This is the first sermon in the series RENEW: Renewing the Faith. I believe we have a wrong idea about growing and walking in faith. We believe that if we have strong and certain faith in the midst of tough circumstances and messy lives, we will never have unanswered questions or nagging doubts. This is not the story of those who have gone before us, those who make up the Hall of Faith or that great cloud of witnesses. Every one of them struggled with seasons of doubt along with tough, perplexing, and unanswered questions!
Faith is not the absence of doubt. Doubt can be a great catalyst for a deepening faith. Doubt can also be a catalyst for a legacy of failure. In this series, we will look at the lives of those for whom doubt drew them into a much deeper faith than they every thought possible. We will also look at the lives of those for whom doubt drew them into a life and legacy of failure.
This video was shown at the start of this sermon:
https://youtu.be/wPOgvzVOQig
Primary passage:
Esther 4:1-16
Other Bible references:
Mark 9:22-24
Jude 1:22
1 Peter 5
trust, doubt, Esther, trust fall, guilty, fear, disciples, Jesus, heal, possessed by demon, son, Pharisees, Mark 9:22-24, unbelief, choose, believe, belief, Jude 1:22, mercy, cloth, cut from the same cloth, heroes of the faith, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Mosses, Peter, James, John, Jews, holocaust, Babylon, Israel, culture, re-culture, redistribution, Mordechai, Persia, queen, king, Haman, power, law, Esther 4:1-16, passionate followers of Christ, provisions, provide, food, clothing, shelter, home, house, integrity, fork in the road, obedience, faith, conviction, John Ortberg, public convictions, personal convictions, core convictions, deny, denial, actions, costs, circumstances, Mariners, difficulty, questions, presence of king, golden scepter, perish, trust God, trusting God, choose trust, faith, fear, failure, legacy, redeemer, plan, God’s plan, 1 Peter 5, humble, humility, anxiety,