Speaker 1: Every test you're going to go through in life is
Speaker 1: already in this book. And if you study this book,
Speaker 1: then you're going to see from the characters in this
Speaker 1: book how to pass each test. God's number one goal
Speaker 1: in your life is to make you like Jesus. God's
Speaker 1: goal on earth is not to make you happy. God's
Speaker 1: goal on your life is to grow you up to
Speaker 1: spiritual maturity. Happiness comes from holiness, and in heaven you're
Speaker 1: going to be happy for trillions and trillions of years.
Speaker 1: This is the growing stage. This is the development stage.
Speaker 1: Not everything works perfectly and not everything goes the way
Speaker 1: you wanted to go because God is much more interested
Speaker 1: in your character than he is your comfort. So you know,
Speaker 1: shouldn't expect everything to go right.
Speaker 2: In this life.
Speaker 1: It's not going to God wants to grow your character.
Speaker 1: He wants you to make you spiritually mature. Then wants
Speaker 1: you to be a spiritual baby all your life, and
Speaker 1: he wants you to grow up in. Our model, of course,
Speaker 1: is Jesus Christ, who was love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
Speaker 1: self control. He was the fruit of the spirit, and
Speaker 1: he's our model for spiritual maturity. Now one of the ways,
Speaker 1: one of the ways that God grows you up is
Speaker 1: by testing you. You know, when you work out in
Speaker 1: a gym, you test your muscles by lifting weights, and
Speaker 1: the more weight you can lift, the more it tests
Speaker 1: your muscle, the more it grows your muscle. And God
Speaker 1: builds your character the same way through a series of tests.
Speaker 1: And those tests test your faith, They test your character,
Speaker 1: they test your patience, they test all kinds of things
Speaker 1: in your life. Now, the good news behind that is
Speaker 1: that there is a purpose behind every problem in your life.
Speaker 1: Problems are not simply arbitrary. Problems are not simply by chance.
Speaker 1: The problems that come into your life are there to
Speaker 1: test your character, to grow your character, to grow your faith,
Speaker 1: to help you become all that God wants you to be,
Speaker 1: the man God wants you to be, the woman God
Speaker 1: wants you to be. So every problem has a purpose
Speaker 1: and it's designed to help you grow. Now we know
Speaker 1: that from what the Bible says. They're at the top
Speaker 1: of your outline, James, chapter one. It says this, whenever
Speaker 1: troubles come your way, whenever troubles trouble comes your way,
Speaker 1: let it be an opportunity for joy.
Speaker 2: Huh. Oh oh, I got another problem.
Speaker 1: I'm happy. Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be
Speaker 1: an opportunity for joy. Now, if it just stopped there,
Speaker 1: that wouldn't make any sense. But then it gives you
Speaker 1: the reason for the joy. For when your faith is tested,
Speaker 1: your endurance has a chance to grow.
Speaker 2: So let it grow. Let it grow, for when.
Speaker 1: It is fully developed, you will be read it with me.
Speaker 1: Strong in character and ready for anything. I want you
Speaker 1: to be strong in character.
Speaker 2: I want you.
Speaker 1: To be ready for anything that happens in life that
Speaker 1: you're able to handle. You are resilient, you are responsible,
Speaker 1: you are strong.
Speaker 2: You're a strong woman. You're a strong man.
Speaker 1: Because you have strength of character and you have you're
Speaker 1: ready for anything because your faith is tested.
Speaker 2: Now notice those two phrases.
Speaker 1: I want you to circle the phrase faith is tested,
Speaker 1: and circle the phase strong in character, and draw a
Speaker 1: line between those two because they go together. The way
Speaker 1: you become strong in character is to have your faith tested.
Speaker 1: God uses the conflicts and the problems and the pressures
Speaker 1: and the trials and the difficulties and the disasters and
Speaker 1: the dangers and the difficult dead end and the disappointments.
Speaker 1: He uses all of it. Just test your faith and
Speaker 1: to grow you strong in character. And if you intend
Speaker 1: to be the man or the woman God wants you
Speaker 1: to be, God will test your faith. Now, what I'm
Speaker 1: going to do today is just take you through six
Speaker 1: of the many tests you're going to go through. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: God wants you to pass the test. Okay, he wants you,
Speaker 1: so he gives you the answers in advance.
Speaker 2: Didn't you always like those open book tests? You go,
Speaker 2: you know, the.
Speaker 1: Answers are right there. All you got to go do
Speaker 1: is look it up. Well, the answers are all right here.
Speaker 2: They're in that.
Speaker 1: This is the answer book for all the tests of
Speaker 1: your life. And God gives us many examples in the
Speaker 1: Bible to prepare us for the many different kinds of tests.
Speaker 2: Every test you're going to go through in life.
Speaker 1: Is already in this book. And if you study this book,
Speaker 1: then you're going to see from the characters in this
Speaker 1: book how to pass each test. Now, all we have
Speaker 1: time for today is to go through about five or
Speaker 1: six of these different tests.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna use three.
Speaker 1: Different characters of the Bible, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, three
Speaker 1: guys you've all heard of and they went through tests,
Speaker 1: and you're going to go through those exact same tests,
Speaker 1: these six tests.
Speaker 2: I've been through them dozens of times in my life.
Speaker 2: You have too.
