Promise Believers #6 - Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises — Bob Hoekstra

Children of Promise and the Trustworthiness of God

Lord, we thank you for making us your children, children of promise, only able to get in your family because you promised away and you keep your promises. Thank you for the promise of eternal life. Thank you for the promise of sins forgiven.

Thank you, Lord, for being our God. Thank you for being a God of promise. What hope it gives us! What peace! What expectation! What opportunities to grow in faith! And now we trust you, Lord. You're so trustworthy.

We trust you to teach us now by the work of your Holy Spirit. Unfold for us now your exceedingly great and precious promises. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. 2 Peter 1, verse 4. By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises.

God, by His glory and virtue, previous verse, has given to us already in our possession as a gift from God exceedingly great and precious promises. God has given us promises that are far beyond great.

They're exceedingly great. They're far beyond precious. They're priceless. They're measureless in their value. They're exceedingly precious. We'll return to that verse halfway through our study, really for the conclusion of all six of our studies.

Let's think for a few minutes about God's exceedingly great and precious promises for us. And then we'll return to look at His promises concerning His work in us. Both tied to His promises, both great.

Just one even greater than the other. God's promises concerning His working for us. Matthew 4, verse 19. Here's a great and precious promise. Matthew 4, verse 19. Then He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

There's the promise. I will make you fishers of men. How do we enter into that promise? Accept the Lord's invitation to follow Him. And as we're following Him, then expect Him to keep His promise. Rest in it.

Stand on it. Count on it. Think of the majesty of this promise. What it means for the spiritual potentiality of our life in Christ. If we will but follow Him. That is, if we'll just pursue after a person wanting to develop a relationship of trust in Him, He'll be at work remaking us into what He wants us to be.

Come follow Me, Jesus says. And here's His promise, if we will. I will remake you. Oh, how hard people work on themselves to try and make themselves what they want to be or think they ought to be. What a vain project.

What a frustrating goal. You ever been disappointed in your inability to make of yourself what you wish you could be? I sure have been many times. Here's a promise we can count on. Just follow after Jesus.

Just give our attention to Him. Forget remaking ourselves. Just follow Him. Give attention to Him. Get in His Word and learn of who He is, what He's done, and where He's going. Follow Him by faith. And as we follow after Him, He's working all the time on us.

You know, the options are so radically different. Would you rather have you remaking you or Jesus remaking you? You almost want to say, duh. I'm no genius, but I think I can get that one. I want the Lord Jesus Christ at work on me.

Working for me. Making me what He wants me to be. He not only knows what we should be, He's able to transform us into that more and more. What a great and precious promise. Exceedingly great and precious.

Christ’s Promise of Rest for the Weary

Here's another one. God working for us. Matthew 11. Matthew 11, verse 28. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. The invitation again is, Come to Me. Look who it's addressed to. Those who labor and are heavy laden. If we will but bring to the Lord Jesus Christ our exhaustion, our weariness, our load, that which weighs us down, that which we can hardly carry, if we'll just come to Him with it.

Here's His promise. I will give you rest. He just asks us to yoke up with Him. Not so we can help Him pull the load. He doesn't need our help. The yoke is so we'll just stay with Him. He'll pull the load.

He'll lift the load. He wants us to yoke up with Him. Just hitch up with Him so we can just be learning of Him. Learn of Him. Find out how gentle and humble He is. And oh, how we'll find rest in Him for our souls.

What a fantastic promise. Does anybody besides me ever get loaded down, worn out, and you just scream out inside for some absolute, real, heavenly, spiritual rest? Anybody else in that? A few of us. The rest of you are too tired to raise your arms.

What a promise. Who's it directed to? How easy to qualify for this. Anyone in humanity that's wiped out. Okay, Lord, I think I qualify. And oh my goodness, look at the heavy, heavy regulations to get into this rest.

Come to me. It's as easy as this. Lord Jesus, I'm loaded down. I'm worn out. Life is a crushing load. And I'm having a hard time carrying it. Here's His promise. All right, now that you've done that, I will give you rest.

