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The River ChurchSermons

Caleb Combs · 14 Jun 2026

Caleb Combs · Sunday, 14 June 2026 · 53:29 · 7,651 words

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What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

doubt 54 psalm 41 moment 28 crisis 8 breakthrough 6 sanctuary 11 god 153 baptist 8 john 16 author 11 morning 35 thomas 6

Topics

Prayer 3 Faith 2 The Body of Christ 1 The Holy Spirit 1 Hope 1

Scripture referenced 39

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Psalms 73 3:37 Psalms 150 4:04 Psalms 73 4:50 Psalms 23 5:07 Psalms 73 5:26 Psalms 73 9:37 Psalms 23 9:45 Psalms 73 10:00 Psalms 73 11:07 Psalms 73 13:04 Psalms 73 13:04 Psalms 50:73-83 14:12 Psalms 6 14:12 Psalms 83 14:21 Psalms 73 15:39 Psalms 73 16:50 Psalms 73 16:50 Psalms 73:1-3 16:58 Psalms 73 22:28 Psalms 73 22:57 Psalms 73 25:38 Psalms 73 25:59 Psalms 73 28:03 Psalms 73:13-14 28:25 Psalms 73 28:49 Psalms 73 30:48 Psalms 73 30:53 Psalms 73 34:17 Psalms 73 38:39 Psalms 73:23 38:52 Psalms 73:27-28 39:21 Psalms 73 39:33 Psalms 73 40:15 James 4 40:39 Psalms 73 42:25 Psalms 73 42:50 Matthew 11 45:19 Matthew 11 46:01 Psalms 62 49:53

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

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We hope that you're blessed by today's message.

Good morning. Good to be with you.

I always have a hard time preaching after that song

just because I just want to keep singing it.

It's good. I love the words of that.

It's praise the name of our Lord.

That's what we're here for. Amen.

All right, well, three of you agree.

The rest of you will get there. All right.

That's why we're here.

All right, to praise the name of Jesus.

He's worthy of our praise.

We are so grateful for his grace, his mercy,

him dying on the cross for our sins so that we could have life.

That's why we're here, church.

That's okay to get excited about. All right?

There we go. Get me preaching early. All right?

I was texting with a few of you this week.

I was at a team basketball camp for my daughter,

and we spent the evening, a Wednesday evening

into Thursday morning at Dayton Children's Hospital.

And so my daughter,

her broken arm, and so they're trying to figure out

if they're going to do surgery and different things.

And I responded this way.

I hate when Sunday's message comes into application during the week.

I mean, it's good for you,

but it shouldn't be that way for the pastor, right?

Like, this is for you to live, not for me to live.

And so I just kept saying, God, this is not my plan.

This is not my time.

Like, I'll let you know how this should work.

And it's just interesting.

That doesn't work that way.

I don't know. Maybe it works that way for your life.

But in my life,

in mine, it's always like, all right, God,

like, all right, I trust you.

I think so, right?

And so, but maybe that happens for you.

And I just, I think it's so pertinent

and so relevant in our lives,

how the word of God just speaks truth.

And hopefully you see that, feel that

on just a Sunday morning,

where it's not just a religious exercise,

where you come in and God gets up and preaches

and you sing some songs

and you go live your life through the week.

And then it's rinse, wash, and repeat, right?

That's not what we're looking for.

We're looking for real, authentic.

The word of God is practical, applicable for our lives,

where it will change and transform.

And when the rubber meets the road,

when you hit I-75 or East Holly Road

or head to a restaurant or head to your job on a Monday

or wherever you find yourself, you go, wow,

the word of God is so real, applicable in my life.

I'm seeing how it is so perfect for my life.

And so hopefully you see that, feel that

on a consistent basis.

That's my goal on a Sunday morning

is to not be performative.

My goal is to not just read.

My goal is to really watch the word of God work in your life,

watch the Holy Spirit work in this place.

And we see it transform our lives.

And we're real and authentic.

That's my goal this morning.

Psalm 73 is where we'll be this morning.

If you have a Bible, a device, something,

something to follow along or read along.

If you're new, this may be your first time.

We are as a church of for about 19, 20 weeks,

you're going to walk through the book of Psalms.

