Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent messages from the pulpit of Wilton Baptist Church. We pray that this message is a blessing to you in your walk with Christ. Faith fitness. I saw some of you singing really well here in the service today, and that's great. That's part of our expression in worship back to God. And so good job singing along and participating in the service. Faith fitness. Do you like to exercise? Anybody here like to exercise? I don't really care for exercise. I like the benefits of exercise, but to exercise. The only time that I like to exercise is if I'm chasing a ball. It could be a basketball, a soccer ball, a baseball, or I really chase long distances, the golf ball, you know, over the river, through the woods. It's good exercise like that to go out and chase a ball. When I was young, I liked to play all these different sports, and I would actually practice and train for that sport. And one of the ways that I would train was in a swimming pool. and I would work on strides, I would actually run. Instead of swimming in a swimming pool, I would run because of the resistance and try to build muscle and things like that from that. And athletes do the same thing today. They'll train, they'll get as ready as they can, they'll use swimming pools, they'll use free weights, they'll use other types of weights, and they'll do a lot of things to get ready, even running miles and miles on end. We live in a time in history when fitness is taught, it's sought, People are looking for it, and it's expected many, many times where we would be physically fit. Now, there's nothing new under the sun. The fad of physical fitness has come and gone before, if you believe Ecclesiastes 1.9, where everything comes and goes like that. Planet Fitness, sports apparel companies, and coaches on social media. And I kind of laugh whenever I see that. Coaches on social media, they've all benefited from the current trend. So you could just walk into any sporting goods store and there's something, somebody wanting to talk to you about physical fitness. Get on social media, somebody wanting to talk to you about physical fitness. That's just like anything else, it'll come and go. Now the Bible tells us to care for our bodies. That doesn't come and go. So we really should. How it kind of seems trendy sometimes, that comes and goes. But the truth is, we should take care of our bodies. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20 instructs us, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So as a Christian, You belong to Jesus. When you place your faith and trust, your absolute confidence in Christ alone for salvation, you belong to God and the Holy Spirit lives in you. You're the temple of the living God. And so God tells us, take care of your bodies because that's where I'm living after you've trusted Christ. Just as our physical bodies need exercise, proper nutrition, so does our spirit. The faith that we hold on to needs exercise daily. Faith needs motivated in the little things and stretched in the big things. Think about that for just a moment. We need to have faith in the little things. Sometimes we don't. And we need to let that faith be evident in our lives, motivated in the little things because of our faith and stretched in the big things that require faith as well. You've heard it said that practice makes perfect. Have you been guilty of saying that? Practice makes perfect. Did you know it's not true? It's not true. Practice makes better. There's no one perfect in this life. There's no perfect pianist. There's no perfect athlete. There's no perfect body. There's no perfect condition in this earth. But practice does make better. And athletes will train to get in a game. They practice, sweat, work, and prepare to perform as best that they possibly can. They invest time, money, and mental energy as they get ready for the game. Now, Paul challenged Timothy about this in 1 Timothy 4, verse 8, for bodily exercise profiteth little. but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Bodily exercise profiteth little. Wait a minute, you just said we're supposed to take care of our bodies. Yes, but you can work a lot. You can work a lot and yield very little results, right? Okay, I'm trying to work, I'm trying to work, I'm trying to get to five miles at a time walking. If you're really into that, and I'm trying to get to that, you know, you may practice and eat right and all those things, but it comes really hard sometimes. And as much energy and effort that we may put into our physical bodies, we should put just as much focus on our spiritual condition, on our thinking about God, on our walk of faith with the Lord. I like sports, but practicing with a baseball and a basketball or a golf ball is not nearly as important as practicing our faith. Could you say amen to that? It's really true. We need to practice our faith and what an important message this is as we finish out this series about getting into the game. How can I have faith, then, that is fit? How can I have faith that is fit to face whatever circumstances or challenges that I may face? Well, faith fitness is worth the effort. And here's what you need to know about having more faith fitness. The first item is this. Each step that we take in life is a step of faith. Every step. Not just the big things. We tend to limit our thinking that way, but even the small things in life should be affected because of our faith. We walk by faith. When teaching about how we are merely traveling through this life, Paul tells the believers in 2 Corinthians 5-7 that we walk by faith, not by sight. You ever get stuck sometime, you don't see the end result, or you don't see where I'm headed, and you don't want