Thursday, December 7, 2006
By Faith... Abraham - Part II, Part 68 of 79
TEXT: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV).
IDEA: Life with God is more like riding a roller coaster than riding a monorail.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that our confidence in life doesn't come from traveling on a smooth road but in being held by a strong God.
Do you enjoy riding a roller coaster? Why?
Do you prefer riding on a monorail? Why?
I. John Walton insists that the experience of the life of faith resembles a roller coaster more than a monorail.
What is the difference in the purpose of a monorail and a roller coaster? A roller coaster is designed with the ride in mind, not the destination.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 describes the ups and downs of life. There are times in life for all kinds of experiences and many are not pleasant:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Some people consider the roller coaster frightening and others call it exhilarating. What separates the two groups?
The first group may dislike the queasy feeling in the stomach but even more they experience the anxiety of feeling out of control. They fear that the cars won't stay on the tracks.
The second group feels exhilarated at the thrill of being out of control. Suppose they had a good reason to believe that the car could fly off the tracks: their thrill would become terror.
II. When we're not in control, then it is easy to become fearful.
The difference between fear and exhilaration is the belief that the situation is truly under control even if it isn't our control.
In the analogy, the tracks are like life and the cars represent God. We may feel that we are free-falling through life, but we are held by God.
When Abraham went to sacrifice his son, he seems calm. Why?
The life of faith is not often characterized by a sense of well-being. It resembles a thrill ride. How we handle it depends on whether or not we believe that God has not lost control.
