We've been in a series over the last several weeks on Hebrews eleven, entitled "The Hall of Faith." And if you are newer to our church or newer, maybe to Christianity, you might not realize that Hebrews eleven is called by most the "the Hall of Faith." It contains a a bunch of characters that really exerted faith in in God, and as we look at This it's easy to become infatuated with the individual character, like man. I want to be like them. I want to be like like her or him or or whatever. But I want you to know that Hebrews eleven. It's not about how great these people or these individuals were.
It is about how great the God they trusted in is. And if you learn anything, I hope that coming away each week of this series, that this is the the message that you internalize each and every week. That that God is great and He is trustworthy, and we can place our faith in Him and we can live by faith for for Him. And so today, we're going to continue this series talking about another character. And before we dive into Who we're going to talk about?
How many of you have maybe in your family or maybe at work when you maybe ask somebody to do something and it's not done the way that you would like or the way that you expect? You then might say, if it's going to be done right. It's gonna be done by me. How many of you feel that way from time to time? Maybe you go to work and you work with people, and that's it.
Or maybe it could be people in your house, and and you're like, man, if it's gonna be done right.
So, so for me, just to kind of tell you one thing about me, I am. A a neat freak.
Okay, I am. Everything's got to be in its place. I'm super OCD. All right, I'm super OCD about the littlest things, and so I'm so bad about it that like I struggle to focus if something's out of its place. Before I leave the office, in my office, I put things in a certain way just so when I get in the next day, I just can think clearly and stuff like that.
Well, in my house, it drives my family nuts. All right. It drives them nuts because I'm constantly picking up things. Just and and you know they'll leave a a dish out that they weren't done with, maybe a cup or whatever. And I'm constantly putting things away.
And they're like, "Where is my whatever?" And I'm like, "Well, I already cleaned that up." And so I just I'm always doing things like that.
Well, when my kids were small, you know, you try to teach them to clean up after themselves, right? When they're you know they're playing with toys and stuff, you're always trying to teach them. But here's what what I learned: my kids probably today are not as taught that well about cleaning up after themselves because when they were young, you know what I did most of the time, I cleaned up for them. Because I felt like they didn't do a good enough job, they didn't meet my expectation, and so I was impatient with how they were cleaning up. And so I decided to take matters into my own hands.
And I'm like, Look, if this playroom is going to get cleaned the way that it should be clean, it's got to be done by me.
Well, if you're like that, I want you to know in life the next character that we're going to look at from Hebrews chapter 11. It's actually a woman, and she got ahead of God. Her name is Sarah. Her name is Sarah. And this story is very familiar.
And truthfully, any time you talk about Sarah, I do believe that a lot of times Abraham receives most of the attention. When we talk about their journey of faith, we usually just throw Sarah into Abraham's story, and we don't really address. Sarah, a whole lot. I mean, many of you, if you were to look, you've probably heard a bunch of stories and sermons about Abraham. But I'd be curious in your memory if you've heard a sermon dedicated to Sarah's testimony of faith.
And so this, that she got a bit impatient with God. But what's amazing about this is this story is that even though her story does run parallel with her husband Abraham, but here in Hebrews eleven, God didn't just remember or highlight Abraham's faith; He also highlighted Sarah's faith as well. And so, before we dive into Sarah's story, I want to give you just some brief background of her life so that you can understand.
So, her name, when we first pick up her name in in the book of Genesis, her name was Sarah. And means princess. And later in Genesis 17, her name would be changed to Sarah. Sarah married Abraham, and and he was from Ur. We learned that last week.
She was barren right off the bat when we first learn about her in Genesis chapter number eleven. The scripture specifically says that she was barren and she had no children. And I want you to know how devastating that would be in that culture, because in that culture, having children determine your worth in a lot of ways. It determined your future, and it determined your worth in that culture. And so, so every woman wanted to to be a mother and wanted to have children.
And yet Sarah was barren and couldn't have kids. And so Sarah leaves Haran with her husband when God called them in Genesis twelve. And um and she was when we pick up her story, she was about sixty five, and Abraham was about seventy five years old at that time. And years would go by, right? About twenty-five years would go by before she would finally have have her own child.
