Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you. Get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward. Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy.
[00:00:55] Hello. Hello. Good morning.
[00:00:59] How are you guys doing?
[00:01:01] Good. Good. All right. So obviously, you know, we're doing superpowers. I've got. I don't know if you can read it. It's flying with a question mark. Any flying. Any flyers? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All of those of you who said, yeah, keep your hands raised. Flying. Yeah. Okay. How many of you are also scared of heights?
[00:01:21] See, I am, too. That's why Lynn. Yes, yes. So I put a question mark because I'm like, I'm good, but I'm scared of height. So how is that gonna work? And also, you know this, with all superhero movies and scenarios, there's always a moment where your superpower goes away. You know what I'm saying? And I'm just thinking, I'm up in there doing my thing with or without cape? I'm not quite sure. Okay. And all of a sudden, I have no powers. What happens? I'm not indestructible. I'm not Superman. It's over. It's over. So I got. So I'm gonna. I should have put hovering. That's what I'm gonna do. I just wanna hover. That's my superpower. But, hey, thanks for playing along. We've been in a series called Creating Home, and we're just trying to do that. We're trying to have some conversations, get to know each other a little bit more. But our big idea, though, is really is to help each other foster healthy, deep relationships. And so those are the conversations we're trying to have. And so what we've been doing is we've been talking about certain kinds of cultures that we're trying to create. In our homes, in our church, in our workspaces, to be better at creating home. Because home is not what the heart is, but home you take home with you wherever you go. It's not just a space, a place, but if we can learn to do that, we can learn to create healthy cultures. In fact, if our church does that and churches do that, it would be an amazing, beautiful place. So recently, though, I got reminded of how when I go out and speak different places, people react a different way. You know, sometimes I go, I'm speaking in a particular topic, and then other times, I'm going and telling them my story of my faith story and my faith story. If, you know, how many of you know my faith story of coming to Jesus? Anybody know? Make some noise. Okay. All right, all right. Couple of people. All right, good deal.
[00:03:05] So it's kind of supernatural, wouldn't you say? It's a little supernatural. It's kind of out there. It's kind of out there. Right, right, right. So I've had all kinds of reactions to it. Some people were like, oh, my gosh, it's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing. Oh, my goodness. And then others are like, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. In fact, I remember once I got off the stage and this guy came up to me and he's like, oh, man. He's like, I don't know if I believe you. And I was like, oh, okay. I was like, what? And then I realized that the more I would go around speaking, there would be times where people go, I don't believe you. I mean, flat out, people would just say, I don't believe you. I don't believe you. And have you ever had that moment, like, not speaking? But have you had a moment where someone says, I don't believe you? Like, I don't believe what you're saying, I don't believe you. Does it bother you?
[00:03:50] Come on.
[00:03:52] It does, right? I don't believe you. You're like, what? Like, maybe you were a kid and someone said, I don't believe you. Maybe you're an adult. I don't believe you. Maybe at work you're like, you said this. And they're like, I don't believe you.
[00:04:03] Or they react a certain way and you're like, they're basically saying they don't believe you. What does it do to us? What does it do when your kids don't believe us or other people don't believe us? And we want them to believe that. What we are saying is actually true and they should believe it. What do we do? What do we do? We're frustrated. We get all kinds of ways and some of us react a certain kind of way. And that's why I wanna talk about being. Being. Being a sacred place. A sacred place. Let's put it on. A sacred place to doubt. I want you and I to be. Become a space and create a culture where it's okay for people to doubt. Now, that's kind of strange, isn't it? Because we've been talking about being a certain kind of people, right?
[00:04:54] We talked about being a.
[00:04:56] A soft place where people, you know, when they fall, the land where they fall, being a soft place. Last week we talked about, if you guys. Anybody remember being a safe place. Yeah, well, man. Safe place to grow. Because we want to create a safe place because we are, as a church, we are a very, very diverse community. And we need grace to grow because we're not gonna get it right because we don't know where everybody else is. And we need this. We need a safe place where we can make mistakes and maybe say, hey, I didn't mean that, or we gotta give ourselves grace to do that. We gotta create a culture. Today, though, what does it look like for us to create a culture around us, our homes, our churches, that we are a sacred place for people to what? Doubt. Doubt. Ha, ha, ha. What does that look like? And why did I say sacred? Here's why. Because I don't know about you, but growing up, if I did not believe something, if I did not think something to be true, I would be shamed.
