Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located in Dothan, AL and exists to Reach the lost, Build the believer, and Connect people of God to the mission and purpose of God.
Take your Bibles, if you will, and open up to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 7.
We're going back to our series that we were in.
We took a brief break as we began the New Year.
I always like to do a little New Year series, and we've been talking about faithful.
By the way, there are some things out at the Welcome Center desk I would urge you to pick up, just reminders to be faithful in 2025.
There are stickers you can put on your water bottles or mirrors or wherever you want them, little placards.
I've got them in my office already.
And they're free.
Take those.
They're at the Welcome Center.
There's also a new God First bracelet we've designed to help you as a witness tool.
And it's got some symbols on there that will help you.
So if you want to replace that one you've been wearing.
By the way, I've seen these bracelets as far away as Birmingham where people had them on.
I ran into a guy and he had one of these bracelets on, a God First.
I said, I like your bracelet.
He said, I do too.
He said, somebody gave it to me.
I said, I bet I know where they're from.
And then told him a little bit of the story, and we laughed about it.
But at any rate, we've got new bracelets out there.
If you want one of the newer revised editions, they're available for you as well.
But we return today to our series, The Story of Jesus.
We're working through the Gospel of Mark, and we're looking at his life, his ministry, and the commands and lessons that he taught us.
And in the passage that we're going to look at this morning, I want to talk to you about faith that is tried...
and triumphant.
Mark Batterson in his book, All In, writes and says, faith is the willingness to look foolish.
Noah looked foolish building an ark in the desert.
Moses looked foolish asking Pharaoh to let his slaves go.
The Israelite army looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets.
David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot.
The wise men looked foolish following a star.
Peter looked foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of a storm.
And Jesus looked foolhardy hanging on the cross.
But the results speak for themselves, don't they?
Noah stayed afloat during the flood.
Moses delivered Israel out of Egypt.
The walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
David defeated Goliath.
The wise men found the Messiah.
Peter walked on the water.
And Jesus rose from the dead.
And then he adds this statement, there comes a moment when you must quit hedging your bets, quit playing it safe and doing what you've always done.
There comes a moment when you need to build the ark.
You know, faith expressed rarely keeps you in your comfort zone, does it?
And that's because it requires us to trust God beyond what always makes common sense to us.
Now, Jesus had a lot to say and teach us in the Gospels about walking by faith.
In fact, this whole theme of faith is carried throughout the Scripture, of course.
And the story that we're going to look at this morning is rich with some faith truths that I want to share with you in just a few moments.
But before I do that, I want to show you three things that faith is not, because there is a lot of misunderstanding, and I might add misapplication, of the whole ideas of what faith in God is about.
Let me give you three things that it's not.
First of all, faith is not a spiritual game.
God does not toy with us about faith.
God is not trying to trick us.
This isn't a cosmic game.
Faith is not some quiz.
It's not some game of spiritual trivia that God is trying to see if he can beat us or trick us or he can win, cause us to lose.
Faith is not some spiritual game that God is trying to mislead us with or toy with us.
The Bible says that the but just shall live by faith.
The Bible says without faith it's impossible to please God.
The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight.
The point is, and much more, the point is that God's very serious about our expression of faith toward him in our daily life.
So if he's that serious about faith, here's what you can be sure of.
He's not going to play any games with you about it.
The second thing I would say to you is faith is not only not a spiritual game, faith is not a magic formula.
Faith is not about getting a formula with God right.
If I do these things in this order, that will equal faith, and that will be pleasing to God.
You see, all through Scripture, we see faith expressed in a number of different ways that God honored and God worked through.
In fact, I believe that there is no formula for faith except simple, confident belief in God.
Because if we had a formula, we would be applying the formula to everything.
And God doesn't want us depending on a formula.
God wants us depending on him.
And so faith is not some magic formula that you employ when you need God to do something.
A third thing I would tell you that faith is not is it's not a blind leap.
And this is particularly significant in the culture we live in because many people today suggest that following Christ is a blind leap that must be accepted.