So you remember the story in Genesis twelve? God he reveals himself to Abraham, and he tells Abraham, "Hey, go, and I'm going to make of you a great nation, and I'm going to make your name great." And I'm going to give you a land, but I'm also going to make of you this this incredible nation. And for Abraham and Sarah, they're thinking this is impossible. We're we're old. It makes no sense.
It's humanly impossible. She was past the age of of childbearing, and and yet God delivers this impossible, if you would, promise to them. That they would have a child, and this would be the child of promise. I don't know if you've ever been there, where you've kind of had to, you know, your circumstances didn't line up with what the promise of God said. That's exactly how Sarah would have would have felt.
In fact, when she heard the promise of God in Genesis eighteen, you know what she did? She laughed. She laughed within herself. Have you ever felt God nudging you to something, or or telling you to do something, and you kind of internally laughed at God, like, "Oh yeah, right, God. God could, you know, that could never happen through me.
You could never do that through me. God could never use me in that capacity." And when God is nudging you or and encouraging you to do something, a lot of times internally we have these feelings of doubt. About whatever it is that God has promised us, well, Sarah was no different. Internally, she doubted God. That's why she laughed in Genesis eighteen.
She laughed within herself. But here's what's interesting: if you've ever felt these feelings internally, doubting God, you might think about it internally or in your mind. Nobody knows it because let's just be honest in church, you can't come out and publicly say that you doubt God or you doubt God's word because everybody will judge you. And so, a lot of people internalize those feelings of doubt, just like Sarah did. But let me remind you, God sees your inward feelings and your inward thoughts, just like He did Sarah.
So in Genesis eighteen, when she doubted, you know what what God said. He asked this question: "Is anything too hard for me? Is anything really too hard for God?" And in her story, she will learn that God can do the impossible. But she got ahead of God. She wanted to take matters in her own hands.
Time was passing by. She was getting older. She was aging. She had still not had a child on her own, and so she got ahead of God. And you know the story.
If you remember, she suggested her husband. Sleep with their handmaid there in the home, Hagar, and so that they could conceive a child, and then God's promise would come to fruition. Isn't that kind of messed up? It's kind of wild that Sarah came up with this idea, right? And and so she goes to Abram and suggests this.
It's kind of crazy. I mean, and I say this often that if you want to feel really good about your family, just go to some of these stories in Scripture, and you're going to find that God uses some dysfunctional people, does He not? It should give every one of us hope, right? You ever feel like your family? I mean, we're about to hit the holidays, right?
And you're already stressed about it because you're going to go visit some very dysfunctional people.
Okay, now don't look at the people on your row, all right? But God uses some dysfunctional people, and you see that in her story. And so, so we know that after Abraham sleeps with Hagar, they have Ishmael. But that was not the son of promise. God's word was still going to come to fruition.
That God was going to allow Sarah to bear a son, the promised son, and eventually that that happens. And so, let's dive right into it. Hebrews eleven. Verse eleven. Here's what the Bible says: Through faith, also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age.
Because, and do not miss this. We're going to spend a lot of time at the end of verse eleven. Because she judged him faithful who had promised. Verse twelve. Therefore, sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead.
So many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable.
Now, if you remember, without going too deep into what what God's promise was in Genesis, He promised Abraham and Sarah a great nation.
So much to the point that He He would show them and reiterate His promise by saying, "Hey, go at night and look up into the cloud." Clouds, and you see all those stars, Abraham. You're going to have a nation that is more than that, and that was the promise that they had, and that was the promise that they were holding true to. Verse thirteen: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed. That they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had the opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. And he's talking about Abraham and Sarah. They had an opportunity as they were stepping out on faith in God and faith in the promise of God that God was going to do what what He said He's going to do.
They had an opportunity where they could have just forgotten it. Time was going by. They were praying for something. They were looking forward to the promise of God, but yet every time they would look forward to it, years would go by, and still no promised son. Years would go by, and still no land.
All of this was happening, and they were waiting. Have you been there before? Where you're praying for something and it's not happening the way that you want, or you're desiring something and it's not coming to fruition in your life, or you're claiming a promise maybe in in scripture and and you're in this waiting period with God, just like Abraham and Sarah was, and and you feel like, man, is it best that we just go backwards instead of continuing to walk by faith forward, waiting and trusting in the promise of God? That's where. Sarah was.