What a promise. Just a few days ago, I had an encounter with this promise. I was actually praying about and in final preparation, after really one year of praying on this series of studies, and then weeks of kind of listening and refining, and the last few days of just praying about it and preparing my heart.

I don't know why I was shocked, but all of a sudden I was crushed under the load of it all. No surprise. I took the easy way out. I just came to Jesus and said, I'm wiped out. Lift the load. I'm worn out, heavy laden.

I'm standing on Your promise. I'm counting on it. And He doesn't have to do it like that. Sometimes He kind of, you ever notice, stretches it out. Stretches out His answer. He knows why. It's often so good for us.

But I mean it was less than an hour. I was just so buoyant inside. I was just almost, you know, just kind of floating. It's like, Lord, this is too good. This is too real. I'd have been happy if you'd answered this four weeks from now, you know, but 45 minutes?

Oh, Lord, thank You. What a precious promise. It's priceless. It's beyond great. It's exceedingly great and precious. God's wonderful working for us. Here's another one. John 8 .36. John 8 .36. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, Jesus said about Himself, related to us, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Freedom from Sin, Guilt, and Bondage

I mean, really free. What a great promise. If we and the things that bind us, that lock us up, tie us down, inhibit us, shut us in, if we look to Jesus to liberate us, He will really set us free. Really set us free.

Free from sin. Free from guilt. What great freedom that is, but there's more. Freedom from bad habits. Freedom from bad thoughts. Freedom from bad relationships. Whatever binds us, He's able to set us free.

Oh, it's an agonizing thing to be held in any kind of bondage of any degree, over any issue. Praise God for this promise. People look a lot of places to be liberated, set free. If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.

I mean, really free. Capital F-R-E. It's a great promise, isn't it? Especially when you consider that everyone is vulnerable to get bound up in all kinds of things. What a great promise. It's precious.

God’s Promise to Supply Every Need

God promising the workforce. Here's another one. Philippians 4 .19. Philippians 4 .19. And my God shall supply all your need, carefully portioning out just a little bit to each, so He doesn't run out of riches.

Sometimes we think that way, you know. Oh, Lord, if I could just have a little bit of what You've got. I don't want anyone else to suffer, Lord. You know, share it around. But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

What a great promise. God shall supply all of our needs. Praise the Lord He hasn't promised to supply all of our wants. Imagine the mess we'd be in if He had ever made a promise like that. Well, He's too wise for that.

He's too loving for that. Now we get confused sometimes on what's a need and what's a want. And sometimes we read that verse and we have some doubts. It's usually our want list that's suffering. There are even times when He will seem to delay the need supplied for a work He wants to do in the heart.

He's faithful though. He always comes through. We can count on this promise. My God shall supply all your need. I remember back early in our marriage, my dear wife and I were married in June of 1966. I can remember being in seminary, painting houses a bit, pastoring a church while we were both engaged in raising three kids.

And I'm telling you, it was not only chaotic, at times it seemed to us like walking on water on your hands, but sometimes it seemed like there just wasn't enough supply. Lord, these kids. Lord, the house.

I mean, Lord, our house payment was $98 a month. Can you imagine buying a house for that? I mean, this was 100 years ago. Boy, there were times when the cupboard was bare. That'll test the promise of God in your own faith when you look at your kids.

And they're energetic and they're like extended triplets, you know. They're not even a year and a half average between those births. And they're hungry and they're eating. And you look in the cupboard.

There were times when it was bare. Boy, you sure get a jolt to your faith though when the doorbell rings and you open the door and nobody's there, but there are five bags of groceries just sitting there.

Oh, Lord, I'm sorry I doubted You. He even works above and beyond our faith. But our God shall supply all of our needs. Maybe some of us are really being tested right here on this issue. Don't doubt Him.

He'll be faithful. Don't be shocked if His timing is not yours. But He will not lie. He cannot lie. He loves us. He created us. He died for us. He's faithful. He's able. He will keep this promise. It's exceedingly great and precious.