[00:05:53] Like, we grew up. I grew up Middle Eastern. And so we grew up in a very honor culture. I don't know if you guys are familiar with that. Maybe you grew up in that. It's an honor and shame culture. So if you don't act a certain way, if you don't believe a certain thing, or if you stop doing certain things, or you have a different opinion about something, there is a instant shame. Some of us grew up in a Christianity that was an honor culture as well. If you don't believe this theology, if you don't believe like this, if you don't. If. If you don't subscribe to this, then shame on you that there's a shame. And I think sometimes we don't even realize, but we grew up in something like that. And when people, when our kids doubt, when they change their mind about a worldview, when they change their mind about values or certain beliefs, maybe Even the scriptures, they go, I'm not quite sure if I believe this or I don't know if I believe that. I'm not quite sure if I trust that. I'm not quite sure. I'm not quite sure. It is easy for us to shame them and go, well, you know, shame on, like there's a shame culture.
[00:06:56] So the question is, is that what is. Does, does. Does God really do that? Because you, there's a God you grew up with, and then there's a God that Jesus introduces to us.
[00:07:07] And my God that I grew up with, very different.
[00:07:11] And maybe your God that you grew up with, not necessarily a different language, religion, he, he or it or she or whatever you want to call it is not okay with doubt. Is spirituality okay with doubt? What does Jesus say about creating a sacred place to doubt? Because Jesus did that. And I believe he did a. He created a sacred place. Because, see, a sacred place. A sacred place is a place where that's holy. And a holy place has no shame.
[00:07:42] There's no shame. And so when you and I create a culture with shame, we create not a sacred place, not a holy place, but a what? An unholy place for people. And so I wonder if there's a way that God is showing us and Jesus is showing us that there is a God out there who loves us so much and wants to have a deep relationship with us, but he's okay with doubt. In fact, he's gonna make sacred moments, spaces for you and I to doubt his.
[00:08:11] Not just what he said, but also his heart and his intention. Is God okay with that? And you'll realize it is. He is good with that. Hebrews tells us this. It's the first verse that we're gonna jump into. By the way, the notes are in your app if you want to down, if you wanna look at those as well. But Hebrews 4, it says Jesus, what does he say? He does what he does. What? He understands every weakness. He understands every weakness of ours. He does because he was tempted in every way, but he did not. But he did not sin. And then it goes on and it says this, it says that. So whenever we are in need, what should we do? We should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we'll find what undeserved grace. We're gonna find undeserved grace there. Like we don't deserve it. And he, and, and, and, and we'll find help. Help there. So there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a. There's a intention about. About.
[00:09:11] About God where the. The writer of Hebrews says that the. That our. Our. Our. This Jesus of ours, this is. This. This. This God of ours. He's not a God out there that wants you to always, always be certain of everything, but he's a God who understands our weakness. He understands our. What it is. And because I think what we don't realize is this one simple truth about doubt. And I'll put it on the screen for you. Doubt does. This. Doubt doesn't have to lead to disbelief.
[00:09:41] See, it can actually lead to a what. A what?
[00:09:46] A deeper belief. And so when you and I have conflict, when you and I are in a relationship and then we stop, or in a moment, we go, I'm not quite sure for you, I believe this. I'm not quite sure if.
[00:09:58] I don't know. I don't understand why you did this, or I'm not quite sure if I, you know, see this the way you see this. I think my values have changed. I think my worldview has changed. I think my politics have changed. I think all these things have changed. The conflict does not need to end the relationship. Doubt does not need to end the relationship. It does not need to lead to mistrust.
[00:10:23] It can actually lead to deeper conversations and a deeper belief in the relationship as well. And so if you find yourself doubting God's intention, God's ways, God's existence, if you find yourself going, I don't know what I believe. Good.