Speaker 1: You may not even realize it was a test, but
Speaker 1: you have been going through these tests over and over
Speaker 1: in your life. Now, good news. As I said, God
Speaker 1: wants you to pass the test. Now let's start with
Speaker 1: this first guy, Noah. The Bible tells us that when
Speaker 1: God created the earth is perfect, there were no problems.
Speaker 1: They're no sorrows, no sin, no sadness, no suffering, no tears,
Speaker 1: no trials, no temptation. It was just a perfect place.
Speaker 2: It was an Eden.
Speaker 1: But man messed it up. And the longer man went along,
Speaker 1: we start having pollution. We started having problems. We had conflict,
Speaker 1: we had wars, we have injustice, we have racism, have all.
Speaker 2: Of these problems in life.
Speaker 1: We have sexual abuse and all the God didn't start
Speaker 1: any of these things. Man started murder, Man started jealousy,
Speaker 1: Man started you know, cheating and dishonesty and adultery and
Speaker 1: all these different things. Anyway, the world got worse and
Speaker 1: worse and worse, until the Bible says God was so
Speaker 1: grieved that he had even made the Earth because it
Speaker 1: was going in the wrong direction, and he said, I'm
Speaker 1: just going to start over. And when he looked down
Speaker 1: on the earth, the Bible says the earth was so
Speaker 1: evil he could only find one guy. He'll only find
Speaker 1: one righteous guy in the entire planet. And the guy's
Speaker 1: name was Noah. And the Bible tells us that Noah
Speaker 1: found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I'm grateful
Speaker 1: for Noah because if it weren't for him, none of
Speaker 1: us would be here. Now, when we talk about, by
Speaker 1: the way, racism and race, really there's only one race.
Speaker 1: It's the human race because we all came from Noah.
Speaker 1: Every one of us here came from Noah. And after
Speaker 1: the flood, his son spread out all around the world
Speaker 1: and started at different cultures and different.
Speaker 2: Things like that.
Speaker 1: But we're all from no We all have all of
Speaker 1: our blood bleeds red. None of you bleed green blood. Okay,
Speaker 1: we may look different on the outside, but on the inside,
Speaker 1: we're really all the same because we all came from
Speaker 1: this one guy, Noah, who obviously came from Adam. Now,
Speaker 1: imagine if you are this guy Noah, or you're his wife,
Speaker 1: or you're one of his kids, and you know, the
Speaker 1: world's a pretty evil place. And God comes to your
Speaker 1: dad or your husband and says, I'm gonna start over.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna wipe out everything.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna flood the earth, and I want you to
Speaker 1: build a big boat. We're gonna call it an ARC.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna bring all the animals to you. And
Speaker 1: you're gonna put your families and you and all these
Speaker 1: animals on ARC and we're just gonna start over.
Speaker 2: You. Would you believe that? Would you think? Am I
Speaker 2: hearing right? What? What are you talking about? Now? This
Speaker 2: is the very first test. Write this down.
Speaker 1: You're gonna go through a kind of test like this
Speaker 1: in your life many many times. And it is a
Speaker 1: new task, a new task, or a new dream. God's
Speaker 1: gonna come to you and say, here's what I want
Speaker 1: you to do, or here's what I'm asking you to do,
Speaker 1: or here's what I'm telling you to do. And it
Speaker 1: could be so big that it just seems impossible. It's
Speaker 1: an impossible dream or it's an impossible task. I call
Speaker 1: this the what test, because when God comes to you
Speaker 1: and talks to you and says, here's.
Speaker 2: What I want you to do, you go what.
Speaker 1: Wa me, No way, you got the wrong guy. I
Speaker 1: think that person lives down the street. What that's the
Speaker 1: what test in life? When God asked you to do
Speaker 1: something that's so new or so difficult, you don't.
Speaker 2: You don't.
Speaker 1: You don't even imagine yourself doing it. And here's what
Speaker 1: the Bible says, and Hebrews chapter eleven, and all the
Speaker 1: verses today are out of Hebrews chapter eleven. It was
Speaker 1: by faith that Noah built an arc to save his
Speaker 1: family from the flood, and he obeyed God who warned
Speaker 1: him about something that noticed. This had never happened before.
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us that up to this time, it
Speaker 1: had never rained on earth. That's why they had never
Speaker 1: seen a rainbow. It never rained. The Bible tells us
Speaker 1: that a mist came up from the ground at night,
Speaker 1: kind of like do a condensation. There was some kind
Speaker 1: of condensation that happened in the earth that watered all
Speaker 1: of the animals and all of the vegetables and all
Speaker 1: the plants. This is why before the flood people lived
Speaker 1: a whole lot longer. The atmosphere changed. People lived two hundred,
Speaker 1: three hundred, four hundred years. I think God did that
Speaker 1: intentionally so they'd have lots of kids to populate the earth.
Speaker 1: But after all of a sudden, the flood, the birth,
Speaker 1: that the age starts going down, and that people aren't
Speaker 1: living as long. Something changed in the environment, in the firmament,
Speaker 1: in the climate, in that environment. But notice it says
Speaker 1: there it had never happened. For when you have this
Speaker 1: first test, it's going to be when God comes to
Speaker 1: you and says, I want you to do this.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: That may not be building ARC, but it's something Number one,
Speaker 1: you've never done before. And number two, it seems impossible.