Psalms is 150 chapters.

So we will not be able to get through the entirety of the book

in 20-ish weeks.

We'd have to spend about three years through Psalms

to get through Psalms 150.

One of our location pastors suggested this week,

hey, what if we came back to Psalm,

Psalms in a couple years, 2028, I think is the summer,

and tried to do more.

And I'm like, that sounds great.

Let's look through the overarching what we want to preach.

But Psalms has been so life-giving, life-challenging.

If you've been with us through the entirety of the series,

you're seeing, wow, like I didn't realize Psalms was so practical.

I thought it was just some worship songs and some poems.

And David is writing them in the field.

Yeah, those exist.

But there's...

There's so much practicality to the book of Psalms.

And it is so applicable for our lives.

Psalms 73 will get into the nitty-gritty,

dealing with a specific idea and topic.

many of us will, if we're honest, we deal with this more than we'd like to communicate

or admit. So I'm going to read Psalm 23. We're not going to be able to take the entirety

of all 28 verses, but I want to really look through the first 17, 18 verses and look at

an overall theme that I think will be super practical if you're honest with yourself and

honest, even in this moment with God. So let's look at Psalm 73 this morning.

Like the rest of mankind, therefore pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment.

Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with

malice. Loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongues

strut through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them.

And they say,

How can God not be a good man?

How can God know? Is there any? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked,

always at ease. They increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my

hands in innocence. For all the days long I have been stricken and rebuked. Every morning, if I had

said I will thus, or I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought,

How to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. Until I went into the sanctuary of God,

then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors. Like a dream when one awakens.

O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked,

in the heart,

I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast towards you. Nevertheless, I am continually

with you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. And afterward,

you will receive me to glory, whom I have I in heaven but you. There is nothing on earth that I

desire beside you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart,

and my flesh is the strength of my heart. I am continually with you. You hold my right hand. You

are my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to

everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God

my refuge, that I may tell of your works. God, we come to you this morning. We praise you.

We love you. We honor you. God, we ask that you speak through your word. We're gathered in your

name. God, we are so grateful that your word says we're two or more gathered. You are so grateful

that you're here. And so we know, God, you're here. And we recognize that with all an overwhelmed

feeling. God, in this moment, we ask that your Holy Spirit speak through your word, speak through

my words as we open it, as we study it, as we seek to understand what you are teaching, what you are

showing God. God, thank you for the word of God. Thank you that it is living and active. Thank you

that we're able to study it. Thank you that we're able to have a printed Bible to read it, to have

it, to look at it on a daily basis. God, we ask that you speak through your word. We ask that you

study it. God, to meditate on it. God, may this morning be a monumental breakthrough moment for

someone as we look at Psalm 73 and see how it applies to our lives this morning. God, we praise

you and we love you in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. This morning, as we have read Psalm 23,

there's a lot in that. We won't be able to, over the next 30-ish minutes, look at the entirety.

of Psalm 73. But I want to look at the overall theme. I mentioned preaching style and really the

intent of what we're trying to do. Always the intent of what we're trying to do is when we

gather is to lift up the name of Jesus. I really hope you understand that. There are no perfect

people in this room. We open God's word because it is perfect. It is a revelation of a perfect God

that we're able to see and understand and read about. And so my hope is to open that and study

it and read that. But I never want to do it in a fake facade like, hey, you know what? Everyone

has it all together in here. We're just going to open God's word. We're going to sing about it.

We're going to preach and then we're going to leave. No, I want to be real and honest that

many of you sitting in this room or even preaching in this room deal with the difficulties of this

world differently. We all carry a weight.

Some of those weights are different. Some of those weights, we don't want to admit. Some of those

weights that we are just getting to understand. And some of those, maybe you're just getting a

breakthrough in this moment. But I really hope to teach and explain what Psalm 73 really looks

like and applies in our life. What's great about the word of God is it is God inspired, meaning the

Holy Spirit inspired many people to write the scriptures where they are writing Genesis and

Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. And they're writing Matthew and Mark and Luke and John. They're writing

them inspired by the Holy Spirit, chronicling their perspectives. And so we're able to see

they're chronicled through the gifting and the inspirational Holy Spirit of, wow, these disciples,

they got to walk and talk with Jesus. And so they're writing their perspectives. Or in the

Old Testament, we're seeing some incredible God miracles that they're writing. But one thing

we're able to see in scriptures, we're able to see the highs, but we're also able to see the lows.

