Liar Liar Pants on Fire
From the Beginning • Sermon • Submitted
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· 41 viewsWhat do you do when the trials of life come on you; when your faith is shaken? There is a principle found in the Bible that after great victory comes great trial. Pastor Bill explains how to continue in victory even when the trials come.
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Introduction:
I have always been afraid of heights. I remember before Kim and I had kids we went cliff jumping on Lake Ozark in Missouri. I had never done it before and I’m pretty adventurous. So we get to the spot of this 40’ cliff and we start climbing up the face of the cliff. Well about half way up I began to realize that I was not going to be able to climb back down.
So I get to the top and my friends are jumping off the cliff and Kim is on the boat by the drop zone. And I just freeze. What happens is I get in my head and start analyzing. Now while I’m frozen my friends have climbed up again and are jumping for the second time.
And all I can think of as I’m looking down at the lake is, “I can’t see under the water.” So I start to “What if,”
What if there is a log floating just under the surface.
What if there is a rock that I can’t see that I’m going to hit.
What if I don’t land right and break my arm.
While this is going on in my head my friends are making endless jumps trying to get me to jump. Kim is frustrated with me in the boat yelling at me to jump and quit being a baby. (very traumatic).
So I took the leap of faith not knowing if I would live or die, I jumped. I screamed like a girl flapping my arms all the way down.
Most of life is lived by faith. We have no idea and no control of the things happening in our lives.
We take a leap of faith when we get married or start new relationships.
Or when we want to have kids.
When we take that new job opportunity.
When we move into that new house that cost more.
When the kids become teens and get mobile.
When you give up control of your life to Jesus
When you go on that first missions trip out of the country
What happens when you take this leap of faith and things don’t work out like you thought? These are the moments that define who you are. Because let’s face it, it doesn’t always workout.
Abraham found himself in a similar situation. God had called him to leave everything and come and follow Him into an unknown land. And he took the leap of faith and went. Let’s pick up the story in as Abram first comes into the land of Canaan.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
As Abraham believed God and took the step of faith God revealed himself in new ways to Abraham.
From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
When your faith is tested your true character is revealed.
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
Abraham took matters into his own hands.
He never consulted God about the move.
He never went to the alter to call on God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
He turned to the world instead of leaning on God.
He turned to the world instead of leaning on God.
This is the first mention of Egypt in the Bible
It always represents the world and the world system.
God gives direct warnings about Egypt
“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Is 30:
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!
Is 31:
When you turn to the world for help you must compromise your Character
When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
Gen 12:11
A lack of faith leads to sin.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:2-
Your lack of faith causes pain in those around you.
Your lack of faith causes pain in those around you.
But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
Gen 12:17
When you get off track you can always find your way back.
So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.
Gen 13:1
Conclusion
Let me give you some things to think about:
When life gets hard God has the opportunity to show himself strong to you. Keep your faith in him and don’t run to the world. ()
Who are you leaning on in time of trouble? Do you run to the world or do you run to God.
How quick are you willing to compromise with the world to try and save yourself?
Are you ready to grow and know God in new ways as he brings you through the trials?
When you stop trusting God’s Word, you start leaning on man’s wisdom ()
When you get off track you can always find your way back. ()