The Best Test | The MarriageToday Podcast | Jimmy and Karen Evans

welcome to the marriage day podcast i'm jimmy evans this is my wife karen we're so glad that you're joining us today we're finishing a series from the life of abraham called i am abraham and this message is called the best test we're talking about when abraham when god told abraham to lay isaac down and the principle the life-changing principle behind this for every single one of us who'll bless our marriages our families our personal lives before we go to the teaching we're going to answer a couple of questions from viewers let me begin with you karen my husband is spontaneous and not a planner at all whereas i'm very future oriented and tend to be thinking steps ahead with most life decisions my husband wants to leave our home and feels responsible for our family but i'm always the one initiating and envisioning it comes naturally to me i believe god brought our complimentary strengths together to better our ministry capacity and yet we really struggle to pull together as a husband and wife team any advice that's a good question well i think that you know just having honest communication as far as you know what her expectations are what his are you know talk about it talk it through i mean she's she's laying out to me what sounds very healthy i mean she's got vision and he likes to be the leader i mean figure out how to do that in a way that you know honors each other honors the differences and the gifts that they both both have in a way that um you know it's hard sometimes i think especially if both spouses are dominant or more aggressive and so someone has to be willing to yield you know and um and so i would just say have some more conversation you know talk about it and you know figure out what the best thing is for them as a couple because i i think they have great potential yeah it's like the haircut the mullet you know business in the front party in the back you know she's business and he's party and the issue is you know how how you make that work together and we talk about having a vision retreat you're not operating as a team but the question itself conveys frustration is my my husband is spontaneous and i'm i'm business i'm the visionary there are millions of couples just like this that we know and so get you have to get together and have a vision for your marriage that's all-encompassing we have a vision retreat workbook uh you can get it on excelmarriage.com.com you get on amazon.com it helps you to plan a vision retreat understand what a vision retreat is how to plan it do it and follow up afterwards it'll change your marriage and it will take you to and bring you together like this because god wants to give you a vision for your marriage that you're a team you're operating as a team with your finances with your children with your ministry with every part of your life you're operating as a team and karen and i this changed our marriage this took our marriage to another level so my encouragement was it sounds like you're a good couple god did put you together you respect each other you're just not operating as a team vision retreat will help you i listen to your podcast every week and i heard jimmy speak at church of the highlands earlier this year your teachings on anger and dominance have made me realize that my husband and i did not provide the best example to our children as they were growing up they are now adults and i feel bad that we didn't learn to fight in a healthy way until now is there any way to fix our mistakes and change the course of our family for the next generation absolutely it's never too late to do the right thing and what i would do is to sit down with your kids and say hey you know we blew it uh when y'all were growing up that we fought this way we gave a terrible example to you if they haven't heard my message have them you know listen to the message in my book four laws of love i talk about conflict resolution anger and conflict resolution the same message or i guess one of the same messages i brought at church the highlands but um very important that you just own your mistake that you open up and talk to your kids and then be a good example from this point forward it's never too late to do the right thing and your example now as parents and grandparents still has a huge impact on your family so don't be don't be condemned because but by the grace of god that's exactly what would happen to us and so don't be condemned but just thank god you learned well and they can also be a part of the prayer to break the generational curses of all that that's right you know because they're asking for help for their family for the next generation and so they can pray they can get together as a family and pray and just break the curses and the things that they did in the family and then just at that point i think that they're you know it'll start going the right direction absolutely so we hope that's helpful to you we're going to go down to this teaching uh that we hope is helpful to you on the life of abraham the issue of being having faith before god god bless you the devil tempts us so we will fail but god tests us or will pass it's exactly the opposite the testings of god come to better us in our lives and god never wants us to fail a test and here's the thing about god's test if you take it and fail you just take it over and over until you pass and so it's just it's just a wonderful thing with god so abraham is going to going to pass this test but the test is this who's first in your life am i first and see the greatest threat to god being first in our life are the greatest blessings in our lives sometimes the promise that we prayed for for many years once that promise comes along it's so special it takes god's place and this is what's happening here isaac was the son of the promise they waited 25 years from the time that god promised them isaac they waited 25 years until isaac is born and now isaac is is maybe 13 years old or however old he is here isaac is growing up and god comes to abraham and says lay the promise down lay that job down lay that relationship down lay that lay that money down lay that lay that healing down whatever it was that became so important that that we that we want it we cherish it it's important to us what god wants to know is who's