to take that next step? And like Elijah last week, he wasn't very motivated because of the depression that we talked about. And he was having a hard time taking that next step to go to the mountain where God called him to go. And so the Christian life, every step is a step of faith. Every Christian lives a life by faith. Galatians 2.20 tells us, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I love that verse. What a great truth. So we're living by faith in this body of flesh. A playwriter back in the 1600s asked this practical question, can a faith that does nothing be called sincere? You know, our faith should change us. On a daily basis, it should impact us. The small decision and the big ones as well. Really, a real faith really does impact every day life. And so examine your life because examination of self requires faith. Athletes will do this. They'll set benchmarks. Have you ever done that before? I'll set a benchmark. I used to have benchmarks on a bench press. You know, I wanted to get to 180 pounds, then 200 pounds, then 200. and 20 pounds, and then 225. I'm trying to do that. And I had benchmarks, goals to try to reach out to, to achieve. Athletes will do that. They'll put goals out in front of them. And they'll assess the level that they're currently at with speed, with BMI, body mass index, with questions like that. Where am I at with longevity? And how much strength do I really have? Am I ready for this marathon? ready for this ballgame? Am I ready? And so they'll measure themselves. Examination is also required in our faith, in our walk with God. Note the following assessments that a person who's exercising his faith will ask. The first question is this, am I really a Christian? Am I really saved? I think you should ask yourself this question. Now, we have friends here today, maybe it's your first time in church or you've been in different types of churches before, but today you have an opportunity to answer this question between God and what the Bible says about God and your sin and salvation. Have I come to the place where I have accepted not my works, not my righteousness, but I have accepted the gift that God paid for when Jesus died on the cross in my place? It's a great question to ask. Every person needs to ask that question. And so the Bible tells us, examine yourselves. In 2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. Prove your own selves, know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate. Some people will express and say, I've trusted Christ, but they don't have Jesus in their heart. They've professed salvation, but have not possessed salvation. And so it's one thing to say, well, I'm a Christian. It's another thing to know, to know, to know without a doubt. that Jesus is in your heart. Have you trusted Christ and Him alone for salvation? Another question would be this, am I more like Jesus? Each day we believe what's called progressive sanctification, that is, every day I should be less like the world and more like Jesus." Are you more like Christ each day? Galatians 4, verse 19, "'My little children of whom I travail and birth again until Christ be formed in you.'" Paul was saying to the Galatian believers, you're like my children in the faith, and I want to work, I want to travail and do all that I can to see that Christ is formed in you, that you're becoming molded to be more like Jesus. Another question is this, is there any Bible discipline in my life? I mean, is there some Bible discipline, some structure and order that's taken from the Word of God and applied into my life? 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27, but I keep my body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway." Paul was looking at his life and the lives of those he was preaching to, and he said, we need to put our lives, our bodies even, into subjection. So instead of, well, I just feel like, I just feel like it. What does God say about you processing it through that? So is there any Bible discipline in my life? And our passage today is Psalm chapter 37, because here we have some ways that you can instill this training, if you would, a faith fitness plan into your life, some daily practices that you and I both need. Look in chapter 37. and we'll begin reading in verse 1. Here's some ways to practice your faith, because if we're going to practice baseball, soccer, and all these other things, friends, we've really got to practice our faith. Here we go. Threat not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green earth. Trust in the Lord, and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. for evildoers shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth." Now, Psalm 37, notice right under the chapter heading there, it says, A Psalm of David. So David is the one who God gave this message to, and he wrote it down, and it's actually a poem. This wisdom psalm, it's considered a wisdom psalm, is a Hebrew alphabetical acrostic. And it's a poem. In Hebrew, it would have a nice rhythm or sound to it if you were able to speak and understand Hebrew. And so it's a beautiful poem. But it shares wisdom. And in it, David is sharing how faith is the key to getting back in the game of life. It's how you get back involved and how God wants you to be involved in your daily walk with the Lord. Now, there are powerful words found in this chapter. commit, rest, and delight. All of those are important aspects of the Christian life in this faith fitness plan that we'll find. Now, before we go into the faith fitness plan, we need to know there are several enemies of your faith fitness, just like there are physical fitness enemies, like laziness. I've been wanting to go run around the neighborhood but it's cold. It's been cold