The Benefit of Doubt - Landon Sherman

And we're gonna sing together. In the name of Jesus, amen. Good morning church. Let's worship together. ♪ You know who I am ♪ ♪ Cause I know who you are ♪ ♪ The cross of salvation ♪ ♪ Was only the start ♪ ♪ And now I am chosen ♪ ♪ Free and forgiven ♪ ♪ I have a future ♪ ♪ And it's worth the living ♪ ♪ I wasn't made to be tending a grave ♪ ♪ I was called by you ♪ ♪ Born and raised by you ♪ ♪ I was made for more ♪ ♪ So what would I make ♪ ♪ Abandon my shame when a fountain of grace ♪ ♪ Is running my way ♪ ♪ I know I am yours ♪ ♪ I was made for more ♪ ♪ I know who I am ♪ ♪ Cause I know who you are ♪ ♪ The cross of salvation ♪ ♪ Was only the start ♪ ♪ Now I am chosen ♪ ♪ Free and forgiven ♪ ♪ I have a future ♪ ♪ And it's worth the living ♪ ♪ I wasn't made to be tending a grave ♪

♪ I was called by you ♪ ♪ Born and raised back to life again ♪ ♪ I was made for more ♪ ♪ So what would I make ♪ ♪ Abandon my shame when a fountain of grace ♪ ♪ Is running my way ♪ ♪ I know I am yours ♪ ♪ And I was made for more ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you called out my name ♪ ♪ So I'll sing out your praise ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you buried my past ♪ ♪ I'm not going back ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you called out my name ♪ ♪ So I'll sing out your praise ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you buried my past ♪ ♪ I'm not going back ♪ ♪ I wasn't made to be tending a grave ♪ ♪ I was called by you ♪ ♪ Born and raised back to life again ♪ ♪ I was made for more ♪ ♪ So why would I make a bed in my shame ♪ ♪ When a fountain of grace is running my way ♪ ♪ I know I am yours ♪ ♪ And I was made for more ♪ Thank you. Well, good morning and welcome to Compass. We are so glad you're here with us today. And if this is your first time joining us in 2026, happy new year. We are starting a new series today

and it's a great series. And it's talking about how sometimes we have doubts as Christians. And I just want you to know that if you're coming into this room or if you're watching online and you have doubts today, that is okay. Jesus gives us permission to worship through our doubts. So that's what we're gonna do today. And before we continue, I just wanna say a word of prayer. So would you pray with me? Lord God, we thank you so much for this place. Thank you for this church. And God, I pray that you would meet us here today. God, even in our doubts. So God we give you today, we lay our pride aside. We do all this in Jesus' name. Amen. I cannot explain, but nothing's more real than this. In the presence of God. And what my heart experienced. When my shame hit the wayside. And my sin at the most high. I was washed from the inside. I was washed from the inside out. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know there was a blind spot. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I know there was a blind. Could have only been the blood. It's never been about performance, perfection, or striving for acceptance. Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift that's freely given. Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. Come on. Does anybody want to be holy? And righteous? Purified? Forgiven? Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be worthy? Forgiven? Justified? Believed in? Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know there was a blind. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know there was a blind. Could have only been the blood. Only the blood of Jesus. Could have only been the blood. Only the blood of Jesus Christ.

Come on, we sing this out together. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know there was a blind. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know there was a blind. Could have only been the blood. I'm calling on the God of Jacob. Whose love endures for generations. I know that you will keep. You're perfect, man I'm calling on the God of Moses The one who opened up the ocean I need you now to do the same thing for me Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness I'm calling on the God of Mary Whose favor rests upon the lowly I know with you all things are possible I'm calling on the God of David Who made a shepherd boy courageous I may not face the light But I've got my own giant Oh God, my God, I need you

Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness On your faithfulness You heard your children then You hear your children now You are the Savior You are the Savior You answered prayers back then And you will answer now You are the Savior You are the Savior You were providing then You are providing now You are the Savior You are the Savior You move in power God move in power now Cause you are the same God You are the same God You were a healer then You are a healer now You are the same God You are the same God You were a Savior then You are a Savior now You are the same God You are the same God

Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness Never been about performance, affection, strife or sex Let me tell you, it's only by the blood It's never been about deserving or earning It's a gift that's freely given Let me tell you, it's only by the blood What should I do when I doubt God's goodness? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Doesn't science disprove the Bible? Why would God? Provide only one way to heaven why believe in Jesus when his followers are such hypocrites such hypocrites Why does God sometimes feel so far away? Why does God feel so distant? Why do I doubt? Why do I doubt? Why do I doubt why do I doubt? Why would God love me? Why would God love me? Why would God love me? Why should I believe guys? How can I trust in God when it hurts? when it hurts We all have these questions, so let's talk about so let's talk about it All right, let's talk about it, huh Hey, welcome to compass. Our mission is navigating people to God. Hey, it's uh, it's great to see all of you guys My name is Landon and man. It's always just so much fun to be here with all of you Thank you for those of us that are are in the room with me here at the Colleyville campus And can you guys do me a favor? Can you welcome everybody on the other side of the camera at the all written unit anybody watching online right now? Thank you guys Hey really quick before we get into the message

I just want to talk to the men of our church for just a minute about something. We started this last week called gaining ground We're believing in faith at 2026 is a year of growth for our church and in a bunch of areas But for the men of our church specifically and we're rallying around this concept gaining ground Which is the underlying belief that that when when men grow right when they become more like Christ Everything and everyone gets better and there's a whole bunch more where that came from and we're really excited about everything in the future There's two primary ways for the guys in this room to participate in this first On Monday of last week. We launched a podcast and hopefully helpful biblical relatable Just a piece of information hosted by by myself and our our lead pastor drew Sherman. We had a chance to release three episodes this last week and the feedback has just been fantastic and I want to thank the ladies in the room for volunteering their husbands to listen to this podcast Okay, thank you for your support and just been awesome So you can find that anywhere that you listen to your podcast and second that that will lead to a gathering The first Wednesday of every month beginning February 4th at 6 30 in the morning We're gonna gather together as men talk about how to grow we're gonna have some fun I think it'd be a great opportunity for you to Meet other people that have that same mindset or learning to have that mindset and I promise it's not gonna be boring So I want to ask you to commit to that and here's what I need from you I really need guys for you to sign up. So there should be a QR code behind me We promise not to Spam you with a bunch of email. It's just to be able to communicate what's going on and some details behind it We want to ask you to bring Other men in this community that you know, there's all kinds of leadership opportunities as well We're excited about about building this thing So, please sign up so we can at that minimum have enough breakfast tacos and coffee for you Okay, so I want to tell you a story before we get into the text I Never forget the first time that I went skydiving My friend mark invited me and said you got to go. This is gonna change your life Which is what you people usually say right before you almost die

And I didn't want to be a chicken And so I said yes, and I show up and I'm in California at the time And so, you know, we go to San Diego and we pull into this tiny little Like airport strip with a runway and in this big, you know black tarmac and then there's this double wide trailer Sitting in the middle of it and that was their office and then I see the plane and I don't know what I was expecting Okay, it didn't have to be like American or Southwest or whatever But when I saw it, I understood why people choose to jump out of this plane instead of trying to land it And then I meet Chad My my skydive instructor and Chad makes his living, you know jumping out of airplanes So he gives me the speech what to do and what not to do and you know You're gonna you know kind of move your feet over the edge and then just sort of fall out and then then we get on the plane and and we start flying up into the California sky and That's when I learned Something important about skydiving that everyone Left this detail out whether you like it or not You get a little bit more physically close to your instructor than I was expecting And very quickly I find myself like buckled into Chad's Harness, you know chest to back and I sort of felt like you know How those moms have like baby carriers like I was I was strapped into Chad's baby carrier. Just a really large 220 pound baby just me and Chad and so we you know We're climbing and the door opens and I you know, the wind is screaming and eventually Chad says hey, it's time to go And so I put my feet on the edge and and I'm excited at this moment moment, okay? And then we start falling, and reality hits, and I ask myself this question, what if Chad doesn't know what he's doing? Like, what if this is his first day? What if the parachute doesn't open, and I'm seeing like the concrete, and then the mountains to my right as I'm flying through the air, and that's when doubt showed up in my life. And here's what I learned and was reminded of, and we're going to talk over the next few weeks. Doubt doesn't erase reality. In that moment, falling towards the earth, you're still on the plane. It just exposes the gap between what you know and what you feel, right? And faith works the same way. Like, you can know God is good, you can believe that He's

