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GENESIS
22: - Your Test
There
is one constant in the kingdom of God.
Every single time God tests our faith, He also gives us
something in return. That
‘something’ is a defining moment, and we refer to these as
‘personal testimonies’. They
give witness to the fact that God is active and working in our
lives. Two weeks ago, we had some people give their personal
testimonies. It is
always impacting to hear what God has done in the lives of fellow
Christians.
Today,
I would like to ask if there are any others who might want to share
their testimony with us, to give us another chance to see what the
Lord is accomplishing in their lives.
HAVE
VOLUNTEERS GIVE THEIR PERSONAL TESTIMONY
One
of my most favorite things in church is listening to personal
testimonies. To see
evidence of God actively working in other people’s lives is
thrilling to me. But
there are many ways to offer a personal testimony of faith.
One of those ways is through music.
A
man by the name of Heratio Spaffard was an American businessman, and
he was scheduled to travel by boat with his wife and four children
to Ireland. At the last
minute, a big business deal kept him from going, so he sent them on
and told them he would follow shortly.
Halfway to its destination, in the middle of the ocean, the
boat his family was on sank, killing all aboard.
When
Mr. Spaffard received word of the accident, he immediately chartered
another boat and went directly to the place the other boat had sunk.
As he leaned against the railing, staring at the spot he lost
his wife and children, with as much grief as a man can bear, words
began to come into his mind. With
tears flooding his eyes and sobs making it impossible to talk, he
went to his cabin and began to put those words down on paper.
Those
words are found in the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.”
Now, Mr. Spaffard was not happy that he lost his family, but
knowing they were all Christians gave him peace in his heart, and
made his soul feel peace. That
was a defining moment for Mr. Spaffard. History shows from that point on, Mr. Spaffard included the
Lord in ever aspect of his life, more than he had ever done before.
What a divine moment! What a personal testimony!
Francis
Havergal wrote many hymns in her life.
She said she got most of her inspiration from small moments
– defining moments. She
said one of the strongest things she had ever seen was a painting of
Jesus, wearing a crown of thorns with blood dripping down from the
wounds. He is facing
Pilate, and the caption of that painting was; ‘This, I have
done for thee - - what hast thou done for me?’
When
she got home, she wrote a poem about what that painting meant to
her, but was so emotional when she read it; she threw it in the
fireplace. Have you
ever noticed that God intervenes in the most miraculous of ways? As she walked by the fireplace, she threw the poem in, but
like most sheets of paper, it flew out and landed on the floor
without her seeing it. Her
father picked it up, read it, and encouraged her to put music to it.
She did, and the result was the hymn, “Take My Life, and
Let It Be.”
How
about you? Can you look
back through your life and see moments where God tested you and that
test became a defining moment?
These moments abound in our lives.
But it isn’t just people that have defining moments.
Sometimes, churches have them, too.
Things that happen to bring the church back to a full focus
on Jesus. What we find
is that whatever happened was actually a test for the church.
This is when some churches begin to fail.
They start looking at the problem in the test, and forget
that faith is the answer.
I
want you to turn with me to the book of GENESIS, chapter 22.
We are going to look at a major defining moment in
Abraham’s life. This
would prove to be a major test in the man’s life.
Please
follow me as I read GENESIS 22:1-14
Some
time later, God tested Abraham.
He said to him, “Abraham!”
And Abraham replied, “Here I am.”
Then
god said, “Take your son - your only son, Isaac – whom you love
and go to the region of Moriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains I will tell you about.”
Early
the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.
He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When
he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the
place God had told him about. On
the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I
and the boy go over there. We
will worship and then we will come back to you.”
Abraham
took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac,
and he himself carried the fire and the knife.
As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said
to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes,
my son?” Abraham
replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “but
where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for
the burnt offering, my son.”
And the two of them went on together.
When
the reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar
there and arranged the wood on it.
He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of
the wood. Then he
reached out his hand took the knife to slay his son.
But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven,
“Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here
I am,” he replied. “Do
not lay a hand on the boy,” the angel of the Lord said.
“Do not do anything to him.
Now, I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld
from me your son – your only son.”
Abraham
looked up and there in a thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns.
