Job

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- God is so good.

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I just wanted to take a couple of minutes really quickly.

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Pastor Kevin is ministering at another church this morning

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and so that is why he's not occupying this space over here.

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And that's why we're kind of running amuck.

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But anyway, I know God is using him this morning.

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I've had a couple of messages back and forth from him

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and I know God is moving and we're so grateful for that.

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I wanna let you know about a couple of things.

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This week we do begin our midweek gatherings again.

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So I wanna invite you to come and have,

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we have dinner in the cafe at five o'clock.

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Then your children can go to children's ministries.

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We have a wonderful program going for them.

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Youth and I think Doug and Jody got about 25 new kids

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this week, so keep them in your prayers.

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It's gonna be wonderful.

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We have open tables next Sunday.

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If you have never been a part of that,

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we hope that you will.

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There are signups on the app.

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You just pick a restaurant,

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go join with some brothers and sisters and enjoy lunch.

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And I'm gonna ask you guys,

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when you're sitting at those tables next week,

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snap a picture, upload it that just says we are Springhouse

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because I love the fellowship and community

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that we see in that.

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And Monday evening, next Monday, we have a blue meeting.

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If you are new to the church and you are like,

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I would really love to get plugged in

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with some of the women, this announcement is for women.

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Just, I'm just putting that out there.

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If you're new to the church, you're like,

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yeah, I'd like to meet a few people.

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Anyway, Bloom Monday night and our own Pastor Sherry O'Dea

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will be bringing the Word and sharing with us Monday night.

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So come and support that.

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Now we have this morning,

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with this person being one of the younger people

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on our teaching team or the newer additions,

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we like to give him simple subjects like Lamentations

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and Revelations or this morning, the Book of Job.

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Would you welcome Pastor Justin?

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(congregation applauding)

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- Good morning, good people.

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I hope you brought your Bibles and your brains

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and your hearts today and your seatbelt.

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You better buckle up Mary Sue,

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it's fixing to get real wild up here.

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It's good to be back and on the platform in the pulpit.

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This is an honor to be here and share

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as a part of the teaching team

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and the teaching dynamic here.

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Didn't Hadassah O'Dea do a fantastic job last week?

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(congregation applauding)

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With the reading of Esther.

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I went to her as her service after the service,

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I said, hey, just a thought,

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would you consider doing all 42 chapters of Job next week?

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And she looked at me like I was speaking

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a different language and I said, that's fine, I got it.

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I've been prepared.

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Also found this guy sitting right here

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on the table this morning.

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I was about 13 seconds away last week from being,

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all right listen up, we're not doing nothing else

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until somebody get Pastor Kevin, his dad gone click her back.

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But somebody must have got the memo,

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knew I'd do it a little bit more pushups

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and I got a little bit more bass, okay?

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Nick Click was right here.

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So don't ever do that Pastor Kevin again

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'cause I got his back, all right?

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If it's a kid, a dog, whoever it is,

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hey, it's a package deal.

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Listen, they went for Jesus

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and they had to contend with Peter.

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I'm just saying, Peter tried to cut the guy's head off

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and Jesus like, chill, right?

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You're lucky I didn't whoop somebody

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for the clicker last week.

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He's like, Peter, chill.

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And I was like, you're right, you're right,

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you're right, you're right.

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So it's here though, I'll tell you that.

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Golly man, what a subject.

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I feel like this is either an amazing test

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of study and faithfulness

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or completely oblivious to the subject matter at hand.

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This is one of the oldest stories ever recorded

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and possibly the oldest book in scripture.

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It very well could be the oldest book.

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This is an ancient book.

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This is a story of a real man

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who lived in a real place in a real time.

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It's dated around the time of the patriarchs

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based on the context and the subject matter.

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This is a very famous book.

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And today we're gonna do a study, an overview, a synopsis,

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not a deep dive 'cause we don't have that much time,

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but we're going to study the book in the life of Job.

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If you would stand with me,

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we're gonna read six verses

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towards the back end of the chapter

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and then we'll go back to chapter one

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and we'll figure out how we got to this point.

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Here we go.

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Then Job answered the Lord and said,

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"I know that you can do all things

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"and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

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"Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?

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"Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

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"things too wonderful for me which I did not know.

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"Here and I will speak.

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"I will question you and you make it known to me.

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"I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

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"but now my eye sees you.

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"Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

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Father, I thank you for your word.

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I thank you for the power and the life that it brings.

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I pray that you would open the hearts of your people

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to hear clearly from you.

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And I pray for an encounter with you

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that everything Justin B has to say today,

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that's not what your Holy Spirit wants to imprint

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on their hearts will be quickly forgotten,

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but that you would remain and comfort your people

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who are in a time of need.

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God, we love you and thank you.

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It's in Christ's name, amen.

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And amen, you can be nice and be seated.

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Job is a very famous figure in history, very famous.

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And he's not just in the church.

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Many cultures have written about Job.

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We use phrases like the patience of Job

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or my personal favorite in the evangelical church is,

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I'm in a Job season, a Job season of testing.

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I've even said that before.

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And those I've said it around,

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like my mom have quickly reminded me, no, Stupo,

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this is a result of your own decisions.

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These are, she didn't call me a Stupo,

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but I was being a Stupo.

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These are the natural consequences of your actions.

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You are not in a Job season, okay?

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There are positive and negative consequences

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that come with your actions, okay?

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Here's an example of a positive consequence.

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Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

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Here's an example of a negative consequence.

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Talk back to your mom and you might be missing teeth.

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Natural consequence,

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depends how many rows you sit behind her.

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We said pews and I knew that she could only reach

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the pew right behind her.

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(congregation laughing)

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So I sat two rows back to the side.

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But that era, you also had everybody's a mama.