Eternal Promises in Revelation

The promise of God working for us. One more in this arena of God working for us. Look at the promises in Revelation 21. These verses in Revelation 21, 3 -7 are packed with promises. And they have eternal implications in them.

Brothers, sisters, this is where we are headed to the fulfillment of these promises exceedingly great, so precious. God working for us on what you might say is the threshold of eternity future. Look at these promises.

Revelation 21, 3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Is that a great set of promises?

Anybody just a little bit weary of tears and death and sorrow and pain? I wouldn't mind if it was all history today. Well, someday it will be. God will be our God. He will dwell right with us. He will wipe away every tear.

No more death, no sorrow, no crying, no pain. It's a promise. We can count on it. Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.

And He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes, that is, the one who believes in Jesus, counts on Him, shall inherit all things.

And I will be His God, and He shall be my Son. Our everlasting destination. Our entire eternal future is anchored in these absolute, certain promises of God. Verse 5, Write, for these words are true and faithful.

These words are absolute reality. In fact, the one who wrote them is even called the faithful and true witness. Praise the Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's faithful. He's true. The Father will fulfill this through Him.

What a great work of God is promised to us. Doesn't time sometimes seem like eternity? We get a little bit of that when the good times seem like they're coming to an end, you know. We want those to go on forever.

We get a real heavy dose of that when the bad times are there. Lord, this will never end. I think we're going to be startled when eternity future comes at how fast life was. But these realities shall last forever.

They're some of the exceedingly great and precious promises concerning God working for us. How about meanwhile? He'll not only be working for us, but notice back in 2 Peter 1, verse 4, some of the promises concerning His work in us.

Praise God for all of His promises, the things He's going to do for us. They are glorious promises. They shape and change time and space and our expectation of eternity. But oh, the mighty works of God are the things He does in people, changing them, making them new, making them more like Him.

Look at some of these promises. Back at 2 Peter 1, verse 4, By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these, through these great precious promises, you, every child of God, may be partakers of the divine nature.

That is, now that we're those having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, we've escaped all that corruption coming from the lust of sinful man. And instead now, through these great promises, we are partakers of the divine nature.

This is such an exceedingly great and precious promise, it almost short-circuits the mind in trying to grasp it, wrap around it, think about it, consider it. Partakers of the divine nature. Now, in no way do we become divine ourselves.

There are all kind of popular brands of that heresy, all the way from cults to just kind of charismania theology to just outright Shirley MacLaine New Age thinking, you know. I am God. No, you're not.

In fact, it would shatter you to know how far you are from being God. In no way is this saying, we become divine. It just says we become partakers of the divine nature. God promises and through His promises shares with us some of His very character and being and life.

You know, like a vine shares its life with a branch, though the branch remains a branch. Kind of fits, doesn't it? We'll look at that in a moment, actually. But first, Galatians 3. Galatians 3. Concerning becoming partakers of the divine nature through the promises of God.

Redemption from the Curse and the Promise of the Spirit

Galatians 3, 13 and 14. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Jesus hung there for us. And why did He do that?

That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The Lord has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now we instead get the blessing of the promises to Abraham.

All those promises are wrapped up in Christ Jesus. They include so basically this great promise. The promise of the Spirit through faith. All who believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are promised by the Father to receive the Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. Sharing with us the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know how many years I walked with the Lord before my eyes just popped open in the Scriptures like Colossians 3, 4.

Christ who is our life. We all know the Lord gives us eternal life. Sometimes we don't stop to reflect on the fact that the life He gives us is a share in His own. He shares His life with us. He's not saying, here I am, I'm God, I'm doing it right now.

See it? Do it. Watch it? Match it. What a heartache that would be. What a condemnation that would leave us in. Who but God can be God? Who but Christ can be fully Christ-like? We have the promise of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us. In fact, Romans 8, 2 says that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. This spiritual gravitational pull downward that's in our flesh that wants to drag us down into sin and defeat.

