Proverbs 3, and we're gonna be in verses five to six this morning, Proverbs chapter 3, amen. This will kind of go along a little bit what I talked about in the morning with the young people, a little bit different. We'll just, different passages of scripture here, but some of the principles will be kind of similar that we'll talk about through this passage. Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 this morning, if you're there in your Bibles. And the Bible says there's Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, it says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him direct thy paths. I want to preach a message this morning titled this, the biblical plan that never fails. Amen. The biblical plan and never fails. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we do thank you again, Lord, for just the opportunity that you've given to each person here this morning to be in the house of God. Father, we're so privileged, Lord, in this nation for the freedom and liberty that we have, Lord, to be able to come to the house of God. have a free copy of the Word of God in our hands and to come together with other believers, Lord, to worship Thee, Lord. And I just pray that we would never take that for granted, Lord, while we have these liberties and these opportunities, Lord God. And Father, I just pray even this morning as we come and we open up the Word of God. Father, Lord, You know the heart of each individual here this morning with this group of people. Lord, I certainly cannot and my wisdom meet the needs of each person here. Those who are saved, Lord, are in a different area in their walk with you at a different stage of their growth. And perhaps there's some people here this morning that are not born again. So, Lord, I just pray that you would take thy word and that your spirit would speak to the heart of each individual here today, that any who are not saved, Lord, would have their eyes open, Lord, that their greatest need before they leave here today is to repent and put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. And then those amongst those who are your people, Lord, your children, I pray that each one would know what the Spirit of God is communicating to their heart today. And Lord, may we not just be people who would hear and acknowledge truth this morning, but be willing to respond, Lord God, because our response to the Word of God will really help us in our growth and conform us more to the image of our Savior. So, Father, I commit this time to you. I just ask your blessing upon this time that Jesus Christ will be lifted up and glorified. And it is in His name I pray, Amen. Well, there could be no doubt that one of the most important subjects in the Bible is the subject of faith. And I can say that with complete confidence, because the Bible very clearly tells us in Ephesians 2, verse 8, that every person must exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. And the Bible also tells us in Hebrews 11, verse 6, that once a person is born again through faith to become a Christian, the only way that they can live for the Lord and please Him is to live by faith in the testimony of His word. And it's for this reason that the subject of faith is extremely important to all of us, because it is a volitional response to God that He requires from every person living on the earth. Whether we're talking about lost people in order to be saved, or whether we're talking about saved people in order to grow in grace and spiritually mature. There's no exceptions to this rule of faith. Now, to delve deeper into this subject, I want to make a statement about this that I believe is clearly supported by the Word of God, which is this. If someone is seeking a physical or audible sign from God in order to believe in Him, instead of willingly believing and trusting in the evidence that God has already revealed about Himself in His Word, then that is not biblical faith. Now we understand from reading the Word of God that Christ did all kinds of signs and wonders during His earthly ministry. We see that very clearly. But He also warned the Jews in Matthew 16, verse 4, that a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. The point is this, that it is dangerous and sinful to be seeking after signs once substantial evidence has been revealed by God which is to be believed and trusted by faith. point we have God's perfect revelation to man in the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 13, 10 makes that very clear. We don't need to be seeking after additional signs and wonders because they are no longer necessary today like they were in the days of the apostles. And also by doing so seeking after signs and wonders today would require us to live by sight rather than to live by faith. So let me give you a good scriptural example of this dichotomy between faith and sight as seen in the life of a disciple named Thomas in John chapter 20. In the context of John chapter 20 tells us that Thomas heard from the other disciples that Jesus was risen from the grave and that they saw him in his resurrected body. Now here's the question, did Thomas believe them according to their eyewitness testimony? No, he did not believe them. Thomas said to the other disciples in John 20 verse 25, he said, except I shall see in his hands, the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side. He said, I will not believe. So what was happening there? Well, it's really simple. Thomas wanted physical, tangible