We should do that at 930, right? And just when we get here right in the morning, like, yeah. All right, let's go to 2 Peter chapter number one tonight. 2 Peter chapter number one. When 67-year-old carpenter Russell Herman died in 1994, his will included a staggering set of bequests. Included in his plan for distribution was more than $2 billion for the city of East St. Louis, another $1.5 billion for the state of Illinois, $2.5 billion for the national forest system. And to top it off the list, Herman left $6 trillion to the government to help pay off the national debt. That sounds amazingly generous, but there was a small problem. Herman's only asset when he died was an 83 Oldsmobile. And he made grand pronouncements. But there was no real generosity involved, of course. His promises were meaningless because there was nothing to back them up. Now recently in our series, Back to Basics, I've been focusing on the Word of God and how vital it is to the Christian life. And tonight I'd like to consider another angle regarding God's Word that is paramount to the well-being of us as Christian people, and that is knowing, believing, and acting upon the promises of Almighty God. 2 Peter 1, we're gonna pick it up in verse 1 through verse 4 tonight. It says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now, in verse four, we see highlighted here that God has given us exceeding great and precious promises. And I'd like to focus on that tonight as we continue our series back to basics. And we're going to talk about the promises of God's word. So let's pray. Father, I thank you for this night, this time in the word of God. I thank you for its truth and the promises that we can rely upon. And as the song goes in our songbook, we need to stand on those promises, especially through the trying times of life and throughout our days so that we are directed accordingly. We pray your blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Now in our current world, God is actively working a grand plan for his creation. He's got a quite a plan going on. And we don't understand all of it by any means, but it's fascinating to watch it unfold as time progresses and as we study the scriptures and we see what God has done over the course of time so far. It's quite amazing. Right now, the biggest part of his plan, I believe, is bringing people to salvation, getting that gospel message to them so that they have the opportunity to respond to it. And I thank God that He brought somebody across my path 20 some years ago and gave me the message of salvation and eventually Responded to that as many of you have here tonight And that's God. I think that's a big part of God's current plan is getting the gospel to the world We have in our up here on our our wall here mark 1615 Jesus Christ as he was departing one of the instructions he gave his disciples was to go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature every creature deserves the opportunity to be able to respond to God's love and salvation. And that's part of His big plan. But another part of His big plan right now is to deal with those who have gotten saved, those who have accepted the redemption message. And He's working to mature us and to make us more into the image of Jesus Christ. And we've talked about that at length on many occasions in different messages. So that's really some of the things that God's going on. Of course, He's going to eventually do other things as time progresses. But these are two big things. now. And throughout the world and in various times and circumstances and details of our lives God is at work in ways we can't begin to comprehend either, can we? And in fact we don't even begin to understand. I mentioned this set of verses this morning Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And and my thoughts than your thoughts. So we understand that God is orchestrating things. God's working in different ways, different details throughout our world and in our personal lives. And to be quite frank, we don't just we don't always understand what's going on. We don't understand why this is happening this way. And it seems like even that God's made some mistakes, at least from our perspective. And God, what's God doing allowing this and allowing that and allowing that person to get the power and that person to be taken out? And why has God allowed this sickness or this financial downturn? Or why is God doing all this kind of stuff? And sometimes we have, we play the armchair quarterback and we begin to wonder, God, what are you up to? Or what are you doing? This doesn't seem like it's right. But God knows exactly what he's doing. I was looking up some information about chess and chess masters, I guess. And there are some people, those people who play those things, play that game and play it to the levels of championship levels have incredible abilities. Supposedly, some of the grandmasters of chess can calculate anywhere between 10 to 25 moves in their brain. Could you imagine that? In other words, as they're playing the game, they're thinking through up to 10 to 25 different moves that could happen as they strategize to try to beat their opponent. I'm lucky, I can play chess, but I'm lucky what's next after I move my first pawn, amen. It's like, boom, there, okay, let's see what else can we do. You know, I'm always in the reactive mode, not that I play a lot of that by any means, but that, I'm just amazed at that. And there's people that can even play a full game from memory. You know, my daughter's been into this Rubik's Cube, and some of