Worshiping Together Amid Doubt and God's Plan

Devotional

Day 1: When Misfits Make God’s Plan Work

The A-Team’s chaotic success mirrors how God builds beauty through imperfect people. Their leader’s iconic phrase hides the truth: God’s plans thrive not in perfection, but in the messy collaboration of flawed people. Cross of Grace’s story of building projects and mission partnerships reveals this same holy chaos. Like those vigilante heroes, believers stumble into God’s purposes through doubt-filled obedience. What looks like barely surviving becomes sacred momentum when surrendered to Christ. [24:58]

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” (Psalm 127:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you seen God’s fingerprints on something that felt messy or uncertain? How might your doubts become part of a larger story?

Day 2: Worshipping With One Hand Clutching Doubt

The disciples worshipped Jesus even as skepticism lingered in their hearts. Faith doesn’t demand certainty, but persistent presence. Like those first followers, Cross of Grace navigates building projects and budgets with both hope and anxiety. The triune God meets people in the tension between “Amen” and “What if?” True worship holds plans loosely while clinging fiercely to Christ’s promise. [27:45]

“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17, ESV)

Reflection: What practical concern keeps your worship from feeling wholehearted this week? How might bringing that doubt to Jesus deepen your trust?

Day 3: Building With Heaven’s Blueprint in Dusty Hands

Construction projects become altars when human effort meets divine purpose. Every nail driven at Cross of Grace echoes Haiti homes built and racial justice proclaimed. Like Solomon’s temple, holy spaces emerge through flawed people stewarding sacred callings. God’s plans materialize not in spite of our limitations, but through our willing hands. [31:40]

“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:10-11, ESV)

Reflection: What practical task in your life could become an act of worship if offered to God?

Day 4: Cigar-Smoking Faith in a World of Spreadsheets

Hannibal’s triumphant declaration masks the A-Team’s barely-survived chaos, much like how churches celebrate victories while emails from contractors still pour in. God’s kismet works through late-night worries and rescheduled meetings. The triune God authors plans that look like disaster until the final page turns. Faith means trusting the story isn’t over when the budget spreadsheet still has red cells. [32:18]

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21, ESV)

Reflection: What current situation feels like unfinished chaos to you? How might this be God’s “to be continued” page?

Day 5: Doubt as the Rhythm Section of Faith

The pastor’s admission of annual anxieties reveals doubt not as faith’s enemy, but its dance partner. Like Peter walking on water, believers sink only when they stop moving toward Christ. Cross of Grace’s history proves ministries grow when people keep serving amid questions. Worship becomes truest when whispered through clenched teeth still chewing life’s gravel. [30:35]

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31, ESV)

Reflection: What doubt have you been treating as a stop sign that God might want to make a stepping stone?

Sermon Summary

Matthew’s mountaintop scene sets the tone: the disciples worship, but some doubt. That line refuses to flatter the church, and it names the space where faith actually lives. Jesus does not wait for unanimous certainty. The risen Lord steps into that mixed company, claims full authority, and gives a future big enough to carry both worship and doubt. The text leans into the Trinity’s movement. The Father’s authority is vested in the Son; the Son sends disciples to baptize into the triune name; the Spirit’s abiding presence is folded into the promise, I am with you always. The Great Commission, then, is not a memo for the confident. It is a promise that drags uncertainty into mission and turns it into prayer, practice, and praise.

The A-Team image sharpens this. A mismatched crew, noisy and unlikely, somehow pulls off the rescue, and the refrain lands, I love it when a plan comes together. The church’s plan is not a slick strategy but a grace-shaped story that keeps taking on flesh. That looks like a wide welcome for LGBTQ children of God in a faith culture that still resists their dignity. That looks like homes standing in Fanbois, Haiti, as tangible as any square foot built at home. That looks like a stubborn voice for racial justice that refuses to go quiet. That looks like the ordinary cadence of baptizing and confirming, marrying and burying, feeding and feasting, praying and partying, so a lonely world gets company it could not find on its own.

The text holds together worship and doubt; the life of the church holds together bold vision and late-night contractor emails. The plan is messy and risky, like anything real. But the Trinity supplies what the plan requires. The Father gives the field and the mandate. The Son bears the scars and the authority that make mission possible. The Spirit keeps gathering mismatched misfits and turns them into partners in mercy. The promise at the end grounds the whole thing. Presence, not polish, is the guarantee. So the church keeps showing up at the mountain it has been given, not to prove itself, but to be carried. By grace, for God’s glory, and rooted in the love made public in Jesus Christ, the plan keeps coming together in ways no one could have pulled off alone.