In other words, well, you just have to step out in faith as if you're stepping off a cliff.
It's just some blind leap.
The world often acts like, and they'll say things like this, well, just believe.
You know, as if belief in belief accomplishes something.
Well, if you just believe.
But you see, faith has an object.
Faith has an object that it is given toward.
And in the realm of the spiritual world, that object is Jesus Christ.
So we put our faith in Christ, we say.
He is the object.
He's not some blind leap.
There are times now that we must trust God beyond our intellectual understanding or what our physical eyes see, but the object of our faith remains the same.
He is a solid rock.
Our faith is in an object, and that object is Jesus Christ and his word.
So those are three things that we need to remember.
Those are three things that faith is not.
And try to keep those in mind when you find yourself in some spiritual dilemma where you need to trust God and you need to walk by faith.
Remember that it's not a magic formula.
It's not a blind leap.
It's not some game.
So let's remember these things.
And then let's talk about
faith as it's expressed in the passage that I want us to read this morning.
If you're physically able to do so, why don't you stand with me as we read our story, beginning in verse 4, chapter 7 of Mark's Gospel.
The Scripture says, And from there he arose, and he went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And he entered a house, and he did not want anyone to know.
Yet he could not be hidden.
But immediately a woman...
whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, heard him and came and fell down at his feet.
Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
And he said to her, Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
But she answered him, Yes, Lord.
Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
And he said to her, for this statement, you may go your way.
The demon has left your daughter.
And she went home and found the child lying in bed.
and the demon gone.
Father, would you now enlighten our hearts with your word?
Would you take my words, Father, let them be your words.
May they be acceptable along with the meditations of my heart to you.
Oh God, my rock and my redeemer.
Father, speak, I pray to us this morning.
There are those listening here today or listening on television or radio or live stream, Father, and they've got a faith struggle.
Their faith is being tried.
Father, help them understand how to walk by faith.
And experience the triumph of faith.
Just as we see in our stories.
Speak and teach us now.
We pray.
We're listening.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you.
You can be seated.
Well, this is another healing or deliverance account in the story of Jesus.
We've already seen several.
There are more, of course, throughout this gospel.
And in this case, it involves a Greek-speaking Gentile woman and her daughter.
In fact, she's called a Syrophoenician.
Here's what that means.
She was most likely from Syria, which was under the control of Phoenicia, hence Syrophoenician.
And so this Gentile, Greek-speaking woman comes to Jesus, as we know from our story.
Her daughter is afflicted by a demon, and she comes to Jesus to get some help.
And interesting, I don't know, this is, I guess, the third time we've seen where Jesus was trying to get away and rest.
Did you notice it said that?
that Jesus went away, was trying to be hidden.
He was trying to get some rest.
He was trying to get some downtime a little bit, but they found him.
And by the way, just a footnote for you.
If you'll seek Jesus, you'll find him.
He's not going to say, no, I'm sorry, I'm down for rest.
Here's the good news.
Our God never sleeps or slumbers.
And so when you need him, you can find him, and he won't turn you away.
He didn't turn this woman away, but he had a discussion with her.
And the story illustrates some things.
It illustrates desperation, doesn't it?
She wasn't worried about disturbing Jesus.
We don't know how that conversation may have gone, but she wasn't too worried.
She was desperate.
Her daughter was demonized, and she knew that Jesus, the reputation of Jesus already was that he had been casting out demons.
So she thought, nobody else can help me.
And you know a mom would certainly have tried everything she could to get help for her daughter.
But she said, there's Jesus.
He's gone into hiding, but I don't care.
I need help, and only Jesus can help me.
There was desperation.
It also illustrates determination.
She was undeterred in her quest to get Jesus' help.
She was determined, I'm going to get there.
And then it demonstrates, I think, bold faith.
You see, even when it appeared that Jesus was dismissing her, and I'll talk about that in just a second, even when it looked like Jesus was dismissing her, she boldly persisted believing that Jesus would respond, and indeed he did.
