I Got Questions | Jake Vayda

This week, we kicked off our series The Benefit of Doubt by looking at the story of Thomas in John 20. We were reminded that doubt doesn’t have to be a dead end—it can be a doorway to deeper faith. 

We saw that doubt is part of being human, that faith can bend without breaking, and that our questions don’t disqualify us from following Jesus. Instead of pushing people away, Jesus meets us right in the middle of our doubts with compassion and truth. 

The invitation is simple: don’t hide your questions—bring them to Jesus. Because when you do, what feels like uncertainty can become the beginning of a stronger, more honest faith. 

Transcript

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Have you ever tried to help, but you actually hurt somebody? In 1985, Coca-Cola tried to help. They completely rebranded their OG flavor called Coca-Cola Classic. And they thought this would really help their brand. It would help kind of refresh things. So they did taste tests. I mean, the scientists had found out the perfect formula. And they released it, and everybody hated it. Actually, in fact, 40,000 complaints in 89 days came into Coca-Cola. So much so that even though they invested millions and millions and millions of dollars, they had to take it all back and say, never mind, we're gonna go back to the original flavor. Does anyone remember that? 1985? Anyone? Yes, I love, I love that. Coca-Cola, I mean, this is uh this is where helping hurts. Maybe you've experienced this. In fact, sometimes even Christians can try to help, but it actually just makes things worse. In fact, maybe you've gone through something. Maybe you've had a serious doubt, and a Christian said, the Bible said it, I believe it, and that settles it. I don't know if that really helped. I kind of call these bumper sticker theology, right? It really looks good on the back of a car, but not when you're talking to someone who's really struggling. Or maybe you say everything happens for a reason. And it's kind of hard to say that to someone who just lost their child. Or maybe someone says, let go and let God. That's hard if someone's dangling on the side of a cliff. I mean, you just it doesn't really work if it's a refrigerator magnet. It's something more than that when it comes when helping hurts. Have you ever experienced that? Because the reality is, a lot of us have questions and doubts that a simple saying might not solve. And this might be bad news for some of you of saying, I don't doubt. Someone in your life does. Maybe it's the spouse as you're driving home and they just randomly say, I don't believe in God anymore. Maybe it's your kid that comes home from college or comes home from school and and now they believe something completely different because they have uh a heavy influence with a friend, or or maybe it's a sibling who's deconstructing their faith. At some point, someone in your life doubts. I have questions, is something you'll hear not only from yourself, but the people that you love. In fact, I believe there are three types of doubts that are in this room right now. And I want to go over these three doubts, and maybe you find yourself in one of these specific ones. The first type of doubt, I don't get it. Maybe you ran across what you think is a contradiction in the Bible. Maybe there's a belief that you can't really reconcile that you saw on TikTok, but it doesn't make sense. I don't get it. Or maybe you have a it's not right. You see a war going on, injustice. Maybe you had a friend who you prayed for who had cancer and they passed away. Maybe you had a friend who's addicted and that prayer hasn't been answered yet to something. What happens when your prayer is it's just not right? And then there's a third type of doubt. And this is the I'm still hurting. Maybe it's not someone you know that's suffering, maybe it's you. It's the thing that can't get resolved, it's the money that God hasn't provided, it's the hurt from a pastor that you did have, it's I'm still hurting. It's not right, and I don't get it. These are the three types of doubts that often come. But here's what makes it worse. You could, you could be in worship, right? God, I'm just grateful for you, right? You're just singing, you're just like, I'll get it. And then all of a sudden you're like, I'm just raising my hand, like, is God even listening, right? Like, is this actually a cult? Does God actually answer my prayer? Like, all of a sudden, these doubt and missiles start coming, and you're like, what happened? Like, where are you? You're like decimated, and you're like, I'm trying to worship God, and here's the worst part. You have these doubt missiles in the midst of worship, and then you feel like you're crazy. And then you want to turn to your friend and say, Man, I'm struggling. And you think they're gonna be like, Well, you're deconstructing your entire faith? Oh, I don't know if I want to be friends with you. I I mean, I have this question, oh, like, man, they're they're really struggling. Like, uh, do you have faith? Like, do you believe in God anymore? All of a sudden, you have questions and