Speaker 1: That's the what test? What are you kidding me? You're
Speaker 1: going to go through the what test? You've never done
Speaker 1: it before? Or it is it seems impossible. Now, what
Speaker 1: is faith? This is a test? Write this down. Faith
Speaker 1: is facing the future without knowing what. Faith is facing
Speaker 1: the future without knowing what. Noah built in Arc by faith.
Speaker 1: And in Hebrews eleven, verse one, it says faith is
Speaker 1: being sure of what we hope for and being certain
Speaker 1: of what we do not see. Faith is facing the
Speaker 1: future without knowing what's.
Speaker 2: Going to happen.
Speaker 1: And you've got this big task, this new task. It's impossible.
Speaker 1: You've never done it before. You're going to have that
Speaker 1: test many many times in life. God will ask you
Speaker 1: to do something you've never done before. Number two, here's
Speaker 1: the second test, a major change, a major change. First
Speaker 1: a new task. The second is a major change. And
Speaker 1: I call this the where test?
Speaker 2: Where are we going? Lord? Where are we going? With
Speaker 2: this one?
Speaker 1: And you have a major change upset in your life.
Speaker 1: A good example of this kind of test is the
Speaker 1: guy named Abraham, and the Bible tells us in Hebrews eleven,
Speaker 1: verse eight to ten, it was by faith that Abraham
Speaker 1: obeyed when God called him to leave home. See, this
Speaker 1: is a big change to leave home and go to
Speaker 1: another land. He's going to make a major move that
Speaker 1: God would give him as in his inheritance. And he
Speaker 1: went noticed without knowing where circle the where this is
Speaker 1: the were test? Without knowing where he was going. Now,
Speaker 1: Abraham is a guy who lived in a city called Er,
Speaker 1: which is in the er of the Kaldis over in
Speaker 1: the Iraq Iran area or the Kaldis.
Speaker 2: How'd you like to live in Er? Where are you from?
Speaker 1: Er?
Speaker 2: Sorry? Head gas, where are you from?
Speaker 1: Er?
Speaker 2: You burped again? Er? Okay?
Speaker 1: Abraham lived in the city big city called Er and
Speaker 1: God says, I've picked you out and I'm going to
Speaker 1: make you a great nation. But I'm not going to
Speaker 1: make you a great nation here in the Iraq area.
Speaker 1: I'm going to move you over to the Palestine area,
Speaker 1: to the Israel area, and I want.
Speaker 2: You to get ready to move. Now.
Speaker 1: This is an especially difficult move, major change for Abraham.
Speaker 2: Why.
Speaker 1: First, he's seventy five years old, and when he's ready
Speaker 1: for social security, God says, get ready for social insecurity.
Speaker 2: When he's ready to hang.
Speaker 1: It up and slow down and play golf, God says,
Speaker 1: take it down, put it on, get ready for the
Speaker 1: adventure of your life at age seventy five. That's not
Speaker 1: really when you're getting ready to start your greatest adventure
Speaker 1: in life, Okay, But this is a major change. At
Speaker 1: age seventy five, he's ready to retire. God says, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to inspire. You're getting ready to move into your
Speaker 1: greatest victory in life after age seventy five.
Speaker 2: Now, Abraham had a lot to move because.
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us he was a very wealthy guy.
Speaker 1: So he had years of accumulation. He had a lot
Speaker 1: of cattle, he had a lot of sheep, He had
Speaker 1: a lot of goats, He had a lot of family,
Speaker 1: He had a lot of people working for him, lots
Speaker 1: of people employees. And God says, I'm going to move
Speaker 1: you to a new country. And Abraham says, where are
Speaker 1: we going? He says, I'll let you know. He said,
Speaker 1: how will I know when I get there? He said,
Speaker 1: I'll let you know. He said what direction? He said,
Speaker 1: just head that way? And and and how long is
Speaker 1: it gonna take?
Speaker 2: I'll let you know. Would you move.
Speaker 1: If God said I'm not gonna tell you where you're going,
Speaker 1: how long it's gonna take, where you're gonna end up,
Speaker 1: what it's gonna be.
Speaker 2: Like, Just trust me.
Speaker 1: This is the second test of life, a major take change.
Speaker 1: The test of life is the wear test.
Speaker 2: Imagine how how long is it gonna tay? I'll let
Speaker 2: you know. It's totally on faith.
Speaker 1: Abraham, by faith obeyed God to leave home and go
Speaker 1: to another land.
Speaker 2: Would you do that?
Speaker 1: You're gonna be tested by God when he's gonna say
Speaker 1: I want you to go that direction, and you go where?
Speaker 2: Head that way? What's at the end.
Speaker 1: I'll let you know. This is a test. Some of
Speaker 1: you are in the wear test.
Speaker 2: Of life.
Speaker 1: Right now, some of you are in that first test, okay,
Speaker 1: what But some of you are in the wear test,
Speaker 1: and the wear test of God said I'm gonna move
Speaker 1: you and you don't know where. That is a test
Speaker 1: if your character, test your faith. Don't write this down.
Speaker 1: Faith is following God's leading without knowing where. Faith is
Speaker 1: following God's leading without knowing where. Sometimes God might say,
Speaker 1: I want you to quit your job. What's the new job.