He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt
offering instead of his son. So
Abraham called that place “The Lord Will Provide.”
And to this day, it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord
it will be provided.”
Now,
I will be honest with you. I
have often wondered why there is no record of what Isaac thought
about all of this. Since yesterday’s people had the same thoughts and
reactions as today’s people, it would seem that Isaac would not
have taken being laid on the altar too lightly.
But there again, I believe that God took over and it turned
out to be a moment of witness for him, too.
But
we can all see this as a major defining moment, or test of faith, in
the life of Abraham. This
man loved his son as any father loves his children, but he was
willing to do as the Lord had commanded; he was ready to offer his
only son as an offering. I
once heard a person ask what kind of vicious person would offer his
son as an offering. I
reminded him that our loving God once offered His Son as a
sacrifice.
There
are a couple of things I want to go back and point out in the
passage I just read.
VERSE
1 - “God
tested Abraham.”
For
whose benefit do you think God tested Abraham?
My personal feeling is that God knew the depth of Abraham’s
faith, but he wanted Abraham to realize the extent of his faith,
too. Therefore, God
gave Abraham a moment that was such a strong personal testimony that
he would never doubt, or forget, the faith he had in the Lord.
VERSE
2 – ‘Then
God said, “Take your son – your only son, Isaac …’
Last
week we went over how God’s plan was for Abraham and his wife to
have one son, but because of a lack of faith, and a need to help God
do His job, they ended up with two sons.
But God pointed out several times that the only son He would
consider giving the land of Canaan to was Isaac, the son that God
promised.
So,
no matter what you may read or hear, know that the true word of God
tells us that it was Isaac who received the covenant of the land,
not Ishmael, as the Muslims say.
VERSE
4 – ‘He said to his servants, “Stay here with the
donkey while I and the boy go over there.
We will worship and then we will come back to you.’
Even
without knowing it, Abraham must have had solid and deep faith in
the Lord. Even as he
was preparing to sacrifice his son, he somehow knew deep inside that
they would both return.
Did
Abraham believe the Lord would interrupt him, as He actually did, or
did Abraham believe that if he actually did kill Isaac, that the
Lord would revive him? We
don’t know what Abraham’s thoughts were, but we do know he had
true faith.
Let’s
take another look at Abraham. He
has been following the Lord for over a quarter of a century now, and
he has seen things in his life that would be classified only as
miracles. One of the
most important miracles to Abraham was probably the birth of a son
to him and his wife, who were previously childless in their elderly
years.
He
saw God protect him in foreign countries, even though he lied about
his wife. He saw the
Lord give him victory in having his 318 men chase after, attack, and
overcome the armies that belonged to four kings – all at one time
– as he rescued his nephew Lot.
He also saw the miracle of a ram suddenly appear to save his
son’s life on the altar.
It
is almost as if Abraham has been able to finally rest and enjoy the
fulfillment of his journey with God, but that isn’t the situation
at all. The journey
with God will never be over in this lifetime.
It will only be over when we enter Heaven’s gate.
So, as long as we live, we will encounter our own mountains
of trouble looming large on the horizon, we will also be tested by
God from time to time (for our own benefit) and we will also enjoy
defining moments.
And
any time we find a defining moment in our lives, we will be able to
see that each defining moment is a divine moment, because it is from
God, drawing us closer to Him than we were before.
And that is why it is called a personal testimony.
Now,
let’s talk about …
2.
DIVINE TESTS
Some
versions of the Bible show in GENESIS 22:1 that God
“tempts” Abraham. To
tempt someone, is to entice them into doing something that is not
right. The Lord will
never tempt anyone. He
will, however, test His children.
And like I said earlier, He will test them to make them aware
of how deep their faith is.
The
whole idea that a god can tempt humans to do evil is not a Christian
concept. It comes from the ancient gods of Greece and Rome – like
Mars, the god of violence, and Athena the goddess of war. Ancient
people believed that these gods interfered with human life in evil
ways.
There
are many today who view God the same way.
They picture Him standing on the edge of a cloud, looking
down on us with a sneer on His face, with lightning bolts in one
hand and ready to throw them like darts to hit us for our sins.
