In this sermon, Pastor Steve Mays discusses the importance of relying on the promises of God during times of disaster and uncertainty. He emphasizes the need to memorize and meditate on the word of God in order to transform our minds and draw closer to Him. Using the example of a man named Jack who finds himself hanging on the side of a cliff, Pastor Mays illustrates the power of trusting in God's promises. He concludes by highlighting the exceeding great and precious promises given to us through the knowledge of God.

It's the 2012 Summer of Sermons with Steve Mays. If all of a sudden things are falling apart, this is what I want you to remember. God is with you. Now, do you believe that? Today, on Light of the Word, Pastor Steve Mays shares encouragement from God's Word for the difficult moments in life. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you by my right hand. Whatever happens, you have to know that when everything falls apart, He is right there. He'll never leave you. Light of the Word. Light of the Word. Hope shines in darkness, so follow the Light of the Word. On September 11, 2001, America was completely blindsided by terrorist attacks. Likewise, when hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes strike, we're often surprised and usually confused about what to do next. But if there's one thing that life has taught us, it's if we're not currently in a tragedy, we're either coming out of one, or we're about to be broadsided by another. So, Pastor Steve Mays, in a series called How to Survive, shares seven promises today that'll better prepare you and help you through the disasters that come your way. Here, let's listen. So, we open our Bibles to 2 Peter, Chapter 1. 2 Peter, Chapter 1. And we want to draw your attention to verses 3 and 4 this morning. Great opportunity to look at. We're going to look at survival. We've been looking at this. Kind of an interesting topic. We live in an earthquake area, and you never know when it's going to hit. And we have watched places like Ralph's go empty within six hours. And so, I think there's a certain stewardship that you have to have. And you have to ask the tough questions. If something happens, I can't get to my car, what am I going to do? I think that you have to prepare. Gail and I have, and we've done a little bit, and we want to make sure that we have a little bit extra to help the neighbors across the way. I want to be a blessing. I don't want to have to go to my neighbors and rip off their food. And so, when I look at this, I begin to think, well, if you're on insulin, do you have that? Or if you're on certain pills that you have to have, do you have that set aside? Those are things you have to have. And if you have a new baby, you're going to have to have formula. So, it's not a bad thing to have that put together. But after you've done that, then what? And I think the second thing is where I come in. I think that here is where I can tell you, how are you going to act? What are you going to do? And if you have God and know God and are in God's word, you are going to be fine. You're going to see the situation. You're going to take opportunities to minister. You're going to take care of your family and then go across the street and help somebody else. But what could happen is that we could lose the church. We could lose our homes. What are you going to do? Are you going to cry or are you going to ask God to give you strength? You're going to pull the kids together, calm them down. You're going to look at the situation, take care of things and believe that God is going to take care of the one who is away from you. In other words, are you going to live by faith? And that's the real burden of my heart. So I want to continue in this series of survival. And we're going to look at this morning the promises of God. I was going to teach it last week. And I was going to teach devotions today. But then I began to think about it. How can you have the promises of God if you're not in the word of God? So I taught devotions last week. And some people just looked at me like, how can you teach devotions when all this is going on? Well, the answer is if I'm in God's word daily, then when things happen, I'm going to be able to make good decisions in my life. Being in God's word, now I'm going to be able to start writing the promises down that God gives to me. And so Peter goes on. And remember, Peter was a very tough man. No doubt, he was a fisherman, kind of like a longshoreman. And he had a problem with his mouth. You remember, Peter said, cursed be the man, I don't know him. And so Peter had a little problem with cussing. And here we find that he was tough. After the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we begin to find that Peter uses the word precious. Oh, the precious blood and the precious stone. And we are his precious people. And now we have precious promises. You think, well, Peter, did you go too far? This longshoreman now talking about everything precious. And so he says in 2 Peter 1, verses 3 and 4. Now look at verse 3. So if I'm going to try to live a godly life, or