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So if she couldn't get to me, somebody else could.

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Listen to your mama.

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Y'all know exactly what I'm talking about.

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The prophet Ezekiel links Job with Noah and Daniel

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as the three most righteous men to ever live.

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That's Ezekiel 14, 14.

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For those of you that are familiar with the book,

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you know that suffering is at the forefront of the pages.

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However, the book of Job is not primarily

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about one man's suffering and pain.

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Job's problem is not so much financial or social or medical.

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His central problem is theological.

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Job must deal with the fact that in this life,

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God does not act the way he thought he would or should.

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In this drama, the book of Job is not so much a record

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of solutions and explanations to this problem.

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It's more of a revelation of Job's experience

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and the answers carried within his experience.

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Something that I want you guys to note

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and file away in your mental file cabinet.

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Every statement in the Bible is in context of a book

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and the meaning of that book

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determines the meaning of the verse.

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You cannot simply pick passages that fit or frame your POV

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or your theology to prove your point

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if it is intended to be taken out of context.

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Here's an example.

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Quoting Job's friends is dangerous.

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And if you've read the book, you know why.

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Because when you get to the end,

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God was like, these guys are out of control.

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He rebukes Job's friends.

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So you be careful quoting Job's friends.

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David Paulson says, "The Bible is all of God's word,

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but not all of God's truth."

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Are you hearing what I'm saying?

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The Bible is all of God's word, but not all of God's truth.

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Give you a real life example.

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I'm over at a friend's house and I'm in the bathroom

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and I'm washing my hands

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and they got this little paper calendar, right?

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And I'm gonna give you a, it's got like a date on it.

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Like, what is this?

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August 3rd and then it's got a little Bible verse.

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Are you with me?

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Right, they make them for far side too,

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but this one's got the Bible verse.

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And I'm washing my hands and I look down and it's,

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I'm gonna paraphrase, it's Matthew 4, 9.

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And it says, "If you bow down and worship me,

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all that you see will be yours."

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And I said, "That Satan said that."

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(congregation laughing)

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Look it up.

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It was when the devil was tempting Jesus in the desert.

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And I was like, "They have no idea.

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They did not look it up, it just sounded good.

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If you bow down and worship me,

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all that you see will be yours."

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I wadded that thing up, threw it in the trash.

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That was a day off, rest of the year.

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Dead serious, Fred, my bad.

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Dead serious.

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Why?

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Because it was taken out of context.

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And what sounded good was not good.

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Because the one who said it was the devil.

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So be careful quoting Job's friends.

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The Bible is all of God's word,

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but it's not all of God's truth.

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This book presents an answer

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to some of life's biggest questions.

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Why is there pain and suffering?

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Why do good people endure suffering

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and why do bad people escape it?

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And the even bigger question, does God even care about it?

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I was talking with a brother in between services

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and the problem that we have

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when we think of good people suffering

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is because we only know good

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in the context of human understanding.

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Jesus even had an interaction with somebody.

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He said, "Good teacher."

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And he said, "Why do you call me good?

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"There's only one that's good and that's God."

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How do you know what is good?

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What you think is good

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is not necessarily what God thinks is good.

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Romans 8, 28 says, "For we know that all things

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"work together for the good of those who love Him

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"and are called according to His purpose."

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All things means all things.

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But verse 29 gives us the reason

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why those things work together

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because it's making us more into the image of His son, Jesus.

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You mean to tell me suffering can be good for me?

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I don't want that.

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Give me the pleasant circumstances.

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Let me, listen.

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Solomon tried to say riches and all that and it ain't worth it.

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I'm like, I wonder if God can test me in that.

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Like, can that be a test I can try to overcome?

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Just tons of wealth.

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Let me see if this is really true for everybody.

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I don't want his women problems.

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I just, let me try that money out, God.

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See if it's as corruptible as you say it is.

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You only believe suffering is wrong

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if you already have a belief that God is good

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and suffering is bad.

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You only think that suffering is wrong

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if you already have a belief God is good

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and anything that's not good cannot be God.

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But what do we know of good?

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Problem is that we also believe

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suffering negates God's goodness.

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Let me be clear when I say this, everything is not a test.

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Everything you encounter is not a test.

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And all suffering is not the result of a heavenly wager

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to test your faithfulness.

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Sometimes it's of your own making.

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Case in point.

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Sometimes it's from the enemy.

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Sometimes it's from the Lord.

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This is the story of Job,

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but it is not an allegory for all of life.

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It's this Job story.

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It's a story of Job's life, not human existence.

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So now let's look into the wager

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because the book starts off,

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have you ever been to like a theme park?

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I went to Universal Studios recently

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and this is my kid's first time being on a roller coaster.

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It's like five out of the six, okay?

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And I put them on a roller coaster,

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didn't do any of the background checks, 64 miles an hour.

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That's different in a car than just strapped to a chair.

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Open air, swear.

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They may get us go through a metal detector

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after you go through the lockers

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to make sure you don't have quarters or iPhones

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or anything in your pocket.

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'Cause can you imagine one of those coming out

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at 65 miles an hour?

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And I'm in the front, which is probably best

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'cause I couldn't see their faces behind me.

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And this thing shoots out like a rocket

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and it's zoom zoom and you're 65 miles an hour.

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And it's a full on adrenaline rush.

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The book of Job starts off at 65 miles an hour.

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And most Christians or readers of the book

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get through about a third of the way through chapter one,

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but I have no idea what's happening right now.

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I'm just gonna skip it, right?

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You just say, I shouldn't even be on this ride.

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But it's important to understand what's happening

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at the beginning so that we can wrestle

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with the middle and the end.

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This book reveals what's happening in the heavenly realms

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so we make sense of what happens here on earth.

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We can learn some valuable lessons.

