Lecture

Welcome back to “The Testing of Your Faith.” We’re on session number two, “The Patterns of Tests of Faith.” We’re going to share with you the five major patterns of the trials that God sends your direction. Do you know which pattern you’re in today or the one you were in last year, or the one that your best friend is in and has no idea? This is going to be eye-opening. But before we go over and go to our workbook and the screen, I want to look at the last session we had together.

Session one, “The Purpose of Tests of Faith.” And this is our chart that we talked about. First of all, we had the response of joy and rejoice about the trials, which are really the tests of your faith. That’s the reality we’re in. We’re in one of those trials right now. And the shocking part of it is, it’s the exact opposite of what we expect. God wants us to have joy and rejoicing, because we know something about this reality. We know that we have a reward coming, if we endure the tests of faith. And our responsibility is this red arrow. We are to endure, let patience, let endurance have its perfect work so that you can be transformed, become like Christ. And the result is that God will transform you to be perfect as He is perfect, step by step by step. And the last one, the reward, earthly—that you’ll be perfect, mature, lacking nothing, and heavenly—that you will receive from Christ at His coming, just think about this: God’s going to affirm you. Personally, publicly, with honor, praise, and glory. This is not honor, praise and glory to Christ. This is Christ giving you honor, praise, and glory, because of the tests of faith that you endured and became like Him.

So let’s begin back over here in session number two. One of the goals we have in this course is that you would have a panorama of your entire life and how it’s working from the Bible’s point of view. And our goal is that you would kind of be comfortable with the words that we’re teaching you. On that session number one, we taught you about your response when you’re in the reality of a trial, it’s my responsibility to endure and not end the trial too soon, so it’ll finish its perfect work, so I’ll have the result that my life will become more and more like Christ, and that I’ll get the rewards that are promised. Got those five words? Come on, they’re not hard. Review them throughout the week before we come back for the next session.

Well, what we’re going to do in this particular session is something that’s very, very helpful. It’s to give you a vocabulary, instead of you know that thing, that “whatamajig” over there, I don’t know what you call it, just the one. We don’t know what to call something. And if you don’t know what to call it, you really don’t have a clear grasp of it. What does a test of faith look like? What are the different types of tests of faith? If I came over with one of the cameras and a microphone and I said, Hi, I’m from NBC over here. I’d like to ask you, what are the different types of trials that you have in your life? What would you do? You have any idea in your mind? Well, you will at the end of this session, I promise to you, but I want to give you a vocabulary. That is a way to talk about something. Because if not, you’re not going to be able to make common sense out of it.

I want you to really know on the fourth level of knowing. There are four levels of knowing. Level number one is unconscious incompetent. You don’t know that you don’t know. Other people may, but you don’t know that you don’t know. The second level is conscious incompetent. You know that you don’t know. You know that you don’t know. Hopefully that’s how you’re feeling about the patterns. You’re consciously incompetent. You don’t know. It’s all right to be incompetent if you don’t know something. Level number three is, unconsciously competent. You’re just good at something, and somebody says to you, Man, look at what you just did. How did you do that? I don’t know. I don’t know. It just kind of comes naturally. But what’s your secret? I don’t know. It just kind of comes naturally to me. That’s unconscious competent. But the fourth level is what we all want, which is consciously competent. You know. You know and you’re competent about it. And so, what we’re going to do in this session is help you become consciously competent so that when you’re in a trial, you know which of the five patterns are you in.

How did we find these five patterns? How did I find them? Not in a book, not in a course somewhere. I found it in this thing called the Bible. And reading from one side to the other side, studying every single test of faith I could find, and then begin to analyze them. Are there any patterns in these tests? And I found there sure are. There’s not ten, I couldn’t find ten. In fact, I found five primary patterns that you will find yourself in. And in trying to find out what’s the average pattern for the average audience. I asked a couple audiences, I want you to vote. Is it pattern one, two, three, four, five is the one that’s happening most in your life right now? And pattern four was number one, and pattern five was number two. So when we get to these, I want you to be thinking to yourself, which one am I?

What do I want you to be able to do at the end of this session? I want you to be able to say, here are the five patterns. Pattern one, pattern two, pattern three, pattern four, and name them to me. And have a little picture of them in your mind, just like for session one. It is response, reality, responsibility, result, and reward. And pattern one, two, three, four, five. And session number three has got some significant insights, and a vocabulary for you to use, so you’ll understand what’s taking place.

