Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Trusting a God Who Goes Off Script | Book Club | Part 2

Episode Date: June 11, 2023

Do you ever struggle to trust God and believe that He’s good? If He is, why do bad things keep happening in your life? In this message, we're learning how to trust God even when life is hard. ABOUT THIS MESSAGENo one has all the answers. That’s why we need a variety of voices to help us grow. During our series, Book Club, we’ll get fresh perspectives on anxiety, relationships, generosity, and more from people who have been there and wrote the book on it. NEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextCONNECT WITH A PASTORDo you need prayer? Would you like to find out how you can get involved at Life.Church? One of our pastors would love to meet with you. Schedule a video call with a pastor: https://www.life.church/meetwithusABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.churchFind locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/appFIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LCNowCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/craiggroeschelFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #alberttate Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I live in Southern California now, but I grew up in Mississippi, and my mother and her mother just had the gift of hospitality. As a matter of fact, one of my fondest memories growing up in Mississippi is waking up on Sunday morning and just counting down to Sunday dinner. Now, Sunday dinner didn't start at night. It started around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, but by the time we got done, it was nighttime because we would, I mean, we would eat, laugh, talk, sleep. eat back again, Gray's laugh, talks, and then they bring out the pound cake, and then we'll eat again. So, like, it was just an experience.

We would just lean in. And my mom and my grandmother, they just had the gift of hospitality. As a matter of fact, at my grandmother's house, she had a whole room set aside for when company came over that kids couldn't even go in.

Anybody know the room, like an abandoned room, like you can't. I used to go to the edge of the room as a kid and look around and think, one day, I'm going to come in here, and sit down, man. I'm going to be right in here. You know what I mean? We had a room cut off. Usually that was the room that had the couch with the plastic steel on it. Anybody, oh, come on,

can I get a plastic couch witness up in here? Anybody know what I'm talking about? Like the couch, it came with the plastic, and mama said, hey, that's how we're going to preserve it for 100 years. We're going to keep that plastic on there. It was that room. And then I grew up when we had the kids' table, the kids table, which was actually pretty funny. You got your own table, on set up. It just got weird when you was like 17 and you were still at the kids' table. It was like, I'm watching my three-year-old cousins now. Come on, ma. But it was like restricted table, restricted room, all in the midst of great hospitality. When I think about God and the hospitality that he provides for us, he says, come to the table and feast there on my love, my joy, my grace, my compassion. And God is just known for his beautiful hospitality, how he invites us in.

But unfortunately, I think there's become, in our culture and in our society, closed off rooms even in the midst of open hospitality. Like there are rooms that we as Christians created a culture that even though God's hospitality is big, we act like there's closed off rooms. Like rooms that we just don't. We can't go in there as a Christian. We can't go in there. these rooms are usually marked by areas of unbelief and doubt we've got a we've got this dynamic of this thing that if you're a Christian and if you if you if you got unbelief oh don't you go in there woo mofasa say it again woo no my vassas like like don't go in there or if you're a Christian you got doubts like you're struggling with God or struggling with believing God oh don't you don't sit down at that table no no no no no and it forces us into this posture

to where we take our doubts outside of the hospitality of God, or we just do even worse and just pretend like we don't have them. We've got unbelief, but don't nobody else look like they got an unbelief, so I ain't going to talk about my unbelief. One of the worst postures you can take with your theology with God is fake it till you make it. That may work in some areas, you know what I mean? But with God? No, because the very essence of the call is to show up authentically right where you are.

That's why I love the guy Jesus was talking to, the dad in the text who had a son who was possessed with demons. And the dad encountered Jesus. And Jesus says, basically he propositioned them and says, do you believe? Basically, what's implied is that I can heal your son. Dad, do you believe? And I love the dad's answer. The dad's like, yes, I believe. but help my unbelief. Say what? Like, did you hear what he, sir, you just contradicted yourself?

Like you just said, I believe, but then he says in the same breath, but help my unbelief. What he's trying to get us to see is that belief in unbelief can dwell in the same house, can sit in the same temple, can sit in the same mind, can sit in the same situation. And I relate to that. There's something, yes, I believe, I haven't lost all. Oh, yes, I believe, but if I'm honest, the dad would say, I've seen some things happen to my boy that's caused me to question your goodness. The text would show that his son was literally tormented by demonic forces, and they would take him and throw him in fire, and then bring him out, and throw him in fire.