Sarah was was stepping out on faith, and yes, she doubted, and yes, she was not perfect. But we can learn some things about her life of faith. The things that we learn: number one, if you take notes, here's what we learn about Sarah's faith: that faith, trust in the character of Almighty God. Faith is trusting in the character of who God is. Look back at our text in verse eleven.
When it's talking about Sarah, it says this promise that she was going to have a child. She was older. She was barren. She was past the age of childbearing. This was a humanly speaking impossibility.
And yet, it says at the end of verse eleven that she, Sarah, judged him, God, faithful who had promised. Sarah judged God faithful. Who had made this original promise?
Now the word "judge" is super important because I don't know if the English word that we have here translated really does the original Greek word in the way that this was written. I don't know if it does it justice because the original Greek word is this word. It's hegumai is is kind of how you pronounce it, and the word literally means to to lead or to esteem. Or even to consider, it really is a calculating type of word. It is a it is a mathematical type of of word.
In fact, later in Hebrews chapter eleven and verse twenty six, when when it's talking about Moses's faith. It says that esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.
Now, when it was talking about Moses, when it says esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than than the treasures in Egypt, the word esteeming in Hebrews eleven twenty six is the exact Greek word as we have here in Hebrews eleven eleven as judged.
So, it can be translated esteeming. In other words, here's what it's saying about Moses in Hebrews 11:26: that Moses esteemed, Moses judged, Moses considered, Moses calculated the treasures in Egypt, and and suffering and following God. And here's what he said: that it is more valuable to follow God and to obey God than it is to experience the treasures there in Egypt.
So when it says here that Sarah, the reason why she's listed in the Hall of Faith because she judged God, she judged him as faithful because he had made the promise. Here's what it's literally meaning. Think of it like a scale.
Okay, think of it like a scale, and and you know how a scale works. You know what's going to be the heaviest. Always think of VBS, right? If you've ever been a part of our VBS, we do a big penny march and all these, or a penny offering, and and all these, you know, young people come, they bring pennies and stuff, and and one of the teams wins because one of them, the pennies that they bring, and the the amount that they bring is going to weigh more. Than the other team.
Well, that's kind of the idea here. Sarah weighed God's faithfulness.
So, if you think of a scale, we have who God is on one side of the scale. He's faithful. He's trustworthy. He is good. He is a God that cannot lie.
He is merciful. He is compassionate. He is, you know, good. He is kind, and the list goes on and on about his attributes. Right?
He's sovereign. He's omnipotent. Right? He all these different things. He's omnipresent.
I'm going to keep saying them until somebody says Amen. My goodness!
Some of you got to wake up some here today, or at least get excited about who God is. All right? And so you weigh all of that. You put that on one side of the scale. And then on the other side of the scale, you have this: your own strength.
You have your own wisdom. You have your circumstances. You have what your friends say. You have what culture tells you, right? And when you put both of those on the scale.
At some point in your life, you're going to have to see which one is going to weigh more to you. And when it says that Sarah judged here, she judged him. What it means is she calculated her own strength and her circumstances, the impossibility of what is happening, and she measured it. Based on who God is, and guess what? In her mind, and the reason she's listed here in Hebrews eleven is who God is.
One out in that measurement for her, and so in other words, what it's saying is that God's faithfulness weighed more to her. It meant more to her, and and here's what she came to the realization of: is that God is trustworthy. If if you believe that God is trustworthy, can you say Amen today? That God can be trusted, and that what God said He will do, and and what we have to understand when we're walking by faith is we have to measure things. Because here's what I will tell you: every person in here that has lived long enough, right, you're going to be able to look back and say there was a situation in my life where circumstances didn't add up.
And what was happening around me didn't make much sense, and and I was sitting there, and I'm like, man, what in the world? But but what I learned in that moment is that God, in His Word, is still faithful, and He can still be trusted. And what weighs more to me, and what is more important to me, is who God is above what is happening around me. What what we learn is that Sarah's. Faith—it was trusted and rooted in the character of who God was.
Here's what this means for us: when you trust in His character, it means that you value God's word over your circumstances. It means you value His word over your circumstances. We know her story. Every visible circumstance contradicted what God had promised. Every visible circumstance, it contradicted what God had promised.
But what what we do is we don't ignore our circumstances, right? But you you need to, if you're going to walk by faith, you have to place a higher value on His Word over your circumstances. Because if the value of your life is placed on your circumstances, you are going to be like this in your spiritual journey—up, down, mountaintop, valley, right. But if you want to be stable in your relationship with Christ, here is what you got to do: you got to place your faith and your trust in the only one that is stable. And that's our Lord.