Their lows are chronicled. We get to see the lowest sin, brokenness moments of these men and women's

lives. We can see the moment that David takes Bathsheba and sins against God and kills her

husband. We can see the moment that Abraham gives his wife to Pharaoh and lies and says it's his

We can see Peter denying Christ three times. We can see doubting Thomas. We get to see the

authenticity of what really is truly happening in his heart. And so we get to look at both of

those spectrums. And I think we as Christians, let me phrase this. I know we as followers of Christ

must do that because you and I have those highs and have those lows. And for us to really examine

what Psalm 73 is, it really is about the high and the low. And for us to really examine what Psalm 73 is,

it really is the author here is Aesop is writing about a low moment. He's writing about a moment

where he really struggles as a moment of doubt of who God is. He asked some questions. God,

why are you blessing those people? You realize what they've done? He's keeping score of sinners

and going, Hey, they've got a lot of bad sin. God, what are you blessing them for? Even us? Is God

really good? Yes. Why do I even?

Why do I even bother? Even goes as far as maybe I should give up God and join the wicked. I mentioned

the author is Aesop. He's a prominent Levite. One of the, excuse me, one of the 12 tribes

that would lead people in worship. Musician, appointed prophet for King David. You see that

in first Chronicles chapter six. Aesop is credited with writing Psalms 50, 73 through 83. And so we're

going to read Psalm 83 this morning. But these questions, as I mentioned just a few moments ago,

if we're all honest, we can find ourselves asking them maybe not outwardly, but maybe inwardly as we

churn in our brains, as we churn in our hearts, as we churn through these questions, God, are you

really good? God, these people, they've done a lot of bad things. Why are you blessing them?

Last 15 years, I've gone to multiple different camps.

preach different uh different topics and different things but there's been one common thread through

preaching at different camps through my time i love to do question and answer with students it's

a great time to get them to ask anything they want they always like to ask you the most bizarre

crazy thing to try to trick trip you up and i always say that's okay you can trip me up i'll

just make something up and you'll believe me right no no i said i don't know give me a second but i

can say this at every time that i do a question answer time question is always asked why do bad

things happen to good people every time this is not like a oh i half the time no every time a

student will say why do bad things happen to good people and that's really what psalm 73 is

discussing asking the question god i've been righteous yet these people have done bad things

and you're blessing them and i'm dealing with difficulties why and it doesn't just

stay there asap is dealing with a moment of despair and doubt he's wrestling to this passage

he's having a a crisis of faith i realize you may be sitting here this morning in a very similar

crisis and i'm glad you're here i'm glad you got out of your bed i'm glad you got in your car i'm

glad you drove here this morning or maybe you are joining us online in a similar crisis i'm glad you

clicked on the link because i think i'm afraid this i know this morning's message will be perfect

for you not because i've written not because i preached it because god works through asap and

sound in psalm 73 and i believe it will be applicable for your life this morning psalm 73

verses 1 through 3 begins truly god is good to israel to those who are pure in heart but as for

me my feet had almost stumbled my steps

nearly slipped for i was envious in the arrogant of the arrogant when i saw the prosperity of the

wicked here the author shares his doubts and struggles with open honesty i'll say this this

morning the church should be a place that you can struggle with your doubts with honesty the

church should be a place that you can battle through struggles and ups and downs the church

is a place where we are called to care and love for one another as we

we've battled through them because each and every one of us have found ourselves at a place of going

god i don't understand you feel far away where are you at the church should be an authentic place

because god ordained and created us to need one another christianity is not a a silo mission

it's not like hey i've got this all on my own no to worship god to learn and live for god we've

been given a team and that's called the church the body of christ but here the author says

author wrestles with three doubts. And I can imagine some of you sitting in this room are

maybe chewing, dealing, battling through some of these or have battled. The first doubt he deals

with is God really good? Verse one, he says, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in

heart. But then he says, but as for me, which is interesting because he's a part of Israel,

he's a Levite. My feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. What are you saying?