if I'm trying to live my life to the fullest, it's going to be by the divine power of God. That supernatural power. I think that's why when you look at the Bible, so many things are barren. Because God wants me to know that any great work will have to be a supernatural work. So we can get older in ministry and think, how am I going to finish it? Because the church is getting bigger. It's going to be a supernatural work for Gil and I. As we get older, how are we going to maintain or keep up with it? It's going to be a supernatural work. We cannot do this in the flesh. So God will give us the strength. If he took his hand off of us, we'd probably just shrivel up and die. But with his strength and his power, somehow we get through everything. And then he goes on to say, That scripture is just filled, it's almost like a pregnant verse, through the knowledge. So according to his divine power, through the knowledge of him. So God's power is going to come through the knowledge of God. So the Holy Spirit uses my Bible to convict me. If I want God to work in my heart, I need to be in God's Word. If I take God out of my life, or the Word of God out of my heart, the Holy Spirit cannot really work in my heart. He uses the instrument, which is the Word of God. Then in verse 4, Now how? Through the knowledge, in verse 3, because of God's knowledge, I now begin to take the promises of God. And they are exceeding great and precious promises. Now check this out. That by these, in other words, by these promises, ye might be partakers of the divine nature. Now go back to verse 3. According to his divine power. Verse 4, he says here, the divine nature. There's two different things. One is the power, or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The second is the nature and the heart of God. His attributes. So how do I come to know the peace of God, and the attributes of God, and God not sweating things? The Bible says that he laughs at the nations of the earth. They are like a drop in the bucket. We're all panicked about Iran and Russia. He's not. The Bible says at the very end, he's going to roll up the heavens and the earth as a scroll. And he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. And so God is not worried about a thing. The Bible says he puts up kings and brings down kings. He establishes all things. He says he'll make confusion go out throughout the world, and cause things to go backwards in their sayings. God can do anything he wants. And yet all things are possible by God. Here we have a great verse. According to his divine power, through the knowledge of God's word, I will receive exceeding great and precious promises. By these I will become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped, here it is, the corruption that is in the world through lust. How do I get rid of corruption in a corporate world? How do I get rid of lust in our life? There's only one way. You have to have the divine nature. How do you get that? There's only one way. To be in God's word. How do you have that? There's only one way to have the divine power. It's God's will to baptize you. It's God's will to reveal Jesus Christ. It's God's will to make promises to you. And it's God's will to make you part of who God is. That's incredible when you think about that. And so one scripture that has held on to me forever is that one verse saying that I'm going to go away and I'm going to come back. If it was not so, I would have told you. That one verse gives me goosebumps even to this day. But that one verse, I have never told anybody, but it's kind of like the foundation of my life. Jesus, you would not lie. And what he's saying is, listen, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe in me. I'm going to prepare a place for you. If it was not so, I would have told you. In other words, I'm not going to lie to you. If it was not the truth, I would not tell you. But because I'm telling you, it's absolute truth. In Numbers, in chapter 23, verse 19, we see what it means to really trust. God is not a man that he should lie. So the Bible declares that men are liars. All men are liars, but God is not. Neither the Son of Man that he should repent. Has he said, and shall he not do it? Or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good? So when God makes a promise, he's going to keep it. In fact, you hold in your hand a book that has 32,000 promises just for you. In fact, when it comes to fear not, there are 365 fear nots. One for every day of the week. In other words, God does not want you to fear, and God wants you to hang on to the promises of God. So one of the things that Gail and I do, when we study, we take notes, and we journal. And the reason why is God gives a promise, we share with each other. Gail has been much more faithful than I have. But she hands me promises what God's doing in my life. When she senses that things are overwhelming, I'm not really sure what to do, she'll hand me a verse. And it'll be just a powerful verse that talks about God will give you wisdom, and God will give you strength. And boy, I hang on to that with all my heart. And