[00:10:42] It's a good place to be. Like I tell people all the time, mosaic is where I want you to lose your faith so you can find it again.
[00:10:53] You need to keep on. Keep on discovering who God is. And there are some certain things you need to stop believing, but you're never gonna know unless you go a little deeper into it. So Jesus creates this safe place for us, this sacred place. And when I mean by sacred, I mean he creates a space that when you and I express doubt, he does not shame us, he does not guilt us.
[00:11:18] He doesn't do that. He starts by I think. I believe he starts by basically redefining.
[00:11:24] Redefining doubt. Redefining doubt to deal with it. That's what he does. He redefines doubt to deal with it. So what's the first thing? How do you redefine doubt? How do you redefine doubt? First thing you do is you realize doubt. Regardless of what you've heard, doubt is not. Is not. We'll put it on the screen for you. Really? Clearly. It is not. What? It's not absolute. It's not absolute. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. You're in. It's not right or wrong. It's not like I believe or I don't believe. It's. It's complicated. It's complicated. It's very. It's very, very, very complicated. Because the problem is our human temptation is to just go, okay, I'm just going to pretend like I do believe. Like, I was talking to a guy the other day about code switching, if you guys know that term right now, that term is very much a race conversation, but also it is a conversation where a lot of us kind of participate in and we don't even know. Code switching is basically like you pretend or you.
[00:12:31] Yeah, you don't pretend, but you don't express totally who you are because you're trying to relate to a more majority population or something like that. I've done that as an immigrant, you know, a code switch. And I'm like, hey, I'm just like you. Hey, I'm just like you. Believe me, you know, I'm just like you because I want you guys to like me. Like immigrants and foreigners. If you're a different nation, if you go somewhere else, you're gonna be tempted to code switch because you're like, I wanna fit in a little bit. I wanna fit in a little bit. But code switching exists not just in relationships, but I think it actually exists in spirituality. Have you realized that? You're like, I don't think I do that. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. You know why? Because I've heard some of you pray.
[00:13:15] You guys don't pray. Like, you talk. All of a sudden, prayer turns into something else. You're like, dear God, like, you use all the spiritual languages or words, you know, you have to. You're like. Because God does not understand anything else.
[00:13:31] He does not. And to get his attention, you also have to throw in a verse. So he goes, oh, yeah, I'm talking to you. Yes. Okay. And you have to say, lord Jesus. Because it could be a lot of Jesus out there. Like, it's just. It's amazing to me. And I remember early on, as a follower of Jesus, I was like, okay, this is how you do. You have to be reverent. You gotta code switch. I wonder if God's saying, are you serious right now?
[00:13:55] Are you serious right now? You don't talk like that.
[00:13:58] I mean, I remember going to Pentecostal churches, and the pastor would all of a sudden change the way he talked. And I was like, oh, my gosh, he's so full of the spirit. I was like, no, I don't think he is. He's full of something. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is. I used to think, though. I used to think, though. And then I realized, wow, Christians could switch all day long.
[00:14:18] Some of you guys did that when you parked. And now here, you're not the same person. You're not in the parking lot. You were pretty much a demon. But then somehow you got here, you're like, okay, okay, get it together. Everything's good. Everything's good. All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. I don't. I'm not gonna kill her. Okay, okay, we're gonna. And then. Then someone talks to you and go, how you doing? Great. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. And not Mosaic, but other churches. You know, there's so much of that, right? There's so much of like, hey, man, God is good, right? Oh, yeah. God is good. What? All the time. All the time. What? God is good? Yeah. Everything's great. Everything's great. And we're pretending. Why? Because we think that we have to actually either be good or we're bad.
[00:15:04] Right or wrong. We can't be in the middle. See, doubt lives in the middle.
[00:15:12] It just does live in the middle. And here's why. Because God knows that you and I can code switch and pretend.
[00:15:21] You can pretend all day long.
[00:15:23] But God also knows this, that he cannot have a deep relationship with the person you are pretending to be.
[00:15:33] He can't.
[00:15:35] He can't. In fact, no one can.