first in your life so this is the test and he says to abraham okay i know before he showed up i was first so now now that the promise is in your life i want to test you to see if you're willing to lay down the most important thing in your life for me proving that i'm the most important thing in your life and so abraham passes the test and the lord provides rather than his son dying god never intended to take isaac okay listen to me when god tells you to lay something down he never intends to take it from you he intends to give you something in return greater than what you're going to lay down god god has no desire to take things away from us and as soon as the abraham looks over and sees the ram he calls that place jehovah jireh the lord will provide but then it said a saying it is said to this day a saying came about because of what happened to abraham by the way this is the temple mount mount moriah is the temple mount now the muslims believe that abraham offered up ishmael and as christians we believe that abraham offered up isaac and we are right he offered up isaac not ishmael okay so he lays down isaac as soon as he lays him down it says a saying began right then in the mount of the lord it will be provided okay well what what does that mean let me let me give you a paraphrase for that in the place where we lay down our best for god his provision is released in the place where we lay down our best for god his provision is released because this is what happens when god gets our best we get his best okay that's the deal here and as soon as he lays down isaac jesus the angel of the lord is speaking to abraham from heaven and here's what jesus says in direct response now to the sacrifice or the willingness to sacrifice isaac verse 16 by myself i have sworn says the lord because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son your only son blessing i will bless you and multiplying i will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants listen to this promise your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed because you obeyed my voice so in response to abraham's sacrifice her willingness to sacrifice isaac god doesn't just bless abraham he blesses all of his descendants and here's what he says your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies and in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed let me ask you this question because we're talking about leaving a legacy of faith see there are some of us there are some of us that god is asking us to do something we're uncomfortable with maybe giving it maybe tithing it might be prayer it might be witnessing uh it could be you know giving something up that we know that he wants us to give up and we're struggling with that in other words there's an isaac in our lives there's something that we're clinging to there's something that's very special to us for whatever reason and god is asking us to lay that thing down and some of us are struggling with that but let me ask you this question okay to all the the parents here what if god would bless your children and grandchildren if you did that what if what you're doing right now doesn't just affect you but it affects generations after you remember when he lays isaac down the lord jesus says from heaven because you did this thing because you did this i bless you and i bless your descendants after you see some of us struggle with maybe ourselves and we're thinking this thing i know this thing isn't right and it's a problem but we love our children and grandchildren so much what you wouldn't do for you you would do for them and i've got news for you everything you do affects them i want to leave a legacy of faith to my children and grandchildren our little granddaughter kate kate has never met a stranger and she is the most bold person about her face so brent and stephanie when kate turned about four they were in the grocery store and they were going through the checkout line and they were thinking where is kate kate had seen a woman in a wheelchair and she walked over and lay her hand on her and started praying for her kate will pray for anyone anywhere without permission and that's the great thing about being a kid she just walks over and lays her hand on him and just starts praying you know they just wear their heads like this you know what do you do and she knows about jesus she'll tell anybody i took kate swimming i took kids swimming last year in the summer and kate was in the pool and she was there was a lifeguard in there swimming with him and kate was with this thing with the lifeguard third generation you know a friend of mine says this the reason that they call god the god of abraham isaac and jacob is because whatever lasts for three generations cannot be stopped some of you are the first generation dear god start a legacy of faith some of you are second generation please take your faith and let it go to the third generation some of you are the third generation let your faith continue to reach another generation and not just another generation a world greatly in need of seeing people of faith of experiencing people of faith i'm just saying it is such a big deal it's such a big deal so thank god for abraham who began he's the father of the faith let's ask some questions the first is is there any basis in scripture beyond the story of abraham and isaac that proves god only releases his best when we give him our best okay because that's what i'm saying what i'm saying is when god gets our best we get his best okay so is that in scripture from genesis to revelation it's in scripture okay first of all you remember the story in genesis 4 of abel and cain and god had told abel and cain bring me your best abel did cain didn't god blessed abel's offering and he wouldn't bless cain okay and cain got mad and killed abel that was the story proverbs 3. honor the lord with your possessions and with the first fruits not just don't say some it says first of all your increase so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine matthew 6 after all these things the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you see it's just saying seek god first before you make a decision seek god first let god let god be the lord of your life in a practical way and the the result is everything you want god will give you i mean everything