[Donald Ward] Our title today is, "Standing on the Promises in the Face of Trials." "Standing on the Promises in the Face of Trials." We can ask ourselves, "Am I standing on the promises of God in the face of trials that I am experiencing and others are experiencing all around the world?" We need to claim and stand on the sure promises of God. So what is the greatest promise? Let's look at Titus 1:1 with regard to one of the great promise that God has given, perhaps, the greatest of all. It's what life is all about. Life is all about being in the Kingdom of God, living forever in the Kingdom of God. And God has ordained a process. God and Christ together have worked out a plan of salvation before time began. In addition to that, it says in Revelation 13:8 that, "Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the world." There are other verses that also bear testimony to that fact that the plan of salvation was there way before anything else existed in the material sense. So we look at Titus 1:1, "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness." How does God reveal Himself to us? He reveals Himself to us through His word and His Spirit and He sends out messengers, ministers to preach the Word. If God did not set up the Church and ordained the structure of the Church to do that, we would be left to try to figure it out on our own or if you don't accept the Bible, then what do you do with regard to your view of God? You're left with what your mind or somebody else's mind or a group together conjures up with regard to who is God, what is God, what is His purpose?

The Bible reveals all of that. It also reveals who is man, what is man, and what is his purpose? Now, notice verse two, "In hope of eternal life, in hope of eternal life, which God, cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto us according to the commandment of God our Savior." So this great promise, the promise of eternal life. Now, the word promise in the Greek is epaggello. It is a word from which I also get angel. The Greek word for angel is aggelos, A-G-G-E-L-O-S and it means a messenger or an announcement, a messenger or one who gives an announcement. And God has announced to us that He has promised us eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So promise means an announcement that something is to be done. God has ordained this great plan, and God who cannot lie has promised us eternal life in His Kingdom. In fact, we now have the very essence of God in Christ living in us.

See, the Spirit of God in Christ is eternal. They have existed in eternity. Now, eternity has no beginning, eternity has no end. So you look at John 14:23. In John 14:23, you see that Jesus is speaking in this verse and the context of it is He's talking to the disciples on the night that He was instituted the symbols of the New Covenant Passover that He was later betrayed in the mock trial and then crucified during the daylight hours of Nisan, however you pronounce it, 14, the first month and the 14th day of the month is the Passover. So here in John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, We will come unto him through the Spirit of God. God's Spirit is in us, the Father, the Spirit of Jesus Christ is in us. We will come unto him and make our abode, we will live in him." Now, the apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:16 that, "We are the temple of God." And you remember that sermon that Stephen gave in Acts 7 where he said… And it's not the only place, but it says that "God does not dwell in buildings made by hands."

So brethren, we are here for eternal life. Let's notice now the inspired words of the apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, and Peter uses the terminology of precious promises, and indeed, they are precious. Precious promises. 2 Peter 1:1, "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God,” the righteousness of God, He always keeps His word. He lives within His law. He keeps His promise. “The righteousness of God and our Savior… and our Savior, and our Savior, Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied under you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has 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."

See, we are partakers of the divine nature when we repent of our sins, exercise faith and sacrifice of Christ. We're baptized, receive the laying on of hands. We have, within us, the very essence of God. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. So we have a new conscience, a new sense of what is right and what is wrong abiding within us. However, what is called free will still remains with us and we can choose. We can choose whether we're going to obey that spirit essence. Paul talks about in Romans 8, if you walk according to the Spirit and the Spirit in us and the word of God in us gives us that new knowing and we can make our decisions based on that word. The apostle Paul tells us that in this life, and this is 2 Timothy 3:12 that in this life, we are going to suffer persecution. Not only are we going to suffer persecution, but we're going to suffer in many other ways as well. Some of the greatest suffering is not really physical. That is where the body is hurting, but it is the mind and what is going on in the mind, and the agony, and the worry, the anxiety, and all the things that can come upon a person.

Jesus was persecuted by virtually everyone, from His brothers and sisters. I assume He had sisters, I don't know 100% against the Scripture says. He was persecuted by His family members from there to the religious leaders of the day. The scribes and the Pharisees, the members of the Sanhedrin, the council. Jesus was tried and tested until he said his final words and drew His final breath and He said, "It is finished. It is finished." And before He said that, He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." So can we expect anything less? Will we stuffer? Yes, we're going to suffer. We're going to be tried. We may not suffer physically. And one of the interesting things about suffering, I don't know if you'd call it interesting, what do you call it? Is that some families seem to have far more suffering, pain, difficulty, health problems, other kinds of problems than other families and they seem to be doing virtually the same thing. Of course, we have inherit from our parents, the environment that we live in, the way we were taught, the way we were brought up. There are so many factors that enter into our decision-making as we go along in life and also what might happen to us in life.

