There is one constant in the kingdom of God. Every 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 to being the sacrifice 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.
VERSE 8 – ‘Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb ….’
Again, Abraham’s faith was so strong that he instinctively knew that God would provide. This let Abraham free to just follow and trust the Lord. I think the one thing that keeps us from having this kind of faith is that we tend to do what Sarah did; we jump in front of the Lord, and try to do His job for him so that we can understand what is going on.
Let me say very clearly. It is not necessary for us to know how or why God does things. The only thing that is necessary is that we just trust in Him and wait on Him.
VERSE 14 – ‘On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.’
When Jesus told us that even with the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains, he was not talking about moving the landscape. He was referring to problems in our lives. You have to be aware that back then, in their language, they sometimes talked in metaphors. In other words, the problems in our lives sometimes seem as impassable as mountains, don’t they? But with true faith in Jesus, we can move those mountainous problems and get through to the other side.
And on our mountains, it is critical that we remember the Lord will provide for us, no matter what happens. We might not be able to see it at the time, but you can believe me when I say that the Lord has better eyesight than we do. So relax in your faith and quit worrying about how you are going to take care of the problem, so that He can take care of it for you.
We have talked about defining moments being tests of faith, but I also want you to know that …
1. “DEFINING MOMENTS” ARE “DIVINE MOMENTS”
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
