1 Peter 4:12-13

Tests play a more important role in the kingdom of God than you think. They allow us to share in Jesus’s glory when He returns.

However, as believers it seems we are happy to serve God when we are getting but struggle greatly with our commitment when we’re required to give.

Last week we discussed Genesis 22. God asked Abraham to sacrifice the very thing He loved the most. Would you give up what God gave you for the God who gave it to you?

The Definition of a Test: A procedure intended to check and establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something or someone before putting it into widespread use. If we want to be used by God, it’s important to note that you can’t be used until your quality has been recognized and verified by the tester.

Is your performance as a Christian consistent or spotty? Are you reliable? Can God depend on you to do His will, or are you flaky? This worldly definition says things must be tested before putting them into widespread use.

God always tests His covenants with His believers.
How?
By giving physical, mental, emotional and spiritual trials to overcome. But because He’s God, His trials both prove and improve the quality, performance, and reliability of the believer at the same time.

How do we know this?

James 1:3

Is passing God’s test about overcoming the difficulty, or simply trusting God through it?

What test are you experiencing in your life today, that if you could endure it, could shift the spiritual destiny of generations to come?

When we get to Heaven and God says, “Well done,” He is speaking of our usefulness to His assignments in this world and our ability to carry out His will.

Some of us want to get a lot but be used a little.

Luke 12:48

People who are tested are built different. As a Christian, can you carry what you have been called to, or do you run from your assignments?

Psalm 34:10
Philippians 4:19

I’ve tried and tested Him, have you tried Him?

The difficulty in a test is a matter of perspective. What you are going through may devastate someone else. Just as what they are experiencing may be too much for you.

No one knows your story but God! They have not seen your evolution in Christ.
They can’t judge your present because they haven’t seen your past!

Testing has a way of changing your perception. We might not be impressed with you now, but if we had seen how bad you were before.

No, we are not perfect in the present, but let’s give God the glory for the progress from our past. Amen!

The Bible is filled with test after test. In all these stories Jonah’s test stands out.

Jonah 1:1-2

Jonah thought He was in the biggest test of His life when God told Him to go to Nineveh (a hostile environment that God might have compassion only if they heeded the warning).

It was a big test because we judge tests by our own discomfort.

What do you do when God assigns you something uncomfortable?
When the God you love orders you something you hate!

Do you turn your back and run in protest or weather the storms in the name of Jesus?

Was Jonah’s test just the ability to carry out an assignment?

Was the test to follow orders or to trust GOD when difficult orders are given?

T.R.U.S.T.: The Righteous Unfailing Savior’s Timing!

God will deliver, but will you endure?

Jonah was willing to go 2,500 miles out of God’s will for comfort. Instead of 500 miles that would have made him uneasy but was blessed by a God who promised to protect him.

Psalm 119:133

The things we do in disobedience bring more discomfort than the original request of obedience.

It’s not just the wrong destination that can hurt you but also the distance and the trip!

Look how many chances we give the enemy to cause us to stumble

What directives of God’s are you avoiding that put you in the wrong places, with the wrong people, creating the wrong cycles in your life?

You may want to avoid discomfort but think of what you what you give up when you do.

2 Timothy 2:12a

Are you giving up your inheritance and the benefits of growth because test and the challenges that come with a commitment to God make you uncomfortable?

James 1:12

Is your earthly fear so great that its costing you kingdom capital?

Jonah 1:3
Jonah 1:4
Jonah 1:6
Jonah 1:9-11

The world will always turn its back on believers at some point. There is no fellowship between darkness and light.

Jonah calls on the God he had hidden from.
Isn’t that just like us?
We say we don’t want God’s plan but we know who to call when ours goes bad

Sometimes when you’re going through, you will have to remind yourself that God owns the fish, the boats, and the storms.

I’d rather be uncomfortable with God than cozy without Him.

Are you a builder or a destroyer in your test? Do you bring peace or chaos to your environment and others when you are going through trials?

God’s plan is not going to change for you. You are going to change for it.

Jonah 3:1

You are just going to expose yourself and others to more hardship running from your test.

Matthew 11:29-30