FAITH TESTED
Hebrews 11:6
Thank you for the opportunity to share with you again. I’ve been asked several times, “Are you ready?” My answer is, I’m never ready. When it’s time you do it relying on God’s help. So let’s do that now.
I like hearing Ptr Jonas mid life stories. All the time, I’m thinking, I want to come back in 20 years and hear what you have to say.
I’ve appreciated our series on faith. Because we cannot live the Christian life without it. The writer of Hebrews puts it so well when he tells us this.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Do you want to please God? Look at your neighbor and say, “I want to please God.” If you want to please God you must live by faith.
I’ve seen Every Nation Bangkok move forward by faith. It was just a little over 2 years ago when I was visiting and Ptr Jonas was telling me how we used to meet at Alexander Hotel. He told me this place is 4 times bigger than the place we had at the Alexander Hotel. And we’re just getting ready to move again. God is working as we move forward by faith.
2 years ago I visited Every Nation Macau. We were meeting in someone’s living room. A couple months later I went back to Macau and we were meeting in Grandview Hotel. God is working as we move forward by faith.
I appreciated what Ptr Ross shared last week, when he said, “Faith is not the ability to manipulate God.” Faith is not expecting He will always do what we want.
I was really excited when Ptr Jonas asked me to share a few weeks ago. Immediately I thought of what I want to share with you today. It’s not a pleasant topic, as we all want to move forward by faith and see God work. But I think it’s something we need to look at if we are going to be men and women of faith. And I’m talking about what happens when things don’t go the way we planned. Or what happens when God closes a door? What happens when God says no?
I can give you several examples of this in 3 areas. Most of us have to work. Some time ago I was living in Houston and I was in a job that really wasn’t going anywhere. I love to travel. And I did find a job that involved world wide travel. I applied for it and was invited for an interview. I didn’t get the job. It was hard because it looked like a good opportunity for me.
What about missions? Some of you are wanting to serve God as missionaries. You pray about going to a certain country, but you are denied a visa. Some of you have been through this before.
And what about “marriage life?” I had to include this one. Several years ago I met a woman at church who I had met briefly 20 years before. We both went to Dallas Theological Seminary. After church she came up to me and said she would like to meet with me sometime. I thought, yes yes yes. So we had a nice visit, and I wanted to see her more. I sent her an email thanking her for our time together but I didn’t hear back from her. A couple weeks later I saw her at church. After talking to her for a few minutes, it became very clear that she did not want to go out with me again. I was devastated.
When something like this happens, we become disillusioned. We might even get angry with God. We’re doing everything we’re supposed to be doing. We’re cultivating a walk with God, and we’re obeying Him in all areas as best as we know. Often it’s not because of anything we are doing or not doing. But the door closes. It’s cold. It’s impersonal. And to make matters worse, God usually doesn’t tell us why.
Do you want your faith to grow? Look at your neighbor and say, “I want my faith to grow.” Because faith grows through testing. I want us to look at someone who really lived by faith and encountered closed doors. Our passage is Acts 16: 6-10.
Acts 16:6-10 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia,, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul was on his 2nd missionary journey and he was wanting to take the gospel to where it hadn’t been preached before. You know what? I think Paul and his companions belonged to an Every Nation church. Because they were doing exactly what our mission is…To honor God and make disciples. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
We read the passage and I know there are some of those places you’ve never heard of before. So let me make it easier for you. I’ll use a map of Thailand. First Paul and his companions went through Thailand and wanted to go into Laos and Cambodia. But they couldn’t do it. The door was closed. So next they went up to Chiang Rai and Myanmar but they still couldn’t preach the gospel. We don’t know how God did it but He closed the door.
So they went down to Phuket. Now if you look, you really have no place to go because you’re standing at the edge of the sea. So what do we do? Do we have a pity party, give up, try to force the door open or look for another open door?
Let me now show you a map of where this actually took place. It was known as Asia Minor. Paul and his companions probably got discouraged, but as we see in our passage, God opened a door. If we go back to Thailand they were at the edge of the Indian Ocean and they got a call to go preach the gospel in India. Remember, Paul wanted to preach the gospel where it had never been heard before.
I know it gets discouraging when a door closes. Especially if it’s something you prayed about and believed God was going to open it for you. But remember this. When God closes a door it’s because He has something better for you. Did you see the movie, The Sound of Music? Remember when the Reverend Mother told Maria, “When God closes a door He opens a window.”
I often think of my spiritual pilgrimage. I graduated from seminary in 1993. I was eager to do what I was called and trained to do, “Preach the word.” But the door didn’t open. I did some short term missions and had opportunities for preaching but the door did not open for me. I had to care for my mother who was not in good health. I needed a job. So I went to work for American Airlines. Actually, I was not a pilot, I worked in reservations at a call center. I was on a flight, talking to the captain and he told me I could sit in his seat. So I sat down and said, “Picture picture.”
Remember I said how much I like to travel? I had the opportunity to do that with American Airlines. I had several opportunities to go to Japan and God opened the door for me to go there. I was there 4 years and they were some of the best years of my life. Look at those 2 maps. Japan gets a lot of earthquakes. It is at the juncture of 4 tectonic plates. I experienced big and small earthquakes during my time there. My time ended there and God opened doors for me to come here.
The life of faith is not an easy life. Look at your neighbor and say, “The life of faith is not an easy life.” But it’s the only way to please God.
I was talking with some retired missionary friends on Skype the other night. Do any of you have Skype? It’s great for chatting and talking halfway around the world for free. They were telling me how God opens and closes doors in the life of every believer.
Your faith is precious to God. Let me share with you from this passage, 1 Peter 1:7.
1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Peter wrote this to a group of Christians who were suffering much worse than we can expect. They were suffering persecution. Have any of you ever heard of Nero? He was the Roman emperor and he did not like Christians. There are 2 reasons God tests us. See my Rolex? It’s made of 18 karat gold. If any of you have ever worked making jewelry you know gold has to be heated very hot to remove all the impurities. The result is you have pure gold.
There are 2 results of testing. One is that your faith grows. It is refined like gold under fire. And second it shows your faith is real. Gold is real. But it won’t last forever. It will perish. Your faith won’t. And the good news is that God will bless you for a life of faith. Praise, honor and glory to God will result and He will bless you for it.
Faith is the one thing you cannot live without if you want to please God. Let’s be those who walk by faith. Let’s pray.