that's what I want to talk to you about. Very powerful. In other words, what am I going to hang on to when there's nothing to hang on to? And that is the promises of God. We used to do something a long time ago, take little notes, 3x5 notes. I still do once in a while. But I'll jot a scripture down, put it on my dash, and begin to remember it. And I think a lot of times when I'm teaching or preaching, those scriptures will come back with tremendous impact. I'll see them in that 3x5 card and remember what it is. And we had to remember the scriptures. We had to memorize them. And when you start to memorize the Word of God, now you're beginning to transform your mind into the things of God. The problem is we are memorizing everything else but the Word of God. And so, kind of interesting, I read a story the other day, Jack was out jogging one day. He was now jogging by a cliff, and all of a sudden he lost his balance and fell over. And as he's falling over, he's reaching and grabbing, and by the grace of God, he was able to grab a hold of a bush. And now he's hanging on the side of this cliff, hanging on to this bush. And all of a sudden, Jack began to pray and cry out, Is anybody up there? Hello? Hello? Is anyone up there? And he's scared out of his mind. Can you hear me? My name's Jack. I'm stuck on the side of this cliff. Can you help me? And to his surprise, he heard, Yes. Yes. I can hear you. Are you alright? No. I'm on the side of the cliff. What do you think? Who are you? I am Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord didn't mean to offend you, but I'm kind of stuck here. Can you help me? Okay, Jack. This is what we're going to do. I'm going to count to three, and when I count to three, I want you to do something. Now, Jack, can you trust me? Oh, I trust you, Lord, with everything in my heart. Okay. So, we're going to count to three, and on three, you're going to let go. What? You've got to be kidding. That's your plan, God? He pondered it a long time, and finally he said, Is there anybody else up there I can talk to? Well, I tell you, that's exactly where we are. Is there anybody else? I don't like to go down this road. I don't like the answer. In other words, I don't want to have to repent. I don't want to have to tell my kids I'm sorry. Is there any other way for me to go? No. You've got to go this way. It reminds me of a cute little story. A little boy was told by his mother, You need to wash your hands because you've been playing in the dirt. There are germs that live in the dirt. The little boy got upset with mom. Germs, Jesus. Germs, Jesus. That's all I ever hear around this house. I have never seen any of them. Germs and Jesus. Well, you know, there are some times you can't see them, but you've got to trust God. Well, you know, it's interesting. I want to give you some things to think about. It says in Isaiah, chapter 41, verse 10, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my right hand. Is that cool? I will strengthen you. I will help you. And I will uphold you. In other words, no one else is really making that commitment to us. And Isaiah 41, verse 13, For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand. Fear not, I'm going to help you. Sometimes our husbands don't want to hold our hands. Sometimes the kids think, Mom, I'm too big. Don't hold my hand. But God will hold your hand and God will help you. In a very powerful way. And Isaiah 41, verse 14, Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord. So over and over again, God is saying, I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will hold you. And I'll hold your hand. And Isaiah 43, verse 1, Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. I have redeemed you and I have called you by your name. I have made you. I have bought you. I have created you. I have given you everything. And by the way, I am also calling you by name. And Isaiah 43, verse 5, Fear not, I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee. I'll bring the kids back. I'll bring things back. And then in Isaiah 44, verse 2, Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb which will help you. Fear not, O Jacob my servant. I have chosen you. So not only have I made you and called you, but I've chosen you. Now check this one out. Isaiah 44, verse 8, Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from the time and have not I declared it? Ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Yea, there's no God I know of that's like me. In other words, that's the whole message right now. I'm going to share with you that you have a God like no other God there is in this world. Your house is not going to hold up. People are not going to hold up. Businesses are not going to hold up. There's one person that's going to hold up and that's Jesus Christ. He will hold you. He will help you. And He'll get you through anything in your life. Well, let me give you seven things to think about. Simple things to jot down that if all of a sudden things are falling apart, this is what I want you to remember. Number one, remember His promise, God is with us. That's it. God is with us. Now, do you believe that? It says in Isaiah 41 verse 10, Fear thou not, I am with thee. Oh Lord, you don't really mean that. I'm with you. No, you couldn't. Look at my sin. I'm with you. You can't be here because of what I've done. I'm with you. See, we don't believe that. It goes on to say, Don't be dismayed. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you by my right hand. In other words, Stephen, I am with you. When you feel that no one else is behind you, I'm with you. When you feel like people have turned against you, I am with you. And by the way, when you sin, I'm with you. If you choose to go out and get drunk, God is with you. You cannot say to God, God, I'm going to have some Jack Daniels, so would you just sit over here and let me get drunk. And then after you get sober, come back, oh, He goes, get back inside of me. No, you take Him with you. You do despise through the grace of God. It's like saying, I'm going to watch some pornography, so you sit here, let me see it, and come back in my heart. Or better yet, I'm going to commit adultery, so I don't want to take you in the sheets with this other woman, but tell you what, you stay here, I'm going to go. And God says, no, I'm with you, in the sheets with you. I mean, like, what? Well, that's how it has to happen. You have two options in your life. One is you want God not in your life. So this is what you want. You want no God. You want to be left alone. When you get hurt, you don't want God seeing it. You don't want God knowing what you're doing, and you want to be left alone. And God will say, fine, I'll get out of here. Or second, He knows everything you do, no matter when you do it, or how you do it, and He doesn't like it, but that's a better choice than the other one. So I would say, God, I want you to be part of my life, and when I fall in sin, I want you to convict me, but I do not want you to pull your Holy Spirit away from me. So you have two options, which way you want to go. I am with you. God, I'll take that. So when I'm like Jonah, you're going to make a well and bring me back. When I'm like, you know, a disobedient Peter, you're going to go after me and bring me back. I'll take that way anytime. So I don't feel like, God, you're all over my life. I want God all over my life in a very powerful way that in Matthew 28, verse 20, He says, I'm with you always, even to the end of the earth. In other words, I'm not going to stay with you. You might get a divorce. God will stay with you all the way through. He won't like it, the things we do, but He'll stay with you. In other words, you have a friend that sticks closer than a brother. You have a God that will never leave you. And then in Hebrews, the classic verse in Hebrews 13, verse 5, Let your conversation or your manner of life be without coveting and be content with such things that you have. And here it is. I will never leave you nor forsake you. See, I'm never going to leave you. No matter how bad your Bible study is or what you've done in your marriage or what you do at home or how you hurt people, I am with you to the very end of your life. And that has held me together these 40 years in ministry. I'm going to be with you. Now, yes, I've made lots of mistakes, but God has never condemned me. I've condemned myself, and God has disciplined me, but God knew what He was getting when He got it. And He said, I'll take you and I'll make you and I'll help you. And God, I'm not what you want me to be, I know. And there's going to be consequences, but I'm not going to leave you. We check out on people. We say we're with them, but we don't give them our heart. So we're going to be kind of here and there. God gives you His heart, God gives you His will, and God will never do that to you. So no matter what you've done or what you do or whatever happens, you have to know that when everything falls apart, you have a God that in the midst of rubbish, He is right there. You can see Him. You can feel Him. He'll never leave you. Number one point, God is with you. Number two, not only that, but He says here, remember His promise. God is above us. And here it says in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 11, The heaven and the earth is Thine, and Thy kingdom, O Lord, Thou art exalted as the head above all. What does that tell you? Very simply, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It goes on to declare, Riches and honor come from Him. So if you're rich and you have honor, it's come from God. If He's made you famous, it's come from God. If He's made you wealthy, it's come from God. And Thou reignest over all. In other words, no matter where you are as a foreman, a president, or in business, or a preacher, whatever it might be, God has done that and He's over your life. And by the way, doesn't the Bible say that every knee is going to bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And so He holds the keys to heaven and hell. That's why it says in Psalm 139, If I make my bed in heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, Thou art there. I can never get away from the presence of God. He's