evidence in order to believe. And that is not biblical faith. And I want you to understand something this morning. Thomas missed out on a wonderful opportunity that day that the other disciples did not get. He had the opportunity to believe by faith that Christ was risen from the dead according to the testimony of the other disciples who literally saw him in his resurrected body. Now, I understand that the most professing Christians today, maybe even to some of us here this morning, seeing Jesus in the flesh sounds much better to us than just believing by faith that he has risen. Many professing Christians would probably fantasize today that nothing could possibly be better and more beneficial to their faith than having the opportunity of seeing and walking with Jesus in the flesh like the Apostles did, and witnessing firsthand all of His amazing signs, wonders, and miracles, or maybe by hearing an audible voice speak to them from heaven. Because of the technological age with media and movies, I think people think today that, well, what a wonderful Christian I would be. How much better of a Christian I would be if I would have had those opportunities like they had in biblical times. But you know, there's nothing that Biblically speaking, that could really substantiate that that would make us better Christians. Because biblically speaking, we know with all the powerful signs and wonders that the Israelites witnessed God do as they left Egypt. Listen, they were not the better for it, even though they should have been. We know this because the only two people in that first generation of Israelites who entered into the promised land were Joshua and Caleb. So we obviously cannot conclude that people witnessing signs and wonders by God automatically results in them being more obedient to the faith because it's simply not the case. We see this in the New Testament as well, as witnessed in Matthew 11, 20 to 24, which talks about certain cities which refused to repent and believe after hearing the preaching of Christ that was confirmed by the mighty works of miracles and signs that he did amongst them. And the Lord vowed that severe judgment would come upon those cities for not responding to what they continually heard and then witnessed with their very own eyes. So as God's professing children, what we need to understand this morning and always keep in remembrance is this, is that what the Bible tells us in 2 Peter 1 19, which is that you and I have a more sure word of prophecy in God's word. That means that what you and I have today in God's word is more certain and dependable than any visions, voices, or dreams that can all be imitated and falsified by the devil himself. misinterpreted many times even if they are of God. So in my estimation that means that living by faith in the revealed evidence of God's Word, listen, is a unique privilege that will result in a special blessing or reward one day in contrast to those who either heard an audible voice speak from heaven or who literally walk with Christ according to physical sight and witnessed all the signs, wonders, and miracles that He performed. We always need to remember, listen, what Jesus said to Thomas in John 20, verse 29, after Thomas refused to believe by faith that he was risen, but then later believed after he saw Christ in the flesh. Jesus said this. Notice what he said. He said, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. He said, the only reason you're believing now is because you've had the opportunity to see me like the others. But notice what he says at the end. He says, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. That's every person in here this morning. Praise God, when we get to heaven one day, look, the Bible is very clear that our faith as Christians will then become sight as we see our Savior face to face, and what a day that's gonna be. But until that day, listen, we are called to live only by faith and not by sight. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, for we walk by faith and not by sight. And always be mindful of the fact, listen, that this biblical faith, there's a lot of misconceptions about this, it's not some kind of blind faith that doesn't have any evidence, nor is it some kind of mystical experience beyond thinking as many believe. Hebrews 11 verse 1 tells us that biblical faith is the substance or strong confidence in the things that we hope for as Christians. And biblical faith is actually called evidence in Hebrews 11, 1. Think about that. Biblical faith is called evidence in Hebrews 11, 1 because it's based upon the infallible Word of God, which is supported by many infallible proofs. So now that we've seen from the scriptures that this is not about the personal opinion of the missionary this morning, but rather what the Word of God clearly teaches regarding the subject of faith, we need to go a step further and consider this following question. In regards to Christians, in the grand scheme of things with respect to this subject, why is it so important that we learn to live by faith in God's Word and not by sin? You hear preachers say it all the time, but why is this so vitally important? Well, because the Bible says in Romans 14, 23, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So the Lord's pretty blunt there, amen? So the point is that any time that we make decisions in our Christian lives without strong faith and confidence that it is God's will for us to be making such decisions, then those