TITLE: Fail the Faith Test
TEXT: Genesis 22:1-3 - ¹Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ²Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
PROPOSITION: When put to the test, some people fail.
QUESTION: How?
KEY WORD: Tests
SCRIPTURE READING: Same

INTRODUCTION:

1. Our faith is often put to the test.

   1. Sometimes we test ourselves.

   2. Sometimes others test our faith

   3. Life can often put us to the test

2. When our faith is put to the test – we pass or fail

1. Personal or family crisis

   1. Child, spouse with illness

   2. Marital problems

   3. Dealing with some handicap

   4. Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

   5. 1 Corinthians 15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

2. Life Transitions

   1. Graduation

   2. Changing jobs

   3. Having a child

   4. Mid-life, empty nest

   5. Retirement

   6. Matthew 13:22 - Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

3. Disappointment with brethren

   1. Nobody missed me

   2. Elders don’t care what I think

   3. Hypocrisy in the church

   4. I do not defend wrong actions – BUT:

      1. Are the preacher or elders your basis of faith?

      2. Is a hypocrite closer to God than you are?

4. Moving to a new community

   1. Change homes, schools, churches, jobs, etc.

   2. Genesis 12:1 - Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

   3. Genesis 12:7 - Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

   4. Does it make sense to:

      1. Continue to worship with other imperfect saints?

      2. Drop out because they are not perfect?

5. Guilt

   1. Repent, pray for forgiveness

   2. Accept God’s grace

   3. Hebrews 8:12 – For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

6. Extended illness – absence

   1. Hebrews 10:25 - not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

   2. Gone more than 6 – 8 weeks – we fill the hole

7. Burn out

   1. Many feel tired, unappreciated, worn out

   2. “Coat and pants do all the work, tie gets all the gravy.”

   3. Teachers, trapped in a class

   4. Preachers, elders, deacons

8. Feeling of Isolation

   1. Elijah felt all alone – 1 Kings 19

   2. No one stood with Paul on trial

   3. 2 Timothy 4:16-17 - ¹⁶At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. ¹⁷But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Conclusion:

1. How is your faith?

2. Can it pass the test?