Luke 7:18-23 · 5-day study

Doubt Is a Door

Going deeper on Steven Furtick's sermon at Elevation Church (Charlotte, NC).

Week of Aug 9, 2026

The big idea

When God does not do what you hoped, doubt is not the end of your faith, it is a door that can take you deeper if you bring it straight to Jesus instead of trusting your own dungeon-shaped guesswork.

Day 1 · FreeLuke 7:18-23

First Impressions

The guy who baptized Jesus starts to wonder if he got it wrong

Picture this: John the Baptist is sitting in a prison cell, and he sends his own followers to go find Jesus and ask him a question. Not a random question — the question. "Are you the one who is supposed to come, or should we be looking for somebody else?"

Stop and think about who's asking this. This is the same guy who leaped in his mother's womb when Mary walked into the room, still carrying Jesus. This is the guy who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River and watched the sky split open, saw a dove land on him, and heard God's own voice say, "This is my Son, and I am so pleased with him." John didn't need a Bible study to know who Jesus was. He had a front row seat to the whole thing.

And yet here he is, writing from a jail cell: are you sure? Because I need to know if I got this right. If you've ever been completely sure of something God told you, and then life got hard and that certainty started to wobble — you're in good company. John isn't some background character having a small crisis of faith. He's one of the most significant people in the whole Bible, and even he needed to ask the question out loud.

What strikes me about this story isn't that John doubted. It's what he did with it. He didn't sit in his cell and quietly lose his faith. He didn't pretend everything was fine. He didn't shop the question around to people who'd just tell him what he wanted to hear. He sent it straight to Jesus. That's the move. Not stuffing it down. Not talking yourself out of it with verses you don't actually feel. Taking it to the only person who can actually answer it.

This week, we're going to sit with this story and let it ask us some questions back. Because most of us have a version of John's prison. Maybe it's a diagnosis. Maybe it's a marriage that isn't what you hoped for. Maybe it's a dream that hasn't happened yet, or a prayer that's been sitting unanswered so long you've almost stopped praying it. Wherever your prison is, this story says something important: you're allowed to ask the question. You're allowed to bring your "what if I got it wrong" straight to Jesus. He can handle it.

Sit with this

  1. 1What's the honest question you'd ask Jesus right now if you knew he wouldn't be upset with you for asking it?

Journal prompt

Write down one thing you were once completely sure about with God that feels less clear right now. Don't try to fix it yet — just name it honestly.

Days 2–5 are in the app

Carry Steven Furtick's sermon through the whole week.

  1. 2

    Look Closer

    One phrase John used says more than you'd think

  2. 3

    What It Meant Then

    You can't understand John's doubt without understanding his dungeon

  3. 4

    The Hard Question

    What do you do when God's answer isn't the one you asked for?

  4. 5

    Carry It Forward

    John asked, "Are you the one?" Jesus answered with, "This is the one."

Start this study free

Free while in beta. Journal and ask questions as you go.

Where the passage connects

  • Luke 7:18-23

    John the Baptist, who once identified Jesus with certainty, sends messengers from prison to ask if Jesus is really the one, showing that even spiritual giants can wrestle with real doubt without losing their standing with God.

  • Matthew 3:11-17

    John's confident baptism of Jesus and the voice from heaven confirming Jesus as the Son show just how strong John's earlier certainty was, which makes his later doubt from prison even more striking.

  • Matthew 11:2

    This verse fills in a detail Luke leaves out, that John asked his question from inside a prison cell, which explains that his doubt grew out of isolation and unmet expectation rather than a lack of evidence.

  • Isaiah 61:1

    John expected Jesus to quote the line about freedom for prisoners and judgment on enemies, so when Jesus lists miracles but leaves out that part, it shows John had to release his own expectations and trust God's larger purpose.

“You can't understand my doubt if you don't understand my dungeon.”

Steven Furtick

“John stopped believing in Jesus. But Jesus never stopped believing in John.”

Steven Furtick

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This study is an original devotional inspired by Steven Furtick's message “What If I Got It Wrong? | I Know That Voice | Steven Furtick | Elevation Church” at Elevation Church. Watch the original sermon.