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Sally was a bit under the weather so the B team is here
today we will be looking at how God tests our faith
God tests our faith with life because it's filled with difficulties, demands
delays
God wants us to know that these realities of life are not outside his
plan purpose for us in fact Pastor Scott will be pointing out this morning how
God can and does use these challenges
these challenges of life to build our faith in him
let's begin by opening up on God's word Job seven seventeen and eighteen
what are people that you should make so much of us
that you should think of us so often
for you examine us every morning and test us every moment
and James one two through four
dear brothers and sisters when troubles come your way
considerate an opportunity for great joy
for you know that when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to
grow
so let it grow
for when your endurance is fully developed
you will be perfect and complete
needing nothing
Well, life
at any age is filled with an opportunity
for us to exercise our faith
and the Bible is very clear that our faith is really a
a central aspect
the central aspect
of who we are
Jesus says a Matthew nine according to your faith it will be done do you
Hebrews eleven six without faith
it is impossible to please God
the apostles respond to
Jesus’ teaching
Lord, increase our faith
then James instruction to us
the testing of your faith develops perseverance
so that you may be mature
And complete
and then
Job’s experience
what is man that you make so much of him
that you give him so much attention
that you examine him every morning and test his every moment
Wow, life it is a
Test, isn't it?
life is filled with lots of opportunities
for our faith to be built
the Bible is
very clear James and Job both that
Well, our
Faith is often tested often strengthen
not in the easy times of life
our test
our faith is tested in the difficulties of life and that means
all the stresses all the difficulties of life
Listen to what Peter says he says for a little while you have had to suffer
great
and all kinds of trials now
now that I’m getting older I’m not sure it's just a little while
some of us feel like we've been facing trials and difficulties for a lot longer
than a little while
but in comparison to eternity yes it is
a little while
These have come so that your faith maybe
proved genuine
and they result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed
difficulties test our faith
all the stresses of life test our faith
and when we experienced difficulties we
well we often think that
we're experiencing those difficulties well, because God is mad at us God is
causing
these difficulties in our life
but God does that really need to cause difficulty
in our life, does He?
I think we're very good at creating our own
difficulties in life, aren’t we?
and then if it's not us personally well
since we live in a relational world with other imperfect people
Wow, they become difficult
got difficult family members
difficult co-workers
difficult neighborhoods
of course not
difficult church members
human beings by definition are difficult
and so we make our own difficulty
we live in a sin affected world it brings difficulty our way
people bring difficulty our way all kinds of difficulty
and those difficulties are not there because God causes them
we don't have difficulty because
somehow we've made God mad
and now he's getting even with us
difficulty doesn’t take us out of God's purpose for our life either we
we often
mistakenly think that
all we're going through a trial we're going through
difficulty
we're going to a difficult marriage we're dealing with difficult
children
we've gotten a
a difficult report from our doctor
we have financial difficulty
situational difficulty
all of these difficulties
does that mean that God is not present is that mean that
God's purpose and God's will for our life is nullified, no
clearly what I want to say this morning is that
God is working in the midst
of the difficulties that you experience in life
in those difficulties God strengthening
your faith
and God does want to strengthen our faith
and we all know that we grow more in
the testing times that we do the easygoing times oh, we need those
easygoing times don’t we?
we love those easygoing times but
all of life is not easygoing
life is filled with difficulties and its not just your life
look at most of the greats of the Bible
and you'll see a whole list
Of Biblical greats who had difficulty in their life
Daniel was thrown in the lion's den
Jeremiah was thrown into the dungeon
Paul withdrawn
from the boat
In a ship wreck
he was a difficult guy to be a friend to
ever read about Paul
it wasn't ship wrecked he was getting pelted with rocks
he was being
disciplined in front of the Jewish leaders
he had to go without food it was thrown into prison
and this didn't happen once in his life
this was an ongoing difficulty
that he faced
even King David had to deal with the difficulty of the death of his infant
son
most every major character
personality in the Bible
had difficulty
in their life
why
difficulty
how can God use this difficulty I ran across
this great verse from Isaiah preparing for today
Isaiah says I have refined you
though not as silver I have tested you in the furnace of affliction
I don't even like that phrase
the furnace of affliction I don't want it
I wouldn’t sign up for it
I have trouble being joyful when it shows up
yet Isaiah is
pointing out something profound God is up to something
in the difficulties of our life
he's in the midst of refining us strengthening us
tempering us
in the furnace of life in the furnace
the heat of testing
and so what should be our response
James has a very interesting thought
when it comes to how we ought to respond to testing now listen to what he says
he says consider it pure joy oh yippy
I don't know about you but I wake up every morning and say oh boy another
test I just can’t wait
but I think
James is onto something
About joy in the midst
of difficulties in life
We either spiral up or we spiral down when difficulties come our way
when we understand that God is present in our difficulty
that God is working
for our benefit and the benefit of others in the midst of our difficulty
Wow, that can bring us a
sense of joy to us in the midst of those difficulties not for the difficulties
but in those
difficulties
he goes he says whenever you face trials
of many kinds
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance
I don't want to have perseverance
I want to have to develop perseverance I don't know about you
but isn't perseverance
a key ingredient
to enjoying life, it is
here James says that perseverance is that
hang in there hold on stick to it
Attitude
and when trials come woe to you if you can hang in there
and hold on
like I said you either
cycle up or cycle down when difficulty comes your way
and you know what it's like this cycle down
we try to run and hide
from the difficulty of life we
we deny it's reality
and if denial doesn't work then we
we often tried to
kind of get lost a little anesthetized in life
we have enough tequila shooters we’re finally going to have joy in the midst of
our
difficulty in life
then we tried to
add something to our live I know I just need another more expensive
vacation I’d just need another car I just need a different house
I just need a different group of friends
and wow you know we can change all of those things and except for
a couple of difficult people we might have left behind
it really doesn't change anything does it?
