Were going to share right now, and were going to dig into Gods Word together. Living Free is our topic. Were studying the 12 steps of recovery. We said that were all in recovery; every last one of us is in recovery from something. We all need to be healed in some area. We have memories; we have all hurt others; weve all been hurt by others, so we are all in recovery today. These steps are for all of us. We talked about Step 1, which is to admit we are powerless. That has to do with saying, God, I cant. Step 2 has to do with He can. Step 2 is about faith; its about knowing that we need a power greater than ourselves to bring restoration to our lives. Step 3 today is to make a decision to turn our will over to the will of God. Step 3 is about surrender. Step 3 is about saying, I cant. It seems to me like if were going to get stuck, we usually get stuck in Step 3. If theres going to be one we struggle with, its usually going to be Step 3. I think it has to do with one word; it starts with a D and ends with a T. Do you know what that word is? It rhymes with shout. Doubt. We struggle with doubt. We have doubts about the Lord. Is He willing? Is He powerful enough? We talked about that last week, doubts within ourselves, all kinds of doubts. There might be intellectual doubts, just questions that you have that need to be answered before you can turn over. You see, its impossible to turn over something so important and precious to you unless you know the person youre turning something over to is trustworthy, right? So you have to have those doubts addressed. It could be psychological doubts. Sometimes people have a hard time turning their lives over to their Heavenly Father if theyve had an abusive earthly father. They project that onto their Heavenly Father, and they struggle with that-psychological doubts. Emotional doubts: sometimes well be doing fine in our faith, but when our emotions are down, our faith is down, and we have doubts because we put so must trust in our emotions. It could be theological doubts, those questions: How do I know the Bible is the Word of God? How do I know Christ was the Son of God? Or that Hes been raised? So there are theological questions that need to be answered. Theres all kinds of different doubts that you and I might be dealing with. The first thing were going to have to do is come clean and acknowledge that we have doubts. One of the things we do as Christians is we tend to look at doubts like a secret sin that we dont talk about. I was watching a show called Wife Swap, and its not as bad as it sounds. Its about families that trade wives, usually extreme opposites. One went from a household where she had no rules at all, no etiquette, to a household where the mother was an etiquette teacher. What was her name again? Ms. Lydia. And Ms. Lydia taught her children to swallow their burps. When youre at a table, swallow burps. Their table was a belch-free zone. The other lady was let it all hang out. Her kids were like the louder, the better. So Ms. Lydia taught them how to swallow their burps, this new mom did. She believed if you belch, thats just shameful-thats just wrong, so we tend to swallow our doubts. We tend to think if we articulate our doubts; people will think less of us. Its similar to our not wanting to admit that were struggling with some aspect of our faith because we want people to think highly of us, so we keep that inside. We dont want to admit that were struggling with doubt. The truth is we all struggle with doubt, even you whove been believers for decades. You struggle with doubts. There are periods in your life when you ask questions. You have philosophical doubts, theological doubts, and you struggle with them. The first thing you have to do is you have to acknowledge that. You have to talk about that. In Mark 9, theres a gentleman who brings his son to Jesus. His son is possessed of a demon. Theres no cure; theres no answer. This has been going on since childhood. The demon comes on the boy, and it tries to destroy him and kill him. This is a terrible situation. The father is powerless over the situation. The son is powerless over the situation. They believe Jesus can help them. His struggle comes in Step 3 of turning over his faith and letting go, letting Jesus perform this work in his sons life. Listen to what Jesus says, How long has this been happening? The father says, Its from childhood. Itll throw him in the fire and put him in the water to kill him, but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. If you can? said Jesus. Im not sure you can. Im not sure youre willing, but if you can…and Jesus jumps on that and says, If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately the boys father exclaimed, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief. Can you relate to that statement? See, doubt really is an inner-struggle. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Sometimes you hear people say, Well, theres faith, and the opposite of faith is doubt. No. The opposite is unbelief. The opposite of faith is an unwillingness to believe. Thats not his problem. He says, I believe, but I doubt. I have unbelief. I struggle. See, I would go so far as to say not only is doubt not the opposite of faith, doubt is very much a part of faith. Doubting Thomas: he said he didnt want to believe Christ rose from the dead. No. He did but he struggled intellectually with what they were saying because Thomas knew he was dead. So its an intellectual doubt, a stumbling block, Unless I see Him and can put my finger in His side and see the scars in His hands, I will not believe. Doubt is something we grapple with to bring us to faith. All through the scripture, disciples, men and women, had doubts that they struggled with. You and I, first thing were going to do, were going to be able to fully turn over (Step3) acknowledge that not everything is okay. There have been some things that have happened in our lives that cause us to have doubts and struggles. Were going to watch a media right now that talks about that. Brenda put this together for us. I want us to reflect on the words of the song and the meaning of the song as it talks about our humanity, our struggle in our faith. Then were going to look at a very unusual case study and see how he dealt with his doubt. Lets go ahead and play it. (The song is Im Not All Right by Sanctus Real-see bottom of text for lyrics and link to song.) When I say John the Baptist, what do you think of? Do you think of somebody a little crazy? Somebody with a wardrobe malfunction, right? Strange diet, locus and honey, the first Atkins diet. Think of somebody in your face, somebody out there, and all those things are true. One thing you dont think about John the Baptist is you dont think about doubt, do you? Did you know John the Baptist struggled with doubt, the thing weve been talking about this morning? He did. He struggled with doubt. He questioned whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. In Matthew 11:1, Jesus begins his Galilean Ministry. When John heard (John is in prison by the way because he had confronted Herod, and Herod didnt like it and had him incarcerated) in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else? In other words, youre not acting like I thought you should act. Youre not doing the things that I thought you should do as the Messiah, so Im wondering, do we have the right guy? Are you the one Ive built you to be? John had turned over his whole ministry to Jesus. In John 3, Johns disciples are coming up to him and saying, Hey, everybodys following Jesus. What are we going to do? Were losing power. Were losing ground. John says, Thats exactly the way its supposed to be. He must increase, and I must decrease. Im not worthy to carry his sandals. He is the man. He is the one who came from Heaven. Hes the real thing. I was just here to announce his coming and get out of the way. Im rejoicing that the bridegroom is finally here, John 3. And now, hes scratching his head. You see, when Jesus comes on the scene, the Holy Spirit said to John, Whoever you see the Holy Spirit ascend on as a dove and remain, Hes the Messiah. So, he sees Jesus, and the Holy Spirit remains on Him like a dove, and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He announces to everybody, This is the Son of God. You can read that in your Bibles. This is the Son of God, he says in John 1. He just tells everybody. In Matthew 3, he talks about what he expected the Messiah to be. Lets turn there really quick, Matthew 3, page 957. You get a little taste of Johns preaching style. In Verse 7, the Pharisees and Sadducees are coming to him. These are important people. These are the religious elite; the Conservatives were the Pharisees; the Liberals were the Sadducees; but both groups were men of means. Youre thinking John is going to be on his best behavior because if it gets these two groups as part of his following, its really going to help the economy of his ministry. He could buy some better clothing, maybe eat some better food, maybe move out of the wilderness and get a condo in the burbs of Jerusalem. Lets be nice to these guys-these are powerful men, but when he sees them coming, he says, You brood of viper! Not a good start. You poison the snakes. Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Whats coming? Wrath is coming. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not think you can say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. In other words, dont trust in your religious affiliation and background-heritage, to be your salvation. Thats a good lesson to learn. Dont trust in whatever church membership you have or church affiliation or the faith of your mom and dad. John says, What about you? What is the condition of your heart? Have you repented? Are you following the Lord? He says, The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I… You havent seen anything yet! You think Im tough, wait until you see the next guy! He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. What does fire signify? Judgment. Purging. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and He will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. You take the winnowing fork, and you lift the wheat into the air. The chaff would blow away, the wheat would fall down, and youd gather that up, use it, and then youd burn the chaff. When He comes, Hes going to judge. Hes going to separate, and if youre not on the right side, youre going to burn, baby. So hes got a hell fire and brimstone message, and he says, Wrath is coming. The next guy makes me look like a puppy. So Jesus comes on the scene, and what does Jesus do? Is it wrath? Does He roar? Does the Lion of Judah roar? What does He do? He starts healing people and helping people. His teaching is extremely different from Johns. He starts talking about the lilies of field as theyre clothed, how God supplies for the birds, and how He loves you too, the hairs on your head are numbered. He