How to Disarm… Your Doubts Your Doubts Presented by: Dr. Brent Strawsburg at Los Altos Grace Brethren Church Sunday, April 26, 2015 © 2015 Brent Strawsburg.

How to Disarm…

Your DoubtsPresented by:Dr. Brent Strawsburgat Los Altos Grace Brethren Church Sunday, April 26, 2015

© 2015 Brent Strawsburg www.BrentStrawsburg.com


17A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”….


21Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

Mark 9:17-18, 21-24 NIV


23“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24 NIV


Jesus saw an element of faith…He understood the reality of doubt!


18John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”


So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and

report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind

receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are

cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news

is preached to the poor.Luke 7:22 NIV


Jesus gave John the Baptist evidence.

It was designed to bolster his faith.


Step #1See the Faces of

DOUBT

See the Faces of Doubt

Genetic Rebellious

Disappointed

Intellectual© 2015 Brent Strawsburg www.BrentStrawsburg.com

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=qyqR3fI8ke5YJM&tbnid=xtP0HS7mGxQGPM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://spectrumhealthblogs.org/link-to-pink/2013/12/09/cancer-genetic-counseling-testing/&ei=e6PJU7CABdLhoASCyICACQ&bvm=bv.71198958,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNGkp0cnS7cx1qKZSRtgZN4UmZCH7Q&ust=1405809768946248

Faith and Reason


http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=Y_mZMtmsO10ZOM&tbnid=dtuQldJ3rTuYAM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.cultivatingemotionalbalance.org/&ei=87DJU6GGI9froATnpICwDA&bvm=bv.71198958,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNGV3kOxXGfgsnBc9Wco5UyY-XAlZQ&ust=1405813244002770

…And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

The Role of Faith…


…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

The Role of Reason…


“God has given enough reason in this world to make faith a most reasonable thing. But he has left out enough to make it impossible to live by reason alone.”

-Ravi Zacharias, Absolute Truth in Relative

Terms


KNOWING OUR

FAITH IS TRUE

SHOWING OUR

FAITH IS TRUE

INTERNAL WITNESS

(HOLY SPIRIT)

EXTERNAL WITNESS(REASON/

ARGUMENT) EXTERNAL WITNESS(REASON/

ARGUMENT)

INTERNAL WITNESS

(HOLY SPIRIT) © 2015 Brent Strawsburg www.BrentStrawsburg.com

BALANCE FAITH AND REASON

blind weak timid© 2015 Brent Strawsburg www.BrentStrawsburg.com

Disarm Your Doubts

Verbalize Distinguish


“We tend to think, 'Life should be fair because God is fair.' But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life- by expecting constant good health for example- then I set myself up for crashing disappointment.”

-Philip Yancey,Disappointed with God


Disarm Your Doubts

Resolve MinimizeVerbalize Distinguish


3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV© 2015 Brent Strawsburg www.BrentStrawsburg.com

False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of

the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we

permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas

which prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything

more than a harmless delusion.

J. Gresham Machen


. Find out more about Dr. Brent Strawsburg

and his ministry online at http://BrentStrawsburg.com


http://BrentStrawsburg.com/

How to Disarm… Your Doubts Your Doubts Presented by: Dr. Brent Strawsburg at Los Altos Grace Brethren Church Sunday, April 26, 2015 © 2015 Brent Strawsburg.

Documents

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role of faith

role of reason

t rue s howing o ur

nowing o ur f aith

b alance f aith

r eason blind weak timid

reality of doubt