Well, if you have your Bibles, turn over to Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. Hebrews chapter 11. I enjoyed that music, amen? And I really enjoyed that. We have a rule in my house. My wife made the rule. And the rule goes that I cannot sing in our house. and I do not have a voice whatsoever, and I figured that out when I was about 11 years old. We had a Christmas play, and they made me part of the Christmas play, one of the specials, and they went through the song one time, and they moved me out and put somebody else in, and I knew my career was over at that moment. And it's only gotten worse from there. So I'm not allowed to sing in the house, so I have to sing outside. But I enjoy good singing. I enjoy good music. I really do. I love to listen to good, godly music. And I sure appreciated that special this morning. Last week, I preached a message, five things on earth that will be in heaven. And do you know that singing is one of them? And Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, I sang a new song. And I am so looking forward, I tell my wife every day, I said, you might not like my voice now, but one of these days, I'm going to be part of a great choir. And I'm looking forward to that. And I love good singing. I love to sing in church. I really do. That's the only opportunity I get. And the congregational songs, I really, really enjoy that, until somebody moves back a row or two. But I enjoy it. Thank you for that special. That was wonderful. Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. Hebrews chapter 11. I'll try not to be long. A couple weeks ago I was preaching, and would you believe it, about three-quarters of the way through the message, as I was preaching, a guy got up, walked out the doors, and was gone for a little while and he came back and he sat back down. And I got finished preaching, was standing in the back there and shaking hands and so on. And a fellow walked out the door and I said, I said, I saw you get up and walked, walked out during the services. Was everything okay? And he said, yeah, yeah. He said, I had to, I had to get a haircut. So you had to get a haircut. He said, yeah, I had to get a haircut. I said, why didn't you get a haircut before I started preaching? He said, I didn't need one before he started preaching. But I'll try not to be too long this morning. Hebrews chapter 11. If you didn't get that, I'll retell it sometime through my message, I'm sure. Hebrews chapter 11. Look at, if you will, at verse 33. Hebrews chapter 11. Actually, look at verse 32. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 32. The Bible says this, And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, Waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead, raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trials of cruel mockings and of scourging, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword. They wondered about sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Look, if you will, at verse 35, women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured. Verse 36, and others had trials of cruel I want to preach a message very simply put, how to have faith, how to have biblical faith, should I say that, in bad times. How to have biblical faith in bad times, or I could simply title it something like this, what to do when you think your faith has failed you. Let's ask the Lord to bless. And Father, we're again thankful. We're thankful for this opportunity that you've given me to preach. I'm so thankful for this wonderful church and for the pastor giving me this privilege. And I pray I don't stand behind this pulpit lightly. And I pray that today as I preach, I pray I wouldn't say anything that I shouldn't. I pray that I would be led by you. And Lord, folks have come this morning. Lord willing, they've come to hear something from you. And so I pray, as I preached this morning, I pray that you would fill me with your power. Lord, give me what I need so these people can receive what you have for them. Again, Lord, I pray you'd bless and we'll thank you so much for it. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, as you go through the Bible, the Bible is very clear that it's important that the Christian should live by faith. In fact, the Bible says, Jesus said, he said, according to your faith, be it unto you. Mark chapter 12 and verse 22, the Bible says this, it says, have faith in God. The Bible says the just shall live by faith. Hebrews chapter 10, in fact, over in the Minor Prophets, the just shall live by faith. Romans says the just shall live by faith. The Hebrews, as we go through it, the Bible says it's impossible Without faith, it's impossible to please God. In fact, as we come to Hebrews 11, the Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse 1, for faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not received. That word hope there, you know, sometimes we get that idea of hope, you know, I hope so, and I wonder, I hope it comes to pass, but that word hope in the Bible is rock-solid assurance. and looking for that blessed hope. And the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm not hoping he comes, folks. I know he's coming one of these days. And I have assurance from the word of God. But the Bible says that we are to live by faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. We not only need to possess faith. Can I say this this morning? We need faith to possess us. We need faith to possess us. And we live in a day and age where, I don't know about you, but if you don't have faith in God, you're on some weak ground this morning. You're in a troubled place in life. You look around and you see the things that are