So let’s go back up here and take a look at some Scripture for a moment. In the introduction, the components, the sort of background before we get to the patterns, “The Components of Tests of Faith.” And you learned this in session number one. So what exactly is session two on here? Every session we’re going to teach you fits on this chart somewhere. We’re going to work our way this way. Right now we’re on the trials. And we’re going to give you five patterns.

In session number three, take a look over here for a minute. Session number three, “The Stages in Test Failure.” Test failures just don’t happen, they happen in stages. Therefore, we’re going to take a look at this period of enduring and say, as time goes on, you start failing, what are the stages you’re going to go through before you totally fail? That’s session number three.

Session four is the exact opposite. How do you have test success? That’s up here. So every single session is going to take you till you really are a master and you’ve been initiated into the mysteries that Jesus Christ wants you to know.

Now this is a passage we talked about last time, but I want to show you something. The tests of faith—“In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while,” a little while. “If need be, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6 NKJV). So number one, look at this; a little while. It’s temporary. If need be; if you need it. From whose point of view? Maybe not from yours or mine, but from His point of view. That’s says temporary and it’s necessary. You’ve been grieved by various trials, all kinds of them. Number three, variety.

How do we feel when we’re going through one of these temporary, necessary and variety trials? We feel grieved. I don’t want to lessen this, and to be promoting an idea that is not biblical. Trials never get to be “untrials.” They’re trials, they’re meant to be. That’s why we must endure until they’ve finished their work. So when you think about this, these are the tests of faith characteristics. The tests of faith characteristics.

Next in your notebook, these are the tests of faith variables. That is, this is going to show you how many different ways God can arrange to send you a trial. One different than any one you’ve ever had, and the next one will be different than you’ve ever had. And He has so many different variables He can choose. For instance, in your workbook, I hope you have your Testing of Your Faith Workbook, or you’re using the year three “Super Book,” and you can be following right in your workbook. “The Patterns of Faith” right there, as we process through this and take your notes and work on your discussion questions.

So what are the variables? I just listed some for 2.1. That is the timing of the test of faith. Is it going to be tomorrow at two o’clock? Is it going to be the next day? It’s infinite. 2.2. Where? What’s the location of a test of faith? Is it going to be at your house? Is it going to be work? Is it going to be at the gas station? Where is it going to be? Number three is Who? Who’s going to be involved in your test of faith? Is it your boss? Is it your spouse? Is it your child? Is it your neighbor? Is it a total stranger? Is it your pastor? Who’s going to be the people that’s involved in your test of faith?

Number four, What? What are the categories involved in the test of faith, such as physical health, emotional distress, financial condition, your marriage, your family, job and work situation, major failure? It can be all kinds of situations. Number five, How much? That is, how long will your test last? How severe, How difficult, will it be? How many parts of it are there going to be involved for you? The complexity of the test. 2.6, Why? Don’t lose track of this. The transformation of your life to be more perfect, complete, lacking nothing, and to reward you with praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And number seven, How? That is, which of the five patterns is God using at this time in your life?

Now, before I go and give these patterns to you, can we just stop for a minute and get a little bit personal? That is, when most people think about a trial, they evaluate this as so difficult. And what comes out of it is this big, it’s little. Therefore, we say words like, It’s just not worth it. Because when we compare something. So one thing that I want you to be able to do is to get free, to be able to be joyful and rejoicing about a test of faith when you enter it. And it has everything to do with your perspective about this cost to benefit. What did it cost me, and what did I get from it? The comparison of your trial, and your reward.

So let’s take a look at a very helpful passage here for you. “The Spirit,”—Holy Spirit—“Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together”—with Him. Suffer, glorified. “For I consider,”—now here’s the comparison—“that the sufferings”—so sufferings—“of this present time are not worthy to be compared . . .” Whoa, with what? “ . . . the glory that shall be revealed” (Romans 8:16–18). This is future. So He is comparing what’s the cost to you, and what’s the benefit to you. And He says, it’s so vast. That is, the benefit to you is so big. The cost is so small, in comparison to the benefit. It’s not worthy to be compared. It’s this!

But what’s our thinking? What’s our typical reaction to this whole issue? It’s this. That we believe, the cost is this big, but the benefit is down here. Therefore, we don’t want to do it. Do you understand how it all fits together? Come on now, think about this. If your perspective is the opposite of what this passage is saying, which is, the benefit is so big, so massive, it’s not even worthy to compare to the cost that it, God expects from you to get the benefit. If that’s your mindset, that’s part of the initiation process where you actually come to believe the truth of this.