faithful, but then metaphorically, life kicks you out of the plane, and you're staring up at that parachute going, can I really trust Him right now? We're thrilled about this new adventure we're on as a church called The Benefit of Doubt, and if you've ever found yourself in that spot, I want you to understand this, doubt is not the enemy of faith. It can actually be the doorway, listen, to a deeper, richer faith. It's not the enemy of faith, it can be a doorway to a deeper, richer faith, and so we're thrilled about this series, which by the way, we created a booklet or a handbook, you should have got that on your way in if you're at the Colleyville campus with us. There's also digital formats to those as well, so wherever you're watching this from, we'd love for you to gather with a group of people, talk through this, and if you're in the room and you have that, you can open up to week one, feel free to take notes there. We're just thrilled about this series. We got the idea from this series from a great pastor up in Oklahoma named Craig Groeschel. So as the bumper mentioned, we're going to talk about doubt, and I want to let you in on a little secret that I know, and one of my favorite things actually, about this room and everyone listening every single week. You ready? There are people in here who don't believe everything we're saying. And you might even be thinking, like, this guy's full of, you know, right? And you talk about God, okay, well, God, where is God? And I just want you to know, I'm glad you're here. And I don't say that because I have to, I say that because I mean it. And because you're a human being, there's people here who at one time in your life, you were full of faith, and in the circumstances of your life, like, you edge this gap in your faith, and all of a sudden, there's something there, and it's this gap and this expanse, and you're not sure what to do with it, and you don't even know what to call yourself. And maybe, like, you prayed and believed for healing, because that's what you hear in church and sing in songs, but the person you love still died. And so you've asked that question that so many of us have asked before, like, how could a good God let me walk through this? Or perhaps, and this has been one of our, like, after every single service I've preached so far, like, I've been meeting with people with tears in their eyes, because as you hear about doubt, it's not you that you're thinking of, it's somebody that you know and somebody that you love. It's your spouse, it's your son, it's your daughter, it's your friend, and you try to do everything you possibly could. Like,

you were here, you raised them in church, they were Encompass kids, Encompass students, and they're bold in their faith, but then they leave your home and go somewhere else, wherever that is, military college, just life after this last season, and all of a sudden there's a realization of, I don't know if I believe any of this stuff anymore. And then I know there's people in here who are also carrying wounds from the past that you may have been given by people who represent the church. And so now you're angry, and you're hurt, and you're trying to walk through this word that I'll talk about later on called deconstruction, right? It's this idea that if your faith, like, the metaphor for your faith is a home, and this is everything you've been given, right, brought up in, how much of that home are you gonna bulldoze, or are you gonna leave certain pieces? And here's what I know about every one of our gatherings, and I know this because I've experienced it, like, as me, okay? You can be in the middle of worship, surrounded by people praising God, and all of a sudden, like, these doubt missiles hit. Is this even true? Like, do I believe any of this? Like, where is God when I'm hurting? Why do bad things keep happening? Why didn't He answer my prayer? One moment you're full of faith, and the next moment you're full of doubt, and you're wondering, is something wrong with me? Like, am I even a Christian? Now, there's a lot of reasons why we doubt, right? But honestly, I think it really comes down to three main areas. And so if you're taking notes, this would be a great thing to write down. It'd be a good discussion piece for you with other people later. The first one is we have questions that we can't answer. We've all got questions we can't answer. Something in scripture doesn't make sense, or maybe this is one of the really popular ones, maybe science raises a question that you don't know if the Bible has an answer for,

somebody challenges what you believe, whether that be somebody that is actually standing in front of you or somebody on the internet, right? So that's number one. Number two is we face situations that seem unfair. Why did that happen? Where was God? You're looking out in the world and seeing the problem of evil and wondering what God's role is in that. And then ultimately we face hurts that we can't resolve. Right, it's our life experience. And here's what I've learned again in my pursuit of Christ and then subsequent struggle with doubt in seasons where I'm doubting, one of the things that I've had to realize is I may have been given a faith or inherited a faith or learned to have a faith that didn't have any bend. And here's what I mean by that. If you go in your backyard after this and you grab a stick and you try to pull on both sides of that stick, what happens, right? It snaps, it breaks. And the truth is you guys, some of us grew up in a home or a church with no bend. And so we hit a contradiction in scripture, at least one that we think is a contradiction or our friend says they don't believe anymore or a leader lets you down or suffering enters your story.

