series. So if you'll take your Bibles and go to the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, we're going to start looking at this Hall of Faith chapter. I talked about this last week, and I even brought my pencil with me because I want this to I don't want this to feel like a sermon. That's not how I've prepared it. This is a wonderful, just verse by verse, stepping through of how people used their faith to get through difficult times. The focus here in this chapter is not necessarily where we're focusing on our faith. Where does it rest? Of course it rests on Christ. And that actually comes into play in chapter 12, after we've seen all the examples of the people that have come before us. This is important in context because the writer is telling the Hebrews, don't quit, don't quit. In fact, your fathers faced great circumstances like you face now. I don't mean great in a good way. I mean great and they're large, they're heavy. It's a massive form of persecution that's coming against you, but they stayed the course. They exercised their faith, which was in a future promise, which you now, Hebrews, have actually been able to see this promise culminate in Jesus Christ, and they endured to the end. Now that phrase is trigger, and I wanna make sure you understand, we're not talking about they endured to the end for salvation, but they kept their faith in the promises that were to come. They were just disciplined. They were moved so much by what was promised to them that they didn't quit. That doesn't mean that they were saved. It just means they had something to get through, even into their death. They just kept the faith. And what is being said here in these examples that we're going to see is, look how each one of these individuals By faith, continued. By faith, they continued. If you remember, when we looked in chapter three and four of Hebrews, there's some very confusing language there, that on the surface, and really because of what people have said about the word saving faith and the phrase endure to the end, we look and say, man, this must be talking about salvation, but it's actually talking about how we can enjoy God's rest now. But how do we miss out on that? We miss out on that because we lose our faith. We no longer believe in what God said he can do. Not talking about we lose our salvation, but we lose any ability for ourselves to grow. It's like running a car until there's no gas left. I mean, at some point, You need gas in the car to continue to go. Our faith is the same way. If we think we're going to grow without faith, it's not going to happen. At some point, it's going to sputter out, it's going to stall, and we're going to begin to deceive ourselves. I don't want you in that category, I don't want myself in that category. But it requires constant maintenance. Just like we have to take care of things in our lives for them to last, we need to continue to build into our faith so that when it gets difficult, we're able to lift it, we're able to do it through Him and His power. Verse 1 here, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. The first example that we have here of faith is not a definition of faith, it's a description of it. Look back there in verse one. It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You're going to see that phrase played out over and over and over again when we get to the categories where it says, by faith, Abel, by faith Enoch, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham. We have all these examples of them being promised something of which they did not see in that moment. Some of them saw it come to pass, some of them did not, but they still put their faith in it. They still put their faith in what God said is going to come to pass. It's a wonderful encouragement for you and me because friends, let's just think of the current situation we have with our former pastor, a beloved man of whom we love dearly. We want the best for him. I'm believing that the Lord will do exactly what is necessary in his life. And it can get scary if I start to look at the numbers and the news and other examples. Can I deceive myself into thinking he's going to get better because I prayed for him to get better? Can I deceive myself in that way? Yes, I can. Where am I putting my faith? Where does my faith rest in that example? It rests in me. It rests in me. I told you this a couple of weeks ago, but I recently just learned this. I was talking to my uncle, Jeff Taylor, who's teaching in the back. God bless my uncle. I love him so much. pick up the phone and talk to him. He's a wonderful man. He's the one that told me that bald is in my future, and it was. He was right. He lost his hair early on, too. But we were talking just the other day, and we were talking about prayer. We were specifically talking about the event that I was going to do for parents that, or that I was going to speak at for parents that had lost a child. And he said, you know, I don't know if you remember this, but when you were a kid and your mom passed away, the first thing you said after you sprung up off the bed was, but I prayed for her. I prayed for her to come back. Now, as a child, I don't remember if I had any bitterness in that moment. I don't remember any of that, and I'm glad. I'm just, I'm glad. But my uncle told me, and he was very emotional when he told me this, he said, in that moment, I wanted you to learn that the best thing to pray for is that the Lord gives you strength. to walk through whatever he has for you. And that's a wonderful example of what we're talking about tonight. Okay, what kind of promise can I bank on as far as my mother's death? She believed on Jesus Christ and therefore I know where she is. Friends, I want that instead of her cancer to be removed. I'd rather her be there than be here. Didn't understand that when I was eight years old. And I did pray throughout my teen years for my grandmother to get better, and she never did. And I did