Oak Hill Church of Christ 10-15-23 Message: "Escape from the Valley of the Shadow of Doubt"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the importance of finding hope in the story of Jesus and his Resurrection.

Having doubts is a big part of the human condition. As rational creatures, we understand that sometimes things don't always go the way we want them to. We've seen our share of things that we wanted desperately to go a certain way turn out to be tragedies. We've been hurt by the losses that have come out of having hope, only to find that hope deliver crushing disappointment.

We protect ourselves by coming up with fallback strategies, and sometimes, we protect ourselves by planning for the worst, leaving the idea of hope for little children on Christmas Eve, because it has no place in the life of grown-ups.

Jesus points out to his followers after the Resurrection that the problem man has with hope is that our experiences come from the fallen world around us. Jesus challenges his friends to consider that the realm of Heaven has hope in abundance, because God is perfect and incapable of failure. Doubt is an unknown word in the spiritual realm where even demons believe and tremble.

Jesus invites us to consider placing our trust in a God who always keeps His promises, believing in Jesus' Resurrection and the promise of eternal life, and leaving our doubt cast aside on the fallen world where it belongs.