And without any bend, you what? You break. And I'm not immune to this, right? I've prayed bold prayers for God to move a mountain in my life. And sometimes He has, and sometimes He hasn't. And in those moments, doubt shows up and it can feel like I'm disqualified from everything good that God could have for me or from following Jesus or calling myself Christian. And what I want you to hear is, listen, doubt is not the enemy of faith. It actually can be a doorway to a deeper, richer faith. And that's not something that we made up or that sounds good and we wanted to put it on the screen. Okay, we get that idea from the Bible. People who, listen, saw Jesus as in walk through their door and still doubt it. We get that from John chapter 20, John 20. So go ahead and open your Bibles if you've got it with you or your Bible app, wherever you engage with scriptures. And it'll always, it'll be on the screen next to me. And I just want you to leave that open for just a moment. And I wanna set the scene for that on our way to the scriptures, okay? So a lot of us have thought, like if I could just see God, if I could just see God, like if He could walk through those doors in the back of the room, then I believe. If He could just show up in my life,

then I wouldn't have any doubt anymore. And here's what you'll find as you read the New Testament, the guys who knew Jesus, who He showed up at their workplace and called them out of their daily life and to follow Him, who talked with Him, who ate with Him. How about this one? Saw Him rise from the dead with their own eyes, still doubt it. Okay, Matthew 28 says this. This is, by the way, after Jesus rises from the dead, then the 11 disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some of them, what? Doubt it. I want you to, I want, let this sink in, okay? These aren't skeptics, these aren't enemies. These are people closest to Jesus who saw Him do miracles. I mean, just think about it from their perspective. What would you do if this summer, everybody's hanging out, grilling, listening to music or whatever, and one of your buddies just starts walking on the water? All of a sudden, he'd probably rise to like number one on your friend list. Or you're at a party and you don't have enough food, and all of a sudden, one of your friends takes one person's meal and feeds a football stadium.

Like you're probably listening to what they say. Like they saw Him open blind eyes, ask paralyzed people to get up, and they did. Raised the dead, and yet Matthew says, some doubt it. Now, if I was Jesus, and I did all that, and people were still doubting. I'd probably slap him, okay? But I want you to listen. What we see in this next text is Jesus' response to doubt. And so if you're wondering what God's response to you is when you doubt, here's what we learned. And by the way, here's the one we'll have as a church also. He doesn't rebuke them. He doesn't shame them. He doesn't replace them like, hey, are there any backups on the bench? Like these guys don't have what it takes. Let's see if somebody else, you know what he does? He loves them. And then he commissions them. Into what? But if you know the New Testament, the verse I just read was Matthew 28, okay? In that same passage of scripture, if you've wondered like what it means to be a Christian, what we're supposed to do, there was this thing Jesus gave the disciples and us

before he ascended to heaven after his resurrection. It's called the great commission. Listen, one verse after it says they doubted he gives them the great commission. He says, I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you and be sure of this. Don't miss this part. I am with you. How often? Always, even to the end of the age. Jesus gives doubters the greatest mission in history. Doubt didn't disqualify them. Oh, it deployed them. Like he trusts doubters with the greatest mission in history. So the great commission didn't go to like perfect confidence. It actually went to imperfect faith. So guys, you don't have to have all your questions answered like before you're sent by Jesus. Like he's not waiting for a checklist before he calls you out and says, hey, go and make disciples of all nations. You know why? Why?

Because in this text, it's promised that if we have faith and go after and live for him, what comes next? His presence. He'll be with you. How often? Always. I told you earlier, doubt is not the enemy of faith. It often is a pathway to a deeper faith. Is there any faith that's deeper than actually physically being present with Jesus? That's what's promised. And so you know what's encouraging to me? Like the heroes of faith wrestled with doubt too. And that's really good news for me because like I know me. And honestly, I kind of like sometimes fight this thing. I don't know if God can really do anything through me because I know what I think and I know who I am and I know how much I struggle. And what I've realized is I've dove into this like is doubt doesn't make you bad, it makes you human. And by the way, the beautiful thing about following Jesus in Christianity is that we're all this beautiful mosaic of broken, flawed, sinful human beings that pursue a good, loving and perfect God. And that was true of one of my favorite characters