Now, with that as a little bit of background, that as a little bit of context, I want to show you this morning three lessons about a faith that is both tried and triumphant.
The first thing I want you to see comes from verse 27 in our passage where Jesus says, let the children be fed first.
This was a test of her faith.
This is when your faith is tested.
There are going to be times when your faith is tested, and God is allowing this test.
God is even provoking the test in some cases.
Initially, this sounds, though, like Jesus is insulting this woman, doesn't it?
I mean, when you read it, you think, well, he didn't have to say it that way.
It sounds like he's suggesting that God doesn't care about her because she wasn't an Israelite.
He said, well, the Israelites deserve to be fed first.
But really, that's not the case at all, what's going on here.
The seeming harshness of Jesus' reply to this woman was actually to test the woman's faith.
There are some times when God is going to test your faith.
It's not going to make sense to you, but God is going to test your faith.
And notice the reference that he used was dogs.
Did you notice that?
Now, here's what you need to understand.
This is where knowing a little bit about the Greek will help you because this is not a pejorative or a condescending term.
It's actually, in this case, a term of endearment.
He's not talking about a dog like the scavenger dogs out on the street, the bully dogs, that kind of stuff.
The Greek word here describes a little pet dog or puppy.
Okay?
That's what the word in the Greek is talking about.
Like a puppy that eagerly awaits under the table for the scraps to fall from the table and gobble them up.
We had a little three-and-a-half-pound, well, maybe not even that big, Yorkie up to a few years ago.
It passed away, and it kind of ruled the house.
Many of you have been here long enough.
You remember when we first got that dog.
I called it the little terrorist dog.
It would actually fit in a coffee cup and would bark all night when we first got it to keep me awake.
We did discover how to put it to sleep.
You think I'm joking, but I mean this.
We put a cassette of my sermon on.
I'm embarrassed to say it quietened right down.
I told my wife, I said, that little dog is smart.
He wants to take in the Word of God.
She said, that little dog is sleeping.
But we really did, and it really did work for whatever reason.
We had this little dog, and you know, like, we'd had several dogs in the course of our married life, and you know, we'd learned years before in previous dogs, don't feed them from the table, right?
Because you know what happens when you start doing that,
then they start expecting that.
And so we had determined with the Yorkie no more, we would never feed that dog from the table.
That was a cute little dog.
It was a little thing.
It was a little dog.
It wasn't a scavenger dog, a little dog.
And you know, it's amazing how many scraps would fall off on the floor.
That little dog loved when I made, I loved salads and like chef salads.
And that little dog loved chef salads.
Well, not the lettuce.
But I could even say something like, the dog's name was Presley, and I could say, hey, Presley, you want a salad?
Man, that dog was up and in the kitchen waiting where I would make the salad on an island in our kitchen.
And I don't know, I didn't feed her from the table, but she likes ham.
And it's amazing how much of that ham would fall off to the floor while I was fixing that salad.
It's just scraps.
Couldn't help it.
Maybe a gust of wind would blow through the kitchen or something like that.
But at any rate, she waited there eagerly.
She would sit there and wait eagerly.
Something's going to fall off.
Something's going to fall off.
I never took anything and fed her.
But you know, you've got to keep the area clear and just sometimes, you know.
Well, that's a picture of what's going on right here.
This woman says, you know, I know who gets fed first.
And by the way, Jesus was talking about his mission was to make sure the people, his people, Israel, understood the gospel, but it wasn't an exclusive message.
And she said, but even the little puppies, a term of endearment, even the little puppies...
They get the scraps, the leftovers, and that's all I'm wanting.
That's all I'm wanting is the scraps.
That's all I'm wanting is the leftovers.
This story is a fitting reminder that God sometimes tests your faith to see how strong it is.
And when your faith is being tested, it is hard to understand why sometimes, isn't it?
Let me just tell you why God tests your faith.
Jot these down.
God will test your faith to produce steadfastness, the Bible tells us.
James chapter 1 and verse 3 says, For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect, complete, and lacking in nothing.
God will sometimes test your faith to produce steadfastness.