taking place. I'm so thankful that I have faith in God. God's got everything under control. And we can look over there. We can be dismayed. We can be discouraged. We can be distraught. And we can... There's a lot of Christians that are living defeated lives. But can I say this morning, we have faith or we need to have faith in God. Faith is an essence. It is a part of the Christian life. Do you have faith? So let me ask you a question. What do you do when it seems like your faith has fallen short? What do you do when it seems like your faith is, and what God can do, it just seems like it's not working out? We pray for something. We get on our knees, we ask God to help us and maybe we have a relative that is sick. Maybe we have a family member that has strayed from God. We get on our knees and we say, God, I need help in this area. And it seems like God doesn't seem to answer prayer. few years ago, in fact the year was 2005, I was out mowing the lawn, and my wife, being the loving wife that she is, she ran down to Dairy Queen. Do you have Dairy Queens here? And Dairy Queens are big in Texas. In fact, most, I think over half of all the Dairy Queens in the country are actually in Texas. And we call Dairy Queen the Texas stop sign. And there's so many Dairy Queens. And she went down to Dairy Queen and she went over there and she got a extra large, I don't know if they call it a Route 44 or something, Dr. Pepper. and she brought it back and she set it on the counter there and I came in and I thanked her tremendously and I was thirsty and you know Dr. Pepper will quench anybody's thirst and I drank that Dr. Pepper up and I set it down and during that time Dairy Queen was having some kind of promotion thing and on that cup there was a little tab that you could pull And just sitting there and talking to my wife, drinking my Dr. Pepper, I pulled the tab and on that tab it said this, it said, congratulations, you may have just won a 2005 Texas edition Dodge Crew Cab pickup truck. I said, I bet you every cup in the world has this on it. I took that tab and I threw it on the counter. It's set on that counter for two weeks and one day my wife said, why don't you call the number on that tab and see if it's worth anything? And I said, I said, why would I do that? It's just a waste of time. She said, just see. And so I grabbed the phone, and I dialed the number there. And I picked it up, and I said, hello, my name's Nathan Starr. I'm from George West, Texas. And I was drinking a Dairy Queen cup. I pulled the tab, and it says, congratulations, you may have won a brand new Dodge pickup truck. Call this number. And I'm calling it to see what it means. And on the other line, she said, well, congratulations, Mr. Starr. You may have just won a brand new crew cab, Texas edition Dodge pickup truck. I said, yes. And how many are there out there, 10,000? She said, no, sir, there's only 10. I said, OK, now I'm listening. Tell me more. And so on the line, she proceeded to say something like this. She said, sir, she said, if you live so far away from Austin, Texas, we will take you and your companion, we will fly you to Austin, Texas, we will put you in a Marriott hotel downtown, we're gonna give you a $200 bank card, and then we're gonna put your, oh, the best thing of all, we're gonna give you free blizzards for a year. That was wonderful right there. And we are going to put your name in for a chance to win a brand new Dodge pickup truck. I took the phone, I hung it up and I said, honey, I said, I think the Lord's starting to work here. He knows we need a vehicle. I believe he's going to give us a new truck. Do you know in my heart I really believed it? I really did. I don't know why. And so the time came, we went up there to Austin, Texas, we got to the Dairy Queen, we started to eat there, and would you believe it, there was not ten people that showed up, only five people showed up. And so where we were, and we had the owners of Dairy Queen come up and said, you know what, we really, we had a young family at the time, said we really love your family, we're sure hoping that you win. I came to my wife, I said, honey, I said, I said, I believe that God is gonna give us a pickup truck. I really believe it. And so the time came, there we were, we were at the drum there in Austin, Texas, 5A state championship basketball came and I walked up there and there they had brought this truck in and they put a little pot there with five names. I was the first to draw, I put my hand in with the key I put my hand in there and I twirled that jar around. I grabbed that key. I walked up there and I note this is the honest truth here. I was walking up and I was already finding, I was already thinking in my mind how I was going to honor and glorify God when I won the Dodge pickup truck. I knew what I was going to say. I was going to talk about how good the Lord was, what he has done in our life. I was going to give the plan of salvation. I had it all planned out. I walked into that Dodge pickup truck. I sit down for a second. I said, thank you, Lord. And I took that key, stuck it in the ignition. It didn't start. That was the weirdest feeling in all my life. I said, maybe I have it up backwards, but they're the same both ways. Turned around, didn't start. I got out of the car, I looked at my wife, I went, the fellow right behind me started that Dodge pickup truck and started, and would you believe it, he laid on the horn. I walked out of there, I was discouraged. I walked in there, I said, honey, I was sure the Lord had a brand new Dodge pickup truck for us. We got in our Chevy Malibu, and would you believe it, as we were traveling home, my fuel pump went out. Here I'm stuck on a