in scripture, a guy named Thomas. So John 20, I told you to open it earlier. And Thomas was given this nickname. And if you grew up in Sunday school, what is it? Okay, doubting Thomas, there you go. How would you like to be one of the men who actually saw the real physical Jesus accomplish great things for his kingdom? And that's how you're known for the rest of human history. Okay, so in John chapter 20, Jesus had been put to death. The disciples are scrambling. They're doing what we would do when everything you thought you knew about God all of a sudden just gets blown up, right? They're dealing with their own emotions. They're in mourning. And then Jesus is seen as resurrected, which by the way is very uncommon, impossible, right? And I love this, okay? Thomas is hanging out with the disciples. And it says this, John chapter 20, one of the 12 disciples, verse 24, Thomas nicknamed the twins, so he had lots of nicknames, was not with the others when Jesus came. And they told him, we've seen the Lord. So I want you to think about that right together. They thought he was unbeatable. They thought there's nothing that could ever, ever defeat Jesus. And then they see him murdered.

And now someone is coming back into their life saying, hey, we've seen him. And I love how Thomas responds because I resonate with him. I love this line. Here's response to them. He says, but he replied, I won't believe it until I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them and place. to my hand in the wound in his side. And that's where Thomas gets his nickname, Doubting Thomas. And I, for one, would like to nominate for a change of nickname for Thomas, from Doubting Thomas to Relatable Thomas. Because I would have wanted proof too. Now, I'm speculating here, okay? And I wanna be clear about that. But Thomas was a human being. And if you're a human being, which all of you are, um, every single one of us has been hurt by somebody else. Right, somebody's disappointed us. Somebody said they were gonna do something and they didn't, and they let us down. And I would imagine that's probably how Thomas is feeling. And so he's saying, hey, I'm not gonna believe until I'm able to see it. And you know what's interesting is like, that's usually how doubt starts, doesn't it? Like, not with a question, but with pain. And you know, I used to believe,

and now I'm not so sure, okay? So I wanna pause here. And in today's world, like we have a word for what many people experience in moments like this. And it's particularly acute, I think, with like my age demographic, maybe millennials or even some people younger than us, right? And I think every generation has experienced doubt. We just invented a word for it, okay? And that word is called deconstruction. Deconstruction, okay? Now, this is my definition right here. Deconstruction is the process of examining the faith you inherited in order to hold on to what is true and let go of what is unhealthy. And for what it's worth, if that's deconstruction, I'm in and I've done it, okay? Meaning there are traditions that have been passed down in the name of faith that aren't biblical. And there are behaviors that have been baptized as Christian that Jesus never taught. And so the idea of deconstruction isn't the issue. And you can, you know, if you Google this or get on TikTok or whatever, you're gonna see all kinds of stuff about this and, you know, coffee shops and podcasts and all over the place. And, but here's what I've learned. And here's where the danger is.

What I've seen is most, not all, but most deconstruction, it almost never starts with, I studied the scriptures and concluded God isn't real. And it's almost never, I carefully examined the resurrection and decided Jesus is the Messiah. Now, you know what it is most time? It starts with loss. Someone was hurt. Someone trusted a leader who failed them. And that's how Thomas fell. Someone prayed and God didn't answer the prayer in the way that they hoped. Listen, most people don't lose faith because of logic. They lose it because of loss. Deconstruction is rarely an intellectual issue. It's actually a relational wound. And if we're gonna be fully transparent about this, about deconstruction, listen, a lot of people don't walk away from Jesus. They walk away from Christians. Okay, not all Christians, but mean Christians, harsh Christians, self-righteous Christians, Christians who know the Bible, but forgot compassion. And in a room like this, there's probably some of you who fit in the category of you weren't pushed away by theology or what you believe about God or about the Bible, but you were pushed away from tone. Like you asked a sincere question and instead of help, you got shame.

You confess to sin or struggle. Instead of grace, you got judgment and you were dismissed and ignored and labeled all in the name of Jesus. And if that's part of your story, I wanna say this clearly, that grieves the heart of God. Jesus was far more patient with doubters than he ever was with religious cruelty. And in fact, the harshest words he ever spoke weren't aimed at skeptics. They were aimed at religious people who spoke truth without love. So if your faith began to unravel because of how Christians treated you, that doesn't make you weak, it makes you human. Now, here's where I wanna be careful and abundantly clear. Just because Christians failed you does not mean Christ has failed you. Just because those who represent the church wounded you does not mean Jesus has wounded you. People can misrepresent Jesus, but they cannot replace him. There is only one Jesus. And here's the part we don't talk about enough, ready? You don't just deconstruct your faith, you actually replace it. And that's whether you're willing to admit it or not. Everyone does. Everyone has faced in something, right? If you tear something down, it doesn't just stay empty, you rebuild on top of it.