decisions become sin to us because they are based upon the principle of doubt or uncertainty rather than upon the principle of faith. And there's another word you're going to hear me mention as we proceed in this message, which is similar to the word faith in certain aspects, even though it's not exactly the same. That's the word trust. Now, faith and trust are very important to each other because they complement each other. As I've already said, biblical faith means to believe in God through the testimony of his word. It means to believe in the living God whom you have never seen with your physical eyes. First Peter 1.8 says, Whom having not seen, ye love. In whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Then we come to the word trust, which means to have complete confidence in God and to rely on Him as we believe Him by faith. Another way to describe the word trust is to cleave unto the Lord, which essentially means that we stay as close to the Lord as we possibly can, similar to the way that a husband is commanded by God in Genesis 2.24 to cleave unto his wife. The man of Galilee, Barnabas, exhorted the Christians of the church in Antioch to cleave unto the Lord in Acts 11.23. So the point is this, that it is impossible for a Christian to completely trust in God, in the sense referred to, if that Christian has a very weak faith. So we see that a greater faith is the first and most important thing that every single one of us needs here this morning, regardless of our age. Listen, we need the type of faith that believes without a doubt that God is exactly who he says that he is, and that every word in the Bible is 100% complete, unchanging truth. Because trust me when I tell you this this morning, if you do not have that type of faith in God and His Word this morning, if you have doubts in your mind this morning about the veracity of any parts of God's Word, if there's certain parts where you just say, well, I just don't accept it as truth, then you will never, the Word of God will cease to be the foundation in your life at some point or another. and you will ultimately end up further away from the Lord than you could have ever possibly imagined because the Word of God says in Psalm 11 verse 3, Psalm 11 verse 3, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? If Satan is allowed to destroy the foundation of God's Word in your life, what can you do? Amen? So now that we've seen from the scriptures the absolute necessity of faith and what the word trust means, I want to go through this quickly, the biblical plan that never fails. And there's four specific things that are part of this biblical plan that I want you to see as revealed by God to us in Proverbs 3, 5-6. Number one this morning. Lean not unto your own understanding. Look with me at Proverbs 3, verse 5. The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. So before we begin to talk about what it means to trust in the Lord with all thine heart, I want to first talk about why we Christians are commanded by God to not lean unto our own understanding. You see, listen, when God tells us to not lean unto our own understanding, that basically means that we are not to make decisions in our Christian lives based solely upon what we think is correct, which we're all prone to do. according to our own intuition, circumstances, or anything else. So listen carefully this morning. I can say with the complete confidence based upon the final authority of God's word, listen, if you make decisions in your life based solely upon what you think is correct, according to the inclination of your heart, and based solely upon what is convenient for you in the circumstances of your life, then those decisions will result in you continually sinning against God. Now, how can I say that? That's a pretty strong statement. Well, because the Bible says in Proverbs 28, verse 26, he that trusts within his heart is a fool. but whoso walketh wisely he shall be delivered." So here's a question, why is that verse so important for Christians to understand today in 21st century Christianity? Well, because we live in a world where the predominant philosophy is to follow your own heart. And the world says that if you do that, then you'll never go wrong. From the television athletes, to the actors, to the musicians of the day, to the personalities in media, the overriding principle that they bring forth and push down our throats today is follow your own heart. And if you do that, everything will turn out right. So basically, according to the philosophy of the world, if it feels right intuitively, then it's got to be right. Right? Wrong. That thinking is completely against God's Word. It couldn't be more diametrically opposed, whether we're talking about adults or young people this morning. Listen, as someone who says that they're a Christian, which I would think would be most people here would profess to be saved this morning, You need to come to the place, if you're not there already, of allowing the Word of God to govern and influence all the decisions that you make in your day-to-day life. Because I promise you this, and I've learned this in my years of being saved, listen, the desires of your heart, the desires of your heart and the direction of God which comes from His Word and His Word alone, when viewed independent of each other, meaning you have the Word of God here with its principles and its instruction on a path to righteousness, and the human heart here with its inclination towards