That is, the cost is really small compared to the eternal glory. What? Glory? Yes. Compared with the glory, are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be, future tense. Hold onto this, revealed in us. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait, wait. I’m right here. There’s glory, which is brilliance, glory of God. That’s His bright light. Wait, now this can’t be true. It’s revealed in us? You mean there’s. . . wait, wait, wait. You’re not telling me I’m going to become more glorious. More like God? What does it say? It’s not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be in the future revealed in us. This is revealing, showing something we didn’t know is existing.

Now I want to just back away a little bit. You’ve never seen me. No, I haven’t seen you either. Why not? Because I, I live in this house called my body, and you live in your house. But I’m not my house. When I die, what happens to this house? It goes in the grave. Now I don’t go in the grave. My house goes in the grave. And I go to heaven to be with Christ and get a new house called a resurrected body. So I’ve never seen you. You’ve never seen me. You’ve not seen my essence. You’ve not seen, the Greek word is my morphe, my real person. It’s veiled with my flesh. So this passage is saying. . . whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The glory, which shall be revealed in us, not in our body, but in the real person. Let me see if I can prove that to you, just a little bit as we get into this.

What am I trying to demonstrate here? That you have to have levels of initiation. This is part of the initiation. Your understanding. I’m informing you from the text that the value that comes from your test is so far more priceless to you and to God, that you’ll almost look down, Is that all it cost me? Is that all it cost me?

The last time I taught this, I decided to try and help the people understand this. And I told them that on the way over to the class, that Wednesday night, I stopped at a huge technology store called Best Buy in America. And the guy said to me, on the way out, he said, Listen, we’ve had so many problems with this COVID that people haven’t been coming in the store and we have an inventory that’s just too high. And we’ve decided to basically put things on ridiculous sale, but we’re not publicizing it. We’re not telling anybody. We’re just letting people know in the store. I said, What are you talking about? He said, Tonight at eight o’clock. Eight to nine only. You can buy an iPhone which costs around $1,000, for $299. A brand new one, a new one, the latest model for $299. And you can get a brand new Macintosh Pro computer, which is usually like $2,000 for $600.

And I said to the people, We’ll end class exactly at 7:30, so you can get over and buy for your kids, your grandkids, yourself, how many of you are going to go do this? And almost everybody raised their hand. Why? Because there’s so little cost and such a big benefit that everybody wanted to do it. Oh, that’s what this passage is saying. It’s not even worthy to be compared. It’s such a great deal, because it’s God, the most generous person in the universe who made the deal. And He’s offering you for a little bit of this, for something that’s eternal.

Let me see if I can’t show you this. Daniel chapter 12. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth”—that’s the people who have died—“shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Now look at this. “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament”—like the skies—“And those who turn many to righteousness”—shall shine, come on now—“like the stars.” For how long? How long do I get a benefit? When does the benefit run out? Answer: “Forever and ever” (Daniel 12:2–3). What is that shining? That’s the glory that’s being revealed in you because of who you became and what you did. That’s session six and seven and eight. That’s deep stuff. How do you maximize your glory forever? Because everybody’s going to want to have that level of glory and not everybody’s going to.

Now, does this happen with the snap of the finger or does it happen over time? Paul says this, “But we all . . .” We all. “With unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed.” Changed. That’s the word morphe, your essence. Your essence is being transformed, not your body. “Are being transformed into the same image . . .” The same image as whom? Of Christ. “From glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). What is this saying? We’re being transformed into the same image, which is the glory of Christ, from glory to glory. From this amount of glory, to this amount, to this amount, to this amount. Just think about this.

And the way that this takes place, in many situations, is through those difficult tests of faith. That we want to throw everything up, we want to say, I want to quit. I don’t want to. But if we saw from God’s point of view, and the eternal point of view, would we be doing this? Would we be saying, I quit? We’d be saying, No, more, more. Because look at what I’m getting. Ah, that’s a person who has been initiated.

Are you getting initiated? Am I giving you the information from the Bible in such a way that’s really making it clear in your mind? I’ve thought about my life backwards. Instead of running away from the hard times, I’m going to rejoice and go to them, because I believe the cost to the benefit is astonishing. And I don’t want to miss it. The people who have, rejoice. They do.