There's a higher law that sets us free. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This principle, the Holy Spirit, can take the life that is in Christ and make it our portion to draw on day by day by faith.

What an exceedingly great and precious promise. No longer is it me trying to match Jesus, but it's me humbly drawing on that life He offers. Oh, what a difference! It's seen so beautifully in the promises made in John 15 because they are the vine and branch promises.

Abiding in Christ as the Vine and Bearing Fruit

It's kind of a hard concept to grasp, isn't it? Especially if someone says, okay, now go do it. Now go do it. Do what? Live by the life of God. It's promised to you, now go do it. How do you do that? How do you hold your mouth?

How do you move about? What do you say or don't say? How do you do that? Praise the Lord for His giving us such a vivid, clear, simple illustration of it. Lord, what is this all about? Us being partakers of the divine nature through Your great promises and our faith in them.

Well, John 15 verse 5 puts it great. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If we will abide in the vine, we will bear much fruit.

Godly fruit, Christ-like fruit. Why? Because abiding in the vine, that life flows through us. We know how that works in a grapevine. You take a grapevine and its branches. How do the grapes appear upon the branches?

They are not caused by any inherent, innate life the branch has on its own. You know how easy that is to prove. Just snip. Okay? Brother branch, sister branch. Come on, bring forth some of those Christ-like looking grapes.

No, no, you're not trying hard enough. Come on. Come on, here. Look, here's what they look like, right here. We'll describe them for you so you can strain a little more purposefully. Doesn't work that way, does it?

The only way those grapes can appear on those branches is if the branch abides in the vine. The branch has no life of its own. We have no life independent of Jesus Christ. He is our life. He's the true vine.

Everything we yearn for, everything we need, everything we're commanded to be and become is already in His life. It's whole life, abundant life. Whenever we abide, since we are branches, the life that's in that vine flows through us and what comes out?

Grapes, characteristic of Him and His life, not us and our life. If we had to produce the fruit, you know what the fruit would look like? Us. Bad news. Bad news. No way to pass that off as love, joy, peace, goodness, meekness, gentleness, let alone self-control.

Who are we kidding? But there's a fruit that can come out of our lives and look exactly like that. It's based on this exceedingly great and precious promise that if we'll just abide in the vine, we'll bear much fruit.

What a blessing. You know, abiding is a very, very complicated thing. You've got to be willing to say things like, Lord Jesus, apart from You, I can't do anything. But I'm looking to You and I'm counting on Your promise and Your life and Your ability and You're my vine.

Oh, would You bring forth fruit in my life that is absolutely characteristic of You? That's real hard to do, isn't it? Well, if we don't want to humble ourselves, it's hard to do. Do you balk at this?

Apart from me, you can do nothing. Do you balk at that? This is the end of side 8. To listen to the rest of the message, please turn the tape over now. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Do you balk at that?

Just between you and the Lord, kind of take an honest check on that. I ask that because I used to. I didn't like this verse years ago. The Lord proved it to me often enough where I came to love it. I'm not saying I do it perfectly right all the time.

I don't abide all the time. It's my desire. Praise God, I find more abiding now than 5, 10, 15 years ago. But I always wanted to read this verse with this thinking. Oh, Jesus is so important in my life.

Apart from Him, I can hardly do half the things that I should be doing. Oh, Captain Humility. That's the way the flesh wants to read. Just find some place to keep my flesh off the cross. Sure, it's not perfect, but you know, no, nail it.

This is death to the flesh. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If we're just willing to agree with the Lord, embrace that, then shift all hope from self, the branch, to Jesus the vine and just hang in there.

Just abide right there. Just dwell right there. Stay right there. Here's the promise. You'll bear much fruit because you are there practically partaking of the divine nature. Just sharing in and living from and out of the very life of Christ flowing through us.