[00:15:38] I mean, there's a Christian you are, and the Christian you pretend to be, and there's a person I am and the person I pretend to be.
[00:15:47] Our pretend faith is powerless.
[00:15:52] Our pretend culture at home is just a sham. We're just all pretending because we know that as soon as we are not right, we are wrong.
[00:16:06] As soon as we necessity believe, we're unbelievers. Like, it's just. It's just. It's just. That's absolute. And with God, it's not. There's a story about a guy who comes to Jesus, and he is. He's. Man, he's desperate. He's a dad, and he has tried so much to heal his son, and nothing. Nothing has worked. Nothing has worked. Nothing has worked. And he's heard about Jesus and He. And he goes to him and. And he starts talking to him, and he just says, you know, listen, if you can heal him, would you please do it? If you can heal him, would you please do it?
[00:16:46] And here's what Jesus says. He says, what do you mean, if you can?
[00:16:53] What do you mean, if you can? And then he says, all things are possible for one who believes.
[00:17:00] All things are possible. One who believes. And then the dad says this. He says, I believe. I believe, but help me in what?
[00:17:13] My unbelief. This is interesting because this moment, this conversation, this dad's having with Jesus, the dad knows that he needs a miracle that his pretend faith cannot possess, like your pretend faith. And my pretend faith is not gonna give me the miracle I need. And so he says the most honest, honest thing.
[00:17:41] I believe, but help me in my unbelief. Like, I'm not either. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't doubt, but I have serious doubts. Serious doubts. And so I want you to know. I want you to know that if you and I are going to create a culture just because someone's not right, they're not wrong.
[00:18:05] Just because they don't believe right now, that doesn't mean the unbelievers. That doesn't mean that they're just on the other side here. There's a middle ground of human development that you just kind of. You're in the middle, and I don't know about you, but you're in the middle right now. You're not who you are.
[00:18:25] You're gonna keep growing. And there's no absolute.
[00:18:28] There needs to be time for that, and that's sacred. And what you don't need in this time is to anybody to shame you because you have doubts.
[00:18:36] He's in shame. The problem is, is that when Jesus says, hey, hey. Everything is possible for those who believe.
[00:18:43] And he goes, yeah, it is, but I'm not quite sure if I believe.
[00:18:48] And that honest answer is, what heals his son. So doubt is not absolute. It's also not dangerous. It is not dangerous. It's not dangerous. I know. I know. When I came to faith, I heard, like, there's a.
[00:19:08] Like, there's a phrase called. What's it called?
[00:19:12] Backsliding. Have you ever heard of backsliding? Anybody? Anybody hear backsliding? Make some noise if you have backsliding. Has anybody told you you backslidden, you black? I mean, when I first came to faith, I was like, backsliding? What is that? Is that like moon Walking away from God. Like, what. What does that mean? Like, what is backsliding? Because, I mean, English was a different language for me. You know, I was like, what is backsliding? They're like, oh, backsliding is when you believe and all that. And all of a sudden you start doing some things that's not good. And I'll tell you what, backsliding is bad because it's a slippery slope. And. And it's what. It's dangerous. It leads you down a path to go, ooh, down. And you start believing that stuff and you start thinking that stuff, it's gonna leave you going a totally different direction. And that's why it's like, doubt is dangerous. So you don't wanna doubt your theology, you don't wanna doubt your tradition, you don't wanna doubt your Christian heritage. You don't wanna doubt. Why? Because doubt is what. It's. It's dangerous. It's dangerous and it's not helpful. And it's gonna just go bad. It's just going to go bad. And so what does Jesus do with that? What does he do with that?