you have seen her do that. And it's amazing, we've gone to a couple competitions, and how fast those guys can flip through those things. I think she goes pretty fast, but she's slow compared to some of those people. It's incredible to watch. They'll take these cubes and within 3, 4, 5 seconds, they'll have it solved. And they can do it even blindfolded. Could you imagine that? A 3 by 3 blindfolded. I think I'd take 10 years to figure it out. But they're doing it blindfolded within, I don't know, a couple minutes or whatever it might be. And it's just like, my goodness. Some people have minds I just can't wrap my mind around. In fact, speaking of chess, years ago, I had seen this video. I don't know what it was promoting or why. It was back in my school days. And they were talking about the mind. It was a chess master. He was sitting facing the wall. And they had like six games of chess going on behind him. And he would move from game to game. And he was playing six games at once from memory, looking the opposite direction. I mean, it's just, again, mind-boggling what people can do with their minds in that regards. And he can strategize. And I imagine he was winning. I don't know. But now tonight, I hope he win, right? Now tonight, if people can do that kind of stuff, consider God for a little bit. With his infinite knowledge and understanding of how things affect other things, over the course of generations and so forth, how he can calculate all those moves. He just calculates it all out. And it's funny how one decision here can affect many decisions down the line up here. And you can talk about something that spans generations. and so forth, just as a result of one decision. I'll guarantee you, the day you accepted Christ as your Savior, it affected a lot of things down the road for you, and those that you maybe raised in your home, and those that you impact. I know it's affected my life dramatically. Where would you be today if you hadn't gotten saved? That big decision you made years ago. Boy, I shudder to think where I would be. And I thank God I made that decision. know it has affected another thing, affected another thing, and affected another thing, and affected another thing. And only God can see the impact of those decisions down the road. In fact today we are living in a world that is the fruit of previous generations decisions both good and bad. But either way God is using all these things to prepare hearts I believe to bring people to that Gospel message or at least give them the opportunity and work on their hearts so that they will respond to it. And there are so many details going on that's so far beyond our ability to comprehend. It's mind-boggling. As I mentioned, decisions impact decisions and multiply that billions of times over with the amount of people in the world and the amount of decisions each person makes on a given day. The web of possibilities and outcomes is impossible for us to calculate. But God can do that without any problem. He can nearly do that without any problem. And I say all that to help us understand the fact that as a result, God cannot begin to explain why he does what he does in certain circumstances and how various circumstances are going to turn out for us. He can't give us all those details. He can't say that if he didn't allow this, XYZ wasn't going to happen, you know, 20 years down the road. You know, I mean, it's just he can see all that, but we can't. And he can't begin to explain all that for us. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. In other words, nobody's going to really understand how this all works out. And even if God sat us down and, you know, he pulled up a chair and said, all right, God, explain to me how this works out. Even if he sat us down and began to talk about this with us, we get lost in the information. We really would. Have you ever had somebody start telling you something and what they tell you, you get lost in the information? I mean, it's just like, it just kind of begins going over your head. We were at a, speaking of cubing, we were at a cubing competition on Thursday and there was a kid there, I swear, I think he was about six or seven. He was fast. And his mom was sitting there and we were next to each other and I think I think he was talking to my daughter, and she said, how do you solve it that fast? And he goes, well, the algorithms. That's their terminology, the algorithms. I looked at his mom, and his mom just smiled, just like, whoop, right over the top of my head. And I know how that feels. But I mean, there are a lot of algorithms, if you will, I hope I'm saying that word right, that exist. And we would get lost in the information, trying to figure it all out. We just don't know. You're laughing at me. I must be saying it wrong. Oh, well. I was an English major, OK? We know nothing about math. We as human beings are quite finite, limited in our capacity even to understand, but God's not. God's not. And what God does instead of explaining everything to us is that he instead gives us promises. That's where it comes down to. He gives us promises. And the promises are there to fill in the gaps for us, if you will. To reassure our hearts to the care, concern, and course God has for our individual lives. And when life makes no sense to us, when circumstances crop up that really baffle us, or we almost are tempted to think that God has made a mistake, we can see from God's promises that God knows exactly what He's doing. I think one of the greatest promises is Romans 8.28. We've seen this verse a number of