So the question isn't, are you deconstructing? The real question is, what are you rebuilding your life on? And what I see is a generation dismantling the faith. Listen. Not because Jesus isn't God, not because the resurrection didn't happen, but because of unresolved pain. Pain with parents, pain with church, pain with loss. And I respect the pain and I respect the process, but here's the loving challenge. What are you building? What are you building? Because whether or not you mean to, you are. And when Christ is removed as the cornerstone of your life, something else takes its place. And what I've seen, and by the way, what I've experienced in my own life, when you remove Christ as the cornerstone, you know what the next logical answer is of who replaces him? It's you. And you start to build your life on you and self-fulfillment and self-happiness. And with as much love as I can give you. How's that gonna look in 20 years? And all that stuff, man, it can look empowering at first, but it won't withstand the weight of life over time. So I wanna say this plainly. Cynicism won't sit with you in the dark. Like outrage won't carry you through grief.

Self-authority collapses under suffering. And those houses may feel strong at first, but they're exhausting places to live. I don't say it to shame you, I say it to warn you, because God is not turning his back on you when you deconstruct. He never will. He didn't for Thomas. And by the way, he didn't for me. When I was in my 20s, during college, I went through a season of doubt. And I grew up in church. And most of you know this, especially if you've been here for a while, but for those of you who are new, and people find this out all the time, my dad is the senior pastor at Compass. His name's Drew, he'll preach next week. And when you're a pastor's kid, people tend to put you in a box. And sometimes it's not fun. And sometimes people say really dumb things. And sometimes they still do. And I remember waking up one morning after I'd gone and left, and thought no one actually knows who I am. And what followed was this season of questioning. Is any of this real and true? Or is this something that I was handed, like, hey man, run this play.

Like, is Jesus actually the son of God? Did he rise from the dead? Like, can we actually trust the Bible? Or was it written by a bunch of people who manipulated over time? And so I went searching. And I remember, like I would sit in the library for hours. And I'd like be supposed to be doing like my actual thing that I was there to study. And instead, like I had like Christian apologists in one ear and then atheist apologetics in the other ear. And I'm studying and I'm reading and I chase down arguments and I explore all the doubt. And I tried to make sense of it all. But here's what surprised me. What ultimately changed me was not information. Meaning there wasn't one book or one thing where it was like, boom, all the doubts gone. All my questions are answered. It was an encounter with Christ. One night during college, I was sitting in this accounting exam that I'd studied for all week. And I'm at the business school at A&M. And it's this Tuesday night test at like 7 p.m., which for what it's worth is pure evil. And so I've studied and I'm trying to do the best I can. And you guys, I could take you back to the seat. I could take you to the seat. And I'm filling out this test.

And it wasn't an audible voice, but it was as clear as anything I've ever heard. Landon, is this what you wanna do? And in that moment, something clicked. And I realized that the only thing that ever satisfied my soul was serving God and His purposes. And I turned in my test and I walk across the street. And Tuesday nights at nine o'clock, there was this college ministry that meets every Tuesday. And so there's this basketball gym full of college students. But in that moment, it was like nobody else was in that arena but me. And I sat on the back row and I listened to the message and I responded to the worship. And I said, God, I'll do it. Now, here's the honest part. That didn't mean all my doubts disappeared. Like I still had questions. But you know what I've learned? Like after pursuing Jesus for a pretty good amount of time now, listen, God has always met me in my doubt. Sometimes immediately, sometimes over time. And so here's my prayer for the doubter, for the skeptic. for the angry, for the wounded, for those who, by the way, might even be frustrated at me right now. My prayer is not that you'd win an argument or get defeated in one.