talks about how Hes a good God. Johns scratching his head. Hes saying, Come on! Get rid of the soft stuff! Tell them what they need to hear! None of this feel-good stuff! Hes teaching differently. Hes helping people. Hes forgiving sins. He thought Jesus would come and punish for sin, bring judgment. But what he didnt understand was Jesus hadnt come to bring the wrath of God onto people. Jesus had come to take Gods wrath against mans sin onto Himself. He had come for redemption, not for judgment. John didnt understand that, so he sends a note from prison, Are you the Messiah, or did I make a mistake? Should I look for somebody else? Jesus does all these wonderful miracles, and what did He say after He was done? He said, Shhhh. Dont tell anybody. Dont let anybody know I did that for you. Remember the man last week who He healed from Leprosy? What did he say after He healed him? Dont say a word. I dont want anybody to know. He did that all through the Gospels until the time was right. Hed say, You need to be quiet about what happened today. John is saying to the whole world, Hes the Son of God. Hes the lamb of God. And Jesus goes, Shhhh. Be quiet. Not My time yet. Jesus did something very interesting in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4. We really dont have time to turn there, but sometime read Luke 4 because it parallels Matthew 11. We will turn there, Matthew 11. Right yourself a note to look up Luke 4. Matthew 11: How is Jesus going to respond to Johns doubt? Whats he going to say? Jesus replied, Go back and report to John and say you turncoat, you betrayer, you unfaithful doubter. How could you question me? I disown you! No! Thats not what He said. He says, Go back and tell John the blind receive their sight.; the lame walk; those who have Leprosy are cured; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; and good news is preached to the poor. He answered the question. You say, What do you mean He answered the question? In Isaiah 61:1,2, there is a prophesy about Messiah. It says, When the anointed One comes, (thats what Christ mean-Anointed One, Messiah-same word in the Hebrew. Christ in the Greek, Messiah in the Hebrew-both words mean anointed one), heres what He will do: The blind will see; the lame will walk, etc. Jesus read this in Luke 7 as He began His ministry in Nazareth, His hometown. He goes into the Synagogue, and they hand Him a scroll from Isaiah, and He starts to read Isaiah 61:1, 2. He reads this passage right here about what the Anointed One will do. Then He rolls it up, and He says, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, Im the fulfillment of this Messianic Prophesy. Im the person Isaiah wrote about-Me. That didnt go over real well. Hometown boy, who do you think you are? It says they grabbed Him, and they wanted to throw Him off a cliff. It says Jesus just passed through their mitts because it was not His time. How would you like to be at the front of that line? Whered He go? What happened? He was gone. He stopped short. As Hes reading that scripture in Luke, He stops right in the middle of the verse, right in the middle of Verse 2 of Isaiah 61. He stops halfway through. He leaves out a phrase. The phrase is this: And to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God. Judgment and wrath. When Jesus quotes that prophesy from Isaiah in Nazareth, He reads from the scroll, He stops mid-sentence and leaves out the rest of the verse, To proclaim the day of vengeance of our God. Is that an accident? No. Because He had come, in His first coming, not to bring vengeance and wrath, but to bring redemption. The wrath would come on Him, not on people. John didnt understand that, but now He did. Its a good thing. Did John swallow his doubt? Nope. John didnt swallow his doubt. You and I dont swallow our doubts. Dont pretend its not there. You address your doubts. What is the specific area the doubt I have comes from? And then you address the doubt. Get your answers. Thats what John did. Thats healthy. Whenever I hear people express doubts to me, do I go, Ahhh! No! You have doubts! Having doubts and addressing those doubts is a part of faith, not of unbelief. Its a part of faith. Its a part of our struggle as Christians. Is Jesus going to think less of John now? Lets find out. Look at Verse 11. This is after John questioned if He was in fact the Messiah. He says, I tell you the truth. Among those who are born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Does that sound like Jesus thinks less of John the Baptist? Does that sound like someone whod say, Boy, I used to think he was a great guy, but he just really lowered himself in my eyes when he started doubting like that. You doubted Me, for goodness sake. No, hes not as good of a guy as I thought. Hes not as strong of a follower as I once thought he was. Jesus esteems him. Friends, its a lie. Express, pinpoint the area, talk about it, and get your answers. Pursue healing, because once doubts are answered, then action takes place. When action takes place, were able to turn our lives over more completely to the Lord because those doubts and those questions are answered. Do not be afraid of doubts. Sometimes Christians are afraid of their doubts. They think, Somethings wrong with me. Im doubting something about God. Im doubting something about my faith. There must be something wrong with me. We are afraid of our doubts. Do you know what Ive found in my life? When doubts are addressed, when questions are answered, my