Can you cope with this? Can you cope with this? You may not be ready for this. This is only, this is level number one. Which is sessions one and two. Next week, next session, sessions three and four, we’re going to some intermediate levels. You got to grab this, this is just, this is the baby food to get going to where we want to take you.

Let me see if I can summarize what we’ve been saying on our little chart, “The Cost-to-Benefit Comparison.” On the left, we have our temporal perspective of how we view things, and the right it’s God’s eternal perspective. On the left, we have the cost to me, and we look this way down, this is the benefit to me. This is how the vast majority of all believers think about the trials of their life. And we say, it’s not what? What do we say to each other? Sure, it’s not worth it.

But the flip side of the eternal point of view, shall shine like the stars with glory, forever and ever. Oh man, you are going to wish that this was you, if you don’t pay the price now. And God’s eternal point of view is, this is a cost to you now, and this is the benefit that I’m going to give to you. But if I was really honest with you, this chart of the benefit, will go right through the roof, up about 1,000 feet. 1,000 meters. That is, it’s a shocking comparison. That’s why Paul said, it’s just not worth it to compare. You can’t compare it. The benefit is so far, and the cost is so low, it’s not even a bother to think about.

Therefore, can you stop the old way? Because what I’m reading from the Scripture is part of the initiation for you. If you stay in the old mindset, the old paradigm of how you think about your life and trials and difficulties and suffering, you’ll never go into any level of an initiation that will bring about a revolution in your life that you will love. You will love it. Not only now, but forever.

You’ve got to let go of the old lie. The old lie is, it’s not worth it. The new truth is, it’s definitely worth it. The people who get here, are the same people who, count it all joy when this happens, and who rejoice when this happens. Can you put it together? They know the truth, that 90 something percent of all the believers think the opposite. You’ve got to grab this.

Let me go over here to these, take a look at this back here. These first two are the elementary issues we’re dealing with. The next two sessions, “The Stages in Test Failure,” this is intermediate. This is going to be much more challenging than this. This is just, hello, let’s begin to get the big idea. And “The Steps for Test Success” are going to give you tools that you’ve never used probably before in your life. So you don’t fail the test anymore. That you let it perfect you, and that the test finishes. You’ve got to understand. You’ve got to buy into the biblical teaching. It’s been there all along, but we just haven’t perhaps ever got it clear in our own mind.

All right, let’s move on. “The Patterns of Tests of Faith.” Okay. I’ve picked out very clear biblical passages about these five patterns. And also given them a name, and expressed how we feel about them, and then given you a little animation and a sound that goes with them, about a way for you to remember it. This is how I remember it.

Let’s take a look at this passage. “So Sarai said to Abram,”—so this is Sarah and Abraham—“‘See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.’” Remember what God did? He promised Abraham and Sarah they would have as many children as the stars in heaven. Sand in the sea. They didn’t have any children. And by the time she’s saying this, Abraham is 86 years old. Wait, wait, wait. Is she overstating this? Is she overstating this? “‘See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children’” (Genesis 16:2).

Is that true? Or was it just something physical? Or was it Satan? Or was it God? Oh my goodness, it’s God. It’s called the test. God made a promise to Abraham and Sarah, and they kept trying to have children for weeks, months, year after year, after year, after year, after year. Oh man, after year, after year. Yeah, but that’s the whole point. Isn’t it? God wouldn’t let them have kids, and He’s the one who promised it to them. Was God withholding this? Yes, absolutely. You’ll find out He was the one who did this. Why? To test their faith in His promise when everything looks like His promise isn’t going to work.

Does God ever do that to you, my friend? What does it feel like when this thing goes on and on and on and on? This is called the prolonged marathon. That’s pattern number one. A marathon is a race that, oh man, I used to run a lot in high school and college. And you run let’s say a marathon, you think it’s never going to end. It goes on and on and on. And our definition is it’s a long-lasting, difficult or painful situation. But the key concept is, it’s long-lasting. It seems to never end. So normal response is, it’s too long. It’s too long. This will never end. That’s how you feel. It goes on and on and on. And it goes on, watch this now. You’re kind of thinking it’ll end by here. I’m sure next week. And then it goes on some more and say, well, I think it’s going to end pretty soon, and it doesn’t. And I thought by now it’d be over. Where’s God? Ugh, too long. Can you identify with this? Of course you can. Marathon. It goes on and on and on, and we feel like it’s too long.