You ready? Yeah, God, you've been good to them, but I don't see it or feel it. God, are you,

are you really good? Or maybe you've come on this Sunday morning or maybe you come on a different

Sunday morning and you go, wow, those people with smiles on the stage, they're singing songs. They

they're singing about the goodness of God. That's, that's cool. That's, that's great. But I don't

feel it. I don't even see it. If they knew what was going on in my life, they wouldn't smile.

They wouldn't laugh. They wouldn't sing. There's no joy in that. See Aesop in this desperation

says, God, are you?

You're really good. I told you this morning, it'd be really blatant and honest with you because

I think every single one of us have found ourselves in that spot of going, God,

but why? That doesn't seem good to me. Feet had slipped. I was stumbling. Where are you at? Are

you good? See, that's the first doubt. The second doubt, he has a crisis of comparison. Verse three,

he said,

I was envious of the arrogant.

I read this week.

I thought it was an interesting illustration.

It said, do you want to make a child happy?

Give them a piece of candy.

You want to make a child, that same child miserable,

give all their siblings candy and not them.

I thought, oh, that's an interesting perspective.

But we live in a life of comparison, right?

Keeping up with the Joneses is an American thing.

Well, they got this car, this, they drive this.

They live in that house.

They make this much money.

They wear those things.

They do this.

They get to go on that vacation.

Man, I think social media has created this even further.

We get to see everyone's highlight reels.

Well, I want to live that highlight reel.

Well, you know what?

You don't know what else is going on in their lives.

See, the author is going, I was envious of the arrogant.

He became envious of the wrongdoers.

He became envious of the world.

Lived a life of comparison.

Found myself over the last couple of weeks,

living this life, watching television

or something like that.

Seeing on TV, you see the New York Knicks

are playing the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA finals.

And they got a celebrity row.

I don't know if you've seen this.

And celebrity row in the sports.

And some of you are like, I don't care what I'm,

you'll get there, all right?

The celebrity row is all the front row

and the second row, third row.

Like, man, that would be cool to live there.

Man, I wish I could go sit on that.

You find yourself comparing, you're like,

why can't I have that?

Why can't I do that?

You live in a,

in a crisis of comparison.

That's what he's dealing with,

is doubts of going, God, are you really good?

Like, they have all these things.

I like, I wish I could have that.

And then he goes one step further with doubts.

The end of verse three,

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

That word prosperity is a Hebrew word,

is shalom, which means peace.

The word peace or shalom

is well-being or wholeness.

So the writer here of Psalm 73

is viewing the wicked of having peace

Wholeness or fulfillment.

Even one step further, he's saying,

God, you seemingly are blessing them

and they're finding peace or fulfillment.

Do you realize what they've done?

They don't deserve that.

And so these doubts begin to spiral.

The author in Psalm 73,

it doesn't just stay there.

The author, Aesop, begins to bring evidence

or receipts to God with his doubts.

He goes, hey, these are what I,

things I'm seeing,

but let's, let's take it one step further.

And he gives them six specific observations

in verses four through 12.

See, verses four, he says,

they have no pangs until death.

That simply means they have no struggles.

They live on easy street.

The end of verse four,

their bodies are fat and sleek.

In our culture, that may not be a good receipt,

but in this culture, fat and sleek simply means,

and I'm not describing myself there, all right?

That was terrible, sorry.

Fat and sleek was a sign of wealth

and they had plenty to eat.

Again, they had no worries.

They lived on easy street.

They had plenty to eat.

Everyone else is struggling.

Everyone else is battling.

It keeps going.

They are not in trouble as others are.

They're not stricken like the rest of mankind.

That simply means they have it better than everyone else.

See, these doubts happen.

God, are you really good?

I'm comparing my life to other people

and then the good things are happening to these bad people.

They've created doubts and now I'm going,

God, here's the evidence.

Here's the evidence.

God, they don't have any struggles.

They got plenty of wealth.

They don't have any troubles.

They got it better than everyone else.

He keeps going.

He says, therefore, pride is their necklace.

Violence covers them as a garment.

You know what he's saying here?

They don't even hide their wickedness.