[00:20:15] You're going to. I'm going to take you to another story, okay? Before we go there, I want to tell you the context. The context is that there is Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha are sisters of Lazarus. And Lazarus gets sick and he is just not doing well. And they send word to Jesus and they're like, hey, listen, can you please come and help? And Jesus takes his time and does not show up. He does not show up at all. And so what happens is, is that while he finally starts coming towards them, like, coming. That he. They get. They get word that he's traveling. The two sisters are like, he's already dead. He's. He's passed away. And so out of. Out of emotion about all. All kinds of emotion, they run. They run towards Jesus. And first one is Martha. And so Martha goes and says this. This is what she says. She says, lord, Lord, if you had what? If you had what? If you'd been here, my brother would have what? He would have not died. If you had been here, this wouldn't have happened. Like, he is dead because of you. He is dead because of you. Now, I don't know about you, but it takes a lot of courage and a lot of intentionality and a lot of, like, man relationship to go. I blame you for my son's. For my brother's death.
[00:21:49] I blame you. Now, I don't know if you lost someone, but it's Tough to, like, kind of go, I blame you. Like, this person wouldn't have died if you would have shown up. If you've shown up, this person would not have died. I just want you to know the depth of that relationship where Martha was like, lord, only like, what was so important?
[00:22:09] What was so important?
[00:22:12] And Jesus took it.
[00:22:15] He took it.
[00:22:17] He took it. He didn't think it was dangerous, Martha was slipping. No, he just. He just took it. And then he did something which I think is so interesting. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. He responds to her. And he doesn't say, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. He doesn't say that. What does he say? We'll put it on the screen for you. Here's what he said. He said this.
[00:22:38] He said, actually, the verse. Actually, Martha keeps on talking and all that. And he says. And he says, I am the resurrection and the what?
[00:22:51] The life. He goes, I am the resurrection and the life. And the one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives, whoever lives by believing in me will never die. And then he says, do you believe this?
[00:23:11] At least? Do you believe this? So what Jesus is saying is, I want you in the middle of your doubt, number one. I'm just going to. I'm just gonna bring the fact of who I am. I'm gonna bring up the fact of who I am. I know what this has happened. I know what this happened, like, this situation. But I want you to know, do you believe in me, though, as a person? And I just wanna put it out there. I wanna basically tell myself this, too, that I am the resurrection and the life. Like, I am still that guy. I think what happens is, I don't know about you, but when people doubt me, I begin doubting who, myself. I go, maybe my story is not true.
[00:23:50] Maybe what I'm believing is not true. It takes something from me. If there are people in my life, there's family members in my life. If there's people friends in my life and they doubt me, here's what happens. It bothers me. It bothers me because I'm like.
[00:24:04] It diminishes and takes away from me. And from here, Jesus is like, I'm just. This is not taking away from me. I'm just telling you right now, I am the resurrection and the life. And you need to believe this. You need to remember this situation has gone bad.
[00:24:23] It's gone super bad and loud, but it's gone bad.
[00:24:29] But I need you to believe I am still that guy. I'm still that guy. Then the verse continues. What happens next?
[00:24:38] What happens next? He goes, then what happened is Mary shows up. Mary, Mary, Mary, the one who is like man. The person who's like. She knows Jesus. She's been, you know, has had deeper relationships with Jesus. She comes to him and she says the same thing. She reaches him and then she says the exact same thing. She says, lord, if you had not. If you had been here, my brother would have what, not died? He would have not died. He would not die.
[00:25:11] Same thing again, not die. So what does Jesus do? He doesn't believe that our doubt is dangerous. He. He leans into it. He leans into it and he allows space for people to say the things that he needs to say. And then finally he does this. This is interesting. We realize that doubt is not a sin. Doubt is not a sin. So when you come to God and you go, God, God, I'm. I'm doubting all these things. You have to realize doubt is not a sin. Maybe you grew up in that. Maybe you grew up in a faith that says, you know what? It is sin to doubt. As a Muslim, I grew up in a faith that in Islam and it said, basically, it was haram. You want to learn, Learn a Arabic word? Can you say haram? It's haram. It was haram to doubt God. Because Allah, the God that I grew up with, basically said, it is sinful to doubt. It's haram. It's shameful. And you offend God by doing that. You take away from God when you do that. It's just sin and there's something wrong with you. You're sinning if you are doubting.