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The writer of the book of Job

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either had incredible revelation and insight,

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or he was completely blasphemous

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because he sets up a scene

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and he attributes things to Yahweh

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that if it's not true,

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then our understanding of God is way off.

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Let's just read chapter one, verses six through 12.

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And just leave you set up.

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The Bible opens up says there was a man named Job

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and he lived in the land of Uz

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and Job had how many fat?

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7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 oxen, 500 donkeys,

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tons of servant, lots of lands,

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his kids would have parties on the weekend

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and they would all get together and bring their friends.

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And then Job on Monday morning

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or whenever after their partying was over,

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he'd go and offer prayers to Yahweh

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and make sacrifices by if they sin, please forgive them.

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Like Job was a righteous man.

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So the book opens up and then you get to verse six

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and here we are.

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There was a day when the sons of God came

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to present themselves before the Lord

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and Satan also came with them, full stop.

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There was a day when the sons of God,

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Ben-elohim came to present themselves before Yahweh

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and Satan came with them.

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And you've got a few ways you can go with this.

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You can go, I don't know what that's about.

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Let's keep reading.

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Or you can say, I don't know what that's about.

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Let's find out.

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Quick word study or reveal to you

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that this proper name Satan may or may not be

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the character we refer to as the devil.

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A better translation of this from the Septuagint

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is Hasatan which means the Satan, the accuser.

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It's less proper name and more of a job title

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or description.

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And if not, you have to contend with the fact

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that well, we know that the proper name Satan

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has fallen from heaven.

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So now I read this, does he have VIP access

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and he can just come back and forth whenever he wants to?

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What's happening here?

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Or is there something deeper going on?

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There's a possibility that this is not even a bad guy.

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That his role or responsibility is one of prosecutor,

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one of accuser and thus Satan is different

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than proper name Satan.

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And he derives his name from this verse here

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which says he is the ultimate accuser of the brethren.

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The ultimate accuser that accuses us day and night

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before God and he gets it from this scene here

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which is an extension of Deuteronomy 32

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and now they're coming and giving progress reports.

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Why?

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Because God has entrusted them to watch over mankind

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and we have a sneak peek into what's happening in heaven

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before we see it happening here on earth.

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This is transcending information guys.

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And look at this.

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There was a day when the sons of God

Speaker: 00:18:19

came to present themselves before the Lord

Speaker: 00:18:21

and Satan also came among them.

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The Lord said to the Satan, from where have you come?

Speaker: 00:18:27

And the Satan answered, well, going to and fro on the earth

Speaker: 00:18:32

and walking up and down on it.

Speaker: 00:18:34

And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered

Speaker: 00:18:38

my servant Job that there's none like him on the earth,

Speaker: 00:18:40

a blameless and upright man who fears God

Speaker: 00:18:42

and turns away from evil?

Speaker: 00:18:45

The Satan answered the Lord and said,

Speaker: 00:18:46

does Job fear God for no reason

Speaker: 00:18:48

if you not put a hedge around him in his house

Speaker: 00:18:50

and all that he has on every side?

Speaker: 00:18:51

You bless the work of his hands,

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his possessions have increased in the land.

Speaker: 00:18:55

Stretch out your hand and touch all he has

Speaker: 00:18:57

and he will curse you to your face.

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And the Lord said to Satan, behold,

Speaker: 00:19:01

all he has is in your hand,

Speaker: 00:19:03

only it gets him to not stretch out your hand.

Speaker: 00:19:05

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Speaker: 00:19:08

You know something that messed me up

Speaker: 00:19:09

the first time I read that?

Speaker: 00:19:11

Whose idea was it?

Speaker: 00:19:13

Whose?

Speaker: 00:19:19

You said it, I didn't say it.

Speaker: 00:19:21

That's an observation.

Speaker: 00:19:23

Hang on, man.

Speaker: 00:19:24

Have you considered my servant Job?

Speaker: 00:19:26

He's like, yeah, I thought about him.

Speaker: 00:19:27

But did you notice he said, yeah, I thought about him,

Speaker: 00:19:30

but I can't do nothing to him

Speaker: 00:19:31

'cause you've got a hedge of protection around him.

Speaker: 00:19:36

What if you were to know all the things and the ways

Speaker: 00:19:39

that the enemy was trying to come against you,

Speaker: 00:19:42

you had no idea about 'cause they couldn't get to you

Speaker: 00:19:45

'cause you had a hedge of protection around you

Speaker: 00:19:47

that you knew nothing about

Speaker: 00:19:48

'cause you didn't have insight to a heavenly scene.

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And God been protecting you and carrying you

Speaker: 00:19:54

and covering you unbeknownst to your mind

Speaker: 00:19:57

and your knowledge.

Speaker: 00:19:59

Running around complaining about this and that

Speaker: 00:20:01

and this and that, you ain't got a clue

Speaker: 00:20:02

how much I've been keeping off your back.

Speaker: 00:20:06

Whining about a stoplight

Speaker: 00:20:08

and missing a bus or something dumb.

Speaker: 00:20:13

They trying to kill you, man.

Speaker: 00:20:15

And then what happens next?

Speaker: 00:20:18

What happens next is brutal.

Speaker: 00:20:21

It's brutal.

Speaker: 00:20:23

So we have the divine council scene here.

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We have the Satan.

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We have two plots that are woven together.

Speaker: 00:20:35

We have a heavenly plot and the earthly plot.

Speaker: 00:20:39

And what causes the tension is we know

Speaker: 00:20:42

that there's a wager for Job, but Job doesn't know it.

Speaker: 00:20:47

Job has no idea what is transpiring in the heavenlies,

Speaker: 00:20:54

but we know it.

Speaker: 00:20:55

And this is what creates the tension.

Speaker: 00:20:59

None of us really know all of the reasons for suffering.