Is that an exceedingly great and precious promise? Fantastic. Here's another one, John 7. John 7. At verse 38, there is a wonderful promise. Jesus said, He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Rivers of Living Water Through Faith in Christ

That sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn't it? Couldn't this, in one statement, wrap up the victorious Christian life, abundant life, fruitful ministry, touching lives everywhere we go? Boy, if this is happening, hey, it's all covered.

What a promise. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart, out of his inner person, the depths of his being, his spirit, where the Spirit of God dwells, will flow rivers of living water.

But this he spoke concerning the Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit filling a person up so full that he just gushes out like a river of life. Wouldn't that be a good ministry? What's your ministry? Well, I just go around gushing out life on people.

Wouldn't that be great? What other ministry would we need? That would cover the whole gamut. But we have that promise. Look what it's tied into. Look what you have to do to qualify for this promise. Oh, this is tough.

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Do you ever get spiritually thirsty? You know, dry inside? Or yearning for more fullness? More vitality? We all get those thirsty places inside spiritually in our lives.

We're invited to come to Jesus with those thirsts and drink. How do you do that? Well, all of the Christian life is a life of faith. The just shall live by faith. In fact, the next words out of Jesus' mouth are about faith.

He says, thirsty, come to me and drink. How, Lord? He who believes in me. If we come to Jesus with our spiritually dry, needy, empty, lacking places and just believe that He's able to satisfy the need, quench the thirst, supply what's lacking, if we just stay in that mode, just keep bringing those thirsty areas to Jesus, the implication here is not only will He satisfy those needs, not only will He become to us a cool drink of everlasting life, but that drinking will accumulate within us.

We'll just keep coming with those thirsty places, believing Jesus can handle it, He can meet the need. Here's what eventuates. This is the ultimate end that we're heading toward. Out of His heart will flow rivers of living water.

The way to pour out life for others is let the Lord fill us up to overflowing with His life. He's promised to do it. What do you do with a promise anyway? Believe it, if God is the one who's made it. What an exceedingly great and precious promise that is.

God’s Faithfulness to Complete His Work in Believers

Here's one more. Philippians chapter 1, remember this one? If you haven't dealt with God in this one before, you'll love to hear it. If you've been in the Word, this might be one of your favorite promises.

Philippians 1 .6, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Who began the good work of salvation in our lives? We didn't.

Other human beings didn't. The enemy certainly didn't. The Lord God Almighty did. He began to woo us and call us and convict us and share the truth with us and began to work on us and then He worked in us a new heart as we called upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

We were born again, babes in Christ. Well, this one who began a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He is well able to finish what he starts. Now, yes, many places in Scripture it's clear.

We can doubt this. We can resist this. We can go our own way. We can try to take over the job and complete it ourselves. But at any time we're willing to just count on what the Lord has said here, He'll be fulfilling this promise.

Do we want to grow more? Do we desire to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ tomorrow than today, today than yesterday? Here's what we're to count on. He who began a good work in us will complete it right up until the day Jesus Christ comes.

We'll just depend on Him, count on Him, expect Him to do this, be available, open, Lord, do what you want to do to fulfill this work. If that's our attitude every day, then every day this good work of God can be carried on by God right up until the Lord Jesus Christ comes to receive us unto Himself.

Oh, these are exceedingly great and precious promises. Some of them in the Word of God are about God working for us and praise God for that. Changing us to what He wants us to become. Giving us rest when we're weary and heavy laden.

Setting us free when we're bound up and locked in. Supplying all of our needs and giving us promises of a new heaven and new earth with Him forever. Where we will drink from the waters of life freely without cost, without measure, without end, abundant life for eternity.

What great things He's going to do for us and is doing now. Along the way, He wants to do wonderful things in us. Not just for us, but inside us. Changing us, making us partakers of the divine nature.

Having His Spirit dwelling in us, sharing the very life of Christ. Making this vine and branch picture the absolute reality behind our daily experience. And then working in such a way by His Spirit satisfying, filling the dry and lacking places that inside there's just a wellspring of eternal life that begins to pour out and touch others.

