Testing - How - Final...remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:23-26) communion communion

Testing

1. Does God really test me?

2. What is a test?

3. What is a test like?

4. Why does God test me?

1. yes 2. try, prove, probe,

examine, refine, purify 3. You’ll know when it

happens 4. To make me like Jesus

What & Why

how do I take the test?

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Eph. 2:8-10)

• Stay rooted in the gospel


Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. (1 Pet. 4:12)


• Testing is normal


“Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matt. 6:13)

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. (James 1:13)



• Not everything is a test


“Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.” (Gen. 22:13)

“where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint “(Deut. 8:15b)




• God always delivers


For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. (Heb. 2:18)

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15)





• You’re never alone


Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-4 The Message)







• Don’t run away

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

how do I take the test?• Stay rooted in the gospel






• focus on joy

There are generally a weakness and an error at work within us, at such times, which considerably prolong the trouble, and largely neutralize the growth this very trouble would otherwise bring to our souls. The weakness lies in that we let our imagination and sensitiveness be directly absorbed in our trouble. We contemplate, and further enlarge, the trouble present in ourselves, instead of firmly and faithfully looking away, either at the great abiding realities of the spiritual world or, if this is momentarily impossible for us, at some other, natural or human, wholesome fact or law. And the error lies in the lurking suspicions that, for such trials to purify us, we must feel them fully in their tryingness—

that is, we must face and fathom them directly and completely. Such a view completely overlooks the fact that such trials are sent us for the purpose of deoccupying us with our smaller selves; and, again, it ignores the experience of God’s saints across the ages, that, precisely in proportion as we can get away from direct occupation with our troubles to the thought and love of God, to the presence of Him Who permits all this, in the same proportion do and will these trials purify our souls.”

—Friedrich von Hugel, The Life of Prayer

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

how do I take the test?• Stay rooted in the gospel






• focus on joy

Response

• ask for deliverance

• relinquish yourself to God’s care

• re-focus on God & joy

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:23-26)

communion

communion moment

• ask for deliverance

• relinquish yourself to God’s care

• re-focus on God & joy

Documents

Testing - How - Final...remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:23-26) communion communion