you don't have a safe place to ask them. This is the statement I want to talk about today. If you're taking notes, it's I have a question, and I don't have a safe place to ask them. This is why we're doing this new series called The Benefit of the Doubt. In this series, we're talking about how doubt can actually be a doorway to a greater faith. But I believe your doubt can be a doorway to a greater faith. We are a Bible-believing, Bible preaching church. And if you're a first-time guest, man, I'm so glad you're here. Maybe you're joining online for the first time, you're outside on the patio. Uh man, as we jump in, I just want to say thank you so much for being here. We'll be in John 20 today. And as we jump in, I think we might have a guide. And this guide is a man named Thomas. Now, maybe you've been involved in the church for 30 years, maybe this is your first time. But you might have heard of this guy. In fact, he has a nickname. It's anyone know it? Yeah, doubting Thomas. That's to say, is doubting Thomas. He seems like maybe a good guide for us as we're learning about what doubt could do with our faith. But he didn't just doubt. I mean, he had a pretty good faith. Actually, in fact, Jesus wanted to go somewhere dangerous to his friend Laz to meet his friend Lazarus. And uh Thomas said this. Let us also go that we may die with him. I mean, that's a that's a faith. I mean, I guess he doubted, but he had faith. But he did doubt. I mean, he doubted, so we probably shouldn't care about anything he said in the Bible. He's probably not a real Christian. He asked questions. Uh today, Thomas will teach us one thing, and it's this doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. In fact, my hope at 2 a.m. in the morning when you wake up, my hope is that when your friend tells you they're doubting, that you remember this one saying. I hope that you memorize it and remember it for the rest of your life that doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. Come on, somebody. Doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. In fact, today I want to give you three supporting truths of why doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. In fact, you can write this first one now. We're moving fast in the sermon today, and it's this that doubt, it actually just makes you human. That's what doubt does. If you doubt, congratulations. It probably means you're human. Have you ever been in a in like a class before? Uh, or maybe in a meeting with a boss professor, and they just say something, just seems like completely out of pocket, like jargon out the wazoo, and you're like, what are they saying? I don't understand and like they might as well then speak in Hebrew. But then no one like asks a question. And you're looking around, like, did I miss the pre-meeting before the meeting? Like, everyone else understands this? I'm the only crazy one here. Uh, and then you just decide not to ask the question. Well, Thomas and the disciples were kind of in a similar uh juncture because Jesus has this beautiful saying that he sits his disciples down like a classroom and says, I have prepared a place for you. And then Thomas says this. He raises his hand and he says, Lord, we don't know where you're going. And how can we know the way? I guarantee you the other disciples are like, Oh, thank God somebody has. Thomas had the boldness to doubt. He had the boldness to actually raise his hand and have a question. And then Jesus gives one of the most powerful phrases that our full faith is based upon. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the and the life. Oh, it's interesting. I'm kind of glad Thomas asked that question. Thomas reminds me of me. That's why I like him. Because I'm the guy with like a with a couple of questions. And and, you know, we're not perfect as humans. In fact, something I would call the relatability principle. That the when someone tries to be perfect, I kind of don't like them. You know, like the perfect Instagram, like the guy who always has his desk clean of the office, the parent who has all of his kids perfectly in order, and then you see them at Trader Joe's, and their kid is running around, throwing things, licking the floor. Oh, you might be my type of person. I might like you now, right? As soon as they mess up, they doubt, they make a mistake, you're like, okay, whew, that reminds me a little bit of me. In fact, when people that I trust, that I love, that I respect doubt and suffer, I don't enjoy it, but at least I say, man, they're a little bit like me now. Because that's who I am. I have questions. That's the title of this message. I have questions. And when I see someone I love that they have questions, it makes me feel a little bit safer. In fact, you can't read the Bible too far before you reach someone who has questions. Abraham and Sarah. They not only had questions, but they just straight up doubted God. I mean, he says, I will give you a child in their old age. And what did they do? They laughed. Yeah, right, God. That ain't happening. The Israelites, they were freed from slavery, and the celebrations were amazing. And