23/11/2025 - Walking Through the Fog of Faith - Serge Papin

I

hope you can hear me in

the back there. If not, please raise your hand and I'll

raise my voice.

Thank

you so much for

every

one of you this morning. That's really helpful that we're working. It's good to have our very young children in front. And especially that song. But I sincerely hope that at your age, your problem, Hosanna, is not too big.

I

just want to build that. I don't know whether you were present probably a few, a number of weeks ago when our young people took a sermon on faith.

And

on that day,

they explained what faith

is in an ideal world. What faith.

And

I remember very clearly the text that, one of the texts that was used, I think it was Mia, that used that text

to

talk about having

the

faith

of

a mustard seed. Yet, having a faith of a mustard seed, which is so small,

can

move.

You

will remember that. And when I left the church that day,

I

was a bit worried.

Because, in

my life, I have problems in my life. And some of them are still there. And I wonder whether I am a man. If you were here, you would remember our brother Steve

took

his sermons. He titled his sermon, Faith in 3-4. And if you remember, he told a story. And going up, and going to parachute down. 12,000 feet divided by 300-400 meters. Still, let's say, very high up there.

And

he talked about trust.

Not

when you are in control,

but

while you are in discomfort.

I

thought about this when I left the church.

And

when I think about it, I put my feet into his shoes. Had my daughter taken me to the airport for a parachute experience, I would have taken the first bus back home.

But,

sir, this morning, I've entitled my sermon, Walking Through the Fog.

What

I want to talk about this morning is not necessarily the ideal

faith.

I

talk

to you.

It's

about faith that shows up in my life.

Your

experience may not be your experience. And I take that. And I accept that.

Because,

you see, sometimes in the morning when I wake up, I feel very strong. I feel that God is answering my prayer. It's like I'm on a mountain top. And I see it. I can breathe. It's beautiful when you've got faith. When God is answering your questions.

When

God is showing that he's there for you.

But

I also wake up some mornings

when

I pray

and

I feel that my prayer has not passed the route. There are times in the morning when I wake up

and

there's just emptiness.

I

wake up and pray to this God.

And

I say, God,

I

believe in you.

Yet, I

just feel

no

one is listening.

And

those are the times when I wonder whether I have a faith that can move mountains. Or faith which is there.

I'm

not worried about whether there is no ground under my feet.

And

this morning, I want to talk very honestly about what my faith looks like. And if you're one of the stronger ones, you can help me. But if you're like me, come with me on that journey this morning.

I

said that I'm going to talk about the fog. So long ago, it was winter in Canberra. And we know that there was snow on the mountains of Perisher. And

my

niece and nephew who are from Mauritius have never seen snow. Have never experienced snow.

And

so we decided, my wife and myself, that we would bring them, we would take them to the snow.

And

at the same time, my children decided to come with me. And so we had the whole family together going to the snow and experiment, especially for those two from Mauritius, to taste what it's like to have their feet in the snow. Now, I remember driving on a Sunday morning, very early, and the road was clear. And you could just go and just... And as you came closer and closer to those mountains, you could see the white tops there. And that was so exciting. And when it was 18, I was so excited, I was doing 85. When it was 100, I would just push it up with 105, because I was excited to be getting there. Now, I'll tell you, we had a great fun.

The snow was softer, and every step we would take, it would come up to our knees. And so in the morning, it was fantastic. But we knew that about 3 o'clock,

it

would start raining.

So

I said to the family, what about we move out at 2 o'clock, just before the fog comes in, or the rain comes in, there will be mud.

And I

said, let's leave at 2 o'clock. It's one thing to say that you will leave at 2 o'clock, and you've got a rent you running in the age group of 4, 9, no one wants to leave on time.

And

by the time we were

getting ready to go, we would

already see the clouds coming over us. And very soon it started raining. We only just had time to go into the cloud, and off we go. But by the time we started going, it's already started to be done. And it was not only just my idea of leaving at this time, everyone else thought it was the right time to leave. When we came up, it was clean, the road was clear. But the moment we started to go back home, the fog, and if you're a driver of the road and you look back, you've got a whole family at the back, the young ones, you knew you had a responsibility.

And as I

grabbed the steering wheel, I could see that my hands started to be a bit moist. The anxiety I started to be, the responsibility of taking all your grandchildren home, I started to hear.

And

when we left,

it

was completely dark. At 3 o'clock, or 3.30 in the afternoon, it was dark. The fog had come in. You could barely see in front. So I focused, focused very hard. What was I focusing on?

I

could see the light. I couldn't see very far. But I could see the light of the next star in front of me. So I said, I'm going to make sure I stay behind that

light.

And when I looked on the left, the other thing I could see was the line, you know, the white line on the road. I don't know how you call it. I call it a light.