and what happens is we become hopeless
or we can cycle up
we can embrace the fact that God is up to something
in the midst of the difficulties of our life
and we can
muster up all the joy that we can find in that moment
because there is some joy around we just can't
put our hands on it
we can't
see it over the blinding light of the difficulty in that moment
and being committed to joy that makes all that difference in the world
and when we have faith in Jesus Christ that
God fashioned us and He has a purpose for our life
Well then we know that God is working
in the midst of our difficulties
that he's wanting to
to strengthen us with that
hang in there you can hold on perseverance that makes all the difference
and enjoying life and not being consumed
by the difficulties that are going to come our way
difficulties that's one category
how about demands
it's interesting to look at
the demands even in the scriptures and
well I’ll tell you what
It seems as I read the Bible that God is
asking us at times to do something that's absolutely impossible
here's just a list
A small list
number one
don't worry about it anything
well I’m still working on that one
Right? All those stresses often get us worrying
some of us are worry warts
and we do exactly the opposite we worry about everything
wow
really people can
not worry about anything
here's another one of my favorites
Luke six twenty seven
Love and do good for your enemies now I can tell you that that's not what I was
taught growing up as a kid
you know I kind of grew up in a
in a more urban area and I have a lot of time away from my house
of the latch key kids before that
Term was ever coined
and so I learned that if someone is your enemy you go punch them
out
you do something bad to them why because they're your enemy
and now I become a Christian and then I get older and I read in the
Bible I’m supposed to do what, are you crazy
Love and do good to your enemies that seems nearly impossible, doesn’t it?
and of course the thanksgiving verse
First Thessalonians five eighteen
give thanksgiving than all circumstances
now I will point out it doesn't say for all circumstances
it's in all circumstances
and we're all doing great when we can give
and be thankful in most of the circumstances in our life but what an
impossibility at least
at times
how I am I to be thankful
For this difficulty
this suffering
this trial
this testing
this problem in my life
remember it's about
A choice of not
spiraling down but spiraling up in life
and God does want us to know that
that despite the testing and the difficulty of life
God calls us to be obedient to Him
Ans in our obedience
we know that God is working God is up to something
now here's a great example
I’ll give you a little
a little preview of Exodus
sixteen four
Moses went
to Egypt and got that people of Israel out
Of slavery
and
as he gathered them up and they gathered all there are things they head out of
town
quickly
immediately they ended up in a cul-de-sac between the Red Sea and the
mountains
with the
Egyptian army
coming after them
Right? just think of the emotion
all the heavy emotion of the testing
of being in slavery in Egypt
then the joy
of having Moses come and the Pharaoh say get those people out of here
they were able to gather up their goods and their family and they were so excited
they were headed to the promised land
and now they're in this cul-de-sac
nowhere to go and the Egyptian army is coming
and they’re mad
we know the story God does
a miraculous signs the parting of the Red Sea
people of Israel go through the Egyptian army follows the
sea closes and
the army drowned
now our scene is just on the other side
forty five days on the other side
of the Red Sea
and guess what
everybody's acting a little bit like a bunch of middle school kids in the back
of a van on a four day trip
They’re are getting a little cranky
they're getting tired of eating this the same old thing that they packed way back
in Egypt
and they are starting to run out
is so that the people of Israel are complaining to Moses and Aaron and
they're saying look
At least if you left us in Egypt
we would have died quickly
out here in the desert in the wilderness we're going to die slowly
so then some directions were given
the people are to go out each day and gather enough manna
manner were these little tortillas that
showed up on the ground
I was going to say Twinkies but we don't have those anymore
these little bread like objects
in that way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions
now let me tell you something about God's instructions
Eventually you are going to obey them
eventually you're going to obey them you just have the pleasure of obeying them now
and not waiting to obey them
until you die and stand before him
the scene is an interesting one
people of Israel wake up
and as the dew
Fell upon the grass
The manna showed up
and I can tell you what people did
people from my neighborhood they went out and they got all the manna
they could stuff in their pockets
that they could put in bushel God said only take enough for a day yea that’s God
in my neighborhood we’re getting enough for a month and everybody in my family
and they piled it all up and they put in their tent and guess what happened
it's stunk
it was rotten they couldn’t eat it
now they can get at the first day
they went out two, three more times
gathered up more than they needed and guess what happened
it went rotten so even those people
threw their hands in the air and said okay
I guess we’ll only gather up what we can Eat in a single day
we're like that
God tests our obedience
and obedience is good because God is working
even out in the middle of the desert for the people of Israel God is working
but it's doing miraculous things in the deserts of our life
and we miss out on those miracles when we're not obedient to God as we face
the difficulties and the dilemmas of life
God is working in fact but
what God is doing is God is using the
sandpaper
experiences a of life
to polish us up
sandpaper experiences of life none of us like them
but we do like the end result don’t we
None of us like going through difficulties but who we become out the other side
when we’re obedient to God
is profound, special
God’s plan for us
there's a third category and that's the delays in life we love to live in an
instant world, don’t we?