Right now, there's a big controversy with these Chinese geneticists. I don't know if he's a geneticist, you'd call him that or not, but editing DNA and now they're talking about designer babies and one of his designer babies has been born. And one of the things that propelled him to do that was that the father, the sperm donor of this baby has AIDS, he has HIV virus. I don't know if it's active, but he has HIV virus and so, by switching, editing so-called part of the DNA, that particular gene is switched off and so this child, this baby cannot get the HIV virus, but who knows what else it might open the door to. That is one of the new fields in medicine. Of course, he's being highly criticized for it. Jesus suffered so many things for us that we might be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Romans 8:17 says, "Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ."

Look at Matthew 26:53. Matthew 26:53. Jesus is speaking. This is a very interesting thing. What it shows, what this verse shows that Jesus was not some wild-eyed fanatic, kamikaze ready to commit suicide, but the actions of what He went through and the agony that He suffered on the night that He was crucified, I mean, betrayed and then later crucified showed that He willfully went through it. And you can relate to this. The Scripture in Hebrews 5:8 where it says, "He learned obedience through the things which He suffered.” He learned to obey no matter what the trial, the difficulty, how bad it hurt. Regardless of the physical pain or the mental anguish, He went through it." So verse 53 says, "Think you thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?” In other words, "I could call on My Father to send these angels and I would not have to go through this." But He willingly went through it for us.

It is difficult to imagine that after Jesus had preached throughout Judea that He had taught out in hinterland and at the temple, He had healed. He had cast out demons. He fed the multitudes and after His ministry, He is crucified by His countrymen. "Whom shall I release unto you? Shall I release unto you Barabbas or this man?" "This Man, the One who says He is the ‘King of the Jews.’" And they turned Him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. So just as Jesus did, we must keep the big picture of the Kingdom burning in our mind. If you go back a few pages, Hebrews 12:1-3. Hebrews 12:1-3, “Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses,” those chronicled in chapter 11 above. “Let's lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy…" You talk about the big picture, realizing what was at stake, what was at stake was the salvation of humanity. And to think about having all of these brothers and sisters, a family, not of 12 or 20, but millions. "For the joy set before Him endured the cross despising the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind."

Oh, yeah. To a large degree, the final battleground in one sense is in the mind and the final battleground has to do with the truth. Are you going to believe it, are you going to do it? I gave a Bible study in Pasadena, somewhere around the auditorium on a Friday night, somewhere around 1988, of that very title, “A Final Battleground.” What is a final battleground? It is the truths in your mind and Satan, of course, is trying to destroy both. God and Christ promise us, you look forward there just to probably on the same page at verse 5, Hebrews 13:5, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have: for He has said, ‘I will never leave you, or forsake you.’" You know, when Jesus commissioned the disciples thereafter He was resurrected and He said, "Go you therefore into all the world. Disciple all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age."

Now notice Matthew 11, standing on the promises. we used to sing that old hymn back in the Baptist church in Mississippi, “Standing on the promises of Christ our King throughout ages let His promises ring,” something like that. In Matthew 11:28, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." So many people talk about all of the things you have to do to be in the Church. You know, what if this was all there was this life? I would submit to you that the life that we have in the Church, it is one of the best lives… lifestyles you could choose. Of course, it would be empty without the Spirit of God, the Word of God and the love of God extended, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest in your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." There's great liberty in the law of God. It is the perfect law of liberty when you walk in it. You're not bogged down with guilt, you're not bogged down with mental angst. You're walking in the light.

Notice where the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 5 reinforces what Jesus just said. You know, Peter had a lot of trials. He was quick to speak, quick to put his foot in his mouth in some cases. You remember one case where Jesus said that he was going to be, in essence, be crucified and Peter said, "Lord, we'll never let that happen to you." And Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan." Then He says, "Oh, Peter, Peter, Satan is desired to sift you like sand or wheat, but I have prayed for you when you are converted, strengthen the brethren." That's what He told Peter. In 1 Peter 5:5, "Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves under the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble." And, of course, one of the reasons why God allows trials, and this is back in, really says, is specifically in Deuteronomy. We may turn there later, of why the many trials that Israel had coming out of Egypt was to humble themselves. Of course, they didn't really get the message, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your cares upon Him; for He cares for you." He cares for you, "Casting all your care upon Him." Do you want to hold on to your care or do you want to let it go? You want to let it go and let God and Christ deal with it.

