Chapel Worship Guide 9.18.2011

September 18, 2011, 9:00 AM Worship

Advocate Condell, Nemmers Family Chapel

 Message:  “Facing Life’s Tests with Faith” by Barbara Shafer

Genesis 22:1-14  NIV Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 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.” 

 3 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. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 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.”  6 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,

7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

And the two of them went on together. 9 When they 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. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he 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.” 13 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. 14 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.”

 Today, we’ll learn how to Face Life’s Tests with Faith.

In Hebrews 11 Abraham is considered a model of faith with each example of faith related to a test.  From Hebrews 11:8-12

• There was a test of obedience  v8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
• There was a test of confidence v 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country.
• There was a test of faith  v11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age– and Sarah herself was barren– was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Which brings us to today’s passage…the binding of Isaac, the test of allegiance and sacrifice.

 We can learn 5 ways to face life’s tests with FAITH  not fear from Abraham’s life in today’s passage

1. Don’t talk about it, just do it. 
2. Don’t wait to do it, just get after it.
3. Don’t let the silence discourage you, just keep going. 
4. Don’t merely think faithful thoughts, just speak it. 
5. Don’t be discouraged, just take one more step by faith. 

 Why are these 5 Ways important to facing life’s tests with Faith, not Fear?

 

• Fear RESISTS, but Faith RESOLVES.
• Fear RATIONALIZES, but Faith becomes READY for action.
• Fear makes us DESPONDENT, but Faith makes us DEPENDENT. 
• Fear SILENCES but Faith SPEAKS.
• Fear PARALYZES, but Faith PERSEVERES because it looks at our faithful God.

Abraham was a patriarch of faith, but Jesus Christ faced God’s ultimate test with faith and He alone is our deliverer. 

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:2)