in the mornings and rainy the last few times. And you know what I tend to want to do is not go out there. And maybe you'll face something like that as well. Laziness, tiredness, dehydration, overheating, that lactic acid that builds up in your muscles. You know, when you start to get tired and start to burn and your muscles are burning, I don't know if I can go again. I don't know if I can take another step. The lactic acid is building up. It's an enemy to your fitness to keep going. But what about your faith fitness? There are enemies of faith fitness as well, and it can be detrimental. These enemies can sideline you and get you out of the game. So here we go, verse 1 and verse 7 is speaking about what we could say, don't overheat. Notice how he says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Verse 7 tells us to rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him, fret not thyself because of him, to prosper in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass." Now this word fret is a Hebrew term which means to glow or to grow warm. It has to do with heating. Things are heating up. Things are starting to grow warm here. Overheating is the internalization of things in our life. Physically you overheat. You ever get to that point you're running and you overheat? maybe out on a ball field or out in the sun, in a similar way, when we fret because of this person, when we fret because of that person, when we fret, we start to overheat and internalize things, we start to warm up emotionally, and it causes this anger. It could be maybe the seeming advantage that another person has. It could be the idea, well, I have to work harder than they have to work. And that's what David was saying. Don't be jealous of those folks. Don't let this overheating take place in your life. Overheating is fueled by comparing my life to the life of other people. And you can get angry because of things like that. play the comparison game. Why don't I have what they have? Why don't this happen the way that happened to them? David says, don't do that. Don't fret over heat like that. Next, also in verse one, is to not get overly excited. Don't get overly excited. He says, fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Now, don't get overly excited. I get excited sometimes and I struggle with this idea of not getting excited. Years ago, Natalie and I were dating. I was in college, and I was playing a softball game. And she was in the stands. She didn't get to come to too many games. She was in the stands. Dave, thank you for the water. That's a blessing. And she was in the stands watching. And I was on first base, and somebody hit the ball. And I ran. No, I was on second base by that time. I was from second base to third base, and I turned a corner. And I thought, all right. I'm going to come in here and either collide with the catcher, or I thought, I'm going to do this. It's been a while. I haven't done it for a while. I'm going to jump over the catcher and touch home plate. I've had too many ankle injuries, but I don't think like that in the middle of the game. And so I ran, and I ran, and in my mind, oh, this is going to be great. I'm going to do a flip right over this guy, touch the home plate, and be safe. I ran, and I jumped as hard as I could. right into the tag of the catcher. You know, I was overly excited. I could not do what I thought I could do in that moment. I was just too excited. Now, I struggle with that. I'll anticipate before a basketball game, here's the way I want to play the game. Before a golf match, okay, here's what I want to do with the with the golf ball if I can, I want to do this with the golf ball, over anticipate like that. Athletes will do this. They'll envision before how they want to swing the bat or swing the club or where do I want to pitch the ball to. They'll envision that and kind of see themselves doing that and plan ahead like that. But it doesn't always happen that way. Injury, maybe. Loss of ability, getting older, not able to do what I physically was able to do before. And that can lead to disappointment, right? Oh, I can't believe I did that. I should know I can't jump like that anymore. Notice the word envy. Don't get overly excited. Envy is a Hebrew term meaning zealous, but it's in the negative sense. Jealous or envious, overly zealous. It's actually zealous and jealous together is what the term means. There's an evangelist friend of ours that we know named John Goetsch, and he recently tweeted this on social media. If you can stay cool in hot places, sweet and sour places, and small and big places, God can use you. Just be steady. I like that. That's a great statement. Just be steady. Not to get overly excited. Now, when we lessen our expectations in ourself and lessen our expectations in other people, not expecting so much out of others and myself, when we do that, we're less disappointed in life. In a spirit of passion and enthusiasm, we can spend all of our energy or too early in the game of life and have nothing left. to finish the game of life. See, life is not a spread. It's a marathon. It's a daily marathon with the Lord. Hebrews chapter 12, you can find it. fabulous passage, verses 1 and 2. I'll read it to you. So instead of overly anticipating or getting too excited too early in the race of life, in the running of the marathon of life, and then just be more patient. How about going overboard? Look at verse 8. This is a third thing that gets in the way of physical or rather spiritual fitness. Notice how he says, seize from anger and forsake wrath. Again, he says, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. This word or phrase from anger has to do with the nose and the nostril. Like whenever you get out of