Speaker: 00:21:06

None of us really know all of the reasons

Speaker: 00:21:09

why there is suffering.

Speaker: 00:21:11

So after permission is granted to the Satan

Speaker: 00:21:16

and the divine council leaves,

Speaker: 00:21:19

we see Job's property destroyed.

Speaker: 00:21:23

His income is wiped out.

Speaker: 00:21:26

His children are killed and his health is decimated.

Speaker: 00:21:31

His health is decimated.

Speaker: 00:21:35

His wife tells him, "Curse God and die."

Speaker: 00:21:39

What a friend.

Speaker: 00:21:42

Thanks, babe.

Speaker: 00:21:45

You can't pray for me.

Speaker: 00:21:48

You can't pat me on my back.

Speaker: 00:21:50

Me and my mom were discussing this the other day.

Speaker: 00:21:52

She said, "You know what?

Speaker: 00:21:53

I feel like Job's wife gets a bad rap."

Speaker: 00:21:56

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:21:57

No, think about this.

Speaker: 00:21:59

Those were her kids too.

Speaker: 00:22:04

Those were her kids too.

Speaker: 00:22:05

They were, you assume they were.

Speaker: 00:22:09

We don't know for sure.

Speaker: 00:22:10

Either way, at least they're stepkids, adopted kids.

Speaker: 00:22:15

Here's her family.

Speaker: 00:22:16

That was her property as well.

Speaker: 00:22:19

Their income.

Speaker: 00:22:21

Now her husband's covered in,

Speaker: 00:22:22

she's like, "Curse God and die already."

Speaker: 00:22:24

My mom said, "I feel like she got a bad rap.

Speaker: 00:22:26

She had probably one of the worst days

Speaker: 00:22:28

and weeks of her life."

Speaker: 00:22:30

And all we know her for is being like, "Just forget it.

Speaker: 00:22:34

You should commit suicide, Job."

Speaker: 00:22:36

It's what she told him.

Speaker: 00:22:39

Maybe we should try giving a little bit of grace

Speaker: 00:22:44

every now and then.

Speaker: 00:22:45

So his wife tells him, "Curse God and die."

Speaker: 00:22:49

Then three of his friends show up and he's unrecognizable.

Speaker: 00:22:54

And what I mean by unrecognizable,

Speaker: 00:22:56

Job's health is afflicted because the Satan comes back

Speaker: 00:22:59

and he was like, "Hey, what about Job?"

Speaker: 00:23:01

He's like, "Yeah, I beat him down,

Speaker: 00:23:02

but I can't touch his health."

Speaker: 00:23:04

And he was like, "I'd like you to touch his health

Speaker: 00:23:05

this time."

Speaker: 00:23:06

And all these, Job had these boils all over his skin

Speaker: 00:23:11

and they hurt so bad and they probably were so itchy

Speaker: 00:23:15

because he took pottery and broke it

Speaker: 00:23:18

and took broken pieces of pottery and scraped his skin.

Speaker: 00:23:22

You ever had a mosquito bite?

Speaker: 00:23:27

How bad it hitches, you know what I mean?

Speaker: 00:23:30

And you're just like, "Stop scratching,

Speaker: 00:23:31

this'll make it worse."

Speaker: 00:23:33

Imagine something being so bad that the only relief

Speaker: 00:23:36

is to take broken pieces of pottery and scrape your skin.

Speaker: 00:23:41

And it's the result of a heavenly wager.

Speaker: 00:23:46

And he shows up and he's pitiful.

Speaker: 00:23:51

His whole life is destroyed and he's sitting on the ground

Speaker: 00:23:54

with ashes on him and his boys show up

Speaker: 00:23:59

and they are heartbroken.

Speaker: 00:24:01

They are heartbroken.

Speaker: 00:24:04

And the scripture says they don't even recognize him.

Speaker: 00:24:08

They get a lot wrong throughout the book.

Speaker: 00:24:12

I'm not just here to defend Job's friends

Speaker: 00:24:14

'cause they're out of control,

Speaker: 00:24:15

but they do get one thing right and it's this.

Speaker: 00:24:19

They sat with him on the ground for seven days

Speaker: 00:24:22

and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him

Speaker: 00:24:24

for they saw his suffering was very great.

Speaker: 00:24:26

Church, I wanna say this for a long time.

Speaker: 00:24:30

When somebody is grieving, shut up.

Speaker: 00:24:34

I don't mean to be mean about it,

Speaker: 00:24:38

but a multitude of words is not what somebody needs

Speaker: 00:24:41

in a moment of grief.

Speaker: 00:24:42

They need your presence there.

Speaker: 00:24:44

They don't need, "I'm so sorry."

Speaker: 00:24:46

And I get it from a good place.

Speaker: 00:24:48

I get it from a good heart.

Speaker: 00:24:49

You wanna say something that brings them comfort.

Speaker: 00:24:52

But what brought Job comfort was that they was there

Speaker: 00:24:55

and they cried with him and they put dust on their head

Speaker: 00:24:58

and they sat with him.

Speaker: 00:25:00

They knew he cared because they,

Speaker: 00:25:02

he knew they cared because they were there.

Speaker: 00:25:05

They were trying to fix it with a bunch of extra stuff

Speaker: 00:25:09

he didn't need.

Speaker: 00:25:10

Next time you encounter a friend grieving, just be with them.

Speaker: 00:25:15

I feel like that we wouldn't even had this rest

Speaker: 00:25:20

of this discourse if Job didn't open his mouth.

Speaker: 00:25:22

Because Job breaks the silence.

Speaker: 00:25:26

And then after this, we have 30 chapters of back and forth

Speaker: 00:25:30

between Job and his friends.

Speaker: 00:25:31

They were just waiting on him to say something.