So

the white line on the left, I knew that I couldn't see the road, but I could see that white line on my left to stay on the right.

Then

when I looked on my right, there was another line, another white line.

And

this time I said, I won't go over that because I don't see the incoming traffic. So, three things, guidelines, on the left and on the right, and the light in front. And I said to myself, if I keep within those, despite the fact that I don't see the road,

that

I don't see the road, doesn't mean the road is not there.

The

road is still there, but I can't see it.

But

I focus

on

what? And you see faith. Faith is a bit like that. I'll explain more as I go. And I wish I had the screen that I've shown you how, but that's okay. Stay with me, stay with me.

One

time, I had to go to the emergency room. There was something wrong with me and I had to be in emergency. And

when I

got in there, they pushed me all sort of, you know, what they do,

you

know,

they

put their,

what is it called? Yeah,

the monitors. And while I was in there on the bed, the nurses came and put all of the things on me, and I look at the heart monitor.

And

if you see anything like that, if it's in a straight line like this, nothing's working, you're in trouble. Right? When I look at the waves on the screen, on the heart monitor, it was like,

down,

and then up,

down. So

this constant movement

is

a bit like that. I wish that some said that it was solid, constant, but this morning I'll stay, I'll be very honest.

And

tell you what the faith of a single man

is

like.

A

man who needs help.

And

I say, it's not the story of anyone. Yours could be a strong one, and whatever happens, you're there. But if you're like me, our faith is very much like the waves of your heart. There are days that they are very, very, very strong. And there are times, just like the waves, it goes down.

And

it's strong.

What

you think

is

the opposite of faith. I'll tell you that in my life, faith goes together.

I'll

tell you that in my

everyday

life, when I feel on top of the mountain,

my

God is real.

And

there are times,

at

the very next moment, something happens.

And

I feel so down.

In my

heartbeat,

I

move from a man of faith,

to

a man

so

empty. But the good, I don't know whether I can see the good news or not, but the reality is, it's not, it doesn't just happen for me. It also happens for, it happens in people's life in the Bible.

If

you look at Matthew chapter 4, and if you've got your Bible, we don't have a screen, so if you've got your Bible, you've got your Bible, read with me Matthew 14, verse 29 to 31.

Let

me know if you've got it. Matthew 14, verse 29 to 31. Amen.

And

it's the story of Peter, right? And you will remember that Peter

was

on the boat,

and

he sees Jesus walking on water.

And

let me read,

and

I read, come, and Peter wants to go to Jesus. And Jesus said, come.

Then

Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to the door of Jesus. Let me stop there for a moment. Let me just stop there for a moment. And I reread it. Peter got down out of the boat, walked

on

the water.

What

sort of faith

do

you read in that?

Man,

this is

the

real faith. It's true faith. He's walking.

He's

doing something

that

God is doing.

He's

walking on water.

That's

real faith.

On

top of the mountain.

But

continue to read it.

But

when he saw the wind,

he

was afraid.

And

he began. On

top

of the mountain.

And

the next step,

you

are saved. In faith.

And

in my case,

it

lives in my heart.

There

are times, as I said, you know, I feel so good, so great. The next step.

But

I want you to continue. Because the text.

The

text, which is key,

goes

next.

Peter

tried out, Lord, save me.

And

immediately, Jesus reached out to his hand and caught him. What Jesus saw was a man full of faith

in

one step.

And

in the very next step.

But

Jesus didn't disown him. Because

he

lacked more.

The

reality is that,

the

moment you cried out to Jesus,

Jesus

grew up

in him.

Jesus lifted him.

Jesus

took him up from where he was.

The

tension

between

faith and doubt

was

for everyone

to see. In the heart of Peter, at this particular time, there's a tension between

faith and doubt. Let me make it to another text. Galatians 3.6 So we're going to do like,

all

times. Go back to our Bible. Or to our phone. Galatians 3.6

Yes.

Galatians 3.6

So

also, Abraham believed God and was written to him as writer. He believed. Abraham is a believer. And another text

is

called the father of faith.

Abraham

the father of faith.

Yet

he gave the

same

Abraham. Abraham,

that

when the angels, when God talked to him and said, you'll be the father of nations. The father of faith did what?

When

he was told that he would be the father of a great nation. He said, what? Me?

I

am so old. How? And Sarah, his wife, laughed as well.

Again. He

didn't disqualify him

because

the father of faith, laughed, used, God still used, men and women who laughed at promises

to

be

a

great nation. And there's one more text that I would like to share with you that really shows that tension. It's in Mark 9.24. And we'll go very quickly to this one. Matthew 9.24.

Let

me know when you've got it. Matthew 9. And we'll just read it. Oh, no, no, no. What's that? Mark,

Mark, Mark, Mark. Sorry, Mark. Thank

you, Luke.

Mark

9.24.