else is added to you luke 6 therefore be merciful just as your father also is merciful judge not and you shall not be judged condemn not and you will not be condemned forgiven you will be forgiven give and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together and running over we put into your bosom for with the same measure you use if we measure back to you let me say something to you now we've got one more scripture to read there god doesn't decide how blessed you are you do god's desire is to give you his best but it's according to your standard of measure if you want god's best measure you give god your best measure okay again i want to say when god gets our best we get his best revelation chapter 2 i know your works this is the church at ephesus i know your works your labor your patience this is jesus speaking and that you cannot bear those who are evil and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary nevertheless i have this against you the he left you have left your first love remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else i will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent lampstand lampstand means revelation it means favor it's like god's divine advertising for a church god jesus is saying here i know the good things that you've done unfortunately you've left your first love you're no longer passionate about me and he says if you don't get it back now i'm going to take your life stand i gave you my best you were passionate about me i was first i had your first love but now that you've taken your best away from me i'm going to take the life stand away listen lukewarm christians are a bad advertisement for a great god and when he's saying i'm going to take my lamp stand away from you what he's saying is when you were passionate about me i brought as many people to you as i could i wanted people i gave you favor i wanted people to notice you because you were in love with me and you were such a great example now that you're no longer passionate i still love you you're on your way to heaven that doesn't change but you're not going to get my best okay from genesis to revelation one of the themes of the bible is when god gets our best we get his best well here's another question is that fair is it fair that god demands our best the best of our time the best of our treasures the best of our talents is it a fair thing that god would say well he's our creator he made us in our mother's womb if you believe that i which i do he's our savior he died on the cross to save us from our sins to save us from hell you know he gave us freedom he gave us his holy spirit he gave us his word he gave us eternal life he's given us all those things he's our he's our master and lord listen to scripture first first corinthians six police sexual immorality every sin that a man does is outside the body but he could commit sexual immorality against his own body or do you not know that your body is the temple of the holy spirit who is in you with whom you have from god and you are not your own for you were bought at a price therefore glorify god in your body and your spirit which are god's you were bought with the price did you know that mary and the apostle paul and the apostle peter peter paul and mary uh that's good never mind no never mind it's too late you you missed it too late that did you know that they all call themselves the bond servants of the lord a bond servant was a person who was owned by a master for life and they all referred to themselves as bondservants can i tell you something you're owned by jesus christ you were bought by him the word redemption means to buy back jesus took his blood and he purchased you back from the devil he owns you he's your owner he's my owner i'm not i'm free in jesus not free from jesus our master our creator the person who purchased us with his blood we would deny him our best you better believe it's fair you better believe it's fair it's more than fair he deserves everything we have and when he comes and says to abraham lay it down he created isaac and abraham and everything in their lives and when the bible says honor the lord with your possessions that's exactly what we're doing we're saying god everything in my life came from you and i honor you knowing i wouldn't have breath in my lungs right now if it were not for your grace somebody say amen if god requires our best before he releases his best to us why isn't that legalism and performance okay because in that kind of like saying you got to do something extra to get god's blessing well the most three answers number one the most important blessings in life and eternity are ours freely by grace okay the salvation you know you like the thief on the cross next to jesus you know he he said lord remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus said today you'll be with me in paradise that's what you call grace you know he had probably never done a thing right in his life and all he did was acknowledge the the lordship of christ and the next thing you know he's in paradise with jesus salvation is free by grace you can't do anything to earn it god's love god will never love you more than he loves you right now not one ounce if you gave a million dollars away if you did the greatest thing that's ever done god is badly in love with you and you can't do anything to make him love you more so this is not legalism this is not performance because legalism and performance says you have to do something to get god's favor more than the blood of jesus well you don't you don't no not in that way the second answer to that question god's motivation isn't righteousness it's relationship we're not righteous because of giving god our best we're righteous because of the blood of jesus but listen to matthew 22 teacher which is the greatest commandment the law jesus said to him you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the first and great commandment and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets they came to jesus said lord what's the most important commandment he said love god with all your heart soul mind and strength did you know that the number one reason that god gave you your brain was to love him the number one reason that god gave you a body was to love him the number one reason that god gave you a will and emotions was