and then all of a sudden they doubted that God would do it again for them. I that this this guy, uh Gideon, he's one of my favorites because he's a guy after my own heart. Uh God proved himself like 40 times, and and then he's like, God, show me another sign. Make this tree fall, and then I'll know you're real. Right? He kept having, show me, like he, and then John the Baptist, a man who followed Jesus, made the way for Jesus at the end of his life. He says, I'm not sure if I believe anymore. Maybe you're sitting here saying, Oh, maybe doubt just makes me human. In fact, in church history, there's a man who very similarly had doubts. His name was Augustine of Hippo. He chased pleasure, success, competing philosophies, searching for truth, and he never found rest. And ultimately he wrote this powerful Latin phrase that if you're in philosophy, you've heard. Essentially, it means if I am mistaken, I am. In other words, if I doubt, if I'm wrong, if I make a mistake, that means I'm human. That means I am. That means I'm alive. So if you've ever doubted, that means you're alive. If you've ever doubted, that makes you human. And that's why I wanted to do this series, friends. I want to do this series because if you have questions, the church and the home should be the safest place to ask them. So bring your questions on sexuality, bring your questions on temptation, addiction, heartbreak. Bring your questions because it's here that we get to work through them together. Doubting makes you human. Here's a second reason why doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. It's that faith, faith can bend without breaking. Faith can bend without breaking. Thomas, the doubting Thomas, gets his name based off of this one little passage where Jesus raises from the dead. The disciples go to Galilee, they meet him, and they are changed forever, and Thomas wasn't with them. In fact, Thomas wasn't with them, and this is where the story picks up. It says this one of the twelve disciples, Thomas, was not with the other disciples when Jesus came. They told him, We have seen the Lord. But he replied, I won't believe it until I see it. Until I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers in them, place my hand in the wound in his side. The Greek verb, we've seen the Lord, is active tense, which means they said it over and over and over again to Thomas. It's like that annoying kid in the back. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? They're like, we see the Lord, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the And he's like, I don't, I don't, I don't believe it until I see it. Which you kind of doubt because you kind of know how the story ends. But if you heard that someone raised from the dead, you probably would have a couple questions too, right? Like, let me just circle back on this, double check, verify. You know, I'll trust, but I need to verify that he kind of rose from the grave. I don't believe it until I see it. And here is one of my favorite parts of the story of Thomas, and it's this one little half verse, John 20, 26. Eight days later, the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. Wait, you're saying the guy who doubted the existence of Jesus? You're saying the guy who had a lot of questions. You're saying the guy who was the only one in the whole group that was doubting in that he came back? Wait, he still had questions and he desired to still encounter Jesus? Wait, can you encounter Jesus and still have questions? Well, it seems with the story of Thomas is true. Actually, in fact, right now, would you just pat someone on the back, just right next to you? Just pat them on the back. And just tell them you're still here. Tell them you're still here. You're still here. Thomas is saying, I'm still here, folks. I got questions, I got concerns, I got things I can't quite rectify, and the math doesn't make sense fully in my brain, but I'm still here. We gotta have a little bend with our faith. If a stick doesn't bend, what happens? It breaks. Yeah, someone's like, I don't know, what does a stick do? It breaks. That's what happens. If your faith is brittle, it's rigid, and when it's rigid, it breaks. Folks, we gotta have a little bit of bend with our faith. A little bit of bend with our faith. He showed up anyways, even though he was doubting. I I you know, I wonder when it comes to this idea of bending versus breaking, if you grew up in a home or in a church that didn't really have a lot of bend. Did you grow up in a home where you couldn't really ask the questions? Where the church said, we that's not something we talk about around here. And then you grow up and then the professor mocks faith. And then your friend has a serious doubt, and then you go through suffering and your faith breaks because it never had any bend in the beginning. But not you. You're still here. You decided to show up just like Thomas to church on April 19th of 2026 and say, I got a little question, I got a little suffering in my life, but I'm still here. I'm saying yes to figuring this out with the person of Jesus. Have you watched Fantastic Four? Anyone watched