Speaker: 00:25:33

And Job opens his mouth and he starts complaining.

Speaker: 00:25:36

He's like, "Oh God, the day that I was born,

Speaker: 00:25:40

curse the day that I was born,

Speaker: 00:25:42

I probably wish I was better off being stillborn

Speaker: 00:25:44

or if they didn't nurse me."

Speaker: 00:25:46

And then he has this David-like wrestling match

Speaker: 00:25:49

where he's like, "Break all my enemy's teeth,

Speaker: 00:25:52

blessed be the name of the Lord."

Speaker: 00:25:54

He's like, "I curse the day I was born,

Speaker: 00:25:56

but naked I came into this world and naked I'll return,

Speaker: 00:25:59

blessed be the name of the Lord."

Speaker: 00:26:01

And it's this interesting wrestling match

Speaker: 00:26:05

that Job encounters throughout the entire book.

Speaker: 00:26:08

And the discourse among his friends is that Job has sinned

Speaker: 00:26:13

and this suffering is a result of the curse.

Speaker: 00:26:18

And Job is confident in his own righteousness.

Speaker: 00:26:21

You hear me?

Speaker: 00:26:22

His own righteousness.

Speaker: 00:26:25

And it culminates in a confrontation with Yahweh

Speaker: 00:26:28

at the end of the book.

Speaker: 00:26:29

Job's friends, he would say something

Speaker: 00:26:35

and one of his friends would respond

Speaker: 00:26:37

and he'd say something else and another one would respond.

Speaker: 00:26:39

And they go in a wise order because the eldest speaks first

Speaker: 00:26:43

and then the oldest speaks first 'cause he's the wisest

Speaker: 00:26:46

and that's usually how it goes.

Speaker: 00:26:48

And then the guy that's a little bit younger

Speaker: 00:26:50

than the oldest ever last guy in the room speaks, right?

Speaker: 00:26:53

Then you got the pursuit guy down here and he speaks last.

Speaker: 00:26:57

And then you got the kid in the youth group

Speaker: 00:26:58

that thinks he knows everything,

Speaker: 00:27:00

that waits till everybody's done.

Speaker: 00:27:01

And he says, "Oh, I actually got it figured out."

Speaker: 00:27:04

That's literally what happens.

Speaker: 00:27:05

It goes like, it goes Fred, Kevin, Justin, which one?

Speaker: 00:27:10

Eli Minchi right there on the bottom.

Speaker: 00:27:13

That was the order.

Speaker: 00:27:16

Here's what you should do.

Speaker: 00:27:17

Next time you guys have a group Bible study,

Speaker: 00:27:19

you should do this like we do at the theater

Speaker: 00:27:21

and they do these readings and just pick out parts

Speaker: 00:27:24

and be like, you'll be Bildad and you'll be Eliphaz

Speaker: 00:27:27

and you'll be Zophaz and you'll be Elihu and I'll be Job

Speaker: 00:27:31

and we'll read it back and forth.

Speaker: 00:27:33

And I bet it adds a little context to this discourse

Speaker: 00:27:36

that Job has among his friends.

Speaker: 00:27:38

So Job's friends start running their mouth to him

Speaker: 00:27:44

and Eliphaz, which was the elder,

Speaker: 00:27:46

he basically talks about God's transcendence.

Speaker: 00:27:50

God knows everything.

Speaker: 00:27:53

And Job, you are actually conscious of your sin

Speaker: 00:27:58

but you're not telling us about your sin.

Speaker: 00:28:01

But you know you've sinned and God knows you've sinned.

Speaker: 00:28:05

So therefore repent and the suffering will stop.

Speaker: 00:28:08

And Job's like, "No, that's not really what's going on."

Speaker: 00:28:11

He's like, "No, that's really what's going on."

Speaker: 00:28:13

You've sinned.

Speaker: 00:28:15

Repent.

Speaker: 00:28:16

Then the Justin of the group, the Bildad,

Speaker: 00:28:21

talks about God's omnipotence.

Speaker: 00:28:25

He says, "God is all powerful and might is right.

Speaker: 00:28:30

So who are you to question God?

Speaker: 00:28:32

Because he's stronger than you and he's bigger than you

Speaker: 00:28:35

and so if you're suffering,

Speaker: 00:28:36

then you're just gonna have to deal with it

Speaker: 00:28:38

because you're not bigger than God."

Speaker: 00:28:41

And Job's like, "Well, I don't really know

Speaker: 00:28:44

if that makes much sense right now.

Speaker: 00:28:46

That's not really what's happening."

Speaker: 00:28:49

And then Zophaz talks about God's omniscience.

Speaker: 00:28:54

He says, "Job, you're probably, what's really going on is

Speaker: 00:28:59

you've sinned but you're just unaware that you have sinned.

Speaker: 00:29:03

And if you will just confess your unknown sin to God,

Speaker: 00:29:07

then maybe he'll stop your suffering

Speaker: 00:29:12

because you must have sinned."

Speaker: 00:29:14

One said, "You know you've sinned."

Speaker: 00:29:16

The other one said, "It doesn't matter if you sin or not,

Speaker: 00:29:18

God's bigger than you and so he's just gonna bully you."

Speaker: 00:29:21

And his third friend says, "You don't really know

Speaker: 00:29:22

about what sin you've committed.

Speaker: 00:29:24

Either way, you're in the wrong and God is in the right."

Speaker: 00:29:27

All three of Job's friends took refuge

Speaker: 00:29:33

in a specific aspect about God and made it into doctrine

Speaker: 00:29:39

and forcing the facts to fit their faith

Speaker: 00:29:42

instead of allowing their faith to fit the facts.

