We don’t have to look very far around us to see that there is a great need for faith in God.

In a very short time in our everyday life, we are able to see the whole scope of man’s attitude toward God.

It goes from a very non-challant-carefree attitude, to an open, very aggressive, rebellious attitude—and sometimes---these very attitudes are even present in the church.

But for those who are active christians—

those who study the Bible on a regular basis---

those who attend services on a regular basis—

those who are active in the work of the church—

those who are active in filling the needs of those around them (in and out of the church)—

i.e., those christians who have an active, living, obedient faith—realize that this faith is a faith that DAILY encourages us to obedience and service to God.

And this faith helps remind us that our God has never failed us and never will.

He will always be there for us.

I think that for anyone to have a good understanding of the N T, and the Plan of Salvation, and the belief that God is always here for us—they must also have an understanding of O T characters, and their relationship w/ God.

Because the O T is not just a record of people, places, and things; the O T is a record of relationships—and the result of how they handled those relationships.

In the O T, we see that God was always there for them; however, they were not always there for God.

And sometimes, they wouldn’t accept, JUST BY FAITH, the fact that God was always there for them.

Sometimes they had to be shown—to be reminded of the power of God.

Today’s world is full of competition.

My wife and I have twin girls.

They are 35 years old and have been in competition for 35 ½ years.

Competition is a part of our lives.

We encourage our children to become active in sports, where competition is constant.

They are in competition for college scholarships.

We are in constant competition for job positions.

But I don’t know of any competition or contest any more interesting than the one in I Kings 18:19-39---because the contest here was between God and Baal—and between the prophets of God, and the prophets of Baal.

This was the time when Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, who was following after idol worship—had many prophets of God killed.

Elijah gave them the option of either confessing their faith in God, or taking a stand against Him.

vs 21—AND ELIJAH CAME UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, AND SAID, HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIIONS? IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM, BUT IF BAAL, THEN FOLLOW HIM. AND THE PEOPLE ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD.

So, they refused to make a commitment--refused to make a choice.

So, the contest was set—and Elijah knew that God would not fail.

Elijah knew that God’s promises never fail.

The problem was-- once they had refused to accept God as their deliverer, their fate was sealed.

And after the contest was over, then they wanted to acknowledge God as most powerful; however, now it was too late.

Vs 39-40 AND WHEN ALL THE PEOPLE SAW IT, THEY FELL ON THEIR FACES, AND THEY SAID, THE LORD, HE IS THE GOD, THE LORD, HE IS THE GOD.

AND ELIJAH SAID UNTO THEM, TAKE THE PROPHETS OF BAAL, LET NOT ONE OF THEM ESCAPE. AND THEY TOOK THEM, AND ELIJAH BROUGHT THEM DOWN TO THE BROOK KISHON, AND SLEW THEM THERE.

In Gen. 12:1,2, God gave Abraham a 3-fold promise—1. that thru his seed, there would be a GREAT NATION—referring to the Israelite nation,

2. That they would OCCUPY A GREAT LAND—referring to the land of Canaan,

and 3. that THRU HIS SEED WOULD ALL THE WORLD BE BLESSED—referring to the coming of Christ, who would be the savior of the world, and the head of the church.

But many years later, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, figured out on her own that this was going to be an impossibility—seeing that she was beyond the age of being able to have children. She even laughed about it. Gen. 18:12-15

But guess what? Gen 21:1,2

Also part of God’s promise, was to make Israel a great nation. When Soloman was king, Israel was perhaps the richest nation on the face of the earth.

God did not fail in His promise to those in the O T.

God will not fail us today. God has promised you and me that He will keep His covenant w/ us—that is as long as we are obedient to His will.

I Thess. 4:16,17 FOR THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD, AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST:

THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS, TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR: AND SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE LORD.

But, here is the disclaimer:

Take a look at Matt 7:21. NOT EVERYONE THAT SAITH UNTO ME, LORD, LORD, SHALL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN.

God did not promise that everyone is going to Heaven.

He did promise that everyone who is obedient to Him will go to Heaven.

God never failed to take care of His people.

In the wilderness, the Israelites were unhappy with the food they had brought with them out of the land of Egypt.

As a result, God provided them with manna in the morning and quail in the evening.

But at the same time, God made sure that they did not get greedy, or have a self-reliant attitude, and forget that it was God who was taking care of their needs.

If they gathered more that was needed--- the next morning, the rest was spoiled.

So, when we see how God provided for the faithful in the O T, why should it be such a surprise that we say that God will take care of us today?

I Thess. 4:9-12

In Matt 6, Jesus is giving a model prayer for His disciples.

Vs. 10 says GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to work for it—if we are able.

We can and should pray for our daily bread. But, we also need to remember what Paul said in II Thess 3:10---

IF HE WILL NOT WORK, NEITHER SHOULD HE EAT.

God will always provide for our needs—if we are faithful;

But He will not do for us what we are able to do for ourselves.

In addition, it doesn’t do any good to look to God to solve our problems, if we are not willing to accept the solution provided by God.

