fans.
Let's get into the podcast. Yeah.
On that note.
Well, this week's
sermon, Promises Made, Promises
Kept, comes from Genesis chapter 15.
A lot of interesting stuff going on.
There's animals being cut in half.
Stars are out.
If you remember, Pastor
Joe took us through three points.
It was all about Abraham.
It was all about doubt.
And he started his first point.
Was Abraham in doubt?
And so at that point in the sermon
and in the passage,
Abraham is looking to God, saying,
how do I know
that you're going to come through
on the promises that you've made to me?
And then how do I know I'm going to get
what you actually said I'm going to get?
So kind of this, two pronged approach
to doubt.
And then, Pastor
Joe talked about God and doubt.
And so, he kind of shared a few things.
He shared, first of all,
how God responded to Abraham
and his doubt,
which I think is a really powerful moment.
God pulls, Abraham says, hey,
we're going to go out, look at the stars.
You're you know, your offspring outnumber
these stars.
Just this incredible moment of awe.
And then there's
this really peculiar scene,
where they cut a covenant,
which is the terminology
they would have used in the ancient world.
But he tells Abraham to go
get a whole bunch of different animals,
and they literally saw them in half.
And then God passes
through the visual representation
of God, passes through the dead animals
as a representation that,
you know,
the kind of the idea behind it was,
this is what will happen to me
if I don't hold up my end of the bargain.
It's really important to note
that only God was the God was the only one
who passed through saying that he is going
to hold up his end of the bargain.
And, and that way, you know,
one of the things Pastor Joe said
was that, when you're experiencing doubt,
two things you can do.
The first is to look up,
to look up and see what God has done,
what to look up and experience or
and then the second is to look back
and to look back at what God has done.
And then he talked about you and doubt.
And so the idea there was us thinking
and finding ways to look back,
ultimately looking to look up
and look back, ultimately
looking to Jesus
as the answer to our doubt.
So, I want to start with this.
Maybe for for you, what was kind of the,
the most the moment that stuck out
the most to you, the, the takeaway
that you took when you heard this sermon?
Yeah.
I think, for
me is thinking about the very real moments
or feelings of doubt
always need to be lived in the reality
that Christ has walked through,
that he has poured out his blood.
I think it's easy when I start to doubt
and in little ways, big ways,
whatever that may look like, which I'm
sure we'll get to in just a minute.
I get blinders immediately,
start to zoom in only on my doubt.
Disconnect it completely to what God
has done, to what Christ has done.
And just even for me, recognizing
that every single time I have a doubt
it's got to be lived
in the reality of what Christ has done.
Not disconnected from the from that.
Yeah, that's really good.
I think that it was just good
that I think Pastor talked about that
doubt is normal.
Yeah.
Kind of normalized
that that it's not unusual.
And I, I really liked when he talked
about how doubt and faith are.
Yeah. That was really I.
Thought that was really good because
I think we tend to think, oh, if we doubt
that's a bad thing.
We think of them as,
you know, opposition to each other,
that you're either
faithful or you're doubting. Right.
But it can't be both.
Yeah.
So I thought that was really good that he
he mentioned a quote that he couldn't
find.
So I don't know if it's actually it's.
That might not even be right.
But that's always my move
when I read. Yeah.
I heard a. Quote. Right.
But it was interesting.
It was this idea of like, hey,
more doubt actually allows you
to be more faithful or trusting to God.
And I, I don't know
if I've ever connected those two,
but he did a good job of explaining that.
So yeah. Thought that was a good takeaway.
Yeah.
And the takeaways
similarly was use God's patience
with Abraham
in the midst of Abraham's doubt.
And then just at a really high level,
I think
God does
not ask us to trust and follow blindly,
but he's a God who wants to point us
towards the evidence for why we can
and should put our trust into him,
even in the midst of doubt.
Yeah, yeah.
I think for me,
there was one moment where there was
I felt like was the most powerful to me.