times over the years. And we know that all things work together for good. To them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. And how many times do we need to rely on that verse? When you're looking at a disappointment or something that upends your life and you're saying, how in the world can any good come out of this? But God has promised that there will be a good result that comes from it. at some point in time and that God hasn't made a mistake and we need to be reminded that especially because we can get very discouraged by circumstances that crop up in our life and we can get really concerned and worried and fearful and all that kind of stuff. But God wants us to rest assured that he's got it under control and that in some way shape or form this is going to bring about a greater good ultimately. And we need that and that gives us some real hope not to give up and not to quit and not to not to sound the alarm in life but to rest in the fact that my Father knows what He is doing. Promises like this prevent us from also going in wrong directions that we are often tempted to take when life takes turns we didn't expect or don't want. Peter here expresses the exceeding great and precious promises here within our text that enable us to live the life God wants us to live while we navigate all the ups and downs, twists and turns of life. So let's consider this thought a little bit more as we consider first off what I call the credibility, the credibility. Now what makes these promises exceedingly great and precious? Those are three wonderful adjectives, aren't they? Exceeding, great, and precious. But what makes them that way? What makes them worthy of these strong descriptive words? I believe because what makes these promises that way is because they're backed by the full faith and credit of God Almighty. That's what it comes down to. It's backed by the full faith and credit of God Almighty. I'm sure many of us have driven up to a bank before and you've seen on the bank a sticker, if they were FDIC, and what does it say? Your deposit is is insured up to a certain amount of money backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. I don't know how that makes you feel, but, you know, that's what they say. And it's supposed to warrant confidence that you can deposit in that bank, right? Well, we've got something far better than the government of the United States. It's the full faith and credit of God. His character is flawless. Bible tells us that God is credible because it is impossible for God to tell a lie. If you go to, hold your place here, but go to the book of Hebrews just a few books back, Hebrews chapter number 6, we are going to be looking at this portion a little bit throughout a few points here tonight. But there is a strong statement given here that I like the way it is put in the Bible. Hebrews 6 verse 17, I'll get into more of the background of why the writer is mentioning it here in a bit. But, where in God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability, that means unchangeableness, the truthfulness of his counsel, of his word, confirmed by a note that by two immutable things in which it was, what, impossible for God to lie. God can't lie. We might have a strong consolation, have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." What we see here in verse 18 is a very strong positive statement about God's credibility and character is that the fact that He cannot lie. He cannot lie. And we need to remember that, that God when He says something He does not or will not go back on that. In fact the Bible says that there is something God cannot do. He cannot go against His Word. In fact Psalm 138 verse 2 says, God has made His character subject to His Word. So don't think that God hasn't chosen His words very carefully. And He has. and he has given us assurance that he has put himself under that control. What God often does though, and we see this in scripture stories, and no doubt you probably have experienced this in life, he'll make situations sometimes appear almost impossible to navigate, or difficult to deal with, or it doesn't seem that this could ever come about from a human perspective. Yet as we exercise faith in Him, God has a means, a way of fulfilling a promise through His great power, proving again and again that He is very credible in whatever He promises, that no human obstacle, no matter what it is, can get in the way of God breaking His promise. In fact, you'll hear in Hebrews 6, if you step back to verse 10, get a little bit more of the context of which 17, 18, and 19 fall under. It is in reference to the story involving Abraham back in the book of Genesis. Remember if you know the story of Abraham while Abraham was in the region of Ur of the Chaldees God gave him a promise. And God gave him this promise of raising up a nation from his lineage that he would be given a promised son. And And that would all take place. Well, of course, Abraham's wife had been barren at that point. She had never been able to have a child. So this is an incredible promise. Now, when he got that, he was a little older, but, you know, still within reason. But what would happen? God would make him wait 25 years until he was good and old. He was 100 years old. His wife was 90. And that's when God decided to fulfill the promise to show Abraham and to show us that with God nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible. In fact, we read here in Hebrews 6 verse 10, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name and that you minister