It's that you have an encounter with the living God because by the way, he still does that. And an encounter with God silences the greatest of doubts. So a few things as we wrap up. Listen, for those who right now are desperate for a loved one, and you've been thinking of them the whole time as I've been talking, I want you to pray this prayer, okay? I want you to pray they encounter Jesus. Not that they would get all their questions answered. No, that they would pray they encounter Jesus. And they may say no to your church invitation 10,000 times, but God can meet them in their life. And the second thing is for the doubters in this room, I wanna give you a three-word prayer that everybody can pray, are you ready? God, show up. And what's required of you is not to give up. What's required of him is to show up. And by the way, he will. Thomas didn't give up. He didn't give up. And I want you to watch what happens. John chapter 20, verse 26. Right there, they come in and says, hey, we've seen the Lord. Thomas says, I won't believe until. Here's what it says Thomas is doing eight days later. Eight days.

He's been sitting with his doubt for eight days. Wondering if any of this is true. Thinking about it when he goes to bed at night, but he didn't give up. Says eight days later, the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. He hadn't seen Jesus yet. He still had questions. He still had doubt, but he showed up. Church, sometimes the most faith-filled thing we can do is come back. To show up, like to step in the community, to sit in the room, to open the Bible, even if you're not sure if you believe anything in it yet. Because you know why? God will meet you there. That's what happens for Thomas. It can happen for you. He says, I won't believe until. Next verse. Says the doors were locked, but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them, peace be with you. And then he looks at Thomas. Says, put your finger here and look at my hands. Thomas said, I won't believe until. Put your hand in the wood in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe. And Thomas cries out, my Lord and my God. It's not the voice of a skeptic.

It's not the voice of a doubter. That's somebody who's been met by grace. And if you're here today and you're doubting, I want you to know that's how Jesus treats you. Not with disappointment, but with the fulfillment of a promise of the great commission. With the fulfillment and the promise of all of Scripture, that he will be with you. That he shows up in your doubt and meets it there with presence. He's not threatened by your questions. Thomas didn't have faith because he lost an argument. He has faith because God showed up in his life. And by the way, that's still how God works. James 4, 8, it says, come close to God and he will come close to you. You pray, God show up in my life. You don't give up. You draw near to him and he will show up. You know, that encounter changed Thomas. One of the most amazing things to me, and this was a big piece that I was in those libraries in college studying a lot of what won me over for the faith was the faithfulness of people that you and I will never meet until we get to heaven, right? Christians who for centuries have given their lives so that you and I could know Jesus. One of those people being Thomas. And church historians say after this encounter

from AD 52 to AD 72, Thomas traveled to India and planted churches until enemies of Christ confronted him and said, stop preaching Jesus and the resurrection or you'll be put to death. And he refused. And so church tradition says that they drove a spear through his body. Think about this, the disciples, the disciple who needed proof by the seeing the spear wound in Jesus's body later was pierced by a spear for his faith. The man who wants to find by doubt became a man defined by devotion. And here's why this matters for us. God did not discard Thomas because he doubted, God transformed him and he still does that. And so, Sometimes God takes the very place of our doubt and turns it into the banner of our faith. That's what He did for Thomas. I won't believe until I see the spear wound and what happens. He goes and fulfills the great commission and ultimately dies. His own death, why? So that you and I could know Him. And so listen, I don't know what your area of doubt is. I don't know that thing that's standing in front of you. I don't know if you feel like you're in a valley right now. What I do know is God will be with you and He can transform that thing.

Psalm 23 says, even though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For what? Same promise as Matthew 28, you are with me. Listen, you may not be walking through a valley of death right now, but you could be walking through a valley of doubt. And I want you to hear this. Valleys are not destinations, they're passageways. Okay, you don't stay in a valley. What do you do? You keep walking, you keep showing up and you pray, hey God, I need you to show up right now. No, we don't give up. And then God shows up. And so we pick up the Bible, we dive into community. We go to rooted, then we go to gaining ground. We'd be honest with people who love us and want the best for us. And God shows up in our life. Hey, can I pray for you? Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be here. Thank you for these people. Thank you for the ability to be honest with you. Lord, you don't shame us, you don't forsake us. You meet us in the valley of disappointment and the valley of doubt. So Lord, right now, I just pray. Lord, show up in everyone's life here.

May it be so strong. May it be so clear that we know you're here and that you're with us, God. Lord, I pray for those right now that are hurting on the inside because of somebody else they know. Lord, the scripture says in James, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. We know where your presence is, Lord. That's where all of our needs and all of our answers are found. We love you, God. We thank you. In your heavenly name we pray, amen. Amen.