You know, they created the whole universe. They created you and I. They ordained the great plan of salvation. Why? "For God so loved the world.” See, love is the most powerful motivating force in the universe. And God is love. You heard in the sermon that. God is love and much of what God does flows out of that one thing. For example, grace. Grace flows out of God's love, God's divine favor. Because He loved us so much, He favored us with the great plan of salvation. “Casting all your care on Him; for He cares for you. Be sober,” that means wakeful, watchful. Has nothing to do with sober as we might think of it. Be watchful, wakeful. “Be vigilant because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

There's no one exempt. As I said earlier, of course, some people have it easier than others and I don't know for sure the reason. I know it says in Ecclesiastes, "The time and chance happens to us all,” the wrong place at the wrong time, the wrong situation, the wrong time. And you're like trapped. But then even with that, if we are faithful, God will, at some point in our existence before we are done away with, deliver us if we're faithful. Now, let's talk about some deep, deep things with regard to where God wants us to come to you in James 1. I taught the general epistles for several years and Ambassador. The general epistles are really the meat of the Word. Paul talks… Some people talk about Paul's epistles being the meat and more difficult. In some technical senses, they are more difficult and people get confused. And to me, it's almost deliberate, it's allowing Satan to confuse them on justification. And through that confusion, wind up saying that the law is done away with. But Paul even says, "Do we then make void the law through faith?" What does it say? “God forbid, we don’t." That's sort of another subject.

In epistles, James, James, general epistles. “James, a servant” a doulos, “a bondservant of God,” James, half-brother of Jesus Christ does not say, "Oh, I'm the half-brother of Jesus Christ, listen to me," “James, a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different trials and test." That Greek word, translated temptations, there is pierasmos, P-I-E-R-A-S-M-O-S, and it means to try, to test, to prove. And God will try and test and prove each one of us. And one of the main test is what He says when we're in Luke 14, when we’re counseling for baptism, the minister generally covers Luke 14 and it says, "If any man comes to Me, desires to be My disciple and love not less his father, his mother, yea, even his own life, he is not worthy to be called My disciple." In other words, in more, maybe concrete language, He will see if you placed any greater affection on anybody or anything than you do Him and the Kingdom of God.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different trials and test. Here's an opportunity to show God that, "Yeah, I get it. I get it." "Knowing that, the trying of your faith works patience,” hupomone a state of mind and a sense of knowing that you will be entire and complete if you go through this process as God gives commandment. Verse 4, "But let patience have her perfect work." In other words, you get into this situation, how much do I do? How much does God do? And we have historically said, "You do everything you can do and you pray as if everything depends on God." And, of course, every person has to have their own volition and conscience, choose what they are going to do. "But let patience have her perfect work." In other words, you stay with it. You don't try to jump track. You don't say, "Well, if that's the way it's going to be… if that's the way God's going to be,” and on and on it goes. You “let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

And other translation might see that you might be whole and complete. In other words, you have gone through it and you have shown God that you are faithful regardless of the situation and the circumstance. You know, that part of the armor of God reminds you there of Ephesians 6:16. It says, "Above all, take the shield of faith, whereby you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of Satan." Because if you don’t know that you know than you know that deliverance is coming, maybe not now, and it may be in the Kingdom. Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 4 that, every person is going to receive their just reward in the Kingdom. Now, notice in verse 12, the promise that is given to those who go through that process. James 1:12, "Blessed is a man that endures,” perhaps, most trial, proof, testing “for when he has tried,” which shows that is the correct translation, "he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him." See, we are in the crucible of life. We are in the fiery furnace. We are being tried, and tested, and refined. Abraham, the father of the faithful, was tested and proved time after time from the time that he left Ur of the Chaldees, his homeland and journeyed across the river into what is now called the promised land, or Palestine, or modern Israel all the way, and even asked to sacrifice the son of promise, which apparently, he had every intention of doing, and hands stayed at the last moment and God provided a sacrifice. God has provided a sacrifice for us, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Now, let's go to Romans 8, standing on the promises in the face of trials. Of course, you can't cover every great promise that is in the Bible, but here's one of the most powerful as far as I'm concerned in Romans 8:31, "What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" Who can be against us if God be for us? “He that spare not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” I mean, He loved us so much that He was willing to give up His Son. His Son loved us so much He was willing to give His life. “Greater love hath no man than this than he lay down his life for his friends." That's as much as He could give. God gave His Son, the Son gave His life. So “how shall he not, with him also, freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?” That's you.

