Did you know that faith and doubt are neighbors? Now, they might not be next door neighbors, but I think they actually live on the same street. Here, here's what I mean. It's that both Faith and doubt. Live in the neighborhood of the unknown. Now, before we had cell phones to tell us exactly where to go and how many minutes it's gonna take you to get there, um, when I see those minutes, I almost see it as a challenge to try to get there slightly faster, but then I'm like, OK, obey the law and, uh, and drive, um, but like before we had phones telling us exactly where to go, if you've ever tried to go to a new house, um, that you'd never been before and you wrote the wrong address down. Um, you get close, but you're not quite sure. Like I remember I had an internship, uh, down in Cincinnati at a church and, uh, a lovely hosts were gonna put me up when I was working down there because I lived about an hour away. And so, uh, they would come in and say, yeah, here's the address, come over. And I pulled into the neighborhood and I just really wasn't sure, which, uh, and so I'm like, and then like, that doesn't look good either, right? If you're just kind of slowly creeping through the neighborhood. Right? And I'm just like looking around like here, and it didn't help that I have a big white van either. Um, OK, that last part wasn't true, but, um, but I went, I just remember thinking like, oh my goodness, like I, and so, um, like I had just gotten a cellphone, but they were like the tiny things where you're kinda, you know, you had to push the buttons like 3 times to get the letter you want, right? Anyway, and so, um, the, the younger generation will never know, um. And then, uh, so then we have, it's weird to say the younger generation now, but that's where I'm at in life. And so then, um, and I remember I had written down one wrong number. And then, and so I finally called the host. I was like, hey, I'm trying to find it. This this house doesn't look like your house and it's like, that's because it's not my house. It's like it's, it's, and I forget the exact number, but it's like it was 432, not 437 or something like that, and I had because I had not curled it and so, um, I was like, oh, OK. And then I looked up and it was just like 3 houses down, right? Why do I say all this besides letting you know that I'm not always the great, great with directions? Um, Is that I think sometimes as Christians, we carry this weight and we really struggle with doubt. Right. And maybe you've believed in Jesus for a long time. But you still got questions. Right? You still got questions like something bad will happen. And you just get mad at God. Like how is that possible? Why, why, why is this here? Why does this exist? How does this happen? Or you think, man, I messed up again and like I just, oh my goodness, I, I, I thought I would be further. I thought I knew where I was going. I don't want you to be discouraged if you're battling with doubt, because you're actually not that far away. You're on the right street. You're just at the wrong house. Because. Faith and doubt both by definition, live in the neighborhood of the unknown. Because if you could see everything, know everything, have anything, you don't need faith, do you? And I'm encouraged all the time. By the fact that the disciples, the ones who started the church, struggled with doubt. And it's well beyond doubting Thomas. I mean, we, we love to preach the great commission. Right, Matthew 28. And, and talks about how go, all authority has been given to me, right? To go and make disciples, teaching them. Um, and baptizing them, and, and this is inspiring. Commission In fact, they call it the great commission, right? But if you've ever paused to see the verse right before that. It says, there they were, the disciples on the mountain with the resurrected Jesus, Jesus, who they had walked with for 3+ years, seen miracle after miracle after miracle, dies on the cross. They hide themselves locked in a room. He He shows up through the door in the room. He He shows them the scars in his hands. He eats with them, dines with them, walks with them, preaches, teaches, shares for 40 days, gets to the mountain, says, I'm about to leave. I have my final words, and if you read the verse, it says, and some worship and some doubt it. They're literally standing in proximity to Jesus going, uh, I don't know. My hope today. is to normalize doubt in the Christian experience. Because the reality is, yes, you are at the wrong house. That's not where you're supposed to be. Right? If you don't think about driving, think about if you've ever received an Amazon package that doesn't belong to you. Right? You're like, oh no, that's a couple of houses down, unless it looks like a nice package, then you're like, well, maybe I, maybe I do need a new blender. You know what I'm saying? Sorry, again, this is just the thoughts that pop in my head. Um. If you struggle with doubt, you're like, man, I just don't know. Look, you're actually not far. You're on the right street. You're just at the wrong house. Cause here's the beauty of it When there's any situation of unknown. That if you have the capacity to doubt. Then there is actually space for faith. You just have to get back in your spiritual car and like, oh, I just gotta go two houses down. And here's the reality too. If there's a spot or area in your life where you have to have faith, Then there's gonna be room for doubt. That's part of the gig. Do you ever stop to think you're not gonna need faith in heaven? Cause you're gonna have the answers, you're gonna have the sun, you're gonna have. Perfection and, and acceptance and relationship. And so right now, in the unknown, unknown relationships, unknown desires, unknown situations, unknown future, all I'm asking you to do is recognize which