breath, the rapid breathing in passion, ire, or anger. Have you ever Had that before where you're just very, very passionate about something. And whenever you talk about running even, you're breathing really heavy, we can become like that emotionally as well. And so don't go overboard. He says to cease from this anger. You've heard about this advice of breathing calmly and cooling down following intense anger. Don't cool off a lot. That's good advice. Stay calm and carry on. You have that as a decoration somewhere in your house. Stay calm and carry on. Anger is an enemy of faith fitness. And it's in those angry moments we allow anger to control us instead of allowing our faith in God to control us. You don't want to get to a place like that. You don't want to get to a place where something other than God controlling you is controlling you. And David is warning that we would not live that way. Cease from anger. Interestingly enough, the word wrath is used here as well. And the word wrath is a term which means heat, anger, and poison. Heat, anger, and poison. It's a term associated with bottles. Bottles like a pop bottle, if you would shake it up, then it could explode. And that's the imagery and the picture that we have in this term called wrath here in this passage. When we hold in wrath and anger, we may get to a point of exploding all over someone. And that goes against faith fitness. That goes against faith fitness. Now, I've heard people in baseball fields and in basketball huddles, you know, and they'll talk about, well, let's get really angry, motivate themselves to go out there and win the game. But a lot of times, that actually doesn't help. If I'm really angry, I won't be able to make a shot or swing. If I'm really angry, I'm more constricted in my actions, and that's not really good motivation. You know what compels us as Christians? It's not anger. It's the love of God. That's what compels us and brings us along in the Christian life. But we could be like this faith fitness that David is speaking about. Let that lactic acid build up in the muscles, and once it kicks in, we're too tired then. win. I once played baseball with a promising athlete who was a major league prospect. He had several teams that had come to the games. The prospects were the scouts that get the game, watching the game. And this guy was probably the best baseball pitcher I had ever played with. And one day after a disastrous inning, he had several hits, maybe even some home runs off of his 93 mile an hour or more fastball. He came in after the inning was over. He threw his glove against the wall. He ran over in between all the cursing, and he smashed his hand into the wall. The problem was, the wall was made out of concrete. And friends, concrete wins every time. Doesn't matter how mad you are, concrete will always win. And he broke his hand. He couldn't pitch for quite a long time after that because of it. And in spite of being such a prospect and having such potential, his anger got the best of him. He was not able to even get into minor leagues. He didn't go to majors or minors. I think he played just a little bit in college. What a sad thing. What a sad thing. So let's answer this question then. How can I achieve a healthy fitness level in my career? And we've looked at some things that would stop you from achieving faith fitness. But what are some things that we do need to have in our lives by way of practice? With fear, failure, and falsehood, a real part of life, can't avoid it, they're a real part of life. What can I do? What can I instill in my life to have victory in these areas? The first thing is this, in verse 3, we're to trust our faith. Trust your faith. Notice how he says, trust in the Lord. and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." The Lord will give you everything that you really need for daily living. We must have faith. Notice how he says you can dwell in the land. What a great promise that is. You can dwell in the land. You'll have what you need. You can enjoy the food and provision that God makes available to us. David continues this marvelous idea down in verse 25. I have been young, And now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken for his seed begging bread." What a great thing David was testifying of, of God's faithful provision. So trust your faith. Now, when we say that, don't get the idea that we're, I'm having faith. Faith in faith itself is nothing. You're having faith in God. faith in the Lord Himself. Our faith is not in our ability to work, our ability to earn a living, or to make a life. Our faith is in God. And isn't this interesting what the disciples asked Jesus for help with? In Mark 11, verse 22, they said, Let us have faith in God. Teach us, teach us to have faith. We need to have faith in life. As we face fear, as we factor failure as a normal part of life, as we fight against falsehoods that lead to depression in our lives, all that we've talked about the last few weeks, all of it is answered with this one word, faith, and with this complete phrase, faith in God. Have faith in God. So trust your faith. Treasure your faith. Notice verse 4. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. The word delight means to be soft or pliable. That's not what you generally think of when you hear the word delight, is it? But the Hebrew term means to be soft or pliable, and it means to be flexible. Did you know that people that are flexible in life, I'm not talking about the guy that can touch his toes without bending his knees, I'm not talking about that type of flexibility. I'm talking about just flexible, go with whatever happens, you know, I'm still going to love God, still serve the Lord, things aren't good, well, it still will be all right. Flexible. The people who are most flexible in life are the happiest people in life. Sometimes the people have the worst things dealt to them, if you would, still have the joy of the Lord and the peace of God in their life because they're blessed with whatever may come their way. I was taught in ministry classes and by one of my ministry mentors named Dr. Charles Holmsher, and he taught me about evangelism. traveled around America for two years as an evangelist preaching to teenagers. And he said, here's one of the main things that you need to know is be flexible in ministry. But friends, it doesn't stop with ministry. It's good for life. Be flexible in life. To delight thyself in the Lord. How is that flexibility, delighting, to be soft or pliable? And it's delighting in the Lord. What's that look like? What does this mean? Well, when we are flexible in life, delighting and enjoying all that God gives us, we will find that God gives us then the desires of our heart. That's what the verse is teaching. It's not just what I want, like desire, but what to desire, and all of that comes together. in our lives. It's not to say that everything that your carnal mind and flesh desires will come to pass. That's not what the verse is saying. But it's saying, in other words, God gives us what to desire and he brings it to pass. So the priorities of my life, if I'm flexible with the priorities of my life, They're no longer my priorities, but they're God's priorities. I'm being flexible. I'm changing what I want to what God wants. God makes me want what He wants, and He'll bring whatever that is to pass my life. Was that confusing for you today? I hope not. But God will give you the desires of your heart and will accomplish those things as we're flexible to follow that in our life. If I'm always saying, no, I don't want what you want, God. I'm not being flexible. I'm not yielded. I'm not submitted to the will of God. I'll be disappointed with life. Nothing will ever be any good. I won't be accepting the blessings of God because I'm saying no over here. because of the lack of flexibility. What do you want, Lord? And so we need to understand this. We should treasure our faith. In other words, the priorities of our life on earth are changed to the priorities of God when we are being flexible and then delighting in Him. Lord, whatever it is that you want, that is what I want. Of your own choosing, we would not ask for hardship. disease. You wouldn't ask, let me have a disease. Let me have some kind of sickness. Of your own choosing, you wouldn't ask for that. But whenever we're flexible and whatever God allows, it sends our way. I'll accept it. I'll accept it. I'll be flexible in that. I don't like it, but Lord, some reason you have this as this point in my life, in this period of time, this be happening. Whatever it is, wealth, love, all these things. And Lord, I'm accepting that we face whatever we face by the grace of God. The things that we fear, the moments of failure, the falsehoods in life and the events and circumstances that every other believer in Christ will and have encountered. All of us will face things that we've been speaking of last few weeks. And so be focused in on this must be the will of God. God can include all these things in a spectrum of our life. The radio preacher, Dr. Adrian Rogers, one of my favorite ones, Adrian Rogers said the statement, a faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. So God will allow these things in your life to sharpen your faith, stretch your faith in the Lord. The word desires is used. David is talking here about our prayers, our requests, petitions, our desires. We're praying out to God. What is it that God has impressed upon you to pray for? We gather each Sunday to pray, the deacons and myself, we pray for each of you. We pray for different things we notice happening in your life, sickness, circumstances, things like that. Personally, I pray, you pray as well. Personally, maybe as a family, you pray. Thank God for that. What has God impressed upon you to pray for? See, if our prayers are not delighting in God, God won't answer that prayer. If it's just, give me this, just so I have bigger this. Give me this car, just so I have a bigger car, a better car. Give me this money, so I have all this money. If we pray to heap things upon ourselves, God won't answer that prayer. But if I'm praying in a flexible mindset, I'm yielded to the will of God, the Word of God, His desire for me. And that's what I'm seeking. God will answer those prayers, those desires of your heart. David mentions the heart here, the intellect, and the will. When we're praying, James chapter 4, verses 2 and 3 says, He lost and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not, ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your own lot. So God won't answer that prayer. But notice that heart, our intellect, and will. Only when we are flexible with our desires will God show himself in our life. And God's plan is something that each of us should treasure in our lives. Show me your will. Reveal your desire for my life. Our will must be bent towards the will of God the Father. And when that happens, faith will carry you to places you never dreamed before. take the places where I didn't know this would happen. I didn't know I'd be at this place. Look at how God's provided. You look back and say, wow, God was here. God showed up. This is amazing what God has done. And it would not have happened if you were not yielding to the Lord. You'll see God work in amazing ways. We're to lean in towards God like James 4, 8 coaches us by saying, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Lean into God, draw closer to God and he'll