Speaker 1: I'll let you know. I want you to sell your house.
Speaker 1: Where we're gonna move, I'll let you know. That is
Speaker 1: the second test of life, the where that builds your character,
Speaker 1: the what and the where, the new task, and the
Speaker 1: major change. Faith is following God's leading without knowing where.
Speaker 1: So Abraham does this, and he packs up all of
Speaker 1: his wealth and all of his cattle and camels and
Speaker 1: chiefs and goats and employees and family and grandkids and everyone,
Speaker 1: and he heads off that direction, having no idea where
Speaker 1: he's going. He eventually gets to Canaan, but still when
Speaker 1: he gets to the land, he doesn't get to settle down.
Speaker 1: In fact, he has to live in tents the rest
Speaker 1: of his life. And that leads me to the third
Speaker 1: test and write this down. The third test you're going
Speaker 1: to have in life is a delayed promise. You can
Speaker 1: count on this one, folks. God has over seven thousand
Speaker 1: promises in the Bible for you. He is not guaranteed
Speaker 1: to fulfill every one of them instantly. I've told you this,
Speaker 1: for God is not a vending machine where you put
Speaker 1: in the prayer and pull the promise button and you
Speaker 1: get everything instantly. If you did, it wouldn't require any faith.
Speaker 1: If every prayer of yours was instantly answered, you'd think
Speaker 1: God was your genie. Your wish is my command. God
Speaker 1: is not your genie. God doesn't work for you. You work
Speaker 1: for God. God is not your genie. He has made
Speaker 1: all these promises, but he has all of eternity to
Speaker 1: fulfill them. Some of the promises that God has made
Speaker 1: you are not even going to be filled here in
Speaker 1: this lifetime. They're going to be fulfilled in eternity. He's
Speaker 1: got all of heaven eternity to fulfill them. But the
Speaker 1: delayed promise is what I call the wind test. First,
Speaker 1: you're going what, Lord, what? Then you're going where, Lord, Where?
Speaker 1: And in this one you're going when Lord, when? When
Speaker 1: are you going to answer my prayer.
Speaker 2: When are you gonna hear me?
Speaker 1: When are things going to change in my marriage? When
Speaker 1: am I gonna get married? When am I gonna graduate?
Speaker 1: When am I going to have a baby? When am
Speaker 1: I going to get that promotion? It's the win question
Speaker 1: of why that's the third test. You're going to go
Speaker 1: through the wind test many many times in life. Hebrews
Speaker 1: eleven eight to ten says this. Even after Abraham reached
Speaker 1: the land God had promised him, he lived there by faith,
Speaker 1: for he was like a foreigner living in a tent.
Speaker 1: He couldn't even settle down. He's living in a tent,
Speaker 1: moving around the country. God and said I'm giving you.
Speaker 1: And by the way, he says, so did Isaac and Jacob.
Speaker 1: That's his son and his grandson. So over three generations,
Speaker 1: they're kind of like nomads. Even though God said I'm
Speaker 1: giving you this country called Israel, you're not going to
Speaker 1: get it in this time table, even living in a tent.
Speaker 1: So did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the
Speaker 1: same promise. Abraham did this because he was confidently looking
Speaker 1: toward forward to a city whose eternal foundations, a city
Speaker 1: designed and built by God. Now in that verse, I
Speaker 1: want you to circle the word it's in caps, promise.
Speaker 1: Circle the word promise. It's used twice. And this is
Speaker 1: a very important word. It was promised to him the
Speaker 1: same promise. God wants us to base our lives on promises,
Speaker 1: not explanations. If you ever understand that you're going to
Speaker 1: take a giant leap in your character and a giant
Speaker 1: leap in your faith. God wants you to build your
Speaker 1: life on his promises, not his explanations. God doesn't owe
Speaker 1: you an explanation for anything in your life. God is
Speaker 1: God and you're not. And God is not going to
Speaker 1: explain why everything happens and when it happens, and how
Speaker 1: it happens, and the reasons and all. God doesn't owe
Speaker 1: you an explanation for everything. He wants you to trust
Speaker 1: his promises, not wait for explanations. Now, God had promised
Speaker 1: him this land of Israel. But after he gets said,
Speaker 1: there's this delay and transfer of ownership. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: Abraham is constantly going, when Lord, when you gave me
Speaker 1: this promise, when are you going to fulfill Is it
Speaker 1: time yet? Is it time yet? Time yet? He lives
Speaker 1: intents for three generations that's a long wait. He's unable
Speaker 1: to settle down. The Bible calls him a stranger in
Speaker 1: his own country. You may be in this test right now,
Speaker 1: the wind test, where you've been waiting for an answer,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't seem like there's any end in sight.
Speaker 1: You're going to win when, Lord, when you're going to
Speaker 1: take care of this problem? When are you going to
Speaker 1: take care of this issue? When are you going to
Speaker 1: take care of this relationship? When are you going to
Speaker 1: take care of my finances? When are you going to
Speaker 1: take care of my health? When are you going to
Speaker 1: take care of my future? And here's going to win? Lord?
Speaker 2: When? Not what? Not where? But when?