[00:26:21] So the question is, Mary and Martha approach Jesus and they blame him. He can handle their disappointments. He can handle their frustrations. He can handle all these things. And does he just stop and go, by the way, by the way, I just want to mention this to you. You are also sinning. You're sinning by not believing in me. You're sinning by doing this. He does not do that. He does not do that because he doesn't believe it's a sin. What does he do? So I'll tell you what he does. He shows up in that moment, and then something happens to him. And it's the shortest verse. It's the shortest verse in the Scriptures. Okay, and here it is. This is two words. What is it? Jesus. He wept. He wept. I just want you to know that his reaction to people doubting him and Blaming him. If you had not. If you were only. If you had only, if only. It's because of you he died.
[00:27:08] His reaction to doubt, blame, sin, is he weeps.
[00:27:20] Friends, doubting is not a sin. Why? Because it can lead to a deeper faith. It can lead to a deeper conversation. It's not. It's not. He weeps.
[00:27:32] He weeps.
[00:27:33] And the environment is still pretty intense there. It's intense there because it's not just Mary and Martha who are doubting him. It's other people as well.
[00:27:45] And Jesus continues in the midst of that to create a place where people can be held in a holy space to doubt. Because he knows that you and I, when we doubt his existence, when we doubt his character, when we doubt who he is and what he could do for us, he's not going, oh, man, it's so offensive right now. I can't believe you're doing this. You and I feel this way.
[00:28:12] You and I feel this way. Cause it takes him away from us. God's like, I have no problem because I'm a mature enough God that's not offended with you doubting me. I'm not insecure.
[00:28:27] You're not bothering me. You're not doing that when you doubt.
[00:28:33] What I want you to do is I want you to understand that this could lead to. Not to disbelief. It could lead to a deeper faith, and you and I have to move towards that. So, friends, if you're wrestling with doubts, dig deeper in it. Ask the tough questions about God and to God. If you are wrestling with. Trying to feel okay with other people doubting, it's okay.
[00:29:00] It's okay. You're like, ah, but they take away from me. I know. For. For me, for raising kids. I mean, man, Ash and I, we've raised. I mean, they're. They're no longer teenagers. They're pretty much adults now. And, man, there have been times. There have been times where like, we blew it.
[00:29:17] We blew it. It's over. It's over. People have asked us during the, you know, during the. This whole time in doing church work, they're like, hey, would you ever do a parenting seminar and do all that? I'm like, no. No, I would not do a parenting seminar. They're like, yo, maybe you should write about it. You know, you write books. And like I said, if the book. My book title for parenting would be Good Luck, like, that would be it. Like, I don't know. I don't know. Sometimes I'm like, man, we are amazing parents. And the same next moment where we are the worst parents in the world. Like, I don't know. I don't know. Why. Because surrounded with people and surrounded in relationships, they're just like people. They wrestle. We wrestle. We wrestle with this. We wrestle with doubts. It's okay. But you and I have to create a sacred place, holy place. That's. No. That has no shame in it for people, because that's the only way. The only way you have. You have to intentionally create a moment. And Jesus is doing that because he's not done here. So now he weeps. And then the next passage tells us this. So he gets forward, but gets closer. And now they're talking about him. Then the Jews. The Jews said, see? See how he loved him. He loved him. He loved him, but, man, he loved him. No question about that. And then some of them said what he was like. Well, could not he who opened the. What, the eyes of the blind not keep this person from dying?
[00:30:50] I mean, could you? They're always those people, right, Ray? Like, I thought you were all that. I thought you could. I thought you could. You. I mean, I thought you could. You obviously don't want to. I mean, there is. There's. There couldn't be more doubt in that space. Jesus walked in with people, everybody doubting. And that's why.
[00:31:13] That's why the next couple of lines are so important. That's why Jesus does something that he's never done before.
[00:31:19] So he starts praying. And when he starts praying, he doesn't. It's not like an unspoken prayer request.
[00:31:27] It's not even. He is basically acknowledging who's listening. He says this. Jesus looked up and he said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. Like another translation says, you always hear me. You always hear me. You always do.
[00:31:44] You always do. But I.
[00:31:47] I'm saying this. I'm saying this for the. What, for the benefit of the people standing in this moment.
[00:31:58] This moment is filled with doubt.