to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. Can I say this? If there is time and God has not come through yet, give him all that time. Because sometimes God hits a lot of buzzer beaters. You know what I mean by that? If you've ever watched a game of any type of football, basketball, whatever, sometimes it comes down to the last seconds. And somebody hits a game winning shot, we call that a buzzer beater. A buzzer beater. They get it right in. And sometimes God hits buzzer beaters. And you've just got to kind of just wait it out. I've had some buzzer beaters in my Christian life, and it gets a little nerve wracking. But when God does it, you're like, ah, you just celebrate. But you know, sometimes it is a little nerve wracking, I'll admit. And, and it says here that we are to have full assurance of hope unto the end, that you may not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises for God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself saying, "'Surely in blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.' And so after he had patiently endured he obtained the promise." And then it goes on of course, "'For men verily swear by the greater, and in oath for confirmation it is to them an end of all strife.'" And then verses 17-19 of course God wanting to show unto us the fact that that His counsel is immutable, that He cannot lie. So we see here that we learn from Abraham's story that God, it doesn't matter what kind of obstacle gets in the way of God's promise being fulfilled, God has a way of overcoming that. And He's shown that time and time and time again in Scripture. Allowing certain circumstances to get to certain points And then he intervenes and everyone's kind of left there like, how did that happen? How did that happen? God's got a way of making a way when there appears to be no way. Follow me? And that's what he proves. And as we experience those types of things, it just builds God's credibility in our lives. It allows us to understand that yes, God says He will perform and it is impossible for Him to lie. Another way God has proven His credibility is through fulfilled prophecy. One of the ways we know the Scriptures are true is the fact that God has prophesied certain events in the past that have come to fruition. Now there are some prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled. We are studying some of that in the book of Revelation at 930. But there are some prophecies that God has already predicted that came through. Of course one of the most obvious is is that of Jesus Christ and all the prophecies that He fulfilled. But there were other ones as well. The rising up of kingdoms, and the downfall of kingdoms, and all those types of things back in the Old Testament. There was no way that anybody could have ever predicted how all those twists and turns would have came out unless of course they had knowledge of that, which God does. God has predicted major world events from history that show us that God has great insight knowledge that we can rely on. Go to the book of Isaiah back in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter number 46, Isaiah 46. I like the phrasing of this passage here and you'll see it here in just a moment. It says here in verse number 9, it says, "'Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me.'" he is trying to emphasize the fact that there are no idols that have the same power as he does. Verse 10 it says, "...declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, and the man that executed My counsel from a far country, Yeah, I've spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. So, in essence, God can call it. God can call something well before it ever happens. Before major elections or major sports games, there's always people that are making predictions, right? They predict this, they predict that, and you get analysis. Super Bowl, I think they spend all morning Not that I'm usually in church, I guess, but I've heard they spend all morning analyzing. I got a little bud in my ear during my preaching. But I mean, I've heard of these things where they spend all day or actually all week sitting here analyzing all this data on who's going to do this and who's going to do that, who's going to win. And sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they kind of split the middle, you know. It's whatever. Or even with elections. There have been people that predicted so-and-so was gonna win and so-and-so ends up losing and sometimes bad It's just like you you can't predict that kind of stuff all the time, but God can Declaring the end from the beginning in other words gone at the beginning to say this is what's gonna happen and it's gonna happen Because he knows he's got that foreknowledge as we read and study the scriptures we come to learn that God is credible and we can believe him and The devil, on the other hand, is doing all that he can to discredit God. And he will play on our emotions and distort our circumstances and our minds to convince us that God is not credible, not believable, so we should not seek to follow what he says. That's exactly what he did in the Garden of Eden. "'Yea, hath God said' was the phrase." Did God really say that? And then, "'Ye shall not die.' And Eve was like, huh, maybe God isn't true. Well, she and Adam discovered the hard way that God meant what he said. And we know that that situation has not ended well for the human race. Yet how many times have we been lured away ourselves from the Lord by Satan's lies in moments when we are struggling to understand certain circumstances