Fantastic Four? Reed Richards, the guy who stretches, right? Uh it's kind of a lame superpower, right? That's kind of how it feels. You know, like you got the fire guy, the rock, you know, and I stretch. I was like, great, you know, probably great at yoga. But he, if you watch any of the movies, he's one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, because he absorbs punches, he's able to move, he's able to reflex, he's able to do things that no one else can do. It's interesting. I kind of want my faith to be a little bit like Reed Richards. I want to be able to bend. In fact, a faith that doesn't stretch probably is about to snap. It might be the very thing God uses to strengthen your faith, the bending, and you showed up and you're still here in the midst of your crow in your questions. So my my encouragement for you is continue to let your faith bend. In fact, a good question you could ask is when the doubts hit, does your faith bend or does it break? Like the last time you had a doubt. Maybe it was like 10 minutes ago, maybe it's right now. Does it break or does it bend? Let's continue. This is the last one, man. Time is moving so fast. I'm telling you, doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. It doesn't. It doesn't have to be a dead end in your life. Doubting makes you human. Your faith can bend without breaking. And here's the last one: your doubt doesn't disqualify you. Your doubt, this is good news for somebody in the room who feels disqualified, left out, left in the dust because no one else had a question but you, and you feel completely spiritually isolated. Can I tell you right now the good news that your doubt doesn't disqualify you? In fact, this is the summation of the entire story of Thomas. This is why you're here today. This is the biggest point of the message where Thomas shows up. He said, I'm still here, folks. I got questions, I'm still here. And this is where he meets Jesus. It says this the doors were locked. But suddenly as before, Jesus was standing among them. Peace be with you, he said. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand in the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe my Lord. My God. Thomas explained. Even in the midst of what feels like locked doors, Jesus shows up anyways. Right now in the midst of your doubt. I don't know how he showed up. Speaking about superhero powers, like that's pretty cool. I don't materialize, walks through walls. I don't know how he showed up, but he's there. And he says, Peace. Peace be with you. And then Jesus says, because Thomas says, I doubt. And Thomas and Jesus said, get out, right? Like you don't belong here. You got questions? This ain't the place for you, dude. Right? He says, You ask stupid questions, Thomas. You always ask dumb questions. Oh, wait, no. That sorry. That was a different message. Because Thomas, well, no, no. Jesus says, put your finger here and look at. Wait. Jesus doesn't shame him or scold him, but Jesus allows him to doubt and works through it with him. In fact, Jesus showed him proof of an answer. This is this is Jesus? Oh, it's it's almost like your doubts don't disqualify you. Huh. And then what does Thomas say? He exclaims, My Lord, my God. Jesus gave Thomas everything he needed to continue with his faith. I wonder if Jesus wants to give you everything you need in the midst of your doubt right now. Could that be true? Remember Augustine of Hippo, this guy from church history who had all of these questions and he struggled and he doubted and he says, Hey, I doubt, therefore I am. I'm just human. That's what I do. Well, ultimately he the doubts got like he was one of the greatest thinkers of all time. The doubts got so bad that he had to surrender to Jesus. Like he had, he's like, I can't find all the answers. I've tried, I've worked for it. So at the age of 33, which is very rare back in the day, he then gets to be baptized. And it's actually memorialized in several paintings. It's a very famous story with him and his friends, he gets baptized. And here's what he says when he gets baptized: the guy who's a deep thinker who doubts, he says, we were baptized, and all anxiety about our past life fled away from us. Guys, this is 387 AD. This is like 2,000 years ago, and a guy got baptized, the deep thinker philosopher, and says, It just felt like my past was washed away. How cool is it that next week we get to do the sacrament called baptism that he did 2,000 years ago and that Jesus did himself. My hope for you, maybe you've already experienced it, but if you haven't, my hope for you is that you'd get baptized and then tell your friend on the way home, it just kind of feels like the anxiety of my past is washed away. And if that's you, we would love to baptize you next week and give you that opportunity to feel washed clean, just like Augustine of Hippo. This dude, once he got baptized, still doubted. That's kind of like the part of the story that we never really tell. He got baptized. No, he he actually wrote a book called Confessions. By the way, one of the most famous memoirs of all time. By the way, almost all of church history in