He's trying to get you to learn how to endure.
You know, maybe the greatest test of our faith is when we have to endure.
We have to believe when it doesn't make sense.
We have to believe when it defies our logic.
We have to believe when what we see doesn't fit what's going on around us.
Sometimes God tests your faith to say, are you going to endure?
The Bible says this, when the son of man returns, will he find faith on earth?
Isn't that an interesting statement?
He means, will there be enduring faith?
Will we have stood the test of time?
Because the Bible also says in the last days, many will fall away.
God sometimes tests your faith to see, to make it stronger, to make it more durable.
And then second, he tests your faith to purify your heart, to get all the junk out.
Nothing like a good test to do that, is there?
Proverbs chapter 17 verse 3 says, "...the crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts."
God sometimes uses the test of faith to purify your heart, to clean you up inside, to make sure you're focused on Him.
Third, he will sometimes test your faith to reveal your genuineness.
Are you the real deal, or do you just talk the game?
1 Peter 1, verse 7 says, So that the tested genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes God tests your faith to reveal your genuineness.
Are you the real deal?
There's nothing like a good test, is there, to reveal who you really are.
And so God will sometimes test our faith.
Fourth, he will sometimes test your faith to affirm your loyalty.
We see that, I think, expressed in the life of Abraham.
Do you know the Bible says in Genesis 22, verse 1, the following is the story of Abraham and Isaac.
And it starts off this way.
Listen, don't miss this or don't underestimate it.
And then God tested Abraham.
And then God tested Abraham.
And he said, he called to Abraham and he said, here am I. And God said to Abraham, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.
So Abraham rose early in the morning and he went.
And he did.
He followed through.
You know the story.
We don't have time to talk about that whole story, but you know the story.
So he went.
He went to Moriah.
You remember his son's great line.
There's wood and there's fire and there's the altar, but where's the sacrifice?
And Abraham said, Jehovah Jireh, God will provide himself.
God will provide himself a sacrifice.
And God did, in fact.
And do you remember what God said at the end of that?
Now, Abraham, I know.
It began with, this is a test, and it ended with, Abraham, now I know.
You've proven your genuineness and your loyalty.
You've proven it.
And then fifth, sometimes God tests our faith to confirm our identity.
Sometimes God is just wanting to confirm your identity.
Are you who you say you are?
1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 12 through 13 says,
It says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.
In other words, he says this is normal.
But rejoice, listen to this, insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Do you know what he's talking about there?
He's talking about the testing of your faith will reveal your identity.
It will prove, it will demonstrate who you really are.
And so it's important for us to understand that my faith gives evidence to who I belong to, who I identify.
And then subsequently, it brings glory to God.
It is a test.
When I was growing up, some of you remember what I'm about to say during the Cold War era.
And by the way, they now tell us we're in a new Cold War.
But in the Cold War as we knew it, that really began at the end of World War II, really more into the early 1950s and really into the 70s, you remember the Cold War.
And occasionally on our televisions, there was nuclear warnings.
In the classrooms, some of you remember we had to get under our desk.
Anybody ever remember getting under your desk?
Just a footnote, ain't much your desk is going to do to prevent.
But at any rate, we practice those things.
And when I was growing up during the Cold War, occasionally our television programs would be interrupted with a message, you remember?
And the message would say, this is a test.
For the next 60 seconds, this station will conduct a test of the emergency broadcast system.
And then at the end of the message, it would conclude and say this, this has been a test and only a test.
If it were real, you would have been instructed on where to go.
Y'all remember that?
This is a test and only a test.
Can I tell you something this morning?
The fact is your faith is going to be tested.
But remember, it's only a test.
It's only a test designed for our good.
The second thing I want to talk about as it relates to our faith being tried and triumphed is the tenacity of our faith.
The tenacity of our faith.
Look at verse 28, if you will.
But she answered him, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
When your faith is tested, what happens?
What happens?
Is it ruined?
Does it run?
Or does it remain?
I think it would have been easy for the woman to say, oh, okay, well, I tried.