But that isn’t what our God is like at all. The Christian
God is holy and righteous – there is no malicious intent in his
heart whatsoever. The
Christian God loves us so much He has spent thousands of years doing
everything He could to get us to want to come back to Him. That is what our God is like.
He loves us and He misses us.
But He will not force us to walk with Him, all He will do is
reward us if we choose to do so.
But
God never tempts us. And since God does not tempt us, we should be careful not to
accuse Him of doing so.
But
God will ‘test’ our faith.
The question is, “Why does He test our faith?”
JAMES
3 tells us,
‘
… because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance.’
“Perseverance”
means having the ability to “last” or to “continue.” Our faith needs to be strong enough to continue to the end of
the race. If it isn’t
that strong, we shall surely fail and be cast down into the lake of
fire. So, by God giving us these divine tests, He is actually
giving us moments that define the strength of our faith in Him.
We
have divine tests to grow a divine faith.
And we need the divine faith to help us accomplish …
3.
OUR DIVINE TASKS
In
GENESIS 22:2, the Lord tells Abraham to take his son and offer
him as a burnt offering. We
find in Scriptures that God hated for the pagans to have human
sacrifices, so why on earth would He want Abraham to sacrifice his
son Isaac? The answer
is He didn’t. This
was only a test of Abraham’s faith.
This
revealed to Abraham who he loved more; his son or his God. Did he love the blessing more than he loved the One who gave
it? I believe God
already knew the answer, but He tested Abraham so that Abraham would
fully realize it, too.
These
moments never happen when we are in our comfort zones, either.
God pushes us out of those comfort zones so that we will act.
And it is in our actions that we show God where our heart is
in relation to Him. But
let me say this, too, that while God wants us to follow Him through
following His Son, there is a cost borne by us.
Jesus
told the rich young man that to follow Him, the cost would be to
sell everything he owned and give it to the needy.
That was too much for the young man, since his heart of
hearts was on his earthly wealth, not his heavenly sanctification.
Jesus
also told us that in order to follow Him, the cost would be to even
put Him as more of a priority in our lives than we even put our
sons, daughters, or parents. In
other words, the price to follow Jesus, is to make Him your all in
all.
These
are defining moments that lead us into divine tasks. And they are not always the grand or spectacular moments,
either, like; God calling Diana and me to leave everything and
everybody we knew behind so we could come to Oklahoma to preach His
word to people who might listen once again to the story of
salvation. Most of
these moments happen every day and in the slightest of ways.
Let me give you some examples.
Have
you ever had a feeling that you should talk to somebody about
Christ? Whether it is a
stranger at the store, or by picking up a phone and calling a
friend. If you are like
most people, you found it uncomfortable to do, so you never did.
Or maybe you felt like you should go pick somebody up and
bring them to church, but again – it was uncomfortable so you
didn’t.
There
are many times we feel like we should do something, but we don’t.
Why don’t we? Because to do so would mean that we step out of our comfort
zones. What keeps me
focused in on my own comfort zone, and the hindrance it provides, is
by remembering that Jesus stepped out of His comfort zone twice.
He stepped out by coming from a royal throne in Heaven so He
could minister to us as a lowly man, and then He stepped out of His
comfort zone again to be so cruelly punished and hung on a cross,
just for us. And if He
can do that for me, what can I not do for Him?
As
most of you know, last year was the roughest year in my ministry,
and one of the roughest in my life.
Looking back on it, I was being given a test, and it turned
out to be a very important defining moment in my life.
I experienced the hatred of Satan, full force and without any
buffers. Now, I am not
a stranger of the streets, and I used to be a boxer, so I am used to
rough stuff. But this
left me with nothing in my life to lean on, except for my God.
I
could have walked away from the ministry and headed back to Arizona,
where our family and friends would have welcomed us back with open
arms. And that was my test. Would
I stay and keep working for God, or would I go back to my comfort
zone and lick my wounds? Let
me open myself wide open for a moment and share the inner most parts
of my heart with you.
I
know my strengths. I
also know my weaknesses, and my weaknesses far outnumber any
strengths I may have. I
also know that I have nothing going for me at all outside the love
of Jesus. So, I had to
make a choice, but that choice could not be for me.