You know what?

pride is a necklace. They wear it. Who cares? I'm glad I got a good life. And you don't. The violence

covers them as a garment. They wear it. They don't even hide it. It doesn't stop there. Two more. He

says their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. This is describing

arrogant, wealthy people who are consumed by their own luxury and self-importance. And then the last

couple of verses, they take it one step further. And this is what throws the author of Psalm 73

way off. This is what really doubles down his doubts. They blaspheme God. They mock God. They

get away with it. To the right of Psalm 73 is going, God, like these good things are happening

to these people. Okay. All right. I don't like it, but you know what? They're arrogant. They're

arrogant with their sin. They live it out. They don't even hide it. And you're still blessing

them. God, I don't understand. Why are you doing these things? And what makes it worse is they

mock you, God. They point their fingers at you. You think they're more powerful, God. Why don't

you just strike them down? He doesn't say that, but that's what I think he's thinking. Show them

who's God. And so these doubts that he's living with, these wastes that he's living with, he has

these receipts and he's going, God, this just doesn't make sense. And so now you can really

look at those, those questions that I brought up that, that he asked, why do sinners,

seem blessed while saints suffer? Is God really good? Why bother to even try? Maybe I should be

better off joining the wicked. And then what makes worse is verse 12. Behold, these are the wicked,

always at ease. They increase in riches. I asked you this, this question this morning,

is there anything more frustrating than seeing the arrogance of someone who deserves punishment?

Is there anything like that? You know, like you did, you got no idea what's coming to you.

If you know, like, maybe you're a justice person. You're like, you're a scorekeeper.

Like that's you. You're like, Hey, guess what? I have already planted that seed. God, like you,

you, you know, you saw that. Maybe it's a boss. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a neighbor that

you don't like. Maybe it's somebody you're like, man, like God, like you, you, you need to show

that person what's up. See in this, the author of Psalm 73, see they rejected God. They've seemed

at peace. They had prosperity, popularity, all the blessings God had promised to us.

Lean backwards. Verse 13 and 14, all in vain. I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence

for all the day long. I have been stricken rebuked every morning. See, I think this is the low point

of Psalm 73. And I think if we're all honest in here, many of us have found ourselves in the spot

more than we want to admit. What's the use? What's the use? All in vain. I had sought to live for the

Lord. It was worthless. I was thinking of practical what that actually looked like in my life. And I'm

thinking, okay, there's been times that, uh, I have tried to, to lose weight and exercise. I don't

know if you've been there, but trying to get into exercise and you find yourself getting like week

two, week three, week four, you're like, oh, I'm doing great. And then all of a sudden the Baskin

Robbins is on the right-hand side and you find yourself getting a large chocolate shake and you

can't figure out why you did that. And then afterwards you go all in vain. It was a waste.

That's just you. That's just me. You don't deal with those things. Okay. All in vain. It was all

worthless. I walked out on your spiritual walk. I walked out on your spiritual walk. I walked out on

spiritual walk and you're trying to live for the Lord. You look at somebody.

And you're like, man, I've been trying to live for the Lord.

I've been coming to church every Sunday.

I haven't missed a Sunday in 365 days.

Man, I go to growth communities.

I give to you, God.

I'm praying every day.

I'm reading the Bible.

I'm trying to live for you.

And everything in my life seems to be falling apart.

Then I look across the street.

I see that person who, you know what?

They live so worldly.

Man, the things that they do.

And yet they're experiencing the prosperity of this life.

They're getting all these blessings.

And God, I don't like it.

It doesn't make sense.

It shouldn't be like that.

It is backwards.

It's what Psalm 73 says.

The author of Psalm 73 is taking it so much far.

It's going, I've done it all in vain.

It was worthless.

I should just go live the way they live and experience the things that they've experienced.

That's the low spot.

That's if you call it rock bottom of where doubts will lead you.

He's processing them.

But in this chapter, I'm so thankful for Psalms because I think it gives us a

real blueprint of how to practically navigate them because I think each and

every one of us has dealt with moments like this where we'll look on TV or

we'll look on social media or we'll see someone else experiencing these things

and we'll almost tally a score short and go, God, this doesn't make sense.

God, this is backwards.

And so in verse 16, he gives us a way to process this.

Processing our doubts.

He says, but then.