It is God that justifies, who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yet rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. In the margin there I would put Hebrews 7:25 which says, "He is able to save us to the uttermost,” seeing that he ever lives to make intercession for us." He ever lives to make intercession for us that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us." Not only is He our propitiation and paid the death penalty, you know that Romans, what is it, 5, 10 [9] that says, "Having been justified freely by His death, we shall be saved by His life.” He is alive and on the job. He is our High Priest and He is making intercession for us according to the will of the Father. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are killed all the day long.’" Why are we killed all the day long? Because “the wages of sin is death,” and without that sacrifice, we would die. But coming to that state of mind where you are and I am, all of us totally surrendered.

I think sometimes in the baptismal counseling I talk about that, you know, you're talking about three C's: conviction, commitment, courage. The three S's: submit, surrender, serve. Remember the old hymn, “I Surrender All… I Surrender All.” There’s nothing left. “For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” You know, that's, to me, and I put that on a par with perhaps with James 1:2, "Count it all joy when you fall into different trials," and then you come to this and we're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. What can they do to you? God be for you, who can be against you?

"Know in all these things we're more than conquerors through Him that loved us… and through Him that loved us." And I could add, "And gave Himself for us." "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Yes, standing on the promises. God chastens, according to Hebrews 12:6, I'm not going to turn to every one of these scriptures. If you want to write them down. Hebrews 12:6, it says that "God chastens every son that He loves." I want us to turn to this one in 1 Corinthians 11. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul gives us instructions for taking the Passover, to prepare to take the Passover. And one of the main things that he says with regard to that is to examine ourselves. “God chastens every son that He loves.” Why does He chasten him? Because He loves them. He would rather see them dead than miss out on His Kingdom.

So when we are in trial or difficulty, obviously, we want to do soul searching, but we must not fall into the trap of Psalm 77 where our problem becomes our problem. In other words, we're so focused on all the things happening to us that our mind is off of God and onto self. And so, there is… I don't know if you'd call it a fine line, but there is… you have to focus in both places, but you have to not be overwhelmed in the Psalms 77 and says, "And I commune with my own spirit." In other words, "I went over all my problems and my spirit was overwhelmed. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?” Then the answer comes, I think it's verse 10 or 11, "This is my affliction, this is what's wrong with me. My problem is my problem. I've got my mind off of God." In 1 Corinthians 10:30… Not 10 verse 30, I want 28. 1 Corinthians 11:28, "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink that cup."

And so, I would hasten to say that when we are chastened, when we are in trial and difficulty, that we examine ourselves. “For he that eats and drinks irreverently…” anaxiōs. The Corinthians were eating and drinking irreverently. They were having some kind of a meal, some were fairing sumptuously, some were doing without, some were getting drunk at Passover. So they were keeping it irreverently, “eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.” Not discerning the sacredness “in remembrance of Me, keep this Passover.” And also, not honoring the Body, the members of the church of God. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many are dead. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be judged or condemn with the world." It gives you opportunity, it gives us opportunity to repent. "Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another." But the main thing there, of course, is to judge yourself.

God chastens us to get our attention, so we'll wake up and examine ourselves and repent. Job had to learn this bitter lesson. Job came to the point that he was saying that God was unfair, but then Job came to himself and realized that he had to judge himself and justify God. In other words, God is justified in whatever He does. Satan tries us and God allows Satan at times to try us. He allowed Satan to try Job, "Just don't take his life." And you know, all of the things that Joe went through. And finally, he came to his senses, and he judged himself. "Therefore, I repent. Now, my eye sees You. I've heard of You by the hearing of the ear, and I thought I really knew it, but now my eyes sees You. I see what You're all about. And I repent in dust and ashes."