to love him and the number one reason that god gave you a spirit was to love him and jesus said number one commandment really there's only two commandments the bible love god and love people like you love yourself like you want to be loved he said on those two commandments the entire bible hangs like a picture on a nail on those two commandments everything hangs right there god just wants a relationship with us now let's listen what i'm about to say jesus didn't save us from our sins so he could leave us alone jesus died the most gruesome death that any human being has died in the history of the world and he did it because he loves us he created us to love him and he wants us in a relationship with him first okay the other thing the other answer to this question is god knows god requires our best because he knows that our passions cannot be separated from our priorities here's what jesus said in matthew 6 do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal but layer for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also let me tell you about two words there the word treasure is actually the word thesaurus in the greek and it means treasury treasure chest jesus says wherever your treasure chest is wherever you're putting the most important things in your life your heart will be there also the word heart is the word cardia it means seed of passion that's where we get a word cardiac but it means the seed of your emotions wherever you're putting the best of your life your passion is going to be there okay it's always if you're giving the best of your life at work your passions at work if you're giving the best of your life to your children your passion is with your children if you wherever the best goes that's where your passion is so god comes to abraham and says i want you to lay isaac down why because god wants to make sure that abraham's passion is first of all with him and as soon as he lays isaac down and takes the knife up jesus said you passed the test now that i see that you fear god i'm going to bless you you gave me your best and now i know that i'm your thesaurus now i know that your treasures are with me and i'm saying there's a lot of great things in life but the greatest thing in our life is god himself he wants a relationship with us and that's why he requires our best because wherever we're putting our best our passion is going to be there and our number one passion in life should be god and nothing else number four question we're done how do you give god your best i mean how do you do that practically it's not it's not hard it's not hard at all okay number one make jesus lord of every area of your life i mean just make sure see when we get saved we say jesus you're lord of my life and that's important you're saved right then so you have to you know just acknowledge the lordship of christ and acknowledge you know who god is and who jesus is you're saved okay but then the process of salvation we're instantly saved we get saved but then i have to decide is he really the lord of my finances really i mean in real terms do i pray before i make decisions that's another issue is he lord of my relationships is he lord of my mouth is he lord of my morals is he lord of my emotions is he the lord of my talents and my skills it's a big question and it's an important question we all have to answer along the way number two pray about every significant decision in your life and don't act without the lord's approval and literally every time you pray about a decision you're laying isaac down and you're saying lord i don't want this if you don't want it i only want what you want lord and i'm laying this decision before you and if you want to take it take it if you want to resurrect it resurrect it but i don't want it to live if you don't want it to live i'm laying this before you number three seek god every day in the best part of your day now my best part of my day is five to six in the morning five to seven i love you wake up early karen's the same way some of you the best part of your day is probably after midnight i don't know i don't get that but it but whatever the best part of your day is seek god in the best part of your day in a relational manner to know him and to love him and honor the sabbath which you're doing okay so prayer is not about being religious prayer's about being with my best friend prayer is about going to god with my hurts my fears my needs and to know him in a relation he's my daddy and he's my friend and so i'm going to take the best part of my day and week and give him that the is tithe and give from the first of your finances and obedience to the lord it's a big deal it'll change your life it was it was so terrifying when we're first generation givers it's terrifying but god blesses generations because of it karen was the one in our family that began to give and she changed generations in our family because of her faith lastly use your gifts and talents to serve god and to advance his kingdom it should be the primary purpose you live for now many of you serve here in church and which is fantastic that's what we want you to do but can i tell you something whatever skill you have if it's money if it's education if it's medicine or law or whatever it is the number one reason that you do what you do is to glorify god and expand his kingdom [Music] hey this is brent evans with exo marriage and i want to thank you for listening to the marriage today podcast we believe your marriage has a 100 chance of success if you do it god's way if you enjoyed today's teaching and want to keep learning hey subscribe to the mayor's today podcast and take some time to leave us a review your reviews help us spread the word and can encourage someone else in need for more great marriage content check out exomarist.com where you can see all of our marriage building resources articles and live events

Channel: XO Marriage

Views: 2,262

Rating: 4.965517 out of 5

Keywords: MarriageToday, Jimmy Evans, Dave and Ashley Willis, XO, XO Conference, XO Podcast, Marriage, Marriage Help, Counseling, Divorce, Should I get a divorce, God, Jesus, Spirit-filled, The Bible, Church, dating, weddings, wedding planning, pre-marital counseling, love, sex, communication

Id: JUh7-RvguG8

Length: 25min 57sec (1557 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021