Don't you?
But her faith was tenacious.
And the second lesson for us is about this tenacious kind of faith.
This is a faith that is so confident in Jesus that it refuses to give up.
This woman, she refused to give up.
Her faith was strong and her faith was tenacious.
Why was it so tenacious?
It was tenacious because she believed that anything that Jesus did for her is better than anything the world could do for her.
Let me say that again.
She believed that anything Jesus could do for her was better than anything the world could do for her.
Do you believe that?
You see, that's what will give you a tenacious kind of faith.
I'm not giving up.
Because I know what the world can offer me, and I know what Jesus can offer me.
She believed that.
She refused to give up.
She was tenacious with her faith, but also she was tenacious because she believed that Jesus had power over the demons.
His reputation certainly had preceded him, and she understood he can do what nobody has been able to do with demons.
The fact is that you and I are in a spiritual war.
She was.
They were.
And we are.
This spiritual war.
And Jesus had already demonstrated time and time and time again that he had the power over darkness and over the demonic forces.
Even at the cross, he was beating them and they didn't even know it.
The resurrection would prove it.
The Bible even says that had the kingdom of darkness known what the outcome was being, they would have tried to stop the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
She believed that Jesus had power over the demons and the darkness.
Do you?
Do you believe that Jesus has power over the demons and the darkness that comes our way in this life?
A whole lot of things that you and I face in this world are really a part of a cosmic spiritual war that's going on.
We sometimes dismiss it and just say, oh, what a coincidence.
You understand God doesn't operate in the world of coincidence.
Do you understand that we can bring some crazy things into our own life, but do you also understand that there's an unseen war, there's an unseen realm in which this battle is being waged?
Right now, as we sit here, there's a battle being waged, and it's being waged for your heart and your mind and your soul.
That's why faith has the victory.
Because faith doesn't succumb to the darkness, it surrenders to the light.
She believed that Jesus had power over the deacons.
He does.
He does.
Don't you forget it, deacons.
He has power over the pastor, too.
Why is tenacious faith important?
It is because as the return of Christ gets closer and
The Bible says there will be a great falling away.
It's called the great apostasy.
There are going to be many who once claimed to be devoted followers of Christ that turn their backs on God, on the church, and on other believers.
I have to tell you something.
I believe we're already seeing that.
I believe the great falling away has begun.
I believe we're in the end of the age.
I don't know how long that means, but I'll tell you this.
Some people have thought through the years that the falling away that the Bible talks about in the last days will be very dramatic.
I think it will be very subtle.
You know, if the devil walked in here this morning in a red suit with a pitchfork and horns, most of you would pick up on that.
And most of you wouldn't be deceived by anything he had to say, no matter how good it might sound.
I don't believe the devil shows up like that.
The Bible says he masquerades as an angel of light.
Jesus talked about false prophets that appear in the church.
You know what he called them?
He called them sheep.
He called them wolves in sheep's clothing.
They look good on the outside.
They may even sound good.
And guess what they do?
They infiltrate the flock.
Do you know the most dangerous animal to a flock?
It's not a lion or a bear.
It was a wolf.
You know why the wolf is so dangerous to a flock?
Because a wolf will actually attack to eat.
But here's what happens when it attacks to eat.
Once it tastes blood, it doesn't attack just what it needs to survive.
It goes into a frenzy.
And it takes out everything it can, as much as it can, far more than it needs.
I think it's the reason that Jesus referred to those who misrepresent the truth or misrepresent the gospel, and many of them standing in our pulpits today.
Or they don't have the backbone to stand up.
Thus says the Word of God, this is wrong right here.
And they've become wolves in sheep's clothing.
And as the end of the age approaches,
I don't have the timetable, so I don't know what that means, but I believe we're already seeing the falling away.
Well, I don't need God.
I will also tell you this.
You know what the falling away also is a part of?
It's a part of God thinning the flock out before he returns.
It's about God sifting a little bit between the wheat and the tares.
It's important to
It's important as we face the potential of the end of the age that we live with a tenacious faith.