But when I thought how to understand this, that is such a great, great thing.

So he didn't seek to allow his feelings to direct and guide him.

He didn't allow his heart to speak into these truths.

What did he do?

I thought how to understand this.

This just, this has to make more sense than it actually is.

It seemed to be a wearisome task.

This is weighty.

This is heavy.

But verse 17 is so, so good.

And I hope this is an unlock moment for.

Someone that deals with doubts.

Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their end.

If you're a note taker, you're a highlighter in a Bible, man, until I went into the sanctuary

of God, you should underline, you should highlight because that is the turning point for Aesop.

And I believe it will be the turning point for you and I and our doubts and our struggles.

And in the valley moments, we must go to the sanctuary of God.

That's not a.

Building that's not a place.

We've been called to go to the throne room of God.

We get to approach the throne of God boldly.

And so God has invited us in with authenticity to say, bring your worries, bring your doubts, bring your weights, bring your concerns, bring your struggles, bring your future, bring your past, bring your present, bring your marriage, bring your kids, bring everything to me.

All those doubts, those words and concern, bring them to me.

My throne is open.

And for you, God has invited us in to the sanctuary.

I want that authentic relationship with God.

That's what he's seeking.

He wants our hearts.

I said this last week.

God is big enough for your doubts.

God is big enough for your struggles.

God is big enough for your anger.

God is big enough for these, these outbursts.

God is bigger, big, big enough for your depression.

God is big enough for your anxiety.

God is big enough for all of these struggles that we deal with.

He wants you and I to bring them to him.

But what happens is just like in Psalm 73, we carry them on our own.

God, like I know, you know, like you've got bigger things to do.

I'm dealing with this on my own.

Like God, like God, like I can handle this.

Guess what?

You can't.

You may be big.

You may be strong.

You may have been a Christian for all your life.

You live for the Lord.

I'm glad you do.

Guess what?

Stop trying to carry yourself.

You're a sin on your own.

Stop trying to do this battle on your own.

Come to the sanctuary of God.

God has invited you in with a real authentic invite that he wants this relationship because

he wants you to be a part of it.

wants to carry this doubt with you. He wants to show himself real. And I've prayed that over

families. I've prayed that over couples. I've prayed that over kids. I've prayed this over the

church. God, I just want you to show yourself real. What am I praying? God, I want you to show

yourself because I know there's people sitting in this room with struggles and doubts and concerns

and battles that they just need a real touch of God in their life right this moment. They feel

teetering. They feel like in verse one, their feet are slipping. We've been invited into the

sanctuary of God. You may grow up in a church where the auditorium was called the sanctuary.

Guess what? This isn't called the sanctuary here. We got a cement floor, right? There's paint on it.

I know the guy who did it. It's me, right? This is the room with a stage and some lights and a

sound system and some chairs and some people. I'm glad we are blessed with a great place to worship

God. But guess what?

The real authentic worship of God is in your heart to him. Let's not be performative like,

hey, you know what? On Sunday morning at 1030, man, that's my place to worship. I'm glad we're

doing that. We've been called to congregate and do that together, but it shouldn't just be on

Sunday morning at 1030. It should be on Monday at 430 when you're driving home from work and

there's construction everywhere. That's your moment of worship. You better be doing that

because you'd be doing something else to those. We're not going to go that far. All right, let's go.

Right. But that's the moment of worship.

That's what the sanctuary of God looks like. He's invited us in. And yet what happens is,

is we don't go. We get so focused on our doubts that they become our identity. We become a skeptic

or we become what Psalms one said. We sit in that seat of the scoffer and we just sit back and scoff

at the things of God rather than approach the throne of God boldly. I think of doubting Thomas,

man, what a, what a terror.

A terrible struggle. Guy made one mistake and he's forever for eternity called, called doubting

Thomas. Like, man, people are going to go up to him. Hey, doubting Thomas is like, stop calling me

that. I'm wonderful. Hopefully we like, we don't like that. That's, that's what I've always thought

that like guys, guys struggled one time. He had a sin. He's like for all of eternity, people are

going to know his doubting Thomas. I'm in my head. And this is, this is for like, they're going to

introduce all the apostles and they're going to introduce miss doubting Thomas. I'm like, what?

