THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT TESTING
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
James 1: 2 My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY
when you fall into many tests and trials.
3. Knowing that the trying of your faith works PATIENCE.
Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
I start the discussion with these quick points
1. Everyone will be tested in life.
2. No one is exempt.
3. We should learn to expect testing.
4. We should learn to thrive during seasons of testing.
5. There is a lesson and a plan to testing, we must be students and learn.
THREE QUESTIONS:
1. HOW WERE BIBLICAL PEOPLE TESTED?
2. HOW DOES THE ENEMY TEST US TODAY?
3. WHY ARE WE TESTED TODAY? WHY DO WE GO THROUGH SEASONS OF TESTING?
On a Wednesday night we did this lesson.
I divided the group into three smaller groups.
I assigned a leader to each group and a secretary to keep notes.
I counted one, two, three to each individual in the crowd.
The ones went with one group leader.
The twos went with the second group leader.
The threes went with group leader number three.
Each group went into a different area, where they could talk and discuss,
TESTING AND THE AREA ABOUT TESTING assigned to each group.
I allowed the groups to meet in separate areas and talk for 15 minutes.
The leader guided the discussion, and the secretary made notes in regard
to their discussion.
At 15 minutes, I called everyone back into the sanctuary for a combined discussion.
Each group leader reported to the whole group.
Each group leader had 12 minutes to report their findings.
I was the official timer.
This was a powerful teaching tool and the group came up with a broader
and greater detailed report than I could have covered in a lecture or a lesson.
This is a summary of the notes that I took as each of the three groups reported.
QUESTION NUMBER ONE:
HOW WERE PEOPLE TESTED IN BIBLICAL TIMES?
Adam and Eve -- one tree was off limits, rules were clear from start.
Annias- Sapphira --- giving and attitudes.
Daniel --- faithfulness and prayer habits.
Widow --- obey and give her last meal to the Preacher.
Saul -- not waiting on the man of God and taking things into his own hands.
Jonathan --- watching his Dad mistreat a family friend, and still being a friend.
David --- facing the giant, respecting Saul even when he did not deserve respect.
Joseph --- dysfunctional family, dreaming, forgiving and not bitter.
Peter -- after fishing all night told by a carpenter to fish again.
Samuel -- little boy keeping the vision and light in the church aflame.
Gideon -- to trust and reduce the army to 300 men.
Ruth -- to stand by her mother-in-law, and to do physical work.
3 Hebrew children -- furnace 7x’s hoter than the norm.
Samson -- very strong yet a weak woman had set a trap.
Paul -- to suffer beatings and imprisonment and still write God’s word..
Namaan -- to listen to a little girl and humble self and dip in a dirty river.
Jesus was tested in the wilderness, in the garden, and each step of his journey.
Esther -- placed in a position and tested to approach the King for her people.
Jacob -- worked 14 years for his love.
Jonah -- to obey and reach out to Ninevah.
Cain and Abel in giving and jealousy.
Nebuchadnezzar -- forget the past and not humble himself, nervous breakdown.
QUESTION NUMBER TWO:
HOW DOES THE ENEMY TEST US TODAY?
Blowing smoke and not identifying who the real enemy is?
Hard time in finances?
Giving offerings and tithing?
Demand and supply?
Prosperity and being blessed and forgetting God?
Anything, materialism, that would lead away from God and the church?
Health problems, poor diets, tiredness, lack of proper rest?
Lack of submission?
Lack of knowledge in head and heart of the Bible?
Weak families -- weak church?
Deception, lying, and falsehoods?
Palliation and making light of mistakes?
No evaluation system in place, justify self and not correcting problem?
Play to weaknesses?
Play to strengths?
Stress?
Relationships and wrong priorities?
Lack of self control and balance?
Miss using of time?
Lack of obedience? Half hearted obedience?
Not using talent, time, energy wisely?
Faithfulness to church?
Lack of witness and evangelism?
Lack of action and being a doer of the word?
Poor usage of words?
Distortions and misrepresentation of whole truth?
Wrongful focus?
Throwing up the past?
Blame game, blaming others?
Procrastination?
Emotions playing games, up, down, up, down?
Anger, temper, wrath?
Revenge and lack of forgiveness?
Pornography, erotic, sensual to excite?
Dirty words and dirty jokes?
Doubt?
Running out of oil?
NUMBER THREE:
WHY DO WE GO THROUGH SEASONS OF TESTING?
Test are not bad.
Would you want a doctor or lawyer that had never passed a test?
Test will identify strengths and weakness; to learn to guard and protect.
Test can be a GUT CHECK.
Test can burst our bubbles and cause us to re-think our problem.
Test can keep our attitudes and emotions in place and in order.
Test can teach love in difficult times.
Test can teach us God is God and He is ABLE!
Trust during test can teach confidence in God, His Plan, and in us.
Test our T&P, tried and proven. Belief system holds.
Test can prove that God is within us.
After passing test you advance to the next level.
After surviving the testing process we should remember where we have been.
Test can knock off the rough and smooth our edges.
Test can open our eyes.
Test can be a wake up call.
Keep us focused.
We go through test to learn how to help others.
In trials we learn real compassion.
Test make us a good example, or a bad example.
Growth and increase come as we pass the test.
Test can prove you do not know it all.
Test can show how much we can forget.
Test works patience.
Test consistently prove God’s Word does God’s work.
Test show mountain top experience --- I am on top of the mountain,
or the mountain is on top of me, but always mountain top.
Test can measure forward growth, negative growth.
Testing process can help us focus on the goals.
Test is a way of paying stupid tax.
Test can identify what there is to gain or lose.
Test can teach understanding and appreciation.
Test can try to break stubborn, hard headedness.
Testing removes impurities.
James 1: 2 My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY
when you fall into many tests and trials.
3. Knowing that the trying of your faith works PATIENCE.
Do you have a dynamite testimony and a firecracker test?
How do you respond to adversity?
Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
Psalms 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart:
TRY me, and KNOW my thoughts.
24. And see if there be any wicked way in me;
and lead me in the way everlasting.
We need to teach people to apply their hearts and grow and thrive in the times and seasons of testing.
His servant and student,
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
