Doubt

In late 1735, John Wesley and his brother Charles left England on a ship bound for the American colonies. The two brothers, sons of an Anglican priest, were on a…

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Christina Tournant, a beautiful, intelligent, and athletically talented young woman, seemed to understand everything. She graduated valedictorian from her high school in Seminole, FL and then enrolled at MIT to study science.

But there was one aspect of life she couldn’t figure out, and it cost her everything.

Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher, lived a very long life…and all of it apart from God. As an outspoken atheist, he was quick to criticize religion of any kind. But as every life does, his would come to an end.

Fortunately for Bertrand, he had a plan in place…just in case God existed.

Everybody knows that in baseball you get three strikes…and then you’re out. Not 1. Not 4. It’s such a universal rule that most parents and teachers (and even bosses) use it in their respective roles. Getting “three” strikes is the last hope a nervous batter has after accumulating two.

Unless that batter is Chris Stewart of the New York Yankees….

When you’re in God’s presence, do you expect great things from Him? Do you believe He will do what only He can do? Or has doubt caused you to lose your sense of wonder and anticipation? If so, you’re not alone.

Evidently, it happens to pastors, too.

It doesn’t matter who you are or how good of a driver you are. When you see a police car behind you in traffic – even without its lights on – you automatically get nervous. It’s just human nature; all of us tense up in the presence of the law.

The weird thing is, we do the same thing with God’s Law, too.

Prior to his departure to the mission fields of China, Hudson Taylor realized that he would continually be alone and always in great need. Knowing this – and given his bold philosophy of never asking people for donations – he thought it necessary to learn “to move man, through God, by prayer alone.”

If this sounds like a Jedi mind trick to you, think again.

Adoniram Judson would prove to be one of the most effective missionaries of the 19th Century. During his ministry, over 200,000 Burmese would be led to faith in Jesus Christ. But all of that would have to wait until the young atheist first gave his life to Christ.

And that would happen in a most dramatic way….

Those of us who live in the shadow of the great Billy Graham assume the world-renowned evangelist never had any doubts about the Christian faith. We tend to believe he has all the answers to all the questions…and that it’s always been that way.

But that’s not the case, and a conversation he had in 1949 proved it.