And

if you've got it, and you will remember that story. That story of a father who was unwell. And he was desperate for God, for Jesus to do something. And Jesus said to him, let me see which verse that is, Jesus said in verse 23, all things are possible to him that believes. And straight away the father of a child cried out and said, I believe,

I

believe,

I believe,

see that duality

again,

I believe,

yet

tension

again between faith and doubt. I

don't know how many of you, a few of us, would remember when we used to try to go from one place to another and we didn't know the place. And at the time, we used to try

to go

from

one place to another and we used to try to go from one place to another and we used to use

those big, strict directories. Remember that? You wouldn't remember.

You

don't do that.

And

I remember, and GPS came in at a certain time. And I always say that, that saved our marriage.

Because

I couldn't work out, when you're looking at the street director in that direction, but at some stage, whatever happens, people change it. And I look next to me, and I look

next to me and my

wife in Ruby, to be able to follow her.

And that

was a challenge.

But

the earlier version of, I don't know whether you remember the earlier version of the GPS, when you are on a freeway and you think it's fine, the moment you go to the city with big,

tall

buildings,

man,

it loses its signal,

it

loses its signal, and what happens, and suddenly you feel that GPS is not working, you look at the wife, whether she's still got the wall, you look at the GPS again, and what does it say?

It's rerouting.

No rerouting. Yeah, rerouting. So it's working, it's recalculating, it's checking. If we like GPS, we go to something, we don't know. Our problems sometimes are so big,

it needs to be

rerouted,

it needs to

be stopped. Our God,

thinking

that it's not there, it's rerouting. Bring us in a new direction. Sometimes our problem is so big that our emotions, sometimes that

we

don't feel like even

staying

in bed, because we are so under that emotional strain.

Because

the answer that we're seeking from our God is not there,

but

what he's doing is rerouting.

See,

every stoppage, our God is doing it with us.

This

will become a bit more evident when we talk about the next one,

the

Father. Doubt says,

I

don't know what's ahead.

When

the GPS has stopped, the doubt says, I don't know what's ahead.

But faith says, yes, I know

who's doing it.

Let

me take you now to the, I would say, the ultimate part, which is in Matthew chapter 27, verse 46. If you've got your Bible again, Matthew this time, Matthew chapter 27,

verse

46. A text that you know very, very well.

If

you've got it, say amen, and I'll start. Matthew chapter 46 reads, You

see,

my friends, every believer

in

our life

will

be asked the question, why? Why? Why me? Why now? Why?

And

you see, Jesus,

on

the cross,

says

those words. My God,

my

God, why have you forsaken me? You see, this is not a polished prayer.

Not

a

Sabbath

morning prayer. I say, this is a two o'clock in the morning

prayer. When

you've

tried

it,

so

much with God,

waiting

for an answer. A two o'clock morning prayer, when your pillar is red, is wet, nothing has worked.

And

this is the type of prayer

that

Jesus,

at

this time, is trained. This is the cross, for me, is the ultimate example

of

the collision, of the tension of faith

in

God.

This

is the son of God,

on

the cross. He knows.

He

knows the reason why he's there. But yet, at this difficult time,

he

felt the loneliness of his father. Because he was in man, too. Loneliness.

He

felt the absence

of

his father. And he cries out, why? Why have you abandoned me?

But

I want to put your attention on

it. At

this

stage, despite the loneliness, can you just, can you

feel the emotion

that

Jesus is going through?

There's

no angel

coming

to support

him. At

this time, the voice of his father

was

silent. And there is, on that cross,

tension

between faith and doubt,

I'm

lonely. If I say it's prayer, my.

He

didn't let his emotions

be

taken down at this stage.

Because

even though he was feeling down, he was feeling terrible, he was feeling lonely,

still,

he claims, my,

my

God. Yes, why?

But

above all, my God.

When

nothing,

when

nothing makes sense, the only relief but to God

is

reminding yourself

that

you're still mine.

Because

you've made me yours.

I

belong to you. So wherever it is, I'm still mine. And instead of pretending that everything is okay,

you

see Jesus like it is raw.

But

the interesting part

of

it

is this

sentence reminded everyone around

of

a particular song.

We will try, we

will try a little test.

I

said to you

amazing

grace.

by

just myself saying

a

first line of what it meant to me.

You

see, Psalm 22, all the Jews knew it.

It was

part of the liturgy.

It

was part of what they did in the sunny dream on a regular basis.

So

when Jesus talked about

my

God, my God, he's also reminding everyone around that this is also part of Psalm 2. I don't have the structure. Unfortunately, I've put the structure up in the stream this morning, but you don't have it. But if you go back to Psalm 22, you read the first two verses of the lament of the Jews. To start with in Psalm 22, it's about feeling abandoned. Feeling

that

you're being discarded. And that's what David wrote thousands of years before. It's the liturgy. It's the sadness. It's the weight of feeling abandoned.