I actually got goosebumps a little bit
when Pastor Joe was talking about
I was it was he was talking about
how God responded to Abraham's doubt.
And I actually like to watch that
clip, together.
That's what Abraham does to God.
He says, God, how do I know
that you're going to come through
with your promise?
I'm doubting you.
And this is what God does.
He is so kind.
It says this in verse five.
He brought him outside and said,
look toward heaven and number the stars
if you're able to number them.
Then he said to him,
so shall your offspring be.
You can almost see
God putting his arm around Abraham
after Abraham
calls him into doubt, into question.
You know, sometimes people think that God
gets frustrated with us when we doubt.
I don't think that's true.
Not he doesn't do it with Abraham.
He puts his arm around Abraham,
takes him outside and says, look up.
There are few things
that fill me with more or
than a cloudless night where the stars
are just exploding in the sky.
Yeah, so I thought that was just really,
impactful for me to see, the way that,
you know, I think that we would expect
God to respond differently.
Maybe I'll say it this way.
I know how I would respond
if somebody was doubting me,
and it would not be like that.
You're not alone.
Have you done that? Like with your kids?
Oh, yeah. Right.
Whether they it's like your you've proven
your record with your kids, like, hey,
I'm always going to come through for you.
I'm here for you.
I've never not done that for you.
And then they question it,
you know, in some silly,
even silly circumstance,
you're like, yeah.
And my instinct
is not to put my arm around.
Yeah, okay.
Do you want to go out and get in the car
like.
Yeah, are we going to have dinner tonight?
And it's like,
have I ever not said yes. Yeah.
One day. Yeah.
In your whole life.
Yes. Right. That's right.
And I think that's like you zoom in it.
Oftentimes it's easy to look at stores.
This is throughout
the whole Old Testament.
So zoom in on stories of people
who are doubting, of people who are
perhaps failing. And you're thinking,
what are you guys doing?
How can you be so foolish?
How can you have such small faith?
And you almost forget to look at what
God is doing, such patience, such grace?
Right.
And this is ultimately,
I think this is not a story about Abram's
doubt as much as is about God's response
to people who is doubting.
And his faithful reminder
and his steadfastness.
And I really thought Pastor
Joe put it well.
He is so kind to Abraham
because he could have been,
you know, he would be well within his
rights in that moment to be like Abraham.
What else do I need to do for you
in order to to prove myself to you?
But instead of doing that,
you just go outside and look at the stars.
This is your offspring here.
I'm. Let's cut some animals
in half. Let me show you,
what I'm going to do.
So, I was curious to hear from you.
You know, Pastor Joe talked about kind of
those two kinds of doubts that,
we experienced.
The first is doubting God himself, like,
whether he can make good on his promise
to us, whether he's capable of it.
And then the second is doubting ourselves,
so doubting whether we are quote
unquote good enough to receive.
And I'm curious to hear from you
which one of those maybe resonated more,
and how have you seen
that or experienced that in your life?
Yeah, for me, it's definitely
I don't tend to doubt God
as much as I tend to doubt myself.
And I think it's, it's it's probably
just because
I'm so self-aware of my shortcomings
and then the areas that I fail that I it's
almost flabbergasting to think about,
oh, God can like he's he'll even use me
in part of that plan or,
I won't mess it up
somehow because I'm sinful human being
and I tend to do that a lot.
So I think that was,
I don't know,
just a good thing for me to remind myself
that, especially in this story,
it was solely on God. Yeah.
To keep that promise.
He made it.
He kept he made clear. Right.
Anything to do with Abraham.
And I think that's probably very true.
And he was like saying, well,
I almost give myself too much credit.
Yeah. Like I could move the needle. Yes.
And I, I don't think that's,
I don't think that's true.
I, I feel like I would go at least
personally, perhaps the other way.
And it just goes to show how,
how horribly selfish
my view of the Christian life is,
because this is the reason I feel like the
friction exists is when myself or others
I know who are doing the right things
and they're experiencing pain.
