baptizing them in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. teaching them to observe all that i've commanded you, and i'm with you always, even to the end of the age. [music] what do you do when you've done all you can? and it seems like you can't make it through. tell me what do you say when

your friends turn away and you're alone? tell me what do you give when you've given your all? and it seems like you can't make it through. you just stand. when there's nothing left to do. you just stand. and watch the lord see you through. after you've done all you can, you just stand. tell me how do you handle the guilt of your past? tell me how do you deal with the shame?

and how can you smile when your heart has been broken and filled with pain? tell me what do you give when you've given your all and it seems like you can't make it through. you just stand, when there's left to do. you just stand. watch the lord see you through. after you've done all you can, you just stand. and be sure. be not entangled in the

bondage again. you just stand. and endure. god has a purpose. god has a plan. tell me what do you do when you've done all you can and it seems like you can't make it through? you just stand. stand. stand. you just, through the storm stand. through the rain stand. through the hurt stand. through the pain, you just. don't you bow. stand.

don't you bend. stand. don't give up. stand. don't give in. you just hold on. stand. hold on. stand. just be strong. it won't be long. you just, after you've done all you can. after you've done all you can. after you've done all you can. after you've gone through the hurt. after you've gone through the pain. after you've done all you can, you just stand.

you stand. [applauding] >> it's one thing to know the promise of a scripture. it's something else to experience it. so when we talk about the promises of god, the bible is full of them. many people say there's 40 thousand, 32 thousand, eight thousand, as we said before, the important thing is not how many, but the fact god's kept every promise he's made and he's never forgotten a single one. his promise comes in two forms they're either conditional meaning he's made a promise conditioned on something that must happen or not happen.

and he makes an unconditional promise means he promises something is going to happen and regardless of the circumstances it will happen and cannot change. he's an awesome, loving god who desires to give us promises by which we're to live. and if you think about it for a moment, many people wonder why god doesn't answer their prayer? one of the primary reasons is they ask for things that are not the will of god. and secondly, they doubt. and one of the primary reasons why people doubt god answering their petition, they don't have any foundation for it. that is, they ask. it's a matter of feeling and hoping and wishing but no foundation. if you're asking god to give you guidance in some area or if it's something you need in your life, you need, listen, to put a foundation to that so you can get anchored in that. you need to have a promise from god's word. there's many promises in god's word. there's a promise for every

single solitary thing you and i need is here. i can recall one of the most significant times in my life when i was really searching the lord to know his will for my life about the holy spirit. and i was getting ready to begin teaching in a bible institute as well as pastoring the church, the first church. and so i knew that i needed to be filled with the holy spirit to do that. because all these pastors had been pastors a long time. here i was out of the seminary green as i could be. so i was just praying and i had been reading and all kinds of books from the holy spirit and how you be filled with the spirit and so forth. it came down to friday afternoon before school starts an monday and i'm in my study and just reminding the lord i want to be filled with the holy spirit. and so i don't remember everything that i was going through, but i was troubled for the simple reason, i knew it hadn't happened.

and so i was just really struggling. i remember around four o'clock in the afternoon. i still have that prayer rug i used to pray on in that time. and somehow i turned to 1 john chapter five. now watch this. 1 john chapter five. all of us asking, god, lord, show me how to be filled with the holy spirit. i desperately need that. so i turned to 1 john. i don't know how i turned to that particular passage. turned to the fifth chapter. listened to these verses how very clear they are. beginning in verse 14. this is the confidence that we have in him. that if we ask anything according to his will, he will hear us. and if we know he hears us, we know that we have the petition that we desire of him. there is no ifs ands buts as far as he says, this is the confidence we have. we know he hears.

and we know that we have the requests. i read that passage of scripture and asked myself the question, why have i not read that before now? because all it says is something very simple. if you ask god for something, that's the will of god. and you know he makes it clear in his word it's his will and you know it's his will, you can ask him and he said we'll have confidence he will do it. when i accepted that promise on the basis of what i was asking him to do to fill me with the holy spirit, from that moment on, god changed my whole life and my whole attitude about the holy spirit. and it was one of those moments in life that was absolutely essential for me. god knew it. and he knew that all of my searching had to finally come to some kind of conclusion and it was the conclusion that was real simple. just believe what i've told you.