pray in my early 20s for things, I think, in the wrong way. It's not because we don't have anything to say, but many times when you hear me say, I pray the Lord's will be done, The next thing is, and I pray that we have the strength to accept what it is, because it might not always be what we want, okay? I'm smiling now because I see that you're getting this. This is how we exercise our faith. God has already said that our eternal life is secured. So then anything else that we go through here, even if we were to lose our former pastor, we can praise the Lord for it. Whatever's happened over the past week with Dr. Arnold, a soul has been led to Christ. I praise the Lord for that, and I think he would too. And while there are hardships and difficulties that come with it, we've got to learn God's still good. I can still believe on him for the promise. Some people would say the worst thing that could happen is Dr. Arnold passes away. The Bible disagrees. It's a precious thing. when his time comes, when your time comes, when my time comes. Why? Because we have a promise that God has given eternal life to those who believe. Isn't that wonderful? And so as we see here, it's you and I have not seen our eternal life yet. We're living it though, isn't that interesting to think of? We're already in it. And in the eyes of God, it's already finished. And you're kind of up there too already. It's a weird thing to think of. But we have a promise, something that we haven't necessarily seen. We've seen it in God's word. We believe it and therefore we've been rewarded for that. We keep going. But the first example here is by the creation of the world. And without going into Genesis, because we looked at it last week, but in Genesis 1, verses 1 through 3, we see that God spoke. and these things came into existence. It's against what you and I would say is natural because, you know, we don't just speak a building into existence. We don't speak something and it materializes, okay? You gotta have building materials, and you have to have a project manager, and someone to get the materials, someone to put them together, and you need an architect, and all these different things have to go into the building of a building. Yet God spoke and these things happened and we're asked to believe it. That's exercising faith, faith in God's ability. Through faith, verse three, we understand, there's clarity, that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. A programming note, there is a wonderful episode on InGraceTV about this very topic. Dr. Carl Ball, of whom I've had the pleasure to shake his hand, the honor to talk with him, went to one of the museums in Texas recently and just one after another destroyed these different points of secular evolution in humanism. There are still in textbooks today a part of a tooth that has been discovered in which the scientists claim this tooth is a part of the missing link process. You know what's not in the textbook? That a month later they found the rest of what this thing belonged to and it was a oink oink piggy. They don't tell you that though. Now that, I would say that's a crime. That's a lie. And Dr. Ball rightly pointed out, it's still being taught that it's some missing link tooth. Why? Because there is an agenda against what God has clearly said is true. But you and I have to hold on to what God says. We have to exercise our faith in what He said. I do believe that God created the world and the universe and the known materials and natural law exactly as He said He did in the Genesis account. that settled in my mind. Even though there may be evidence, right? There may be something else that comes up that's contrary to it, I can go to God's Word. And you know what? God's Word is right way more than the world is. Mr. Hernandez did an excellent message recently when I was out this past couple of Sunday nights ago. Science facts in the Bible? That should be saved on your computer and be sent to people. The Bible talks about the earth being hung upon nothing before anyone else was talking about that. It talks about the weight of the air. I mean, all these different things. But if we stray away and say, well, you know what? The science is impressive. The science is powerful. The science is right. Then we're gonna start to take the word of God and question it. I was listening to some guys years ago. I loved their podcast. A little bit of comedic relief and it was very clean and I enjoyed it. But then all of a sudden they did like a six episode series on the deconstruction of their faith. And you know where it started for a lot of these people? Attacking the creation story. So then they write off Genesis. Then they write off Exodus. Then they write off most of Leviticus and Deuteronomy because that's built off of some stuff that was taught in Exodus. Then before you know it, they're challenging if Jesus Christ was truly God. It's exactly what they said it is, a deconstruction of their faith. we're not seeing a definition of faith here we're seeing where's our faith put okay it's got to be put on god it has to rest there in something as we talked about this morning that's pure and sure it's righteous it's clean there's no malintent If we move away from that, we have problems. So we have our first example in verse four. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. So here's our, we have our two sides here. One exercising faith, the other, well, exercising faith, but not in God. Look what it says. by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh." If you know the story, Abel was slain out of jealousy from his brother Cain. It was the first murder It is a beautiful description in the scripture when you read what God says. Cain, this sin is at the door. It's a very accurate description of how sin happens today. You and I know when we are about to sin. You know when you're about to levy a statement, or a word, or something. It is right there, it is present, it is at your door, and you execute on it, and you do it. And we do this all the time. It's exactly what happened with Cain. But Abel prepared the sacrifice properly? You may say, well, there's nothing in Genesis to indicate that. Well, I think it's indicated here. Where? It says right here, God testifying of his gifts. God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice, because if you remember, it was a blood sacrifice of an innocent animal, which is the picture of Christ. You have Genesis 3.15, which foreshadows, it's the first prophecy in relation of Christ. Then you have the first physical illustration of that with the coats of skin. You remember what Adam and Eve were covered in. Leaves and fig stuff and all that junk. Well, God said, I'm going to give you something, listen, better. And it was at the life of an innocent animal. Blood was shed for those skins to be provided. It's the first example of, I don't want to say millions, but thousands of sacrifices that would happen after that. All leading up to, I heard Bob talk about this in Sunday school this morning. Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. The Lamb of God, not a lamb, not a temple lamb. The Lamb of God, specifically that does what? Taketh away the sins of the world. This is why Cain's sacrifice was not accepted. It was the fruit of his own hands. Abel exercised faith, in who? In God and in his promise. He must have known, it's verified here. And even though his life was cut short and his blood cried out from the ground, he still speaks. Thousands of years later, the Holy Spirit calls back to his testimony. It's because he had faith and it rested in God and what he said. Verse 5. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God in a time, according to Genesis 6.4 or 6.5, where the world is described as being continually wicked. This is why I don't like when Disney says, follow your heart. or whatever they say. I don't like the phrase, you be you. Because I know we're all us, and I do want you to be the spiritual you, but most of the time, we don't want me to be me, and you to be you. And it's being built in our schools where kids are just like, well, whatever you wanna be, that's what you can be. And I'm not talking about careers now. It's getting crazy out there. It's getting insane. This is what happens when we stray away from truth. But Enoch, in a wicked time, lived righteously. Therefore, God used him as an example. I think when God chose him to be translated out, Enoch had believed on something as far as a coming Savior for himself. And therefore, God used him as an example of faith. You can't find Enoch today, but we can find what he did. And that's important for us to remember. So you have Abel exercising faith in God in light of a perceived better sacrifice that was not better, God chose his. Then you have Enoch enduring and exercising his faith in a wicked time. Do you see what the author is doing here? He's setting up for these suffering Jews, hey look, if they did it, you can do it. And they trusted in God, you trust in God. And even if it means the end of your life, it's still a promise you'll receive. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. Look what it says in verse six. So a great verse here. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. I've seen both sides of this coin. I've seen people who wanna come to the Lord because they want to know. And I've seen the other side of the coin. People want to come to the Lord because they want to be proven right. God can discern that attitude, and he will. And if you're on side B, you just want to be the one that's right, and you get to prove God wrong, you're in for a very long life, and not in an enjoyable way. You'll always run into problems because your attitude is not right. You're not really exercising faith in God, you're exercising faith in yourself. And that's not how it works. Look what this says, it's impossible to please God without faith. For he that cometh to God, look what it says, you've got to believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. This is how we should look at the Lord. As I put my faith in you, you Listen closely, will reward me. Not might, you will. And I'm not saying, God, you must, you know what I'm saying? He's saying, I'm gonna reward you. There's no other guarantee like that in the world. How many of you have found that dream house, you make the offer, and your realtor looks you in the eyes and says, this is yours. And guess what? You're not in that house because it wasn't yours. You know what I'm saying? Someone else came and got it. I told you the story of the guy who, this house came on the market for the second time and he's drunk as a skunk. Big time Boston Red Sox fan. Took me up into his private room up there and he's like, look, this is, and I know exactly what the picture was. It was Big Papi hitting his 500th home run in Tropicana Field. But he looked at us, and as honest as he could be, he said, I'm gonna give you this house. We're gonna set it up, your realtor is gonna be in touch with my realtor, and we're gonna make it happen. Guys, I don't live there. Because it didn't come to pass. And what I thought as we're driving home was a guarantee what did not come to pass. It's not like that with God. There's a difference between just believing that he's able and believing that he's able regardless of the circumstances. There are some things that are going on in my life right now that I can't wait to share with you. And it's exactly what I'm talking about here. It's praying in a certain way, and then giving those things to God, and we don't even have the desire anymore. We're satisfied with what was going to come, and God answered our prayer exactly as we asked for it years ago. No bitterness on our part. No, when God, when I asked, I asked. No, I just believe He's going to do it. And that's good enough for me. You ever been nagged to do something and you already said you're going to do it? Look, God will do it. He will provide. And He rewards those that diligently seek after Him. Now we have an example again, there's that little Break, and then we go now into specifics. Look in verse seven. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet. What are we talking about here? Rain? Flooding? Yeah. You're building a what? That's like if I told you next week it's gonna kabloopa, and I'm building a Zumba. And you're like, what? It's gonna what? And you're building a what? No idea what I just said there, right? They had not seen rain before. This idea of a boat was for a body of water, and maybe they probably didn't understand, what is he building? He did it for 120 years. He had faith that God said, it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain, I need to prepare. Excuse me, I need to prepare. Look what he said, he moved with fear, urgency. He moved, God had done, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, not talking about their salvation, they were physically the only ones that did not drown in that flood. Can you imagine the screams, the horror of those doors closing, and you realizing God did exactly what, this is exactly what Noah said God was gonna do, and I'm gonna die. And then being on the ark and saying, What were his kids thinking? What was his wife thinking? I don't think they were seeing how great Noah was. I think they were seeing how great God was. He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Prepared an ark, middle of verse seven, to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. He looked forward to the coming promises that God said were going to come to pass, and he was rewarded for it by his faith. This is when we looked in Romans chapter one this morning, it says, the just shall live by faith. This is what we're talking about. You become justified before God by believing on his promises. And specifically, it's just one, on his son, Jesus. Boy, we don't get tired of saying that name, amen? By faith, Abraham, when he was, and I want you to mark this here, he was called to go out into a place which he should have to receive for inheritance he obeyed god called him out and he obeyed look what it says and he went out not knowing whether he went i think there's a lot of christians today that if they were in the same position they wouldn't do it because they would need the safety and the security, and God, you've gotta, and I see it all the time. I'm so glad, not with people in our ministry, but people on social media. They wait and they wait and they wait for a sign, and every sign has to be greater than the last sign, and all it is is they're just waiting and waiting and waiting until God doesn't meet that sign, and therefore, I don't have to do it. You see what I'm saying? It was so close, but then this one thing didn't happen. Abraham was called out and he obeyed based on what God said he was going to do for him. He obeyed, as it said, he went out not knowing whether he went. Let me ask you a question, do we need anything more than God's instruction? We don't. George Mueller, I don't know much about George Mueller's gospel, but he wrote a wonderful book written about him, I think. Maybe it was biography, I'm not sure. But he was a man of prayer. I'll never forget reading an account where he had, I believe he took in orphans, and he had many orphans one day, and they had no milk to drink, none. And they ain't got no Uber Eats, y'all. They ain't got no Target delivery, you know what I'm saying? Milk was not coming. They weren't even on the route. And there's a knock on the door as they're praying for what they need. And it's the milkman with bottles of extra milk. And he gave it to them. I mean, all we need to do is believe that God is able. I think if we really needed it, if this was a part of the Lord's will, whatever we needed could even materialize if it needed to. Aren't you glad we live in a great country where things pretty much can materialize? I don't want to put God in a bind where I have to say, prove me more, prove me more, prove me more. No, he said it, that settles it for me. It should be the same thing. It was enough for Abraham, aren't you glad? It's enough for Abraham, verse nine, by faith he sojourned, which is a beautiful word for he just wandered, traveled, in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. This city and this promise that was given to Abraham Abraham, this is what I said I'm gonna do for you. What say you, Abraham? And he believed. And God rewarded him for it. Then we talk about Abraham's wife, Sarah. Through faith, also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Now listen, listen, it wasn't always that way. Sarah famously did a little hee-hee and ha-ha with God, you know, just like, ha-ha, really? But guess what, even though in that first reaction, this is how she started, but guess what, she didn't finish that way. She believed. It's a wonderful example too. Abraham called out of your home into a strange land. We're not necessarily knowing where it's going yet, but God said it's going to happen. He believed. Sarah, the same thing. Initially, not sure, but was convinced and exercised her faith. Therefore sprang even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and the multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. The one she delivered past the age came a whole line, which ultimately led to who? Jesus. Wow. These all, I think we're talking about Abraham and Sarah here. They died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims out on the earth. This is wonderful writing. What you see here is the example of, you get to peer behind the curtain, okay? If we believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, we can read the account in Genesis 15 and see what Abraham's thoughts were. We can see Sarah laughing, but we can see how she finished. I like to see the behind the scenes stuff. You know, if you have a movie that you really enjoy or a series or