in our lives? It's kind of like this. It's almost like there's a cosmic finger pointing going on. God calls Satan a liar. Satan calls God a liar. And we got to decide which one we're going to follow. Now you say, well, God, easily. But sometimes in the middle of difficult circumstances or when our emotions are revved up, we find ourselves drifting in the wrong direction, don't we? And that's dangerous, of course, because that doesn't lead to anything good. And that's why tonight I want to emphasize the fact that God is credible. We know that in our head, but sometimes in our heart, in the middle of a circumstance, we question that. And we start questioning and start acting upon that doubt, we're going to start making decisions contrary to his word, and that's not going to lead us into places that we want to go. the promises of God's Word are backed by the full faith and credit of God's character. Secondly, we see the comfort. As we have been covering in our Wednesday evening services, the Christian life will, as a result of a sin-cursed world that we live in, face various types of trials and difficulties. And God uses those trials for a good purpose in our lives and for His overall plan. We could read in 1 Peter Chapter 1 verses 6-7 we've studied recently how those trials of faith are more precious than gold that perisheth, right? We've talked about that at great length. Sometimes when our faith is being tested though, really what God wants to do in our lives is to prove again His credibility, how credible He is despite that the circumstances may appear to be before us. When he is successful in doing that, our lives have a bedrock hope in which they can rest on through the hills and valleys of life. You remember in Hebrews chapter six and verse 19, it talked about having an anchor for the soul, right? You know what an anchor is, that stabilizes a ship. If you go up to Duluth there in Canal Park, I think many of us have probably been up there at some point, you see that big ship, I think it's called the Irwin or something like that. It's been parked there for years, I don't know how long, but they have a couple of the anchors sitting out, and those things are huge. I don't think I could lift one without some help. And they were placed in that ship to keep that ship positioned when it was out to sea or out on Lake Superior, wherever it traversed. That's what God wants his promises to be in our lives, is that when our life is going through storms and difficulties, that it will anchor our soul. That we have consolation, that means comfort, in various times of our life. And we need that comfort. We need to know that God's in control. We need to know that God's got this, as it were. We need to have that confidence. And when we understand how credible God is, that's when the comfort will begin to settle into the heart. And God has loaded his word full of promises. I mean, there are so many. I've heard different estimates and I don't know which one is right. All I know is that there's a lot in there. That's all I need to know. And I just need to go start digging for some of them if I need that. And then not to mention there's promises, but also stories in which those promises were applied And then God performed the promise so that we can see that as they've hung on to a promise, we can hang on to that too. Again, God cannot express to us all the details of the circumstances that are going on in and around our lives and how it affects His overall plan. But again, those promises are there, again, as a means of bridging the gap for us. Here's something we don't understand, but we know this, that God's given us this promise that will bridge that gap of understanding that we can't comprehend to get us to the points that God wants us to get to. And they give our minds reassurance, again, that though the situation doesn't make sense to us, God has still got everything under control. And that will lessen our fear. That will lessen our fear. And that will help us just to rest easier. You know, as we studied this morning, Isaiah 41.10, fear thou not, right? There are several verses in scripture about not fearing. But how do you not fear? By getting comfort from the promises that God gives you and I for particular things in our life. Our biggest challenge, though, is learning to rest on those promises, right? To rest on them. There was a man by the name of Uncle Oscar. He was very apprehensive about flying. But one day, he got on his first airplane ride, and his friends were eager to find out, how did it go? Did he enjoy it? Was it OK? Well, Uncle Oscar said, well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. But I'll tell you this, I never did put all my weight down. Some of you don't get that. He didn't put all his weight down. In other words, he was like, I'm not going to put all my weight down on this plane. In other words, but the thing is, the plane was up in the air. It was already carrying his weight, right? But sometimes we as God's people, the Varanas, we're hesitant to put all the weight down on God's promises as well. That's the whole point. Sometimes we say, oh, yeah, it can hold me up. And then we kind of sit like this. You know, I think you can. We put it there. No, God wants you to do this. Plop down on it. Plop down on it and let it hold you. Let it hold you. But when we hesitate, we don't receive a whole lot of comfort, do we? But God wants us to learn the credibility of His promises and lean upon them as we go through life. And you and I will be, in essence, put in positions where we have