As Tom Bradley said 3 weeks ago, we tried it one place and didn’t make it but we didn’t give up and it got awful tough.  We’re now downtown again.  What’s true of this Church is true of your personal life and your personal ambitions and God’s calling on your life individually.  Don’t expect it to be a bed of roses.  But today, whatever your circumstance, you can take any one of the promises that you have claimed these last several years—provision; “I’m the Lord that healeth thee;” if you’re confused about your walk or what you’re doing, “The Lord is my shepherd; he leadeth me.” 

Our problem is that when we commit our way to God, if He doesn’t follow the path that we determine, we think He’s not leading.  This Faith business….  Trust God that when you claim one of those promises, be it “The Lord is my shepherd” or “God is my peace” at a time of anxiety, you hang onto it and you lift up your eyes today from the circumstances that have beaten you down.  “Lift them up now in the place that thou art.”  And the passage “Arise and walk” means ‘get your body moving’ and quit thinking about it, and start hanging your body in action that believes that God will do what He said, instead of beating yourself down with doubt and waiting for God to once again prove that He’ll do what He said, when His Book from cover to cover is that demonstration.  And that’s enough!

My message is quit moaning around.  Quit coasting.  Quit acting like somebody has offered this Faith walk as something easy.  We didn’t produce a championship horse team by going up and praying over the horses.  Too many Christians are worthless praying mantises.  It says “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave in the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  Let not that man think that he shall receive anything from God.”  Well, Faith’s just been defined, and is defined that way through all of God’s

Book as more than belief—it’s action!  I’m tired of people that pray and wait for God to reveal Himself and then they act.  Pray and then start acting—and let God catch you on a dead run and correct you like a missile that’s got off the target.  But hang your body on this testimony!

And this message….  To those that are out there that have been applauding “I get it on the TV all week long.  Oh how wonderful we’re downtown!  I’m coming down there one of these days”—get your asteroid down here!

Now, now I don’t preach—my 45 minutes is gone so don’t take more than you have to of it—I don’t preach these messages to entertain.  There are people sitting here that have taken steps of Faith, that have listened to a promise from God, and all of you’ve read the Scripture at times and something leaps out, as Karl Barth said.  He was reading a passage and it leaped out at him like a live animal and grabbed him and he knew that that promise in a moment of truth was a Word from God to him.  When you’re sure of that, when you’ve claimed the promise and you’ve started acting and you’ve stumbled around—and plenty of you’ve lost Faith. 

I have people that claim the promise of tithing—started tithing and then they quit for about 8 months.  Then they call up and say “I’m gonna pay all my back tithes.”  If I had Sarge’s pistol, I’d dent my TV!  I mean, you couldn’t do it a piece at a time and now you gonna pay it all back?  Be sure and lay a burden on yourself so heavy that anybody....  God will understand why you can’t do it.  Wherever you are in your Faith journey today, if you’ve messed up you’re in pretty good company—Abram.  If you’re downcast and you’ve just lost the best part of what you thought you should be able to retain, quit moaning.  This is a Church full of Faithers.