Texas road, it's a hundred degrees outside, pushing the car down the road, trying to get it into town, trying to get a hold of somebody so they can come help me out. I was distraught, I was discouraged, my faith had failed me. But you know on a more serious note, You may be here today and you have a sick loved one you've been praying for for a long time. You've come to the altar, you've get in your prayer closet, you've prayed, and you've prayed, and you've prayed, and it seems like they're not getting better. You have a family member that you've been praying for. Maybe they've kind of drifted away from the things of God, and you've got on your knees, and you've gotten before God, and you say, God, get a hold of their heart. God, do something special in their life. And it seems as the more you pray, the more they drift. A few years ago, seven years ago, to be exact, my wife, we were expecting our third child. We have a 20-year-old, I have a 17-year-old, and now I have a 7-year-old. I told somebody I'll be 84 when she graduates from high school. and seven years, and we were excited. We even had her name picked out. Her name was going to be Eliana, which means God hath heard and answered our prayer, and we were excited about it. And just a few days before my wife was to give birth to this baby, she started having some complications, and we went to the hospital, and they said the baby is fine. They hooked up some monitors, and I heard this word she's having. My wife was having heart failure. Peripartum cardiomyopathy is what they call it. I heard those words and I remember going out to the parking lot and getting into our little minivan there and praying and saying, God, answer this prayer. Lord, heal her, make her better. And for days as I prayed, the doctors would come in and they would scratch their heads and they'd say, I hate to say this, but your wife is not getting better, she's getting worse. Day by day we sit there and we look at that monitor, and the heart rate was way beyond where it needed to be. And the doctors would come in and say, I just don't know what we're gonna do. Let's give it some more time. And I would go and pray, and I would go and pray, and it seemed like God would not answer my prayer. And where was my faith? My faith was that God would heal her, but he had not healed her. Thankfully today she's doing much, much better. But at the time, I remember weeping and crying and saying, Lord, help my wife. Sometimes we as Christians, we try to believe, we try to trust, we try to have faith, but it seems like those things are failures. It seems like we come and our prayers are just hindered, they're not answered, and we wonder to ourselves, can God hear me? I remember standing at the altar at the time, weeping and saying, Lord, do you see what we're going through? Do you see the pain in my wife? Do you see the struggles in our family? Sometimes trials and tribulations and temptations and heartaches and tears and fears come. And it seems like our faith and belief doesn't seem to remove them. Do you know that's why Hebrews 11 was written? In fact, if you go back to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 36, the writer there was talking to his readers and he was talking to them about the importance of enduring. And he says, for you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Faith. He was telling you to have faith. Here were some believers and they were going through great struggles. They were being persecuted for the cause of Christ. Have faith. Can I tell you this morning, God is not in the business of wanting us to have superficial, sketchy, and shallow faith. He wants us to have seasoned faith. He wants us to have secure faith. He wants us to have settled faith. He wants the believer to have mature faith. So what do you do when your faith seems to fail you? How do you have faith in this world that we live and all the things that are going on around us? How can we have biblical sound faith? How can we have mature faith? What is faith? What is biblical faith? Well, I believe Hebrews chapter 11 gives us some very good understanding. Look, if you will, first of all, biblical faith believes that God always can. Look if you will at verse 32 of chapter 11. The Bible says, What shall I say more of the time that shall fail me of Gideon, of Barak, and of Samson, of Jephthah, of David, of Samuel, and of prophets, whom through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lion, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the enemies. Biblical faith believes that if God does not do something, it's not because he cannot do something. Biblical faith believes that God can do anything. I love those little songs. God can do anything, anything, anything. God can do anything but fail. Do you believe that today? How's your faith? You say, well, you understand what I'm going through. You don't understand the physical pain. You don't understand the loved one that is hurting, that is sick. We got a call a few days ago and we have an individual in our church and his wife is dying of cancer. In fact, I'm waiting for a phone call at any time. And she is on her deathbed, and there he is, and we have prayed for years, but it seems like at any moment, where is our faith? I don't know about you, but I love supernatural stories where God has worked. I like supernatural deliverance. I like the stories. I remember growing up, my dad was a wonderful storyteller. I remember him telling the story of, there was Goliath, some nine foot, five feet tall maybe. There he was as he walked out, and there comes little old David. And I love that story where the Bible says that he looks at Goliath, and Goliath begins to spew out all