A Crisis Of Belief

INTRO. It seems now more than ever we are living in the era of Crisis’. Everywhere we turn we are met with one crisis after another. Day in and day out we are met with difficulties, heartaches, problems, tragedies, conflicts, you name it we are hit with it.

ILLUSTRATION: "YOU KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE HAD A BAD DAY"

You see a "60 Minutes" news team waiting in your office.

Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles

You wake up and discover your waterbed broke and then realize that you don’t have a water bed.

Your income tax check bounces.

Your twin brother or sister forgets your birthday

The bird singing outside your window is a buzzard.

I think we have all had days that we would soon forget and never have to repeat again.

If we look really hard at our situations many times the crisis’ we are having in our lives are not caused by others but when we are really honest with ourselves we are the cause of much of our crisis. Even though the crisis we are experiencing may be caused by our own doing it is still a crisis and we must deal with it as such.

The crisis that we experience on a daily basis many times either bring us closer to our Lord and others or drives us in the other direction. As we encounter crisis in our lives we need to understand the God is allowing these crisis for a reason and it is our job to determine what that reason might be.

It is important to realize that when we refer to Crisis, it doesn’t always means something really bad, even though most of the time that’s exactly what it is. It can be something that is really positive.

*What would you consider a positive Crisis?

The word "Crisis" comes from a word that mean "decision."

No matter what the crisis may be, good or bad, it needs to bring each of us to a "Crisis of belief". A. Crisis of belief is a turning point where we must make some decisions that will determine whether we go on to be involved with God in something God-sized or whether we will continue to go our own way and miss what God has for us. A Crisis of belief should bring us to make three major responses.

I. A CRISIS OF BELIEF WILL FIRST CAUSES US TO DECIDE WHAT WE REALLY BELIEVE ABOUT GOD.

A. When we face a crisis of belief whether good or bad we must decide then what we believe about God.

1. Mentally thinking about what we believe is the easy part.

2. The hard part is living out what we think and even say we believe.

B. What we say we believe about God must be based Soily on what God’s Word says.

1. If what we believe is based on just what others tells us then it won’t last a life time.

ILLUSTRATION: "Drop outs"

2. The problem with most people today is they are allowing other people to have a great influence on their beliefs and when these people are gone or lets them down they drop out and most of the time never see them in God’s house.

C. We can’t believe God’s Word unless we read and know God’s Word.

1. Do you know what keeps us from reading and knowing God’s Word? SIN!!

2. Repeat after me, "THIS BOOK, WILL KEEP ME FROM SIN, OR SIN WILL KEEP ME FROM THIS BOOK. Do you believe that???

3. For this book to get in us we are going to have to get in this book.

D. All through the Scriptures we see where ordinary, common, everyday people just like you and me had to decide what they really believe about God.

1. In I Samuel 16 we see David is just one example, he had to decide what he really believed about God when he was confronted with Golitha.

a. David refused to rely on human wisdom for guidance; we know what he would have happen if he did that.

b. David’s statements in I Samuel 16 indicated that he believed God was the living God and that He was "the great deliver".

2. God used a "Giant" to bring David to a crisis of Belief.

3. I Samuel 16:33 tells us infactally what David believed about God.

a. "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the Lion and Paw of the Bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine

b. David decided before he came to this crisis what he believed about God.

E. How is your response to the Crisis of belief that is occurring in your life saying about what you really believe about God.