sin, they're never in agreement. Because they each promote a different path to be followed in life. Now the Bible does say in Psalm 37 verse 4, But the inference of that verse is this, is that God only grants those Christians the desires of their hearts who are delighting themselves in Him. Which means that they are in the center of God's will for their life. God can trust those Christians, you see, and he therefore grants them the desires of their hearts because the desires of their hearts are not in opposition to his plan or will for their lives. But the Christians who are not abiding in the center of God's will for their lives, which believe it or not, as most professing Christians in the world today are basically following their own path independent of God. And it is extremely dangerous for those Christians to trust and follow after the desires of their hearts. And here's the truth this morning. If we are not continually abiding in the Lord day by day, then the desires of our hearts will lead us in a completely different direction than God's guidance and wisdom would lead us. And many times, listen to me, the consequences of following our hearts are devastating. And those consequences can last forever. I touched on that this morning with the youth. I truly believe that is why God many times allows the consequences of our sins to remain. even after their sins have been forgiven. You know why? To remind us how wicked our sin is in His sight and how dangerous it is for us to go down a path in that direction again. You know, I think of the great man of God named Moses and the consequences that he experienced when he disobeyed God's command to him to speak to the rock at Meribah so that it would bring forth water to the people. The Bible says that when he smote the rock twice with his rod, instead of speaking to it like he was commanded to do, it brought forth water, and God saw that as an act of defiance, that it was a result of Moses simply not believing God, the Bible says in Numbers 20, verse 12. Now we understand from reading everything up until that point how frustrated Moses must have been with those Israelites, right? And just how hard it would have been to lead such a people like that. But even still, God didn't excuse his lack of faith in that instance. And it's hard to fathom how that could have ever even happened in light of God attributing five verses in that great chapter of faith, Hebrews 11, 23 to 27, to Moses, is one of the greatest examples of faith who ever lived. And yet he still had that incident of doubt and unbelief charged to his record in Numbers 20, verse 12. What was the consequence of Moses' sin of unbelief on that occasion? God didn't allow him or Aaron to go into the Promised Land, amen. He had been planning to do that. Imagine how hard that would have been for him not to be able to go into the Promised Land, preparing for all those years to do that. Listen, we need to remember this morning that there are always consequences to sin. Scripture is clear that God is willing to forgive sin when sincere confession and genuine repentance takes place, yes. but he has not promised, listen, God has not promised to remove all consequences to sin once it has been pardoned. He can do that if he wants, he's God, he's certainly able to do that, but many times he does not do that. As witnessed in 2 Samuel 12, 13, when David, for example, acknowledged to Nathan that he had sinned against the Lord, and Nathan told him that God had forgiven him, But then in 2 Samuel 12 14 we see that the consequence of David's sin that still remained was that the child born to David and Bathsheba from their immoral relationship died. This is why we read in Galatians 6, 7 to 8, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. So if we're determined to sow to a life of disobedience and sin, we're going to reap the consequences in our lives whether we're Christians or not. Look, brethren, the point is this, that we need the wisdom of God in order to make the decisions that are in accordance with God's will for our lives. Because apart from the Word of God's influence upon our decision-making, the Bible says, listen, that our own wisdom in making decisions is not trustworthy because our own wisdom is predominantly based upon the thoughts and the emotions of our own heart. which is extremely dangerous to follow because the Bible says in Jeremiah 17 verse 9, that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Think about that. God says the heart is desperately wicked is deceitful above all things. And yet the world says, follow your heart. Who are we going to listen to? We're going to listen to God, or we're going to listen to the philosophy of the world. I want you to listen to these verses. The Bible says in Proverbs 3, verse 7, The Bible says in Proverbs 23, verse 4, Who is the man that God used to write those two verses in the book of Proverbs, and the whole book for that matter, with the exception of the last two chapters? We mentioned him this morning in the Sunday school class with the young people, the man named Solomon, who no man surpassed in wisdom in his day or any day since, according to 1 Kings 3.12. But listen, even though God used Solomon to write the book of Proverbs, here's the ironic thing. Solomon never consistently applied the principles of that book to his own life. The man took to himself 700 wives and 300 concubines. And when he was older, the Bible says that many of his wives turned his heart away from the Lord to worship their false gods and even built sanctuaries for their false gods. You see, instead of trusting the Lord with all of his heart and not leaning onto his own understanding like the words that he literally penned in our text say, Solomon started to trust in his own wisdom. And then he compromised and he sinned against the Lord. Here's what happened, I believe. Solomon, listen, he got to a very dangerous place when he trusted in the gift, which was the wisdom that God imparted to him, instead of consistently trusting in the giver of the gift, which was God himself. And look, that could happen in any facet of the Christian life. We need to be so careful. And I want you to listen to what the prophet Jeremiah said regarding why it is so foolish for someone to trust in their own wisdom. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 10.23, he said, Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Think about that. So now that we've seen from the Word of God why it is so foolish for a Christian to make decisions in our life based upon their own wisdom and understanding, I want us to quickly move on to the next command of God from our text, number two, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. What does that mean? It means that we Christians need to have enough confidence in God to completely submit our lives unto him without reservations and to trust him that he will always lead us in the right way. Someone suggested this, and I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to say. It's sobering to think about this, but I think it's something we ought to think about. Someone suggested if you never told anyone that you are a Christian, would they be able to tell that you are a Christian by noticing the lifestyle that you live and by hearing the words that consistently come out of your mouth? Or would they conclude by your way of living and behavior that you must not be a Christian? Think about that. One of the fiercest enemies of the man of God named William Tyndale, William Tyndale being the translator of the first English New Testament to ever be printed. beholding the testimony of Tyndale's life." Keep in mind this was his fiercest enemy, someone that did not like Tyndale at all, did not stand for anything that Tyndale stood for. But this is what this man said about Tyndale, his fiercest enemy after witnessing the life of William Tyndale. He said this, he said, if William Tyndale is not a Christian, if William Tyndale is not a Christian, he said, then there is no such thing as a Christian on the face of the earth. What a testimony, amen. Then in contrast, as an example of how the bad testimonies of professing Christians can negatively impact others, we have the last words of the former leader of the nation of India, Mahatma Gandhi, who was probably one of, if not the most moral lost man who lived on the face of the earth, who perished because he never received Christ and is in hell today. But he said this, some of his last words, he said, I would have become a Christian, he said, had it not been for Christians. Think about that. Here's a man who said he had no problem with the teachings of Christ. If it was just simply him following the teachings of Christ, he would have very easily, but he said what kept him from becoming a Christian was witnessing the lives of professing Christians that lived so contrary to Christ. And he said that kept him from becoming a Christian. I think of a lot, and I think of many people, and we know according to Scripture the Lot was a saved man even though he really marred his testimony and his integrity. But how many people in Sodom are going to stand before the Lord one day and just said, I would have been a Christian had it not been for Lot? Something we need to think about, amen? Listen, those questions that I mentioned in regards to what kind of message our lives are sending forth are so important because Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 7, 17-20 that a person, listen, will be primarily known and identified for who they truly are Not according to the profession of faith in Christ, because listen, everyone in America today, when you knock on their door, pretty much is going to tell you that they're some form of Christian, amen? If you want actual statistics of the 8.1 billion people on this earth at this point in time, 35% of 8.1 billion people in the world today profess to be Christians, which if you read the New Testament, you know what the Bible says about the broad way and the narrow way, you certainly know that more than likely that is not the case, amen? But listen, people are not going to be known according to what they profess to be, but according to the type of fruit that their life is producing, Jesus said. And we clearly see that in the Word of God. Listen, if the fruit of professing Christian's life is consistently corrupt and not spiritual, and they have no difficulty living a life of carnality because they're not experiencing chastisement from God. Like Hebrews 12, 8 says that every true child of God will experience if they're indulging in sin. If that's not there, then according to the words of Christ himself, in Matthew 7, 17 to 20, you can read that, that person has not been born again. And number three this morning, in all thy ways acknowledge Him. This is the third and final command of God to Christians in our text that is part of the biblical plan that never fails. So let me ask you a question. What does in all thy ways