and this is why i say to you, if you just say, lord, here's what i'm asking you for and you don't have any biblical basis. you don't have any promise. i'm not saying every single time you ask god about something you should go find the promise. after a while you'll know his promises are crystal clear and very simple. there's sometimes we don't really know. he says, this is the confidence you and i can have. that if we ask anything according to his will, he'll hear us. so that, when you're saying, lord, i want you to show me your will in this decision i'm having to make, well, will he do that? yes, he will. why? he said this is the confidence we have in him, if we ask anything according to his will, it is his will for me to seek his will. if i know that's his will, he'll answer that prayer. he'll answer that petition. and i think a lot of people's prayers go unanswered because of doubt.

because they don't have a foundation for the request. this is what i feel. this is what i want. this is what i would like to have. the foundation for your request is the promises found in the word of god. all of these promises. and yet, there's a promise for this, promise for that, promise for the other. so when we think about the fact our whole christian life is centered around the promises of god. why do you know you're saved? because he promised. if you confess jesus christ as your lord and savior and believe in the resurrection of christ, thou shall be saved. what paul said to the phillipian jailer. believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shall be saved. all the promises about salvation, answered prayer, healing, all of these are promises god gave, listen, not for our entertainment, but, listen, not just to read but to read, to believe and to do what? he wants us to activate the promise. that if that's the promise from god, i need to claim it.

i need to believe it. then my prayer has some strength to it. otherwise, it may be just something that i'm thinking about. so what i want to do in this message is this. i want to use one story, one event in the old testament as a track to show you. how does god answer prayer? how does he deal with his promises? we said sometimes, he has unconditional promises. they're going to be that way, nothing is going to change it. so i want to take you along that track. now it's not that you simply have never heard the events. what i want you to see, i want you to see principle after principle in this scenario with abraham. listen. our life is not like his life and our events are not like his events but god doesn't change. the same principle that work in his life work in our life. god doesn't change principles. god doesn't change. he says he doesn't. we spent a whole message on the

fact his character and his ability, give us the faith we need to trust him in every situation. so i want you to follow this. i want to encourage you to write down, there's nine points. let's start with the very beginning. i want you to turn to the 12th chapter of genesis. we read this passage before of the but i want you to read this very clear promise that god gave to abraham in these first few verses. beginning in chapter 12 and verse one. now the lord said to abram, go forth from your country, from your relatives, from your father's house to a land i'll show you. and i'll make you a great nation. and i'll bless you and make your name great. and so you shall be a blessing. and i will bless those who bless you. and the one who curses you, i will curse. in you, he says, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. now, that's eight promises.

notice what is not here. he didn't say if. he said, i will show you. i will make you. i will bless you. all the families of the earth will be blessed. here is a eight fold unconditional promise by god to abraham. now, what i want you to see, i want you to watch what happens in this man's life. because a long period of time takes place before god fulfills all these promises and one of the reasons we miss some of god's best blessings in our life is because, his time schedule doesn't meet ours. and of course, here's a perfect example in this passage of scripture that shows us between chapter 12 and 22 what happens when people are not willing to wait for god's promises when they take things in their own hands and what happens as a result. i was talking to two young men this week and they were sharing

with me what was going on with their life and that's what was happening very early in their life. let's look at this. the first thing i want you to jot down in your notes is simply this and that is, the promises of god are stated clearly. god would never say to you, here's what i'm thinking about. he wouldn't say, i want you to consider. he wouldn't say, well, here's what i would like for you to do. you figure it out. god's promises are crystal clear. there's not a single hazy, shady, unconcern promise in the word of god. so therefore, he's going to make it very, very clear. and there's many promises in the scripture. and many of these promises apply to you and me just like they did to abraham. you say, i haven't been a christian very long. that doesn't have anything to do with it. god doesn't change his principles. watch this carefully. he loves every single one of us unconditionally. he wants the best for every single one of us. his promises include every

single aspect of our life. because he has a purpose for your life. sometimes people have the idea, who am i? god doesn't have a purpose for my life. yes, he does. you're not listening to him. he as a purpose and plan for your life. he wants to accomplish something through you. so the first thing he does is he makes his promises very clear. so ask yourself this question. what promise do you have that you live by? that is, do you have a single promise, for example, that when you face a difficult situation, that's your anchor. no matter how strong the winds are, here's what he says. i have two or three of those. every pastor has more than one, i can guarantee you. one of mine, for example, would be what god said to joshua, it's a biblical promise. he said, be strong and of a good courage. fear not. nor be dismayed. for the lord your god is with you wherever you go. who does that apply to?