Speaker: 00:29:45

The same way it starts in chapter one where you're like,

Speaker: 00:29:50

"I don't understand this, so I'm gonna dismiss it

Speaker: 00:29:53

or I'm gonna reason or logic it away."

Speaker: 00:29:56

The late Dr. Michael Heiser said of this, he said,

Speaker: 00:29:59

"My conscience would not simply let me dismiss

Speaker: 00:30:04

the facts of the scripture in order to fit the theology

Speaker: 00:30:08

which I was comfortable with.

Speaker: 00:30:09

Is my loyalty to the text or Christian doctrine?

Speaker: 00:30:15

Is my loyalty to the word or Christian doctrine?

Speaker: 00:30:20

And we have taken Proverbs in the scripture

Speaker: 00:30:23

and turn them into promises."

Speaker: 00:30:25

This is a major fallacy when it comes to doctrine

Speaker: 00:30:31

and theology and I wanna caution us

Speaker: 00:30:33

about turning general truths into absolute truths.

Speaker: 00:30:38

General truths against absolute truths.

Speaker: 00:30:41

Here was the general truth.

Speaker: 00:30:43

Suffering is caused by sin.

Speaker: 00:30:46

Therefore, if you are suffering, it's because of your sin.

Speaker: 00:30:50

They made sowing and reaping an arbitrary law.

Speaker: 00:30:55

And this was absolutely cruel because it caused Job

Speaker: 00:30:59

to crawl around inside of his own conscience.

Speaker: 00:31:02

They said, "You had to have done something wrong

Speaker: 00:31:05

because God's not gonna punish somebody.

Speaker: 00:31:06

He's not gonna allow suffering for somebody

Speaker: 00:31:08

that hasn't done something wrong."

Speaker: 00:31:10

And Job was racking his life.

Speaker: 00:31:12

And I've done that in my own life.

Speaker: 00:31:14

I remember my mom saying, "I hope you have five boys

Speaker: 00:31:16

and act just like you."

Speaker: 00:31:17

And I'm like, "Please God, no.

Speaker: 00:31:20

No, not that.

Speaker: 00:31:24

Send me to the stocks, whatever.

Speaker: 00:31:26

Don't do that."

Speaker: 00:31:28

What a blessing that would be to have five of me

Speaker: 00:31:31

running around, wouldn't it mom?

Speaker: 00:31:33

Y'all like, "Whoa, whoa, calm down."

Speaker: 00:31:37

And I do got five just like me.

Speaker: 00:31:41

I do got five just like me.

Speaker: 00:31:44

Noah, Kat, DJ, Allie and Jessalyn, I'll tell you that.

Speaker: 00:31:47

But I've looked back on my life at times and been like,

Speaker: 00:31:52

"Man, is this the result of something I did way back here?

Speaker: 00:31:56

Am I reaping something now I have sown back in my childhood?

Speaker: 00:32:00

Maybe, or maybe not, but we can't be arbitrary about it.

Speaker: 00:32:05

It was cruel.

Speaker: 00:32:07

And we do this in the church when we say,

Speaker: 00:32:09

"You didn't get healed 'cause you didn't have enough faith.

Speaker: 00:32:13

How dare we?

Speaker: 00:32:16

Now you've added somebody that's unhealed,

Speaker: 00:32:19

then now they're saying it's my fault.

Speaker: 00:32:21

What about Lazarus?

Speaker: 00:32:23

Lazarus have enough faith?

Speaker: 00:32:27

Lazarus was dead.

Speaker: 00:32:28

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:32:31

Think about it.

Speaker: 00:32:35

Think about it.

Speaker: 00:32:36

When we tell somebody you didn't have enough faith

Speaker: 00:32:37

to get healed, that's why you didn't get healed.

Speaker: 00:32:39

Lazarus, how much faith did that man got?

Speaker: 00:32:41

Think about it.

Speaker: 00:32:44

He was dead and got raised from the dead.

Speaker: 00:32:48

I had a discipler, long time mentor, if you will,

Speaker: 00:32:52

of mine named Derek Faulkner.

Speaker: 00:32:56

And he got diagnosed with stomach cancer in November,

Speaker: 00:32:59

several years ago.

Speaker: 00:33:02

And he had faith God would heal him with cancer.

Speaker: 00:33:05

He died in February, four months later.

Speaker: 00:33:07

You mean to tell me he didn't have faith?

Speaker: 00:33:09

The scripture God gave him was a verse out of Job

Speaker: 00:33:12

that says, "Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him.

Speaker: 00:33:17

Though he slay me."

Speaker: 00:33:20

You mean to tell me he associated his human suffering

Speaker: 00:33:25

with God's goodness?

Speaker: 00:33:27

That's real faith, guys.

Speaker: 00:33:32

So what is sometimes true, it's not always true.

Speaker: 00:33:38

And we must be careful how we handle the scriptures

Speaker: 00:33:41

when it comes to people, because God cares about people.

Speaker: 00:33:45

And you don't want to hurt somebody.

Speaker: 00:33:46

And that insult to injury by taking a general truth

Speaker: 00:33:50

and turning it into an absolute truth.

Speaker: 00:33:54

Job's responses to his friends become bolder and bolder.

Speaker: 00:33:59

And the more he thinks about it,

Speaker: 00:34:01

the more justified he feels.

Speaker: 00:34:03

You ever had somebody tell you about your life?

Speaker: 00:34:07

Feel like the Lord, and I'm like, "Nope, he didn't."

Speaker: 00:34:13

You ever feel justified about something?

Speaker: 00:34:14

Has anybody ever shared something with you

Speaker: 00:34:16

and you're like, "That ain't happening."

Speaker: 00:34:18

Has anybody shared a word with you that's wrong?