All the Promises of God Are Yes and Amen in Christ

Included in all of this, our God completing the work He began in us. He who began a good work in you will complete it. Two verses to have a reflective conclusion to our study. 2 Corinthians 1 .20. Let's just reflect a little bit together.

Think together looking back on these promises God has let us rehearse for just a few minutes. 2 Corinthians 1 .20. What do we say about all these promises? In what arenas do we find more and more assurance that these will be fulfilled toward us and in us?

2 Corinthians 1 .20. For all the promises of God in Him that is in Jesus are yes. And in Him, amen. To the glory of God through us. Verse 19 talks about the preaching of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The promises of God are anchored in Jesus Christ. We now exist and live in Jesus Christ. And in Him all of these promises are yes and amen. For those who are in Christ, if someone says, what's the answer to all these promises of God?

Will He do them? And the answer in Christ is yes. If someone says, is it a certain deal? Amen. Absolutely. No doubt about it. For those who are in Christ, all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him.

We live in the spiritual land where the promises are fulfilled. You know, Israel had a promised land. It was a piece of geography. You could stake out and touch and walk across it. Praise God for that.

Blessing to them and great instructive picture to us. We have a better promised land. It's living right now in the spiritual realm of the promises of God. That's the land flowing with milk and honey now.

That's fullness of life now. That's our promised land. Where is that found? All of the domain that's in Christ is our promised land. And in that land, every promise of God is yes and amen. Not perhaps or probably, but yes and amen.

Unbelief Prevents Entering God’s Rest

What does God have to do to give us opportunity to believe, oh, He has done it. What do you do with the promises of God? Basically two things. Either believe them or disbelieve them. Either count on them or count on something else.

Either stake your whole existence upon them or you'll have to find some other way to function and live and grow and serve. It's an all or nothing kind of a deal. Our last verse is Hebrews 3 .19. Hebrews 3 .19.

Talking about the children of Israel who had great promises from God to go into the land and find a rest in the provision and victory of the Lord. Oh, but for so many, here was the story. Hebrews 3 .19.

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Again, Romans 1 .17. The just shall live by grunting, groaning, straining, striving, wishing, trying, pushing, shoving, analyzing, figuring.

How do we live? The just shall live by faith. What are we to do with these exceedingly great and precious promises? Believe in them. Count on them. Depend on them. Put our trust in them. Because the one behind the promises cannot lie, is able to do them all and is absolutely faithful.

We can rely upon Him. He's not asking us to create a life of victory, fullness and Christ-likeness. He's asking us to trust Him to do what He's promised to do. It's the grace of God, isn't it? In a whole new direction.

Becoming Promised Believers

In just a moment we're going to bow our hearts and pray together. Let's tell the Lord in our prayer to Him now that we desire to be promised believers. Not those who are going to build a victorious, fruitful life by our promises to God and then wonder if we can keep them or maybe try to help each other keep them or promise that we will keep them.

How about if we just live believing this? He is able and faithful to keep every promise He's ever made to us and the promises He has made bring life abundant and full through time and unlimited throughout eternity.

I guess you could say these are exceedingly great and precious promises. Let's pray together. Lord God Almighty, oh, You're so wonderful. You make it increasingly easy to believe. Just seeing who You are, faithful, able, a God who cannot lie, a God of promises.

You love to commit and pledge Yourself to Your people. Lord, what can we say? Oh, we do not want to fail to enter in because of unbelief. Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. Lord, we do not want to stagger around in doubt and self-dependence.

We just say before You humbly now, Lord, we desire to be promised believers, those who stake their entire time and space experience and their future in eternity on the exceedingly great and precious promises of God.

Thank You for being so rich toward us, so generous, so abundant. Thank You for being willing to make promises to such as we are. Lord, it humbles us. It blesses us. And thank You, Lord, that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Thank You tonight for building our faith by speaking Your promises to us. Fulfill them, Lord, in and through our lives. And may the glory be Yours and the blessing touch many, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.