Can you imagine being a dad and seeing your boy, dad? that traumatized and terrorized and you can't do anything about it? So he said, yeah, God, I haven't given up all hope, but I've seen some things that's challenged in my face. I've seen some things that I just can't make sense of. I've seen some things that I don't think is right. I've seen some things that I just don't agree with. So yes, I know you're here, but it's that thing. It's that thing. I know Jesus didn't cause bad things to happen, but he allowed it. Like in his sovereignty, he allowed it. I've seen you remove cancer from other people, but in our family, you didn't remove it. So yeah, I believe you. I got some unbelief. I got some doubts. I got some areas where in your sovereignty, you've allowed for.

things that have just been hard to swallow God. So I can't just show up and act like I'm all in. Because in one sense, I am, but in the real sense, I'm not. I struggle with your sovereignty in the things that you've allowed to let happen in my life. And how do we process that? What do you do with that? What do you do with God when he allows this stuff to happen? What I love is he says to the man, come on, and he heals his boy. Jesus is saying, you can follow me with unbelief. You know the best way to wrestle with God is with God.

It's like wrestle with him. Leave the church. That's not the time. So lean in with him. You know the best way to process it? It's with him. Because when you process it with him, you will discover that he is much way less interested

in the answers to your prayers than you may realize. Did he just say that? Well, Craig, where do you get this guy from? This is the most depressing sermon I've ever heard in my life. I'm feeling discouraged already. No, I just think, y'all, I think we put a really big deal, a lot of pressure on God answering our prayer. And we spend a lot of time trying to get the right answer from God.

We spend a lot of time trying to get the right answer. Some of you got it all listed out and you're just waiting on God to fill in the blank. You already know how long the answer is. You got two phrases. God, I got a two-word answer coming from you. I already got the blank in my journal. You just fill those in and we'll be good. And God's like, what if I'm not interested in filling in your blanks?

What if I'm not sitting in heaven freaking out trying to make sure I get your blanks feel this week? It's kind of like this. When I was in school, I was terrible at math. As a matter of fact, I went to Bible college. I took the book of numbers as a class, and that was my math requirement. That was it. I was done. That's the last time I see numbers in school. Give me some Hebeka, please. You know what I mean? But I still remember struggling with math and being a kid. kid working on my homework and my math book just fell open to the back of the book. And I noticed in the back of the book. So, yo, my homework game went through the roof. You know what I'm saying? I'm sorry, game in a way to influence or entice the listener into hearing me. My game went through

the roof. So I just start turning my homework and just killing. You know, I'm just killing it, killing. And my teacher, about two weeks in, I know that Ms. Olive, Ms. Oliver, she says, Albert, can I say you after class? And I said, yes, ma'am, you can, because that's what A students do. They hang out with the teacher after class. I'll see y'all later. Me and Ms. Oliver got a meeting after class. So we're talking. She says, Albert, I notice your homework grades have really grown up. I said, I'm glad you noticed. They have. He said, well, you're doing a good job. I said, well, Ms. Oliver, really? you're a great teacher. Your influence on me has been so significant. You're doing a good job. I'm looking forward to teacher appreciation to appreciate you. You have influenced me. And then she says, yeah,

but I had a question. I said, okay. She says, I notice that you've been putting the right answers, but I haven't seen you show any of your work. And I said, huh? She says, yeah, Albert, I know you think it's a big deal to have the right answers, and that's important, but it may surprise you to know that I am actually much more interested in your work, your process, your how did you get to the right answer? Because having the right answer is one thing, but me seeing your work lets me know that you are comprehending and understanding how the mathematical problem works. I'm looking for your analysis.

I'm looking for your work. I'm looking for your journey to the answer, and that's more valuable to me than the actual answer. If y'all get it early, I won't have to preach as long. God is saying, I'm way less interested in your answer, and I'm much more interested in our journey together, our process together, what we've discovered, because that shows your comprehension of my grace and my love, because I'm not interested in filling the blank in your journal. I'm interested in filling the whole in your life, And I want to walk with you. I want to walk with you.

I want to go with you. So he says, bring your unbelief. Bring your doubts. Bring your questions. We should all doubt like Thomas. I love the way Thomas doubt. Thomas gets a bad rap. Probably be talking about like he the only one

that had doubts. All of them disciples was up in that room, scared to death. He was the only one that had the courage to say something. They was all up there locked up. If y'all didn't have no doubts, why the door locked? Why we ain't walking around?

You know what I mean? They're all in there to do lock. They're, oh, what's going to happen? Thomas was like, I got doubts. They're like, ooh, Thomas, I can't believe you said that. The best way to doubt is in community. Doubt with other people that love Jesus too. And I love with his doubts.

