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Hear current audio messages by Pastor Scott Burr at:
http://sermon.net/dayspringchurchag

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Testing!


(Part 1)

 “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 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.”

                                                                                                Genesis 22:1-2

Testing! Just the mention of the word creates anxiety in many people. Yet without testing, we truly cannot gauge growth. When God tested Abraham; He wasn’t looking for Abraham to answer with some sort of subjective soft response, but rather God was looking for obedience, understanding, genuineness, and readiness.

Over the last few days my devotional readings have had me in the first few chapters of the book of Leviticus learning about the variety of offerings God instructed Israel to bring. One of them was the burnt offering. When I read in Genesis 22 how God instructed Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, I could not help but think about the pattern given in Leviticus 1:4-8:

“You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar.”

This passage drives home the gravity of what God asked of Abraham; and it makes many of the situations I have called “tests” in my life; seem only like pop quizzes in comparison.

What is a test?

One definition of a test is a procedure or series of questions intended to establish the quality, knowledge, ability, performance, or reliability of something; especially before it is taken into widespread use.

Tests are designed to do four primary things. They are designed to gauge our proficiency or reliability, reveal our understanding of truth, evaluate quality/genuineness, and communicate our readiness to move the next level of learning or promotion.

These four realities are evidenced in God’s testing of Abraham in Genesis 22.

 

Pastor Scott Burr                                                                    

http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Signs of Spiritual Awakening Pt. 3


(Taken from the Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus series.)

“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

                                                                                    Mark 2:5-6

Even though the obvious need of the man being lowered from the roof was his paralysis; Jesus chose to address his spiritual condition first! When it comes to authentic spiritual awakening, salvation must be the primary spiritual experience.

Jesus could have immediately gone to healing this man’s body; however he dealt with the man’s most pressing need; his eternal salvation.

The religious leaders of Jesus day were uncomfortable enough with Jesus’ power to heal the sick; now He was exercising an authority that they believed belonged to God alone. They were already conflicted concerning where Jesus’ power to heal originated! So how would they reconcile this to their long held beliefs?

“Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

                                                                                    Mark 2:8-12

As impressive as it may have been to watch this man get up off of his mat and walk away; Jesus made it clear that the man’s eternal future was far more important than his physical healing.

 

It is very easy, when revival begins to take place, to allow healing, deliverance, and signs and wonders to become the preoccupation of our gatherings. Jesus made certain to prioritize man’s need for spiritual wholeness before his need of physical wholeness.

Jesus said in Luke 19:10:

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

This continued focus on keeping salvation as the primary spiritual experience in our services will provide a strong foundation for continued growth and maturity within our congregations.

 

Pastor Scott Burr                                                                    

http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/