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her . . .’” Notice these words; “‘And I will bless her and also give you a son by her.’” I give you, I give you, Abraham. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m going to give her a son. Not a daughter, a son. “‘Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old’” (Genesis 17:15–17)? Oh man, why on earth? You got to put this together, my friends. Who’s making this so long? God. To be abusive? Absolutely not.

Here’s how it looks. Goes on and on and on. So when you think about marathon, it goes on and on and on. That’s your picture. It’s an arrow with that sound drones on and on and on. All right. Pattern number one, the prolonged marathon, normal response is, it’s too long.

Pattern number two, back to the same couple. They finally have Isaac, their son. And his son is probably in his early/mid-teens, most theologians feel when this happened. And God says, He says to him, “‘Take now your son . . .’” Now listen to how God sets up Abraham. “‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,’” Oh, man alive! Take that one. “‘And go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’” (Genesis 22:2). And then you remember as Abraham’s about ready to do this, the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know . . .’” Not, you know, but I know. “‘that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’” (Genesis 22:11–12).

Was this a marathon? Absolutely not. This was something that’s extremely painful. This was called a severe crisis. It was a crisis. It was an extremely painful or difficult situation. What’s our normal response to a crisis? Kaboom. It’s just too hard. It’s too hard. Have you had a crisis? Where do you think God was? Hmm. Look at this next passage. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested . . .” What? Come on, you got to put one and one together. “By faith,” what is this? What is the trial? It’s a test of faith. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested,” by whom? By God. Session one, God tests everyone. God’s been testing you. Man, have you misinterpreted God? “When he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said. . .” Now this is a powerful verse. “‘In Isaac, your seed shall be called,’”— look at these words—“concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead” (Hebrews 11:17–19). Even from the dead.

So Abraham’s faith had grown so strong over all these tests. And we could have given you many more tests of Abraham. He had so many. That when he was going to kill his son, in obedience to God, right? He concluded by faith, that if he dies, God’s going to resurrect him. Because He promised through this son, the nation shall be blessed, and I’ll have many, many children. Therefore, God has to raise him from the dead, and I don’t even doubt it. He’s going to raise him from the dead. Look at that faith. Oh my goodness. Was that there at the beginning? No, it wasn’t. Oh man, man, man.

Come on now. Come on now. You’ve got to put this together, my friends. Your faith from God’s point of view in Him, should become stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger until it’s immovable. God is good. I trust Him. This is for my good. I believe the cost is little compared to the benefit. I will praise His name. Nothing can make me go to the left or the right or retreat or back up or quit. Ah. That’s when the heavens of glory shout your name! Yes. That’s when God, Christ stands up as He did with Stephen being stoned. Christ stands up, He’s proud of him. Look at my son. He never wavers with me.

Ugh, the marathon, on and on and on and on. The crisis, severe. It’s making sense to you? Come on, we’re just like all the famous people in the Bible. Aren’t we? Why are we? Because God wants us all to be perfect, mature, lacking nothing. And He uses the trials and the tests of faith to do it to you and to me. And He uses the same patterns that He used on Abraham and Isaac and . . . Here it is. Okay, kaboom. Severe. Kaboom. Crisis, it’s too hard.

Number three. This is when Moses is leading the people through the wilderness. So Moses said, listen to the anguish, come on now. The anguish. I’ve said, I think three times now. Trials are grievous. They’re painful. They’re difficult. Especially the marathon, especially the crisis. But it gets even more difficult. This is one with Moses, that’s more difficult than the first two. And look how Moses is suffering at this point. Moses says to God, “Why?” You hear that “why” word? That’s a person who’s about ready to fail a test. When you ask “why,” you’re failing your test, because you’re not believing that God’s purposes are good for you, and this is going to be worth it, and this is from His loving hand. And there’s no reason to doubt Him. And you’re not going backwards, you’re not quitting. You’re not, you’re not, no. You are strong in faith. And man, what you do with your life is dependent on the faith that grows in you. The mighty in faith do mighty exploits for God. And you become mighty through tests of faith. And those tests of faith are always trials. And they follow a pattern. They’re either, a marathon, a crisis, or the rest of them we are about ready to get to.