That's our heavenly Father. He's the only one that is stable through all of those things because our circumstances, good and bad, they go up and down all the time. Our circumstances cannot be our final authority in life if we're going to walk by faith.
So trusting in His character means you have to value God's word. That's what Sarah did over her circumstances. But also trusting in His character means you value God's ability over your own strength. You value who God is over your own strength. In Genesis eighteen, when God sends the the men to Abraham's house to reiterate the promise that God had made back in Genesis chapter number twelve, Sarah overhears that and and she laughed.
She laughed, right, and. You know, I mentioned this because last week we talked about Abraham, and if you think about this, like when they received this this you know promise from God, you know they seventy five years old Abraham was, Sarah was about ten years younger than that, and and so if you you think about it, if you're anywhere near those ages, and God told you you're going to have a child, you'd probably laugh too, right? Honestly, laughter was probably a very normal response. I'm surprised it didn't say that she had a heart attack, right? And and so, but she laughed.
It says she laughed within herself. But in Genesis 18:14, God made this statement: "Is anything too hard for God?" Is anything too hard for him? In other words, God responded, and God saw the laughter internally within her. It's almost as if God says, "Sarah, why are you laughing?" Because laughter communicated doubt. Laughter communicated that this is too hard for God.
Laughter communicated that this was impossible. And so, what God did in that moment, in that question in Genesis eighteen, is anything too hard for Him? What He did was He redirected the whole conversation away from Sarah's strength, away from Sarah's circumstances, and He redirected the conversation to place it back onto who God is. He redirected it so she would stop looking at the the circumstance through her own humanistic mind, but she would look at it through the mind of who God is. Listen, there's going to be moments in life where what we see and believe about ourselves will contradict what we know about God.
But here's what it literally means: it means when life is painful for you, it means looking at that and realizing that God is always good. When you look at your life and and you see, man, God's plan doesn't seem to make much sense. It's remembering in that moment that God is still a God of wisdom. When you look at your life and you're praying for something and it's not happening the way you want, and and you look at it and you say, man, God's timing must be off. Has He forgotten me?
Has He forsaken me? It is looking at that and realizing that on the scale, God is faithful, and that will mean more to me than any unclear circumstances that I have going on around me.
So, faith is trusting in the character of God. That's what we learned from Sarah. But number two, faith rests in the faithfulness of God. What's amazing in Hebrews eleven at the end here, when it says she judged him faithful who had promised, the writer of the book of Hebrews could have could have listed any attribute that he wanted about God, but yet he chose to highlight God's faithfulness. God's faithfulness.
The Greek word for faithfulness. Is a a word in its original language? It's the word "pistos," and the word literally means "sure." It could be translated "sure." So when it says that that Sarah judged or she calculated the situation, if you would, she considered. She said, "Man, God is faithful." In other words. What she was declaring by saying this is this is that God made a promise, and when God makes a promise, you can be sure, you can be sure that He will fulfill it.
You see the meaning of this word; it means something that that we're confident in. It's something that you believe. In other words, what she was coming to the conclusion of is that God is trustworthy because God is faithful. Let me remind you, God does doesn't just act faithfully; God is faithful. It's an essential part of the character of who God is.
He can't lie. He can't violate his character. And so, let me remind you: if you are waiting on maybe a promise that God made to you in Scripture, let me tell you this: God will fulfill it. God will fulfill it. You might be in a waiting game like Sarah was, where she was waiting for a child.
She was waiting for the promised son, and you're sitting there and you feel like God's forgotten you. You feel like God's forsaken you. But let me tell you this: you can take it to the bank that what God has promised you, He will fulfill. He will do it. You see that throughout cover to cover of Scripture, you can start from Genesis one and go all the way through Revelation, and here's what you're going to find: God is faithful, and God can be trusted.
You'll see it throughout. I mean, Deuteronomy seven verse nine it says this: Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. This is a reminder to the children of Israel that that God is faithful, and if if God made a covenant with you, and if God you know said that I'm going to be merciful to you, and that I love you, He's going to keep it. How about the psalmist in Psalm 36, verse five? It says, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." There's no end to the faithfulness of our God.