some way has been influenced by this book called Confessions, where he confesses his doubt. He confesses his questions and people loved it. They ate it up because no one else was actually talking about the fact that I have questions. He did. And ultimately, Jesus not only used him, but is one of the greatest influencers of all time when it comes to the church. Your doubts don't disqualify you. Just like they didn't with Augustine of Hippo. So my question for you, and this might be the question that you might want to leave with. When you have that question, yes, that one that you just thought about. Do you expect Jesus to meet you with judgment or compassion? Do you expect Jesus, similar to Thomas, to say, yes? Let's work through this together? Or do you expect him to say, get out? Not here. This is not a safe place for those things. What do you expect Jesus to say in the midst of the question that you have right now? Or the doubt that your friend has that you've judged them for. Ooh. Yeah, I mean you you you probably have real questions, and at some point you went to that friend, that Christian friend, because they're supposed to have maybe, I don't know, some answers you feel like. And and then they then they said, let go, let God. And then they said, everything happens for a reason. And then they said, the Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it. And they might be true, but it didn't solve the problem that you have. Kind of like Coca-Cola tried to help, but they made it worse. This friend put salt in the wound, and then you're left with a statement that's on your notepad right there. It's I have a question and I don't have a safe place to ask them. Would you stand with me? I'm gonna invite the band to come up. Um, I I'm thinking of our bottom line: your doubt doesn't have to be a dead end today. Maybe this is the good news that you need right now. Your doubt doesn't have to be a dead end. In fact, your doubt makes you human, your faith can bend without breaking, and the doubt doesn't disqualify you, just like it didn't with Thomas. And Thomas is there. He put his hand right in the side of where Jesus died, right? The spear on his side. Um Thomas was a person of faith. In fact, he became a missionary, which means he went to India and started telling people about Jesus for years and years. And Thomas, this man, ultimately didn't stop talking about Jesus, and people got so annoyed that they ultimately killed him. But get-guess this he was not only a martyr for our faith, but they put a spear in his side. Isn't that interesting? The same way that Jesus died and he saw the proof. Thomas really should be called the faith-filled Thomas, not the doubting Thomas, because the doubt doesn't have the last say. It doesn't, you know, our whole faith, our whole faith is predicated on a relationship. And I guess my biggest fear for us today is that you think that doubt separates you from God, but in fact, the doubt is the doorway for a greater relationship with God. I'm wondering if Jesus was sitting right next to you, standing right next to you. And the question that you have, and he's like, dude, it doesn't separate us. Like you're you think it does, but like this doesn't separate us. And I can imagine Jesus longing for this relationship, a close relationship, but you're like Heisman Chophy, and like I this doubt is it's separating us. And it's like, no, it your doubt is a doorway. It doesn't have to be a dead end. And you're here right now, walking through a valley. Psalm 23, it says, I'll put on the board, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Maybe for you, the valley isn't death, but it's doubt. I am walking through the valley of the shadow of doubt, and it's wrecking me. Or you know someone that it is wrecking. We keep walking through the valley, and the shepherd, Jesus, guides us out of the valley. And the doubt isn't where we where it's a dead end, we can't. We keep going, and God will make a way, because Jesus always makes a way through our doubt. But you have to be like Thomas and show up, have a little bit of bend to your faith and say, I'm here, and my questions, I'm still here, Jesus. Would you meet me here? So my question right now is what is the question? What's the doubt? We're gonna sing a song for two minutes. And this song talks about it's a declarative statement. It says, Even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Uh you might not believe it. In fact, this is a great place for you to doubt and not believe something if it's on the screen. It's okay. It's okay. But would you just for a second suspend disbelief and just imagine that question that I just gave you, like 30 seconds to think about? If Jesus wants these words for you to actually believe them, just for a second, would you suspend disbelief and imagine Jesus walking through in the valley of the shadow of that doubt? What might you feel right now? So let's ponder these words, maybe even want to sing. We call it worship, because it's a moment of turning our perspective from our own inner doubt to what God might view this circumstance as. So let's consider this together.