acknowledge Him really mean? What does that really mean? Well, I believe it basically means that every area of our lives needs to be completely submitted unto the Lord because God really does care about every area of our lives. You know, I'm amazed at how many Christians I talked to today. that have this mentality that God's concerned about the big things in life and society, but the little things, supposedly the little things that people come up with, God's not concerned about those things. But you know, the Bible says in 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your cares upon him, why? For he careth for you, amen. want you to seriously think about the following verse the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10 31, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. So you see if the attitude of our hearts is important to God and something is simple and basic think about this as an eating or drinking then there's no doubt that God is concerned about every area of our lives and He therefore wants to be acknowledged in every area of our lives and ultimately glorified in every area of our lives. And I truly believe this morning, listen, that the greatest way that you and I can recognize or acknowledge God in all of our ways, as Proverbs 3, 6 commands us to do, is through prayer. The Bible says in Philippians 4, 6, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests be known unto God. Here's the point this morning. God wants and expects us Christians to take every area of our lives unto Him in prayer. I'm convinced of that. So please understand something very important. There are very few things more important in the life of a Christian than their prayer life. It's an undeniable fact that the men and women throughout church history and in the Word of God who are noted for their godly character are examples to all in this particular area above everything else. They were men and women of prayer. They were men and women who spent long seasons in their secret place communing with God. One of the translators of our beloved King James Bible was a man named Lancelot Andrews. Listen, he was a man who spoke 21 languages fluently. Think about that. Speaking 21 languages fluently. They said if he lived during the time of the Tower of Babel, they said he would have been the chief interpreter. Amen? But listen, this man who spoke, you think about the time that would have had to be invested to learning 21 languages fluently. And yet his biographer said this, he said that he was a man, the amazing thing about that is that his biographer said that he spoke, he spent five hours every day in prayer. Think about that. The time invested to learning those languages, yet still having time to devote that amount of time to prayer. Now that sounds crazy to us, right? But it really should not surprise us when we look at the example of Jesus when he was on the earth as recorded in the Gospels. whose example the man Lancelot Andrews was no doubt determined to follow. Look, Jesus Christ was first and foremost a man of prayer. You see that all throughout the New Testament. A great while before day, he departed into a mountain or into a desert to pray. Sometimes he prayed all through the night. That was the backdrop to his ministry. He was a man of prayer. And continuing with that thought, we see that amongst the different spiritual disciplines that Christ emphasized to his disciples throughout the Gospels, there are two that stand out as paramount above all the others. You know what they were? Biblical faith, what we're talking about this morning, and prayer. You know what's interesting about that? You cannot have one without the other. Look, you'll never be a man or a woman of prayer, or a young person of prayer, if you remain a Christian of weak faith. This is why it is so important, it's so important that we have daily quality time reading and studying and meditating upon the Word of God, in order to have our faith increase, to feed our faith, so that it will encourage and stimulate us to go to the Lord more frequently in prayer. And with respect to this intimate connection between biblical faith and prayer, the Bible tells us this in Hebrews 11, 6, it says this. It says, but without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Notice this part. For he that cometh to God. person that's going to approach God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So I often think about maybe the reason why in our churches today we have such a difficulty getting Christians to understand the importance of developing a real prayer life, attending the prayer meetings, investing in prayer personally with their families, is if people simply just don't believe God and His word. Because if we had that faith in God, that He is who He says that He is, we would more frequently go to Him in prayer. Look, you can faithfully come to the house of God. for every service and sit under the preaching of God's word. You can sing in the choir and teach a Sunday school class. You can give to missions. You can have good fellowship with other Christians after the services and special functions. And even though all those things are very important and good and helpful to you in your growth, look, the reality is this. If you're not a man or woman of prayer or not even allowing God to a certain degree to mature you in this area, then listen, this is hard, but this is the truth for all of us, including me. In reality, God does not have control of your