everywhere. And when I begin to understand that, He has the authority over my life. In 2 Chronicles 20, verse 6, Art Thou not God in heaven? Rule not Thou over all the kingdoms? The Bible says He puts up one, brings down another. So God is able to do what He wants. Is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand Thee? You can do whatever you want, God. You can put this guy in charge of this guy. You can move this guy out. You can put that guy. And that's what Nehemiah meant when he began to say, God, You hold the king's heart. So God, would You speak to the king and change his heart and let me go? In other words, Nehemiah knew how to pray. He knew that God could change the heart. No one else could. And then I read in Ephesians 1.20, He says, He has set Him on His right hand in heavenly places. Far above principalities, power, might, dominion, every name that's named is going to submit to Jesus Christ. So check it out. I have a God that is with me. He'll never leave me. And I have a God that's over me who has absolute power to move and do what He wants, watching me and making sure that no one messes with my life. I like that. In other words, God, I want to surrender. And here we are. I don't want to submit. Don't want to submit. Don't have to submit. No, you don't. But remember, He's over hell. He's over heaven. He's over everything. So what are you doing? He will always be on top. He will always be the Lord of your life. So second, He's on top. The wisdom of God is far above us. Then number three, Remember His promise, God is beneath us. I like this. In Deuteronomy 33, verse 27, The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. You know, the second point where He is over us, but I like the third one. He's beneath us. So when I hit the barrel, guess who's at the bottom? He holds the barrel. When I go through the barrel and my failure, guess who holds my life? When I finally split the barrel in half because I'm so rebellious, I'm still in God's hand. I cannot get out of the hand of God. And when I get really rebellious and take off like Jonah, God just gets a fish and brings me back. In other words, God's committed to me. And no matter how bad I feel, I'm never going to lose it. Because God is always going to hold me up. And here we think, I've fallen away from God. How can you fall away from God? You fell into His hands. Isaiah says, He carves you in the palm of His right hand. He says, He brought salvation with His right hand. In other words, that hand measures the universe. And that's a mighty hand. And God is saying in a very powerful way, when you finally blow it and fall down to the ground, you're not on the ground, you're in My hand. You're always in My hand. And you need to change your theology because I'm going to hold you and I'm going to hold you together until you get together. And that's what Paul said. Now unto Him who is able to keep me from falling and present me faultless before the Son of God. He also goes on to say that God is able to be beneath me. So check it out. God's with me. I need that right now. Secondly, God's over me. He's going to give me wisdom to make a great decision during this earthquake. Number three, He is beneath me. He's going to make sure He holds me together when I'm falling apart emotionally down deep in my life. Number four, it says remember His promise. He is before us. In Psalm 139 verse 5, Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thy hand. And check it out. You're going to go shopping, gals? He's already gone before you. You're kidding me. He doesn't want to do that. Yes, He does. He doesn't want you getting hurt. He doesn't want you getting in an accident. He's before you. And make sure you find a parking spot. He's always before you. You're kidding me. God is that concerned? Yes, He is that concerned. You're going to talk to your husband? I'll go before you. Prepare his heart. Prepare your heart. You're going to talk to your children? I'll go before them. You're going to do a business contract? I'll go before them. You're going to stand before a board? I'll go before them. In other words, I'm a God that's able to go before you and prepare the way so you can walk in and take victory. The other day, we went across the street to a birthday party of Stella. I think she's 90. I'm not wrong there. And sweet gal, did I want to go? No. I'd rather study. But I wanted to go because I buried her husband and I've kind of become known on the street as the pastor in the house across the street. So people come. And so we went. And guess what? We preached and shared and talked about Jesus Christ. And God went before. And there was a doctor there and other people there. And all of a sudden, we're talking and all the people are coming around us. And I realized, you know, God, you're so good. You knew that had to happen. So even when I didn't want to go, you kind of made me go. Using my wife. Exodus 13, verse 21. The Lord went before them by a pillar of cloud and by a night. In other words, God went before the children of Israel. Moses said, I don't want to go unless you go before me. So let me ask you