Speaker 1: I want you to write this down. Faith is waiting
Speaker 1: for God's timing without knowing. When waiting for God's timing
Speaker 1: without knowing?
Speaker 2: When? Now here's the fourth test.
Speaker 1: Here's the fourth These are many, many tests, but I'm
Speaker 1: just covering a few this weekend. Number four is an
Speaker 1: unsolvable problem. Now you've all had this one, and this
Speaker 1: is what I.
Speaker 2: Call the how test.
Speaker 1: You get a problem and you go, how in the
Speaker 1: world we're going to solve this one?
Speaker 2: This is a test.
Speaker 1: Now God told Abraham that not only was he going
Speaker 1: to move him to a new country and give him
Speaker 1: this land, and he would be the father of a
Speaker 1: great nation. He told him that he was going to
Speaker 1: have a kid that would have more kids, would have
Speaker 1: more kids wor kids, and they would populate it. He
Speaker 1: was not just giving him land. He was going to
Speaker 1: give him as his heritage, a great nation. They were
Speaker 1: all going to come from Abraham. Now, remember he's seventy
Speaker 1: five years old. When God tells him this promise. He
Speaker 1: moves to the land of Canaan, which is going to
Speaker 1: be called Israel. And while he's there, he keeps waiting
Speaker 1: for his wife to get pregnant, and by age ninety nine,
Speaker 1: he still doesn't have a son. This is what you
Speaker 1: might call an unsolvable problem. Now it is physically impossible
Speaker 1: for him, Abraham and his wife Sarah to have a problem.
Speaker 2: It's physically impossible. This is how in the world we're
Speaker 2: gonna have a baby.
Speaker 1: I'm ninety nine, okay, Sarah's a little bit younger, but
Speaker 1: Abraham's ninety nine years olgo. The Bible says Abraham looked
Speaker 1: at his body and said no way, jose Sarah looked
Speaker 1: at abraham body, he said yeah, double no way with
Speaker 1: you and me, Okay, this isn't gonna happen. And the
Speaker 1: Bible says when God said you're gonna have a baby,
Speaker 1: and Abraham's ninety nine years old, it says Abraham laughed,
Speaker 1: and it said Sarah laughed.
Speaker 2: And so when they actually.
Speaker 1: Did get pregnant and had this baby, they named him Isaac,
Speaker 1: which means laughter, because Isaac was God's joke to the world.
Speaker 1: You know, Abraham's now one hundred years old and he's
Speaker 1: the father of his first child. Now, God had changed
Speaker 1: his name from Abram to Abraham, which means father of
Speaker 1: a great nation. How'd you mean, how'd you like going
Speaker 1: into a restaurant today?
Speaker 2: Sir?
Speaker 1: What's your name? Father of a great nation? How many
Speaker 1: kids you got?
Speaker 2: None?
Speaker 1: How old are you a hundred? It's kind of embarrassing.
Speaker 1: God gave him the name way in advance.
Speaker 2: But they laughed. God had the last laugh.
Speaker 1: We know that Sarah, when God told her she was pregnant,
Speaker 1: that she didn't believe it because she laughed. And the
Speaker 1: truth is, any woman who's seventy five and told she's
Speaker 1: pregnant and believed it would not laugh she cry. Sarah
Speaker 1: did not cry she laughed, Eid, what a joke.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I got to tell you this story. Fred Krattick is
Speaker 1: a famous preacher. He's now in heaven. Back in the South,
Speaker 1: he overheard a conversation one time in a restaurant between
Speaker 1: a seventy five year old a waitress and an older man.
Speaker 1: And the older man said to the waitress, Anna, can
Speaker 1: I walk you home tonight?
Speaker 2: And she said no.
Speaker 1: He said, well why not, because she said, because I
Speaker 1: then would become great with child.
Speaker 2: He goes, Anna, you're too old, you're too old, He said, well,
Speaker 2: she said.
Speaker 1: Well, Sarah had a child at seventy five. He goes,
Speaker 1: how is that possible? He said, she believed in the
Speaker 1: man upstairs. He said, well, if I were a woman,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't believe in the man upstairs. But sometimes God
Speaker 1: does what I call an unsolvable problem. This is the
Speaker 1: how test. Hebrews eleven eleven and twelve says this. It
Speaker 1: was by faith that Sarah, together with Abraham, was able
Speaker 1: to have a child.
Speaker 2: This is an unsolvable problem.
Speaker 1: Even though they were too old and Sarah was barren,
Speaker 1: Abraham believed that God would keep his promise, and so
Speaker 1: a whole nation came from this one man, Abraham, who
Speaker 1: was too old to have any children, but a nation
Speaker 1: with so many people that, like the stars of the
Speaker 1: sky and the sands of the seashore, there's no way
Speaker 1: to count them. God had the last laugh. Here's the
Speaker 1: fourth thing I want you to learn and write it down.
Speaker 1: Faith is expecting a miracle without knowing how. That's what
Speaker 1: faith is. I'm teaching you today what it means to
Speaker 1: have faith. Faith is facing the future without knowing what,
Speaker 1: following God's leading without knowing where, waiting for God's timing
Speaker 1: without knowing when, expecting a miracle without knowing how is
Speaker 1: the test of your character. That is a test your eight.
Speaker 1: Let's go on to the fifth test. The fifth test
Speaker 1: is also in Abraham's life, and it is a senseless loss.