How about Hebrews chapter two verse thirteen? It says, "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself." First Corinthians ten verse thirteen: There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. God's faithful.
And we can trust in Him. We can take it to the bank, from cover to cover. God's faithfulness is on every single page. He is trustworthy. And for some of us, when you look at your life, we're trusting in circumstances that change every day, above the consistent surety of the faithfulness of our God.
You see, Sarah's faith. It wasn't in her ability. It wasn't in her strength. It wasn't in anybody's word on earth. It was in the unchanging faithfulness of our God.
Number three, faith believes in the word of God. The last phrase of verse eleven is so important. When it says she judged him faithful, that means she considered him. She weighed it. He is faithful every time.
He's proven himself time and time again. Just like Bob reminded us of in the worship set this morning, that God has been faithful and He's going to remain faithful. It's it's not something that you have to worry about moving forward. God is faithful. But it says that she judged him faithful.
Who who made the promise? Who had promised? In other words, the word of God and the promise of God was the foundation by which she based her faith in. Ever thought about that? That's why Sarah lived by faith because her the foundation of her faith was based on or based in the word of God.
That's why if you went back to Genesis chapter twenty one, verse number one, here's what the scripture says: And the Lord visited Sarah. This is after Isaac was born, and the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. As he had said and as he had spoken, here is what that tells me. From the very beginning, God did exactly as he had promised. God's, you know, when he makes a promise to us, he's going to fulfill it.
Sarah waited for years for this promise to happen. But let me just tell you this: if you are in the waiting period, the wait that you are in does not mean that God is an unfaithful God. It just means that it's not his perfect time yet. You can trust him; he's trustworthy. I mean, I mean, listen.
For some of you, perhaps if you're. You're younger in here, or you're newer to your relationship with Jesus, and you're kind of on the beginning stages of your journey. And maybe you're kind of being like, "Man, I I said yes to God, and things aren't lining up the way that I hoped they would. Things aren't kind of playing out. My life, you know, my circumstances aren't looking good.
Things aren't working, you know, and and nothing around me seems to work. And do I need to be doubting the faithfulness of God? It probably do you some good to go back to the Word and see. Time and time again, and trace from the very beginning of the Bible how God, what He said, always comes to fruition every single time. Or perhaps for some of you, you need to find somebody older in this place here today that's been through life.
And you need to sit down with them, take them to lunch or to coffee, and say, "Listen, I'm doubting the faithfulness of God. Can you help me? Can you show me that He's been faithful?" And guess what? If you've walked with God for any length of time, and you meet with somebody that's walked with God, they're going to be able to look back at their life, and they're going to be able to say, "Man, listen, my circumstances didn't add up here, but guess what? I learned in that moment God was faithful, and that God was faithful.
His faithfulness has gone before." His faithfulness is surrounding me. His faithfulness is all around me, and his faithfulness will continue in the future. God will do what He said. You see, Sarah, that was what her her faith was rooted in. You say, how can Sarah have that type of faith?
That's the most ridiculous promise I'd ever heard. That at her age, that she would have a baby. How in the world? That is crazy. That is nuts.
That is out there. That is way insane for that to happen. Yeah, I'd agree with you. But let me tell you this: If God said it, that is more valuable than anything that I could ever muster up in my own strength to believe about this situation. That's the point.
She judged him faithful. I mean, consider some of the promises that might encourage us in His Word. Hebrews thirteen five. You know what the scripture says? I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
But yet, you know what? A lot of us feel God's abandoned me. God's forgotten about me. God doesn't see me. Let me remind you something.
God is faithful and He can be trusted. And so, if you're in a waiting game right now, go to the Word and go get deep into His Word and learn. If He said, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you," that's a promise that you can take it to the bank and you can believe and hold on to and cling to. How about Second Corinthians twelve nine? My grace is sufficient for you.
You ever felt weak? You ever felt like, man, I'm in a situation that is stronger than I, right, Miss Nancy? You know what I'm talking about today. You're in that moment right now, and here's what I want you to understand: when you're in that moment, you have a choice to make. You're going to trust in what circumstances say.
You're going to trust in in what you can muster up the strength that you can muster up, or you're going to go to the Word and you're going to say, "Hey, here's what God told me, and what God told me is more valuable." Valuable and stronger and weightier in my life than what I can muster up, or my strength or my circumstances tells me. How about Romans eight twenty eight? He works everything together for our good, doesn't he? Might not look like that today for some of you. You might be in a valley, but let me tell you this: if God promised it, you can take it to the bank.