no choice. And maybe, I think many of us, at least at some point, have had that experience where I ain't got nothing but God's promises. But those are critical times where you and I learn just how credible He is and how much comfort they can give. And through their comfort, we gain hope we gain hope that keeps us moving forward in the right direction, striving to be the people God wants us to be and to fulfill the plan that God wants us to fulfill with our lives. Romans 15.4 says, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. And hope is a very needed thing. We need to know that there is a better tomorrow coming, whenever that might be. And when we know that there's a better tomorrow coming, that will push us through to the next day, and through the next day, and through the next day, and through the next day, until that comes. If we have no hope, we lose any drive to continue to live. When people commit suicide in life, it's because they have lost all hope. But the promises are there to give you and I hope, and sometimes when there is no hope to be seen, In our physical world, God has hope from his word that transcends that, that we can cling on to, to get us through until the storm clears, as it were. Tonight, do we need some comfort over our circumstances, situations? Maybe tonight it would be good for us to dig into the scriptures, to find some specific promises and to cling to them. as they will serve as the anchor to our souls, especially through the troublesome waters that sometimes come into our life. Well, thirdly and finally, we see the course. The promises of God will also serve as guideposts along life's pathway. God seeks to guide our lives through the twists and turns that life naturally takes, because we as people don't know the best paths to take. We don't know which way is right. We can think we do, But we don't have the foresight, we don't have the viewpoint, God does. In Jeremiah 10, verse 23, O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself, it is not man that walketh to direct his steps. In other words, we don't have it all figured out. But God does. And He knows the directions that we need to take. And thankfully, God is more than willing to help us with our decisions so that He can steer us away from pitfalls. But there are times that we have to forsake our own understanding and rest in His. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall what? Direct thy paths, right? When we can trust Him, He'll direct it. We're not leaning on everything that we know. He can direct us. Because there are decisions that our understanding will say, we should do this, but God's Word will tell us to do this. And those moments in time, what are we going to do? Sometimes we are pulled pretty heavily in our direction. But if it doesn't align with God's Word, what's the end result going to be? Not good. It's not going to be good. And there will be moments in your life, and I'm sure you've had a few of those where it's just like, which way do I go? Your heart's pulling you this way, but God's saying this way. Well, God says, hey, look, follow me. Lean not on that understanding of yours, and I'll direct your paths in the right direction. We have to decide those moments who is right, us or God. God gives us principles and precepts as guideposts as well, but we cannot forget that the promises do the same thing. The promises of God are the same types of guideposts. I'll give you an example. Galatians 6, 9, this is a great promise. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. You ever been weary in well-doing? In other words, you've been serving the Lord, you've been trying to do your best. And it's just like, there isn't as much fruit as you'd hoped. There hasn't been some things that you had hoped would come across. or would develop? Who doesn't get weary at those times? Maybe you get weary trying to do the right thing in a world that's just determined to do wrong. Sometimes the fruition of our good choices seems to be lacking, or there seems to be some people that get away with things, and it's just like, wait a minute, sometimes you get left with a mess. And it's just like, this just doesn't seem fair, and it doesn't seem right. And I've been trying to sow good, but there's been no reaping yet. You know what this verse is meant to do? Keep you going. In essence, don't quit. If you don't quit, you'll eventually reap. I've leaned upon this verse many a times. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, we shall reap if we fate not. But it's saying here, if we do faint, we do quit, we do give up, then there will be no grieving. There will be no blessing that comes about. Verses like this tell me to keep going, and that gives me direction. Because I can be tempted when I'm weary in well-doing, to say, phooey on it, I'm just gonna go do what everyone else is doing. And just be done with it, no? No, this promise gives me direction. Keep going. And in time, you will reap. In time, you will see. Again, this is just one example meant to encourage us along the way. And there's lots of different things out there, lots of different promises that we could pull out from God's Word that will direct our steps to direct our steps to the destinations God has for us in our lives. The biggest key for us is simply learning them, then applying them, and waiting for God, who cannot lie, to fulfill them. The promises of God's Word may God enrich our Christian lives through these exceedingly great and precious promises. Amen. Let's take a few moments and we'll stand to our feet tonight.