Speaker 1: A senseless loss. When you have a loss in your
Speaker 1: life that makes no sense at all, it seems irrational,
Speaker 1: it seems illogical, it doesn't make sense. And this, of
Speaker 1: course was the ultimate test, the ultimate test in Abraham's life.
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you, friends, it will be
Speaker 1: yours too. This will be the ultimate test in your life.
Speaker 1: A senseless loss. A lot of what happens in life, friends,
Speaker 1: it just doesn't make sense, and when we look for
Speaker 1: an explanation, we're not going.
Speaker 2: To find one. A lot in life just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: You spend your whole life thinking that if I get
Speaker 1: an explanation, then I'll feel better this loss.
Speaker 2: You won't.
Speaker 1: If my wife were to drop dead tonight and I
Speaker 1: knew why, I knew the explanation, it wouldn't make it
Speaker 1: any less painful. Explanations never comfort. What you need when
Speaker 1: you're in pain. What you need when you've had a
Speaker 1: major loss is you need the presence of God, not
Speaker 1: the explanation of God. Explanation will not make it any
Speaker 1: less painful, So stop looking for the why. What you
Speaker 1: need is simply God's presence in your life. A lot
Speaker 1: of what happens in life doesn't make sense. Now, God,
Speaker 1: after Abraham had had this miracle baby at a hundred
Speaker 1: named Isaac. Isaac is now a young man, and God says,
Speaker 1: one day, I want you to sacrifice your son to me.
Speaker 1: Now this seems so unheard of, It seems so brutal,
Speaker 1: it seems so bloody, it seems so nonsensical. Why would
Speaker 1: God ask me to sacrifice the very son that he
Speaker 1: gave me through a miracle. This is a test. God
Speaker 1: knows what he's doing. He's testing Abraham's faith. God is
Speaker 1: not a cruel god. God is not a capricious god.
Speaker 1: God is not a mean God. Abraham knew that, and
Speaker 1: so He's going to obey, knowing that God's going to
Speaker 1: do something about it, because I know God is not
Speaker 1: that kind of God.
Speaker 2: But this is the ultimate test.
Speaker 1: Isaac represented everything God had given Abraham.
Speaker 2: If his son dies, there's no future nation. Now.
Speaker 1: Our response to this, when we look at everything out says,
Speaker 1: this is unfair. Have you ever said that in life
Speaker 1: it's not fair? Well, let me tell you something, folks.
Speaker 1: Life is not fair. Who said it was fair? This
Speaker 1: is not heaven. This is life is not fair on
Speaker 1: earth because it's filled with sin and sorrow and suffering
Speaker 1: and evil and your choice and you do things that
Speaker 1: aren't fair and everybody else does too. God could make
Speaker 1: life very fair, just take away our freedom of choice.
Speaker 1: But God asked him Isaac to sacrifice his own son,
Speaker 1: and our response is shock. How in the world could
Speaker 1: God even ask Abraham to do this. In Verses seventeen
Speaker 1: and eighteen of Hebrews eleven, it says this it was
Speaker 1: by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when
Speaker 1: God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promise,
Speaker 1: was ready to sacrifice his only son, even though God
Speaker 1: had promised him Isaac is the son through which your
Speaker 1: descendants will be counted. This is one of the most
Speaker 1: gripping stories in scripture. Abraham is trusting the goodness of
Speaker 1: God's that God's going to figure out a way. This
Speaker 1: will be the most gut wrenching test in your life.
Speaker 1: When God says the dream I've given you, do you
Speaker 1: love the dream more than me?
Speaker 2: Or do you love me more than the dream? Do
Speaker 2: you trust me?
Speaker 1: If you love the dream more than you love God,
Speaker 1: you've made the dream an idol. Now God is a
Speaker 1: good God, and we know there are many layers to
Speaker 1: this story. The fact God had already a thousand years
Speaker 1: before Abram had been born, before he asked Abram to do,
Speaker 1: he already knew what he was going to do.
Speaker 2: He was going to provide a lamb.
Speaker 1: As a symbol, as a metaphor, as an illustration of
Speaker 1: the fact that in a few thousand years he was
Speaker 1: going to provide the lamb of God his own son,
Speaker 1: and he would sacrifice God would sacrifice his son for you.
Speaker 2: God is a god of love.
Speaker 1: He is not a go out of anger or retribution
Speaker 1: to those who love him and put their trust in him.
Speaker 1: He says, I will provide the lamb, but you will
Speaker 1: be tested in your life.
Speaker 2: Do you love the dream?
Speaker 1: Do you love the promise more than you love the
Speaker 1: promiser and the dreamgiver? Abraham passed the test. How in
Speaker 1: the world was he able to obey God in faith? Well,
Speaker 1: the Bible tells us how Hebrews eleven, verse nineteen. Abraham
Speaker 1: reasoned that word there literally means he calculated. It's an
Speaker 1: accounting term. He reasoned, he calculated. He figured in his
Speaker 1: mind that God could raise the dead. If God can
Speaker 1: give me a miracle sign at age hundred, he can
Speaker 1: raise him back to life. And figuratively speaking, he did
Speaker 1: receive Isaac back from death. Abraham thought, well, if this
Speaker 1: goes through, I know God can raise him back to life.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of God I serve. I want you
Speaker 1: to write this down. This is the fifth test. Faith
Speaker 1: is trusting God's purpose without knowing why.