Speaker: 00:34:22

It ain't gotta be like a thus saith the Lord,

Speaker: 00:34:24

but I've had people tell me something,

Speaker: 00:34:25

I'm like, "That's not what's happening,

Speaker: 00:34:26

that's not what's going on."

Speaker: 00:34:28

And then the older I got, the more I started saying,

Speaker: 00:34:30

instead of immediately dismissing, I started going,

Speaker: 00:34:32

"Okay, God, is there any truth to this?

Speaker: 00:34:35

If not, let me not walk in that identity."

Speaker: 00:34:37

Are you hearing me?

Speaker: 00:34:38

Let me not be identified that, but if there is truth,

Speaker: 00:34:41

let me make the changes.

Speaker: 00:34:43

Job felt justified in his case.

Speaker: 00:34:47

And he lays a case for righteousness in chapter 31.

Speaker: 00:34:50

He lays out a case for righteousness in chapter 31.

Speaker: 00:34:54

And you would think about, if you read it,

Speaker: 00:34:58

he was listening to Jesus's teachings

Speaker: 00:35:00

at the Sermon on the Mount.

Speaker: 00:35:02

You would think this guy had actually sat

Speaker: 00:35:05

at the foot of Jesus, the way he responds.

Speaker: 00:35:07

And he lays out a case for innocence.

Speaker: 00:35:11

He starts off chapter 31 with this verse, he says,

Speaker: 00:35:15

"I have made a covenant with my eyes.

Speaker: 00:35:17

How then could I gaze at a virgin?"

Speaker: 00:35:20

Some translations say a young maiden.

Speaker: 00:35:22

Didn't know what a young maiden was till I got an ESV.

Speaker: 00:35:25

Now I know that's a young lady.

Speaker: 00:35:27

And Job said, "I made a covenant with my eyes.

Speaker: 00:35:29

I'm not gonna look lustfully on a young woman."

Speaker: 00:35:32

In verses five through eight,

Speaker: 00:35:36

he talks about his integrity.

Speaker: 00:35:37

In nine through 12, he claims his purity.

Speaker: 00:35:40

And then justice and generosity.

Speaker: 00:35:42

In verses 24 through 28, he talks about his faithfulness,

Speaker: 00:35:46

his right worship, blessing others, hospitality,

Speaker: 00:35:50

his genuineness.

Speaker: 00:35:52

He was prayerful and he was a good steward.

Speaker: 00:35:55

Job said, "I'm a good person.

Speaker: 00:35:59

Why is this happening to me?

Speaker: 00:36:01

I'm a good person.

Speaker: 00:36:06

Why is this happening to me?

Speaker: 00:36:08

I love God.

Speaker: 00:36:09

Why is this going on in my life?

Speaker: 00:36:12

I did all the things.

Speaker: 00:36:13

I confessed all known sin.

Speaker: 00:36:14

I did my prayers.

Speaker: 00:36:15

I've been following along in the Bible plan.

Speaker: 00:36:17

Like I did the things you told me to do.

Speaker: 00:36:19

Why is this happening to me?"

Speaker: 00:36:21

And all of it's really directed towards God.

Speaker: 00:36:27

He's talking to his friends,

Speaker: 00:36:28

but he's really saying, "God, this isn't fair.

Speaker: 00:36:31

You're not being fair to me."

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And he explains to his friends in one final appeal.

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And then we see Elihu, the teenager, comes up and he says,

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"Hey guys, you can go.

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I got it from here.

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Read the book.

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Read it with your friends.

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I promise."

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He goes, "Thanks.

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You guys are all wrong, by the way.

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Just like a regular teenager, normal teenagers do.

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I heard what you said.

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I've been listening."

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He was like, "I actually have been timid to speak

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'cause I'm so young.

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However, I'm gonna take three chapters

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to say what I have to say."

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(congregation laughing)

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He does.

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He does.

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And Job done, he mansions him.

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I can just picture Job like he's rubbing his eyes.

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'Cause he says the exact same thing the other guys say.

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"It's your fault, Job.

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You've sinned.

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You've sinned."

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And at this point, Job's over.

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He's like, "I just laid out my case.

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I'm telling you guys, I did nothing wrong.

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And yet my life is still in suffering."

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All of his friends applied sowing and reaping

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as a law to Job.

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And Job's crying out to God.

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And he's like, "Why is this happening?

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Why are you doing this to me?"

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And then finally God responds

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and it's absolutely terrifying.

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God finally says, "Okay, big boy, stand up."

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Like, remember the first time one of your sons

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kind of got a little bit puffed up, James, right?

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And he was like, "I'm gonna tell you right now,

Speaker: 00:37:59

you're not as big as you think you are."

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I remember the first time I got actually bigger than my dad,

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physically bigger than my dad.

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And then I realized my dad's a stone cold killer.

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I should probably...

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(congregation laughing)

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Multiple black belts, probably strapped.

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I was like, "It's a bad idea."

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Thought my height.

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Can you imagine the creator of the universe responds to you

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and he opens up like this?

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This is how God opens up.

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I think it'd be dumb.

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He says in chapter 38,

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"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

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'Who is this that darkens counsel

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by words without knowledge?

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Dressed for action like a man,

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I will question you and you make it known to me.'"

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You've been asking me all these questions.

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Why is this happening?

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Let me ask you some questions, Job.

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And then I want you to answer.

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And this is what he says to Job.

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He goes on for two chapters.

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And first his response is as the creator

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and then he responds as the creation.

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As I've been studying Job for the last two and a half,

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three years, literally in my own time,

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long before I knew this was a thing,

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I probably listened to this song I'm gonna share with you

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probably no less than 200 times.

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And every time I feel like the size of an ant,

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but just not thinking about all the times

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I have arbitrarily gone against the creator of the universe

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and I want him to answer my questions.

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Why did this happen?

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Why did that person walk through this?

