If we are able to have faith in people and the things that they build, why do we sometimes struggle in our faith in God?  This evening I am going to be talking about Isaac’s life – one of our forefathers of faith.  As we analyze his life, we are going to learn some important lessons from him and the kind of faith that we are suppose to have.  However, before I do this, I would like to relate this lesson to a story about a guy on his death bed.  Two minutes before he breathed his last, he asked his wife to bury him with all of his money so that he could take it with him to his after-life.  Dumbfounded, she agreed to do this.  A few days later, at his funeral service, and as his casket was being lowered into the ground, his widow said, “Stop!”  She then opened the casket and put a slip of paper in. Not knowing what she did, her friend turned to her and said, “I thought he said to give him all of his money.”  The widow replied, “I wrote him a check … he can have it, if he can cash it!”

Maybe some of us can relate to this.  Some of us can relate to a promise that was not fulfilled. Performance – that’s results, not promises.

Our faith is interconnected with promises that we make to God.  Faith is a life-long process of learning to trust in the promises of God.  Faith is tenacious.

1.   Faith requires simple obedience not elaborate sacrifice.

Faith is spiritual punctuality.  Faith is longevity.  It is your commitment and obedience to following God.  It is a process of learning to trust in His promises.  When you say, “I have lost faith,” this means that you have consciously made  the decision to no longer follow the ways that God has laid out for you.

As the Bible says, “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance…And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.”  Hebrews 11:8-9 NLT.   It was by faith, that Abraham obeyed God.

Faith only requires simple obedience to God, not elaborate sacrifice.  Obedience usually leads to sacrifice; however, sacrifice does not always result in obedience.  In other words, intimacy usually leads to activity.

When God makes promises, He always keeps them.

When I first started dating my wife, I made a lot of crazy promises.  One day, we were having a conversation about our dreams and about our hopes, and my wife said to me, “Someday, I would like to travel the world.”    Previously, having traveled on missions that took me to Israel, Europe, England, and Scotland, I seized the moment to talk about my travels, and promised to travel with her all over the world.  You know, a day later I forgot about everything that I had said; however, ten years later, my wife has not forgotten what I said, and randomly brings this topic up in our conversations.

Let’s look at Isaac’s encounters with God, and how Abraham showed Isaac (his son) the simple act of obedience and commitment to God.  Abraham taught Isaac simple obedience, not elaborate sacrifice to God, and to pray during transitions that he was going through.  Isaac prayed regarding his marriage to Rebecca and interceded in prayer for his wife Rebecca, who was barren.

Simple obedience can be done all of the time.  Whenever I felt stuck in my faith, frustrated, or angry with God, it was because of an issue of disobedience to Him.   I believe that God is rebirthing a revival of simple obedience.   Throughout history, simple men served the poor and shared the gospel of Jesus in public places.

We need to have simple obedience instead of elaborate sacrifice, because “faith is longevity.”  The Bible says, “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac, as a sacrifice when God was testing him.  Abraham who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.’”  Hebrews 11:17-18 NLT

Faith building is a life-long process where we learn to trust Him.

God told Abraham during an encounter with him that he was going to have a child of promise.  God also told Abraham to look up at the stars, because they represented the exact number of descendents that would be given to him.  In Genesis, Abraham simply obeyed God’s command when he readied himself to walk up a mountain and sacrifice Isaac, whom he had hoped for and waited for.   As a father, wouldn’t you be a bit worried if God asked you to give back to Him your son that He had given you, and which you treasured as being so special in your life?

The second point is:

2. FAITH IS STRENGTHENED THROUGH GOD’S process and testing.

Let’s look at the context of Abraham and Isaac’s life.

In the book of Hebrews, Abraham is described as being over 100 years old when God promises him a son.  Sarah laughs when God tells her that she is going to have a son, and laughs again when Isaac, the child of promise emerges.  This was a process and a test for both Abraham and Sarah.  Isaac was also given the same promise as Abraham – yet his wife was barren.

We have our own process in faith.  Faith is longevity.

When we first accepted Jesus into our lives, we were like a little bud that sprouted from the ground.  Then we got baptized and attended Growing Deep, Growing Strong.   More fruit appeared in our lives as we stayed committed to God, and as we grew in this faith.   For example, before our commitment to Jesus we were impatient, but now we have incredible patience.  Before, there was criticism and anger – now, there is peace in our lives.  However, some fruit may seem to disappear, and some of our tree branches may shrivel up and break when obstacles appear in our lives.  We may then get frustrated and think, “Have I disobeyed God?”

We must realize that this is a process and that God strengthens our faith through process and through testing.  In John 15, Jesus talks about this when He says, “I am the vine, my Dad, He is the vine dresser. He loves you and if you remain in the vine, then you are going to bear fruit.  Every miracle moment that we experience happened because of millions of process moments that lead up to it.  When we break through our wall of difficulty and submit to God’s process, our fruits exponentially increase. This is a process that happens over and over again, until Jesus takes us home.  We will have trouble, but the good news is that God promises to deliver.

Faith is longevity. In the Bible, Isaac wonders whether he is able to take care of his family.   “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Live here as a foreigner in the land, and I will be with you and bless you.  I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham…”   Genesis 26:2-3 LLT

2.   FAITH IS INTENDED TO PASS ON FROM generation to generation.

Faith is meant for us to pass on to our neighbors and to our families.

In the middle of a famine, Isaac prayed and asked God to show him what to do.  God told Isaac to remain in this land that he was a stranger to, because He promised his father and his descendants that they would receive it.  He did this because he was practicing the disciplines that were shown to him by Abraham.

I remembered a conversation with my Dad who told me that he used to have a hard time controlling his anger- he had a short fuse.  As a kid, I too had an anger issue.  While bowling with my bowling league, I would pick up my ball and slam it to the ground when I got a gutter ball.  Well, one day my dad told me that I had to let go of my anger.

Isaac was a father in a line of fathers.   He had one promise in a line of promises that got passed down from generation to generation.  In the same way as our forefathers did, we must also pass faith on to our future generations.  God is not asking for elaborate sacrifices – simple devotion or prayer will do.   If we do not show our neighbors and our families the way of faith that offers them hope and life, who will?  This will require our time, and our discipline.

Seizing the moment to teach my son something is a way of passing down faith from generation to generation.  At home, we do our devo’s using animated Bible stories from our Ipad.  I put my son in Children’s Ark to learn our Christian ways. 

Faith is supposed to be passed on from generation to generation.  Isaac’s life teaches us that life is a process and that faith is longevity.  Will you and I demonstrate and pass on to our future generations, simple obedience?   Will you and I recognize that God is a God of process?  We must submit to that process.  This allows our hearts to soften and break through to transformation.  Then we will realize how good God is.

Questions:

· How does God strengthen our faith?

· What does it mean by faith is strengthened through process and through testing?

· How and why do we pass on faith to future generations?

· What can we do to strengthen our faith?