house you need to pull your vehicle into. So today I want to talk to you. About growing in courage. But what exactly is courage? I would describe spiritual courage in this way, and you can write this down, is that courage is trusting God. Enough to take your next step. Is trusting God enough. To take your next step. The reason I throw that word enough in there is because if you've had to wrestle with big situations and big decisions in your life, I'm just gonna tell you, you're not gonna have 100% confidence. But do you have enough to say, OK, God. And to take a step There's a story in Romans 4 of Abraham, looking back to the Old Testament. who was called to leave where he lived to go, and he wasn't even given the destination. But ultimately, he'd be given this promise known as Abrahamic covenant, right? I'm gonna give you land, I'm gonna give you people, you're gonna be a blessing. And so he had to leave everything that he knew. To become all that God created him to be. And so he goes here and he says this, you have these words, and normally I preach at the ESV, but the NIV was alliterated, and you know I love a good alliteration. Um, and so I had to use that version for this verse here. It says, and yet, Abraham did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. And here's a great definition of courage, but also of faith, verse 21, being fully persuaded. That God had the power to do what he promised. Do you want to know what courage is? Courage is being persuaded that God has the power to do what he promised. In other words, what if you took a step, trusting that God's word was true? How would you live tomorrow if you genuinely believe the promises of God? If you genuinely believe that God is for you, God is with you, God is in you, God loves through you and God loves beyond you. If you genuinely believe that you were created on purpose with a purpose, that he has given you a love that is supernatural, a peace that can guard your mind and heart, the opportunity and freedom to love and serve and bless one another, that you are God's plan A, that The church is the bride of Christ, that we will face trials and tribulations in this life, but take heart, and I love that phrase, take heart, meaning you have to receive it. You have to believe it, you have to walk in it, take heart for our Savior, our God has overcome the world. To walk with courage as if is to live as if the power and promises of God are true. It doesn't mean that you won't have fear. It doesn't mean that you won't fall. It doesn't mean that you won't have mistakes. It doesn't mean that you won't get hurt along the way. It means that at the end you are trusting God with your life. Abraham Even pre Jesus, before Jesus with his faith, faith in what? Faith in what God would do. See, we have the same faith as Abraham. Abraham believes in what God was going to do. As Christians now, we have faith in what God has already done. That's why we have even stronger testimonies, because we already have the proof and message and the person of Jesus, and we have the Holy Spirit, not around us, but in us. Courage is possible because courage comes from the one who saves you and I. But that's gonna require you to step into the unknown, not res not not like running from your doubt by saying, oh, no, no, no, I'm not gonna feed my doubt. I'm gonna go park my car at the house of faith. Now, today's message is a little bit different in the sense that we're wrapping up our study of Romans chapter 12. Next week we're gonna jump into the book of James. I'm super excited for that brand new series. I encourage you to come back for that. But today, we're wrapping up Romans 12, but the reality is we, last week, we finished Romans 12. So what are we, what are we doing here? I wanna actually go back through the message because I don't want us to miss it. And so if you're just here for the first time, I encourage you to watch or listen to the earlier weeks of this sermon series cause it's gonna all tie together. But I want us to grow in courage. And I think what we see from Romans 12 is really 4 steps of courage, and these 4 steps are the 4 previous. Weeks, but we're gonna frame it a little bit differently today. And so the first step of courage or step of faith to live persuaded that God has the power to do what he promised, is we have to have the courage to worship. We have to have the courage to worship. First verse right out of the gate. He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. We talked about how in week one of our series to grow in commitment is the idea that you remember all that God has done, and we walked through all of those promises of God found in Romans chapter 1 through 11. And that our confidence is not in self, but in our savior. And that a living sacrifice is challenging. Why? Because living things can walk off the altar. And that's what we do all the time. We come on Sunday and we're, and we, and we open our hands like God, take my life, like build my life. And then on Monday, we're like, I'm gonna take it back. Right? We go, God, here, take, take my life, but I, but I'm gonna keep my phone though. You know, God, take my life, but, but I'm, I'm gonna keep the bank account. That's mine. God, have my life. I love you, Lord, but I, I also love a good Friday night. You know what I mean? And it's not that we don't have fun. It's not that we don't have this, but rather, there's not a separation of the secular and the sacred. No, everything you do is sacred. That's why the Bible talks about how you can actually eat and drink to the glory of God, and that a relationship with God is described as a feast. That play can actually be holy when you do it with the right motivation and ending point, where you're building a relationship with God and relationship with each other, understanding that