Speaker 2: Faith is trusting God's purpose without knowing why.
Speaker 1: If you can explain everything in your life, you are
Speaker 1: not living by faith. There's some things in your life
Speaker 1: that just aren't explainable, and you have to live by faith. Now,
Speaker 1: I could do a series on the tests of God
Speaker 1: and go for a year, but let me just give
Speaker 1: you one more. This is test number six, and it's
Speaker 1: a tough one too. The sixth test is prolonged pain.
Speaker 1: Prolonged pain, and this is the how long test. It
Speaker 1: could be a chronic pain in your life. That could
Speaker 1: be a chronic physical pain. It could be a chronic
Speaker 1: emotional pain. It could be a chronic spiritual pain. It
Speaker 1: could be a chronic relational pain. It could be a
Speaker 1: chronic financial pain. It is extended suffering. It's suffering that
Speaker 1: doesn't go away. You're just having to live with it,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe your entire life.
Speaker 2: This is a test. It is the how long test?
Speaker 2: How long? Lord?
Speaker 1: And so many of the prophets in the Bible talk
Speaker 1: and about this and ask how long Lord are you
Speaker 1: going to let this keep going?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: A good example of this is Moses. Moses had incredible persistence.
Speaker 1: He put up with enormous pain in his life. His
Speaker 1: life is divided into three passages forty years in Pharaoh's court,
Speaker 1: as learning to be a somebody, forty years on the
Speaker 1: backside of a desert learning to be a nobody, and
Speaker 1: then forty eight years leading a million griping babies across
Speaker 1: a desert. He put up with enormous criticism, enormous conflict,
Speaker 1: enormous misunderstanding, enormous pain, and he has every right to say,
Speaker 1: how long. Lord Hebrews eleven twenty four to twenty six.
Speaker 1: Moses gave up everything that we try to spend our
Speaker 1: lives achieving fame, fortune, pleasure, possessions.
Speaker 2: Position. He was the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a grandson of the most powerful man
Speaker 1: in the world. At that time, he's living in the
Speaker 1: lap of luxury. He gave it all up to go
Speaker 1: lead a bunch of slaves across the desert. He gave
Speaker 1: up the very things we spend our lives trying to
Speaker 1: get satissex, salary, that passion, possession, position, the American dream.
Speaker 1: He gave it all up. The Bible says in verse
Speaker 1: twenty forty twenty six. By faith Moses, when he had
Speaker 1: grown up. That's a mark of maturity. Remember, God wants
Speaker 1: you to grow up spiritually. He didn't make this decision
Speaker 1: as a baby. When he was a baby, his parents
Speaker 1: made the decisions, but when he had grown up, he
Speaker 1: refused to be known as a son of Favaro's daughter.
Speaker 2: He knew his identity.
Speaker 1: He chose to be mistreated along with the people of
Speaker 1: God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
Speaker 1: a short time with the people who weren't the people
Speaker 1: of God. He disregarded disgrace. He regarded disgrace for the
Speaker 1: sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures
Speaker 1: of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
Speaker 1: You know, our culture says, base all your decisions on
Speaker 1: your feelings and live for the now. If it feels good,
Speaker 1: do it. If it doesn't feel good, don't do it.
Speaker 1: And most people today make their decision on, well, this
Speaker 1: feels good, so it must be right. Not everything that
Speaker 1: feels good is right, and not everything that feels wrong
Speaker 1: is bad. You can't go by your feelings. Your feelings
Speaker 1: lie to you all the time, tell you things are
Speaker 1: better than they are or they're worse than they are.
Speaker 1: Your feelings lie. You're manipulated by your moods. The truth is,
Speaker 1: I don't always feel like being nice to people. Everybody
Speaker 1: thinks I'm a nice person. I'm not always a nice person.
Speaker 1: I don't always feel like being nice to people anymore
Speaker 1: than you do. Sometimes I feel grumpy, cranky. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: just want to go home and get in bed. I
Speaker 1: don't always feel like teaching you. In fact, by so
Speaker 1: what if I only preach the times that I feel
Speaker 1: like preaching or taught to you at the times that
Speaker 1: you like teach? Well, you know I it'd be a
Speaker 1: lot less.
Speaker 2: I just say that.
Speaker 1: You don't always feel like doing the right thing. You
Speaker 1: know what, I'm going to let you listen. I don't
Speaker 1: always feel like helping my wife, and when my kids
Speaker 1: were at home, I didn't always feel like helping my
Speaker 1: kids with their homework. I hated homework. I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: I didn't want my kids to do it. I didn't
Speaker 1: want my grandest kids to do it. So if you're
Speaker 1: a teacher, stop all homework just easing.
Speaker 2: But I really didn't like it. But did I help him?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't always like to read my Bible that
Speaker 1: I know it helps. I don't always feel like praying.
Speaker 1: I find that when when I least feel like praying,
Speaker 1: that's when I need it the most. When I don't
Speaker 1: feel like praying. Faith is being persistent. Faith is refusing
Speaker 1: to give up. Faith is keeping on no matter how
Speaker 1: tired you are. Write this down. Faith is continuing to
Speaker 1: persist without knowing how long. Faith is continuing to persist
Speaker 1: without knowing how long.
