Sermon Tone Analysis
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A tested Faith
Intro:
Did you love tests growing up.
My first thought is NO.
Why because I did not like school.
I was never great at taking tests but I generally did well enough to pass, but not great enough to excel.
When I took the SAT I got an average score.
Joe Blogg did not get the hard ones right, but got the easy ones right I scores a 1000 on my SAT, took it once and never took it again.
I did not like tests.
But tests are a part of life.
Not just academically but in all areas of our life.
I did like tests on the basketball court.
My first great test in college basketball was when we played Oklahoma City University.
They were a ranked team and we were not, they were a storied program.
The night before I could not sleep, remember this was a big test.
I was switching beds I could not get comfortable.
I remember I got blocked in this game like a volleyball player hits a ball.
It did not end up good for our team or for me.
I failed this test miserably.
But then I rethought the question.
Do I like taking tests.
And I changed my answer.
I loved being tested in things I loved.
I did not spend hour upon hour in the gym for the heck of it.
I wanted to play other players to test my skills.
If we love God and we want to honor him in our life we will embrace the testing of our spiritual life.
If your faith journey was a test how are you doing right now?
Are you failing?
Are you making progress?
Are you scoring straight A’s?
Or are you ready to call it quits?
Or have you even thought about your faith as a spiritual test?
What if we changed the way we viewed tests today.
What if instead of running from testing we embraced it and learned from the tests God is taking us through.
Here is what the Bible tells us about tests:
Today I don’t want us to just take a spiritual test like it is a dreaded subject.
I want us to embrace the tests of life so that we can become the men and women that God has created us to be.
I want to give us three lessons we will learn if we will embrace the testing of our faith.
FRoM THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM.
Today we will see three lessons we will learn from embracing the testing of our faith!
When we embrace the testing of our faith we will learn three lessons from Abraham.
The first lesson we learn when we embrace the testing of our faith is:
1.
To fear God (Genesis 12:9-20).
Last week we saw Abraham pass a test with flying colors.
Abraham is about to get tested again.
What I want us to see as we dive into Abraham is that this man is a giant of the faith.
He is called the Father of our faith.
But even in this great legacy that he still leaves behind today is that he is not the Messiah.
Just like we saw last week this great commitment to follow God even if it cost him comfort and leaving his family, he was not perfect.
Only Jesus is the Messiah.
Now Abraham is about to fail a test.
You either fear God or Man
We just saw Abraham take huge step of faith.
He left everything to follow God.
So it was not that he did not know to fear God or had not feared God.
But right here and now we see that he fear’s the Egyptians more than he feared God.
They were in a different land and he was preparing for the bad things that could happen to him here.
It is not all bad to be smart but here Abraham was not fearing God.
He had a problem-He had a beautiful wife.
Notice how he was plotting in his own head how he was going to handle this situation.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
When we are not fearing God we tend to bring matters into our own hands.
Notice Abraham is not seeking God or checking out God’s will.
God I am going to do Marriage my way, I am going to do finances my way.
What are you bringing into your own hands right now?
The reality is we either fear God or fear man.
Who are you fearing right now?
Our fear of man affects those around us
Would it not be great if our actions just hurt us or others actions did not affect us but when we do not fear God it affects those around us.
Notice how Abram is trying to invite his wife into his sin.
Notice what Abram said was true.
Notice the way he thought it would turn out, was completely opposite.
Because he did not fear God things got a lot worse.
When we do not fear God we forfeit the blessing of God fighting on our behalf
Are you letting God fight your battles right now or are you trying to fight your own battles.
Application:
One of the many beautiful things about God is on a failed test we get grace.
Another beautiful thing is even in those failures we can use them to fuel our future.
I was talking to Jacob last night and i shared with him an assignment we had to do at DTS.
We had to give a 20 dollar bill to a homeless man.
Now what do we think if we give aways a 20 dollar bill.
They are going to spend it on something they should not.
In other words we think they are going to abuse grace.
But here is the reality.
We abuse grace everyday.
Isn’t it awesome that even when we fail tests terribly that God still loves us.
Are you embracing the testing of your faith?
The next LESSON we learn when we embrace the testing of our faith is:
2. that our walk with God is a Journey (Genesis 15:1-7).
One of the things I loved about youth ministry was seeing students place their faith in Jesus Christ.
I saw lives changed.
I saw people who were dead spiritually come to life.
It was amazing.
But one of the things that we did wrong in this is that at times we would see people who would come to Christ and they would see this as the end and not the beginning of their walk with God.
I have recieved Jesus and now I am going to live however I want.
When we view our faith as a journey placing our faith in Jesus is the beginning and not the end of our journey.
Abraham passed many of the tests that God gave him and he failed some, but throughout his life he embraced the tests God sent towards him.
He viewed his faith as a journey and not a destination.
How can we journey with God?
God equips us with his promises through his word.
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