I cried out in much pain last year to the Lord.
I told Him I was scared and didn’t know what to do.
I told Him I was hurt and needed healing.
I told Him I needed help.
And then I told Him that I needed to do what He wanted me to
do. And He spoke to my
heart.
He
gave me a peace that let me get through a very difficult time. He also gave me the strength to stay and do His work, for His
glory. Last year turned
out to be the second large defining moment in my life within a
two-year period. I came
to Oklahoma to do His work, and I stayed in Oklahoma to do His work.
God wanted me to know with surety in my heart that I would
serve Him when things were easy, and that I would continue to serve
Him when things got very, very bad.
I
had another defining moment in my life quite a few years ago. I had never told Diana that my heart had wanted me to be a
preacher all my life. So,
when I overheard her talking to a friend about what they would do if
they could do their life over again, I joined and was going to tell
them what I would do, given the “do over” chance.
But all I got out was, “If I could do my life over again, I
… “ My wife interrupted me and said, “You’d be a preacher,
wouldn’t you?” A
very large defining moment. But
this moment was a very beautiful, soft, and loving moment.
Some
defining moments are harsh and hurting; some are peaceful and soft.
But all will be tests of one kind or another for one purpose.
That purpose is to let you know where your heart and faith
are after everything else is peeled away.
And those divine tests are for one purpose; to bring you
closer to your divine tasks.
IN
CONCLUSION
We
have talked about how Abraham had a defining moment up on Mt.
Moriah, when he was going to sacrifice his son Isaac.
We talked about how that defining moment was to make Abraham
realize how much God was the priority in his life.
And we talked about how we all have defining moments for the
same reasons.
As
Christians, we must realize something else, too.
And that is each defining moment is also a deciding moment.
Some of you know the details of last year’s events, and
some don’t. It is not
important what the details were, but it is extremely important to
know what the outcome was.
The
Lord gave us a test of sorts, and let that test become a defining
moment. And then He used that defining moment to give us a defining
decision. Were we
willing to serve the Lord no matter what, or were we only willing to
serve Him when it was easy? I
give all praise to God that He helped us to focus on the word
“dedication” and to blindly follow, no matter where He might
lead us.
In
every person who has ever believed, from Abraham down to you this
morning, defining moments are deciding moments.
During those moments, you will decide just how faithful you
are to the Lord, and depending on your answer, the Lord will be
deciding just how much He is going to bless you with.
So
I want you to think back for a moment.
Think back to you defining moments.
Those times you can use as an eyewitness testimony.
Look at them objectively.
Can you see the test in them?
Can you see the decisions you made in them?
And most importantly, can you see a closer walk with Him
since that moment?
There
are several things we must really concentrate on during these
moments, if we are going to use them to grow our maturity in the
Lord. We must
decide to obey the Commands of God.
When God called Abraham to take his son to the mountain and
sacrifice him, the Scripture says,
“Early
the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When
he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the
place God had told him about.”
If
we look at this entire passage, we see no attempt by Abraham to talk
God out of this. Remember
that it was Abraham who bartered with God about destroying Sodom,
and Moses tried his best to get out of going to the Pharaoh.
So if it is our carnal nature to tell God why we cannot do
the things He requests from us, why didn’t Abraham try to talk God
out of this command? Faith
on Abraham’s part.
During
the defining moments of our lives, we must make a conscious decision
to trust in the character of God.
As Abraham prepared the altar for a burnt offering, Isaac
asked where the lamb was, and Abraham said that God would provide
the lamb. Abraham
trusted in the character of God so much, he was able to tell the
servants to wait, and “they” would return to them.
The
22nd chapter of GENESIS is a foreshadow of the
sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sakes.
Our Father sacrificed His only Son so that we might have a
closer walk even today.
For
some of you, this might be a defining moment in your life.
It might be a divine moment given to you by God, too see if
you are willing to take on the task of being a true Christian:
To see if you really want a closer walk with Him.
As
we go into our time of invitation, will you let this defining moment
be the beginning of your devoted and dedicated walk with Christ?
He wants you to, but will you obey the call and respond?
INVITATION
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