Listen to the “why.” “‘Why have you afflicted your servant?’” Question: Did God afflict Moses? Absolutely, He did. Yes. Tests of faith are from God. “‘And why,’”—there it is again. Look at that. “‘Why have I not found favor in your sight?’” I’ve been serving you; I’ve been working for you. Well, why are you treating me this way? You see what we’re thinking? That way. We’re thinking so backwards. So backwards. We’re thinking this is a punishment. It’s not a punishment, it’s God’s pathway to perfection. It’s God’s road to becoming like Christ. Is to go through these. Why have you done this to me? “‘Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child, to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, “Give us meat that we may eat.” ‘“Here it is. Here it is. “‘I am not able.’” I’ve decided I’m not able. That’s my decision. I am not able. “‘I am not able to bear all these people alone . . .’” As if God’s not there. I thought these were God’s people, Moses. They’re not your people. You’re taking responsibility on you. I’ve never asked you to do that. “‘Because the burden is too heavy.’” Really, it is? Come on, Moses. I’m right here. It’s too heavy for me. “‘If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now’” (Numbers 11:11–15)!

I want to die. Woo. That’s a person at the end of pattern three. What’s pattern number three? The ordeal. The ordeal. Painful or difficult event or situation with long-lasting consequences. Whoa. It starts severe, hard, and then continues on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. That’s what it is. It’s both the marathon and the crisis blended into one. And the normal response is, this is just too much. This is just too much.

Take a look at how this looks. There is my crisis, and there is my marathon. Ordeals are difficult. I’m in an ordeal with my stroke. Was it a crisis? Oh my goodness. And it’s gone on ten months and it’s unlikely, unless God decides to do a miracle, which is up to Him, but He’s had me and many of our family and friends knocking at the door. It’d be terrific if you decided to heal him, but if not, it’s okay, we trust you, you’re good. It’s an ordeal.

But have I ever been at this place where Moses was? Yes. Was Paul over here? Yes. He says, “I despaired even of life.” Is it okay with you? Whoa boy, hold on. Is it okay with you that God pushes you in your test of faith beyond where you think it’s fair? It’s not fair to go past here. It can’t last this long. It can’t be this hard. Don’t you know I serve you? I love you. It can’t keep going on, can it? Because it is not, this is the place in which new faith grows. It’s always the leaves that happen at the end of the branch. New leaves and new twigs come, they come out here. It’s a new growth. And it goes past what you think is going to happen. It’s because of your expectations and your assumptions. I think by now, this is going to end next week, it’s going to end, I’m sure by next Friday. This, this. God says, You do, huh? How about I’m not to the finish yet of giving you my gift? Wait till you find out what I’m going to give you when you get to the other side of glory, because of this. The ordeal. This is just too much.

Number four. This surprised me. This is the pattern that the most people voted is where they were at the time I was teaching this to them. I had them vote, is it marathon? Is it crisis? Is it ordeal? Is it this one? Or number five? This got the most votes. I did not expect this. Take a look at this. This is the book of Job. “Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house.” This is Job. “And a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’” That’s the first thing that happened. That’d be enough to knock anybody over. “While he was still speaking . . .” You can’t miss this. “Another [one of the servants] also came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them.’” They’re all dead. “‘And I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are all dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you’” (Job 1:13–19)!

Now there’s much we could say about this, but I want you to see the conclusion of this, for this session. We’ll come back to Job later on in the series. Then Job, I was so, what’s the best word? Desperately humbled at what Job did here. It just is, you talk about a person whose faith cannot be shaken. “Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head . . .” Everything he’s owned. Plus all of his kids, one after the other, after the other, after the other. “And shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and he. . .” Oh man. “He worshiped.” How could a man worship after this? Answer: Look at his perspective. “Then he said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.’” Come on now. Think about what you’re reading. “‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’” God has all the rights in the world to do whatever He wants to give me great blessings or to take it away from me. “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (Job 1:20–22).

What is this called? This is called the cluster. One after the other, after the other, after the other. Multiple difficult or painful events or situations often quickly occurring one after the other. The normal response is, It’s too many. It’s too many. Where’s God? Where’s God? If God was the God of love, He wouldn’t have allowed this to happen to me. How? Where is God? I thought He loved me. I thought He cared for me. I thought He was there for me. Woo. What did I do wrong? Answer: You probably did nothing wrong. It’s a huge gift. Take heed of the packaging your gift comes in. It’s not the packaging, it’s the gift that’s inside the packaging. Here’s what it looks like. Boom. The cluster. Very difficult. It’s too many.