that he wants to spew out. And David grabs that and begins to sling it around, and all of a sudden that Bible says that rock found that little space in his forehead, and the Bible says Goliath came tumbling down. I love stories like that. Always wondered to me why they tell those in children's church. I don't know about you, but that would be an interesting story if it was in real life. Can you imagine that? Here comes this big guy, and then he grabs that sword, and oh, man, I don't want to talk about that. But I like stories like that. I like stories of David, and people said, well, man, Goliath was so big, and David said, yeah, he was so big, I couldn't miss him. I like stories like that. I like stories of Daniel and the lions did, and how Daniel was thrown in with those hungry lions. They said, Daniel, if you don't pray, Or if you pray to God, then you know what? Then we're going to have you thrown into a den of lions. And the Bible says that Daniel didn't care what the king had said. He did what he had done before, and he prayed. And those guys got a hold of Nebuchadnezzar there, and they said, or Darius, they said, hey, look at Daniel's over there and he's praying and he was thrown into the lion's den and there he was. I could imagine in mind's eye as maybe those lions were sitting there and maybe he grabbed one lion and he laid it down and kind of fluffed it up like a pillow and he laid down there and maybe he grabbed his Old Testament, maybe the book of Isaiah, maybe he began to read between the lions. I like stories like that. I like the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There they come and said, we're not going to bow down to some filthy idol. We're not going to bow down. They said, well, if you don't bow down, you're going to die. They said, there's no way we're going to bow. There's no way we're going to budge. And I love the story how it ends. They didn't burn either, did they? They were thrown into a fiery furnace, but I love it. The Bible says that God was with them. I love that. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar looks in there and he says, how many did you throw in there? And I don't know about you, but that's a crazy question. I don't care what anybody says, but if someone's walking around a fiery furnace, whether it's two, three, whatever, and you don't ask a question like that. My question would be, how many people did you throw in there? My question would be, why is there somebody walking around in a fire? There he was, and the Bible says there's four there, and one like the Son of God. I like that. I like stories like that. The Bible says when they are pulled out, they didn't even smell like smoke. Wow, what an incredible story. I like the story of Simon Peter. The Bible says that he was cast into the prison by a wicked Herod. And the Bible says an angel came and led him out of the prison and the angel said, hey Simon, why don't you just kind of get up and Simon's ready. I can almost see Peter there as he's real quiet trying. And the angel said, oh don't worry about that. We're not going to sneak out of prison. We're going to walk right out of prison here. In fact, it was easier, if you read that pastor's scripture, it was easier for Peter to get out of prison than it was for him to get to the prayer meeting. You read a story, you had to knock, and someone said, there's Peter at the door. We said, no, we're praying for Peter. No, Peter's at the door right now. I love stories like that. We love the stories of God's supernatural deliverance. We love the stories of God's supernatural protection. And by the way, can I say this? If you've walked with Jesus for any length of time, you've heard and you've seen stories just like that. I've had people say, well, God just doesn't work. Oh, come on, give me a break. You ever seen a poor lost sinner walk the aisle for salvation? I'll take that any day over to the story of the den of lions. To see someone miraculously changed, going from death to life. Dead in his trespasses and sin, and Jesus brings a brand new life. How exciting. All the supernatural power of God. That's what faith does. Faith realizes that God can do anything. That's what biblical faith, that's what mature faith does. Biblical faith also knows that God's ways are higher than our ways. Faith realizes the power of Almighty God, but however, faith realizes the sovereign will of God. Faith knows that God's will can sometimes be mysterious, but it's never weak. God's never lacking in power. I'll tell you, I'm so glad I serve a God, man, he's got power. You're here today and you're praying, don't stop praying. God can do anything. But biblical faith realizes that God's ways are higher than our ways. We love exciting stories. We love exciting victories. We love watching God do miraculous things with his power. But sometimes victory just doesn't come. Look, if you will, at Hebrews chapter 11. Look at verse 37. The Bible says this, and others were stoned. Zechariah was stoned. We all know the story in Acts where Stephen was stoned. I don't know about you, but Stephen was a man of God. He was stoned. Verse 37 says, some were sawn asunder. We can read the story of Isaiah as he was, the prophet was sawn asunder. And I don't know why I do this. I got a crazy mind sometimes, but I always thought, what would be the best way to go see Jesus? I'll tell you right now, that was not one of my top three picks. Fire's not one of them. Drowning's not one of them. Being sawn asunder, they didn't make the top three. But could you imagine that? Here was individuals that gave their heart to God. They served God with all of their heart. They had great faith. They were stoned. The Bible says they