No, no, let's, let's remove that. But his breakthrough moment in John chapter,

20 says, my God, my Lord, my God, what happened? He got to touch holes in Jesus, his hands and his

feet and his side. What did he do? He stepped into the very presence of God. And you and I can do the

same thing. We can step into the very presence of God. He's invited us to an open invitation,

his hands inviting us in. And what we do is we have our hands closed and go, no, no, no, no,

God, I'm still with these doubts. No, no, no. I'm coming to you with doubts. I'm giving them to you.

I'm going to touch your hand. I'm going to touch your feet. I'm going to have that breakthrough

moment. The end of Psalms 73 is so good. I, I could have preached the whole message. I thought

so good. I just, it's just so practical for life. Verse 23, nevertheless, I'm continually with you.

You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. And after you receive me to your glory,

whom have I have in heaven, but you, but there's no one, nothing on earth. I have desire beside you.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. It's

just beautiful, beautiful writing. I want to leave you with this morning is verse verses 27 and 28.

So right after Psalm 73 gives us a real practical, not just simply invites us into the sanctuary.

He says, for behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is

unfaithful to you, but ask for me. It is good to be near. I'm going to read that again. But for me,

it is good to be near. I have made the Lord God, my refuge that I may tell of your works.

This is a decision. This is the writer of what 70, or this is the writer of Psalm 73 is doing.

He's not saying, okay, God has made himself my refuge. He's now putting it on us. God,

I am placing you as my refuge so that I can tell everybody of your good works. You're sitting here

thinking, didn't he just bring receipts to God of telling them all the mistakes that God made? He

did. He did earlier in the chapter. But for me, it is good to be near to God. James says in James 4,

draw near to God and he will draw near to you. This morning with your doubts, your struggles,

crisis of faith, I say this to you, approach the throne, draw near to God. For the last five years,

there's a fad or a movement in,

Christianity called deconstruction, men and women deconstructing from their faith. What are they

doing? They're allowing their doubts to destroy their faith, but they're building walls. They're

building fences. I can't figure this out. So I'm out. I say this to you, God is big enough for your

doubts. And this church is as well. You're sitting here with questions. God, I don't understand this.

That's okay. You're not alone. God, this doesn't make sense. I say that more than I want. You're

not alone in those feelings. You're not alone. You're not alone in those feelings. You're not

alone in those struggles. Psalm 73 is real practical for us to really, really walk through

them. And can I say this to you in that moment of despair, of brokenness in your doubt, run to God,

run to God with it. Don't run to the world. Don't run to your feelings, run to God. That's what the

invitation is in Psalm 73. I'm going to give you six practical things. What do I do in those doubts?

First is run to God in prayer.

God, this doesn't make sense. I'm giving this to you. My brain can't comprehend why you do this. God,

I am running to you in prayer. Second is read his word. Bible says faith comes by hearing the

message. The message is heard through the word, the word of God. Third thing is find yourself at

a place of worship, singing out to him, God, I lift you up where you are worthy of our praise.

Fourth thing I mentioned last week is meditation. Meditate on his word,

meditate on the events. God, I'm just sitting here in silence on a walk or in the woods,

sitting here on the couch. My phone, my TV is off and I'm just sitting here. I just want to

hear from you, God. Some of that may be even finding yourself fasting. God, I'm removing

this food. I'm removing this thing from my life because I need to hear from you, God.

Fifth thing, be around other like-minded believers. That's important. Be around other

like-minded believers. It does not mean be around people. If someone's going to fuel those doubts,

you shouldn't be around that person. I'm not saying cut that friendship off,

but you shouldn't allow that voice to speak into your life. Be around like-minded believers,

be a part of a community, be a part of a family asking questions.

Allow someone to speak truth in your life

and allow that truth to break through the doubt.

Lastly, don't let the doubt define you.

Don't let your doubt define you.

Matthew chapter 11, Jesus is out all in his ministry

doing incredible things, been baptized.

He's started doing miracles, preaching messages,

preached the Sermon on the Mount.

Gospels describe that Jesus had a forerunner,

meaning someone that would come before him

that would preach and proclaim and would baptize.

His name was John the Baptist.

Matthew chapter 11, John the Baptist.