You know, that's the moment where I say,
God, do you not see that?
You know, I am or people
I know are living do.
We've done it
all? Yeah. Being obedient to you.
And yet this is a situation that's
in their family, even a small reason.
Like if I remember, a family member
got sick on vacation one time, right?
I was like, man, God, like,
they've been so faithful, obedient.
They just need to rest like,
what's going on here?
Like in a big moment.
So I think that's the
the friction of when things are not going
well when someone is doing well,
which just goes to show
that's that's not the story.
It's not the,
you know, the idea of the Christian life,
but it it is a temptation
that often leads me to doubt God.
Yeah. Yeah.
I was thinking about the tension between
those two different types of doubt,
and I was
I lean more towards doubting God.
And even when I think about
doubting myself, I'm like,
I, I should reality,
I doubt myself a little more
is I honestly like time and time again.
I don't measure up, I don't
I don't deserve this.
I, you know, I have fallen
and I think actually, that's actually the
beautiful hope that we see in Abraham
is that we have no reason to doubt
God, but we have every reason
to doubt ourselves.
Yeah, yeah.
I wonder if some of that is
sometimes the way I thought about this
when I was, was that it might be connected
to the spiritual environment
that you grew up in, too.
Like for me,
I grew up in a relatively conservative
church environment where the holiness of
God was really, really stressed.
So I never, you know, I never doubted
that God could come through, but I could
I think I could doubt myself
being really good enough or thinking
that, like, if I sin, then somehow
God's going to punish me for it.
Or the bad things that are happening
are happening because of sin that I have
in my life.
So that's really interesting.
I think that's probably
very similar to how, because I had,
you know, a great home Christians.
And I remember my dad always talking
about the awesomeness of who God is.
And and it was
it was so easy for me to understand that.
And to,
like, especially in ways
he would point it out in our lives or,
you know, through the Scripture.
And so I think you're right, like,
that has very much shape how you.
Grew up in an environment
where it's very grace
emphasis where you might be saying, well,
God, what, what where's all this grace?
You know what I mean?
Like you're saying, Brooks, of saying,
you know, we're on vacation.
That person's getting sick.
They've done everything right.
Why would you let them get me? What?
Where's your Grace right now?
I could use some of it in this moment.
That's interesting.
I think another thing
I was curious to hear from you about is,
is one of two directions.
Number one,
if you're willing to share about a time
in your own life,
where you've experienced doubt
and how how you felt like God
interacted and showed up in that.
Or also, I think one of the other things
that is probably true for people
listening to this podcast or watching it
is that, it's not so much they're doubt
they're concerned about, but
it's the doubt of somebody close to them.
I think that's one of the, things that
when I was doing student ministry here,
one of the most common conversations
I would have with
a parent is a parent coming to me saying,
my son
or daughter is thinking about walking away
from Christianity.
It's, I guess, my my question is either,
do you have a story of your own time or
how would you counsel somebody who comes
to you with that, issue?
Yeah,
at least personally, I
the moments of doubt have often come from,
people whose faith has seemed like
it was on shambles.
So, I mean,
I think all of us could imagine
whether it's personally those we know
who have said, hey, I am a Christian.
I'm living in, obedience to Jesus Christ.
And you realize behind the veil
their life is a complete lie or people
high profile.
I mean, all of us
think we kind of live in an era in an age,
sadly, where a lot of high profile
people that profess for Jesus,
it appears that,
they've fallen away from that.
Right.
And I think that moment and a lot of
people, it seems like even my generation,
a lot of people don't have necessarily
doubts in the person of Jesus.
They have doubts.
And people who claim to follow
Jesus in their life is a lie.
A profile Christian has a major
falling out there like, well,
where was God that it's like they've
they've built their faith
on their reverence for that person rather
than their reverence for Jesus himself.
Exactly. Yeah.
And that's why it's even
just through experiences like that, even
personally, it's kind of locating
where is your faith built?