were sawn asunder. The Bible says in verse 37 that they were put in animal skins. You read the early church history and you'll see where Christians were put in animal skins and they were let loose to be hunted by dogs. They were put in animal skins and they were thrown to hungry lions. You read the stories where they were thrown into these arenas and bloodthirsty crowds would say, bring us the Christian, bring us the Christian. And there they were brought out and they were murdered in front of many thousands of people. You want to read some of the things that early Christians have gone through for the cause of Christ. I've read stories where they've been put in bags with poisonous snakes. They would tie them down at low tide, and as the tide would come in, these Christians would die slowly. Can I tell you this morning, if you're going to get your theology from circumstances, if you do it that way, you're going to come to the conclusion sometimes that God just doesn't love you. If everything to you is about circumstances, I'll tell you something, you're gonna come to the conclusion that God doesn't love you because there have been some great Christians that have lost their life for the cause of Christ. John chapter 11 verse 5, an example, the Bible says Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. It's a great story, I love this story. In John chapter 11 verse 5, he was talking how he loved Mary and he loved Martha and as you read the story, he loved Lazarus. There's no doubt about it as you read that passage in John chapter 11. But as you get to John chapter 11 verses 14 and 15, the Bible says, Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Get this now. And Jesus says this, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad. I don't know about you, but that's some strong, that's some interesting words. Lazarus is dead and I am glad. I've been a part of some interesting funerals, but I'll tell you right now, I wouldn't be a part of too many more if I said something like this, there they are, I'm glad they're dead. That would be really rough. But Jesus said that. Now we have the benefit of the rest of the story, do we not? We have the benefit that the Bible says that Jesus comes and he raises Lazarus from the dead. And Lazarus had died, but Jesus brought him back to life so that he could be honored and glorified. Can I tell you something? Sometimes in the circumstances of life, we don't have the full picture. But God does. And faith realizes that though God doesn't do something, doesn't mean he can't. And sometimes we need to realize that our will is not as important as God's will. That's what biblical mature faith believes. He said he was glad he was dead. We know the rest of the story. And can I say something? God has not promised that we will not know difficulty, but God has promised this, that we will have the ultimate victory. Well, we're going to win when this is all said and done. I'm looking forward to that day. I don't know about you, but I hate to lose. I hate to lose. When I was growing up, I had a teacher come to my dad one time. He said, I don't know what's the problem with your son. He cries every time he loses. My dad came to me and said, what's your problem? I said, well, I don't like to lose. He said, well, good. That's the way I raised you. I don't like to lose. And can I tell you something? I've read the end of the book. We're on the winning side. We're on the winning side. I love that story of that little boy. One time he was sitting there, and he was reading a story, and he was sitting there reading the story, and it was between the good guy and the bad guy, and he's reading that story, and his mom came out and said, Johnny, I want you to come in there, and I want you to wash the dishes. He said, just a second, Mom, I'll be there in just a second, and he continued to read the story. A few moments later, his mom come back out again and said, Johnny, I told you, you need to go wash the dishes. And so Johnny started reading that story a little bit faster, and finally his mom came out the third time, and she was upset, and she said, Johnny, I told you to wash the dishes. And so Johnny grabbed the end of the book, and he read the last chapter, and he saw where the good guy won and the bad guy lost. And he come walking out there in the kitchen, he went, nah, nah, nah. He said, hey, I read the story, and the good guy wins. Can I tell you something? I've read the end of the book. We're going to win this thing. We're going to win. Stay faithful. Biblical faith realizes that God's ways are higher than our ways. Romans 8, verse 35, the Bible says, What shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. God never promised that you won't have difficulty. You're sitting here today, I just can't believe that God allowed me to go through this. God has never promised that you will not have difficulty in life. But He does promise victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has promised that He'll never leave us. He has promised us that He will never forsake us. But He has never promised us that we'll not have difficulty. Can I give you a good example of that? You can read about some great individuals in the Bible. I have some favorites. One of my favorite individuals is Daniel. I love Daniel. I enjoy Daniel. And I have some favorites, but do you know the Bible talks about one fellow in the Bible that he was a great man of God. The name was John the Baptist. The Bible said there was none greater than John. He was an unbelievable individual. He was a great man. But you know that John the Baptist had a season of doubt? He would have been out at the River Jordan, he was preaching. There was a fellow from