God created you to enjoy life, but the best way to enjoy life is to enjoy the one who gave you life. And that worship is not simply about singing, it's about surrender. It says, uh, Psalmist writes in Psalm 27:1, it says, the Lord is my light and salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? We can freely go, God, take my life. Because he is better. He is good. And his mercies are new every morning. But in a world that teaches. Self-reliance. Self-acceptance. Self pursuit of pleasures. And all these things. It's gonna require courage. And that first step of courage is the courage to worship, or in other words, the courage to surrender. But you can freely surrender in light of all that God has done. In fact, some translations say that spiritual worship, it's your reasonable thing to do. It makes sense. The second step of courage we have to take that we learned from our series, is that we have to have the courage to serve. Week 1, we talked about to grow in our commitment. Week 2, we talked about growing in our calling. And it described this act of humility. And and the different giftings that we have, and it says this in Romans 12:6. It says, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, and the emphasis there just simply says, let us use them. Let us use them. You know, all the different health people talk about the value of salads, right? Here's another example of some healthy lettuce in your life, OK? And that is cheesy, I know that, but maybe you'll remember it. OK, you have to. God, God, let us use the gifts. Like, what is the purpose of the gift if we don't take it out of the box? Right, if you give a gift to someone on their birthday, like, oh, thank you so much, and they just set it down and they never take it out. Almost becomes offensive, right? I wonder if we find ourselves accidentally offending God, because like, he has given you with the ability to teach, to serve, to mercy, to encourage, to bless, to give, and he's given you these incredible gifts of your personality and uniqueness and things that you can add value and build up the body around you to glorify God, to bless others, to build up his church, and you're sitting on the sideline going, yeah. That's why it's gonna take courage. Why? Because people are messy. Do you know how simple ministry would be if it didn't involve people? But all of us are messy. So When you go to surf, are you willing to Operate from a position or a place that lives persuaded that God actually knew what he was doing. Are you willing to have the courage to serve, to step out and to use the gifts that you have been given to bless those around you, knowing that some of them might hurt you, but you're not doing that for them, you're doing it for God. It takes courage. It takes persuasion that God actually has the power to overcome our shortcomings. The 3rd step of courage for us is that we have to have the courage to care. We have to have the courage to care. That was week 3 of our series talking about growing in community and our, and our friend Hunter came and shared about how love really isn't a feeling that you fake, it's, it's a life that you live. And, and I love verse 10 of Romans 12 because it says in here, it says, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. I love that. I love that. Imagine how great your relationships could be if it truly was a race to the back of the line. A race to own up to your issues first. A race to go above and beyond to bless the people around you, right? I mean, I'm, I'm surrounded by it. All the time Uh, with people who just do amazing things. I think about the volunteers who come in. Right, to fix technology or to fix a door or to, or to clean a toilet or to build like the set for VBS or to come in and, and, and, and give a ride to the airport or a ride to church. Some of you are here today because someone came and picked you up. And that's awesome. When you see the body being in the hands and feet of Jesus, to bless, to walk in, and we talk about this too, about how it's not about just walking in a room going, here I am. It's walking into the room going, there you are. To outdo one another in honor. Right? This idea of honor, if you think about going to a concert, we talked about this too, right? If you think about going to a concert, when you turn in the ticket, when you scan the ticket, they are honoring the value of something previously purchased. Do you understand how spiritually powerful that is if you think about it for a second? To honor Something is to value something based on the value of what had been previously purchased for. Well, if we really believe the gospel and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ dying on the cross, and you're hesitant to care for others and love others and forgive others and serves, what you're saying is, OK, that person that frustrates you. Right, that person that frustrates you. Apparently it's not valuable for you enough to change, even though it was he or she was valuable enough for Jesus to die for. That's why it takes courage. It takes courage Why would writers in the Bible talk about things like, um, they come out of the gate, like say you gotta bear with with one another. Well, that assumes that Like if you didn't have that the command, like, You You, you have to bear with another. Why? Because you're gonna get on each other's nerves. Right? Like, it's not gonna go well all the time. Why do they have to strongly say forgive one another unless you already know that you have to be forgiven? And you have to forgive. We need the courage to worship. Which means to surrender. We need the courage to serve. It calls us to bless one another. We need the courage to care. Because real love is risky. And then finally, we need the courage to persevere. We shared last week about how to deal