Is it
built on the resume that looking back,
looking up a God is, you know, provided?
Or is my faith
almost associated with someone?
And when that someone fails,
all of a sudden doubts compound.
Which is interesting.
I think that's part of what Joe was saying
last night is, is when you look
at stories like this or the life
of Abraham, Abraham as a whole,
you know, you don't look to Abraham,
you eventually you look to Jesus.
And in the same way,
what you're describing
where somebody might say, well, I saw this
prominent speaker and he,
you know, this happened in his life.
So that must mean
the whole thing is a sham.
And what I think we should do,
what Pastor Joe would have said is,
you know, actually,
you need to look at you,
evaluate Christianity
through the merits of Jesus
and what he's done,
not through somebody who is not him.
His their attempt to follow
Jesus and ultimate struggle with sin.
Think the only time, not the only time.
That's not true.
But one of the times that I
that has really impacted me
and I can remember is when I've had
someone who's really close to me,
who's really struggling with, making
a choice to either follow God or not.
Right.
And so that might be an, a lifestyle
choice or,
it's usually,
you know, a step of obedience or not,
but it's someone who's really close to me
who I love so dearly.
But I see so much pain and suffering
in that person who's choosing that.
And I remember distinctly thinking,
and I hope what, what I believe is true
because this might break a relationship
with this person.
Yeah.
And that is extremely painful.
Yeah.
Especially because that, like what?
So what does that look like?
What does that you know, what does that
mean? Like, I. Hope this is worth it.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, and it's
I think the reality we could all probably,
describe a time in our life
with that and that, that is really hard
when it's not, you know, when it's.
It could be a family member, you know,
who's that you love and care for?
So yeah, I that's a time that I remember
really
struggling and going,
wait, is what I believe actually true?
Yeah, yeah.
When the rubber band. Compromise on this.
This could cost me in a really
or while relationships.
But there's also a number of other ways
that that it could cost you, whether it's,
you know, professionally
in other personal ways.
Yeah. I think there's a ton of ways.
And that's when it gets real.
Yeah.
I think, as I was thinking
back on the sermon,
Pastor Joel say,
look up, look back, looked at Jesus.
Another place I was thinking of
just looking at the alternative,
I don't know, as you were talking and
you're like, hey, I hope this is worth it.
I remember having a moment when I was 19
or 20, and I'd been following
Jesus for three years
and hit a season of doubt.
And one of the things in the midst of
that was asking very similar question.
And I hope that this is true.
And in stopping a minute and being like,
what do I have if it's not?
Yeah, or the altar.
And the answer was nothing like
there is hopelessness, despair.
And then that directed me to say,
okay, I'm
going to I'm going to relook at this,
and I'm going to look at Jesus again.
That helped me direct my eyes back.
So I had that existential moment,
another that I was thinking of,
like maybe a little bit more real life
and practical as a follower of Jesus,
went on staff with, ministry and,
right,
a couple of years out of college and
as I had been on staff with that ministry,
which were a lot of ministry jobs,
they're not known for,
you know, crazy high salaries.
What I know that may be surprising,
but I remember sitting and Carolyn,
my wife and I, we'd been married
for less than six months,
and I remember
sitting in the living room of a family
we were staying with because we couldn't
get an apartment at that time.
And both of us looking,
you know, at our at our finances.
And we were just crying
and praying together.
And we happened to be reading
through the gospel of Mark.
And there's a passage in Mark eight
where the disciples
are in a boat with Jesus, and it mentions
they didn't have any bread.
And they
Jesus
says, hey, do you remember
what just happened when, you know,
we said, 4000 people with seven loaves
and how many baskets were left over?
And this is seven.
And then Jesus is like, and when we fed
5000 people with five loaves of bread
and how many baskets were left over
and they said, 12.
And he's like, don't you get it?
Like, can't you look back
and see what I've done?
Yeah.