draw closer to you. And then another area of faith fitness is this. You gotta train your faith. You gotta train your faith. Look at verse 5. Commit. thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. The word commit means to roll a way or to run as in a direction, to go a certain direction. I like this term. we can commit or run the way that God wants us to run. And if you run the way that God wants you to run, you'll be a winner. You'll win. He brings His will to pass in our lives. Running down the path that God sets before you will change your life for the better. Now, our lives are full of decisions. Everyone, every day, we have decisions that we make. Now look down at verse 23 and verse 24. the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." If Christian life is a series of decisions, each decision will either take you closer to God or further away from God. There's not really any neutral ground. Either we're drawing nigh to God or we're not. We're getting closer to the Lord or we're not. We train our life to follow the faithful steps of God, and He'll take us to places where He wants us to go. So we're to order our life after God, put into practice, daily practices like reading the Bible. Did you read the Bible this morning? Well, I was going to go to church. No, no, that's not the same thing. Did you read the Bible for yourself? I used to have whatever time left to this day to read the Bible for yourself personally. Have you taken some time to pray? This week, we've asked you to invite someone to church to witness. You don't have to wait for someone to ask you to witness. You can invite someone. You can do that. It's part of the Christian life. to encourage other saints. You know, when you come in with a smile on your face, he shakes his hand, how you doing? Can we pray with you about this week? How things going in your life? And encouraging one another by meeting together in our Bible studies and in church services, memorizing the scripture. It's a great practice to have in your life. Like any serious athlete who hopes to get into the game will practice. We should practice. the Christian life. I'm not saying do, do, do to make God happy. That's not what we're talking about. I'm saying put these practices in your life. so that you'll be healthier in your Christian life, so that you'll be closer to the Lord when you make decisions in your life. See, He can plan your workouts if you give Him your practice schedule, if you give Him your time. Organize your life in spiritual ways. Enjoy your life with God. Notice the word delighted is found again there in verse 23. that he delighteth in his way. He delighteth in his way. It's a different term than the word delight in verse four. It means to incline to or to bend, to be pleased with, to have pleasure. Did you know that the Christian life is satisfying? It's satisfying. You can live a life of less regrets, no regrets. You have a life where You know that you're honoring God, that you're pleasing God the Father. You can know that you have a close, a vibrant relationship with Jesus. What a blessing that is. But if I'm not practicing my faith, I have some guilt. I have a guilty conscience. I have the conviction of the Holy Spirit in my life. I'm not living and practicing the faith. You see, the Christian life is fun and satisfying and fulfilling. Yes, we'll have problems. Yes, we'll have pain. Yes, there'll be suffering. But listen, you can have joy. You can still be joyful no matter what situation, what condition, what disease, what problem comes into your life. And the only way that happens It's simply truly practicing of faith. What's the difference between you as a Christian holding on to your faith in a hospital bed versus somebody who has no faith in Jesus? What's the difference? It's the joy of the Lord in your life. It should be. It's that I'm walking actively with God. So put your hand in God's hand. Fear will occasionally paralyze us. Failure will sometimes sideline us. Falsehoods will find a way to slow us down. But faith in Jesus is more powerful. You're not alone. You are not alone. Jesus is right there with you. And He is greater than whatever it is that you'll face. Though He fall, He will not be utterly cast down. Verse 24, for the Lord upholdeth Him. with this hand. Friends, you can get back in the game. Wait a minute, I fell. Yeah, you can get back in the game. I fell down. You don't understand. I fell down. I had an injury. I don't know if I can get back up again. No, God can pick you back up. Though he fall, you can pick him back up with this hand. What an amazing truth this is. Christian, you can get off the bench and serve God again. We don't have to sit on the sidelines. We can be encouraged in Jesus. Friends, don't just be on the Christian team. Get in the game. Run down the field. Listen to the coach. That's Jesus. Make a difference on the winning team. No matter what circumstances you face, have faith in God. Let Him pick you back up. brush off the dust, clean up any wounds, and get you back in a game of the Christian life. Friends, let's be actively pursuing practicing our faith on a daily basis. Let's bow together for a time of prayer. Thank you for your good participation in this service here today. Let me ask one question to begin, and it's this, have you trusted Jesus for salvation? At the very beginning, I mentioned how Christ died on the cross and rose again, and that we're not saved by our works, our religion, or our own goodness. If there's a friend here today that you would like to know for sure, your sins are forgiven. You would like to know absolutely that you're going to heaven whenever your time on earth ends. You'd like to know how to be saved, how to have salvation. I want