with complicated people. Mhm And it says in the Romans 12:21, it says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Courage isn't just about starting strong. It's about staying faithful. When I'm doing premarital counseling with couples, uh, one of the things I say regularly is that great marriages are not built in a day. But healthy, loving, and lasting relationships are built daily. Through their choices and their attitude and in their actions. And so he talks about it in those passages to abhor what is evil, right? To grab hold of what is good. To persevere, to overcome. That that people are not barriers. Right? They, they actually, they actually are building blocks of your character. Sometimes the rough edges of other people are actually meant to smooth out your own personal rough edges in your life. Right? That's why there's like over 51 another passages in the Bible because it's difficult. That's why when Paul is going through all of his afflictions, and he's like, I was whipped, I was beaten, I was imprisoned, I was shipwrecked, and I gotta deal with church people. But when you see people the way that Jesus sees us, you understand. When you are persuaded that he has the power, the promises to lead differently. You are willing to take the step then to persevere. Because courage is trusting God enough to take a step. Courage is trusting God enough to actually go somewhere. You know, if think, think about just a common fear maybe people have, right? Uh, maybe it's heights, maybe it's like roller coasters or something. Let's say you have, um, the fear of roller coaster, OK, and you, you see the roller coaster and you're like, yep, I have the courage, I'm gonna do it. There it is. There's the roller coaster. I'm gonna sing about the roller coaster. Right? I'm gonna talk about it, I'm gonna tell people, look, there's a roller coaster. Look how awesome that coaster is. Look, look, I'm, you can see me coaster, cool. How do you show that you have the courage? Like, you actually get, get on the ride. Right? And we talk about as a church, yes, I love singing, I love praying, I love preaching the word and, and, and sharing and loving each other, but the real, the real game is played. In your everyday life When you think about. Courage, I understand that. We have to have the courage to worship. So have you surrendered your life to Jesus? We have to have the courage to serve. Are you using your gifts to bless those around you? We have to have the courage to care. Are you actually committing yourself to community? Do you know others and do others know you? And then you have to have the courage to persevere. Are you standing strong for your faith? For our student retreat, we studied the life of Jonah. The last two days. And it's interesting to me because in the story of Jonah, Like everybody obeys except for Jonah. And when I mean everybody, I mean everybody. So like, the sailors that end up throwing that are end up um throwing Jonah overboard, they start worshiping God. Uh, the storm obeys God and comes down in there. You had the people of Nineveh repent and, and, and start worshiping God. It talks about the cattle, even obeying God at that point. Uh, you had a tree growing. obeying God, you had a worm that eats the tree that's growing, and like the only person that was struggling was the prophet that was called to preach. But what's crazy is that when he ran away from God, when he was rock belly bottom, meaning he was in the bottom of the sea and the belly of a fish, literally the farthest possible place you could be, God still heard his prayer. And he comes back and he's struggling to show love, to preach, and he goes into the middle of the city, and he preaches for all intents and purposes, a horrible sermon. In Hebrews, it's 5 words. He basically goes, hey, repent or else God's gonna judge you. All right, peace. Walks up and says, and the whole city gets saved and he's like, what? And then in that story, they're like, and it ends with a question, like, are you gonna pity this plant that just went away more than the people? And it ends with a question because the question wasn't even for Jonah, it's for us, just saying like, we get so worked up. With all these things happening in your life when it's like, no, no, no, no, no. I will call who I'm gonna call. I'm gonna save who I'm gonna save. I'm gonna love who I'm gonna love, and I'm gonna use you to do it. Our theme as a church this year has been around the idea of focus, specifically to focus back on our vision and mission. To help every man, woman and child experience Jesus and to do that through planning the gospel, growing in community, and multiplying through service. But those themes of plant grow, multiply are all throughout scripture, and we see it here in Romans 12 as well. Right, the courage to worship. Are you planting the gospel in your life so that you can surrender to who God has called you to be? Right? Are you growing in community? Are you committed to care, even when it's gonna take courage? Right? Are you multiplying through service? Are you using your gifts to impact the lives of the people around you? But then that courage of perseverance is really an attitude that you need to take throughout every single day. You gotta fight for it You gotta fight for it. So let me offer just one more bonus step. Bonus step here And that is when you look at those things, those steps. And you're like, OK, I got that. I'm doing that. OK, I'm struggle, but I'm taking some steps, I'm progressing. Right? If you're worshiping, you're serving, you're caring, you're persevering. Let me ask you then. Do you have the courage to lead? Are you leading others to do the same? See, leadership is a journey and a process. Cause it's not about who can get to the line first. OK, I'm done. It's allowing the gospel