There in recent years has developed a move called theological deconstruction.
I don't know if you've heard that term.
And really what it is, it's related to the idea that some who have previously claimed to have a deep devotion to Jesus are now saying they are leaving that relationship behind and according to them they are deconstructing their faiths.
This has become popular, especially among some younger adult generations.
But I will say this to you.
Don't be fooled.
They even act like they've hit on something new.
I'm deconstructing.
I'm leaving the faith.
I'm leaving my faith.
I'm becoming unchristian.
All of these sorts of things.
Don't be fooled.
They act like this is something new.
And ironically, it's not new at all.
In fact, it's been around since the church began.
Paul talked about desertion, the desertion of Demas and Crescens in 2 Timothy.
He said, for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, and Crescens has gone to Galatia.
And John addressed it when he wrote his little first letter to the churches of Asia Minor.
It seemed that there were people leaving the faith or leaving the church, so to speak, and he didn't want the genuine believers to be confused by
So he wrote these words in chapter 2 and verse 19.
They went out from us, but they were not of us.
For had they been of us, they would have continued with us.
But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
This is not a new idea.
Well, I'm leaving the faith.
I'm becoming unchristian.
I'm deconstructing my faith.
And then Paul, as I said, characterized these last days this way in 2 Timothy.
He said, understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.
Avoid such people as these.
And Jude wrote in that one chapter, Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, that's what I wanted to write to you about, he said, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
I don't think I've ever personally...
in over four decades of ministry, ever witnessed as much desertion from the faith and God as we've seen in the last decade or so.
But listen, listen to me.
A faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the first.
This woman in our story today modeled an unflinching faith.
She was tenacious.
She was tenacious.
She was tenacious.
And by the way, these folks who are leaving or giving up the faith, friend, you can't give up something you never really had.
So those who say, I'm deconstructing my faith, they're not deconstructing.
They never constructed a faith.
They just went through the motions.
This woman shows us what a tenacious faith looks like.
And Jesus calls us to live a life of tenacious faith that refuses to give up no matter what comes.
So I ask you, do you have that kind of faith?
Or do you have a tottering faith?
A faith that has no anchor, can be blown about, as Paul said, by every wind of doctrine.
And in some cases today, frankly, just simply blown away by the world.
All right.
So our story teaches us that our faith is going to be tested, right?
It's going to be tested.
And that our faith must be tenacious, right?
But let me close with this, this one final thought, and that is the triumph of our faith.
Tried and triumphant is the name of the message.
Look at verse 30.
And she went home and found the child lying in the bed and the demon gone.
And Jesus said in verse 29, by the way, back up a little bit for this statement, you may go your way, the demon has left your daughter.
I want to tell you something important this morning.
Jesus does not want your faith to fail.
As I said, he's not playing a game with you.
He doesn't want your faith to fail.
He wants your faith to pass the test.
And listen, this woman displayed faith that honored God regardless of the outcome she received.
See, she was not guaranteed what she received, but she displayed this tenacious kind of faith, this belief.
She displayed it regardless of knowing what the outcome would be.
And sometimes your faith expressed in God is honored right here and right now in this world.
Sometimes God says, I'm going to do it.
I've had that happen.
I've had that happen almost instantaneously where God has just honored an expression of faith.
And then I've expressed faith before.
And the result, by the way, still hasn't come in terms of my expected outcome.
Sometimes God may honor it right here and right now in this world.
But friend, listen, sometimes it is going to be honored in the kingdom.
The key is not when it's honored or where it's honored.
The key is that it will be honored.
You remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, one of the great stories of the Scripture.
You remember that, and you remember their statement of faith.
It's such an encouragement to us when it comes to our own faith victory.
You remember what they said?
Well, you go back to the story in Daniel chapter 3.
You can do that again some other time.
But in that story, you know, the enemies of really Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had set up a trap.
They were trying to trap them.
They were jealous of them.
And so they said, oh, king, you are the god.
And the king believed that.
They convinced him that he deserved worship.