But

as you go in Psalm 22, it says, well, there's a projection going forward

that

soon this will be dissipated.

The

fog that it is now

will

be lifted. Even on the cross, Jesus was... The loneliness

of

what it was like, says, my father, my dad, my God, where are you? Why? But he's also saying, listen, this is just the beginning. It's not

the

end.

He

reminds them

that

there is a progression.

That

what looks like fog eventually fog will.

The

first thing

that

he shows us as well is that when you can't understand, when nothing makes sense, go back to your compass. Go back to your body. Go back to your tips. Go back to the promises that God has given you.

And

I come to the third part. The third part that I... That sometimes I struggle

very

much with. You've heard Jesus

praying,

Jesus asking, where are you?

I

come to the last of what is the answer?

What

is the response?

The

response? One wants... I say to my friend again, my brother and sisters, how many times are we seeing that God answers our prayer yet while we get back. While

people

think

that

there's nothing in silence,

but

during that silence, we feel

nothing

is happening.

The

Father

is

redeeming the world. He's doing his work.

To

the GPS,

there's

no signal,

but

God has been routed

and

nothingness.

Because

silence doesn't mean that God is not present. And I repeat myself, silence does not mean God's act. But God is doing his work. Important work, I'd say. While there's

silence.

Let me illustrate that. Ethan was a seven-year-old boy. And his father had gone on an overseas business trip. And he was alone with his mom. He had to go out and play.

And

Ethan was out and mom was inside. When suddenly the neighbor came rushing him. He said, listen, Ethan is on the floor. down there.

And

they were both were barely breathing. So they took him immediately to the emergency department.

And

while on his way, the ambulance came, and on his way to the hospital,

he

was, his little Ethan was clinging to his mother's

hands. And

he said, don't leave

me. Don't

leave me. Stay with me. Stay with me. And he was

reassured

that his mother's hand was still there. But when they got to the emergency department, all the nurses came in and they put him on a hot monitor as well. Everyone came in. The doctors were quick.

I

mean, there was so much happening that they asked the mom to leave the room and to be on the other room.

But

meanwhile, Ethan wouldn't let go of her hands, her mom's hand,

because

she didn't want to be alone.

His

mother was the one, the link, for the doctors to be able to say

they

had to step to her mom to go next to

her.

When she was there, she could hear the scream of a son saying, don't leave, don't leave.

Yet

she had to leave

to

allow the doctors to say all of his screams.

She

could hear what was happening inside,

the

struggle that his own son was going to

be. All

of his fiber, all of her fiber, she said,

want

to open that door and book it. Yet, yet, yet she knew that she had to be out of that building. To cut the story short, they managed to save him. Her mom stayed afterwards, at this experience of having to leave her son, one of the most difficult times,

of

her life.

Because

she knew that he couldn't understand

why. And

she said something very, very powerful. And she said something like this,

I

never loved him more

than

at that moment. I never loved him more than in that moment.

You

see, sometimes,

the

strongest faith,

not

about shouting victory,

sometimes

the stronger faith

hangs

it. How do I conclude this word?

I

think I want to read

to

be very careful what I'm saying.

As

a simple man,

I

don't wake up every day

feeling

like a spiritual giant. Some days,

I

feel

like

I'm barely holding on.

You

see, Jesus didn't ask me

for

a giant sized faith.

He

asked me for a must-out seen faith.

Why

they must-out seen faith, he asked me.

Because

they must-out seen

his

timing, almost invisible.

But

inside

that

tiny seed

is

explosive attention.

Not

because a seed is powerful. Like me,

or

maybe someone like you, faith often looks like opening our Bible,

but

the words feel distant.

It's

remembering what is true, not necessarily how you feel. Training even when you don't feel like your prayers reach heaven.

When

you can't see God's face,

you

can still see his reflection

in

someone else. Maybe

a

good friend of his, sometimes a church member can be the weak reflection. Choosing hope seems more realistic. Whispering Lord help. You see, God doesn't require perfect faith to do perfect work. He simply asks for the seed and he will provide the glory. What's my invitation for you this morning? And I wish the screen was on now.

Because

what I'm going to say is I want you to keep that. This morning as we walk to the fog of faith, I want you to do a very simple thing. Get better.

Don't

wait

for

the fog to live.

Don't

wait

for

perfect clarity. Don't wait until all your feelings align neatly with your beliefs. Remember the first story and I'll finish with a point about you. Trust the light. Trust the light

in

front of you. You can't see the road? Believe

is

still there despite you not seen it. Above all,

trust

the one who walks with you in the fog.

Because

you know why? The fog will live.

And

when it does,

you

will discover that God was guiding you the entire time. Step

breath because it's in

world.