Final moments are described in a difficult,

difficult moment of doubt.

It's a crisis of doubt.

I'm gonna read it because the words of Jesus

are way better than Caleb's.

When Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples,

he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

And when they heard John, or when,

now when John heard in prison about the deeds

of Christ, he sent words by his disciples

and said to him, are you the one who is to come

or shall we look for another?

I wanna pause there for a second.

This is John the Baptist, who in his mother's womb

leapt when Jesus and Jesus in Mary's womb

walked in the room.

This is John the Baptist, who was Jesus

walked up to the Jordan River, says,

behold the Lamb of God who's come to take away

the sins of the world.

This is John the Baptist.

This is John the Baptist, who got to baptize Jesus.

This is John the Baptist, who preached and proclaimed.

He lived out in the wilderness.

This is John the Baptist, like a superhero of the faith,

like incredible.

Now going, are you it?

Or is there gonna be another?

Jesus answered them, go and tell John

what you hear and see.

The blind receive their sight and the lame walk.

The lepers are cleansed.

The deaf hear and the dead are raised up

and the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds

concerning John.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

Read shaken by the wind.

What then did you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing.

Behold, those who wear soft clothing are kings in houses.

What then did you go out to see?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is he of whom is written.

Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.

This is what I want you to hear this morning.

Truly I say to you, among those born of women,

there has arisen no one greater than John.

Caleb, he just doubted who Jesus is, was.

Jesus didn't allow his doubts to define him.

Why do you allow your doubts to define you?

Yeah, those doubts are real.

Struggles are real.

There's lots of questions.

There's things in the Bible that you're like,

man, I don't understand this.

Yeah, welcome to the club.

Yeah, there's things that, man, this just doesn't make sense.

God, I don't understand why you do this or don't do this.

Yeah, all those things.

But we must come back to the cornerstone of who God is.

That's why a foundational belief in trusting and having faith in God.

We preached last week in Psalm 62,

trusting in who he is and his timing and his purpose as well.

watch this progression. Yeah, those doubts can distract or deter us from who we are. But I'll

tell you this, he's invited us in. Make him your refuge. Make him your strength. Run to the father

this morning. Can't say all of your doubts will ever go away. I wish I could. John, like, and this

dude was the greatest man born of a woman. I struggled with him. It's our humanity. Humanity.

Don't allow your humanity to take the driver's seat. Find yourself relying and living in the

spirit this morning. Can I pray for you this morning? I'm going to ask you to do this. Bow your head and close

your eyes around the room. Just feel led to pray for you this morning. I have one more song to get you

out of here this morning. But before this, say, Caleb, I feel like you were preaching directly to me

this morning. That's you. Would you do me a favor? Would you put your hand up and put your hand down?

I just want to pray for you. You're not alone. There's hands all around the room. There's hands

all around the room. Thank you. Put it up. Put it down. It's a public proclamation between you and

the Lord. That's it. God, you saw the hands that were raised.

This morning, God, you know, the hearts better yet. God, in this moment on this June Sunday in

2026, God, we come with authentic hearts, realizing each and every one of us battles

and moments. We look at things around us and it doesn't make sense. We read your scriptures and

it doesn't make sense. We're living for you and it just doesn't seem to add up. God, in this moment,

I ask right now that you be real in the situation. You be real in the

hearts for every single person. I know you're already real, God, but God, I just say, you show

yourself. You're faithful, God. We trust you, rely on you, but God, our humanity can be so loud.

Our humanity can blind us. Our humanity can steer us, God. And I come to you as one that

confesses that I've been there way more than I want to admit. But God, in this moment,

I pray for a breakthrough for doubt. I pray for a breakthrough, a crisis of faith. God, I pray

that someone walks away right now, clinging to you, running to you, not just on a Sunday morning

at 1030, but on a Monday and a Tuesday and every other single day this week and next month, next

year. God, when the clouds of doubt come, we know what to do. We can run to you. God, I'm thankful

that you're big enough for our struggles, our doubts. Thank you for showing us that. Thank you

for loving us in spite of them. We praise you. We love you. We honor you. And Jesus,

wonderful God, we pray for you. We pray for you. We love you. We honor you. And Jesus, wonderful God,