Mk 10:17-22

Here, the rich young ruler wanted Jesus’ advice on what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. He was sincere about it.

He had lived a life of obedience to the commandments.

But in vs 21, Jesus tells him to go, sell all he has, and give it to the poor.

It wasn’t being rich and having possessions, that was the problem.

Jesus knew that the problem was the man’s attitude toward his riches and possessions—an attitude that these things were all his—that he had worked hard to get them—and that he could not bear to do without them.

--not realizing that his purpose in life was not to accumulate possessions, but to use those possessions for the glory of God.

I heard a story about 2 farmers talking---one of them had not been having very good results w/ his crops.

The other farmer said, "What you need to do, is to go to night school to learn how to be a farmer.”

The other farmer replied, "I already know how to be a better farmer than I am.”

He had the knowledge, but he had not applied that knowledge with the proper motivation—wisdom—an application of that knowledge—actually putting that knowledge to use.

God will never fail to do His part—but we will not receive God’s care, if we do not do our part, and if we do not apply it w/ the proper motivation—obedience to the Word of God—all of it—not just the part that is easy or convenient.

We all have problems from time to time.

People around us have problems from time to time.

And sometimes, those problems seem as though there is no solution for them—or at least a solution that is acceptable to us, or one that seems like there can be no peace of mind from them.

But that is a time when we need to examine our life, to see if we are living according to the scriptures, and to see if we are really putting our faith in God, to help us in our time of need.

One of the blessings we enjoy as a christian, is that through the knowledge of the Bible, and the faith that it produces in God—we are able to help others in their time of need.

We may have experienced some of the same problems as others; but even that is not enough, unless we know the basic principles that are set forth in the Bible, and can use those principles to help those in need—SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR SPECIAL NEEDS-

--to help them make personal application of those scriptures to their own life.

Even when we are counseling someone, it is not us that is doing the counseling—it is God who is taking care of the problem. We are only the tool being used to help that person understand the power, the care, the love of God—for them.

In Matt 4, Jesus was tempted by Satan.

First, Satan says, COMMAND THAT THESE STONES BE BREAD.

Second, Satan says, CAST YOURSELF DOWN, THE ANGELS WILL CATCH YOU.

Third, Satan says, FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP ME, AND ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD WILL BE YOURS.

Jesus had a monstrous problem here—He had not had anything to eat for 40 days. He was hungry. He was weak.

And that put Him in a position to be very vulnerable to temptation.

And yet, His answer was the same all 3 times—IT IS WRITTEN.

All 3 times, He went back to the will of God for His answer. It was not Jesus who was solving the problem. It was God.

It was the power of God, made manifest thru His Word, and finally thru Jesus.

In order for us to help others know how God can take care of their problems, we must first—know what the scriptures say.

I Pet. 3:12-15

Look at the example of Peter—When the Jews questioned him about his relationship w/ Jesus in the garden, he cursed and swore, and denied Jesus.

But shortly after this, we see Peter say in Ac 5:29—"We ought to obey God, rather than man.”

A man who uttered profanities denying Jesus, now stands like a rock in defense of the faith.

Peter became a better man, because of the teaching of Christ.

When someone wants to live a better life, and is willing to make the necessary changes in their lifestyle and attitudes, God will not fail to make that happen.

We see billboards with a message to encourage people to quit smoking.

They say—JUST DIAL 1-888-HELP QUIT.

If you want to quit, and will make that 1^st step, someone will be there to give you encouragement.

I Cor 6:9-11 KNOW YE NOT THAT THE UNRIGHTEOUS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

BE NOT DECEIVED; NEITHER FORNICATORS, NOR IDOLATERS, NOR ADULTERERS, NOR EFFEMINATE, NOR ABUSERS OF THEMSELVES WITH MANKIND, NOR THIEVES, NOR COVETOUS, NOR DRUNKARDS, NOR REVILERS, NOR EXTORTIONERS, SHALL INHERIT THE KIGDOM OF GOD.

AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU; BUT YE ARE WASHED, BUT YE ARE SANCTIFIED, BUT YE ARE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.

These individuals had thrown off sin in their lives.

They had repented—turned away from sin.

They had submitted their lives to Christ.

They had let the Word of Christ dwell richly in their life-Col 3:16.

And as a result, their lives had been made better.

God has never failed when man has taken the proper steps to allow God to come into their lives.

Today, if you are not a christian, then why not submit yourself to God--

Allow Him to come into your life—

Allow Him to make your life better.

God has never failed, and He won’t fail w/ you—

If you allow Him to work in you.

If you believe that Jesus the Christ can save you from your sins—

The rest is easy—come forward, confess Christ, and be baptized.

Do that and you will be on your way to a life where you will see daily—the power of God—taking care of your needs.

If you are a christian, and have fallen away, or just neglected to take advantage of the benefits available to you as a christian, or have not accepted your personal responsibility as a christian in being of service to others, then today is the day you need to renew your vows to the Lord, repent, and ask God for forgiveness.

God has never failed mankind.

The only problem comes when we fail to allow God to work in our lives—to change our lives for the glory of God, and the glory of the church.