And so they said, let us erect this 90-foot-tall god of your image.
And at a certain time every day when the trumpet sounds, everybody's to fall down and worship the idol.
And so the king liked this idea.
And so they set it in motion.
The word got back to the king because they were trying to trap.
They knew Shadrach, Meshach, and Daniel, for that matter, would not bow the knee to the idol.
And so just as they figured, they had them.
They had set the trap.
And sure enough, they went and said, king, you know, everybody's fine with this.
And by the way, there's another message and a lesson in that about how we so often just say, well, you can't do anything about it.
Just bow down and go on.
And that's what their culture did.
It just bowed down and went on.
But these young men, they were men of faith.
And they refused.
And so their enemies came and said, King, they're not bowing down.
They're not bowing down.
And you know what the rule is.
If you don't bow down, you're to be executed.
And so the king said, bring them to me.
He liked them.
The king liked them.
But you know, you can't defy the king.
The king called them in and said, is it true?
Is it true?
And they said, this is a loose translation.
They said, we're not bowing to anybody but God.
And the king says, you know, I'm going to give you another chance to renounce that and everything will be all right and you maintain your position of authority in the kingdom.
And they said, no, king, you don't understand.
We're not bowing down to your idol.
There's only one person that we bow to and that's God Almighty.
And so the king says, well, you know what happens?
I'm going to throw you in a fire.
And the fire, they were still resistant.
And they said, we're not going to do it.
And so the king says, heat the fire up seven times higher than ever before.
And even the men who would throw them in the fire would die just from the heat coming off of the fire.
And so the king says, you want another chance?
And here's what they said.
Oh, king, be it known to you,
That our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.
And he will deliver us out of your hand.
And they were right about that one way or the other.
But if not, here's the operative phrase.
If not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you've set up.
You see it?
Their faith in God enabled God's deliverance.
One way or the other, they were going to be delivered.
Right?
Either in this world or to the next world.
But their faith not only enabled God's deliverance, their faith also made God's outcome, whatever that would be, acceptable by faith.
But even if he doesn't deliver us, you see that statement of faith?
Our faith is not going to be deterred.
even if he doesn't.
You know, once in a while, athletes celebrate prematurely.
I was looking through my files, and I came across a story that I'd clipped out a few years back, and it was about an athlete, a cyclist, Luka Pibernik from Slovenia.
And he sprinted to the finish line in this lengthy bike race,
He sprinted across the finish line, and when he did, he raised his arms in triumph.
Unfortunately, the race was not over, and there was another lap that remained.
He slowed down after a grueling three and a half hours racing.
He couldn't get to the tempo.
He was exhausted.
He thought he'd won.
He couldn't get the tempo picked back up, and he went from first place to number 148.
He celebrated just a little bit too early.
I'm all for celebration.
There's much for us to celebrate.
We celebrate the resurrection.
With the birth of Christ, we celebrate his love for us, his grace, his mercy.
All of those things we celebrate, but folks, we haven't crossed the finish line yet.
Let's celebrate the things we should and keep cycling until we get across the line.
Amen.
And we have the eternal celebration.
You see, if you're a genuine follower of Christ, the Bible says you are in this faith race.
And it will have an end, but it's not about coming in first.
It's about finishing.
So let us be careful not to celebrate that victory before we cross the finish line.
And when it comes to living by faith, we can cross that finish line if we don't give up.
If we don't quit.
And if that's the case, we win.
Friend, I want to tell you this morning, your faith's going to be tested.
Some of you are already experiencing that.
Right now, there's some of you and your faith is being tested.
It's being stretched.
I just want to tell you, don't give up.
Don't throw in the towel.
Be like this woman.
Your faith is going to be, be like Abraham.
Go read Hebrews chapter 11, the great hall of fame of faith.
Those men and women who walk by faith, live by faith because they did it.
We are so encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12 it says.
Those are people that ran the race.
And now they're in the stands and they're cheering for you.
Go.
You can do it.
We're with you to encourage you along the way.
Don't give up.