He didn't look for a way away from Jesus. He was actually looking for Jesus. He literally said, I got doubts. Where Jesus at? Like, bring me Jesus. And he had specific. He was like, tell Jesus, show. me the hole in his hand, then I believe. That's how accurate his doubt was. In my spiritual

imagination, I see Jesus being restored in his glorified body. And I just imagine some angels came to minister to him, you know? And I mean, because his body was all like, and they're putting his body back together and getting the beautiful. And I'd imagine they get to his hands and get ready to close the hands. And Jesus like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Leave that, leave that. Jesus, why would we, we got everything else? Why would we leave the holes in your hand? And he was like, you know Thomas, he's going to need to see this for him to believe. You know, he's going to have some questions. As a matter of fact, leave both of them open and I'll just keep an area to be good. I'll make it work, you know what I mean? But leave both of these open.

And when he saw Thomas and Thomas sitting there with all those doubts, he says, here, Thomas, I made a way for your doubts. I got a grace for your doubts. I already thought about you and the doubts you bring and I already made a way for you. So I guess as we get into this conversation, would you please bring your doubts? Bring your unbelief. Because we got a God that already made a way for your doubts and your unbelief. Book of Exodus, we see the children of Israel. They've come out of Egypt, out of the bondage of Pharaoh. They've been, been guided literally by the hand of God on dry land through the Red Sea. God has done amazing things for them.

And now they're in the wilderness. And Moses is up in the mountain with God, and they're doing that thing, which would inevitably become the Ten Commandments. They're up there, but our text begins with them saying, they're waiting on God, but he's taking too long. And they get tired of waiting on God. so they're waiting. By the way, what do you do when he takes too long?

What do you do when God's timing just isn't your timing? He takes too long. And they said, we don't know what didn't happen to them. Aaron, build us a new God. Build us a new God because we don't know what has happened to him. You know, we talk in church a lot about when God showed up just in time. We got a whole lot of red sea moments. when I needed a breakthrough Thursday at 2 o'clock and Jesus came Thursday at 159.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord. We have these songs where we talk about God healing our bodies when I needed the tumor to shrink and I went to the doctors and the tumor was smaller than ever before. The tumor was gone. Praise Jesus. We think about the heart. We talk about when I needed money to pay that bill and money just showed up in my bank account right there. I can't even explain it and my bill was paid.

Praise the Lord. But where are the songs that talk about when God didn't show us? up just in time. I needed him Thursday at 2 o'clock and now it's the following Wednesday and I've heard nothing. What about the moments when I needed the tumor to get smaller and I went back and the thing had gotten bigger and it began to spread? What do you do in the times when I needed the bill paid and I didn't get the money and now I'm sitting in the dark and my lights are out because I can't pay my bills? What do you do with a God who does his own thing? What do you do? What do you do? do with a God who goes off script?

What do you do with a God who refuses to follow your to-do list? I mean, your prayer list. What do you do with the disobedient God? God who refuses to surrender his will for yours. If you're anything like the children of Israel, what do you do? You replace him. They said, they said, we don't know what's happening to this, God. Let's replace him.

build us a golden calf because we want a God that we can push around. We want a God that we can dictate where he goes and how he goes and how he shows up. You've got to ask yourself the question, where did this come from? Why a golden calf? It came from Egypt. In Egypt, this plurality of gods would have been common. They would have had gods for different things, different experiences. So creating another God was nothing.

So although they had come out of Egypt, Egypt hadn't quite come out of them. Egypt was still in them. And they reached for what was familiar instead of trusting the one who had been faithful. Soon as God acted a little funny, they went back to what was familiar. Soon as God didn't answer the prayer like they wanted it to be answered, they went right back to what was familiar. It's amazing to me, lest we judge this. them too quickly, how quickly Egypt rises up in all of us. This is amazing to me how, although I've come out of that, as soon as I get frustrated with God, I kind of go right back to that. It just

kind of amazes me how Egypt just kind of rises up. It's kind of like this. Let me get some help. Bring me a chair. You're right there on the end. Would you come help me out? Come help me out. Y'all. Y'all, give him a hand as he comes. Come on. Give me a chair. Come on. What's your name? Quentin? All right, Quentin? All right, Quentin? You are God. All right? Quentin? You sit in the chair here, and this is what we do. We say, God, being thrown in my life. This is my life. God, I want you in control.