And so I remember
being in that living room
as Carolyn and I were doubting
whether God was going to show up,
whether we were going
to have money for a car payment
or to get an apartment or whatever it was.
And in this real moment,
where we felt that
and we looked back and we remembered
how in the process of fundraising
to go on, staff like God had met
every single need that we had had.
The last
we were $5 short of a $20,000 goal.
And without asking, you know, I'm going to
I get to think about this
like a high school kid is like,
hey, here's a $5 bill.
And like, we sat there in that moment
in the living room and we're just like me.
And God has shown up.
I don't it's but it was so easy to forget
that in that moment.
And last we looked back at it.
And that reminds me of, you know,
kind of what Pastor Joe said, that
you you need to find ways to look up
and find ways to look back.
So what our
you know,
I think that's a really great example
of something that you can look at,
look back on for, for all of us.
What are ways that you do
either of those things.
You practice them in your life.
I almost look up
in my mind it's like to look around
like part of the beautiful thing
about being in a church,
being in the life of the church is
the same way Abraham looks up and sees
stars and sees God's all.
What he's doing in creation.
It's like, look around to see, you
know, people in our church are, in a way,
those exact, you know, all moments
that God has created,
stories of guys
who are fighting sin, stories of kids
who are getting baptized, of families
who are experiencing restoration
in their marriage
that never dreamed possible.
Yeah, like those are moments
of look around seeing there are stars.
Like literally surrounding us
as we're worshiping God and saying
during the book of.
Hebrews says about the cloud of witnesses
around, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
It's like those are some of the most,
affirming moments that God is moving
powerfully amidst
all of us in the life of our church,
even if right now it feels like there's
moments of doubt in your own story within.
For me,
this might seem really obvious,
but I think it's worth mentioning
is that I do think you need to be spending
time in the word.
The scripture is like full of stories
where God showed up.
Yeah, over and over again.
And I specifically think
the Old Testament, though a lot of times
we tend to start with the New Testament
because it's easier to read or whatever.
The Old Testament,
I mean, it is just filled where I mean,
the Israelites would continue to believe
God did.
It just get started?
Right. Let's get started.
Exactly. So. Right. Exactly.
Genesis is just.
Even with Abraham, we're just getting,
you know, like he's got one.
I think it's really cool that the
the other verse that, Pastor Joe
brings up after he talks about taking out
Abraham's seed, sorry.
He goes, hey, everyone, remember her
and the Chaldeans and what I did there.
So it's just this constant,
like the Old Testament,
just a constant reminder
how God continues to show up and be there.
And so that's the stuff like,
hey, the maybe it's Hebrews
where it talks about is the same today,
yesterday, yesterday and forever.
It's like, okay,
so the same kind of the ultimate
the Old Testament is the same God
in the New Testament today.
Yeah.
Today, you might say that seems obvious,
but sometimes there's a reason
something's obvious.
It's because God has revealed himself
to us in Scripture and spoken clearly.
And, you know,
I think, if you've ever wondered
what God has to say to you or about you,
that's the first place you need to look.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
I think, one of the a verse
from the Old Testament
that has always stood out to me
is in Deuteronomy six and eight,
and it's
a little bit of a different context.
God is warning them to remember
when things are really good,
but I think it's still applies.
But he'll say, take care, lest you forget.
And so there's an intentionality that
comes, like you and I are prone to forget.
Yeah, God thankfully recognizes that
and meets us in that actually preloaded.
He was ready for that. Yeah.
He's like, hey, you're going to forget
this, be intentional.
So I think that having rhythms
that help us to remember,
yeah, are necessary for us
because left to ourselves,
we are inclined to forget right.
So we are not
people who look back on our own.
We are not people who look up on our own.
We're not people
who tend to look to Jesus on our own.
And so setting rhythms for yourself
and structure in your life,
and maybe you say,
I'm going to pray or journal,
and I'm going to list out five things
that I'm thankful for and grateful
for that God did today or this week.