Speaker 2: This is the how long test of life? Now? How
Speaker 2: do you develop persistence? How do you develop endurance?
Speaker 1: How do you keep on doing the right thing year
Speaker 1: after year after year when you don't always feel like
Speaker 1: doing the right thing, You don't always feel like staying married.
Speaker 1: How do you keep on doing the right thing when
Speaker 1: you don't feel like you always feel like get up
Speaker 1: and going to work? How do you have that persistence?
Speaker 1: How do you handle prolonged pain by doing what Moses did?
Speaker 1: And that is hearing from God. Moses had a burning bush.
Speaker 1: You don't need a burning bush because he wrote it
Speaker 1: all down and it's in here. Everything God wants to
Speaker 1: say to you is right here. You don't have to
Speaker 1: go have some mystical experience. People say, why didn't God
Speaker 1: just write it in the sky. He's not going to
Speaker 1: do He wrote it in a book. Stop looking for
Speaker 1: a vision, start looking for a verse, Stop looking for
Speaker 1: a sign in the sky. Start looking for a scripture
Speaker 1: in the word. It's all here. It's all here, and
Speaker 1: it will give you the ability to pass the how
Speaker 1: long test? When you're going through prolonged pain, continuing to
Speaker 1: persist without knowing how long? Hebrews eleven twenty seven, last
Speaker 1: verse by faith. He that's Moses left Egypt, not fearing
Speaker 1: the king's anger.
Speaker 2: He persevered. How did he persevere?
Speaker 1: Because he saw him who is invisible. You keep your
Speaker 1: eyes on God. If you keep your eyes on your pain,
Speaker 1: you're going downhill. If you keep your eyes on the
Speaker 1: pain reliever, on the Savior, on the God who loves you,
Speaker 1: you're going to go through it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: There's a lot more I can say about this, but
Speaker 1: we're out of time. Which of these tests are you
Speaker 1: facing right now? An impossible task and you're going.
Speaker 2: What Lord?
Speaker 1: What are you considering a major change? And you're going where?
Speaker 2: Lord?
Speaker 1: Where are you facing a delayed promise?
Speaker 2: Delayed answer? When? Lord? When are you facing an unsolved problem?
Speaker 1: How?
Speaker 2: Lord? How? How are you going to do this?
Speaker 1: You're facing a senseleus loss that you're grieving over. Why Lord?
Speaker 1: Why are you struggling with prolonged pain?
Speaker 2: How long? Lord? You know there's nothing wrong with asking.
Speaker 1: God what and when and where and why and how
Speaker 1: and how long as long as you understand you're not
Speaker 1: going to get the answer. The real issue is what
Speaker 1: are you going to do when you don't get an answer.
Speaker 1: Even Jesus on the cross said my God, my God, why,
Speaker 1: So it's okay for you to ask why. But he
Speaker 1: didn't get an answer, and you won't either. The key
Speaker 1: is will you trust God without knowing how or when
Speaker 1: or why or how long or where. I don't have
Speaker 1: time to go in this, but there's a pattern seen
Speaker 1: in all three of these men. I wrote it down.
Speaker 1: Toot your outline. I won't teach you on it. But
Speaker 1: and firse, God gives you an opportunity, He gives your promise.
Speaker 1: Then there's an obstacle or an opponent that holds you back.
Speaker 1: Then there's an ordeal, and it's a waiting or testing period.
Speaker 1: You're going to go through that over and over and
Speaker 1: over hundreds of times in your life. So let me
Speaker 1: summarize what it means to live by faith. It's facing
Speaker 1: the future without knowing what. Faith is, following God's leaving.
Speaker 2: Without knowing where. Faith is waiting on God's timing without
Speaker 2: knowing when.
Speaker 1: Faith is expecting a miracle without knowing how. Faith is
Speaker 1: trusting God's purpose without knowing why, continuing to persist without
Speaker 1: knowing how long. This is a test that's bow our heads,
Speaker 1: if their heads vowed. With human test, the key is
Speaker 1: knowing all the answers. But with God's test, the key
Speaker 1: is not knowing all the answers. With God's test, the
Speaker 1: key is trusting God to know the answer. Pray this
Speaker 1: prayer in your heart. Follow me as I say this prayer,
Speaker 1: Dear God, stay it in your mind. Dear God, I
Speaker 1: want to be a man or a woman a faith.
Speaker 1: I want to be a man or a woman of
Speaker 1: character that you can use in a mighty way. So,
Speaker 1: Dear Jesus Christ, help me face the future in faith
Speaker 1: without knowing what. Jesus, help me follow your leading without
Speaker 1: knowing where. Help me wait for your timing without knowing when.
Speaker 1: Help me to expect a miracle without knowing how. Help
Speaker 1: me to trust your plan and purpose without knowing why.
Speaker 1: And help me to continue to persist and endure without
Speaker 1: knowing how long. If you've never opened your life to Christ,
Speaker 1: say Jesus Christ, come into my life right now, Be
Speaker 1: my manager of my life, the Lord of my life,
Speaker 1: be the behavior of my life.
Speaker 2: I need you. In your name, I pray Amen.