I want you in, it's like, oh, God, I love you. I bow down at you, God, being thrown in my life. God, you are worthy of it all. You are just, God, I thank you so much, God. My life is, oh, since I, since you've been on the throne, my life, I've been so good, God. Everything's been going so great. As a matter of fact, I got more peace than ever before.

God, you've just been so faithful, God. You've just been so good, God. God, we got this thing going on. God, we make a great tag team. Hit that. Come on now. God is just, God, is just so good. God, thank you so much.

Oh, Lord, my boss called me in. Lord, Jesus. Lord, Lord, am I getting to losing my job? I just got this health insurance. Lord, help me out. What did that? This is meeting. Oh, oh, I've been doing a good job.

I'm getting a raise. Oh, praise God. God, you are so good. God, thank you so much. God, we made it through that crisis. We're so good. God, you're just so faithful. I just trust you so much. Oh, I got a doctor's appointment. Oh, my test results. Oh, Lord, I can't, I just got this insurance and I already got to use it, Lord. Oh, oh, oh, it's just a minor outpatient surgery. Nothing else wrong. Everything, everything's going to be all right. Oh, praise the Lord. God, you're so good. God, who, you're just so faithful, Lord. I'm so, I love journeying with you and just what it means for me to just trust you completely. God, I'm tired of being single. Lord, would you help me?

I want a wife. Hold on. Let me pick her out first. Oh, yeah, Sheila. I like Sheila. Lord, would you bless me and Sheila? Would you help us to have a good relationship, Lord? Sheila's nice.

I love Sheila. I feel I'm buying the ring, Lord. Yeah, I think we're going to get married, Lord. I think, Lord, would you just bless me and Sheila been working out? Oh, Lord, Sheila crazy. Look familiar at all? See how quickly Egypt just rises up? See how quickly we say, God, we want you on the throne, but we're real quick to move you.

This relationship with this God is not a negotiation. It's not a co-ownership. He requires full surrender. And he says, I want to completely be enthroned in your life. Amen? Thank you, Quentin. Good job, bro. The children of Israel was so quick to replace God.

It was so quick to replace Him. and it's fascinating. Notice what happens. Aaron says they reached for their gold. Huh. They reached for their gold, but they were longing for God. They were longing for God, but they were longing for God, but they reached for gold, which then begs the question. what are you longing for and what are you reaching for and do you know the difference? Do you know the difference? Oftentimes we're longing for intimacy but we'll reach for pornography. You're reaching for more money but you're longing for security that could really only come from God. You're longing for peace, but you're reaching for sleeping pills because you're numbing yourself, thinking that that's where you're going to find rest only to wake up emotionally just as tired as you were before.

Because the kind of rest that you're longing for is the rest that only comes from God. But you're reaching for more alcohol. You're reaching for more food. You're reaching for things to kind of check out. But you're longing for the shalom that can only come from God. You're going from one relationship to another relationship to another relationship thinking that if I could just get somebody to hold my body, then I'll be comforted. But you're longing for the comfort that can only come from the presence of the Holy Spirit because only he can bring healing to the deepest desires and longings of your soul. What are you reaching for? What are you longing for? What does it mean to step back and pay attention

so that you can know the difference? When God goes off script, when God puts you in a situation or circumstance that you didn't see coming, when he shows up in a way that you would have never planned, never scheduled, you never would have put this in your story. But something has happened, and now this is a part of your story, what's your reaction?

Do you replace him? Do you start reaching for other things? Do you start reaching for what's familiar at the cost of the one who has been faithful? The admonishment, the encouragement. What do you do with the disobedient God? Reach for him. I pray that your longings and your reachings would collide. And in that collision, you would know that I was made to long for God.

So my reach needs to be willed to the heart and passion of God. David says it like this, one thing have I desired, and that will I seek after. Did you see it? One thing have I desired, one thing if I long for, and that will I reach after? That I'll be where he is, that I dwell in the house of the Lord and see his beauty, engaging in his temple, and allowing who he is to daily shape who I. I am. And I get to come to him, frustration and all, doubts and all. See, we think doubt is the opposite of faith. No doubt is the result of faith. You don't believe me? Ask an atheist how much

they doubt. They don't doubt at all because they don't believe at all. They ain't sitting around saying, oh, I've got so many doubts about God. They're saying, I don't believe in them at all. They ain't got no doubts. The fact that you're doubting means that you got belief. The fact that you're doubting means that you're still wrestling. That means you're still in there. You still believe. So reach for him. In your doubts, reach for him.