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Why does that person go through that?

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Why did you take that from them?

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Why did you give that to them?

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And this is God's response to Job.

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Where were you, Job?

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Where were you when I created all of this?

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(gentle music)

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And Job was undone and he repents.

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Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty?

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He who argues with God, let him answer it.

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Then Job answered and said, behold, I am of small account.

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What shall I answer you?

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I lay my hand on my mouth.

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I have spoken once and I will not answer twice,

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but I will proceed no further.

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He said, God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

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I'm sorry, I'm sorry, look, Dad.

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When I get the belt out, the kid's like,

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look, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

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And God said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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Stand back up, I got more to say to you.

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And then he says, stand up like a man.

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Tighten your boots this time.

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And then he goes to proceed and tell him about his creation.

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He says, do you even know why I made a hippopotamus

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and a crocodile?

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Calls him a behemoth and a Leviathan.

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He says, you don't even know why I made a hippo

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and a crocodile and you're gonna answer me about ethics?

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You're gonna question me?

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You have no idea, Job.

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It's so much bigger than you.

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And he's not beating him down for questioning God.

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It's that Job lost touch with God through the suffering

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and that was his real problem.

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That was his real problem.

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Job repents.

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We read the beginning.

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Job says, my ears had heard of you

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but now my eyes have seen you.

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For us to get to a place where it's that I've heard

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about this God but now I've seen this God.

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He's back connected to the Creator.

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Then he gets a happy ending, I guess, of sorts.

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Scripture says, Job prays for his friends

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and after he prayed for his friends,

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then God restored everything back to him.

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The same guys that gave him hard counsel that was untrue,

Speaker: 00:42:17

Job prayed for them.

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So what was his real pain?

Speaker: 00:42:22

Was it physical?

Speaker: 00:42:25

Was it relational?

Speaker: 00:42:26

Was it social isolation or mental anguish?

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No, Job's real pain was spiritual.

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Job had lost touch with God.

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Through the suffering and that's the biggest obstacle

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that we must overcome when it's dealing with suffering.

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And you know what?

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Job didn't have that you have the hope of Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:42:51

Job didn't have a hope that all is gonna be made right.

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They didn't know, they had an idea.

Speaker: 00:42:58

But he didn't know that like Paul said,

Speaker: 00:43:01

our light and momentary affliction is preparing for us

Speaker: 00:43:05

an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

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You have the hope of Christ and that allows us

Speaker: 00:43:13

to have peace in the midst of suffering.

Speaker: 00:43:16

You wanna know what never happens?

Speaker: 00:43:20

Job never gets an answer to his questions.

Speaker: 00:43:23

Huh.

Speaker: 00:43:24

You mean I read 42 chapters to find out

Speaker: 00:43:29

he still doesn't know?

Speaker: 00:43:31

He never knew about the heavenly wager.

Speaker: 00:43:34

He never knew and he worked through his suffering.

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He worked through his pain.

Speaker: 00:43:39

He crawled around in his conscience.

Speaker: 00:43:42

He felt God leave and he felt God close.

Speaker: 00:43:46

God never clued him in on him.

Speaker: 00:43:50

(gentle music)

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David Paulson says that it's not about finding

Speaker: 00:43:56

the answers to your questions.

Speaker: 00:43:57

It's getting to the point in your relationship with God

Speaker: 00:44:00

where you do not need them.

Speaker: 00:44:02

It's not about finding the answers.

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It's getting to the place where you don't need 'em.

Speaker: 00:44:07

I don't know why suffering exists.

Speaker: 00:44:11

I don't know why babies die.

Speaker: 00:44:13

I don't know why people die of cancer.

Speaker: 00:44:16

I don't know why there's pain.

Speaker: 00:44:18

I don't know why there's wrong.

Speaker: 00:44:20

What I do know is that God is good

Speaker: 00:44:22

and whenever we cross over and I find out

Speaker: 00:44:25

that what he did with all that,

Speaker: 00:44:28

it's gonna be good because he is good

Speaker: 00:44:31

and that's enough for me and that is enough for you.

Speaker: 00:44:38

So would you stand with me, Spring Houses?

Speaker: 00:44:41

We worship and close out this service.

Speaker: 00:44:44

(gentle music)

Speaker: 00:44:46

God don't want us to stop asking questions.

Speaker: 00:44:55

This is not a dad saying,

Speaker: 00:44:56

"I know better than you, don't ask me why."

Speaker: 00:44:59

It's not the question, it's the heart behind it.

Speaker: 00:45:02

The heart that says, "God, I don't get it.

Speaker: 00:45:06

"I don't know why this is happening in life.

Speaker: 00:45:09

"I don't know why this is happening to me.

Speaker: 00:45:11

"I don't know why this is happening to them,

Speaker: 00:45:13

"but I trust you."

Speaker: 00:45:15

And some of you need to get to a place where you say,

Speaker: 00:45:17

"I trust you despite what my circumstances look like,

Speaker: 00:45:21

"despite the pain that I'm walking through right now,

Speaker: 00:45:24

"I trust you and I know that you're gonna work it out

Speaker: 00:45:29

"for my good and your glory

Speaker: 00:45:31

"because whatever you do is gonna be good."

Speaker: 00:45:34

And so if you need to pray with somebody and confess that

Speaker: 00:45:38

or if you need to come out here

Speaker: 00:45:39

and do business with the Lord,

Speaker: 00:45:42

whatever you walk through,

Speaker: 00:45:44

whatever you're about to walk through,

Speaker: 00:45:45

whatever you've been walking through,

Speaker: 00:45:47

God is with you.

Speaker: 00:45:50

We must never lose touch with God through our suffering.

Speaker: 00:45:54

My prayer people, come down here

Speaker: 00:45:57

and let's worship and pray.