Key Takeaways

1. Worship and doubt walk together Faith is not the absence of hesitation; it is allegiance to Jesus in the middle of it. Matthew refuses to separate adoration from uncertainty, which means honest questions do not disqualify discipleship. Mission begins where mixed hearts stand before the risen Lord who still speaks and sends. [27:22]
2. The Trinity gathers and sends Father, Son, and Spirit are not a puzzle to solve but a life to enter. Authority, baptism, teaching, and presence move in one stream, pulling fearful disciples into a shared future. The name into which people are baptized is the communion that keeps the church from going it alone. [26:17]
3. God’s plan uses misfit teams Like the A-Team, the church is a cobbled-together rescue crew that argues, improvises, and somehow arrives in time. The beauty is not in polish but in providence, where grace keeps stitching ordinary people into surprising outcomes. The refrain holds because the Author keeps showing up. [24:58]
4. Grace takes flesh in local risks Wide welcome, houses in Haiti, a voice for racial justice, and the daily sacraments of life are not side projects; they are the shape mission takes. Budgets, bids, and late emails are part of the altar where trust is learned. The promise of presence steadies the hand that signs on the line. [31:40]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[21:01] - Worship and doubt named
[23:55] - The A-Team comes to mind
[24:13] - “I love it when a plan…”
[24:36] - Misfits on mission
[25:41] - Plans, delays, and providence
[26:17] - Trinity Sunday convergence
[27:04] - The Great Commission in view
[27:45] - “They worshiped, but some doubted”
[28:11] - Faithfulness inside uncertainty
[29:16] - Concrete worries and needs
[31:09] - A wide welcome embodied
[31:40] - Haiti, justice, sacraments of life
[32:18] - Messy, risky, still coming together
[33:07] - By grace, for God’s glory
[33:18] - Sent in Christ’s love

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV)
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Observation Questions

In Matthew 28:17, the disciples respond to Jesus with both worship and doubt. What does this reveal about the nature of faith?
The sermon compares the church to the “A-Team”—a group of mismatched, arguing, yet effective rescuers. What specific traits of the A-Team mirror how the church operates in mission? [24:58]
How does Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19-20 connect the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit) to the practical work of baptism, teaching, and presence?

Interpretation Questions

Why might Matthew intentionally include both worship and doubt in the disciples’ response to Jesus (v. 17)? How does this shape our understanding of faithfulness?
The sermon states, “Presence, not polish, is the guarantee” for the church. How does Jesus’ promise in v. 20 (“I am with you always”) redefine success in mission?
The A-Team analogy highlights “misfits” achieving goals through improvisation and grace. Why might God intentionally use imperfect people and messy processes to accomplish His plans? [24:58]

Application Questions

Where do you feel both worship and doubt coexisting in your own faith journey? How can you lean into Jesus’ authority (v. 18) in areas where uncertainty lingers?
The church’s mission includes “wide welcome, houses in Haiti, a voice for racial justice, and daily sacraments of life” [31:40]. Which of these concrete actions resonates most with you, and how could you participate?
Think of a time when you felt like a “misfit” or doubted your ability to contribute. How might God’s promise of presence (v. 20) reframe that experience for future mission?
The sermon mentions “late-night contractor emails” and “budgets” as part of the “altar where trust is learned” [31:40]. What ordinary, practical tasks in your life could become opportunities to rely on God’s faithfulness?
How can your small group better reflect the “A-Team” dynamic—embracing differences, supporting each other’s doubts, and celebrating imperfect progress?

Sermon Clips

56s

“It's a plan that has helped to build over a 100 houses in Fanbois, Haiti, right alongside every square foot of space that we build here for ourselves. It's a plan that includes a voice for racial justice and equity that would otherwise be silent in our community that has not heard everything we have yet to say about the subject. It's a plan that has called us as partners in mission, as baptized and confirmed children of God, to baptize and confirm, to marry and to bury, to feed and to nourish, to party, to pray, and to otherwise walk together with faith, as much of it as we can find, through a world that can be so lonely and lost and without meaningful connection too much of the time.”

47s

“But I just keep doing my best to worship, to learn, and to serve. I doubt and I worship. I learn and I doubt. I serve and I doubt. And I do it all over and over and over again and I'm grateful that so many of you join me for that. Because I love it when a plan comes together. A plan only God could design or dictate and then deliver. It's a plan that looks like a wide welcome of love and affirmation for LGBTQ children of God in a world and a faith that still does not get it.”

54s

“Some of them were skeptical. Some of them were cynical. Some of them were afraid, perhaps. I appreciate that because that means we can be all of those things too and still be faithful. Because I'm right there with the doubters more often than you'd probably believe and more often than I would like to admit. I worry every year that the general fund commitments, never mind actual offerings, are going to show up in a way that supports and grows this ministry. I worry every year that time and talent offerings may or may not meet the needs of our nursery, a mowed lawn, a clean building, a Grace Quest program and everything else that we try to do in this place.”

51s

“For my money, there is not a more accurate description of what the church is up to generally in the world these days and what we're up to, very particularly, as partners in mission at Cross of Grace at this moment in time. They all worshipped, some doubted. I love it when a plan comes together. I mean, I'm glad that we're all here today and that we show up week after week to worship and to learn and serve too. And I'm grateful to be reminded that even with Jesus standing in their very midst, his disciples having done all that he'd promised that he would do, up to and including rising from the dead, Some of them still doubted.”

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