It will work out together for your good. How about Philippians one six? He which begin a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. He started something in you; he's going to finish it. Or how about this one?
All of us can love this one. First John two twenty five. It says, "This is the promise that he hath promised to us, even eternal life." This is not the end. And so this life is. It might not look good.
It might not look like a bed of roses all the time. But let me tell you this: what God has promised us is something far greater than we could ever imagine in the future. That is what He has promised, and you can take it to the bank. His promises matter, and He's trustworthy, and He's going to keep His promises. You see, what do we learn as we kind of wrap it up, and we look at Sarah's story, and we learn some things from her?
Here's really what it is, and where some of us struggle. Faith is not hoping God will do whatever we want. Faith is believing that God will do whatever He has said. Let me say that again. Faith is not.
It's not hoping. It's not. And I hope, you know, that God will. You know. Adjust his agenda to mine.
I hope that God will adjust his plans to fit my life. I hope that God will. No, no, no. It's not about God conforming his plans to yours. But here's what I want.
I want you to understand. When we look at these characters of faith here in Hebrews 11, faith is believing that God will do whatever He has said. My question is: Do you believe that? Do you really believe it? He he will do it, and so whatever you're waiting on, you can take it to the bank.
He will do it, and so the question that you have to ask yourself is this, and and this is really where Sarah was. You know, she was faced with a humanly speaking impossibility, right? We can all agree to that. She was faced with a circumstance that was a mountain way big than she could climb. Made no sense.
A promise that was out there. But what we learn from Hebrews eleven is that she weighed her circumstances with the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of God. Was weightier and won out above her circumstances, and so the question you have to ask yourself is this: What is your conclusion about God? In other words, here's what I'll tell you: What do you value most? What do you value most?
Think of the scale of your life. Look at your life, man. My job's not worked out the way that I want. You know my my family situation, my family dynamics not going the way that I want. My children aren't exactly the the picture that I envisioned.
My financial situation's not what I wanted. The the housing situation that I'm in's not exactly what I wanted. My friendships have not worked out the way that I wanted, and and maybe my plans and my agendas and my you know. Whatever it's not worked out, and you're looking at your life, and you're like, "Man, life is bad. Woe is me.
Things haven't worked out." And I want you to know, if that's where you are today, my heart goes out to you. I pray things change for you. But what you have to ask yourself is this: all of those things—that's weighty, that's heavy, that's a load that is so heavy on you right now. It might even be physical condition of somebody in your family or yourself, and it's weighing you down, and you feel like the scale of your life is heavier because of your circumstances. But let me just give you this other side of the scale.
God is faithful. God is good. God is all powerful. God has made promises to you that you know He's going to keep. God is trustworthy.
God cannot lie. God is omnipresent; He is with you. God said He will never leave you nor forsake you. God is sovereign; He is in control of all things. When you start looking at the character of who God is, weighing that with your circumstances, the conclusion you have to come up with is this: God and who He is is weightier to me, and it means more to me.
It is more valuable to me than the circumstances that I am.
So when you weigh those two together, what's your conclusion about God? What's your conclusion, and how do you value His faithfulness and who He is amidst circumstances that don't line up? Can you bow your heads with me and stand at this time? Everybody's standing. Nobody's looking around.
This is an opportunity for us to respond. How many of you would say, Pastor? Right now, nobody's looking around. I want you to just do business with God because this is a really important thing for us. How many of you would say, Pastor, my circumstances, my situation, it don't look too good.
I don't, I don't feel like things around me. Yes, I see that hand. Anybody else say that's where I'm at today? Yes, I see your hand. Thank you.
Yes, hands going up everywhere. Anybody else say, Pastor, my circumstances are not what I'd hope they would be. Things are not where I want them to be, and and you say that's that's where I am. Yes, I see that hand. Thank you so much.
I see those hands, but let me remind you: God is still good, and God is still faithful. God is still faithful, and you can trust. You can trust in His faithfulness. That has to win out for you. How many of you would say, Pastor, my circumstances might not be good, but I want you to pray for me today that I trust in God and who God is, and I would place my trust there, not in my circumstances.
How many of you want to pray for that today? Yes, I see those hands going up.