something, They're gonna sell you on the behind-the-scenes stuff. You wanna see how are the actors think? I wanna see what these guys were really thinking. This is where they were. And you know what it does for me and for you? It can do the same thing. Embrace the unknown, knowing that you know the one who knows it all. Embrace the diagnosis, embrace the hardship, because you know the one that will solve it and has already solved it in your salvation alone. We can walk on that. We can run on that. Reminds me of a story. When I was in high school and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I don't know if Moseley is still there. I know the IMAX is not, I don't think the IMAX is there anymore. That was the only real IMAX, by the way. The one where it was like peripheral, the whole thing. I remember I saw that animated film, The Treasure Planet, there. But anyway, they had an elevator there The friends that I was with knew that they could trip the emergency stop on the elevator by jumping up and then, you know, falling down on it. And I just remember getting in that elevator, and I was thinking to myself, I just believe this is not gonna happen. I don't want this to happen. I don't want this to happen. And they all chickened out and didn't do it. And I was really happy about that. But even in that present danger, I remember that very well, I just believed that it wasn't going to happen. I have no proof that it was, okay? It is not that way with God. We are able to see that He has promises that are clearly written for those who believe on Him and walk with Him. These things will come to pass. And they're probably not going to be things that you can physically see here, but they will be there. That's a beautiful example. But look at what it says here. They were persuaded, they embraced them, and they confessed. They came to an agreement of what? That they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. You realize how counterculture that idea is? What are we trying to do right now? What is the man with the most amount of money trying to do? He's trying to get our conscious It's so funny. It's so funny in a sad way. He's trying to get your soul transferred to a computer program. Whoever made that Matrix film really duped a lot of people. That's not how our soul works. It's an immaterial thing. Well, science says it's just chemical reaction. You know why that's not true? Because all of us react differently to the same thing. Look, when I went in chemistry class, you combine product one with product two, it will always happen. The only way it changes is more of product. But it's the same kind of reaction. So then, why would people go, you're looking to, you don't want to stay here on the earth? You want to be in heaven? You think there's a heaven? Look around you, this is all that we see. We've never seen heaven. Sound familiar? Abraham, I'm gonna pull you out. I'm gonna lead you into a strange land, but I have promises for you. What land? You gonna do it or not? And he did it. Wonderful. And I love that phrase. They confessed, they came to an agreement that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That's very counterculture. We say we gotta build homes here, we gotta set up a financial future for our loved ones and for our children, but guess what? The Bible says this earth is going to be destroyed. He also says that he's going to reward, believers are going to be in a judgment, they're going to be rewarded for their works. I want to have a life insurance that's eternal. You know what I'm saying? Not something I pay $30 a month. I want to have a home that is built by God. Okay, I love my home, love it. Especially because we paid what we did for it and not what it's listed for now, amen? But guess what? I'd rather have a home in heaven than that. I'm not living my life for the next great one. I have a little dream and desire of what I want, but if it doesn't come to pass, I know what's up there. I am a stranger here, and you are a stranger here if you're a believer. This is not your home. This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. That's all I remember from that song right now off the top of my head. Beautiful words built from here, verse 14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of what country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. And you and I get to enjoy these promises. We have to enter into these promises, though, by faith. Now, we're gonna stop there. I just wanna make a clarification, because already, already, there have been responses that have been sent from what I talked about last week. We have to understand, what I'm talking about here as far as faith that endures, okay, we're not talking about salvation. We enter into salvation by believing, by exercising faith in what God said was done through his son, okay? Now, in order for us to grow and be profitable and endure in a spiritual sense, we need to continue exercising faith. When we do not exercise faith in God, we're not gonna grow. If we marry salvation and service, it is a disaster. It's against the scripture. Every time. I can't tell you how many times people take me and they grab my neck, you know, by email, and they stick my nose in Matthew 24, and they say, you gotta endure to the end to be saved. And I have to lovingly tell them, this is not proper context. And it's not proper context here in Hebrews 11 to make it all about salvation. We have to continue to separate salvation and service. And this will be something, as you learn in your Bibles, as you grow in your study, that you will get better at this. That's one of the greatest things is being able to sit down with a difficult verse and take my salvation knife and my service knife and rightly divide it. And those knives are full of clear scriptures about each one. But if we mix them and make them one utensil, so to speak, you've got problems. Hebrews chapter 11, as we get into the by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith next week, is an example of people who believed God in the midst of very bad circumstances. And then the bow, the beautiful tie is in chapter 12, looking to the author and the finisher of our faith. That's how we continue. He's the bow of it all. He takes both ends, ties it together nicely. And we can hang our hat on that. We can hang our life on that. We were in the cabin just this past week. Had a wonderful opportunity to spend time with good friends. And I got a call from Pastor Tom Cucuzza. Loves Dr. Arnold very, very much. And I got a call from him and he said, hey, because Louie had posted a video and it caused people to start praying for him and people are looking for answers. I didn't have much for Pastor Tom in that moment. Y'all know who I'm talking about, right? He came and spoke at the conference. He's like a mentor to me. He's a very good man. I appreciate him and his wife. And then I called him the next day, and I'm sitting out there. Doesn't take much to impress this Florida boy. Give me some mountains and a little bit of fog and a cold temperature, and I'm like, wow. I'm impressed. That's all I need. I'm sitting on there. I'm sitting out there with a jacket. And I'm looking out at what God has created, and I said this to Pastor Tom. I said, isn't it great to know that regardless of what happens to Dr. Arnold, that there will never be an outcome in which we say God is not good? And we were both silent in the truth of that. And I told him, I said, there's nothing like it. Zero. And it's a wonderful, moment. You know what I'm saying? It's just like everything is good. Everything is good. No, it's not though. Have you seen that or read that? It's all good. You know what I'm saying? It's wonderful. Let me explain to you how we can go in this life. This hand represents you and me. My wallet represents sin. I'm going to put it on top of my hand because the Bible says for all of sinning comes short of the glory of God. This hand represents Jesus Christ. who's fully God and fully man. 2,000 years ago, came and lived a perfect life and made an offering of himself on the cross to pay for this. You've gotta be perfect to get there. If you wanna not trust on him, you're gonna be sent to hell for an eternity. You can't work your way there. There's no amount of turning or stopping or starting to get you into heaven, none. You gotta believe on him. And what happens is, it's very clearly listed in John 3.16. You see what I did there? Whosoever believeth in him. The moment that you believe that sin payment is put to your account and you receive, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I like the holding hands part. It's just something innocent. You know, one of the hardest things I think right now for our former pastor is being there with nobody. And that's tough. We gotta pray for him to get through it. My father-in-law went through something very similar, where for two weeks, all we know is that he's there. And yes, he had nurses to take care of him and doctors to come see him. But there's something about just being able to hold somebody's hand. I am so glad that the Lord is holding onto my hand. And even though I do a lot of this, You know, he says, no, no, you're not going anywhere. I love it. It's a part of the whole thing. Our salvation is forever, the moment that you believe on Jesus. You receive the free gift of everlasting life. And therefore, continue to trust him. You see the division there? We've ended salvation, we've started service. As it says back there in Psalms 19, we looked at this morning, your servant, David had made a decision, I'm gonna believe these things and I'm gonna serve him. One of these days we'll do a study on the life of David. I feel like it'll take 53 weeks. But it's a, David's life, for all the dramatics, the high moments and the very low moments, wonderful illustration of God's faithfulness. Wonderful illustration of the preserving of his promise. You can have David-like moments too. Just keep walking with him. Stay close to him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. All of you in the audience, I'm fairly certain that you've put your trust in Christ. If you have not, I want to give you a moment to do so. And if you're watching on the internet, this invitation is for you as well. I pray that you'll put your trust in Jesus and in him alone. Don't be looking for any kind of good works that you can do to add to your salvation or to maintain your salvation at the risk of losing it. It's done as soon as you believe on him. And that's not my promise, it's the promise from God's word. If you're on the internet tonight, I beg you to believe right now, right where you're sitting. If you're in the audience, you can do the same. It's great to know that the only time sensitivity on it is don't die. As we continue to learn to walk with the Lord, keep exercising faith in Him. He's going to reward you for it. Father, thank you for this time that we have together. Bless us as we head back home. Bring us back safely for another great opportunity on Wednesday night. to pray and hear praise reports and prayer requests and just get into your word again. Lord, we ask special healing for Dr. Arnold. We want him to be back with us. We pray that your will be done. We have the strength to get through it. I ask for strength right now and good health for Betty, who's also suffering through this, not in a physical way, but I'm sure her heart is heavy. I thank you for those already in our ministry that have come around her and helped her. We think of Warren and Larry and many, many others. We think specifically of Cheyenne as she is looking to have that baby come any day now. We pray that all goes well there and give them the strength that they need. We praise you for a safe delivery of baby Sagaia. I can't wait to see him. We ask for Erica's health to be good and also for Robert as well. We rejoice in knowing that you hear us and we look forward