yesteryear, his name was R.G. Lewis. I love what he said one time about John the Baptist. He said this, he said, John the Baptist, his diet consisted of locusts and honey. He said, John the Baptist liked honey, but he never preached honey. He preached repent. He preached get right with God. He was a fiery preacher. And you know as a result of standing up and preaching and getting on people's nerves, the Bible says that he was thrown into a prison and eventually he got his head cut off. When I was growing up My dad said, what do you want to do when you get older? I said, I want to be a preacher. He said, like who? And I said, like John the Baptist. He said, you know, John the Baptist got his head cut off. I said, I want to be a fireman. I want to be a fireman, right? But John the Baptist, we read the story, his head got cut off. But we see that he was in prison, and as he's in prison, he sees Christ as he is working his earthly ministry, and as he's healing the sick, and as he's raising the dead, and he's kind of wondering to himself, all these miracles that are taking place, why am I here in prison? And so he gets a couple of his disciples there, people that were following him, and he said to them, he said, go to Jesus and ask him, Are you the one that should come or should we look for another? Wow. What an interesting thought. The Bible says the men, when they were coming to him, they said to Jesus, they said, John the Baptist has sent us saying, art thou he that should come or look for another? And Jesus answered them saying this, go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard, how the blind see, how the lame walk, how the lepers are cleansed, how the deaf can hear, how the dead have been raised. So to the poor, the gospel has been preached. And then he said this to John, he said, and blessed is he who shall not be offended in me. Jesus said basically this, John, I can open the blinds eyes. John, I can cause the death to hear. John, I can raise the dead to life. John, if I wanted to take you out of prison, do you think that I could? He says, John, Don't get offended in me. Don't do it. If you're here today and you've prayed for a miracle and he has not answered that prayer, don't get offended in him. Don't let your faith waver. Don't think to yourself, well, God just can't do something. Don't get a place, well, I'm just gonna quit on God. I'm gonna quit on church. I'm gonna quit on everything that I should be in. Don't be that individual. Don't pout at God. Don't get offended in God. One person said this, they said, faith is not receiving from God so much what we want as accepting from God what He gives. That's real faith. I love that story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that I brought up a few moments earlier. And I love that story. There they were. They said, we're not going to bow down to that image, and we're not going to do it. And they told Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar says, you know what? I think I know Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And why don't you bring them in, and I'll talk to them. And so they brought the three fellas in there, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. My dad used to always say this. Don't call them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Call them Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. That was their names. He brought those fellas in there. And he said, you know what, guys, you've been really good to the kingdom and everything, and I'm going to give you all another chance. I mean, you look at that fire over there. That furnace is pretty hot. And I love their response. I love it. They looked at Nebuchadnezzar there, and they said, Nebuchadnezzar, we don't say this flippantly. We're not just saying this for naught here. But you know what? We appreciate the opportunity. But if you gave us a hundred more opportunities, we're still not going to bow down to this image. Our God is able to deliver us. But here's the part I like. But if not, but if not, I'm still not going to be unfaithful. If not, I'm still not going to bow down to that image. If not, I'm not going to lose what I believe in. I'm still going to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I tell you something? Hey, regardless of what happens, biblical faith realizes that God always can, but it always realizes that God's way is better than our way. They had assured faith. They had settled faith. Remember Wicked King Herod? He put James into prison. I don't know if you remember the story. He put James into prison, and he had him killed. And he found out that everybody liked that. Isn't that kind of interesting? When Christians get persecuted, people seem to love it. I don't know. What's going on here? See, he had James killed and everyone, they liked it, so he said to himself, I better go find somebody else. So the Bible says he found Simon Peter and he put him in prison. He was going to kill him, but God miraculously delivered Peter. Can I ask you a question? Does God love Peter more than he loved James? No. But God has a purpose in life. And a Christian realizes that God's way is always the best way. And sometimes we get on our knees and we pray, and we pray, and we pray, and it seems like God is not answering the way that we want Him to answer. Realize that God's ways are higher than our ways. Never forget that. Never get to the part in your Christian life that says, well, God just doesn't care. Of course He cares. We know He cares. I hope that we have faith to escape the trials of this life. But if not, do we have the faith to endure the trial? I hope we have faith to be healed, but if we're not healed, do we have the