a question. Do you know that when you're in the midst of a disaster or maybe you've been fired or maybe you've been cheated or maybe something's happened, God's going to go before you. He's going to lay out the path. He's going to show you what to do. And the wisdom from above is going to come down. And He's going to be with you when you're losing it. So check it out. He's with you. He's over you. He's under you. He's before you. It's so cool when you realize that. And John 14, verse 2. He says, Here in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus said, I'm going to go. I'm going to come back. But I'm going to get things ready for you. That's God. He made the heavens and earth. Put man there. And that's just so cool. God builds relationships. Then number five. Remember His promise. God is behind us. In Exodus chapter 14, verse 19. The angel of God, which went before the camp, removed himself and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud that went before them stood behind them. What does that mean? It means that God is now the rear guard. No one's going to come and get you. No one's going to attack you. No one's going to take advantage of you. No weapon that's formed against you is going to prosper. Because God is covering your back. So you're going this way or you look backwards. And all of a sudden there's paranoia. You don't have to worry about that. God will show you. If all you're doing is focusing on God, then you know that God is with you. And you know that God is above you. And you know God's underneath of you. And you know God's in front of you. Now I want to run away from God. You turn around, there's God. You can't get away from God. And that is the most wonderful thing to realize. You turn around. You want to quit. And God says, what are you doing? Get back. Go back. And how do we need to hear that? I quit. You can't quit. You're the pastor. Okay, I won't quit. Get back to work. And so I want to run. And God says, no. Or maybe I want to come back here and just quit. And God says, hey, you have a responsibility. You have to be a leader. Well, I don't want to do it no more. Listen, Stephen, the reason you don't want to do it is because you don't know me. You're not hearing me. You're not seeing me. You feel like you failed. I'm holding you. I'm preparing the way. I'm protecting your back. What's the problem, son? Well, I just, I guess I'm into myself. Yeah. And we see here, he's behind us. In Psalm 23, verse 6. This is so good. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. Who's behind you picking up the mess? Goodness and mercy. In other words, you've been mean to somebody, goodness. You don't deserve it, mercy. Someone's taking advantage of you, grace. God's always pushing you. Mercy and grace is following you all the days of your life. And Psalm 139, verse 5. Thou beset me behind and before and lays your hand upon me. You're before me and behind me. You're putting your hand on my life. I mean, this is incredible. I can sit there in the midst of destruction and know that God is with me. And I can know that God's above me and God's beneath me and God's before me and God's behind me. And then number 6. Remember His promise, God is around you. I love this one too. Psalm 32, verse 10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusts in the Lord, mercy shall encompass him. I do this, mercy. I get myself in trouble at home, mercy. I come to work, get myself in trouble, mercy. I look at my kids, mercy. In other words, mercy, mercy, mercy is always around me. God is always saying that His mercy is renewed every day. His compassion is around me. He sings over me. And then in Psalm 34, verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps around the righteous. That's kind of cool. There was a moment in Elijah's life, you remember? He was sleeping and the servant woke him up. And the servant said, Awake, Elijah! We are surrounded by the Syrians. Elijah just said, Oh, I'm tired. God opened his eyes. Go look again. So the servant went and looked again and there were angels all the way around the Syrians. You see, what man sees and what God sees. And by the way, one angel wiped out 186,000 men. One angel. The Bible says the angels are walking. So you drive, they're all over your car. You go to work, they're all over you. I mean, in other words, you have such a God that is watching. And then He says here in Psalm 125, verse 2. And the mountains are around Jerusalem, so the Lord is around His people. As the mountains are around Jerusalem, you are protected. Now, when I look at this, because there's only one more point, I just think, God, that's what I need. I mean, how can I do the ministry? I would say to people, you know, God's with me. Well, yeah, we know that. No, no. God's over me. He'll strengthen me. He'll hold me. He'll help me. And when I make a bad mistake, God will pick me back up like He did with, you know, John and Daniel. He'll strengthen me. And then He'll say, now it's time to go on. Don't get discouraged. Go! Well, I'm not going. I've gone before you. Step out in faith. Well, I want to go. What are