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Body: Cane Creek Friends Meeting 1/18/26. God’s promises do not fail. His faithfulness is forever more. Delays are not denials. Keep on trusting and believing in Him. STANDING ON THE PROMISES Russell Kelso Carter (1849-1928) was a star athlete of a military academy and a top student. It was at the age of fifteen during a prayer meeting at the Pennsylvania Military Academy that he committed his life to the Lord. He became an instructor at the academy in 1869 and an athletics coach. Later, Carter allied himself with the Methodists and the holiness movement, becoming an ordained Methodist minister. His history, both personal and theological, passed through some deep and disturbing waters as he searched for balance in his belief. However, it wasn’t until Carter faced his mortality that he came to understand exactly what it meant to rest on God’s promises. Diagnosed with a critical heart condition by age 30, Carter was facing imminent death. From that moment on the Scripture took on new life for Carter and he began to lean on the promises that he found in the Bible. Eventually, God rewarded his uncompromising belief and faith by healing him. Over the next several months, his strength returned, and his heart was completely healed. Carter lived, with a healthy heart, for another 49 years. In 1886 he composed the favorite hymn "Standing On The Promises" The hymn he wrote became more than words and music to him. Standing on the Promises became an integral part of his life. When we know God’s promise to us, we will never be afraid of what will happen in our life. Trusting Him is more effective than trusting ourselves. Sometimes, He puts us in a situation where we will have to decide to step out of our comfort zone and take the risk with Him. Although Carter was a professed Christian most of his life, it wasn’t until a crisis with his natural heart that he began to understand the reality and power of Bible promises. He began to stand upon the promises of healing, determined to believe no matter what his physical condition, no matter how he felt. According to Bible research, there are about 7,487 promises from God to mankind in the Bible. Which of these promises have you held on to? **Hebrews 10:23**: Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. And **Galatians 3:29**: Since you are in Christ, I have made you an heir of all My promises. God has given us His great and precious promises to give us hope, joy, peace, wisdom and strength for whatever we are facing in our day. It is heartbreaking to know that so many Christians out there are DESPERATE for certain breakthroughs, miracles and special favors in their lives, but they honestly just don’t know. Many Christians today are frantic about God's intervention in their circumstances. They don’t know what God has promised them. They don’t know where to find a promise in the Bible. They feel doubtful if some promises are even for THEM. Jesus boldly made a promise to His disciples that they will have whatever they prayed about in His name if only they will believe it in their hearts. They can have whatever they ask but the only condition is the matter of belief. The Hebrew word 'emunah' is understood in English to mean “faith” or “belief”. It describes much more than just believing a statement about God. It reveals a life of full reliance upon Him. The word belief in Greek is pistis, which means confidence or trust. That means it takes total belief, faith, confidence and trust in God to activate and access the promises of God to us from His Holy Scriptures. Russel Carter was only able to attract the promise of God's healing power when he became unwavering to the promises of healing he found in the Bible and started demonstrating constant belief, faith, confidence and trust in God for healing no matter what. Are you believing and trusting Jesus for physical, financial, or business breakthroughs? Are you believing Him to defy the doctor's report and receive healing? Do you have the faith to keep trusting Him for that miracle or favor, even though the situation looks so impossible in the human sense? God can turn your life around and give you a better end as you continue to rest your faith and confidence in Him. There is nothing God cannot do! God is Limitless! There are no impossibilities with Him when He sets forth His power to work. Jesus specifically tells the disciples they will receive anything they ask—but only if they have faith. This means to trust in God and in His power. It also means an alignment with the will of God—it does not mean using the Creator as a vending machine. You cannot persuade God into doing your selfish interest. You cannot invoke God into doing your bidding. Part of asking "in faith" is trusting God to do what is most fitting with His purpose for us. We can always be confident of God's power as well as His goodness to do what is best. The promise and the condition both need to be understood. Does this mean that God will give me whatever I ask for because I asked in faith and in Jesus' name? Is that what Jesus means here...or is there more to the story? Well, there is more to the story. Let’s take a closer look at motives as we explore the scriptural idea from James. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. – **James 4:3** The problem is not really in the asking. The problem is in the reason why you are asking. God, in his great wisdom and love, chooses not to answer prayers that are pursued with wrong motives. Can you imagine how we would be if God answered our prayers that were coming from our selfish motives? We would all be a mess. What God is reminding us through James is that while, yes, asking matters and faith matters—motives matter even more. James identifies some of these wrong motives, but the ultimate desire that drives all the others is the burning desire to get something you do not have. This is known as coveting. To covet is to be jealous of something that someone else has, or to possess a strong eagerness to get something that does not belong to you. Someone younger than you is riding fancy cars and swimming in money hence your reason for asking God to become rich or a financial breakthrough. Everything works with time for the child of God. Carter purposed in his heart that even if God doesn't heal his heart condition, his faith and reverence for God will never change. God is supreme. He is limitless but not obliged to answer our prayer request. He does not answer our requests according to our timetable. He does so by His timing and will. Those who mock you for a failed marriage, business or ministry have only seen the first chapter of your story. Keep praying and trusting because God is bigger than what people say or think. God's time is the best. There is no time better than God's when we continue to pray and search until we find it. If you are yet to find it, don't stop searching until you do. **Matthew 7:7-8**, NIV: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. In this verse, Jesus doubles down on the promise. Everyone who asks of God receives an answer. Everyone who seeks Him finds Him. The door is opened to everyone who knocks. Receiving our greater expectations from God starts with believing He is able, making the request, and being convinced that He is capable of granting your request, when you ask in faith and by His will for you. Charles Spurgeon quoted, “When your will is God's will, you will have your will.” This is in line with Scripture: **Romans 8:26-27**, NIV: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people by the will of God. God has given His children promises to live by, promises on which to stand. Believers are called to believe these promises, receive the promises and then stand firmly on them. The heroes of faith stood on God’s promise knowing that He would stand by His promise. God’s promises are the believers’ inheritance today and are appropriated through faith, and God’s character stands behind the promise, and behind the promise stands an omnipotent God. The One who promised is faithful. None of His promises have failed or will fail. God said He would remove sins, heal diseases, save loved ones and provide for the believer’s needs. Believers must believe God and stand on His promises. God’s entire communication with us can be put into two words: “I Promise.” We don’t have to worry if He will make good on what He has promised because He never over-promises and He never under-delivers. When His Son died, he guaranteed that those who are adopted into His family through faith will inherit all that He has promised. In a world of broken promises, God can be counted on. In what ways do you need to stand on the promises of God? What problems are you facing right now? Are you discouraged? Afraid? Lonely? Overwhelmed? Lost? Anxious? Confused? Are you ready to stand on His promises? I want to end this sermon the way that Max Lucado ends his book about the promises of God with these words: “Build your life on the promises of God. Since his promises are unbreakable, your hope will be unshakable. The winds will still blow. The rain will still fall. But in the end, you will be standing – standing on the promises of God.” Unshakable Hope, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2018 This year is your year of greater expectations! May God work wonders as you continue to abide in prayer and faith in Him to act on His promises concerning your life and your situation. Amen. Let’s begin with a definition. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says a promise is: “A declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified…that gives the person to whom it is made a right to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act.” In the Old Testament the word promise refers to “speaking,” “speech,” or “to say.” Here’s the deal: When God says something that settles it. James MacDonald, in his book, “Always True “says: “A promise is the assurance that God gives to His people so they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work.” George Parsons from Middletown Bible Church weighs in on the difference between a command and a promise: “A command from God is something **we** should do; a promise from God is something God will do. A command must be obeyed; a promise must be believed. When God gives a command He says, “YOU WILL”; when God gives a promise He says, “I WILL.” Adoniram Judson, the great missionary to Burma, once said: “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” D.L. Moody has added: “God never made a promise that was too good to be true.” And here’s a statement worth pondering: “God never over-promises and He never under-delivers.” One day a young mother was feeling rather down and hopeless when she heard the phone ring. The young mother picked up the phone and said, “Hello.” A woman’s voice immediately said, “Honey, it’s mom. I called because I know that you’re overwhelmed with the three children, and I want to give you some help. I’m going to stop by to clean the house, take care of the baby, and prepare dinner for when the boys get home from school. I want you to get ready to go to my beautician, I paid her already, and she is going to give you ‘the works,’ your appointment is at 1:00. Give George a call at the office and tell him that you will meet him at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, my treat...” The young mother suddenly interrupted and asked, “George, who is George?” “George is your husband, of course,” said the caller. “My husband’s name is John,” the young mother replied. The caller asked, “Is this 555-3212?” “No,” replied the young mother, “This is 555-2212!” “I’m sorry,” said the caller, “I have called the wrong number.” After a pause the young mother asked, “Does this mean you’re not coming over to help me?”
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