faith becomes stronger or weaker? Stronger. Every time my faith has been rocked, Ive gone after the answers to the questions. When I was 17 years old, in English class, Mr. Connally said, You can write your paper on anything. You can use any source but the Bible because it contradicts itself, and its unreliable. Eww. Eww, like Horshack (from Welcome Back Kotter), Mr. Connally, Mr. Connally, Ive got a question. And he dissected me. He tore me apart. I was no match for this guy intellectually. He began to raise all kinds of questions about the Bible that Id never heard before. You know what I did? I went and God answers because I had doubts after talking to him. I went and talked to my professors, and I came back and said, Ive got some answers for you. In front of the whole class, I was able to share those answers. I remember being a student, studying for the ministry at Trinity. Remember old Dr. Linton I talked about last week. Dr. Linton brings in a liberal scholar who says Genesis is just symbolism, just allegory. Its an allegory of what happened. There really wasnt an Adam and Eve. There really wasnt a garden. Its just a story so we can understand our sinful condition. And then I thought, Well, Dr. Lintons going to beat him up. Hes tearing us up, but Dr. Linton will set him straight. And he didnt. I was thinking, Dr. Linton, take care of this guy. He said, You guys go back to your dorms, and you study these questions. Hell be back tomorrow. I went back. I was in Genesis. I was there! Williams! Wanna go shoot some buckets? No, no, no. Im in Genesis. Wanna go get some pizza? No, right here. Im staying right here. And the next day, I came back to class and so did the rest of my peers, and we nailed that guy! If its an allegory, why did Jesus refer to him as a real person? Why does Paul refer to him as a real person? And that is a real event. Why is He listed in the genealogies of Abraham and others? We just had questions that left him scratching his head and having some doubts when He left. You become stronger. You know, were all worked up about the DiVinci Code. Were going to address this in two weeks in our church. This movie thats coming out says Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. They had children. Theyre still living in France, their descendents. Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail. Its craziness. The secrets societies and Leonardo DiVinci, Sir Isaac Newton and so on. This is the only time Ive ever seen liberal scholars and conservative scholars in agreement; I have never seen this before, but right now liberal scholars and conservative scholars say, These people that believe this are nuts. There is no evidence. This is just out there. This is far-fetched. This is crazy. You know what I believe? I believe this film has just as much potential, and you might think Im nuts, but just as much potential to bring people to Christ as did The Passion of the Christ. Do you know why? Because people have their faith questioned, and it raises doubts. What do they do? They say, Ive got to find out. Ive got to know. Im sure theres going to be some that its going to hurt because doubt is a dangerous thing. If you know nothing about your doubts, you just let it linger and live within you, it will paralyze you; it will impede your growth. It will cripple you, and it will spread. But if you address those doubts, I think youre going find people whose faith becomes stronger, not weaker. Youre going to find people coming to Christ because theyre going to start investigating this and thinking about whom Jesus is. Watch, watch and wait. It happens every time. Dont be afraid of your doubts because your doubts can be turned to areas of great faith. The ushers are coming forward, and theyre going to be distributing the communion. Hold on to the elements. Hold on to the bread, the cup, do not partake them. If youre here this morning, and youre a believer, youve made a commitment to Christ, youre welcome to receive with us today. You dont have to be a member of our church to partake; we will not exclude you. If youre not sure if youre a Christian, or you know youre not, let this time be a time of meditation, reflection for you. We want you to know how glad we are that youre here and how much we hope and pray that youll come and join us next week. Artist: Sanctus Real Album: The Face Of Love Song: I'm Not Alright If weakness is a wound That no one wants to speak of Then cool is just how far we have to fall I am not immune I only want to be loved But I feel safe behind the firewall Can I lose my need to impress? If you want the truth, I need to confess Im not alright Im broken inside, broken inside And all I go through It leads me to you, it leads me to you Burn away the pride Bring me to my weakness Until everything I hide behind is gone And when Im open wide With nothing left to cling to Only you are there to lead me on Cause honestly, Im not that strong Im not alright Im broken inside, broken inside And all I go through It leads me to you, it leads me to you And I move, and I move, and I move...closer to you And I move, and I move, and I move...closer to you And I move, and I move, and I move...closer to you And I move, and I move, and I move... Im not alright Im broken inside, broken inside broken inside, broken inside And all I go through Leads me to you, leads me to you Im not alright, Im not alright, Im not alright...thats why I need you http://www.christianrocklyrics.com/sanctusreal/imnotalright.php