Just Doubt It
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Man, I gotta tell you I loved last week. I loved the service, but I especially loved baptizing the 9 people who made the decision to follow Christ. Come on can we celebrate them? That never gets old.
Last week we kept walking through Acts in our series. We were in Acts 27:7–26, where Paul warned the sailors not to set sail because the journey would be dangerous. But they ignored him. They trusted the professionals and the perfect weather instead of listening to the man who had a word from God.
Everything looked good at first. Verse 13 says there was a gentle breeze. But by verse 20, the storm had ripped everything apart and all hope was gone. We learned that just because something looks calm does not mean it is God. Sometimes a gentle breeze can lead you straight into a hurricane.
Paul warned them. They ignored him. And it cost them. But then, in the middle of the storm, Paul stood up not to say “I told you so” but to give them hope. He had a word from God:
“Take heart. No one will lose their life. God is still with us.”
Two big takeaways:
Some storms are avoidable when we listen to godly counsel instead of chasing a breeze.
Even when the storm is our fault, God is still faithful. He does not just speak before the storm. He speaks in the middle of it.
This week I want to keep walking through, Acts 27. Lets pick up in verse 27
27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go. 33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
I’ve titled the message morning “Just Doubt It.”
Pray
You ever been in an argument? Where are my chronic arguers? I’m talking to those of you who have to argue your point. Like you have to be right.
Your favorite word is “Actually.”
You hear someone say something and your first instinct is to correct them.
You can’t help yourself. It’s like a spiritual gift… that no one asked for.
I’m talking to those of you that are just like me. I have lots of opinions and can argue like a professional.
But there is nothing more awkward than being in the middle of an argument and realizing you’re wrong.
You know that moment. You’ve been swinging hard, making all the points, and then suddenly the truth hits you.
You start doing the math in your head and think, “Oh no… I might not be right about this.”
Now you’ve got a choice to make. Do I admit I’m wrong? Or do I just keep going?
And if we’re honest, a lot of us keep going. We will argue a point for three hours that we don’t even believe anymore because at this point it’s not about truth. It’s about pride.
You’ve got too much invested to turn around. So you’re just throwing out words hoping something lands.
You think that the louder you speak the more right you are.
You ever been there?
Some of you have been in a fight with your spouse, and halfway through you realize they’re right. But now you’re too far in, so you start Googling things trying to find a way to win.
That is one of the most uncomfortable places to be. Knowing you’re wrong but not wanting to admit it.
You ever notice how arguing and doubting feel kind of similar?
Think about it. When you argue, you start out confident. You’re sure you’re right. You’ve got your points ready. You’ve got that “I know what I’m talking about” energy.
But then the facts start stacking up against you. Deep down you realize, “Uh-oh… I might be wrong.” Now you’ve got a choice: Do I admit the truth, or do I double down and keep arguing even though the evidence says otherwise?
That tension is the same thing doubt does in your faith.
You start out confident: “God said it. I know it. I trust Him.”
But then the storm comes. The situation gets worse. Suddenly what you see doesn’t match what God said.
And now you’re in a spiritual argument. Not with people, but with reality as you see it versus truth as God spoke it.
And just like arguing, you’ve got a choice:
Do I keep arguing with God’s truth because of what I feel? Or do I surrender and trust what He said?
We just read this unfolding in Acts 27.
Lets go back a couple verses
23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”
Paul has a vision and declares that everyone will live. There is a renewed sense of hope. God spoke. The promise is clear. And then one verse later, they think they see land.
27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.
Isn’t it great when God does what we want Him to do immediately? When He answers fast? When the promise comes through before the ink in your prayer journal is even dry?
You pray for healing and the doctor calls back with good news that same day.
You pray for a financial breakthrough and your tax refund hits your account by lunch.
You pray for a spouse and they sit next to you at church the next Sunday.
Come on, we love those stories. We shout about those stories.