every single follower of jesus. what is it about that that doesn't apply to you? fear not and be of good courage. the lord your god is with you wherever you go. we can go through many of the promises. what i want you to see, he makes it very, very clear. the second thing i want you to notice is this. we'll go right through these chapters here. and that is, with god's, listen, with his promises comes clear guidance. for example, if you're seeking his mind and heart about something and god says, here's what i want you to do. god is never going to leave you to sort of figure it out for yourself. so he makes it very clear. i want you to jot down this psalm. that's psalm 32:8. we have referred to it many sometimes before because it's so very, very important. listen to what he says. now watch this. no matter who you are, you and god are talking about some issue in your life. verse eight. i'll instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go.

i'll counsel you with my eye upon you. look at that. i will instruct you. that is, if you are challenged by something god is requiring of you, he said, you can count on this. i will instruct you, i'll teach you in the way which you should go. i'll counsel you with my eye upon you which is his way of th you. i know where you are now. i know where you will be. i know where you could be. i know where i don't want you to be. i'll counsel you with my eye upon you. why? we're claiming his promise. this is what he said i want you to do. then of course you know proverbs 3:5 and 6 trust in the lord with all your heart. not half heart. trust in the lord with all your heart. don't lean to your own understanding. who is doing the directing? don't lean to your own understanding. seek his guidance, wait for him. listen to him. he said, i'll make your path straight. i'll make it clearer. there are two promises of god for direction in our life

whatever he challenges us to do. now, you think, everybody in here has a different life plan. every single one of us. god has a plan for his life, her life, they're not the same. but in the eyes of god, because he loves every single one of us equally, god has a plan for each one of us. and he's personally involved in seeing that that plan is fulfilled. he knows the tragedy in a person's life when it's not fulfilled. he knows the joy in watching it become fulfilled. and he wants us to recognize that we're special in his eyes. there's no such thing as a non person in the eyes of god. every single person is important. you may look at yourself and say i'm not very important. the reason you say that, you're comparing yourself with somebody else. if god intended us to compare ourselves he would give everybody the same fingerprints. but he didn't. can you imagine how many

fingerprints there are in the world. no two alike. no two people alike. god loves each one of us individually and has that plan for us. so we can expect him to give us direction for our life. and in this sixth verse, the bible says that abraham past through the land to the sight of shechem and the canaanite was in the land. why is he saying this? he wanted him to follow a certain path. watch this carefully. this is what gets people in trouble. they don't follow god's direction. they start out following god's direction and say i'll take it from here. he said, the canaanite was in the land. the canaanites, jebusites, all the ites, they were all enemies of the people of god. he said i'll be with you. so the important thing is that we recognize that god is going to guide us in whatever he tells us to do. you think about all the

decisions you have to make in life. think about the decisions that pop up that you and i don't even plan on. things we don't have any details about. he said i'll guide you. that's a promise that belongs to every single child of god. you can't bring up any issue he doesn't know all about it. you can't bring up any question he doesn't have an answer for. he won't say maybe, i'll think about it, i forgot that. god wants to be personally involved in every single area of your life. because he knows you and i live in a world that's wicked, vile, corrupt, you name it. satan is our enemy. therefore, god wants to be involved in every aspect of our life. then there's a third thing that's important and that's this. and that is, there should be many times in life when there's a time of personal worship and meditation. in our life. seeking his guidance and direction. and the more critical the decision, but the more time you and i should be spending and

doing what? just what we're talking about doing here. meditating upon his word. what did he say? how does he operate? more than likely you and i will never come to a place in life we think, i got that down. somebody is all that cocky about their understanding of everything, you better watch out. because listen, times change, things change, god doesn't change. but listen, god may change our sense of direction. he may change what we're doing. and god may come to you tomorrow and say, do you know what? i don't want you working here anymore. you say, that couldn't be of god. that's so hard to get a job. if god said i want you to quit your job today. i have something else for you. that's not reasonable. that couldn't be god. don't underestimate god's surprise interventions in your life. because here's one of the things god wants to do. in every change of our life, what does he want to do? he does it in a way only he can get credit for it, number one.