faith to continue on when we're not healed? Can we serve God like Job said, I will serve God no matter what? No matter what, I will serve God. When we have the faith, whether God answers our prayer or not, real biblical faith realizes that God always can. Real biblical faith realizes that God's ways are higher than our ways. Can I leave you with something else? Real biblical faith always takes comfort. in the promises of God. Look at verse 39. The Bible says, "...and these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." You know, God has such a wonderful plan. He really does. God has a wonderful plan for our life. And He's working that plan. And He's doing something special in our life. And faith takes our hands off the wheel and lets God take control. You know, God's on the business of making our lives miserable. God's on the business of making things on earth terrible. I remember sitting there in Chapel Hill, going back to that story with my wife. I remember sitting there at Chapel Hill. We had gone to Rex Hospital, and she got transported to Chapel Hill, University of Chapel Hill, and I remember sitting on a bench outside that hospital. Right behind me was a Starbucks. I remember sitting there, and I remember saying, God, why don't you heal my wife? I remember sitting out there and trying to keep my composure as the doctors would come in and say, I don't know what to tell you, but things are getting worse and getting worse and getting worse. And we're not sure what we're going to do here. And we'll just continue to wait and hopefully things will get better. And no answer. And going out to that bench and sitting there. And can I tell you something? It seemed like in those hours God was as close as He's ever been in my whole life. I remember sitting there, and it's almost as if he was right there on that bench next to me, and as I was talking to him, can I tell you something? Sometimes, these circumstances in our life, we get to that place where we pray, and we pray, and it seems like our faith has failed us. It seems like God cannot hear. It seems like God cannot see. But can I remind you of this this morning, of God's promise, He's always there. And biblical faith realizes that God, just because He does not answer our prayer, does not mean He does not love us. But He wants to work something perfect in our life and for His glory. To this day, I don't know the exact answer why we had to go through all that. But can I tell you something? It drew us closer. It drew my relationship with the Lord even closer. God keeps his promises. God cannot lie. And God cannot fail. These people had faith, and they were basing their faith on the promises of God. You know, I found out good things in life will ultimately fail. You went out there and bought a brand new car? I hate to say it, it's going to fail. The things in this life are going to fail, but you know what? God never does. Even in the good times, He's there. In the bad times, He's there. And we as Christians come to the place that we realize that God cannot lie. God cannot fail. If you're looking for things in this life, it'll fail you. You're looking for pleasures in this life, it will fail you. We can always rest on the eternal promises of God. I shared with somebody, there's a fellow, he may be listening today. In fact, he asked me, how can I get online? How can I watch your service?" They're an hour, let's see, behind us. And he said, I wanna listen to the service today. He may be listening right now. He texted me on the way and he said this, he said, what is the number one promise that's repeated the most times in the Bible? The promise is you'll never leave us nor forsake us. 3,573 promises in the Bible. And God's never failed in any one of those promises. You're here today and you say, I don't know what to do. I just don't know what to do. I've prayed and I've prayed and I've prayed and it seems like God has not answered my prayer. It could be a health concern. It could be a loved one that's suffering. It could be a multitude. It could be financial. It could be a multitude of things. And you're here today. You say, I've prayed and I've done this and I've done that. I've been faithful. I'm still doing what's right. I don't understand why God does not see. God does not hear me. Never forget. Never forget. God always knows. He always sees. His ears are always open to the cry of the righteous. And can I say this? Just because your prayer is not answered does not mean that you quit. Doesn't mean that you throw in the towel. Just means you just keep on keeping on. Have faith. That's what faith is. That's why he says it's without faith it's impossible to please God. You have to have faith. Real biblical faith realizes that God can do anything. Real biblical faith realizes that God's way is better than my way. and real biblical faith gives me the courage and the fortitude to continue on because I have the promises of God. Let me ask you a question. How's your faith today? I don't know about you, but if your eyes are not on Jesus, your faith's struggling today. Your faith is on the news. Your faith's on our government. Well, you're really struggling. Where's your faith in? Is your faith in God? Have faith in God. And when we see the things happening that we see happening, man, we don't get discouraged. We don't get downhearted. We don't go, oh, woe is me. We look to God and say, you're in charge and everything's gonna be all right. And one of these days, all the suffering and all the problems and all the sickness and all the pain that I have endured on this earth, it'll all be worth it when I see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. How's your faith? How's your faith?