And that is what this moment feels like for the sailors. Paul just stood up and said, “Take heart. God told me nobody is going to die. We’re going to make it.” The whole ship just went from hopeless to hopeful. They are clapping. They are fist-bumping. They are like, “Finally, God is coming through.”
Then verse 27 says this: “When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.”
This is it. This is the breakthrough. This is what we’ve been waiting for. They can feel it. They are convinced the end of the storm is right in front of them.
28 So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.
For my ancient measurement historians, a fathom is a depth measurement. It’s about six feet.
So twenty fathoms is about 120 feet deep.
Fifteen fathoms is about 90 feet deep.
In other words, the water is getting shallower. This is the confirmation they were looking for. “We are close! We’re almost there!”
But it’s still midnight. It’s still dark. They can’t see anything.
And isn’t that what happens to us? We pray, we believe, and finally we see some kind of sign. Something changes.
The numbers shift in the right direction. The interview goes well.
The relationship feels like it’s turning a corner. And we think, “This is it. The storm is over.”
But then the darkness lingers. You thought the breakthrough was coming fast, but you’re still stuck in the night. And that’s when frustration starts to build. That’s when your mind starts racing. That’s when doubt creeps in.
This is where these guys were look at verse 29
29 And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow,
The storm is over, but the night is still there. And that’s what causes the panic. They start throwing down anchors and praying for daylight. Some of the sailors even try to jump ship and escape.
Here’s why:
Darkness is the breeding ground for fear.
The storm is over, but the night is still there. And that’s what causes the panic.
They start throwing down anchors and praying for daylight. Some of the sailors even try to jump ship and escape.
Here’s why. When you cannot see what’s ahead, your imagination starts filling in the gaps. Fear always comes first, and fear leads to doubt. Doubt leads to escape.
That is exactly what happens here. They are convinced they’re about to crash into the rocks.
They are thinking, “We’ve got to save ourselves.” So they start lowering the lifeboat under the pretense of dropping anchors.
And this is why godly influence and leadership is so important in your life. Because fear and doubt will drive you to jump ship.
When you cannot see the future, when you cannot see the outcome, you need someone who can remind you of what God said. Look at what Paul says:
31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
Paul steps in and says, “Hey, relax. Stay in the boat. I know it’s dark, but if you want to live, stay right here.”
This is the voice of truth cutting through the noise of fear. The sailors think, “If we can just get out of here, we’ll be safe.” Paul says, “No. If you leave now, you die. If you stay, you live.”
The most dangerous place you can be in the darkness is alone.
That’s when you make decisions you regret. That’s when fear becomes your counselor and doubt becomes your leader.
And I think there’s another layer here. Imagine what these sailors are feeling. Guilt. Shame.
They knew Paul told them not to set sail. And now the ship is breaking apart.
That weight can make you want to run. When you feel responsible for the storm you’re in, it is easy to believe the lie that you need to save yourself. Or worse, that God has given up on you.
But notice this: Paul does not shame them. He does not say, “You made your bed, now lie in it.” He says, “Stay. You still have a chance. God’s plan is still in place.”
Can you trust God’s provision even when you cant see it?
Because this is where doubt starts working on you. Doubt doesn’t show up empty-handed. It brings evidence. It brings feelings. It points at what looks real and what feels real.
Doubt feeds on what looks and feels real. Truth reveals what is real.
What felt real in that moment was this: We are all about to die. The only option is to jump ship and make a run for it. That felt real. That looked like the only way.
And many of us have been there. You know what it’s like to be in a dark season where your feelings are screaming louder than your faith.
Where the fear of what might happen is pulling you toward an escape. Pulling you toward giving up. Pulling you toward running from the very place God told you to stay.
The very thing you are trying to run from is the very thing God is going to use to save you.
Get ready, because I’m about to start throwing some spiritual punches.
Doubt doesn’t start in your head. It starts in your feet.