In your frustration, in your disbelief, reach for him. One thing if I desire. I ain't reaching for nothing else, but the thing I desire. And God, that's you. And I'm coming. flaws in all. And he says,

I've been waiting on you. Here are the holes. Here's my hand. Put the back of the book away. This is not a time for answers. It's a time for my presence. And in my presence, you will begin to experience the fullness.

Because it was never found in the answers. It was always found. So what do you do with the disobedient God? You trust him. You reach for him. Because he's the one that's been reaching for you this whole time

for his glory. All right, church, come on, we can do better than that. Let's tell Albert, thank you. Let's tell God. Thank you. And, um, pastor sincerely, thank you for encouraging our church with the word from God. those of you around the world online at all of our churches,

let's just take a moment and reach out to God in prayer. Father, we thank you for that word that builds our faith, even when we struggle in our faith, even when we have faith to believe, and we still have doubts. Holy Spirit, do a war as we reach out to you today. At all of our churches, those of you around the world online, I wonder how many of you have something in your life right now that maybe isn't what you wanted.

Maybe something that you don't understand. Maybe you've even asked God and prayed for something different and you know that he can and you believe that he will and he hasn't. You're wrestling right now, perhaps. Maybe you're even struggling in your faith. There's an unanswered prayer. There's an unmet need. There's an unfulfilled desire. today, if there's something like that in your life,

and you want to reach out to God, even in the middle of a faith struggle, even in the middle of a broken heart, if you're praying for something, believing for something, you haven't seen it yet, and you still have the faith to reach out to him. Would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up all over the place.

Online, you can just type in the comment section, I'm reaching out to God, I'm reaching out to God. I'll lift up my hand right now because there's a couple of unanswered prayers. God hasn't done what I know he can do, and I'm hoping that he will do, but I'm still reaching out to him. So, Father, today, we reach out to you in faith, believing you're always a good God. We trust you, God. We choose to trust you with all of our hearts, and not to lean on our own understanding, but God, we acknowledge you, we look to you, and all of our own.

of our ways, believing God, you're always good, you're always faithful, your heart is always pure, you're always righteous, even working in all things, even the things we don't understand, to bring about good, God, because we love you and we're called according to your purpose. I pray God that our faith, that we'd hold on to you, that we would believe, and even if we don't fully believe,

God help us in our unbelief. Thank you for a message that gives us permission to have faith in you and even struggle. at times in that faith. We hold on to you. We trust you, God. We reach out to you. And we pray for miracles.

God, we pray for miracles. And we put our trust in you. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, some of you may say, God is not on the throne of my heart. If I sit in the chair, if you want to open your eyes, you can open your eyes.

and close them again in a moment. But if there is a throne, you're in the throne right now. You're saying, I want my way, my will. And there is a different way, there's a better way. What I want you to understand is that God loves you more than you could ever imagine. And in his love for you, he became like you. He sent his son Jesus. Why did he send Jesus?

He sent Jesus because we've all messed up. We've all sinned. We've all fallen short. We've done things that we feel bad about. We feel ashamed of. And in his love, God came to us. us in the person of his son, Jesus. And Jesus was perfect in every way. He gave his life. He died. Three days later, God raised him from the dead. And now anyone who calls on his name, anyone,

your sins will be forgiven. You'd be made completely brand new. And now Jesus, the risen Christ, sits right by God on the throne. And the way we are forgiven is to dethrone ourselves and to put him on the throne of our lives. To say, Jesus, we need. need you. We call on you. We're not saved by our own goodness. We're not saved by our righteousness. We're saved by His faithful. Consider those of you today, it's time to take yourself off the throne. It's time to repent of your sins. It's time to call on, to reach out to the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus. At his name one day, every knee will bow and every one time will confess that he is the Lord of all, wherever you're watching from today, those of you that you're not

walking with him, you're not journeying with him. God brought you here today for this moment. It's not an accident. It's not a coincidence. It's by his divine love. So what do you do? You step away from your sin. You step toward him. You surrender. You dethrone yourself. You call on him as Lord today at all of our campuses.

Everybody in prayer, nobody looking around. Those who say, I need his grace. I surrender. Jesus, take my life. I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place, lift them up and say yes.

Praise God for you as we've got people today and all of our churches calling on him. Online, just type in the comment section. I am surrendering my life to Jesus. type that in the comment section and we're going to pray wherever you are pray heavenly father forgive my sins Jesus save me be the lord of my life you are on the throne i surrender to you fill me with your spirit so i could know you and serve you and follow you be the king of my life Thank you for new life.

I give you all of mine. In Jesus' name I pray because somebody celebrate. Somebody welcome those born into the family of God.