And the last one. Is this helpful? Are you getting words? What’s the one that goes on and on and on? Yeah, marathon. What’s the crisis? What’s the ordeal? What’s the cluster? Got it? Marathon, crisis, ordeal, cluster. And this last one is an issue that God sees that you either failed the test in this area of faith and He gives it to you again and you fail it. He gives it to you again, over and over again. Or the other side of it is, you pass it, but your faith isn’t strong enough, and He makes it harder the next time, and He makes it harder again, but it’s the same principle of tests. Not because you failed, but because He wants you to become stronger. You remember how many times Saul tried to kill David over and over again? And this is, David said to Saul who was right there to kill him, “‘Why do you listen to the words of men who say, “Indeed David seeks your harm?” Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave.’” Saul went into the cave to relieve himself. And while he was there, he took off his robe and didn’t know that David and part of his army were in the same cave. “‘Someone,’” David said, “‘Urged me to kill you.’” Because he’s right there and helpless. “‘But my eye spared you, and I said, “I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” ‘“And I don’t have the authority to go above God in killing him. “‘Moreover, my father, see! I’ve cut the corner of your robe in my hand.’” And he . . . Can you imagine Saul in front of his army? Everybody realized, oh man, that’s a part of Saul’s, look at the bottom of his robe. Oh man, while he was in there. Oh, you’re kidding. David could have killed him. And he didn’t. What was that? That’s another one of those tests that David was being given by God. Wasn’t the first time or the second time. “‘The corner of your robe, and did not kill you. Know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it. Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you’” (1 Samuel 24:9–12).

Look at this, “Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me. I shall not be against you.” What was that? That was a test of faith. Faith of David in God, even though a man kept trying to kill him and he was innocent. So what is this called? This is called the repetitive loop. On and on and on. Retake of passed tests, but in a different event or situation. What’s a normal response? Too often. I’ve been here before. You got it? Here’s what it looks like.

Part three. I want to conclude with a very helpful issue. Next to each one of these five patterns, I gave you two words. Too long, too hard, too much, too many. What’s the word “too” mean? T-O-O? It’s too long. It should have ended back here. Question I want to ask you about this. Where along the line do we decide, too? If we have this, I have to endure, right? We don’t sit down and say to ourselves, Man, I’m in a trial, I’m in a test of faith, and I think it’s going to be over in three weeks, three weeks, two days, and fourteen hours. We don’t do that. But somewhere along the line, what do we end up saying? It’s too long.

Well, who put the line there? God doesn’t send us an email or a text or a WhatsApp and says, By the way, next week on Thursday afternoon, 2:12, I’m going to begin your test, and it’s going to last for fourteen days. And on the 14th day at 9:23, somebody’s going to come to your house and it’s going to end. So hang in there. What will you do? You’ll go to that day. Why? You have your expectation set.

What does God do? He doesn’t tell you when the test is coming, how long it’s going to be, which of the patterns is it? He doesn’t tell you anything. Well then how do we get to this point, it’s too long, or too hard, or too much or too many. How do we get to that point? Because somewhere—does this make any sense to you? Somewhere, we have this kind of this dotted line right here. It should end by here, but we don’t even know that line is there, do we? Because we’ve not thought about it. But here’s what happens. We have a subconscious ending point. And when this thing continues to go past that point, that’s where it goes to too hard, too long, too much. “God, you put too much on me.” As if God made a mistake.

And this issue then, is where we begin the fall of the failure. And eventually if it goes on enough past this place, what do we begin doing about God? How do we feel about God? Because He went too much this time. It was too hard. He wasn’t fair. He wasn’t loving. He wasn’t good. Why should I serve God if He’s going to treat me this way? Whoa, that goes all back to here. Watch this, watch this.

What would happen if you said, No, I’m not going to have any expectations, I don’t know when this is going to be. It’s okay with me as long as it lasts, as hard as it lasts, as complex as it lasts, it’s fine with me. I know it has an end. And the end is for my good. And I will trust you, and I won’t have any expectations. Therefore, are you going to get to the “too” part? You’re not. What is that called? Dependence, submission. It’s okay. I don’t have to know. I don’t know, it’s okay with me not to know. I know you, I know you. I know your ways, and you are generous and kind to me, even if you wrap it in a trial.