I love instant
I love the microwave I remember the very first
microwave I ever saw
one of my friends is a high tech guy
and he had a microwave it was about the size of a small refrigerator in those
days
but he was the first one I have a microwave and
I was at his house, he says you want a hotdog
I said sure
that he got the hot dog out in thirty seconds later he put it up on a bun
I thought what is that thing, it is a microwave
I said that really cool
what else can you cook in there
we love instant everything
we like instant food, cook right away
we like high-speed DSL I remember back to the days of Commodore sixty four and
dial-up oh my gosh
wait wait wait wait wait
you've got on and never got off because you were afraid you'd never be able to get
back on again
we like everything instant in life but coffee
that's the only thing we don't like instant
life is what
it's a waiting game
we have to wait
Deuteronomy
eight two we're back
to being out into the wilderness
God led you all the way in the desert these forty years
to test you an order to know
what was in your heart
now it doesn't matter whether your testings is four minutes four hours
four days
four weeks
four months, four decades
and some have a testing for four decades
You feel out in the wilderness
out in the desert
year after year
and we
ask the question as were waiting Lord what are you up to?
are you up to anything good at all
and God us to understand that he's testing us
and he's discovering what is truly in our heart
See as we faced the waiting game
the difficulties of life, the demands of life it does reflect our heart doesn't
it
it really reflects whether we have a heart for God or not
because it is somewhat easy to gather together and
and thank God
celebrate him when things are going well but it's another thing that
to come into a pew on a Sunday morning
when you've gotten a bad report
experience the
conflict of relationship
dealt with difficult situations in life
it's a whole other thing to come
and want to praise and thank God
and in the testing
of life our honest heart is revealed to God
are we willing to be obedient to Him
are we willing to wait on Him
and we often think that when we were waiting God is not working but while we’re
waiting God is working
he is working everything out for good
for those that love him in our called according to his purpose
and don’t think that
difficulty in life is beyond God's purpose in your life
just the opposite
Isaiah sixty four ,four
God acts on behalf of those that wait for him
I’m not good at waiting
I’m not a person who really wants to have to persevere
I’m not one of those people all that in the midst of trials
my natural response is one of joy
I am one of those people that when difficulty comes my way I
have to feel around and make sure that God's not mad at me
that somehow God isn't disappointed in me that
it's somehow God has left me
the most important thing about you as a person the most
intricate element
of who you are is your soul
it's not your body it's not your mind
it's not your personality
it's your soul
and your soul is all about faith
and what God wants to say to us
is that He is
testing
he is strengthening
he is working on our faith
our soul because our soul will last for all eternity
and God does not want
us to have to wait for heaven
he wants us to be able to experience some heaven here on earth even in the
midst
of the difficulties and the demands and the delays of life
God is
working everything out
for good
for those who are striving to be faithful
loving him and being obedient to what he directs us to do
because the truth is it's impossible
To love God without faith it's impossible to follow God without faith
it's impossible to be faithful to God without faith
and the testing of our faith always comes in the difficulties
in the demands
and the waiting game of life
Let us pray
Lord, life is not a
a simple thing but very complex
and Lord it's interesting that
that life demands faith
for everyone
and we’re fortunate to be able to have
Faith in the God who created everything that God who loves us
the God who has a plan and a purpose for us
not only now but for all eternity
And Lord I ask that you would
lavish your presence and your power upon those that are facing
substantive difficulty today
Lord that those that feel
the demands of life are a burden and and are crushing them
Lord for those that are waiting
trying to get from
one phase of life to another from the beginning to the end from “A” to “B”
Lord I ask that you would
reveal yourself
To each one of them
that Lord they would know that you love them
profoundly
that your purpose is not negated
that Lord you are wanting to build a faith in them that would
bring them into your presence
and enable them to experience your power which is
truly supernatural at times
Lord we are thankful that you give us each Sunday
it reminds us
of who you are
it brings back to our mind, heart and soul all that you want to be to us Lord
it
it infuses us with hope
in your divine perspective Lord
two things that we always need
two components of a real faith
Lord thank you for being in the God that you are Lord help us to count our
blessings this week
and we pray these things in your name Amen.