and the Holy Spirit and the word of God to come into your life that starts transforming you to becoming more like Jesus, that as you grow, as you change, as you become more like him, as God builds your life, as you lead in a way that loves others, and you're and God's leading you in His love to meet the needs of other people, you are now bringing them along with you. Why is it that we are much quicker to share the latest restaurant or craze or workout thing that's out there? But when it comes to the power of an all knowing God, we're like, cool, yeah, yeah, that's good. I mean, it's good. So I went to church, OK. Oh, but have you been to this restaurant? It's amazing. Have you heard of the new workout plan? Where you can do this and and and and it's called Bodies by Thumbs, and you just do this. And you can lose 20 friends in a week, no just kidding, um, instead of pounds, no skin. When you walk through the life of a believer, your life gets changed by it. And you can lead others to do the same. I'm gonna close with a story, actually from the Old Testament. It's not even gonna be on the screen. I just want to read it here. The guy gets like 1 to 2 verses, but if you're gonna get 1 to 2 verses, like I want these verses. A guy, I'm guessing a lot of you probably haven't even heard of a guy named Bennaya. He was one of David's mighty men. And when they start listing off the accomplishments of David's mighty men, it's not all that they did, but they're saying, hey, these are the type of people that were going to battle with David. And so we get in 2 Samuel chapter 23 verse 20. I'm just gonna read one verse to you. And we get this guy, we don't know a lot about him. But what I know, I wanna be friends with this guy. OK. It says, check this out. He says, and Benaiah, the son of Joadad, was a valiant man of Kebzel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two aerials of Moab, and he went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a snowy day. He literally chased down a lion. That, that's crazy. Then jumped into the pit with the lion. That's crazy. And did so when it's slippery outside and cold. Why? Because at that time, on behalf of the people, he was protecting. His tribe There's a story of another warrior who came in, a young warrior, not in a Bible, just more of an ancient tale, who who entered into the village and said, behold the tail of a lion. You are protected and they're like, wow, that's amazing. Why, why didn't you grab like the mane or the head? He's like, oh, well, that was already taken. Meaning like he went up to something that had already experienced defeat. He came back and tried to pretend that was courage. Benaiah, one of the warriors of David, we don't know a lot about him. He gets like 3 verses in scripture, but the 3 he's got, he's like, he was so courageous. So confident and persuaded that God would protect him and know who he was called to be as one of David's mighty men, that he didn't just fight, he chased the lion. And he chased the lion down into the pit on a snowy day to protect his people. That's how far he goes. That's how far courage goes. We're, I wanna end this morning by reading what's called the Lion Chaser's Manifesto written by Mark Patterson. And it describes the life of courage. That's my prayer for not just myself, but, but for you. Consider these lines. He says Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Run to the roar, set God-sized goals, pursue God-ordained passions, go after a dream that's destined to fail unless God intervenes. Start pointing out problems, become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating a better future. Face your fears, fight for your dreams, grab opportunity by the name and don't let it go. Live like today is the first and the last day of your life, to burn the sinful bridges, to blaze new trails. Live for the applause of nail scarred hands. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God. Don't try to be who you aren't. Be yourself, laugh at yourself, dare to fail, dare to dream, dare to be different, chase the lion. I want to be a church That is filled with lion chasers. We're gonna be messy, we're gonna be broken. But I want to have the courage. To live persuaded that God really did rise from the grave, really did promise that he was gonna build this church, and that he really said, I'm gonna transform lives, and that we're really gonna get to spend eternity with him. I want to live in light of those promises, not the fears that the culture is trying to portray. If you're living in a place of fear or doubt, look, you're on the right street. Just back up the car. And park it in the house of faith. And if you do that, you're gonna have the courage enough to take a step. So that's the challenge is, will you take a step? In one of these areas. In one of your relationships, will you take a step of courage today to become a little bit more like Jesus? Let's pray. Dear onlyly Father, Thank you for the joy it is to gather. We gotta help us to remember that the purpose of life isn't simply to arrive safely at death. That you have called us to be sons and daughters of light. Of change, of purpose, of love. When we walk into this week with the courage to make a difference. Maybe it's in our own lives, maybe it's in the neighbor, maybe it's in our kids or a family member or a friend or a coworker. When we step into the calling of who you've called us to be. And what you've called us to do, that it's gonna be difficult. It's gonna be tough, but you are greater than any detours or divisions or challenges or obstacles that get in our way, and that we walk not for victory, but from victory because you have already won. And that gives us the courage to take a step to become more like you today. We love you, God. It's in your son's name, we pray. Amen.