So I’ve put a little bit of a chart for you as we wrap this up. The danger of expectations, our expectations, and our assumptions. It’s going to end by here. Is this helpful to you? This really is meant to be part of the foundation of understanding of how this takes place. This is our expectations. This is reality down this blue line, is the reality that we’re in. And we’ve been expecting this to come through. You’ve been expecting reality to get better. You know, we improve, it’s going to end. And the further time goes on, and our expectations stay here, and this line of reality doesn’t get better, and our expectations aren’t met, guess what we will begin to feel. More and more serious words.

For instance, number one, when this isn’t that far apart. Level number one, is called disappointment. Do you know what the definition of disappointment is? Listen carefully. It’s defined in a dictionary as: to fail to live up to expectations. You ever been to a restaurant and at the way out, you say to your friend that you’re out to dinner with, Well, that was disappointing. What did you mean? I expected it to taste better than it did. You can’t be disappointed unless you have an expectation. Wow.

But what happens if time goes on further and further and the expectations don’t change and reality doesn’t change? You get a much more challenging word. You get discouragement. Discouragement. What’s discouragement? Take a look at this. Take the word, the letters D-I-S out of here: courage. D-I-S means a lack of, or absence of. I have an absence of courage. Courage about what? That my life’s going to get better. That’s discouragement. What’s all that based on? Your line of expectation. Who told you to set that? If it’s based upon a promise of God, have that expectation, because God keeps His promise. Making sense?

Well, now it becomes a little bit more challenging. Because if time goes on, look at level three. Disillusionment. This is a lot more serious. Look, what’s the word in the middle of disillusionment? Take out the D-I-S, and the -ment. It’s illusion. What’s an illusion? It’s a false sense of reality. If you have an illusion, you have a false sense of reality. You’re not living in real world. When you’re in disillusionment, it means, watch this, I no longer have an illusion. What was my illusion over here? My illusion was reality’s going to get better. And it didn’t. And guess what? God stopped it from getting better. And He doesn’t appreciate you drawing your line in the sand. Telling Him, By now this should be over. Really? When a person becomes disillusioned, that’s the time for this line to disappear. Lord, I submit to you for as long, as hard and complex as you want, I trust you. And when it’s complete, it will end.

Next one is the word, depression. Depression, that’s when we get angry. Can get bitter toward God. Level number five, despair. What’s despair? The loss of all hope. That’s what the definition of despair is. What are you despairing? I’m despairing that my life will ever get to what I want it to be. Wait, wait, wait. It’s not what I want it to be, it’s what God wants you to go through. Level six, desperation, and number seven, defeat.

So, so much of this if you can just put this together, is our expectations. We don’t really realize this, but here’s what we do. If this is the Lord, we go above the Lord. You’ll be done by this time. It won’t get any harder than this, because if it does, it’s not fair. And if you were loving, you wouldn’t do this to me. Do you realize this? It’s arrogant. God doesn’t want us having expectations on Him, that’s not based upon what the Bible says, or gives Him freedom to live sovereignly with us.

Alright, let’s wrap it up. The five patterns for the tests of faith. Let’s go through this in your workbook. I want you to know these five words now. Here we go. Number one, the marathon. Number two, the crisis. Number three, the ordeal. Number four, the cluster. And number five, the loop.

How do you feel about this? This has been kind of some challenging topics to think about, but I want you to ponder this thought as we wrap up. The Lord selects the optimal pattern for your test. If there was a better pattern for Him to achieve His perfect purpose for you, He would’ve selected it. So take a look at these principles. Number one, the Lord is omniscient, all knowing. And always selects the best test pattern for your maximum present and eternal benefit. Benefit. Point number two, the Lord is omnipotent, all powerful, and always arranges every part of your test with the highest efficiency and effectiveness. And number three, the Lord is omnipresent and always remains with you during every test with His help and His comfort.

But let me just go back to what we’re talking about here as we wrap up this session. That is, do you have the five patterns in your mind? I hope you do. Hope you could just marathon, crisis, ordeal, cluster, loop. Loop, cluster, ordeal, crisis, marathon. Marathon, crisis. Do you have it? You need to know this. And I want you to be thinking, are you in one of these right now? And how can you become aware of the stages of a test failure? How do you know if you’re getting close to a failure and that the benefit that God wants to give to you may not be yours because you’re going to end it too soon?

Well, that’s what we’re going to deal with next week. So on behalf of the team here at Teach Every Nation, we hope and bless you that this will be a great help to you as you handle the tests of faith that God sends your way for your benefit.