and secondly, he wants us to learn to trust him. in order to do that, you have to stay in a right relationship with him. and so, what we find in these passages here, beginning for example, in this seventh verse, abraham is already on the move. the lord appeared to abram and said to your descendants. i'll give this land. he built an altar there to the lord who appeared to him. the scripture says in verse eight. he proceeded from there, to the mountain on the east of bethel and pitched his tent with bethel on the west and ai on the east and there he built an altar to the lord and called upon the name of the lord. what do you find him doing? he moves in the direction god wants him to go. and then he takes the time. and when they built an altar, could have been all kind of altar but , for example, stone altar and that altar represented, think of all the technology we have. their technology was simple, a pile of stones here and pile of stones here and pile of stones here. he went back to the same pile of

stones, because he wanted to be reminded of what god said to him. this is why i encourage you to keep a diary. this is why i encourage you to write down what god says to you. because, listen, satan will steal it. he'll take it right out of your mind. so therefore, he went back to do what? to listen to god again and again. what god was saying to him, you're leaving your family. you're leaving everything. you're going into an unknown land, canaan and i'll show you how to get there. i'll take you there. but he was not so self confident thinking well just hear it one time. and i do believe that god oftentimes speaks to us the same requirement over and over and over again because he knows. think about how busy you are on any given day. he knows our minds can be contaminated with all kinds of stuff. he wants us walking in the center of his will. why?

because he wants the best for your life. if there's anything i can say to someone. god wants the best for your life. you've got to cooperate with him. he'll do his part. he'll show you the way. make a way. provide a way. he'll do everything that a sovereign loving god can do to help you on your way in life. but if you violate that. and you decide you'll do it yourself, you'll get in trouble. it's very, very simple. it's very clear in the word of god. which leads me to this next point that is this. changing course from god's pathway, changing course from god's guidance, what does that do? we are doubting god's promise. i know this is what you said. but lord, this can't be true because this is totally unreasonable. so let's see why did he think that? well if you look at this passage of scripture in the 10th verse there was a famine in the land.

abram went down to egypt to sojourn there because there was a famine in the land. this is what you'll find out. first time egypt is mentioned in the scriptures. every time he headed to egypt, he got in trouble. for example. sarah's hand maid, she chose an egyptian maid which really got him in trouble. and when his son came along in 26th chapter and they were having a famine also and god said to him, said to isaac, right in the middle of the famine, do not go to egypt. so when god gives us a sense of direction, we have to remember that, watch this carefully. whatever the circumstances are, we don't decide we're going to redraw the map and change the course of the compass so we can go anywhere we want to go. here's what happens. famine in the land. the scripture says, there was a famine in the land so abraham

went down to egypt to sojourn there because the famine was severe in the land. he came near to egypt he said to sarah his wife. he said, look, sarah, you're a beautiful woman. and when these men and the king's men see you, they're going to want you. and all they have to do is kill me and then they've got you. so here's loving abraham. here's what you do. you lie about who you are. and you tell them that you are my sister. and that way you'll be able to, think about it. you'll be able to just belong to him and now i won't lose my life. what happens? first of all, he didn't have any business going to egypt. watch this carefully. you mark this down. when you choose to walk away from what you know is the will and purpose of god in your life, you are going to have trouble. so what happens? they get down there.

that's exactly what happens. they saw her. they take her in. and then god just sends a plague. remember. god's promise to abraham is unconditional. nothing is going to change it. so he sends a plague and reveals himself to the king. and so here he comes, abraham, why did you lie to me? scared the poor man to death. if you notice when abraham walked out of egypt, he walked out of egypt very, very wealthy. somebody says, well, that wasn't such a bad idea after all. yes, it was. if you think you're going to disobey god and god will bless you, watch this carefully. it may look like you're getting blessed. but you're not. and many people have been blessed with wealth absolutely destroyed their life or destroyed their family or whatever it might be.

so he walked away. and what i want you to notice in this passage is simply this. god says, here's my promise. here's what i'm going to do with you. listen. abraham didn't have near understanding of what god was going to do with him as you and i do. because remember this. abraham his son isaac, jacob, judah through whom the genealogical line of jesus can be traced all the way to bethlehem. so he didn't have any idea ultimately this awesome, huge, eternal plan of god through him. think about what god told him. all the specific things he told him. then there's a famine. i better head out somewhere else. got him in trouble. that's not the only trouble he had. that's part of it because he stepped out of god's plan, out of god's will. this is why somebody says, i don't know i know the will of god much. that's why meditation, reading the word of god, praying, reading