[00:32:02] Everybody doubts my intention, my ability, my existence, all the things I've said because of a loss, of a disappointment, a grief. They doubt everything. And I'm gonna pray this out loud. I'm just saying. I'm not saying so you can hear me, because I know you always hear me. I'm saying this out loud for everyone here because I'm creating a moment right here.
[00:32:23] I'm doing this for their benefit, that in the middle of everyone's doubt, God can still perform a miracle. Because we've taken it out of context. We've heard passages like, you know what? It's Impossible to please God without faith. So if you don't have faith, you what, displease God?
[00:32:48] And so we've taken it out of context and then we've created spaces like that, that everybody, everybody in our environment needs to believe the same thing. Our families need to believe the same thing. Our church need to believe the same thing. Everybody be this. There is no room for, for what? Doubt. Because when doubt comes in, it's dangerous, it's absolute, it's all those things. It's terrible for you, it's not good, it's a sin. In the middle of that environment, God cannot move in here. He says, in this moment, I'm saying this, I'm saying this.
[00:33:28] And he says this next verse, he says, I'm saying this because I want them to believe that you sent me. I want them to believe once again that you sent me. And then he says it, he says, lazarus come out. And what happens? The dead man comes out. Dead man comes out. His hands, feet wrapped up in strips of linen and the cloth around him. And Jesus said to him, let take off the grave clothes and let him go.
[00:34:02] I wonder if that's symbolic for some of us. I wonder if that's, that's symbolic for, for, for us taking off some things in our lives that we have to let go of. I wonder, I wonder. I know this is morbid, but I'll just. Let's just think about this a little bit. I wonder what was Lazarus last few thoughts before he passed away?
[00:34:24] Do you think he was like, hey, I thought you were going to show up.
[00:34:31] I mean, Lazarus is not a made up story. It's a real story. He was a real friend. He saw Jesus do miracles. He also knew that they had sent word.
[00:34:40] Hey, are you going to, are you going to show up? Are you going to show up? Are you going to show up?
[00:34:46] I wonder if Lazarus died in disappointment.
[00:34:51] I don't know. We don't know. Maybe he died in faith, I don't know.
[00:34:57] But I think some of us have the potential of spiritually dying in disappointment because you are pretending to have a faith that you really don't have.
[00:35:09] You're pretending to believe God in a way you really don't believe.
[00:35:14] And because you're convinced that you can't, like, doubting is always bad. Doubting is bad. Doubting is bad. And you haven't realized that doubting can really lead to a deeper relationship with God.
[00:35:27] So I want to pray for us that we would, number one, create environments for our kids, for our friends, for our Workspace for our people, for our church. Hey, it's okay to doubt. It's all right. It's healthy. It's good. Because God's in that mess. He's in it. And we have a God, not the God we grew up with, with the God Jesus tells us about. He is the God who man is very comfortable, very comfortable, because he knows if we move in the right direction, if we keep on pressing, we will find him and more of him. So let me pray for us. Can I do that? Cool. Lord, God, I thank you so much for this morning. I thank you for your love for who you are. God, I thank you for intentionally creating culture and space for us. God, God, thank you for showing us that we have to reclaim and reimagine what it means to doubt you, your intention, your existence.
[00:36:34] God, thank you for being the God that's not offended, that's not upset, not displeased, when we are not sure you're the God who says, give me your best.
[00:36:48] And sometimes, God, our best is, I believe, but could you help me in my unbelief?
[00:36:58] God, that tension is where we are and where you want to meet us this morning. Because I believe that if you meet us in this, we'll be able to create that space, that tension in the relationships around us so we do not freak out when people change their view or.
[00:37:27] Or doubt certain things. God, God, I pray that as you.
[00:37:35] As you meet us in this place, as we go receive communion or light a candle or just sit here in this moment, God, or go to the cross, we reminded God that you want all of us.
[00:37:53] And for some of us, God, we just need to be reminded that your promises are still true.
[00:37:58] You're still that God.
[00:38:01] So, God, I pray, meet us here as we respond.
[00:38:07] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more audio and video content, Visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