to pray for you today, and we can have someone show you from the Bible how to have that knowledge and how to be saved. If there's someone that says, I would like to know how to have salvation. No one's looking around, just myself. I want to pray with you and for you. I would like to know how to be saved and know for sure I'm going to heaven. Anyone like that, just raise your hand very quickly. No one's looking, just myself. Just raise your hand very quickly. Anyone at all. Thank you. My Christian friend, are you wanting to get back in the game? Has there been fear that crippled you in serving God? Has there been falsehood, maybe some depression, some lies, some virtue that has slowed you down, disturbing God? Maybe there's something else that you haven't factored into failure. I failed. I feel like a failure now. I don't know what to do. The response to all of these things is faith, faith in God. Maybe God has helped you with this idea, this marvelous truth of faith in God, which overcomes the things that we face in life. And maybe there's a situation. Maybe there's a family member. Maybe there's something at work. You want to pray for that and take some time to do that today. Maybe in your mind, you've been defeated, but with God's help, He'll pick you back up again. He'll pick you back up as you yield to Him. Maybe there's another prayer request. Like we mentioned, what are you praying for? For the will of God. Commit whatever that prayer request is to the Lord. this time of invitation. Heavenly Father, we pray that you bless this time. We meet with you personally in this invitation moment. Take these decisions toward all pure glory, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Would you please stand as the can is placed. The altar is open. This is a time of prayer. You can come to the front and trust Christ if you like. Maybe you want to pray at the front for a family member or a friend, whatever the need is. Would you come Several are responding already. Would you come? What is it you've been praying for? Commit it to God again here today. What has stopped your faith from being as fit as it should be? Confess that to God. Run back to Him. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your meeting with us today. Thank you for this passage of Scripture and for how your Holy Spirit has used it in our hearts. Father, we pray if there's one without Christ today, may you trust in him personally. Pray and believe in Jesus for salvation. We pray for all the other decisions our Christian friends have made. There would be nothing in the way of faith that those things would be confessed or moved. Lord, restore to us that passion and desire to be faithful to you. Take that next step in our walk of faith with you. No matter what failures we may experience or things we fear or falsehoods that come into our lives, Lord, let us see that faith in Jesus is so much greater. So each Christian here, take their next step in faith. and they're welcome. We do pray that you'll bless now as we go from this place. Thank you for the will of the Baptist Church. Thank you for each one that's gathered here to worship and serve you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Have a great rest of the afternoon. Tonight we have a young man, one of our teenagers, who's going to bring a message. And then Pastor Betz is preaching a message as well. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a good service at 6 o'clock. We invite you for that. He has a couple of other announcements for you. So if you have not gotten your ticket, please make sure to do that today. Today is the last day to get them. Mrs. Hornets has those tickets. They're $5. And again, that's this Saturday coming up at noon at the Ladies Banquet and a great time of fellowship there. Don't forget, the pastor mentioned last week he is doing a new series on Wednesday nights called Never Alone, going through the book of Amos. An Old Testament book that probably many of us have not heard much preaching on. So if you'd like to hear that message starting Wednesdays at 6.30, come be a part of that service on Wednesday nights as well as the time of prayer. He also mentioned the lawn care team we had, brother Tom was able to come this week and help us do some dethatching and so we've got a good part of that started but we need people who are also willing to help us in doing some of the lawn mowing, some trimming, those kind of things. If you haven't seen the bulletin board, please do that today men and ladies if you'd like to help as well. We have two areas that you can help with the riding lawn mowing. as well as some trimming and some blowing and those kind of things. So if you can help with that, please see that bulletin board and we'll help you out in getting you put in some different places. We also do have some car wash tickets. Some of the teenagers have some. I have some as well if you haven't gotten one or need some. Once this rain is finished, the pollen starts to come, you'll need a car wash. And so, see the teenagers, it'll be a help for them in camp, and it'll be a blessing to you as well. And Pastor did mention the teen service tonight. Don't be afraid by two preachers, all right? I'm shortening mine. So if he preaches 30 minutes, I'll be up for two, all right? But I don't think there'll be that. But encourage Brother Evan Burhams. as he'll be preaching tonight. And the teens also have a little skit as well. And so come be a part of that and encourage them as they serve tonight. All right, let's close by singing our song, My Desire To Be Like Jesus, My Desire To Be Like Him. My desire to be like Jesus, my desire to be like Him, His Spirit fill me, His love overwhelm me, in deed and word, to be like Him.