You know, whatever that rhythm
might look like for you.
But I'm intentional with it.
I was maybe saying,
I remember there was a study
that was sort of asking, hey,
for Christians who doubt,
what are the two things that they stop
doing first,
the first was they stop going to church,
and second is they stop reading scripture.
So they just leave the community
and they disengage from
God's the clearest.
Places where they would see
what they need to see.
Yeah.
And I mean, I think all of us could say,
yeah, moments of doubt.
Those are temptations
for probably all of us to engage in.
But I think you're exactly right.
You're by default.
You're going to stop remembering.
Right.
And I think that that's what it's, you
know, the kind of standing firm in doubt
at a fork in the road to say, hey,
I'm actually going to lean into the church
communion or lean into Scripture. Yeah.
Because, yeah, naturally
we're going to do that.
And we see God's grace
fulness, his patience, his goodness
to Abraham
in the midst of that, meeting him in there
and offering his presence,
he says, I'm not walking away from you.
I'm not turning away. I'm not giving up.
But I'm going to lean in and I'm going
to remind you of why you can trust me.
All right. Let's wrap by the same way
we do each week.
So each of you share
one challenge to the listeners or viewers
of this podcast as they, you know,
apply this sermon to their lives.
I kind of feel like we already do that.
Well, maybe I'll do it anyway.
I mean, I think the, the first thing
and maybe I'll let other people speak
more practically.
Don't let your doubt count you out.
Yeah.
And that's the first thing
even doesn't walk away.
He doesn't doubt and then just run.
It's a little bit
of what Brooks was talking about.
I think our tendency can be to run.
So first, don't take yourself
out of the game because of your doubt.
Maybe I'll let you guys throw out some.
Well, I think just you hearing hearing
you say that, I think it's like
it's okay to go to God and say, I.
I'm not sure of this.
I don't know what's going on.
Like,
don't be afraid to bring your doubts to.
Yeah.
And let and just it's okay to sit in that
and wait to hear on God in that.
I think a lot
of us do feel like we have to
I don't know,
create this facade like, hey, we have it
all together and I'm not defending God.
But the fact is, we've all just said doubt
is a normal part of life in our faith.
And so just bringing those to God
and saying, yeah, I'm really confused.
And maybe like you even said,
like write those things down
so that then later you can go back
and see, oh, look what God did in that.
What he how he answered that
or how he showed me the truth in his word
that come back to that doubt. It's not
this is not a question.
God is all knowing
because he is like, had Abraham not voiced
that, had just felt it and then stuffed it
down, said, I shouldn't think that.
Like he would have missed out on that.
On God's assurance to him. Right.
That's exactly
I mean, that's that's that's
an excellent question to be thinking about
because I think oftentimes it's
we do not voice our doubts
to God for myriad of reasons.
Right?
We think, oh, it's,
God's going to be ticked off at us.
This isn't a big enough of an issue
to bring to God.
Ultimately, we're missing out on it,
on an expansion of our ability
to place faith and experience God's grace.
Right.
And so I think even just the freedom
and liberty to being honest
with your doubts will expand your capacity
to experience a God
who is faithful to you,
who is near to you.
And just like Abraham as we see
you, makes a covenant, is faithful.
Yeah.
And has done that in Christ
like dishonesty with your doubts
does not really produce no.
Having increased faith in your life. Yeah.
And I would only add
I would add two things.
I think the first is not only to be honest
with God with your doubts,
but also to talk to others about it.
And I think that's part
of the beauty of community.
So if you're experiencing doubt,
you know, to to
and that's why the church exists, then
the other is that if you're going to judge
Christianity, do it on the merits of Jesus
and not on anything else.
Thanks for listening
to Beyond the Message.
Each week, episodes
drop on Monday afternoons.
You can find them on Spotify.
You can find them in the app.
You can find them on Apple Podcasts.
All kinds of other content
is available on our app as well,
so make sure you check that out
and we will see you next week.