First, you start moving. You start moving away from what God said.
Maybe It’s because of sin.
Maybe it’s because of fear.
Maybe it’s because of frustration.
Maybe it’s because you’re tired of waiting.
But you start moving toward what feels safe, fun, or just different then what your facing.
And I don’t know who needs this harsh reality check this morning, but it’s hard to believe in a God you are running from.
I hear people say this all the time: “I don’t know if I believe in God anymore.”
It’s not that you don’t believe anymore. It’s that you’ve walked so far away from Him that you can’t even recognize His voice anymore.
You stopped praying.
You stopped opening His Word.
You stopped showing up where His people are.
And now you’re wondering why He feels distant. He didn’t move. You did.
We run toward comfort.
We run toward control.
We run toward things that make us feel better for a moment.
And then we blame God for the distance we created.
We want His blessing without His boundaries.
We want His promises without His process.
We want His presence without His Lordship.
And that will never work.
Your rebellion is not proof of God’s absence.
It’s proof of how far you’re willing to run when things get hard.
If you really believe He is who He says He is, then you stay where He told you to stay.
Because you cannot claim to trust Him while you’re bailing out of the place He told you to stay.
And some of you have been doing this.
You are praying for God to bless a plan He never gave you.
You are asking Him to provide for a life He didn’t call you to.
And then you wonder why it feels like He’s silent or that He’s not real.
We have to learn how to trust God, and there is only one way we can do that look at verse 32…
32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.
The only way to trust God fully is to eliminate the escape plan.
You cannot trust God and have a backup plan. There is no safety net with God, because safety nets are for failures and God never fails.
You want faith? Cut the ropes.
You want peace? Cut the ropes.
You want God to move in your life? Cut the ropes.
As long as you keep the lifeboat tied up, you’re saying, “God, I trust you… but just in case I need to trust myself.”
You know whats often forgotten about darkness? whats forgotten in the night?
The night means dawn is coming….
33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. 39 Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.
Your night is about to dawn….
Don’t give up before the dawn.
Remember verse 20 last week?
20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
All hope was gone. That was the lowest point. Total darkness. Total despair.
And now, 19 verses and 14 days later… they see the day. And they see the land.
You know what that tells me? Just because you are in a season where you cannot see the sun does not mean the sun is not coming up. Just because all hope feels gone does not mean God is done.
Your night is about to dawn. Hold on. Don’t quit. Don’t jump ship. Don’t give up before the light breaks through.
From the very beginning, God established that His people will not stay in darkness.
Darkness is temporary.
Darkness is not the destination.
Darkness is not the last word.
Let me show you
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Did you catch that? Darkness covered everything. No light. No form. No hope. And then God spoke, “Let there be light!”
And from that moment on, every night of every day has always ended.
Every single one.
Night has never won.
Darkness has never had the last word.
So what makes you think your night will be the first one God can’t handle?
If He could end the darkness of creation, He can end the darkness in your situation.
If He can speak light over nothing, He can speak light over your storm.
If He could do it in the beginning, He can do it right now.
Your depression won’t last.
Your fear won’t last.
Your pain won’t last.
Your storm won’t last.
Because every night ends when God says, “Let there be light.”
It’s time for some of us to stand up in faith and declare that your night won’t last.
I’m here to tell someone this morning: The night will not last. The darkness is breaking. Your dawn is coming. Hold on. Don’t quit. Don’t jump ship. God is still speaking, and He’s still saying, “Let there be light.”
Remember when I told you the message title? “Just Doubt It.”
I wasn’t talking about just doubting God.
I’m telling you to doubt your doubts.
Doubt the voice that says you’re not going to make it.
Doubt the fear that says the night will never end.
Doubt the lie that says God has left you.
Doubt the storm that says you’re going under.
Because every time doubt starts whispering, you answer back with truth:
“The night will not last. God is still speaking. And He’s still saying, ‘Let there be light.’”