Don't stop.
Don't throw in the towel.
Your faith is going to be tested.
Your faith must be tenacious.
When it's challenged, Jesus challenged her faith, didn't he?
I don't have anything for you all, but I'll just take the crumbs.
Don't stop believing.
And don't say, okay, and turn and walk away.
Say, Jesus has nothing for me.
Your faith must be tenacious.
And then your faith can be triumphant.
If you stay in the race, you can have a triumphant faith.
Some of the faith expressions that you...
you give in this life may not be rewarded into the next life.
In fact, I would say to you, most of them will be rewarded in the next life more than you will see them rewarded in this life.
Because this is temporary, that's eternal.
And God is more concerned about your relationship eternally than temporally.
But I will tell you this, you can't have that eternal relationship
if you don't initiate it in this life.
And that's why, before we go this morning, to those of you who are watching, you watch on the screen, there'll be instructions on how you can establish a relationship with God, a personal relationship with Him.
By faith.
That means I put my trust in him.
I don't have to understand it all.
You don't have to understand all of the gospel to be the beneficiary of the gospel.
You just say, Lord, I want you to be my Savior.
I know I'm a sinner.
I know I need a Savior.
I give my life to you.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It didn't say whosoever shall practice the magic formula.
will be saved.
It just says, whosoever shall call upon the Lord.
What does that mean?
Lord Jesus, I need you.
Like a thief on the cross, I'm a sinner.
I need you, Lord.
I need you.
I want you to come into my life.
I promise you he will hear that prayer.
Some of you are here today.
Some of you are watching television and live stream.
And your faith is just teetering.
I don't know what you've been going through.
Maybe it's a health issue.
Maybe it's some decision.
Maybe somebody's let you down.
In this life, you're going to get let down.
But your faith is just rocking.
Can I tell you this morning, God loves you.
God hasn't given up on you.
Don't you give up on him.
And say to him this morning in your heart, Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief.
Father, would you hear us now in this moment of invitation?
Father, there are some perhaps watching by television or live stream.
There are others, Father, in this building.
Then their heart of hearts, they need to call on you.
Let this be that moment where they call out to you.
There are some whose faith is teetering, Father.
Let them turn their eyes to you.
Not be robbed by the enemy of their walk.
Father, would you cause us to hear your voice right now?
Father, would you silence all the other voices pulling at us, at our minds and our hearts, except for the voice of your Holy Spirit?
And let us then obey and follow.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast today.
I hope you've been encouraged by God's Word.
It sure has been a joy to share it with you.
And even now, people at Ridgecrest are making decisions for Christ.
Perhaps as you've watched this broadcast, you've recognized the need for your own decision for Christ.
The prompting of the Spirit has caused you to recognize that
You need Christ as your savior.
And the good news is you can receive him right where you are.
The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Right where you are, you can call on him.
Say something like this from your heart to him.
Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me.
I know I'm a sinner.
And I know that you came into this world and died on the cross for my sins.
And right now, I invite you to come into my life.
Forgive me and be my Savior.
I can assure you if you'll call on him, based on what God has already told us in the Bible, that he'll hear that prayer and he'll answer that.
And he wants to begin this new journey in your life with you, transforming you into his image.
We'd love to help you with that decision as well.
You'll see a QR code on your screen, and if you would scan that, or you'll see contact information, or if you'll contact us about your decision today, we'd love to help you take next steps.
There are no strings attached, no fees involved.
We'd just like to help you begin that journey with Christ.
You may be watching this broadcast today and say, I need a church family to belong to.
I already know Christ as my Savior, and I'd like to be a part of the Ridgecrest family.
Also, if you will, scan that QR code.
That'll take you to a location, and we'll be able to help you make those kinds of decisions like becoming a member here or if you've never been scripturally baptized, those kinds of things.
So contact us through that QR code or through the contact information on the screen.
Well, again, it's been a joy to have you with us today, and I hope you've been encouraged by God's Word.
Whatever decision we can help you with, by all means, contact us.
May the Lord bless you.