life. You are the one who is controlling your life and making decisions in your day-to-day life independent of God if prayer only plays a minor role in your life. Listen, because it's primarily through prayer that we reveal to the Lord how much we really need Him and that we are dependent upon Him and therefore trusting in Him. To pray without ceasing, listen, as the Bible commands us to do in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, is not to simply resort to praying in time of emergency or when a tragedy comes into our lives, amen, like many people did when COVID came. Like COVID's here, let's all start praying, amen. That's not what we're talking about. It's not just praying when we're amongst other Christians in the house of God because we're in church, it's time to pray. No, it's a lifestyle prayer where we walk in the spirit of prayer throughout the day. whether at our job, in school, young people going into school, having that kind of walk and fellowship with Christ. The man of God named Ian Bounce, who had almost a prophetic insight into the subject of prayer, he said this. He said, if God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, think about this, he will be in the last place the remainder of the day. And that's so true. And I learned that from someone who, before he got into ministry, worked a secular job. And I just said, you know what? I'm going to have my devotions after my day of work. And I'm going to come. And I was so exhausted. And I never did that faithfully and consistently. That's why we see that principle that's so important at the beginning of the day with God. David said to the Lord in Psalm 53, he said, In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee. Amen? And this man of God continues and he says this, he says, When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live. Nothing he said is well done without prayer for the simple reason that it leaves God out of the account. Think about that. Anything that we do in our Christian life, if it's not fueled by a life of prayer, many times it's going to be done in the flesh. That's just the reality of it. This is why, listen, too often preaching that is not backed by a life of prayer, it's often powerless. Because such preaching is more dependent upon the personality and the charisma of the preacher, many times, rather than in the authority of God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's why soul winning, listen, that is devoid of prayer in the life of the individual doing the soul winning is often done in the flesh, many times, by way of unbiblical methodologies and manipulation, and is therefore disingenuous. Because a person of prayer is not going to resort to those kind of things. And it's why giving, listen, it's why giving that is not done in the spirit of prayer, you know what happens? It's often done according to our ability, simply what we have, rather than stepping out in faith when God touches our heart. Listen, I'm convinced that if you and I really believe what Jesus told his disciples in John 15, five, which was that without him, we cannot do anything spiritually speaking. That's what he told them. If we really believe that, then we would be willing to sacrifice and discipline ourselves to become men and women in prayer. We would probably go to bed earlier at night. We would sacrifice some time on our devices. Amen. We would do what we needed to do in order to have more time alone with the Lord. I'm not saying, listen, that my prayer life is perfect because it's not, but I'm saying this is something that the Lord challenges me about every day and how vitally important this is. And number four this morning, listen, and this is the last point he shall direct I pass. The title of the message, again, was The Biblical Plan that Never Fails, and the reason why I titled the message this way is because, listen, as you learn to, number one, not lean unto thine own understanding, number two, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and number three, in all thy ways acknowledge Him, then and only then has God promised that He shall direct thy paths. This is, understand it, this is a conditional promise of God that none of us can receive without first complying with the three conditions mentioned in the text. If I went to any independent Baptist church in the country, and I said, how many of us want God to direct the paths of our lives? Hands would go up all across the auditorium, amen, from young people to adults. But if we had to be honest and say how many of us are willing to comply with those three conditions in order for God to truly guide the paths of our lives, how many of us in our own hearts could say that we're willing to comply? Amen. Listen, God's plan has never failed, and it's never going to fail. And when it's God who is directing the paths of our lives, we can have complete confidence that all things will ultimately work together for good to those who love him, as the Bible says in Romans 8, 28. But I'm going to be honest with you this morning as we get ready to close here. Look, if you decide to leave here this morning, determined that you're going to walk in your own ways according to the path that you've devised for yourself like many if not the majority of professing Christians are doing in the world today. Even an independent Baptist church it's sad to say because they believe that they have a handle on this thing called the Christian life. Maybe they think they've been saved