you doing here, God? I thought you were over there. I don't want you going this way to Egypt. You go this way. And so God's helping me. And then I realize one day that God's around me, all over me. And I just come to a point, God, why do I not see this? And lastly, God is within you. So it's one thing to have God with you. It's another thing to have God over you. It's another thing to have God under you. It's another thing to have God in front of you and back of you, around you. But it is everything to have Him in you. It says here in John 4, 14, But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him. So there is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is the epi, which is over. And then there is a spirit that comes with. And then there's a spirit that comes inside. And when it happens inside, it's really cool. I remember, I think I told you before, but I just got saved. I was two weeks, I think, out. I just got off of LSD. So you have to kind of put that, keep that in the back of your brain. Had long hair, bandana, you know, earrings. And I was saved. Went from Led Zeppelin to Archearchy. I mean, I was really saved. So I was at In-N-Out. And I realized I forgot to ask God if He was hungry. And so I'm looking inside my shirt saying, Are you hungry? And I, you think, Are you okay? Well, yeah. But I wish I had a little bit of that now. I wish I knew that He was that close now. But see, now we know everything. But when I first got saved, it was like, right here, on fire. God. I don't share that a lot. You can see why. How can you feed God a hamburger? What's cool about it, you can't, so you get the whole thing. But just the heart, I just... But then I realized, oh, that's stupid. Well, no, it wasn't stupid. Because I sensed that He was in my heart. So when you're by yourself, God's here. So when you're traveling, God's here. So when you can commit adultery, God's here. So when you want to quit, God's here. In other words, everything in your life, God's here. And then he says in John 14, verse 17, He dwells with you and shall be in you. And lastly, in John 15, verse 4, Abide in me and I in you, and the branch cannot bear of itself except it abides in the vine, and except you abide in me. In other words, will you let go of the branch? I just can't. Why? Why just don't trust you? There you go. Now we're talking. It's okay. I'd rather have you be honest. I don't trust God. That's why we don't let go. But if you know what I know, you have to trust God. You have to trust God. So tell me, your house is gone, family's alive, are you going to be bitter with the house? Are you going to be looking to God? Because you can build another house, you can't build another relationship. And those that know God will do great exploits. And my heart is to get you to a point that no matter what happens to us, we can die to ourselves, we can take care of our family, and we can look across the street and take care of our friends. We're not in this thing for ourselves. We're in this for everybody else. So God, I need victory in my life. I can't worry about anybody else, but I need to sense you, I need to feel you, I need to know you're there, I need to know you're over me, under me, in front of me, behind me, around me. But most of all, you are in me for the rest of my life. His love is irreversible. That's Pastor Steve Mays, with more tremendous encouragement found in the promise of God to see us through our difficult moments. Now, we live in a society that's filled with immense stress, and each of us at some time or another has worried about something. Yet the Bible tells us repeatedly not to worry. God made a commitment that he would be the Lord of our lives, and that he will take care of us. Now, in Pastor Steve's book called Overcoming, he explains why each of us are incapable of carrying life's problems. Steve shows how anxiety causes us to lose our joy and our peace. Ultimately, the voice of God is no longer alive in our hearts because we've been hanging on to those burdens. But God doesn't want you to do that. So Pastor Steve shares how to cast your cares on the Lord in his publication called Overcoming. The wisdom he shares is not only grounded in God's Word, but it's also been tested and proven through his own experience. If you're someone who's questioning whether it's even possible to overcome the situation you're facing right now, well, then let Steve help you gain the victory in his book called Overcoming. Learn more about it at our website, lightoftheword.org. That's lightoftheword.org. Or give us a call right now at 800-339-WISE. That's 800-339-WISE and we'll help you place that order. And when you're online, check out our smartphone app for the iPhone, the iPad, and the Android platform. Get the details at lightoftheword.org. In our final lesson of our SOS Collection, Steve takes on the perils of prejudice, encouraging us to look past culture, color, and class and see people the way God sees them, as valuable treasures. That's next time on Light of the Word. Light of the Word Light of the Word Hope shines in darkness So follow the light of the Word