How does God put us to the test? Sometimes it's by demanding greater sacrifice like Abraham. You know, Abraham left his home area. He was tried in many ways by the people, his neighbors round about him and the greater trial of the sacrifice of his son. So sometimes we go through a trial and say, "Oh man, I'm glad that's over." And then the next one comes, it's greater than the one before. Another way is by leading us in what we think is a more difficult way. In Exodus 13 when the Israel left Egypt, God didn't take them the ease, the shortest distance, the shortest way. He took them through the wilderness because He knew that they would want to turn back. They went through the wilderness, they couldn't get back unless a whole group turned around and went back.

And, of course, God tries us. We have freedom of choice. We have free will. God doesn't take that away. Even though we have the new knowing within and we have a new conscience, God does not take choice away from us. “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” You know, Joshua posed that question, "You want to serve the gods on the other side of the river, then serve the gods on the other side of the river. But for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord." And in Deuteronomy 30:19, it says, "I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; choose life." So choice. Basically, the world is blinded and they are walking in blindness. Eventually, the veil is going to be lifted, and the Millennium and the resurrections to come, the veil will be lifted and they will come, be able to see.

Another way that God tests us, tries us is in delaying an answer. Sometimes He… Another thing that, you know, I tried to get my mind around. I think, "Oh, boy. I'm really being tried, I'm really being tested." Then I think about Paul thrown over the wall for dead, shipwrecked in the sea three nights or every many nights it was. Three times in the sea in the deep. Paul and Silas in prison, Peter in prison, many others. And you think about while doing the work of God, men suffer while doing it.

Here is what it says 2 Corinthians 11, Paul writes, "Five times given thirty-nine lashes." Five times. I would imagine you had to pull off your shirt and when that whip comes back if they have the metal shrouds on the end of it, it tears the flesh. I don't know if all the whips had that. Five times, 39 lashes, stoned, shipwreck, perils, hunger, cold, naked. And then, in addition, you have to do the work. Verse 28, the care of the churches. So life goes on. So God permits men to suffer while doing the work. God allows at times for people to be betrayed. You think… I'm fairly certain that Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him and he did betray Him. But how that must've hurt, how that must've hurt, to spend those three and a half years with Christ, hearing the preaching, the teaching and all that goes with it, then as He went throughout the land and then after the resurrection and the ascension, 120 gathered there in the upper room waiting for the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit to come.

So as we look at the world today, we see a world in which the peoples of the world are torn apart by politics, economics, economic status, religions, various isms, and ideologies. We've never seen the kind of division the world has at the present time and will continue to have. These are the beginnings of sorrows. How long would they last? I don't know. People are ready to kill for motives that range from the thrill and excitement of killing, to killing to what they believe is a just cause. I don't know if killing to go to paradise with so many virgins is just cause, but that's one of the things they talk about. There are people gunned down in the streets in U.S. In some weeks, more are gunned down on the streets in the U.S. than in the wars in the Middle East. Of course, we don't get all the reporting from there anyhow. So these are indeed the times. It's not just us, it's the whole world. The whole world, these are the times that try men's very innermost being. Call it soul, the very most inner being life potential. Yet I'm, especially for some of those of you who are younger than I am, you may look back at these days and say, "Those were the good old days." I remember the good old days when we sat there, in that nice building in Big Sandy, everything at our command, we had it 72 degrees. Some are too hot, some are too cold. Some were just right. And we had these nice refreshments before services, after services, and it was just like we had it all. And we look back and say, "Those were the good old days." You know, to me, personally, I just look at the way the world is now and the way the criminals and that element is expanding with regard to trying to, especially using the technology of the day to cheat you out of every last thing that you have and by any means that they can, by the lowest kind of whatever you want to scheme up.

Some much very sophisticated, some much very crass. I read the other… it's been a week or two ago, that by 2020, there will be a 1 million person shortage of those who are trying to combat cyber warfare. In other words, trying to combat cyber theft and all of the things that go with it. And I wouldn't doubt if there'd be more. And basically, now, the whole world, it's geared to the power grid and the power grid, if the power grid goes down with an EMP, you're back to the stone age. And so, indeed, we were living in these times, but we don't want… And the times we live in, we want to claim these promises that we've covered here today. So standing on the promises in the face of trials. So we ask ourselves, "Am I standing on the promises of God?” Are those ingrained into my being, inculcated into my being, ingrained, indelibly stamped to the point that no device can erase it from the gray matter of your brain. It's there. It's there to stay. God in Christ, our sure foundation. Their promises never fail. God, who cannot lie, has promised, so let's stand on the promises of God.