for a certain amount of years and they figured it out. I promise you you're going to learn the hard reality at some point of Proverbs 14, 12 which says this, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. see that was one of the main problems with God's people the Israelites in the Old Testament they walked according to the counsel of their own hearts and God tells them in Jeremiah 7 23 to 24 that they went backward instead of going forward in their walk with Him. Look the bottom line and the fundamental point of all that's been said in this message this morning is this there is no safety promise to us when we are trusting in our own hearts and leaning on to our own understanding but the promise of God or Proverbs 29 verse 25 still stands which says this, "'Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.'" Listen, God wants us to trust Him completely. He's our Heavenly Father if you're saved, amen? And we all need to trust Him completely if we're ever going to be consistently faithful to Him. So I ask each one of you personally here this morning, listen, this morning as you sit here in the house of God, where is your trust honestly this morning? Are you trusting in the wisdom and philosophy of this world? Many professing Christians are doing just that. professing Christians are running to the world for help instead of trusting in God alone. Like the people in Judah in Isaiah chapter 30 who the Lord rebuked and chastened for trusting in the heathen nation Egypt which was a picture of the world instead of trusting in the Lord. Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3 19 that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God So you remember that when the world comes to your way and they with everything that the world said is that it's the height of wisdom and prosperity God looks at it too often and says that is nothing but foolishness and Maybe you're here this morning, you're trusting in your own wisdom and understanding according to your circumstances, and maybe you're justifying your unwillingness to live by faith and trust the Lord. Listen, you're gonna have faith promise, I believe, next week. You know what happens many times with Christians doing faith promise giving is that God touches their heart. and then the devil comes in there, and the devil starts saying to them, well, look at the bills you have, this, that, and so forth, and look, we ought to be responsible in paying our bills, and I understand all that, but listen, if it's a matter of us just keeping back to ourselves things for convenience, things that we want rather than things that we need, amen, and we're choosing those things above stepping out in faith and maybe being a help and giving so that missionaries can go throughout this world and proclaim the gospel, when it gets to that point, then we have a problem, amen. then we have a serious problem. We need to look at our heart, what we're doing. And the reality is this, listen, most professing Christians, they spiritually stagnate, which means they stop advancing in their walk with Christ for this reason, due to the fact that their trust in the Lord is divided. They are trusting in the Lord to a certain degree, they tell themselves, but at the same time, you know what they're doing? They're trusting in someone or something else. It's basically what the Bible calls the sin of double-mindedness, which in the context of what we're talking about this morning, is someone who is vacillating between trusting God or trusting something else, which in God's eyes, listen, is a validation that they are not trusting in Him at all, because James 1.8 says this, it says that a double-minded man is unstable, in all of his ways, amen? So we need to be all in with God, or we're not in with God at all. And I want to close with this example. This is something that challenged me, and we'll close with this, and I appreciate your patience. There was a man of God named George Mueller, who was a man of God who lived during the 1800s. This man cared for more than 10,000 orphans by way of five orphanages that he established. He was probably the greatest example that we have outside of the Word of God of someone who completely trusted the Lord by faith to provide for himself and all of those orphans. The testimony of his life of faith in trusting God is simply astounding. We really don't know anything about it today. We have many times when we, even us missionaries, we travel the country and we try to raise support. Here's a man who didn't make any pleas for money. He just believed that he was just simply going to go to God and make all of his needs known to God and no one else. And it's just amazing. It's just amazing what a challenge what God did in this man's life. He said the following with respect to what it truly means to trust in the Lord. And we're going to close with this. He said this. He said, either we trust in God, and in that case, we neither trust in ourselves, nor in our fellow men, nor in circumstances, nor in anything besides, or we do trust in one or more of these, and in that case, do not trust in God. Listen, if we were willing to trust the Lord to forgive us of our sins and to save our souls, then we ought to be willing to trust Him to guide every aspect of our lives here on this earth, amen. I think we ought to be willing to do that. And the Bible says in Nahum 1 7, it says this, it said, Does God know you this morning as someone who is consistently trusting and abiding in him? Amen.